The first hours of slow monotonous hammering were bearable, both mentally and physically. They started with simple objects--spades, horseshoes, shovels, and other mundane items. Kullburd showed him the form and the amount of power he should use, and advised him to take it slow and steady.

L took it neither slow nor steady.

The real fun started once his stamina hit the red levels, where each swing made L feel the full extent of his sore muscles. L constantly took small breaks, as Kullburd instructed him to do once he felt the strain. The sun began to set by the time was about to call it quits. He had set the hammer down, taking deep breaths.

1+ Strength

1+ Endurance

“Woof. That was something.”

“Exciting, yes?”

“Not the best choice of words, but sure, I don’t mind.” L shrugged, walking out of the humid smithy.

A giant claw him up by the cuff of his back shirt, lifting him up, and then pointing him back towards the anvil.

“Umm...Kullburd?” L croaked.

It was then that Kullburd told him that this is when learning iron was going to occur. He tossed him in the direction of the anvil, and got back to his own work. Under the disapproving eyes of Kullburd, L slugged his body to the anvil, resuming his work. Apparently, skills rose exponentially higher the lower his endurance was, which was quite reasonable. L guessed that it was likewise for his Health values. Life-risking, pain provoking training should give more rewards.

The only issue with moving when your body absolutely did not want to be moved, was that it was fucking painful. 

Two hours passed, making L dangerously close to pick up the nearest sharp object and attempt to use his last breaths jabbing Kullburd’s shiny head, which was somewhat odd, considering that he was the one that asked for a 'quick and easy' workload. Darkness had fully set, with it increasing L’s Darkness Embrace bonuses to near max, yet his limbs were still in perilous condition.

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With each slight movement L felt his muscle fibers tearing, ripping, and then melting in the vile heat of L’s body. His tendons were near non-responsive, falling limb after every few swings. The grinding of his bones came next; bone ligament tore away, allowing the joints of his body to rip into each other. The image of fire ants chewing on his bones made itself clear in L’s mind. Every time he dropped the hammer, the bellowing of Kullburd with a surprisingly wide range of curses resounded in L’s ears.

There were a couple buckets of water nearby, brought in initially by Kullburd. L did not know what they were for until he fainted, and was woken up by the sensation of lukewarm water going down his nostrils. That occurred several times in the first day, and many, many more on the second day. Each time he woke up, L had found himself face to face with a new type of injury.

Minor Left Wrist Bone Ligament Shattering.

+1 Will.

Minor Right Wrist Bone Ligament Shattering.

Minor Left Wrist Bone Fracture.

+1 Endurance.

Minor Right Wrist Bone Ligament Fracture.

Medium Left Elbow Joint Injury.

Medium Right Elbow Joint.

+1 Will.

Medium Upper Right Shoulder Tear.

+1 Constitution.

Medium Upper Right Shoulder Blade Shattering.

Slight Upper Left Shoulder Tear.

Strength slightly increased.

Medium Muscle Damage Sustained in Left Arm, Shoulder, Back, and Chest.

Minor Muscle damage in Abdomen.

+1 Will 

Major Muscle Damage Sustained in Right arm, Shoulder, Back, and Chest.

Reduce Strength, Dexterity, and increase Stamina cost for each injury. Further Injury risk is increased.

+2 Constitution.

Major Exhaustion reached.

+2 Endurance.

Impressive! Through outstanding persistence and unyielding conviction, you have learned gained a new passive skill!

C Rank Fortitude

Take pride, for though your flesh might melt, and your bones might shatter, but your body will still move. 

Increase Base Constitution and Endurance by 25%, and Injury Recovery by 50%. Reduce Injury chance and Injury Penalty by 25%.

In combination with Fortitude, L began extending Dark Weaver over his body, to enable better movements. Not only did he empower his body with his mana, but he also began to control the mana around his limbs directly, like how a puppet would move. This way, he would be accommodating his below average strength with his high Magic proficiency. 

That was the theory, at least. Unfortunately, attempting to perform that technique was akin to moving three different broken limbs in three different directions, while each made four different gestures with cracked fingers. He needed some deeper parts of his brain to do it, and currently, those parts were not too eager to be involved in any shape or form.

What that meant, is that when L’s body hit the absolute maximum of its physical capacities, the system slapped him with over 20 additional penalties, each pertaining to a different spectrum of torment.

L doubled over, vomited, then collapsed on top of it.