Erith threw herself backward‌, narrowly avoiding the ‌swinging claw. With sword raised expecting another attack, she waited, but it never came. The claw’s owner instead retracted the appendage and stepped into view. Three glowing red eyes, scanning a different part of the room, converged on Erith. Short, brown fur covered its head and torso, while its overly long limbs, fashioned from polished metal, formed a striking contrast. It stood over 7 feet tall, barely fitting in the hallway. Ray, seeing its complete focus on Erith, snuck to the side of the room, creeping closer to the humanoid. Upon approaching within 5 feet, the creature's gaze fixed upon him, and it sprang into action. It swept out, aiming its razor-sharp claws directly at Ray. With a yelp, Ray dodged back while bringing up his sword breaker to stop the strike. He activated the skill infused into the weapon as it made contact, causing a gash to open on the mechanical arm. Sparks shot out as the creature withdrew and pointed its other hand at Ray. This one lacked claws and had a hole in the center of its palm. Repressed knowledge welded up within mind, giving him a feeling of dread when looking at the appendage. He followed his instincts, throwing himself to the ground just as a loud bang echoed, followed by the sound of something hitting the steel walls. The creature peered down; its snarl showed sharp teeth. Smoke poured from the appendage as it fell limply to its side. Ray breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for his narrow escape. The creature stilled once more, waiting for Ray’s next move, but he would not be the one to make it as Erith shot toward the monster. Her sword ignited. Her blade whistled through the air, aimed at the creature's stomach, but it met only air as the creature's face twisted into an eerie grin.

“Think again!”

She said, gritting her teeth as the flame extended past her blade and ignited the creature's fur. It screamed in a mix of fright and pain as it frantically tried to put out the fire in vain. Ray already knew that the only way to extinguish that fire would be for Erith to run out of MP or cancel the effect. Smoke billowed out as it frantically rolled around on the ground, trying anything to stop itself from being consumed by the fire before it stilled. Erith canceled her blade skill, seeing that the creature had stopped breathing. She smiled at Ray.

“Shall we conti-”

The creature's claws sliced through her left thigh, cutting her off. She screamed out in pain and tried to scramble away from the somehow still-alive pile of scrap metal as it got to its feet.

“Erith!” Ray said, dashing to her side.

“I'm alright, however, I won’t be able to assist until I recover.”

She said, pulling out some of the healing salve she had brought for emergencies. Ray nodded, putting himself between her and the metal skeleton that had lost all semblance of being something that was once made of flesh and blood. Not wanting to give it a chance to recover fully, he dashed at the monster daggers at the ready. He slashed at the creature's clawed arm with his blade, but it didn't flinch, pushing past the dagger to counterattack. Ray’s eyes widened in shock as a deep gash opened on his right arm. He gritted his teeth, taking a few steps back from the creature. A loud, whirring noise suddenly came from the creature's chest as it walked toward the retreating Ray. The creature blurred, striking like a whirlwind, and cuts opened up on Ray’s body as he failed to block all the strikes. Seeing no other option, he used all his accumulated points to increase his dexterity. With the increased stats, he kept up with the beast, if only barely. Its metallic structure glowed red hot as the fight continued. After trading a few more blows, Ray raised his dagger to block an incoming strike but screamed out in pain as molten metal scattered from the impact point, covering his arm. A disgusting sizzling noise echoed as the metal chewed through his arm. He scrambled back as his head swam; the pain threatening to relieve him of consciousness. His enemy tried to move towards him, but it was in vain. The effect of its boosting skill had liquefied part of its body and it could no longer move its legs. With three unblinking eyes, it stared at Ray, then silently flowed into a shimmering, molten puddle, spreading across the floor. Ray fought for as long as he could, but the pain finally won out. The last thing that he saw before the world went black was Erith frantically dashing over to him with a panicked expression on her face.

“A feat of strength has been performed. Title gained Underdog.”

When Ray next opened his eyes, he found himself in the bedroom he had passed. His head swam, and a deep pain still resonated from his arm as he surveyed his surroundings. He saw Erith sitting near the entrance of the room. It looked like she had piled all the furniture except the bed against the door. Her eyes flickered up, meeting his gaze.

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“You're awake!”

She said, jumping to her feet.

“Yeah, what happened when I was out?”

Ray asked, rubbing his forehead with his left arm.

“I dragged you here after that wretched creature melted.” She said with a frown. “I figured it would be better to stay in this smaller corridor than try to make a run for it when I could barely carry you.”

Ray nodded and tried to push himself up in the bed however, his right arm would not listen to his commands. He looked over at the limp appendage and removed the bandage to see how bad the damage was. The sight of large chunks of hardened iron embedded in Ray's arm made both him and Erith wince. Small blisters surrounded each chunk, but the healing salve had lessened their severity. Ray reapplied the bandaging before cutting a piece of the bedsheet off and tying it into a sling for the arm. Knowing that they may still need to fight their way out of this place, Ray placed his sword breaker in the wrapped hand and checked to see if he could still use his dual-wielding skill. He checked his status screen and was relieved to see that it still applied and shocked to see his progress.

Status

Name: Ray

Leval: 15

Ascension: 0

Class: Beginner Artisan (Rare)

Mana: 550/550

Stamina: 130/130

Stats

Strength 12

Endurance 13

Dexterity 62

Intelligence 100 Max

Breakthrough available

Wisdom 55

Available Points: 3

Multipliers

Strength 0.5

Endurance 0.5

Dexterity 2

Intelligence 2

Wisdom 1

Skills

Draconic Insite, weapon bond, dual-wielding

Titles

[System Appointed Artisan], [Low-Grade Stats Collector], [First threshold], [Blessing of the Scale Mother], [Underdog]

Breakthrough?

He thought questioningly while mentally prodigy the option.

“Breakthrough successful intelligence increased to rank E 1 -10 intelligence reset to 10.”

Hmm, He thought, re-examining the status page. Guess I will look at Draconic Insite next.

Remembering that he had gotten it, but never looked into what it did, he opened the skill page.

Draconic Insite

Revel knowledge of a target based on all information that you have access to within the Draconic library. Higher access reveals more information.

Noticing that it now said that it would work on a target and not just an item, he made a mental note to try it on Erith after he finished going through his gains. Finally, he turned his attention to his new title.

Underdog

Defeat an incarnate on a higher threshold than you.

+20% all starts when fighting a higher-threshold opponent.

Does that mean that the creature we just fought not only had a spark but was past level 20?

Ray became a lot more grateful that he had survived the fight even with his greaves injury. Happy with the results and not wanting to forget, he turned his attention to Erith and activated Draconic Insite.