An arm the size of a canoe smashed the wooden flooring of the first layer of the pagoda Trial Tower. The battle had been ongoing for nearly half an hour, but the last thirty seconds had been the real start of things. Now a switch had been flicked and the control had shifted from the larger combatant to the smaller. While the audience was glad for this, the gigantic turtle man was not.

I didn’t care what it wanted. Its desires and dreams were irrelevant, if they even existed in the first place. I was a speck of dust in the cosmos so worrying about the hopes of a magical creature trying to kill me was a special kind of trivial. Especially considering what I had planned. The System was brutal but at least it was impersonal.

My own treatment was probably going to feel targeted.

I had made a simple thing very complicated by overreaching. The packet of knowledge received by the System had pushed me further into the complexity as I had assumed only one way to use the new technique. Instead of following the System’s newest blueprint, I had recognised an earlier version which should work just as well. As my palm fell flat on the turtle’s shell, I activated Drain.

It was so simple. I opened an internal gate and a dense bundle of energy slipped into a waiting space I hadn’t been able to sense until now. Immediately the difference was clear. I wanted to slap myself but doing so might take my jaw off. My attributes were multiplied again on top of the Infusion which was still running. I curled my palm into a fist and jabbed it forward.

I was no martial artist before… but I was right now.

A one inch punch, thrown with the skill of a true master, sent the large creature right into the far wall. The force of the blow was incredible in its own right but it was the skill with which the attack was thrown which made the effect so pronounced. My muscles had never worked in such perfect tandem with each other. I looked at my own fist instead of worrying about the enemy.

It returned with massive haste but the fight was over already. A barrage of attacks, thrown with varying distances and range to make the blows more complex were completely ineffectual. Absent-minded, I blocked and dodged the mini-boss’ attacks while focusing on the energy within and how it worked. I’m just filling up with batteries, I chuckled.

With each passing second, the container emptied of this new power. It wasn’t mine, so there was no method to hold on to the magic I had stolen. This energy wasn’t quite mana, nor was it Dao. It was a combination of everything the creature was, had experience and could become, all at once. The quality of this energy was so pristine, I was in genuine awe of it.

I was also burning it into nothingness.

There was no stopping the process, it was simply a part of the skill. I mourned as the power slipped through my fingers. As a eulogy to the wondrous feeling, I would use it to full effect. I met the impending giant with a violent smile on my face. Each time Drain emptied, I plunged my bucket back into the turtle’s well. I absorbed exchange after exchange, becoming stronger while my enemy withered.

Once my attacks started to leave pudgy dents in the turtle’s shell, it was time to end things. Although I had dominated the fight once I became truly serious, I had still yet to delve into my own mana during the battle. Naea’s contribution had faded but not before I became a vampiric limpet, sticking to the monster while sapping its strength. In spite of its obvious loss, the mini-boss had not once backed down from me. Even now, it was still a grade 1 and could kill me if it landed the right attack. It wouldn’t give up on the chance. An attitude worthy of respect.

Throughout the combat, the mini-boss had known its lot. From the very first attack thrown, against a different creature entirely, I had seen a hardness in its eyes. It hadn’t given up, but it had known how the fight would go. The sense of a martial artist or the instincts of prey? Either way, it hadn’t avoided me. My Dao rippled in admiration.

So, I gave the creature my true maximum output.

The quick and powerful specimen which had stared me down while I slew dozens of its lesser’s was a thing of the past. More grey than green now, the pallid kung fu amphibian limped towards me. I bowed slightly, thankful to my opponent for being a perfect whetstone to sharpen myself on. Gathering every ounce of the turtle’s energy into my fist, I supercharged the impending blow.

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The strange power from Drain was joined by a sizable chunk of my own mana. As the two mingled within my arm, I lowered my centre of gravity. Almost squatting, I used my left hand to help contain the exuberant magic in my right. For a single instant I considered whether I had overdone it but stopping now would be disastrous. The attack needed to be thrown.

Infusion. Infusion. Infusion. Infusion.

My maximum layering of the skill was four before the gains were outweighed by the damage I would do to myself in its use but I wasn’t done. More than additional strength to my attack, I needed the increased durability which came with magnified attributes or just throwing the punch I was charging up would blow my arm off. An equilibrium came over me as my body was temporarily pushed to the level needed.

Harmony of the Storm.

I couldn’t help myself. I had never been so powerful and I wanted to see the limit, if there was one. Tiny explosions of sound and light glittered around me as thunder and lightning coated my body. A white light gathered in my hand as the affinity of the magic within became tempestuous. Yep, I conceded, definitely too much power.

There’s never too much power.

The thought was my own but it resonated with my Dao to the deepest core of understanding. Drain itself was a representation of this ideal. From within my quiet inner world, a shadow appeared within the smoke of the volcano, illuminated by the light of the Hurricane Heart. The Dao of the Dragon took command of the attack and I became nothing more than a vessel for the attack.

Finally, the punch was thrown. The turtle was still metres away but I had already decided distance was not an issue, so it wasn’t. The attack landed instantly and a blinding light devoured the mini-boss’ form completely. I covered my eyes even as the surge of experience flooded into my core.

Ding! Level up! +20 Attribute points.

Accepting the prompt, I felt a little sad. Gone were the days of being completely reforged by the energy of a level up. My panting stopped and most of the aches ceased their throbs but damage still lingered. The healing wasn’t worse, I was the one who had changed. There was just more of me to heal now. I had to admit it was a good thing. I pictured being in a fight with someone who had dozens of level ups waiting to keep them full strength. That could still be done, but it wouldn’t be effective at higher levels. Anyway, I had another System message to check, so I moved on quickly.

Skill Upgrade - Infused Strike has upgraded to Strike Of The Ruler (Dragon)

The strength to dominate, impose one’s will and destroy one’s enemies.

Some skills explained their effect in words, some were apparently pure vibes. Strike Of The Ruler wasn’t much different to Infused Strike anyway, it was more of an updated description for what I was already doing. However, like Infused Strike, the new version of the skill had unknown possibilities and evolutions possible. I smiled at my fist while the others tentatively gathered around me. Well, Naea wasn’t timid, of course.

“Told you all he was just messing around,” Naea crooned. She flitted around my head proudly, wiggling her small head back and forth. The others all had expressions of either wide-eyed uncertainty or wonder. Luke and Tom were looking at me like I was made of stars which was quite nice. Aaron, Ellie and Harry not so much. To them, I was suddenly scarier than the level 36 mini-boss.

“Sorry about that. New Guidance Stone took some working out. Naea, would you?” I gestured to the bodies and I saw her start to open her mouth a little too wide. “Just loot for now, I think?” Her disappointment was measurable but as close as things were with the guild members of The Ascent, showing them her eating habits could wait. Maybe I should add a trigger warning for them?

Naea bounced around the fallen bodies, now able to tap them all without distracting me. After a minute, I accepted the prompt to loot the lot of them, snorting at the mini-boss’ name. “The System has a twisted sense of humour. The big guy was called Pollock.” I threw a point at the splattered body as I walked over to grab the gloves it had been wearing. Demolished by the final attack, the monster’s remains could have been a work by Pollock himself.

Elli, Luke and Tom laughed quickly, with the others following suit. They’ve got no clue who Jackson Pollock is, bless them. I didn’t judge, most of my general knowledge was stolen entirely from movies and pub quizzes. I had a quick glance at the gains but as usual, it was just coins. A few thousand for the whole room wasn’t bad, but like my experience, it had been less than expected. The mob which were lower level than me hardly gave me a notch towards my next level, the bulk coming from The Turtle Formerly Known As Pollock.

Item - Telekinetic Arm Wraps (Rare)

A master of fighting was challenged from afar but did not want to leave the restaurant they were currently patronising. With a masterful command over the universe, he decided to hit the man from where he was sitting.

Effect: Punches thrown while wearing these wraps have massively extended range.

“Think fast,” I warned as I gently tossed the wrappings over to Aaron. Everyone else used weapons, but there was no reason he couldn’t add these to his current fighting style. The guy didn’t seem to like me very much and while I didn’t care, I cared less about these gloves. I had literally just learned how to do the same myself by my own power. I was beyond training wheels like these.

“Wow,” he said, looking over the description and tying them on, “thank you. Seriously.” He was obviously more moved by the exchange than I was, but all the better. I was coming around to the idea of teaching these guys some stuff. When he was finished, he looked at me with a respect I hadn’t seen there before. That was easy. “What now?” He asked.

The others nodded. I could tell Tom was bursting to talk my ear off, but he was waiting for my answer. The options were rest or continue, but I wasn’t even out of breath. Plus, I wasn’t planning on doing as much on the next floor as long as this tower continued being battles. I had shown my strength and cemented my place in their minds as a step above. There was only one thing left to find out.

It was time to see what this guild of mine could do.