For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Kaiden found himself airborne. He barely registered the sensation of flying before crashing hard into the ground, tumbling dozens of feet before coming to an abrupt stop. His shields were gone, flung somewhere in the chaos, and his body was mangled, every nerve alight with pain. He could do nothing but lie there, staring up at the bleak, mist-covered sky.

He had no idea how the battle was going for Zinnia. After the wyrm's initial attack, she had darted in, unable to shield Kaiden and forced to focus entirely on ending the fight as quickly as possible. Her movements were a blur as she dodged and retaliated.

Kaiden’s memory of what had happened just moments earlier was already hazy. The wyrm had fired off another attack, a massive burst of energy aimed directly at him. He’d barely managed to lift his shields in time. Once again, they had saved his life, deflecting the magic blast and preventing him from being incinerated on the spot. But the impact...

He groaned as the memory hit him like a second wave of pain. His shields had absorbed the blast, but his body had taken the brunt of the force. He wasn’t strong enough to withstand the repeated shocks, and the wyrm’s power was far beyond what he could handle. The attack had tossed him through the air like a ragdoll, flinging him far from the battle. At least this time he hadn’t hit a wall, though the unforgiving ground didn’t feel like much of an improvement.

His body felt broken all over, barely able to move. If the wyrm came for him again, he was dead. Plain and simple.

Coughing up blood, Kaiden shakily raised a trembling hand and cast Healing Touch on himself. The faint warmth of the spell spread across his battered frame, but it wasn’t nearly enough to erase the damage. He spat out another mouthful of blood as he checked his health bar. It was hovering dangerously at 12%. He cast it again and...nothing. At least my health isn’t dropping.

“At this rate, you’re not gonna be able to cover what you owe me,” Zinnia teased, chuckling as she poured another potion over Kaiden’s face.

Kaiden grimaced, feeling the cool liquid trickle down before it was quickly absorbed. The familiar warmth spread through his body, knitting his wounds and restoring his strength. Regaining mobility in his hands, he wiped at his face reflexively, but there was nothing left to remove. The potion had already done its job.

“Thanks,” Kaiden muttered, his voice low, not wanting to meet Zinnia’s eyes. Barely scraping by yet another near-death experience was becoming far too common for his liking—and they were only in the second area!

He forced himself to his feet, swaying slightly, and shuffled off to retrieve his shields.

“I’ll grab the loot,” Zinnia said casually, already heading toward the chest.

Kaiden just nodded, his head hanging low in defeat. This time, he didn’t even care to see what was in the chest. What was the point? Zinnia had already made it abundantly clear that she’d be taking his share. He cursed his weakness yet again, frustration simmering in his chest.

While bending down to grab the second buckler, without warning, a notification blinked into his vision, momentarily distracting him from his self-loathing. His lips curled into a wild grin as he read the text. No way! My first title! He glanced at Zinnia, thankful that she was busy rummaging through the chest and hadn’t noticed.

But his grin quickly faded, replaced by a twitch in his eye as he reread the title and its description.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

New Title Gained!

Ultimate Survivor - Cockroach: You’ve gone up against foes many times stronger than yourself and survived in rapid succession. They could squash you like a bug, but you’re not an ordinary bug—you’re a cockroach. You somehow survive and live to crawl another day.

+20 Constitution and +10% Constitution

Kaiden let out a slow, disbelieving breath. “A cockroach?” he muttered under his breath, grimacing. Of all the titles he could’ve gained, it had to be this one. Fuck you, Oros!

Wait, Kaiden thought, his mind racing as he looked again at the stat increase accompanying the title. He squinted at the details, then blinked in disbelief. “Holy shit,” he whispered under his breath. The boost to his constitution was massive—far more than he’d expected.

He quickly calculated the implications. While he still didn’t believe he’d be able to take a direct hit from any of the monsters here and survive, the added constitution could mean the difference between life and death. It was, without a doubt, a huge increase.

His constitution now sat at +50 (+15), but once the buff wore off, his base stat would drop back to +40 (+10)—still a respectable number. What intrigued him, though, was how he didn’t feel any different. He realized he hadn’t given it much thought earlier when he ate the grapeberry either.

He stretched out, rolling his shoulders and swinging his arms in an attempt to sense any change. Perhaps he did feel a bit… sturdier? Or was that just a placebo effect? With a slight shrug, he concluded it must be hard to notice the effects of constitution directly.

But then his excitement waned as his gaze drifted back to the title itself. Why did it have to be called Cockroach!?

He groaned internally. Of all things, it had to reference a creature he despised above all else. Kaiden shuddered, his lip curling in disgust. He hated those vile little critters more than any monster he’d ever faced—even the ones that had nearly killed him. He could forgive them, but never the roaches.

“Hurry it up,” Zinnia called, looking particularly pleased with herself. She had probably scored some worthwhile loot.

“Coming,” Kaiden replied as he made his way toward the portal, both shields now back in hand. He fought to keep his expression neutral, recalling the advice he’d been given about keeping his titles private. As much as he wanted to brag about his new title, there was no way he’d let the humiliating name pass his lips. Besides, the advice made sense. No one needed to know about his titles—not this one, and not any others he might earn in the future.

“Thanks, by the way,” Zinnia said, her tone unusually sincere, catching Kaiden off guard.

“For almost dying again and again?” Kaiden asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” Zinnia replied with a chuckle. “For pulling me out of the way of that monster blast.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kaiden said as the memory clicked back into place. His body had just moved on instinct. He had a nagging suspicion that Zinnia would have been fine regardless, given her skill and speed, but in the moment, he hadn’t thought about that.

“My body just reacted,” he said, shrugging.

Zinnia giggled and leaned in slightly, batting her eyes playfully. “Well, how should I thank my hero?”

Kaiden stiffened, knowing she was just teasing him but still struggling not to get flustered. He forced himself to keep calm and quipped, “You could let me have some of the loot.”

Zinnia burst out laughing. “Now that’s definitely not gonna happen.”

“But—” Kaiden started, but the words caught in his throat. In his eyes, she was being a hypocrite. If she thought saving his life entitled her to his share of the loot, shouldn’t the same logic apply here? But then he stopped himself, realizing the likely truth—her life had probably never been in any real danger. With how powerful she was, she could have avoided or countered that blast on her own.

Grinding his teeth, Kaiden let the thought go and shifted to something else that had been nagging at him. “Why did the boss attack anyway?” he asked. “You said we were far enough away not to trigger it.”

Zinnia tapped her chin, her expression thoughtful. “I think it’s because Ashkar triggered the boss on their side. Both must’ve activated at the same time, but this one stayed in stealth until we got close enough.”

“I see,” Kaiden said, frowning. The idea of a boss lying in wait like that didn’t sit well with him.

Zinnia clapped her hands together lightly, signaling the end of the discussion. “In any case, let’s get to the next area.”

Kaiden nodded, and the two stepped through the portal.

Please, just let me not almost die in this next area too.