Solid rock surrounded Aaron on all sides. The cavern was huge, stretching out hundreds of feet in each direction. Crystalline stalactites hung from the ceiling, and glowing green moss clung onto their undersides, the only source of light in the cave. The floor was littered with every type of weapon imaginable, ranging from swords and spears to chainsaws. Each weapon reflected the green light, making navigating the room possible. Random items were also mixed in the array of weapons. For example, a tortilla and a pair of tongs rested next to a giant shield.

More shocking than his surroundings was the change in his body. All the aches and pains that had been plaguing him had disappeared. He patted himself down and found that all his wounds had magically disappeared as well. Strange. He opened his [Status] screen to get a better handle on the situation.

Name: Aaron Green Class: Mage Lvl 9 (225/1100) HP: 300/300 MP: 540/540 SP: 120/120 Strength: 20 Endurance: 14 Recovery: 15 Defense: 18 Dexterity: 27 Agility: 13 Perception: 20 Mind: 32 Magic: 54 Spirit: 12 Skill Points: 11

Even though he wasn’t at full health a minute ago, the bar was now full. It seemed all his time spent recovering was wasted. The System had fully healed him and restored his resources while transporting him to wherever this cave was. He felt like pulling out his hair; he had meditated for hours for nothing. Well, there was no use, mulling over it for too long. What happened in the past couldn’t be changed; it was best to move on.

He sniffed the damp cave air. It was static; there was no airflow, meaning there was no way out. With nothing better to do, he explored the cavern.

He tiptoed through the mess, careful not to cut himself. The walls of the cavern never seemed to get any closer as he traveled. Some sort of magic must have been at play. Only when he headed north was he able to make any visible progress. After a couple minutes of walking and almost accidentally chopping off his feet multiple times, he came across an archway cut into the stone, so deep that he could not see the end of it. Two torches burnt with blue fire next to the opening, casting it in an ominous hue. He had obviously come across something important.

Defeat the Guardian of the Cavern. Rewards will be given based on performance and completion speed.

The challenge was simple. However, Aaron was empty-handed; he’d prefer to walk into the fight with a weapon. He bent down and scanned the ground - literally thousands of weapons surrounded him. The only difficult part about getting one was choosing which to pick up.

He selected a long gray spear. Out of all weapons, the spear was the easiest to use. He wasn’t under any delusions about his skill with weapons, so he decided to choose an idiot-proof one. It was simple, just point the sharp end at the enemy, and you had mastered the basics.

Improvised Weapon Mastery activated without its usual force. The skill was running at half capacity. Even though it was scavenged, using an already made weapon was pushing the limits on what the System defined as improvised. He would have to modify the spear in some way if he wanted the skill to run at full power.

With all the materials available, that was an easy task. He scavenged some leather wrappings off a sword and transferred them over to the spear. He wound the leather strips around the spear’s wooden shaft, creating an easy place to grip the weapon. However, he lacked the skill to get the makeshift handhold to say tightly wrapped around the spear. That’s where Missing Link came in. He activated that function of Improvised Weapon Mastery and watched his mana dip by a slight amount. A black adhesive substance appeared below the leather strips, trapping them in place.

He hefted his newly improved weapon on his back, ready to defeat the Guardian of the Cavern. As he walked through the dimly lit archway, Improvised Weapon Mastery subtly adjusted his grip and fed him knowledge on how to use a spear. It wasn’t as effective as it should be, but he wasn’t angry. It was a minor miracle he was able to activate the skill in any capacity on a premade traditional weapon.

The tunnel widened, revealing another cavern. However, this one was most certainly not natural. Manicured plants lined its rocky perimeter, and torches illuminated its depths. The same glowing green moss still clung to the stalactites hanging above him. Combined with blue fire torches, everything in the cavern looked sickly.

“Hi! You’re small.” Aaron’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest as a collection of floating boulders in the vague shape of a human waved at him. The stone golem clumsily placed a watering pale to the side then rose to its full height. Aaron had to crane his neck upward to see its round boulder-sized face – it must have been at least thirty feet tall.

“I think the real question is: why are you so big?”

“You really think I’m big – like a mountain?” A light speckling of red appeared on the giant’s face as its deep voice rumbled. It pressed its round boulderlike hands together in anticipation.

Aaron rubbed his eyes, questioning what he was seeing. How can a rock blush? “Why would I lie; you’re the largest person I’ve ever seen.” He glanced at the System notification. He was on a timer. He wanted to finish this as soon as possible. “I’m kind of busy at the moment; could you show me where the Guardian of the Cavern is?”

The rock pointed at itself with pride. “That’s me, Nacho, The Guardian of the Cavern.”

Aaron tossed his spear to the side; a simple spear wouldn’t do anything against this opponent. He paused; the notification said defeat. That was a bit vague. Maybe he didn’t have to beat Nacho in a fight. Maybe, he could beat him in a game of checkers. Fighting a giant mound of moving stone wasn’t on his to-do list

“So, are we supposed to fight?” Aaron asked.

“Yes, Mr. Angry Small Man told me if I fought you, The Moonlight Carpet would leave us alone,” the giant golem struggled to pronounce carpet, taking five attempts to finally say it right.

“Who?”

“I already told you, he was angry and small.”

Aaron sighed; the golem was as dumb as a rock. In a way, Nacho reminded him a bit of a child, lacking common sense while painfully innocent. “Of course, that makes sense. When did he tell you this?” He looked around the cavern. Was someone else in the cave with them, feeding the golem information?

“When it was raining,” the instant the words left Nacho’s mouth, red runes flashed over the golems' body. It jerked and contorted in unnatural ways as it let out a cry of pain. Aaron took a step back; he would be crushed if he was caught by one of the golem’s spasming limbs. The golem’s stone eyes glowed red. Aaron had watched enough movies to know what that meant.

He immediately kneeled down and placed his hand on the ground. He activated Explosive Mark. His mana followed his command. Under his direction, a series of glowing blue engravings were carved into the ground. His mana was much easier to control than last time. Taking the Bomb Making Path had made all the difference. It was no longer an uphill battle to activate the skill.

Additionally, the path fed him ideas on how to improve Explosive Mark. However, he wasn’t confident about trying any of them out yet. He would be satisfied with a default Explosive Mark.

Aaron glanced up, keeping track of the golem’s wild movements. The runes flashed brightly once more before disappearing, leaving a layer of steam to waft off the giant. “Sorry, I’m not supposed to talk about that. We have to fight now.”

The golem lumbered towards him, cracking the ground with its giant feet. A mental tether formed in his mind as Explosive Mark’s engravings finished drawing themselves. Aaron turned and sprinted away. Getting close to the golem sounded like a terrible idea. He had to keep his distance.

Nacho continued forward in a straight line, closing in on his position. However, that was what Aaron wanted him to do. The golem took a step, landing directly on Explosive Mark. Aaron activated the skill. A dome of blue mana burst out of the ground with such force that it knocked the giant golem off its feet. Nacho crashed to the ground, kicking up a wave of dust.

Congratulations! Explosive Mark Lvl 3→5 . 4 Skill Points awarded.

Aaron coughed as the wave washed over him. Explosive Mark had scored a direct hit – the skill was able to put a deep dent in solid steel; it should be strong enough to break stone. He decided to play it safe; he may need more than one hit to finish the fight. Hidden by the dust, he prepared another Explosive Mark.

Before he could finish preparing, the dust cleared. Nacho had climbed back to his feet and was searching the room for him. A chunk of stone had been torn out of its foot. Other than that, the monster was in perfect condition. Which was surprising, considering the circular hole the skill had punched into the ground. It appeared Nacho’s body wasn’t made out of simple stone. It was made of a tougher substance.

The golem’s glowing red eyes locked on him. Aaron cursed; he still had around three more seconds till Explosive Mark was ready to blow. He stood his ground as the rock approached. Its slow steps ate through the distance between them. It raised its arms up, preparing to smash them to the ground. With only a fraction of a second remaining on the skill, he was forced to jump out of the way. Rock sprayed out as the golem smashed through the floor. Even though Aaron had dodged the strike, he was still sprayed with shrapnel. A particularly large piece stabbed into his shoulder.

He rolled to his feet and immediately started running away from the monster. With a grunt, he pulled the shard of rock out of his shoulder. The golem followed him. Even though he was much nimbler than his opponent, he wasn’t able to put any significant distance in between them. Each one of the golems' slow steps counted for ten of his.

The friendly Nacho was gone, hidden beneath the red glow in his large eyes. The golem no longer responded to any of his remarks. The rock monster had turned into a machine - with the sole goal of killing him.

The golem chased him around the room in circles as Aaron thought of what to do. It was likely he wouldn’t get another chance to use Explosive Mark in this fight; the charge time was simply too long. Additionally, Aaron was already down 100 Mp. He could continue running away from the monster for some time, but from the looks of things, the golem wasn’t slowing down. He would lose a contest of endurance. That left Mana Bolt as his only option.

He dodged out of the way as the golem's fist crashed into the ground again. This time he was far enough away to avoid the blast of shrapnel. He fired a series of Mana Bolts at the golem. They landed squarely on the monster’s chest, knocking off small bits of rock. Considering Nacho’s size of thirty feet, small bits of rock weren’t going to cut it. He needed to summon the power he had found while fighting the Bonemaw Octopus.

He remembered what the System had told him about Metamagic. With enough emotion, willpower, and a clear image of the desired result, he could change the skill however he wanted. He also found that it was helpful if he was 100 percent focused on the task, something he couldn’t afford to be at the moment. Not with a multi-ton stone golem relentlessly chasing him.

Nacho swiped his hand through the air, trying to swat Aaron like a bug. He ducked under the attack. Even then, the air pressure from the swing ruffled his hair. He focused his mind and imagined Mana Bolt transforming into a familiar crescent, capable of cutting anything.

A structure of mana built itself in his palm. Before it was even halfway done, it collapsed.

He didn’t have the focus or the overwhelming desire he had when fighting the Bonemaw Octopus; he wasn’t in the right state of mind. Or perhaps what he was trying to do was almost impossible – something at the limits of what his current Paths would allow him. Perhaps that’s why he had earned so many skill levels when he successfully altered Mana Bolt to that degree.

He checked his mana pool. He had enough for around 100 more Mana Bolts. He had room to experiment; if he couldn’t get it to work on his first try, he’d slowly work his way to perfection.