Ever since Jake had killed the lizard, his daily routine had been subject to quite a few changes. For the first time since the integration, Jake now had access to the outside world, although he still spent most of his time cultivating inside the cave, which was a lot more efficient than cultivating anywhere else thanks to the huge amounts of spirit energy released from the spirit pond. Still, he made a point of going outside every so often, if only to keep track of the days passing by. That’s how he knew it had been five days since he’d injured his shoulder in the fight against the lizard.
Even though his vitality stat had improved tremendously since the day of the Integration and greatly enhanced his body’s ability to recover, the flesh around his injured shoulder had barely started to mend, and the wound still bled occasionally. This simple fact reminded Jake that he would almost certainly have died from such an injury not that long ago. Over the last five days, he’d witnessed firsthand the effect his increased vitality had on his body’s ability to regenerate and recover. Aside from his back, the wounds he’d sustained the morning he escaped from the wolf were practically gone, with only the more serious injuries lingering — though even they showed clear signs of scarring.
The shoulder was another beast entirely, however, and he guessed it would take at least a month, if not longer before it healed completely, or he at least regained some sort of control over his left arm. The lizard’s teeth had dug in so deep inside his flesh that his collarbone and all adjoining muscles had been torn and shattered to pieces, leaving a lot more work for his body to heal than the simple flesh wound of his back.
Still, the last week hadn’t been entirely wasted even though he hadn’t been able to move around too much, as he spent almost every waking moment cultivating, allowing him to gain a staggering four levels under five days. He’d also spent the entire week gulping down the pond water like it was juice, although it had only provided meagre results, unfortunately.
Still, the progress he’d made in those five days was nothing short of amazing, and he couldn’t stop himself from grinning as he brought up his status screen in front of him.
Not only had he put the two free points in STR, DEX, END and VIT respectively, but he’d also gained a staggering three additional points in each of his four physical attributes thanks to the spirit water, for a total increase of ten points in all of his attributes thanks to the water. Just like with his previous jump in stats, he had felt the mysterious pressure diminish with every subsequent increase in strength. At least for now, his recent improvements made it possible for him to move his arms and legs while sitting down even without using any spirit energy, although he continued to use spirit energy any time he wanted to move as the strain on his body from the pressure was no joke.
At first, he’d contemplated investing all of his free points in strength, which would make it a lot easier to move under the mysterious pressure, but he had finally decided to spread his points evenly until he possessed more knowledge on which attribute was best to increase. He had also decided he wouldn’t put any points in intelligence or wisdom, as he doubted it would be of any use to him for now. As for luck, he had tried to invest a some points into the attribute the last time he’d gained a level, only to find out that it was impossible to increase his luck with free points, which wasn’t too much of a blow since he had yet to know what effect the luck attribute would even have.
After closing down his status screen, Jake looked down at his clothes — or rather, the lack thereof. He’d ditched every piece of clothing on his person, including his boots, after the fight with the first reptile. Now, he was left in nothing but his old, torn, blood-covered boxers. His entire outfit had been covered in so much blood and grime that Jake had reluctantly abandoned it in the tunnels due to the stench. Even then, his clothes had been so worn and ripped due to the recent events they would have fallen apart on their own any day now. Still, it felt strange to be standing alone in a cave, wearing nothing but what might be the most disgusting pair of boxers known to man. He’d need to find new clothes soon — otherwise, he risked the embarrassment of being seen in this state.
Not much more had happened to Jake during the recent week, except for the fact that he’d gone outside to hunt a lizard around three days ago. Fortunately, the lizards were so big he had been able to eat more than his fill during the last few days, although he wouldn’t have minded eating anything other than the bland, repulsive, rubber-like raw meat of the lizards for several days in a row. If the food had felt only slightly bad on the first day, it had become an entirely different story after having spent the entire week eating the same thing at every meal. Admittedly, complaining about food was a very strange thing to do while standing almost entirely naked inside a glowing cave, but he couldn’t help but hope he’d find something a little tastier on his next hunt.
One of the things he’d realized was that he needed to eat a lot more since the day of the integration if he wanted to satiate his hunger, and after having consumed two whole lizards as big as pit bulls in a week, let's just say the thought alone of eating one more lizard almost made him throw up, even though he was still so hungry he could have killed for a warm meal. On that thought, he swore to himself to find anything but a lizard to eat today, and it was with renewed enthusiasm that Jake made up his mind to set out once again in search of the wolf.
Jake slowly got up, circulating a small amount of energy inside his body as he did. He’d spent quite some time inside the cave by now, and he was getting tired of the dark. Even worse, ever since he’d reached a total of ten bonus attributes in each physical stat with the spirit water two days ago, he hadn’t been able to gain a single more attribute point even though he’d drank spirit water every chance he got since.
He decidedly made his way toward the tunnel, and he exited the cave after walking down the narrow subterranean passage. As soon as he passed through the exit, he was once more assaulted by the unrelenting rays of the sun — or rather suns —, although the feeling wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been the first time.
It only took a few seconds for Jake’s eyes to adjust to the sunlight before he set off toward the mountains. He’d spent the last week contemplating what to do about his hunger problem, but after eating the last of his second reptile yesterday, he had finally decided he would rather die of hunger than to eat one more raw lizard. In the end, he decided to go search for food that wasn’t a scaly reptile before returning to the cave, even if he had to come back empty-handed. With any luck, this would be the last time he would get out of the cave before he finally managed to reach level ten, at which point he’d most likely try to venture out a little farther from the cave.
He wandered outside around the cave for a few minutes, taking a good look at his surroundings to watch out for hidden threats. The whole area was a giant forest of breathtaking proportions, with large trees sparsely spread across the landscape, and the ground could barely be seen under the thick layer of amber leaves that had just recently fallen off the trees. The wind was as violent and precarious as one could expect from this time of year, and the air was cold and sharp, which was all but pleasant when wearing nothing but underwear full of holes.
After a few minutes, Jake stopped walking and sat down, slowing down his breathing according to the pattern that was now second nature to him, and he spent the next half hour recovering his lost spirit energy. When he opened his eyes again, he unexpectedly came face to face with two globullous eyeballs that stared at him, unwinking. He looked at the eyes for a few moments before realizing that they were attached to the body of a small lizard around the size of his hand. The reptile kept looking at him with its beamy eyes, letting out a small screech on occasion.
“Today’s your lucky day, midget. I just swore to not eat any more lizards until the day I die this very morning. Lucky you.” Jake declared to the creature.
The lizard looked at Jake, tilting its head a little bit to the side, his massive eyes locked on his and the rest of his body still as a rock. The small critter kept looking at him for a few seconds before he took a step in Jake’s direction. Suddenly, the reptile looked to its left, almost like something had alerted it, and Jake followed its gaze, out of curiosity. Jake’s eyes widened the moment they landed on the long, slithering silhouette. A few meters away from him, a 5-meter-long cobra was slowly making its way toward his position without as much as a sound.
Instantly, Jake jumped to his feet, facing the incoming creature and ready to fight. The snake kept making its way closer, now aware that he had been spotted and making no effort to go unnoticed any longer. Jake grabbed a couple of rocks from the ground and threw them at the snake with all the strength he could muster, which was thankfully a much less embarrassing display than it had been not even a week ago, thanks to his improved strength. The snake was fast and agile however, and after a dozen throws, only two of the projectiles had managed to hit the cobra, bouncing on its scaly skin without much apparent damage. The good news however was that the snake had stopped its advance and its head now stood a meter off the floor, resting on top of its intertwined body.
It conspicuously looked at Jake for around a dozen seconds before it simply pounced toward him. The snake cleared the 2 meters that separated them with incredible speed, and Jake barely managed to get his body out of the way of the snake’s fangs, which landed a few meters behind Jake. It was one thing to have his shoulder chewed off by a lizard, it was another thing entirely to let a possibly very venomous snake bite into his neck, meaning he wouldn’t be able to kill the reptile the same way he’d taken care of the first lizard he’d fought.
Jake turned around in an instant, and without hesitating he pounced on the snake in retaliation while its back was still facing away. He grabbed the snake’s neck — or rather body — just below its head with one hand. His right hand firmly held the snake, and that’s when he realized he’d fucked up. Jake had assumed a simple snake would be no trouble for him to handle thanks to his newly improved strength that had come with the nearly 40 points he’d gained in strength since the integration. That assumption had proven a dangerous mistake, however, as that snake was far from ordinary. The serpent’s body twisted and struggled with incredible strength, with Jake barely able to maintain his grip on the creature, unable to use his left hand to strengthen his hold on the snake as he was still unable to move his injured arm.
The snake started hissing and screeching dangerously, at the same time twisting the rest of his body that wasn’t pinned to the floor by Jake’s grip, until its entire body was wrapped around Jake’s right arm, squeezing dangerously with a strength that could certainly have crushed his bones if not for Jake’s improved endurance. He looked at the snake under his right hand, then at his left arm which was still unusable because of the wound, and realized he was stuck with a venomous reptile in his hand with no clear idea of what to do next. How fun.
Infusing his right arm with gigantic amounts of spirit energy, he lifted the arm that held the snake off the ground, being extremely careful not to release his grip on the reptile, before he slammed it back down to the ground. The creature’s head and body hit the ground with a thundering crunch. The snake let out a pained cry, letting Jake know that his plan was working, so he naturally kept going. After what felt like two dozen slams into the ground, the snake’s body released its hold on Jake’s arm before falling limply to the floor, and its head followed shortly after when Jake let go of the mangled head.
“WHAT IS IT WITH THESE DAMN REPTILES?” Jake shouted, enraged.
His voice echoed inside the open space before the silence fell back on the forest. Panting, Jake sat down near the bloodied corpse, closing his eyes. It was the third time he’d almost died since the integration. First the wolf, then the lizard, and now the snake.
“I might truly go on a crusade against reptiles at this rate. What is it with this place and the reptiles all wanting to kill me?” he mumbled to himself.
Suddenly, he felt something crawling along his back and making its way to his right shoulder. Almost on instinct, Jake looked on his right shoulder, ready to kill. However, he stopped in his tracks immediately when he saw the two gleaming eyes that looked right into his, unblinking. The lizard was barely bigger than Jake’s hand, yet his eyes were each bigger than the tips of his thumbs, giving the reptile a funny look, and Jake smiled at the creature.
“You again? Look, I know I told you earlier I wouldn’t eat you, but I’ve just started a crusade against all reptiles, so you should probably go,” Jake said matter-of-factly.
The creature looked at him with a confused look, still not blinking. The lizard stood there, still as a statue before it jumped down from Jake’s shoulder. It crawled over to the remains of the snake, before taking a bite out of the reptile.
Jake let out a laugh, before closing his eyes once more and focusing on recovery. It was only around an hour later that Jake opened his eyes, feeling a lot better already. On his right shoulder stood the lizard once again, still looking at him with his enormous eyes. Jake rolled his eyes, before he got back up with a grunt, using his spirit energy to help him move. He couldn’t wait for the day when his attributes would be strong enough for him to move around without the need to strain his core.
He looked back to the snake, who was still there except for a small bit of its side who had probably been chewed off by his new friend considering the lizard’s belly was at least twice as big as it had been an hour before. With a look of disdain, Jake grabbed the snake by the tail and made his way back to the cave. Once again, he would eat raw reptiles for dinner tonight.
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As soon as he had arrived next to the pond, Jake had immediately thrown the serpent aside and started cultivating again. When he opened his eyes back up a few moments later, his gaze instantly landed on the scrawny critter that was lazily swimming like a frog inside the spirit pond. Jake watched the lizard with a horrified expression. There was only one simple reason that after all this time spent in the cave, he had yet to take a bath in the water, and it was the fact that Jake had mostly assumed he would die from entering the pond, yet the lizard seemed to be doing perfectly fine inside the water. Jake didn’t hesitate for a second more when presented with the opportunity to take his first bath in more than a week, and he took off his dirty boxers before slowly entering the pond one step at a time.
Surprisingly, entering the pond hadn’t caused him to be overcome by agonizing pain like he’d feared, although he’d immediately felt the now-familiar burning sensation under his skin. Still, the feeling wasn’t worse than when he simply drank the water so he kept moving deeper inside the pond until the water arrived at the height of his hips.
Jake was about to dip his whole body in when what he had been dreading for all this time finally happened, and a horrendous blazing pain flared across all of his body, making him immediately lose strength in his legs and fall flat on his back. Thankfully, his head landed just outside the water, allowing him to breathe even though he was currently unable to move.
When he finally managed to drag himself out of the pond in the end, he realized the burning sensation hadn’t been only an illusion and his whole body was severely burnt from head to toe. In the end, Jake never knew just how much time exactly he’d spent agonizing in the water, but it felt like hours upon hours of pure suffering, his entire body had felt like it had been burning the whole time he’d spent in the pond, the pain keeping him unconscious through it all somehow. A single glance at his body quickly confirmed that it hadn’t just felt like burning, as his entire body from the neck down was thoroughly burnt, giving the impression he’d just spent the last hour sitting inside a fire. The worst thing however was that both wounds in his shoulder and back had reopened and even worsened thanks to the spirit water, and his body was now in the worst state it had ever been.
He winced as he painfully sat back up in front of the pond, only realizing now that he’d been way too close for comfort of not making it out of the pond. The pain had been so intense inside the water that Jake had almost thought he’d die for a moment, and it was only thanks to sheer willpower and survival instincts had he finally managed to drag himself out of the pond after a while. Jake lay sat there unmoving for a few minutes, until he hesitantly opened up his screen at once, confirming his earlier suspicions.
Jake snorted as he looked at his attributes, as he‘d gained a total of five points in each physical attribute in one go thanks to his little trip inside the spirit pond. He almost felt like the horrifying pain he’d just endured had been worth it as he looked at the screen with a strained smile that looked nothing short of a grimace. Finally, he closed the screen and lay on his right side, like he’d done for the last five days, except that now every inch of his body was painful to sleep on, thanks to the burns, and he barely managed to fall asleep after what felt like an eternity.
During the two days following his adventure inside the spirit pond, Jake had done nothing but relentlessly cultivating. He hadn’t even dared think about drinking any more pond water now, much less go outside with his entire body covered in burns as it was, instead opting to focus on gaining levels. He’d also seen his new reptile friend spend most of his time in or around the water, either swimming or drinking the water directly, and Jake was left wondering just how the lizard was still alive.
The spirit water had almost killed him, even with his now superhuman body’s resistance and abilities, yet the lizard seemed to be spending just as much time inside the pond as he spent outside, and it seemed to be having quite an effect on the creature if only going by the fact that it had grown by around an inch or two since the day Jake had first found it, and it seemed to be moving around a lot faster as well.
He’d recently given the lizard a name, finding that “Lev” — short for “Leviathan” — would suit the critter like a glove. Ever since naming the beast, Jake had spent most of his free time between cultivation sessions interacting with Lev, either by scratching its neck and back or by talking to him directly. On multiple occasions, Jake had opened his eyes after a cultivation session only to find Lev sitting on his right shoulder, either sleeping or looking at him with beady eyes.
At the moment Jake was still meditating, and he had already reached level 9 the day before, putting his free points in his strength attribute. He could feel it, today would be the day he’d finally reach level ten. Ever since he’d received the second quest from the tutorial questline, he had spent every waking moment meditating, absorbing the cave’s — or rather the pond’s — spirit energy. Although Jake had always been the hardest worker in the room, it was safe to say that part of him hadn’t changed the day of the integration, it had intensified. He had spent entire days doing nothing but meditating, trying to raise his level as fast as possible, with nothing driving him but his burning desire to grow and get stronger, the same desire that had brought him a university scholarship in the first place.
Thinking back, Jake felt the speed at which he had adapted to this new life was quite odd . He was acutely aware that most people in his situation would have most probably panicked, with some of them even going mad, whereas he had simply accepted his fate and attempted to make the best of it, and he would even go as far as to say he was enjoying this new life as a cultivator.
Finally, Jake opened his eyes less than an hour before sunset, and a giant grin immediately appeared on the boy’s face. He was about to open his status screen to allocate his hard-earned free points before the familiar notification sound echoed in his ears, and in front of him stood a screen he recognized instantly.
> [ Tutorial Questline (2/3) | Reach Level 10 | Complete ]
Only seconds after, another screen appeared, although he‘d never seen this one yet.
> [ Congratulations on reaching Level 10. Please choose a class among the following options. ]
A smile appeared on Jake’s face, and he immediately started going through the options. He was only a bit disappointed to see that he had only three to choose from, but his confusion slowly turned to surprise when he realized that every single one of these classes was at least an uncommon class, although he had no idea whether that was something to be proud of, or even if it mattered at all. Still, he quickly refocused on the three options written out on the screen.
[ Geomancer | The powers of the earth are yours to command, whether it is to build or destroy | Rare — Mortal Tier ]
[ Adept of the Fist | To live is to fight, and to fight is to live | Epic— Mortal Tier ]
[ Pugilist | No weapon shall compare to the power of your unforgiving fists | Uncommon — Mortal Tier ]
Jake went through every single line thoughtfully, not daring to be hasty in this decision. It was very probable that he wouldn’t ever be able to go back on his decision, so he needed to be careful. He finally decided to begin a process of elimination, and he immediately discarded the Geomancer class, which he had no appeal to whatsoever. According to the description and what Jake knew from his previous game knowledge, Geomancers were builders as much as they were fighters, and even then they generally focused on support, which didn’t suit Jake in the slightest. The day when Jake hid behind the front lines and built sandcastles in his downtime, he would give up on life.
Once the first class was out of the way, he looked back to the [Pugilist] class, which was probably the one he was leaning toward the most right now. He’d been a boxer for a long time now, and he knew becoming a pugilist — a specialist in unarmed combat — was the most obvious choice for him. Still, there was something about the class [Adept of the Fist] that seemed to call to him for some reason. The description, as well as the name, left a strong feeling that it might be a class similar to [Pugilist], or maybe an upgraded version of the whole thing since this one was ranked “Epic” instead of “Uncommon”, although he had to admit he didn’t know if the class rank was important or not, or even if there was any distinct difference between the two in reality.
In the end, Jake chose [Adept of the Fist], mostly on a gut feeling and the fact that the higher rarity seemed to be the way to go here. There was a chance that rarity would be a huge boon to him, and even a chance that it would have no effect at all, but the chance that choosing a higher rarity would impact him negatively was almost of zero if he had to guess. As soon as he chose the class, the screen faded almost instantly, and a few seconds passed without much more happening. Moments later, two items materialized a few inches away from Jake’s nose, and he barely had time to stretch out his arms and catch the objects as they fell in his lap.
He was about to take a look at the objects before a notification bell echoed in his ears, and he looked up to see yet another screen, as he’d expected.
> [Tutorial Questline (3\3) | Travel to the Coliseum | No time limit ]
For the longest time, Jake had wondered just what the third quest from the tutorial chain would be like. However, he once more found himself staring at the screen in utter shock and confusion. First and foremost, he didn’t have the faintest idea as to what was the “Coliseum” mentioned in the quest. Most importantly, the thought alone of having to travel under the mysterious pressure that still restricted his movements made him sick.
After thinking about the quest for a few moments, he came to the conclusion he wouldn’t be learning anything new by staring at the quest screen for hours so he instead looked at the object in his right hand that appeared to be an almost identical crystal to the one he’d received after completing his very first quest, and Jake immediately recognized it for what it was — another cultivation technique. In his other hand, however, a mysterious metal token was clasped between Jake’s fingers and he had to admit he was at a loss here, as he had never seen such an object before. The small token had the shape of an octagon, and it looked to be made out of polished bronze or something similar, as it was cold and smooth at the touch, yet was pretty heavy for an item of this size, even under the effects of the pressure. Without so much as a clue as to what to do with the token, Jake simply left it on the ground, right next to him, and instantly refocused his gaze on the crystal held in his right hand.
Jake looked inward to his core, and slowly guided streams of spirit energy from his midsection to his right arm until the energy reached his fingers and seeped into the crystal. As soon as his spirit energy reached the item, it immediately started glowing, before finally fading away into notes of light, much like it had the first time Jake had received a similar crystal. Streams of images, sensations and words came crashing down inside Jake’s mind at that moment, flooding his memory with a constant stream of knowledge that kept intensifying for a few seconds, until it died out moments later. Just like he’d suspected, Jake had received yet another cultivation technique, although he instantly knew this one wasn’t anything like the one he’d been using until now.
Jake spent quite some time going through the technique in his mind, eager to try it out, and he quickly discovered just how different the cultivation technique he’d just received was compared to the other. While the first technique’s only goal was to push spirit energy inside one’s core and trap it inside, the new technique felt like a much more complete method.
The technique was split into three steps, each accomplished successively in order to complete the entire process over and over again. In contrast with the previous technique, its goal was not only to push energy inside the core and trap it there, but also to purify it and condense it inside his core. Afterwards, he would use that energy to not only strengthen his core, but also to temper his body using the same exact method the spirit water had — by cramming his cells with spirit energy.
As he understood it with the information from the crystal, the technique would allow tremendous benefits down the line but require several times more effort and resources to cultivate. In the end, that was fine with Jake, as he was aware that patience was part of the process of getting stronger.
It was only after trying out the technique for a few hours that he realized just how much he’d underestimated what the crystal had described as arduous and slow. The technique was leagues slower than the one he’d used until now, and he was almost certain it’d take him days to reach the eleventh level even while cultivating next to the spirit pond. It was clear that the technique was superior in every way, but its speed was a clear drawback and Jake wondered wether or not he had made the right choice choosing the [Adept of The Fist] class after all. Still lost in thought, Jake opened his status screen to confirm a few other things once the matter of his cultivation technique had been settled.
As he’d suspected, his attributes had taken yet another considerable leap, but he was still shocked to learn that his recent boost in attributes hadn’t come from his new class, but rather from a new title.
> [ The first Step | Obtain an epic rarity class as a mortal | All stats + 10 % ]
Jake looked at the title description for a few seconds, trying to make sense of that new title. Although a 10 percent increase in his stats might not mean much at the moment, Jake knew that the power of such a title would be displayed once his attributes increased in the future. After all, once he reached 200 points in strength, he would receive a whopping twenty points bonus to that attribute from that title alone, and the same went for his six other attributes. If anything, the title alone justified his choice of class, and the fact that he had been awarded such a good title could only mean it was a would most likely provide other benefits down the line.
Jake put his two free points in strength, before closing down his status screen, and finally sitting down cross-legged, a few feet away from the pond. The first thing he wanted to do at the moment was to cultivate, but he hadn’t drunk or eaten anything in the last two days, thanks to his wounds. His entire body was still horrifyingly burnt up as if he’d just walked out of a fire, except for his neck and head which had miraculously landed outside the pond when he’d fallen. His shoulder and back in particular were still extremely wounded, with his shoulder being much closer to a gaping hole than a shoulder at this point and his back looking only slightly better as it was. It was safe to say that his first bath in more than a week had completely wrecked his entire body, even more so for his shoulder and back which had already been injured.
He was used to hardships by now, his whole life had been hard, after all. Still, he had to admit the recent week or two seemed to make everything he had ever endured up until now feel like heaven. Lost in thought, Jake barely noticed the reassuring presence of Lev making its way to his right shoulder, but he let out a small chuckle when the lizard let out a small squeak, alerting him of his presence.
He glanced back to his left, or more precisely at the ground not too far away from him, before scooping the metal token back up in his left hand with a puzzled look on his face. He looked at the token, which was now clasped between both of his hands, trying to figure out how he could make use of the item. He turned the small piece of metal around to look at the back of the item, and he instantly noticed that words were engraved at the back of the small piece of metal, which read: “Coliseum”. There was obviously a link between his last tutorial quest and this token, but that didn’t mean he had any better idea of what to do next.
He kept looking at the token for a few minutes, trying various things with it to see if there would be any reactions. At first, he tried crushing it or knocking it on the ground, but the token was even harder than rock and he didn’t manage to scrape it no matter what he tried. It was only quite some time later and by pure instinct that Jake infused the token with his spirit energy, just like he’d done moments ago with the crystal. As soon as the energy made its way inside the token, red-coloured runes lit up all across the its surface, before the whole world went dark.