"Well..." I sighed, "At least there are two body dummies this time" I cackled.

Alex and Kevin both turned back towards me and gave me a look as though I had just gone insane, which, maybe I had. We pretty much walked straight into this one after all.

Once most of the dust had settled to the ground, the sight that greeted me was one I could have done without. The menacing beast we were now confronting towered as tall as many of the surrounding trees, and the slight fogginess of the room only helped in serving the foreboding and surreal ambiance that had taken over much of the cavern.

In all honesty, this new Floweroid must have been at least fifteen feet tall, making it truly humongous, as it was nearly three times taller compared to the three of us. It was also clear that the monster wasn't happy in the slightest. A low groan was heard as the beast began to step forward, its gait surprisingly even slower than that of the smaller Floweroids we had dispatched earlier. Granted, it also shouldn't come as a surprise because the amount of weight the thing must have been packing had to have been quite astounding.

Despite that, its slowness was unfortunately limited to the speed by which it lumbered around. Its tentacles on the other hand held a much more worrying characteristic. The two arms ended in a three-pronged segment, much like the Guardian Floweroid's smaller counterparts. The middle prong was much thicker than the other two, being capped with what looked like a rose that had yet to blossom. The other two prongs were thin tentacles, and likely extended about twenty feet out from the main body. Despite them supposedly being weaker and thinner than the central prong, they still had the circumference of my fist, whereas the Guardian Floweroid's smaller counterparts that we had defeated earlier possessed tentacles that were more the width of a finger.

It was clear right off the bat that this would be a tough fight, and that was only more evidenced by the beast's next actions.

The dense foliage was serving as a sort of barrier, restricting the ability of the Guardian Floweroid to maneuver within the underground jungle. It was interesting, because whereas before the terrain had worked to our disadvantage, concealing the smaller Floweroid's attacks. It now proved advantageous to us in providing cover against this new foe.

The point proved to be moot though, as suddenly one of the tentacles from its right arm lashed forward, and snaked itself in between the intersecting trees.

It was fast. Not in the way it moved its main body, but with the flexibility of the tentacles. It had no right being that quick. It was clear that even I was going to struggle in this fight if Kevin and Alex weren't able to keep it off of me. The other truth of the matter was that between the attribute distributions of all three of us, Kevin was most attuned to a physical build, and I could generally keep up too, but I was worried about Alex. He hadn't been able to level like Kevin and I had. At least, even if he had, his class didn't exactly boast the highest growth rate.

Realizing our predicament, I recognized that now, more than any other, would be the best moment to use my free attribute points. We'd need any edge we could get.

Taking a quick jump back, I thought, [Status]!

Name: Thomas Parker [Genesis]

Tier 1 - [Juvenile High-Human Paragon] Level: 9 | Experience: 224.71 / 438.9

Race: High-Human

Titles: High-Human Paragon | Genesis

Health 334/334 ( +55.5 / hour )

Stamina 216/256 ( +42 / hour )

Mana 256/350 [380] ( +55.5 / hour )

Attributes:

Strength: 56

Constitution: 37

Agility: 28

Wisdom: 37

Intelligence: 46 [+5]

Unique Attributes:

Charisma: 14 [+5]

Free Attribute Points: 26

Skills:

Appraisal T1 - Level 3

Basic Sword Proficiency T1 - Level 5

Basic Mana Manipulation T1 - Level 4

Basic Elemental Affinity T1 - Level (6)

- Fire Elemental Affinity - Level 6

- Water Elemental Affinity - Level 1

- Earth Elemental Affinity - Level 2

- Air Elemental Affinity - Level 1

Leadership T2 - Level 3

Paragon's Influence T3 - Level 2

- Paragon's Tether

- Paragon's Charge

- Paragon's Bestowal

??? - Level 1

Free Skill Points: 9

I had twenty-six free attribute points to spare, but the main question was, what attribute would be the most useful in winning this fight?

It was tough, and honestly, I couldn't think of the right answer. Possibly Intelligence? It would boost my mana a bit, but that might be useless if I ended up going through it all. Plus, the fact remained that survivability would serve a much better purpose here. For example, what if Alex and Kevin can't afford to defend me? If the Floweroid comes after me, what then?

I was suddenly being drawn to some of my more physical attributes. Perhaps between Agility or Strength. Those two would either help me move faster or make me stronger. Strength, while not inherently making me quicker, still provided a small increase in my speed. Regardless, I was going to let the flight play out for a bit, and devise my strategy after I got a better feel for our situation.

In the few seconds that I had taken to go through my internal monologue, the tentacle had already struck twice at both Kevin and Alex. Fortunately, it had decided to go after Kevin first, perceiving him as a much greater threat. The lucky thing about it was that Kevin had grown a fair bit stronger compared to our fight with the [Treant]. And with his new shield, he was able to block the two blows from hitting him. His counterattacks were still far too slow however as the tentacles almost immediately pulled back, availing him of any chance to inflict damage.

This was going to be a truly frustrating fight. "Alex!" I yelled out. "You might need to step back from this one!"

In response, Alex just cursed under his breath, and suddenly jumped back a dozen feet, closer to me and behind some covering foliage.

I then began moving my mana through my mana network, pushing it to form another fireball. My main goal was to see what sort of damage I could cause with a basic spell. When I had cast magic with the smaller Floweroids, it had destroyed their tentacles, but I was a bit less convinced that the same attack would have a similar result with the Guardian Floweroid. As such, once I conjured up a thirty-mana point fireball, I launched it at the main body of the Guardian Floweroid.

The good news, the Floweroid was far too large and slow to actually dodge the attack. Bad news? The Floweroid instead swatted my fireball away with one of its tentacles. The fireball was only the size of a tennis ball, and the Tentacles of the Floweroid had a similar width. So, of course, when the fireball impacted, instead of blowing away the tentacle, it instead just left a scorch mark. Hardly a hindrance to the massive fifteen-foot-tall beast.

The only discernible result that I noticed, was that my efforts to damage it only had the effect of drawing its ire towards me.

I noticed the shift in its aggression almost immediately, as a vine-like tentacle rushed through twenty feet of trees, attempting to impale me. I was fairly far away, however, and it failed to reach me.

What I didn't realize though, was that did not mean it still couldn't hit me. Realizing the dilemma, the Guardian Floweroid instead chose to wrap an additional tentacle around a small, loose boulder and pry it out of the ground. The struggle lasted only a moment before it succeeded.

I knew instantly what it was trying to do, and as such, I started to move. Almost just as quickly, the Floweroid hoisted the boulder and let it loose in my direction. Luckily several trees were in the way, slowing the boulder just slightly; at least, enough for me to dodge it. The trees weren't so lucky on the other hand as they were bisected and flew apart.

This was going to be difficult. I only had a limited mana capacity, with just 228 mana points remaining. I could attempt to expel all of the mana like I did last time against the [Treant] and hope that it finished the job. I suspected that would fail to work this time though. If the Floweroid sacrificed a tentacle or two, it could probably come out fairly unscathed from an attack like that. Me on the other hand? I would be incapacitated. We'd have to be much smarter about this.

I had four mana types to realistically choose from. Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. Of the four, I was still fairly convinced that Fire was the best shot at damaging the thing. Earth mana may be somewhat feasible, but I had just seen the thing pry a boulder out of the ground, and trying to trap the thing was still unrealistic considering It would take a lot more mana than I currently had to try to encage it.

There was no easy way to win this fight. A war of attrition might be our best wager, but even then I imagined the Floweroid had a much higher stamina, and could likely outlast us.

Frankly, this was seeming quite difficult.

On the other hand, we didn't exactly need to defeat the thing in one blow. It was already incredibly slow, the only real offensive weapon it had were the tentacles, so if we removed those from the equation, then we would be in a much better position. Each arm had three tentacles, only two of them were long and being used for long-ranged attacks. The third tentacle was much thicker and looked to be primarily used in close-quarters combat.

So, keeping that in mind, the best strategy would be to disable its ability to attack. Since its primary defense and offense were both associated with its tentacles.

"Alex, Kevin!" I yelled out, "We need to take out those tentacles!"

"That's what I've been trying to do! It's just too damn fast though!" Kevin yelled out in reply, struggling to evade and block the oncoming strikes.

Alex was hanging back for now though, being unable to contribute to the battle, but, if my suspicions were right, he still might be a good for attracting some of the attention away from Kevin. Right now he might be a bit too slow, but, if I activated some of my support skills? That might change.

"Alex!" I called out, "I need you to help distract it so that Kevin or I can get a hit in! I'm gonna activate some buffing skills, so that's going to be your chance!"

Alex, off to the side, nodded in response. "As long as I can do something useful."

Kevin's [Paragon's Inspiration] skill should already be active, granting him a 10% buff. My Leadership skill could grant a small 3% increase since it was level 3. It was capped out at 19 because of my Charisma stat, but I doubted anyone would see that sort of increase. At the very least it might give us an edge. Then, if I activated it at the right time, [Paragon's Charge] will give a short, 60-second, 10% attribute increase. It was sizeable too. Enough where I think we might actually be able to pull through.

Subsequently, I activated my [Leadership] skill and noticed that both Kevin and Alex moved just slightly quicker.

With that, I decided I knew where I wanted to put my free attributes. Kevin and Alex will be able to mostly melee it. With Alex ideally focusing on dodging, while Kevin tanks the attacks. Myself on the other hand? I was going to pour all of my hope into a hypothesis I had come up with.

Well, probably a bit more grounded than a simple hypothesis, but still.

One thing I had noticed with each level up was that with my increased intelligence, also came an increased ability to control my mana. It was almost like my intelligence was directly attributed to how fine-tuned my mana control was. While mana-manipulation certainly helped, it was my belief that my intelligence attribute worked in direct tandem with the skill in assisting with my ability to shape mana.

I had come to my decision then. I'd pour a few points in Strength and Agility, to ensure I could still dodge the attacks if it became necessary, but everything else I was dumping into intelligence. There was something I wanted to try, and if I could get it to work, then I think this fight could be salvageable.

You currently have 26 undistributed Attribute Points.

Would you like to begin Attribute Distribution?

[Yes] / [No]

Yes, I selected.

Attributes:

Strength: 56 ⇑

Constitution: 37 ⇑

Agility: 28 ⇑

Wisdom: 37 ⇑

Intelligence: 46 ⇑

Unique Attributes:

Charisma: 14 ⇑

Free Attribute Points: 26

I dumped 2 points each into both Strength and Agility, the next 22 points went directly into Intelligence.

I quickly confirmed the selection. Kevin and Alex were obviously struggling to hold their own, and Kevin had still failed to damage the Floweroid.

Almost instantly after I had confirmed the selection, my mind imploded. Well, not literally, but the sensation might as well have signified such. I could feel a sudden rush of information and sensory input. Not just from my five senses either, but also from the ambient mana. I could suddenly feel the mana much more intimately, and I felt as if I could literally... touch it too. It was an incredible sensation. However, I couldn't dwell on it, my decision had been made. I had just jumped from a mana capacity of 350 to 482 (Or technically 512 with the enchanted amulet from the [Treant]) and the immediate effects were definitely felt. Even if my mana still was far from being full, my ability to manipulate it had increased drastically.

In reality, our fight was just getting started.