I begrudgingly added an extra step to my training routine, breaking my nose every few minutes. As much as I didn’t enjoy the pain of it, I really couldn’t afford to let my resilience lag. Despite my best efforts, that was exactly what happened. There was just no substitute for the efficiency of weight training, and breaking my bones on purpose just couldn’t bridge that gap.

The goal was to break two twenty on each of my stats before making for the exit, but I might have to give up on that. I’d lost track of the time during my benching earlier, breaking that threshold without even noticing. With the addition of crab resistance training, my agility caught up pretty quickly as well. Sadly, my resilience was barely moving at all.

So long as I was in a dungeon and had enough weight, I could push my strength and agility endlessly. The crab corpses didn’t have any numbers written on them so I didn’t know exactly how much weight I needed, but that was just fine for now. The issue was my resilience. I didn’t have dumbbells for my tankiness. There was no bench press for durability. Now that I wasn’t in combat, it slowed to a crawl. I gained around forty points spread between agility and strength but barely scraped five in resilience in the same timeframe. That was bad.

Maybe I could eventually outmuscle my opponents at this rate, but those arrows punched through me no problem. That wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

“This sucks.”

I eloquently summed up my situation, hoping it would make me feel better. It didn’t. Fine then, we just needed a new plan. Grind out another forty points and get a little more resilience before going for the big crab. Was it a good idea? Not really, no. Did I have a better one? Same answer.

I continued my sprints first, keeping an eye out on each trip just in case I got any visitors. At the speed I was rounding those corners, I would have noticed if anyone showed up, but I remained alone in my gym. Once I broke 230 agility, I turned my attention back to strength. The issue there was not being able to hear what happened outside over the sounds of pumping crab and adrenaline pounding in my ears. I also had to stop every once in a while to break my nose just to make sure resilience got some love. Sadly, I hit 230 strength before hitting 210 resilience. It would have to be good enough.

I knew that this had probably been days of effort at this point, judging by my health recovery in comparison to exercise. Probably. I really was ass at the whole telling time thing. Regardless, I was pushing my luck every hour I stayed down here without getting a big power up. Based on the experience I got from the rest of the cave, I would probably hit my next class threshold if I managed to kill the big crab. With that boost, I should be able to escape from here without dying in an ambush. Hopefully. Maybe.

Without a better idea, I ran into the Compass Cave, finding my good buddy Maine right where I left him. There were no signs of the corpse I’d given him before, meaning he’d long since eaten my peace offering. Judging by the way he charged at me, he obviously didn’t remember it either. Or maybe he did and just wanted seconds. That was also possible.

Fortunately, I was nearly as fast as the giant crustacean now, managing to sidestep at the last moment as it circled around me. Thanks to my standing just past the tunnel entrance, I’d given the big boy enough room to overshoot me and still turn around, but that also gave me an idea. The crab was still too fast for me to catch it normally, but what if I stood with my back to the wall? It was worth a try.

I moved positions to have the hard stone directly behind me as Maine turned around for another drive by. This time, I dodged to the side and he turned with me, anticipating that I would move. I hadn’t expected that, but I managed to get my arms up in time to throw a straight right in hopes of slowing the crab down. It worked just enough for me to jump to the side again as the creature raced past me like a bullet train.

This was a totally different fight from the other crabs. Whatever got Maine to be this big had also given him some pretty good tactics, which was the real problem. If not for that then I’d have been eating lobster days ago, metaphorically speaking. I’d never derogate myself by eating. Disgusting.

Unless I was on a date of course. Maybe Lorie would like crab.

Maine came back for round three before I had time to make a new plan, so I sprinted for the tunnel instead. Clearly, I still wasn’t fast enough to work around the giant crab’s speed, so there was only one thing left to do. Donning my carapace exercise gear once more, I got back to sprints.

I tried again at 240 agility before giving up and getting back to work. But when I came out at 250, I finally noticed a difference. When Maine sprinted past me, I was barely fast enough to grab onto his tail. With all the strength I could muster, I pulled and the results were incredible.

I was dragged right off my feet and onto the ground like I’d taken hold of a car while it raced by. That was dumb. I was dumb. This thing weighed many times more than me and was still my speed, so how the fuck would I ever be able to hold it down? I’d gotten complacent thanks to all the unmoving crabs I’d thrown around, but a sprinting one was totally different. Forget pushing it back head on like the spear and shield guy, I couldn’t even slow it down properly.

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At least that was my first impression, but something in the back of my mind urged me to try again. So I did, around eight times in total before I got clipped by the bastard and spun to the ground, taking a hundred damage in the process. This thing was no joke and I had to be an idiot for trying to take it head on, but I could tell that I’d almost figured it out. My skills were singing to me, giving me information that I would never gain otherwise. The power of wrestling told me that I could grapple this bad boy if I got the positioning just right.

The next time it came for me, I was willing to take a small hit in return for my footing. I took the glancing blow on the shoulder, spinning me into a roll that I used to my advantage, digging my arm underneath its midsection. Hundreds of health left me as my arm dragged along the stone floor and I planted my feet down firmly, activating mount on the creature’s back. It slowed faster than my health dropped, and I used every ounce of strength I had to suplex the fucker, slamming it headfirst onto the stone behind me. The floor cracked as I swiftly moved to remount, preparing for my strongest combo. My straight punch caught it in the midsection, and I realized immediately that this wouldn’t work.

The whole premise of my anti-crab techniques was based on the durability of their carapaces. Sadly, Maine was a different beast entirely. When my fist connected with the softer, thinner midsection carapace, it stopped short and hard. Bones broke in my hand as my health plummeted once more. I was finally fast enough to catch the creature, but I still couldn’t hurt it.

Immediately, I jumped off the crab and sprinted for the tunnel. I could have gone for the crystal at that moment, but I was still making progress. Maybe it was greedy, maybe it was stupid, but I couldn’t see myself giving up so soon. Fortunately, I did have the presence of mind to head towards the west this time, determined to mine some additional experience in the process.

My first challenger appeared within moments of entering the tunnel, but my improved speed made it a joke. I side jumped its charge and grabbed it in a suplex. With my improved strength, I was able to dispatch the creature in a few mounts and move on to the next one, even if I had to use my left hand for all my punching while my right healed. Fortunately, this tunnel gave me quite a few extra crabs, letting me rack up additional experience in my skills and class. I’d definitely get my next advanced class after all this was over, so long as I lived.

Six crabs challenged me and they all died, but they were also guarding a dead end. There was nothing left for me in this cave except for more weight training. With a corpse on either side of me, I got back to my benching.

I had a new plan. If I couldn’t break through the carapace the next time I wrestled it, then I’d just suplex it and go for the crystal. I wouldn’t have time to select my class while the crab was coming for me, but I could probably pull it out of the ground and escape. Then I could just push myself in the gym until someone came to ruin my fun and then press the eject button. Easy peasy.

I barely gained a couple points in strength before my health fully recovered, just showing that my stat training was beginning to tap out. I’d always assumed that with enough weight I could grind endlessly, but it seemed impractical in the long run. My body, as strong as it was, finally began to plateau. The crabs were still a challenge to bench since I was pushing two halves at a time, but the stat growth just wasn’t coming in like it used to. I was willing to bet that there were a bunch of soft caps that I’d been pushing past ever since I landed in that test server, but they’d finally caught up to me. The last point I’d gained took nearly ten hours based on the rate my health recovered, and that was with the dungeon boost.

I hadn’t tracked the time, but I’d probably spent weeks pushing my agility and strength in this dungeon. Whatever I was worried about outside of my little gym was a distant concern now, since nobody in their right mind would stake me out for over a month. Or, well they didn’t exactly have months in this world but the sentiment remained. Actually, it was probably coming up on fall right around now, assuming I left this place and went outside. That being the case, people would start wearing warmer clothes. Hell, totally different people might wander into town with higher power levels and stronger skill sets.

I was definitely out of time.

I pushed the corpses off of me and made my way back to the Compass Cave, peeking out of my tunnel just in case. The coast was clear for now, but I could faintly hear the sound of footsteps coming from the southern tunnel. It was go time.

I sprinted for the giant crab, ready to roll. It raced up to me in turn, and I used the same maneuver as last time. He seemed confident, willing to let me injure myself for a free hit since he knew I couldn’t hurt him. While true, that wasn’t my goal here. My health plummeted again as I reached under the monster and shredded my arm on the stone floor, but I didn’t relent. Soon Maine was back in the air and then slammed onto the ground. I wasted no time, sprinting towards the center of the room while the crab thrashed on the ground.

The crystal was there in all of its glory, growing out of the ground like some stalagmite. Looking down, I could see that it started at the floor just based on the coloring, so I delivered my strongest sweep kick to the crystal. It cracked loudly, coming free into my hands as two more things happened at once. Maine got to his feet and a party of stabilizers reached the cave entrance. The latter were too surprised to move right away, but the former didn’t believe in such weakness. Neither did I. With all the speed I could muster, I sprinted for the east tunnel, determined to get out of here with everything I wanted. The adventurers moved to intercept me, unwilling to use their ranged attacks for fear of damaging my precious cargo. Maine and I were faster though, barely allowing me to reach the tunnel thanks to my head start. Unfortunately for the newcomers, they didn’t realize how quickly the giant crab would shift aggro. Not that it was my problem.

I headed further into the tunnel for my fancy hollowed out carapace before placing the crystal against the wall and looking at the bubbled words. It was time for my next class.