The many days that followed passed slowly as wave after wave of monstrous emu-like monsters charged up against the solid defences of the party’s fort, and with each battle, hundreds of the creatures were slaughtered and their corpses began piling up outside the walls – a visible sign of the raid party’s progress.
Though, with the rumours spreading in the fort that there had to be at least a million of the monsters remaining, no one ever seemed satisfied with the relatively small number of monsters that died each die. This was especially true when, on occasion, a member of the raiding party also lost their life during the day’s struggle.
Though, of course, some in the group secretly thanked their lucky stars when someone died – it meant fewer people for the dwindling supply of water to go to after all which meant a longer life for everyone, at least in theory, though Peter suspected that they were already running thin on water as it was and that desperate times were ahead.
His theory was all but confirmed as by the time his Space affinity had finished upgrading, not only had all the prior enthusiasm for the raid fully dissipated – replaced by a bottomless bitterness, but as Peter had expected the rations of water had summarily been reduced to less than a few drops for everyone.
Peter’s status as a pariah from that point onward had all but forced him to not take his rations, lest he risk an angry mob of peak [Copper] ranks beating him in such a way that he would not survive, which led to Peter’s current miserable state of not only being extremely hungry, thirsty, and frustrated – a mood that was not helped by Katie’s insistence that she instruct him in proper grammar 24/7.
Thus, Peter’s usual excitement when reading a system prompt was practically non-existent when he checked the system prompt he had received, sighing with some amount of resignation in his voice.
Your assigned bot has completed its task!
[Epic] Affinity: [Space]’s grade is now [F+]!
Peter didn’t really feel anything change from this upgrade of his [Space] magic affinity. However, his miserable mood seeped into his thoughts as he pondered what he should assign his bot to do next, and he felt his optimism for the future waver slightly as a solemn realisation struck him.
Sure, his [Idle Progression] perk made it inevitable that he would grow more powerful given enough time, but Peter now began wondering just how long each upgrade would take once he got things to a high enough level.
If upgrading something from the [F+] grade to the [E] grade took a whole month, then just how long would the upgrade from [E+] to [D] take, and so on and so on up and up the grade scale. Would it take years? Perhaps decades?
Although he knew that increasing one’s [Constitution] stat was said to increase one’s lifespan considerably, the prospect of having to wait a number of years, if not decades, for a single upgrade to one’s stats felt extremely daunting and distant to Peter who had barely lived for a decade in total so far.
Just thinking about the new time scale that he would have to think in terms of so as to plan his future most effectively made Peter reconsider his entire perspective on almost everything related to his system.
Somehow Peter suspected that these new realisations came about as a result of his [Genius] perk’s most recent upgrade and felt awestruck by the level of depth that the single upgrade had added to his thinking.
Deciding to check on how long was left on the timer for his other upgrade before deciding about what else to upgrade, Peter focused on bringing up the necessary system prompt and it appeared right in front of him.
Time remaining until task: [Luck] -> [E] grade is complete: 6 days, 13 hours, 23 minutes!
Peter simply smiled upon finishing reading the system prompt as a clear option for what to upgrade with his other bot became obvious to him and he assigned the bot thusly.
You have assigned 1 system bot to increase Class: [Mage]’s Level to 6!
Time remaining until assignment completion: 5 days, 16 hours, 48 minutes!
With his bot once again assigned, Peter let his mind wander until his body gave into his famished exhaustion and he fell into a shallow, and not all-too-satisfying slumber.
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Peter awoke to the taste of sand falling into mouth.
He tried to jolt upwards but hit his head hard on a wooden ceiling of some sort and the coarse and sizzling sand kept falling onto his exposed tongue.
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His eyes opened and he realised his new situation. He was trapped in some kind of wooden box, sand pouring in from a small hole in the lid, and Peter instantly guessed what had happened.
As he had slept, he had been “died” and had thus been “buried” by the other members of the raid party. Thus, he had no doubt that as it stood, there was probably 6ft of sand pressing against the lid of the coffin that he was laying in.
Peter felt panic begin to surge within him, but it was quickly suppressed and the emotion that he had been supressing within himself for the last few months finally made its way to the surface of his mind until his mind was nothing but a maelstrom of fury.
Peter felt anger unlike he had ever before. Ever since he had received his system, he had been beaten, all but formally enslaved, looked down upon by some random girl, and been forced to play kid to a bunch of dumbass adventurers.
Peter hated feeling so powerless, as if no matter how far he progressed with his [Idle Progression] perk there would still be those above him capable of suppressing and oppressing him. He hated everything about his current situation.
As it was only now that he had finally hit rock bottom – almost literally – that Peter could finally bring himself to admit to himself that he had been a pathetic weakling up and till now.
He had felt relief when Sadi had said he’d let him go should both of them survive the dungeon – as if he trusted the sadistic man to keep his word, and even worse, it was as if Peter didn’t want deep down to get revenge against the man which he did.
However, so far, he had been too weak willed to even consider attempting to get revenge against the brutal man, fearing the man would beat him or again – or worse. In other words, he’d let himself be cowed by another person due to a fear of pain and thus he had lost the war before it had even really begun.
Peter had thought himself strong because he had been able to endure the man’s beatings and survive till the next day. However, that was not real strength – if anything that was just him being a particularly durable punching bag, and now Peter was experiencing first hand where that kind of “strength” got him.
No. Real strength was the ability of Sadi to do as he pleased, without any fear of repercussions. It was the capacity to stand up for oneself and not to ever need to be subservient to another, damned be the consequences. That was the kind of strength that had been denied to him ever since his birth, but that his true soul cried out for.
Yet, stuck beneath a few feet of sand, what could he do to correct his past mistakes, get revenge on all those who had done him wrong, and walk the path of true strength?
The seeming lack of answers to his question fuelled his anger until his mind was hazy at best – simply being drowned in hatred and fury.
Then, it appeared like a north star in the endless expanse of his mind. A thought. Or more like, a memory.
He had gained a time reduction token from killing Fred and his two companions and had used it to reduce one of his upgrades by a couple of hours.
Peter had no idea why he hadn’t thought of this until now but suddenly he could see a path forward. It seemed that if he killed things such as monsters or other people, unlike everyone else who gained experience and all that stuff, Peter would gain upgrade time reduction tokens. And it just so happened that he was in a desert brimming with powerful monsters.
However, despite this new path offering him some hope, his body’s state was very much not ideal for fighting anything or anyone – given that he was starving and dehydrated at the exact same time. Plus, there was the slightly more pressing issue of still being buried alive and all that.
‘One problem at a time,’ Peter thought, determined.
Peter hadn’t had the opportunity to fully test the limits of his [F+] grade strength stat but now it seemed that he would have that opportunity confronted as he was by the lid of his coffin just above him.
Peter took a single deep breath in, and then pressed his hands against the lid of the coffin and pushed with all of his might but the lid felt like it was as heavy as a boulder thanks to all the sand that was pilled on top of it.
Peter relented and began breathing in and out at a faster pace as he recovered his reduced strength. However, with his rage burning like a wild conflagration in his chest, he recovered his will quickly and this time as he pushed Peter infused his entire body with his somewhat miniscule mana pool.
This time the lid did budge up a little, but the opening created only meant that more sand poured into the coffin and instantly Peter stopped pushing as thousands of searing hot grains of black sand torched his skin from all angles.
The spell Katie had placed on him had to be renewed, and it seemed it had run out and now the heat of the sand touching him made his body feel as though he were laying in the middle of fire.
Peter screamed in agony for what felt like hours. He knew for certain that no one would hear him or come to help to him even if they did and eventually his throat could no longer even continue screaming, and that was when a certain system prompt appeared in his vision, making Peter want to punch whoever had made the system right in the face.
You have gained the [C] rank trait: Fire Resistant
Description: Your body has been forged in heat and made tougher from it making heat less brutal to your body.
Effects: Your body is 25% more resilient to heat
(Note: You may only have a limited number of traits above the [C] grade at your current system rank (Currently:1/5))
Peter felt a large portion of the man simply vanish as his new trait took effect and suddenly, he felt as though he could think again despite the pain that still seared his skin – though, still, that was only barely.
However, due to his [Enhanced Senses] he felt and heard that there was slight movement on and in the sand immediately above him.
His heart skipped a beat as he wondered if maybe he would be saved after all, but upon hearing the sound of claws scratching against the wooden lid, Peter realised what was going on.
Peter’s mind scrambled a plan together of what to do, and thankfully so as just as a metallic claw broke through the wooden lid – time all around him slowed and a slight grin formed on his youthful face.
He would survive.