There wasn’t any time to stop, assess my situation, or reconsider what I was about to do. I was surrounded by monsters that were all over level 35, and the more time I spent in the poisonous green mist, the more HP I lost.

The hydra wasn’t that far from me. Or, to be more precise, the nearest head of the hydra wasn’t that far—only about fifteen feet away. I couldn’t see the hydra’s center—all I could see were a dozen snakes with torsos that were the diameter of a truck’s tire.

The snakes had a pinkish color, with fangs the length of my forearm glistening with poison. As the snakes opened their mouths, more poisonous, green fog billowed out.

Several heads hissed out a warning as I ran towards the hydra. I split the majority of my remaining mana, increasing Physical Defense and Agility.

Dodging the striking heads was easy at first, thanks to Samantha’s combat shadow, but the closer I got, the harder it became.

The hydra clearly didn’t want me any closer to its core, and its heads and necks formed a veritable wall blocking my approach.

As I wove between snapping fangs and plumes of concentrated poison, I could finally see the hydra’s main body. It was a roiling mass of putrid flesh, wrapped protectively by the coils of the various hydra heads.

I tried to dodge all the attacks I could, but I was literally surrounded by hydra heads. The moment one head caught my calf, I acted.

I unslung my backpack, and used the mana-powered lighter that I had purchased at the auction to light the wick of one of the Igneal Explosives that was inside the backpack.

I tossed the backpack towards the Hydra Core.

Just a second later, as two more hydra heads bit into my body, ten Igneal Explosives engraved with E-rank Explosion Rune Patterns blew up.

I had created these explosives over the last day and a half, when I wasn’t hunting District Lords. When I made them, I definitely wasn’t planning on being nearby when the explosion happened.

It was a deafening, world-shaking explosion. Everything lit up in a blinding flash of light, and I felt my body fly up out of the air and crash into a nearby tree.

When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see anything. The only sound I could hear was a distant buzzing.

Fortunately, though, Schema notifications still worked.

You have reached 0 HP.

Your skill “Death’s Defier” has taken effect. +1 HP

I groaned and tried to stand up, but failed. I got on all fours, and activated Mana Sensing.

It felt pointless. I was surrounded by roiling mana that lingered from the explosions I had created.

As Samantha gave the instructions, the combat shadow showed me exactly where to go.

My movements were slow. Not because each move felt painful—Samantha’s limiter on my pain was probably the only thing keeping me sane right now—but because there were some motions my body was incapable of completing.

My left leg couldn’t move at the hip, so I dragged it behind me. My right hand was missing completely, and it seemed like the explosion had messed with my sense of balance as well as everything else.

I had no idea what I was even going to do when I find the Hydra again. I had no weapons, and I would die for real the moment I lost my last HP.

Samantha said.

My hands fumbled around, following the Combat Shadow, and finally found the fang Samantha was talking about.

I could finally see my target. Not literally see—I was completely blind—but Mana Sensing didn’t require eyesight, and with Mana Sensing, I could locate what was left of the Hydra. There was a faint ball of mana, with a small, garden-snake-sized stream of mana flowing out of it.

It seemed the hydra hadn’t noticed me.

With the last of my energy, I slammed the fang down on what I assumed was the snake’s head.

Level up!

Congratulations for killing a Region Lord. +5 Available Stat Points

I felt a familiar glow cover my body. There had been two reasons Samantha had managed to convince me to attempt this foolhardy plan.

First was Death’s Defier—guaranteed to save my life from the explosion. Of course, Samantha had neglected to mention the lingering poison in the air, which would have killed me if I had spent any more time with just 1 HP.

The second was that Samantha tracked my experience gains, and she was certain that I would level up after defeating the hydra.

I let my body relax, embracing the warmth that seeped into the core of my being. With the level up, I could feel my body repairing itself, and in a matter of seconds, my hearing and eyesight had returned.

Thoughts about the free points? I asked.

There were also several reasons Samantha and I were not a fan of this plan. The first was that Samantha had predicted that the Orlan Blade’s durability would hit zero. The second was there would be virtually no hydra hide available for me to use as a material for rune patterns. Hydra hide was an ideal Rune Magic material because it held mana so well. Unfortunately, it was all scrapped due to the explosion. The third was that using ten E-rank bombs was extremely expensive--in terms of product cost and hours of labor. Not to mention the fact that this brought me a hair's breadth away from death.

But this was the new world I was living in. And Samantha had promised the loot from the hydra would be worth it.

I was still on my hands and knees, and I soon found two items next to the hydra’s dead body. A City Token, and a Spell Book. To Samantha’s disappointment, the core had been destroyed when I stabbed the hydra with the fang. Monster cores, according to Samantha, were rather useful. I would have to settle with the Skill Book that I found.

You have learned the skill, Healthy Magic.

Healthy Magic (E-rank): You can freely convert your mana into HP at a rate of 20 Mana to 1 HP. Requires: Internal Mana Affinity (E-rank).

I had agreed with Samantha’s risky—and expensive—plan for the 5 Stat Points, and the hopes of a skill book that would complement my Internal Mana Affinity. Hydras, Samantha had explained, also had Internal Mana Affinity, which meant there was a good chance I would be able to use the skills or spells the hydra dropped. Honestly, the skill is a disappointment. 20 mana for 1 HP sounded like a pretty bad tradeoff.

Well, even if the skill was a disappointment, at least I had gained significant stats from killing a Region Lord.

Should I split the 6 points between Physical Defense, Mana Pool, and Mana Regeneration?

Samantha responded.

I added the points, then studied my Status Window. There was something fulfilling, watching the numbers rise with time.

Name:

Jarek

Level:

19

HP:

29/29

Physical Defense:

18

Strength:

20

Mental Power:

11

Dexterity:

10

Agility:

10

Perception:

20

Mana Pool:

46

Mana Regeneration:

24

Available Points:

0

Coins:

7,504,850

Class:

Mana Modulator (D-rank)

Profession:

Rune Master

(E-rank)

Titles:

Skills and Spells:

Identify (E-rank)

Mana Modulation (D-rank Core)

Death’s Defier (A-rank)

Mana Sensing (E-rank)

Healthy Magic (E-rank)

Affinities:

Internal Mana (D-rank Low), External Unattributed Mana (E-rank Low)

Equipment:

None

There were two glaring issues with my Status Window, though. The first was that Ryker had my Interdimensional Pouch. This meant I had none of my usual stat boosts on my Status Window. And secondly, I needed to come up with about twenty-three million coins to buy the luck potion soon.

Samantha said, waking me up from my contemplation.

I immediately gasped and looked down. It made sense—I’d intentionally chosen not to wear much in the first place, and now there weren’t even shreds of clothes on me.

Fortunately, I had the poisonous mist to keep my body somewhat hidden. The sun had mostly set, so the darkness would help as well.

I walked towards the outskirts of the mist with my hands over my privates and called out, “Hello! I killed the hydra. Can you send Ryker with my pouch?”

It didn’t take long for Ryker to walk into the poisonous cloud.

“That’s good—you can stop there. Just toss the pouch towards my voice. Yes, I’m Jarek…No, you can’t come closer…Why? Because I’m naked… Yes, the hydra is dead. There is no fucking password, just toss the damn pouch.”

Not much later, we were all gathered again at Old Pine Town. It was the same group as before—Sergeant Wallis, Bradson, the military kid I still didn’t know, River and the Old Pine Town mayor sat around a long table. I was finally wearing all my equipment, although the Orlan Blade had been destroyed.

But this time, the ambiance was different, and I had control.

“The first thing I want to say is, I’m sorry I wasn’t a good teammate during the tutorial. I should have done better, and good people died because I made bad decisions that I deeply regret.

“That said, I know we are all still here because of this,” I dangled the City Token in front of everyone.

“Believe it or not, I’m somewhat short on funds, lately. I’ll auction the City Token off to the highest bidder—sorry, Ryker. I do have one condition—that the city will allow me free and unrestricted access to the Teleportation Circle.

“Bids do not need to be made just with coins. It could be rare materials, information on a hidden lord, geopolitical information, or weapons. I’ll give you each 12 hours to make your offer, and then I will give out the City Token. Best of luck, everyone.”

This was Samantha’s idea—cast a line out, and see what bites. Hopefully, it would help me towards the path of 20 million coins.

At first, I wasn’t that happy about it. It meant that I would have to wait another day before seeing if city appeared near Boston. But the longer I waited, the more likely a city would appear near Boston, as well.

We wrapped up the meeting not long after. As we made our way to the Teleportation Circle, River grabbed my elbow.

“I think you forgot one thing, Jarek,” she said. “I spent more time higher up in the Yanir Tree than you did. However high your Perception is—mine is higher.”

She let her eyes wander down my body, then smirked at my flushed face and walked away.