They had been doing so well. Relatively, compared to the other islands they had seen.

Now this.

The first casualties their group faced could very well have beaten them down, and been the start of what ultimately broke them. But Ken, Damon, Sarah and a few others really strove to help everyone keep the focus on trying to make the events have some greater meaning, after the fact.

They needed some source of hope, and for the people in need of more time, that was freely given as well. If they were forced to hurry to survive later, then they could at least save their efforts for after the Shuffle ended. Everyone clearly needed different amounts of time to acclimatize to this new reality.

They would be accommodated, while it was possible.

Although there was some good news, at least a few of them had gained levels. The killing things part of leveling up was confirmed, resulting in several members of the group deciding to take action, now acting like a new fire had been lit within. They started interrogating Damon, reexamining their childhoods, pondering their motivations at different stages in life, even meditating over human history, especially over events that stuck out to them personally.

It did not provide them with any immediate results, but Damon felt like they were on the right track.

Ken was looking frayed but stoic as he reported that killing all those snakes was exactly what his Class needed to progress, he’d earned 2 levels from their defeat. As a fellow martial artist, he’d naturally chosen [Auxiliary - Light weapon] for his Class as well, having thought that anything utilizing heavier weapons and armor would be far too detrimental to his footwork. If we knew how this strength boost worked, we might have reconsidered.

The stat improvement didn’t just make you stronger, but physically faster and more durable as well. The other stats improved your mental faculties, and possibly your energy levels, although they had not found a use for anything like what this Mana was supposed to be like in games.

The scroll had shown Kenpachi this:

[Aspirant level collected: +4 Str, +1 Per, +3 Mana.]

[Aspirant level collected: +4 Str, +1 Per, +3 Mana.]

[Your Aspirant Class has reached Level 2.]

No congratulations, nor any other personal recognition, and still accompanied by that same pre-recorded System voice. Clearly she didn’t consider Aspirant levels as that big of a deal, not enough to award any new titles anyhow. It was still rejuvenating for the old man, despite not being quite so stark an empowerment as earlier with Damon's claiming of a Vein—and now Damon had also gained four new levels from his greater number of kills—but Ken’s two levels still gave a very noticeable improvement in his conditioning as well, returning all the strength that he’d lost over the years, and then some. What had still been at least a sweat inducing effort previously in life, now only served to make him feel somewhat warmed up.

Sure, it was not the super hero-level of strength that Damon had been displaying, but it would make quite the difference if he was forced to fight again, especially if that battle lasted for longer than this one. Something that was bound to happen sooner or later, at this rate.

They carefully combed the whole building and discovered some more snakes, as well as the other island which they had come slithering from in the dead of night.

Unbeknownst to them all, apparently the System had seen fit to add on to their brick fortress, with another very similar-looking brick building, except for how it was covered in jungle overgrowth.

Their two islands were now stuck together, and so the work began to clear out the remainder of the snake-horde, so they could then proceed to improve their defenses. For now, their island remained standing still in the savannah, but there was no telling how long that would last. The next island they connected to could very well be carrying a pack of wolves as large as the one they saw on the second day, or something even worse.

Hours later, with the defenses improved on and no further dangers in sight, Damon and Tyler shared a look—one that everyone noted—before they both very discreetly faded away from the others, with coughed out excuses about going to the bathroom, and checking for snakes in the basement, respectively.

Of course, in reality they were planning another operation. The two of them remaining adamant however, that they should not go overboard. Damon had gained another +16 Strength in total, which they figured was probably gonna make the job both easier and harder. The snake bites had only just been able to penetrate his skin by the end, so they expected the operation to hurt slightly less this time. Or worse, since the muscle was probably denser even if it hadn’t grown noticeably larger?

Lacking a scale, they weren't sure. The difference was not proportial to old world physics, that much was certain.

As previously stated: They were not gonna go crazy, just because their first experiment had been a success. But they were still going to take things further this time. They planned on doing Damon's elbows, shoulders and the most exposed parts of his back first, basically any bone that was easily enhanced and especially useful to not have break in combat. Next, they would do the knees and shins.

If Damon was still in decent enough shape after all that, they would do the spine.

That’s where they expected that they might run into trouble. Damon was tough as nails, and he was disciplined—but nobody had control over their muscles when you tampered with the spine. If he started flailing full force with his new enhancements, then they would be forced to immediately stop pouring, or risk wasting the precious metal all over Damon’s body willy nilly.

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They came to the conclusion that they might finally need to bring in an assistant by that point, regardless of their personal reluctance. A reluctance stemming mostly from how this was not just your average operation. you needed to be able to stoically watch Damon get cut and burned, repeatedly. The only reason Tyler had been so fine with it was because they'd concluded he was a complete psychopath, and Damon had patted him on the shoulder and accepted that fact about him. It suited their purposes after all, and it wasn't like Damon himself was acting particularly sane.

But as things turned out, they needed assistance far sooner.

They got the first parts done with only a great deal of pain charged, but it was already to the point where Damon's flesh was nearly blunting the serrated industrial knife they’d been using. It was tiring work, and so they went to Ken for help much sooner than expected, with only the elbows, forearms and shoulder blades finished.

Ken gave the healed up Damon and the gruesome scene behind him one look, raised his eyebrow, and left.

At first the two of them figured that meant he wasn’t gonna help—rushing out, pleading shouts prepared on the tip of their tongues, only to find there was no need. He just thought they were using a dull blade, like a couple of bakas. He'd left behind a pair of Abi's custom Beralumin dagger sets, looking like something out of Star Wars, clearly made for show but still with one of the deadliest edges made by man. Ken’s eyes said it all: Yeah, idiots. They blamed the lack of sleep and stress, high-fived and then got right back to work.

It was weird how the much sharper blade went through Damon’s flesh so much easier, yet hurt so much less. I guess it doesn’t tug as much?

Damon was largely enjoying the experience, at least compared to the last time. The feeling of his increased stats was still a marvel to behold, and the intense relief once the healing started was nearly addictive. It sort of reminded Damon of one of those really rough massages that his coach had recommended him once, that wasn't any good at all, not until the whole thing was over, and you felt a similar intense relief.

Sort of.

The white hot pouring metal was still a bitch, but they made it through, little by little.

That was all until they made it to the spine. There was no avoiding the nerves when it came to the spine, and neither strength nor durability counted for shit once you had gotten past the skin and flesh to expose the nerves along the vertebra.

They barely made it a foot of the way down, not even 3 decimeters, before they failed almost immediately with Damon starting to violently convulse, resulting in drip drops of Beralumin landing all over his skin, making him howl even louder and missing the open wound completely.

The thrashing was despite how they'd attempted to strap him down better this time, now that they weren't in a rush to avoid discovery. What little give remained had been enough to get expanded when Damon's body fought against the restraints at his involuntary full force.

Tyler aborted the pour, causing the healing boon to trigger, saving the foolish humans from their experiment; and leaving Damon with only a newly enhanced neckline. The improvising surgeon was, of course, horrified. "Oh, crap. Damn it. Shit, I'm sorry Damon!" The patient himself was only breathing heavily, whole body shaking in relief. "Are you alright?"

The words made Damon turn over with some genuine fear in his eyes. "Oh no, that fucking hurt but don’t blame yourself. My body's feeling weird, but I'm fine, it's already healing. Were you worried? With the pain gone I'm just sorry we wasted the chance, but at least we didn’t lose much of the Beralumin—Damon squeezed the next words past gritted teeth—I can feel it pushing its way out of my back," And then there was a tinkling as the metal hit the basement floor.

And true enough, all the metal that missed his spine was apparently failing to find a valid substance to connect with, and was thus being rejected by his flesh due to the rapidly activated healing.

"Fascinating," said Tyler.

Damon could only agree. Now came the question however, did they keep going?

They'd cut his whole spine open in their… optimism, that first time. Thinking if things went well, somehow—then they wanted to be able to get it all done in one go.

Now they would need to start over almost from the beginning, but they were too exhausted for another go after that, if this also failed.

This was their shot.

The reason they’d been reluctant to do it in parts was because it was harder on Damon, but by this point there was never a question of him tapping out. So, instead they decided they would do it in three goes. The thoracic, the lumbar and the sacred sacral. Let’s never let you get injured again. Not when it really, really matters, that will make all this pain worth it.

They cut him open again, barely losing time due to the much superior blade, but still with Damon gritting his teeth all the while. Despite the improved cleanness of the cut, he was still losing significant sections of flesh each time. This time around they stopped when they got to the bottom of his shoulder blades, and then finally started ladling the metal over his bones again—right where they'd left off, Damon’s body having been given less than an hour to recover.

This time, when the searing, liquid metal made contact with all the nerves intertwined with the spine, once more it sent Damon's muscles into frenetic, pained spasms, but the rest of the pour was already in the air. Tyler’s aim struck true, and the metal layered itself in a complicated pattern once more, as was its wont.

Tyler watched in gleeful awe, still as fascinated as the first time he saw it happen; he finished the pour and studied the phenomenon. At some point the damage to Damon’s spine left him paralyzed, having cut off the signal path which was causing the spasms. Things went much more smoothly after that, despite the added strain from how they were starting and stopping. He still healed up just fine. They cut and poured and did the whole thing all over again, twice more; until Damon was able to complete the full objective, all the way down to his tailbone.

The experience was so draining that it essentially left Damon in a coma, and Tyler was left near equally drained—emotionally.

Thankfully the two did not suffer for long, as they both suddenly found themselves cast into another set of unexpectedly ill-timed, Dao-induced dreams.

Right as invaders crept onto the island, timing their entry with the dusk.

There came invaders.

There came the dragons from the Ring of Fire.