I hopped out of a portal into the desert in a cloak, my new enchanted Master's Underclothes, and a fresh set of weapons I had spent the afternoon crafting.

Improved Precision Infernal Throwing Daggers

Fashioned by a novice, Arcane Forgemaster enchanted with two powerful runes.

Precision and Accumulation (100)

Durability: 100/100

I'd barely started using Arcane ForgeMaster and was already seeing the changes. Etching the runes felt like second nature, and the 50% boost was ridiculous. Accumulation, or A.K.A. the storage rune, could take 50% more energy, and I was confident that I could shear through Steel with my mundane weapons now.

And don't even get me started on the Stat boost. This was the easiest I've ever had power handed to me, but a closer look at the Class post-acquisition made it clear that every level up from this point would be hard won.

To level up, I had to fulfill two requirements: complete missions related to my Class, which in my case meant crafting increasingly impressive artifacts, and fuel the Class with Red Orbs.

Skill upgrades came at levels 15 and 30, after which the Class is fully upgraded. I guessed an advanced class came next, but I couldn't really know until I reached level 30.

The fact that I had to part with even more of my Red Orbs bummed me out, but I reminded myself that we weren't running out of demons anytime soon.

I hurried down the dune where I touched down and came face to face with a lithe African woman dressed in a cloak lightly whipped about by the afternoon breeze. Underneath it, I spotted a whip covered in symbols to her left and a dagger to her right. Something about how the light hit the metal and the overall look of it made me lick my lips.

"Is that Vibranium?"

"Lovely to meet you too," The woman said with a thick accent I immediately recognized.

"You're Nigerian."

"And you know what Vibranium looks like," she said. "That's rare. So, the rumors of your wasted youth were greatly exaggerated?"

"Well, I am still technically young," I said, "and I have recently taken up smithing. Like everything else, I have a knack for it."

"Burden of talent," she hummed. "Well, let us see how far it will take you. Yao has instructed me to pit you against the worst Lesser demons we've managed to capture in the last 20 years."

I gulped.

"Yao thinks you'll come out of the fight without any wounds. She even has money on it," she said.

"What do you think?" I asked her, and she scoffed.

"I think the mountain air has made the sorcerer supreme lose perspective. I look forward to lining my pockets with her money."

"I don't know about that. A lot of people have bet against me in the past. I'm here, and they're not."

"Everybody's luck runs out eventually."

"I don't believe in luck."

She flashed me a wicked smile. "You might when you see the demons I've lined up for you."

----

Not 10 minutes after Effiong's witty comment, I ate my words. She led me down a winding path to the Eye of the Sahara, a famous archeological site in the desert. Over the years, many people have connected the place to myths of the ancient world, like Atlantis.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I wondered how those conspiracy theorists would react when they learned about Namor.

Buried beneath the Eye's surface were several openings on the climb down that'd been walled off with stone fortifications. I caught a few interested glances on the trip down from open caves. At the very bottom of the Eye was an arena floor covered in etches and symbols. Effiong gestured me onto it before making a complicated Mandala.

Sand sunk into the slopy corner of the Arena's bottom, and the biggest bug I'd ever seen skittered out.

It had 8 razor-sharp legs, a 4-foot stinger sticking out of its rear, and pincers large enough to decapitate a fully grown man. Its segmented red shell was covered in thick dust, and just staring at it conjured images of cockroaches and other creepy crawlies that made me shudder.

"Is that some type of mosquito, cockroach hybrid?" I questioned.

Effiong chuckled at my obvious discomfort from the edge of the Arena where she stood. "No, but it's close enough. If looking at it already makes your spine crawl, wait until it attacks."

The look of it bothered me so much I was tempted to stomp it with my strongest attack, but then I reminded myself why I was here.

Devil's Eye dubbed the creature as Blood Red Spinner.

I wouldn't learn why it was called that until much later. The Beast chittered at me contemptuously as it angled its stinger forward and fired a ray of blood. It raised a spray of sand beside me as I ducked out of the way and analyzed the attack. It wouldn't be enough to punch through me, but it'd leave some serious damage.

The Beast suddenly twisted all eight legs in a considerable show of Dexterity, swinging his blood beam outwards. I ducked underneath barely and watched in surprise as the beam circled for a second cut while slowly building up speed. And then, there was a third, fourth, and fifth circle. I closed the distance between us despite the sand and blood spraying around me and chucked two disks of light at the body, but it was moving so fast my blades bounced off.

I switched tactics then, summoning Arbiter. I threw out a Flush, which stopped the Beast from spinning when it noticed the attack. I hefted Arbiter up high, filling it with energy before slamming the blade down, creating a fissure of eruption energy that slammed into the Beast right after it skittered left to dodge flush. The energy had it stumbling, and if I wanted, I could've finished it there with Thunderer, but I came here to earn new resistances, so I let it recover.

The Beast chittered angrily again and fired another spray at me. Surprisingly, Evasion activated as a ray of super-compressed blood destroyed the area where I formerly stood. He fired again, tearing up even more sand, but I dodged again.

It took me three more shots before I gathered up the courage to let the beam hit me.

It speared through my Master's robe and gut like wet tissue paper, and I got a notification for my troubles.

Blood Resistance (Basic)

"Yup, that's it right there."

I dropped to my knee from the sudden pain, and that was when the Blood Spinner leaped at me, bearing down with four of the eight claws, which glowed with a red light.

I summoned two of my Infernal daggers and parried the two strikes coming down on me easily, retaliating with twin slashes that scored thin lines up and down its segmented torso.

Our figures blurred as the monster reigned blows down. I parried most of them, but occasionally, I'd let one land, inflicting a gut-wrenching pain, but the wounds closed almost as quickly as they opened.

Eventually, the monster caught on and realized his attacks were not doing much damage. So, it went for the kill shot by suddenly constricting its mid-section, angling its four-foot-long stinger straight at my neck.

I flipped back to dodge, leaving me open to a concentrated blood attack to the side. I let the attack hit again, and I immediately regretted it. The blood did not punch out my back. Instead, the foreign blood worked up my veins and system, trying to wrest control from me.

The attack was so unconventional and potent that blood resistance worked overtime to maintain control. And I still had plenty of said control when the monster swiped at me, hoping to finish me off. I barely got out of the path in time, backpedaling, and spent the next 5 minutes or so playing mental tug of war while the monster tried to decapitate me. My movement started jerky and uncontrolled, but by the end of the five minutes, I was back to full speed and had acquired Adept Tier Blood Resistance.

I caught his latest claw attack when I saw the notification flash in front of my eyes and activated my precision Rune and Burst as I stabbed into the monster's eye and slashed outwards. I destroyed its brain. In a flash, it was dead.

I shoved it to the side with disgust as I spiked Angel regeneration. My regen pushed out the blood, and my skin and muscles healed shortly after. My clothes repaired itself by pulling on my blood.

You've defeated Blood Spinner. You've earned 650 Red Orbs.

Effiong made it down to the Arena with an amused look on her face.

"Not a scratch on you," she laughed. "Yao played me, and you play with your food. I suppose you can afford to do that with your regeneration and adaptability. Maybe you do not need luck after all."

"It's why I am here." I said, "to turbo-charge my ability for the upcoming fight."

"Then, you will not be disappointed by the monsters trapped underneath the eye."