This tunnel was way longer than the others. Based on the standard unit of measurement for such a location, it was three crab patrols long, having enough space for that many separate aggro ranges. When the third crab died like the rest, I pushed forward only to find a dead end. Disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. In fact, I’d kind of seen this coming.

The big crab was obviously some kind of special encounter, probably guarding the path to the final room. That being the case, these other tunnels weren’t going to lead the way forward. Part of me hoped I’d still end up with more crabs to fight than just three, but I’d take what I could get honestly. It felt like I thought that phrase a lot lately, and it was a little worrying, all things considered. Just how shit did things have to be if I’d accept just about anything?

Whatever, a problem for another day. Now, I finally had a safe space to do my workouts. Obviously, that’s exactly what I was going to do. My big buddy out there had a range that went far beyond this tunnel, meaning anyone that wanted to get to me would end up fighting him. They could sprint past like I did, but why would they? There weren’t any stragglers back there to warn them how much more dangerous the slightly larger variant was, and a corpse wasn’t the same as a live example. If more people came in, looking for me or not, they’d most likely get locked in with the big man himself.

Feeling comfortable, I started making some equipment. With no cleaver to my name anymore, I tried pulling apart the different sections of a crab. That didn’t work at all, the shell was still way tougher than I could deal with. I debated using my hands to disembowel the thing, but eventually decided against it. The shape was the biggest issue, not the weight. If I could have separated the body into pieces. Then I could optimize my workout, but for now, I just tore off the legs as usual before starting my bench.

My added strength made it just a bit too easy with two hands but still too difficult with one, proving that I couldn’t hold these things back just yet. It sucked. I could move the body to get a one armed bench that was easier, but nothing I did could get the weight just right. At the end of the day, the hardest thing I could do was still a two handed bench of the entire upper body, but even that was only a fraction of the creature’s weight. If it was this hard to move a dead body, there was no way I could push back when they were trying. Not head on at least.

So the spear and shield guy from before really was stronger than me, even now. Well, nothing a few days of benching couldn’t fix.

I pushed, harder than I ever had before. I knew that I had a time limit here since people would eventually come join me in my frozen paradise, despite its reputation. One way or another, somebody would come put an end to my fun, and I was determined to be gone before then.

As nice as it would be to full clear this place, take all of the experience, and become a legend in the making, what I really needed was the crystal. No matter what, I couldn’t keep letting other people have control over my power, even if it was just a money gate. I was already being charged four hundred times more than Lorie was, what would stop them from charging me forty silver each time or even forty gold? Nothing, that’s what. They had the power, and I was at their mercy. At least, until I wasn’t.

Still, I wasn’t leaving until I had to. It was a delicate balance to maintain. How long could I afford to work out here before it became too likely that someone would come take the crystal? How likely was it that I’d get attacked by the spear and shield guy who I knew was stronger than me and was still out there, waiting for his chance? I certainly wasn’t about to bring him a payday for free.

Also, the thought occurred to me somewhat late, how was I going to leave this tunnel? I was in Maine’s aggro range as soon as I left, unlike when I entered. Sure I could outrun the crab at angles, but could I make it all the way to another tunnel without getting caught once? Maybe, but that seemed unlikely.

“Shit!”

I pushed the corpse off of me as I sat up in frustration. Without thinking about it, I’d put myself into a corner. Literally! The only things I could do were work out back here or face the crab. I could try to make a run for it but what would that get me? I could also run around this tunnel all I wanted, but it wasn’t going to increase my agility. Not anytime soon at least. Maybe the frigid air counted as a little resistance and would speed things up slightly, but I’d seen in the flesh caves how little my agility improved from just doing sprints and that was before getting all these levels.

Before it had been great, but I was well into diminishing returns by now. The amount of strain I needed to properly improve was simply more than my body could provide. It was just like benching this crab. If I used the lighter half of the corpse, I could spend days pushing away and never get a point of strength, but with the heavy half I could get a point in a few hours. I didn’t have an equivalent setup for agility, but I’d fix that once I left. Clearly, the strength of my build was how even it was. The archers had good eyes but their bodies could barely keep up. Then, even if they were fast enough to block, my fist broke right through. Had their strength and speed been on par with their senses, I’d have been outmatched by four opponents. Instead, I won a fight while outnumbered and outgunned just because all of my numbers were high rather than just some of them.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

So I just kept pumping away, pushing my body as hard and fast as I could in hopes that it would be enough. Once my health fully recovered, I started seriously considering what I would do next. Staring at my only marginally higher strength score, I knew I wasn’t ready. This wasn’t good enough. Hell, I would probably need another fifty to a hundred points in strength before I could fight that big fucker head on, and I wasn’t getting there anytime soon.

I needed another plan. Maybe I could hollow out one of the crabs after all, disembowel it with my hands and then crawl inside. If I did that, then I could try sneaking through by pretending to be one of them.

The idea was so stupid that I had to give it a try. Maybe I’d just end up wasting half a day scooping out crab guts, but it was the best thing I could come up with, which was really unfortunate. The sensation of reaching into the creature and just pulling out its innards was enough to make me gag, and I didn’t even eat food in the first place.

With a great deal of psychological misery, I eventually emptied out a bunch of the flesh from the big section of crab, nestling myself inside to get a feel for it. The first and most obvious thing of note was how dark it was. Whatever these things used to get around, it definitely wasn’t their eyes. The second was how well distributed the weight was. In fact, I could even stand up and move around despite the resistance.

I stopped. How could I have been so stupid? Holding the carapace over me at a slight angle, I was able to see the ground in front of me which was better than nothing. Then I started to walk. Once I got that down, adjusting the weight slightly to optimize it a little better, I began to jog. I ended up having to drag the other corpses to the sides of the tunnel, large as they were, but I was able to start sprint training within a few minutes.

This was it. These enormous carcasses were the tires I’d been looking for, the drag I needed to make agility training more efficient. Even better, by doing laps I was able to keep an eye on Compass Cave. Nobody showed up while I was busting my hump, meaning that anyone stalking me or my loot was either overambitious and eaten by Maine, or they didn’t stick around in the cold. I was still willing to bet that someone would be outside the portal, waiting to jump me.

That was fine. I really wanted to go grab that crystal and escape this place, but what for? To give myself another method of achieving power independent of others? My sprint training and benching could do that just fine. Hell, if I got strong and fast enough then I’d be able to ignore the class system entirely if I really needed to.

That settled it, then. I’d use the hollow crab technique to grind out points in agility until it stopped being efficient. Then I’d go back to benching. My goal would be to push myself to be fast enough to escape should the worst come to worst. And if that didn’t work, I’d give myself a little secret escape button. Just in case.

Opening up my shortcut menu, I did just that. Now I’d be able to get out no matter what. Ideally with a nice little crab carcass to keep me company during those lonely nights. All in all, my training camp was going pretty well.

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I focused on the knowledge given to me by my new class, carved into the very fabric of my being. It was like this every time, a sudden burst of potential that required decoding to properly unlock. Anyone could use a little bit of its power if they focused hard enough, but to truly master the ability before reaching skill level ten? That was a difficult task, even when you weren’t a mage.

“How’s it looking, Viv?”

My sister had been more motivated than usual, our brush with death encouraging both of us to get further. Sadly, we’d both known that my classes would be worse at lower levels than hers, so progress stagnated for a good while. Not that it was really an issue of ability, but Lorie still didn’t want to tie us down to a group. Not until we were strong enough to not even need one in the first place.

“It’s complicated. Unlike the fire magic from before, this branch feels almost absent of any element. Trying to visualize it and give it form is difficult, even if I know instinctively that I can. The how is always the issue.”

She nodded at my explanation, despite not having any magic of her own. We’d spent too many nights talking about magic and skills for her not to understand.

“Take your time. We’ll have to go east to find more DL3 dungeons anyway, so there’s no rush. Since the inn’s rented through the week, I might go stock up on DL1 cores just in case. The more dangerous towns are probably more expensive too.”

That had been our fear all along, but there just wasn’t any alternative. At least, not one that Lorie would accept. Joining a higher leveled team as two lower leveled women was a tale as old as time, and neither of them liked how it ended. Better to be safe for now, just like Lorie always said. Get a little bit stronger and then head east where the higher danger level dungeons were. Then, we’d get more powerful before doing it again. That had been our plan since the beginning.

I’d worried that my sister was acting unusual ever since we found that guy in a dungeon, but it seemed like it was just a phase. Knowing Lorie, she’d befriended him to get something out of him and, now that she had it, he no longer mattered. She didn’t say what they’d talked about on the date, but I could guess the outcome nonetheless. Law, as he called himself, was a classic dungeon dweller: initially strong but with no prospects. Like all the other races that they’d discovered, they would be much more powerful at level one but simply couldn’t keep up with the ahman at higher levels. Having access to twice as many levels and the associated stats would do that.

Oh well, hopefully he’d be alright. So long as he didn’t get it into his head that he was actually strong, at least.