Arthur prodded his greaves a few times, marvelling at its beautiful design. It looked like a cross between a plant, snakeskin and tree-bark, somehow taking the best qualities of each material and mixing them in such a way that only enhanced rather than detracted from the final product. Touching it did, however, raise a few worries.

"Alyssia, what do I do if I break my greaves? They seem kind of... fragile."

It was a legitimate concern. No matter how amazing the soulbound item may be, it didn't change the fact that it was made of leather, which was pretty damn weak in Arthur's limited understanding of things, literally trash tier in terms of defence when compared to metal variants of medieval armour. Sure, it might be nice and breathable, weigh less than five pounds and not restrict your movements, but it wouldn't stop an arrow, never mind the stuff Arthur would face. Alyssia stared at him, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Didn't I tell you?"

"Tell me what."

"That soulbound items are nigh indestructible, always have self-repair functions and..." she trailed off when she saw the look of annoyance on Arthur's face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry okay. I forgot you didn't know this stuff, honestly."

"Please don't tell Artemo about my crush."

Arthur sighed in exasperation and shook his head. In all honesty, he'd expected Alyssia to forget to mention certain important details about soulbound items, just not one so critical and it was a great reminder, that for all her incredible abilities, the woman was an airhead.

"Relax, I wasn't going to tell him anything in the first place." Arthur effortlessly lied. He was starting to feel bad now that he'd seen just how seriously she took his threat. Arthur tried to change the subject.

"So, how do we get to the next layer? The place at least recognises that we're done with this one, but we've been given no way forward to the next challenge."

It was a legitimate concern but not one he was too worried about. Arthur was sure they'd find their way eventually and he only said the words as a means to get Alyssia's mind off his earlier bullying. Like what the hell! Why does she look like I just desecrated her ancestor's grave or something? Maybe it was a cultural thing and Arthur would have committed some great taboo if he revealed Alyssia's feelings. The alverin society seemed tribal enough for such a strict tradition. His words at least had the intended effect and he breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw Alyssia roll her eyes.

"You need to work on your patience," she hypocritically advised. "We'll get sent to the next layer soon enough. Probably within the next twenty minutes or so going off the stories Nan used to always tell me."

"In the meantime, you should get used to using your new gear. A large increase in agility is different compared to your other attributes. It'll take time to get used to and practice now could mean the difference between life and death in the next layer. For all we know, we might get attacked by a horde of monsters the moment we set foot on the next floor."

Arthur nodded his head in agreement. Alyssia's warnings made sense and her advice rang true. With his Constitution as high as it was at 698 points, his agility, previously his lowest stat, had increased by a substantial amount. 35 points, the equivalent of seven level-ups for an ordinary human. It was approximately a thirty percent increase in his agility. His speed had been lacking lately, a weakness of his current tanky build that had been made readily apparent in his spars with Alyssia. Hopefully, this new addition to his status would alleviate that problem a little.

Alyssia was following her own advice and making some strange hopping motions around the spacious stable interior. Some magical shenanigans were definitely involved here as even with his near hundred points of perception, she appeared to flicker from place to place at teleportation-like speeds. It was frankly an absurd rate of movement when you realised she was generating such speed in an instant from a stationary point, a speed so fast in fact that it made her strikes in their little spar almost seem slow. Arthur swallowed thickly.

If she'd used magic in our spar, I wouldn't have lasted a second.

The only chance he'd have had was pouring everything into augmented recovery and praying that his regeneration outpaced her damage output. beyond that, everything else in his arsenal was futile. It was a bitter pill to swallow but Arthur wasn't one to shy away from his weaknesses. He needed to address a glaring issue he had in his defences. His inability to deal with such speeds.

Sure, there was no one quite like Alyssia or his planet and there probably never would be for a long time, if ever, but that wasn't a valid excuse he could feed himself. No incredible ideas presented themselves to him though and so he busied himself in following Alyssia's advice. Getting used to his increased agility.

He started with a series of light jumps to get his blood flowing, all the while observing the alverin woman's training methods. Arthur would never shy away from learning from his betters and Alyssia didn't seem to mind the attention, only casting an inquisitive glance in his direction when she first noticed him staring. When he didn't turn away, Alyssia simply continued her rapid movement training.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Soon the only sounds within the stables were the pitter-patter of feet on wood as Alyssia moved, now gracefully across the floor like a professional dancer. Even the Stormwalkers had stopped goofing about to witness her stunning performance. Arthur, however, didn't waste any more time staring and instead got himself into position, placing his left foot in front of his right in a way that felt far too awkward to be natural. Arthur did it anyway.

So how was it again? Arthur looked back to Alyssia to make sure he was doing everything right. Yep, this looks about right. Arthur nodded to himself in appreciation and prepared to leap forward. There was a very specific method to it and Arthur wanted to replicate Alyssia's technique down to the letter T. He rotated his ankle outwards a little to the side, only forty degrees or so. It was already uncomfortable enough; any more would probably hinder rather than help him improve his speed.

Alyssia had caught on to his imitation attempts and so had slowed down significantly to better assist him in his observation. Now he could at least see what she was doing. Before it had been a cheap approximation. Now Arthur looked like he actually knew what he was doing.

He didn't.

Even as he leapt forward, his brain was analysing every flaw there was in Alyssia's movement, his 555 intelligence working overtime to keep up with his body's rapid displacement. It didn't have to work for long, nor did his overall position change much. Oh shit, a human's joints aren't supposed to move like this.

Arthur only had time to curse Alyssia, whose laughter he could hear loud and clear before his ankle popped out of place, the sound like a muffled gunshot in the stable. Dislocating a bone reinforced with nearly seven-hundred constitution turned out to be pretty damn easy, surprisingly, at least when you used all your physical potential to make sure you moved it in the most wrong way possible.

Arthur keeled forward, faceplanting the ground at highway speeds as all the force that should have pushed him forward suddenly changed its vector. Alyssia's laughter redoubled as Arthur pushed himself off the ground. His fall hadn't hurt and his dislocated ankle didn't trouble him all that much. It was hardly an injury at all and his natural regeneration had the problem solved in the seconds it took him to get back to his feet

Alyssia was still laughing at him but he didn't blame her. He probably wouldn't have been able to help himself either if it had been Alyssia instead in his position. Okay, lesson learned. Humans and alverin have very, very different physiologies, no matter how similar we may look.

It would do him well to remember that in the future. He'd never really questioned Alyssia's strange way of moving before, but after having tried it out himself, Arthur now knew why Alyssia ran the way she did. The bone structure of her ankles, and probably a few other parts of her body were completely different to his own. Enough that he may never be able to use her techniques to enhance his movement speed. It simply wasn't possible when his anatomy meant that he'd be overburdening his joints every time he did so.

"Okay, you can stop laughing now," Arthur said, to literally no effect.

He hadn't expected it to do anything, so he decided to just ignore the woman until she calmed down enough to be civil. It took her an entire minute, which was actually astonishing. The fact that she could force her laughter to go on so long was a talent in and of itself, or maybe her humour was just broken.

Arthur didn't concern himself with it and just continued to adapt to his slightly increased agility. It was in all honesty, incredibly easy. So much so that he doubted he'd even needed any time to adjust in the first place. For someone like Alyssia, however, it was a completely different story.

She specialised in agility and probably had a number of titles and skills boosting the specific attribute. The Greaves of Achilles had a very simple description but that didn't mean they were weak.

If only they were for vitality. Or something magic-related like willpower.

Arthur couldn't help but regret that the soulbound item wasn't attuned to an attribute that was better suited for him. Such was the nature of man. You gave them a valley of gold and they asked for a bigger one. Arthur shook his head and continued with his practice.

There was no point in him running around like Alyssia so instead he started to go over a few shadowboxing drills. He hadn't practised the techniques in quite a while but they quickly came back to him like a long-lost lover, the movements familiar and intimate. Within a minute, it was as if he had never abandoned the practice in the first place, every motion fluid and exquisite, nothing wasted in excess. It almost looked like a dance, except that every move held the potential to kill and maim. Even Alyssia stopped for a brief while to admire it.

Arthur lost himself in the moment, it was no longer about adjusting to his increased speed but rather just an appreciation for the fighting style that had taken up so much of his time and effort to learn. There was something meditative about physical exertion, be it running, swimming or sparring, you got lost in your own world, oblivious to everything that transpired around you.

Enough that when he received a system notification, he almost missed it.

Congratulations on completing the first trial of the Locus of Hercules. You may choose to bow out now with your current rewards or choose to advance further. Choose well warrior.

Advance to the next trial: Yes/No.

Arthur quickly read over the message, smirking in amusement at its slightly archaic wording. It was a little cringe, but the eccentricity was appropriate for a place like this. Arthur didn't hesitate and neither did Alyssia. There was nothing to talk about and he was feeling a little restless with how uneventful the grasslands had been. He wanted a fight.

Arthur clicked yes and felt the strange energies of the locus surround him as they had done when he'd initially entered this place. He was a different man now than he'd been then, however, his uncertainty and hesitancy were no longer a dominating part of his psyche. He closed his eyes.

The next time he opened them, he'd be in a different place.