As Jonathan recovered, he scouted out the path before him. There were about fifteen more rocks left until the end of the fiery lake, and the spacing increased the further that they went. By the last rock, it looked like there was about three hundred feet between it and the previous one. Jonathan might have misjudged the length of the lake by a bit. It was certainly more than a mile long now that he was looking at it properly.

His injuries knit back together somewhat, and he was soon ready to fight once more. Jonathan got to his feet and fixed his position relative to the next outcropping. He bunched up his legs and jumped a moment later, already preparing his mana attacks. As the monsters rose up from the deep, he was ready, using their bodies as springboards within which to cross.

Continuing in this vein over the next hour, Jonathan crossed about half of the remaining distance, and the injuries were quickly mounting. The monsters by now were too powerful to be defeated within the time frame that he possessed, and not only that, but they were strong enough to overpower him as well. He was only scraping by at this point, and his durability was being put to the test.

Eventually, he caved in, and added some points to his Resilience stat, doing some quick math to bolster the amount gained. At this point, using batches of two stat points was no longer as efficient as before, but three worked fine. He quickly sent eighteen stat points into Resilience, which, with his multipliers, sent it up by thirty points. His body began to heal over even more rapidly than before, and his skin tightened across his hardening bones. He felt invulnerable now, unbreakable. It was only an illusion created by the after effects of the stat point investment, and they quickly disappeared however.

Jonathan eyed up the lava in front of him, and dove in, kicking as hard as he could. The monsters were programmed to attack things above the surface, but because of the nature of this trial, they had little freedom to do anything else. When Jonathan swam right by the first of the monsters, it took a few seconds to realize what was happening. The lava was like a hot bath to his skin at this point, and could afford to stop and linger in it for long enough to attack the creatures lurking there.

He drove one fist into its head, slowed down somewhat by the mana. However, the lava could not impede his Void aspected attack, and it carved through flesh and bone alike. The monster was now aware of the threat, and it lashed out, but now that it was underwater, and unable to catch Jonathan in the air, where he was more vulnerable, its size worked against it.

Jonathan quickly finished it off, driving both fists into its brain. Essence rushed into him, almost leveling him up again. However, more of the monsters had been drawn by the fight, and he decided against doing such a thing in the future.

He kicked wildly, propelling himself at high speeds through the viscous lava. He reached the next island at record speed, and he estimated that he had been swimming at upwards of a hundred miles per hour, which was quite impressive, given that he was swimming in lava. He really was above and beyond anything he had ever known before coming to this world.

He quickly flipped up onto the rock, which was barely large enough to sit on, and recovered some of his mana and stamina as he waited. There had been no injuries from that dive, save for a light reddening of his skin. He guessed that the System had not accounted for the fact that someone would have such high Resilience and still have enough in their other stats to fight on an equal level with the monsters in this dungeon. The lava was meant to be an obstacle, but to Jonathan, it was actually an efficient means of crossing the lake.

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Jonathan swam for the rest of the lake, using the islands as resting spots for him to stop by. By the time that he had reached the final island, he was feeling pretty good about himself. He was hovering on the brink of level fifty now, and he knew that when he crossed it, something would be in store for him.

He prepared to make the final crossing, but the lava in front of him suddenly cooled to black rock, and a figure stepped out of a rent in the air in front of him. It looked like a classical demon, with red skin, horns, and a long tail. In its hands, it wielded twin axes, which glowed with an infernal light. However, it was clearly not sapient, and its eyes glowed with madness. It roared at Jonathan, and charged him, its axes held high. He coated his fists in mana, and charged the monster, roaring in return.

He upped his speed as he neared the creature, surprising it with his turn of speed. The monster was caught off guard by his next attack, which came rocketing towards its abdomen, rendered vulnerable by the way that it was holding its axes. The monster had no skill whatsoever with its weapons, and it seemed to be just something that the System had tacked onto the creature to make it more imposing. It lashed out with the axes, but Jonathan dodged them easily. The creature snorted, and red light limned its form, causing it to speed up dramatically. It made up for quality with sheer quantity of attacks, driving Jonathan backwards with a wild flurry of ax strikes. The ones that got through left large cuts on his body, even through his armor, which told him that they were enchanted somewhat.

He marshaled himself, and entered his battle meditation state, calming himself down forcibly so that he could see what his enemy was doing. He began to react to the monster's fighting style more accurately over the next few seconds, and he soon was able to predict where the strikes would come in.

It appeared totally random at first, but there were a few patterns thrown in with the wild swinging that the monster was using against Jonathan. He eventually drove his fist home into the demon’s stomach, blasting it backwards and tearing out a great chunk of red flesh with his Void mana.

The monster howled in rage, and raced back towards Jonathan, ignoring the hole in its stomach. Jonathan bent low as it came near, and then exploded upwards, seizing its leading arm and twisting it up and over his head. He slammed it into the stone beneath them, surprised at how light it was. He started to swing the monster again and again, building up momentum. It writhed in his grip and cut him with its axes, but he kept at it, breaking bones and crushing flesh. By the time that he was finished, the monster was nothing more than a bag of loose bones, and Jonathan threw it up in the air. As it came down, he drove his fist into its face, killing the creature. The monster melted away into nothing, along with its weapons. Enough essence entered him to reach the next level, and as expected, he was met with a notification.

For reaching level 50, you can now upgrade your boons, or choose a new one.

Available Tier 1 Upgraded Boons.

Hardened Skin

Available extra boons.

Elastic Muscles

Speedy Nerves

Inner Conscience

Jonathan could either pick to upgrade his current boon, or pick a new one. The decision was really a no brainer, and he chose to upgrade his old one. There was no reason to branch out at this point, and he would be missing out on the bonuses from upgrading the first one. His skin started to become even harder than before, and it tightened dramatically over his bones, becoming as solid as rock. He looked down at a visible slice of flesh on his arm. It looked like it was made out of hardened leather, which was perfect for his purposes. He wouldn't be winning any modeling competitions, but he would be winning battles.