His head throbbed with the force of a hammer blow as his Temple came into focus around him. He was looking forward to filling his lungs again after escaping the beast. Reality however, had a different idea in mind.

The drop bear groaned, and shifted its weight on top of him. There was definitely no intention to bring the thing along. His curious mind wondered about the rules surrounding his skill to enter the realm. He assumed after taking Lee with him had only worked because he intended to take her. By the looks of it, he only had to be touching something, but that didn't feel right either.

He was still pinned down, but thanks to the difference in terrain he could wriggle an arm free. He wanted to vomit. A mix of the pain and the spirit shock he already knew he had was enough to make him consider the quick way out. He knew that he'd come back fast enough, though the idea of dying still didn't sit well with him. He had a subtle fear that the respawn would just stop working all together. It was an unfounded fear, since he really didn't know enough about the world to make such assumptions. Still, he wasn't ready to tackle that particular facet of philosophy just yet.

He reached desperately for the wand that was once again shoved into his boot. It wouldn't be a bad idea to try and tie the thing to his hip later, he thought. The monster was dying, that much was obvious. Lee had managed a good few stabs into the things neck. Along with the sword Henry had left in its armpit, it had already been defeated. His problem was no longer the menacing claws or the hellish bone spikes. The only problem he had left to deal with, was getting out from underneath it before he suffocated.

The wand came free of its home, but he fumbled when the creature shifted again. It was trying to find a comfortable position to expire in, and he couldn't help but think how obnoxious it was. If he was in its position, he'd like to think he had enough courtesy to crawl off and die politely alone.

Finally, he gripped the wand between 2 fingers. There was no way for him to grab it properly, since the monster decided to pin it down with its back foot. He felt its claws scrape his ribs when it curled up. Next time he was in a city, he was going to look into getting armour just for his ribs. Something about this world seemed to hate his ribs. He'd be grateful for a punch in the nose instead at this point. He could still feel the spell in the wand thanks to the tiny bit of contact he had with it. Spirit shock be damned. He was already out of DiHexan, so it was a headache or death. Easy choice really.

He activated the spell, and heard it start to screech. The pop of the force explosion cut off the screaming in the same moment. He didn't pay much attention to the sounds though.

As soon as he cast the spell, he felt a burning agony shoot from his core and fill his body. He felt his notifications increase in number while he spun violently away from his spot. He couldn't see where the beast went. All he could see for the first few moments was his own feet and the passing cloudscape behind them. He hit the dirt again head first. There was no time to prepare for the impact since he hit it backwards. His body slapped the ground with an impressive thud, causing him to bounce and roll. He stopped just inches from the edge of his island. Groaning, he pulled himself up as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast. He didn't want to take any more chances with the creature. If it was ready for another fight, he would just leave it behind and deal with it later. He didn't want to think about how much essence he was spending. He scanned the island to track his foe, but there was no drop bear to be seen.

There was a mess of random things he'd picked up over the last day, but no bear. There was definitely less clutter on the island than there was before. He didn't care. He could always collect more stuff, so long as there wasn't a monster hanging around. He peeked over the edge to see if he could spot it, but the clouds around just swallowed up his view. He could still feel the creature in his Temple though. The more time he spent there, or even thinking about his Temple Realm, the more he understood it on an instinctual level. He could feel all of the things he'd stored in there as well. Everything he took in had a foreign feeling about it. It was kind of like the difference between being clothed or not. He could feel the objects that weren't ‘him’, much like he could feel the difference between wearing a shirt or not. It was easy to get used to the sensation, but he could feel them if he thought about it. The drop bear was a damn heavy shirt by that analogy, so he was very aware it was still around. Wherever it went, it wasn't a direct threat anymore. He slumped to the ground in relief. Now that it was over, his body really started to let him know how much damage he'd taken. With a pained sigh, he checked his notifications.

ALERT:

* Your DiHexan pool is below 30%. Exceeding your pool's limit can cause physical harm and spirit shock.

ALERT:

* Your DiHexan pool has been depleted. Any further use of DiHexan will result in physical harm and spirit shock.

ALERT:

* You have spirit shock. You have lost -10% of your essence on top of what was spent in the conversion.

ALERT:

* You have spent *211[E].

ALERT:

* You have stopped gaining essence from the atmosphere. You gained a total of *570[E]

COMBAT:

* You have slain *1 T2 monster. You have gained *500[E].

COMBAT:

* Combat has ended. You have gained *500[E] for participating in this battle.

* Congratulations! Due to the difference in tier to your opponent, your battle essence is increased by the amount of the gap. You have gained +100% battle essence.

* Your contribution to the battle was 85%. For this you gain an additional +85% battle essence.

* Your total essence for this battle is *1,850[E].

ALERT:

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

* You have discovered a new monster! As this monster isn't in the player database, you are awarded the opportunity to name this creature (*T2 mundane mammal). Would you like to designate a name for your discovery?

* You will gain *250[E] for assigning a designation.

He didn't even need to think about the last notification. He immediately assigned the name ‘Drop Bear’ to the creature, and chuckled to himself.

ALERT:

* You have made an official discovery! *Drop Bear has been assigned as the name of your discovery.

* You have gained *250[E].

Essence: 22,049[E].

He stretched his back, wincing at the pains in his chest. The spikes had been driven at least half way through either of his shoulders. To his relief, there wasn't a lot of blood. It looked like the wounds had bled profusely to begin with, but they were already clotting. His healing factor really was impressive. If only he could get his pain tolerance to match it.

The level up he'd forced himself into again would probably help with the injuries. He felt brand new when he did it the first time, and he'd been prison shanked by a Goblin beforehand. Spending his essence was going to be a bummer. He had a decent amount, but was trying to save as much of it as he could, not able to shake the feeling that it would be useful to have around. He had an idea about how to deal with the drop bear that might be able to help with his essence conundrum.

He felt around in his mind for the body of the creature. When he found it, he tried the same trick he did with his shirt and the mercury. Nothing happened to start with, since the action didn't feel quite right when he wasn't touching it. Eventually though, he felt something change. The corpse was getting smaller, and he could feel his essence growing. It was intoxicating. The essence he got from the mercury didn't even compare to what he felt rushing into his Temple. When the body was finally gone, the essence stopped flowing.

It was like coming out of a trance. He had no idea how long he was standing in that one spot. His stomach yelled at him louder than ever before, so it must have been a while.

ALERT:

* You have gained *41,400[E].

He gawked at the number. His head was spinning from the implications, along with the earlier spirit shock. With essence gains like that, he would get ahead of the pack in no time. It took all he had not to laugh maniacally. Without a second thought, he started scooping up everything he'd collected for the same purpose. He felt for and found the things that had fallen from the island and absorbed them too. The only things he had left were his tent and backpack.

Essence: 64,949[E].

He nearly wanted to dance. He knew it had to have been a while since he'd entered his Temple, but he didn’t really care. Lee could take care of herself well enough, as long as nothing else found their camp. He definitely had enough essence to level up and get out of there with enough change to do it a second time.

Level: 3

Essence to next level: 0 / 8,600

Tier: 1

Essence to next tier: 23 / 500,000

He could probably get to level 5 before he left, without using everything up. The Scotsmen had mentioned something about a level 5 skill. Whatever he got would surely have the context it needed to turn out good. Or at least good enough. He rubbed his sore hands together, and allocated his essence to his level.

Level: 4

Essence to next level: 0 / 17,400

Level: 5

Essence to next level: 0 / 35,000

He felt the same blissful satisfaction wash over him as he did the first time, and he felt his pain ease in a near instant. His body was clean and new again, and he sighed away the tension he'd been carrying. It was time to get back to the rest of the world, and to go make sure Lee hadn't been eaten by something he didn't get the chance to meet. Before he left, he took a good and gleeful look at his character sheet.

The Henry:

Race: Demisis

Age: 32

Level: 5

Tier: 1

Essence: 38,949

Health: 108%

Stamina: 108%

DiHexan: 191 / 191

Strength: 55

Dexterity: 55

Perception: 69

Endurance: 65

Creativity: 70

Core Powers:

* True Temple

Powers:

* N/A

Skills:

* Retreat to Temple

* Hyper Focus

* Hyper State

Hyper State:

* Core Skill

* Cost: 4 DiH per second

* Allows the user's body to enter a hyper state of movement, increasing speed and reflex. Increase endurance by *50

His new skill seemed very similar to the last, only it didn't modify the stats he would have assumed, based on the description. He was giddy with excitement to try it out, and he had the DiHexan to play with.

Feeling like the giant he apparently was, he bowed to his empty Temple Realm, and twisted back into The Hollows.