Taking a break meant choosing another reward, and there was no hesitation in my choice. This time give me a Trait. The benefits I’ve received so far from these new Unbound additions to my skill set make me feel like an idiot for hesitating and not choosing more earlier.

  Well, not completely like an idiot. I think my logic for not immediately choosing more Unbound skills or Traits made sense. My body probably could not sustain so many of them. But with the Heart of Current Trait and the Ebb and Flow skill, I now have much more room to select these things.

  With that in mind I think I’ll only select one more Unbound Trait and one more Unbound skill after that. If there are still battles to be fought I will spend the rewards on either gold or armor and weapons. We still need to buy those books to get our Traits integrated and learn how to reach E grade, and this is as good a time as any to get the money required.

  I’ve already grown in strength so much and will only continue to do so with another Unbound skill and another Unbound Trait.

  Anyway, let’s see what I was given this time.

  Reward Granted: Trait

  Crushing Depth Frame

  Bone density multiplies dramatically, layered with compressed filaments that mimic oceanic pressure walls. Baseline increases in physical durability and striking force. Melee attacks will mimic the weight of the deep sea.

  That sounds cool as hell. Initially I honestly didn’t know if I liked it, but that last line about melee attacks mimicking the weight of the deep sea sold it. I didn’t think it sounded all that much better than my Trait about Hydro Muscles, but the weight of the deep sea is not something I can turn down. I accepted the Trait, replacing my previous one. And then…

  Motherfucker.

  I literally collapsed on the floor with pain. Only this time it wasn’t concentrated in my chest. It was all over my body. I writhed and gritted my teeth as I felt like my entire body was being ripped apart, limb from limb. It felt like my nails themselves were being pulled out. My bones felt like they were breaking all over the place, then being sucked out of my body one by one. None of it made sense. I don’t really think that is exactly what was happening, but that is what it felt like.

  The only thing I knew at that point was that I was in so much pain that I didn’t care about anything else. I just laid there and screamed.

  By the time I stumbled to my feet once more, the Lesser Horn Frog from battle one was in front of me. The little bastard leapt at me, and I almost swung my arm out of its socket as I cleaved it in two with my spear. That swing had more force than I expected.

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  I suppose it was good that I was starting from the beginning since I didn’t get much time to get used to this new power. Losing Hydro Muscles already felt different. I no longer had some of the fluidity in my body, but in its place was a far more rigid structure. It did not necessarily feel stiff, but it was different.

  Eventually I conquered the gauntlet once more and faced my next unknown opponent.

  Battle 45 – Malganian Behemor

  No idea what either of those words mean, but what showed up in front of me was a confusing looking creature. It was something of a cross between a gorilla and maybe…well maybe a turtle. It was hard to explain.

  It was somewhat centaur shaped, with the top half resembling a gorilla but with six arms, three on each side. The bottom half did not make sense. Even though I was looking at it, it hurt my brain to put it into words. It was like a turtle with a shell covering its back and belly. Whatever it was, it was huge and slow.

  It could not keep up with my speed no matter how much it tried. One Ocean’s Maw to its back, the gorilla part of its back, not the turtle part, was enough to take care of it. I’m glad that fight was quick because I could not stand looking at it for long.

  Battle 46 – Thaelen Riftstalker

  This was probably the smallest creature I had fought so far, and it literally looked like a little fairy. The problem was it was much faster than me and it had blade like teeth and arms attached to its body. All it did was zip around me while slicing and cutting into various parts of my body. I did my best to hit it, run away from it, and ward it off as best as I could, but it was almost impossible.

  Thankfully the Riftstalker did not have much stamina and one thing I did not lack was endurance. As long as I made sure it did not hit any vital points, like my eyes or my neck, and only allowed it to strike my arms and legs, eventually I outlasted the thing.

  Its speed dropped lower and lower until I could finally deliver a single strike with my spear, practically destroying its body in one hit. Again my stamina and mana boosting skill and Trait continued to show how valuable they were.

  Next..

  Battle 47 – Kelant Broodwing

  What appeared before me looked like something out of an insect lover’s dream. It literally resembled a flying ant queen or a mix between an ant and a mosquito. It was huge, with large antennae, blue and red markings, and a disgustingly large abdomen that looked ready to spit out eggs any second.

  Fighting it was a challenge, but a vastly different challenge than anything I experienced in all of the previous battles. It emitted a low vibrational screech that surprisingly did not affect my ears but instead it made pulling and using my mana hard.

  Skills like Surging Step hitched ever so slightly and their activation was delayed whenever that screech was active. This insect was literally interrupting the mana flow within my body. Thankfully I was not completely dependent on mana to fight. Once I recognized what it was trying to do, the adjustment came naturally. It wanted to force me to box, so we boxed.

  I stopped trying to use Surging Step or prepare Ocean’s Maw and instead went for a close combat approach. The battle turned in my favor. I worried the insect would fly high above me and then kill me with a ranged ability, but it did no such thing.

  It was only now after taking a really good look at it, that I realized its wings did not look large enough to support its body for extended flight at a significant height, which is why it only hovered slightly above my head but still within reach of my spear.

  If I had been using a dagger this would have been a much harder fight since I would have had to quite literally jump to attack it. Either way, once that adjustment was made it didn’t take too long to get rid of it and the battle was done.