“Ah!”
My eyes flashed open with a shout as I came to and frantically scanned the area around me for…for…ah! The damn gorilla! The monsters! The…where am I? I was not in a room, but I was on a cot of some kind in what appeared to be a very small camp.
There was small tent over the cot without any sides and only a roof. One high enough that I could stand underneath it without issues. It wasn’t that wide though and the camp itself was literally just the cot and the tent.
There was nothing else here…but where was here?
I was pretty sure the forest around the camp was the same one I’ve been fighting in for the last…well I’m not really sure how long it’s been but either way it feels like the same place. Yet…it was different. For one I didn’t hear the onslaught of who knows how many monsters coming to kill me, and for two…the stream that was practically a life saver.
It was gone.
I could possibly find it again or maybe even another one altogether but that wasn’t the point here. Why was I unconscious and who the hell brought me here?
Obviously the most apparent answer was likely the gorilla knocked me out…without seemingly breaking any bones in my body or I was given medical care somehow, and then that Acolyte brought me here.
Or maybe there’s other people here…perhaps other trainees and one of them found me and brought me here?
Hmm.
“Your awake.”
Just like the first time this man approached me when I first arrived here, his voice came out of nowhere even though I already looked in the area all around me, and I snapped to the left and there he was standing at the edge of tiny camp which was basically right next to me considering how small it was.
I looked at him for a moment then responded.
“I am, I’m assuming you brought me here?”
“Yes. Do you remember anything?”
…I didn’t. No matter how long or hard I thought about it, I remembered nothing up until the gorilla finally neared me. After that it was all dark, and then I woke up here.
“I don’t remember.”
“You were knocked unconscious by the beating heart of the creature. There were other factors at play, but that is the core of it all.”
Honestly, I didn’t know how to react to that, and my mind froze for a second as the words rattled around in there.
The beating heart? Just a heartbeat? So there wasn’t even some grand battle involved that led to the mutual destruction of both of us? Or …well just something else. What the hell did it mean to get knocked out by a heartbeat.
Sigh
I suppose I should just be glad the damn thing didn’t kill me.
Being glad for the fact that I was alive, I refocused back on the Acolyte.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“How strong was it?”
“The E Grade.”
Ah.
Well that explains somethings then…an entire Grade above me. Even though I was at max level for the F Grade and only had to Integrate some Traits and then fuse them after, the gap between myself and the E Grade was apparently still as wide as a chasm.
I doubt even Grandpa would have been able to actually do any real damage to the gorilla if it really was that strong.
This of course meant that nothing I did would’ve been able to change the reality of my situation. I would’ve died. There was no if ands or buts about it…if the Acolyte hadn’t saved me, then I would’ve died.
“Thank you.”
I gave him a sincere thanks and he just nodded before moving on. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal to him.
“This area is to be your staging ground for the remainder of your training. At most you will be allowed one night of rest every three days. At all other times you will be in the forest continuing to undergo training.
“If three days have elapsed and you decide to return here to rest, you are required to leave at first light the next day and not to return for three more days after that.
“If you decide to return before the appointed time, you will not return alone.”
Before I had time to digest everything he just said in its entirety and to ask any follow-up questions I might’ve had, he simply turned and walked away. I stared straight at his back but he still somehow vanished from before my sight without and indication.
I wonder if he’s in the E Grade too.
How else would he have saved me from the gorilla? And I doubt they’d have a training environment where they couldn’t control the monsters within. Hm…very interesting.
Anyway, I heard him loud and clear. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that since he didn’t mention anything about today, and its already getting dark out at the moment, I could probably stay here till first light as he called it.
I don’t have an alarm system here, but I just hope the light hitting my face will be enough to get me up and moving. Especially since he said I returned here early it wouldn't be alone. Which I’m sure meant that the monsters would follow me back instead of granting me the peace I have right now.
It only makes sense for the same rule to apply to overstaying here in the morning. Nothing much I could there but hope I didn’t sleep in too much.
But…since I have the time, let’s finally take a look at my new status. Feels like its been forever since I’ve actually looked at it in detail.
Status
Name: Fred Williams
Born World: Earth (ENWPI70059)
Race: Human
Faction: The Williams Family
Age: 17
Grade: F
Level: 50
XP: 17007/-
Mana: 205/205(40)
Stat Points: 0
Traits
Trait 1: Heart of Currents (Unbound)
Trait 2: Soaked Pulse Membrane (Rooted) [Int.]
Trait 3: Crushing Depth Frame (Unbound)
Class
Current Class: Abyss Diver
Class Passive: Stillness of the Deep
Class Grade: Unbound
Class Rarity: Rooted
Skills
1. Aqua Barrage (Unbound)
2. Ocean’s Maw (Unbound)
3. Crushing Descent (Unbound)
Attributes
Strength: 34
Dexterity: 20
Vitality: 20 + 3
Endurance: 22
Mana: 26 +15
Willpower: 12
Perception: 17
Intelligence: 12 + 5
Oh shit.
Three different Attributes were upgraded and the main one, Mana was given an additional 15 points. I knew that’s where the bulk of the Integration went, but that was not a small amount, and it of course explained where all that additional mana came from.
Before this my mana stat read 130/130, and now it was all the way up to 205. Even the reserve mana that the Trait granted me had rose from 30 to 40.
That wasn’t something to laugh about at all, and if only one Trait gave me this much of a boost, a rooted one at that, I’m really going to be looking forward to seeing what type of boost two Unbound Traits gave me.
Then to top it all off even after all of the Traits were successfully Integrated, I would still have to fuse them afterwards, which would then give me another massive boots if Grandpa was anything to go by…and he did this the less efficient way leaving him without a lot of the power he would’ve gained had he done it properly.
Honestly.
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.
