Carly Berkstead was currently resting a bit past the midway point on lap-16. She was meditating to reduce fatigue, gain endurance and most importantly gain mana. Her mana pool was almost full.

After a few more seconds, she broke from her meditative state. Carly then summoned a mana construct, a blade which she used to slice and slice and slice into a Lachtressia Grubs. She would do this to sufficiently wound the grub so it would bleed to death. She unleashed these terrible cuts just behind the grubs carapace head, where it was completely vulnerable and easy to handle.

Carly would continue to do all this for precisely 13-grubs until again low on mana. Where she would rinse and repeat the process until the start of lap-21. There a new mob would be present an obstacle she would have to overcome.

Right now, however, Carly needed to find a way to speed up the entire process. Specifically, she needed a way to reduce the downtime while she meditated to regenerate her health, endurance, mana, and fatigue.

Carly stood up, meditation complete. She cast the spell [Melee], with mental focus she summoned a mana blade. An efficient mana construct she utilised to cut these Lachtressia Grubs. With 50-mana spent in the summoning, she then enlarged the blade that now had a sustaining cost of 4-mana per second. This ongoing mana cost kept the mana blade summoned.

Carly sprinted towards the next grub to begin slicing, at the same time she called up the [Extant Upgrade Store], and following the menu, she selected [Enhance Spells], [Custom Enhancement Creator]. A new screen popped up which would allow her to make an enhancement spell tailored by her for her. Stopping her sprint, she started slicing up the first grub before beginning the process of reading the many options for creating the custom spell.

Many grubs died during this process, in fact, Carly would have saved much time if she just spent all her DP on her Potential Stat.

Instead, with her erratic state of mind, it cost her time reaching the relaxed and mentally unburdened state required for using her [Regen] meditation spell. Numbers and ideas were floating in her mind instead of the task at hand, kill gub then regain mana.

She was well skilled in reaching her meditative state from years of practice so fortunately, she only lost a minute on each cycle while Carly was like this. Unfortunately, it did take many cycles to create her custom spell, but Carly believed it was worthwhile and that she had created something pretty damned sweet.

Mana Double Dip Plus:

Custom enhancement by Carly Berkstead [Purchase: 610 (Minutes)] Spell Type: Enhancement Magic Type: Enhancement Targeting: Self Delivery: Envelope Effect: Mana Regeneration Advanced Effect: N/A Special Effect: Reduce Combat Regeneration Debuff Effect Duration: Permanent Cast Range (m): Self Cast Time (Sec): 15 seconds Cool Down (Sec): 3 minutes Requirement: ->Concentration: 100 ->Control: 100 ->Focus: 100 ->Wisdom: 100 Mana Cost: 800 Concentration Cost: 60 Experience: 0 / 7200 (Fixed) Total Upgrades: 0 / 60 Upgrades:

[Increase Effect]

[Increase Special Effect]

It was a brilliant piece of number play, and its cost reflected that in the extreme. It was far beyond what Carly could afford right now. She kicked herself mentally; 'I should have just spent all my DP in the fucking Potential Stat instead of wasting time on this shit and thinking too far ahead. I would probably have 15-minutes more than I have right now if I used the DP after seeing the formula for mana regen. What a fucking waste, you fucking moron, fuck you, you piece of shit.' She berated herself while angrily dumping all her points into the stat now boosting it by 78-points. Cutting extra hard on the last couple of grubs, brutalising them vengefully with all her anger on them before her mana ran low.

When the mana did get too low, she took some deep breaths releasing the unnecessary emotions and entered the last meditative regen phase on this final lap of grub killing. Shaving nearly 3-minutes from her downtime, Carly started executing the final few Grubs, completing lap-20. She took a look at the next mob, rabbits. 'Yes,' she said while raising her fist in victory. Then immediately turned left into the safe room to eat and drink, both thirst and hunger levels had increased quite a bit and required sating.

Carly checked her other bars during this time. Her fatigue was gradually rising although the [Regen] spell did wonders with it. Endurance was ok, right now but that was because the grubs were so easy to kill. Health was perfect, as she took no damage the entire 10-laps slicing grub sausage. She also had two more DP now, so she dropped them in the Potential Stat.

Carly considered her situation and decided on several things, first of which was breaktimes. She would break after every five laps to drink and eat. Better to take a couple of minutes to maintain a good physical condition with short breaks regularly than rely on recovery from a long break after a long stint of exertion. Secondly, she couldn't find any enhancement setting that would reduce fatigue loss or boost its recovery. The only stat that linked to fatigue was the Constitution stat, so it needed to increase. Constitution also related to Health, Health Regeneration, Endurance, Endurance Regeneration, and the resistances she had currently. It was an all-rounder and very valuable stat. But, right now she considered it most valuable for reducing the accumulation of her fatigue status. Carly figured 30-DP invested would have wholly nullified its generation against the grubs. Against something more agile, that required more effort in combat, would require considerably more effort to defeat. At that point, an even greater investment in the stat would be needed to sustain combat efficiency while still minimising downtime requirements.

She still had two arcane skills that she needed to purchase, each costing 180-minutes each. She could buy them both right now, but she didn't see the point. In fact, she felt duped right now. Spending all those precious minutes for these arcane spells that caused her so much downtime. She could have bought a top end weapon from the store for 300-minutes. 'I bet with a decent weapon I could have killed those fucking grubs, just as easy and had almost no need for rest. I mean, I spent 240-minutes just to survive that blue ball of energy drinking those potions. It hurts, it really fucking hurts. Sure, it might be good to know how to manipulate raw mana in the new world. But I wanted to do well right now, and those fucking skills are hindering, not helping. When I took the risk and followed this anonymous bene-fuck-iary, I knew the risk. Trusting someone, what a fucking idiot. I screwed up, damn it, I fucking screwed myself over.'

Carly pounded heavily with her teeth as she masticated on her ham and salad sandwich in anger thinking such thoughts. What she needed was to gain time back. She could do that now with her higher mana regeneration rate, but she would still have significant downtime. Downtime, it was the true killer in this event. These first 20-kilometers were all about slowing the competitors down, take them to the brink as quickly as possible. Put them under stress, mentally hound them with thoughts of failure. Make them panic as the ever-encroaching elimination boundary crawled along behind them, never resting, never tiring, and always in pursuit.

"How can I overcome the boundary?"

"How can I reduce downtime?"

"How can I maintain or increase my killing speed?"

Carly looked to the ceiling for answers, but there was no text coming through right now, and she wouldn't have trusted it if some did appear.

'Alright, I have..,' Carly looked at her [Loop Data]

Loop Data [Lap] 20 [Boundary Start] 107:10 [Boundary Timer] 417:10 [Last Lap Time]] 19:37 [Lap Position] 6,149 [Boundary Position] 8,864 [Remaining Competitors] 15,597

She had 417-minutes of currency, and she had been in the safe room for four or five so a bit less than 7-hours available to her.

She needed to understand how the items in this event worked, as yet though she had only purchased consumables. She used the sort feature on weapons to arrange them cheapest at the top and most expensive at the bottom. Fist spike, wooden clubs, iron daggers headed the list of cheap weapons. Ignoring the wooden clubs and such, Carly started looking through the dagger list. She soon came across one that interested her called a [Push Dagger], she considered here mana blade, it seemed similar in idea to her summoned construct weapon. Carly took a look at the steel variants details.

Iron Push Dagger (Quality 85%):

This Push Daggers grip is designed to snuggly sit inside your fist and emerge between middle and ring finger. The spade-shaped blade while not long is excellent at penetrating attacks from punches. With targeted strikes, bleed effects add further damage. [Purchase: 60 (Minutes)] Item Type: Weapon Subtype: Push Dagger Item Material: Iron Item Size: 1-Hand Very Small Damage - Kinetic 10%, Pierce 90%: 12-16 -----Stat Effect: (Strength*0.25) + (Dexterity*0.15) Damage - Kinetic 30%, Slash 70%: 8-12 -----Stat Effect: (Strength*0.1) Rune Points: 120 Rune: [Upgrade] -----Mana Activation Cost: N/A Requirement: -----Strength: 60 -----Dexterity: 60 Weight (Grams): 105 Durability: 200 / 200

'Yes, something like that is what I need,' Carly thought. It would suit her martial skills and boost the damage she could inflict. Further, she would be able to take a look at the Rune [Upgrade] and how it related to weapons, possibly even help with armor.

She made the purchase and heard the chime sound, beam of light and chest materialising. Opening the small chest the [Push Dagger] lay waiting on a cloth, it had a leather sheath covering the blade. Carly picked it up in her right hand. It felt comfortable and effortless to use. It would definitely be great for punching into meaty things, like rabbits.

She focused on the blade mentally, and the details of the weapons appeared once more. Now she selected the [Upgrade] option for runes.

Rune Upgrades:

Select from the following runes; they may be applied to the maximum rune points available for the material type. [Cleaning]

Clean all matter off the dagger, cost 10-mana.

[Purchase: 5 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 10 (Points)]

[Enhanced Durability]

Add 20 more durability to the weapon (5 Stackable). [Purchase: 15 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 30 (Points)] [Enhanced Pierce]

Add 3 more damage to piercing attacks (5 Stackable). [Purchase: 15 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 30 (Points)] [Enhanced Slash]

Add 3 more damage to slashing attacks (5 Stackable). [Purchase: 15 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 30 (Points)] [Sharpen]

Sharpen the blade to when the rune was applied. 5-damage per use restored at a cost of 1-durability and 50-mana. [Purchase: 40 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 80 (Points)] [Durability Restore]

Restore the durability of the item to when the rune was applied. Each point in durability restored, costs 100 mana. [Purchase: 40 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 80 (Points)] [Infirmaty]

Reduce constitution by 2 per strike (stackable) for 2-minutes after the first strike. Activation cost 300-mana for 2-hours (Maximum 5 Stacks). [Purchase: 50 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 100 (Points)] [Weakness]

Reduce strength by 2 per strike (stackable) for 2-minutes after the first strike. Activation cost 300-mana for 2-hours (Maximum 5 Stacks). [Purchase: 50 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 100 (Points)] [Hinder]

Reduce speed by 2 per strike (stackable) for 2-minutes after the first strike. Activation cost 300-mana for 2-hours (Maximum 5 Stacks). [Purchase: 50 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 100 (Points)] [Stumble]

Reduce agility by 2 per strike (stackable) for 2-minutes after the first strike. Activation cost 300-mana for 2-hours (Maximum 5 Stacks). [Purchase: 50 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 100 (Points)] [Fumble]

Reduce dexterity by 2 per strike (stackable) for 2-minutes after the first strike. Activation cost 300-mana for 2-hours (Maximum 5 Stacks). [Purchase: 50 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 100 (Points)] [Daze]

Reduce reaction by 2 per strike (stackable) for 2-minutes after the first strike. Activation cost 300-mana for 2-hours (Maximum 5 Stacks). [Purchase: 50 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 100 (Points)] [Lethargy]

Reduce endurance by 5 per strike (stackable) for 2-minutes after the first strike. Activation cost 350-mana for 2-hours (Maximum 5 Stacks). [Purchase: 50 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 100 (Points)] [Corruption]

Poison for 2 health per strike (stackable) per tick for 60-seconds after the first strike. Activation cost 400-mana for 2-hours (Maximum 20 Stacks). [Purchase: 60 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 120 (Points)] [Conserve Endurance]

Reduce endurance use by 25% for 2-hours. Only one of this rune will provide benefit. Activation cost 600-mana. Note: The high usage cost is due to material quality limitations of rune-crafting. [Purchase: 60 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 120 (Points)] [Full Restore]

Completely restore damage and durability of the weapon to when the rune was applied. Damage is restored first, then durability, at the cost of 200-mana per point for either. Note: The high usage cost is due to material quality limitations of rune-crafting. [Purchase: 60 (Minutes)]

[Rune Cost: 120 (Points)]

Most of the rune options looked good, although, to someone practical who spent many years on a farm, a cleaning or sharpening rune seemed redundant. Carly was torn between the [Corruption] and [Conserve Endurance] choices. Carly had no idea which of the two would be most functional, they both sounded extremely beneficial. Closing her eyes, she thought about both and how they would aid her progression. In the end, she chose [Conserve Endurance] as the rune she upgraded too. The reason being, it would be continuously useful, both fighting mobs and moving between them. She could only assume that because it would be aiding her in a broader range of actions, was likely the reason it cost an additional 200-mana to activate it for its 2-hours duration compared to [Corruption].

Carly almost wished she had purchased a push dagger made of better material now for the higher rune points. Though this was mostly a means of information gathering with a bit of utility tacked on all while minimising the expense. 'It was 120-minutes of investment. Using it, I will be able to make that time up, right?' She thought while considering the blade.

Carly checked her mana level, and she didn't have quite enough regenerated. No problem though, she began to meditate, it did not take very long anymore. The 180-points per minute of mana regeneration allowed Carly to recover much quicker now. She then focused on the [Push Dagger] until she gained access to its information screen. Once the daggers screen appeared she activated [Conserve Endurance] right away. Instantly, feeling the draining pull of mana out of her body toward the weapon. Carly was notified seconds later that the rune was in effect, she was given a timer bar displaying the remaining time for the rune activation. She could place the bar wherever suited her. Carly added it beneath her survival bars and began to meditate once more until here mana was fully restored. All up she had spent about 10-minutes in the safe room. She shook her head at the time lost, but what else could she do other than maintain her performance levels and look for solutions to her time issues.

With everything that had recently occurred during the last hour and a half, Carly had earned additional skill notifications.

Carly did not pay them any heed. She figured she could do those things without relying on a skill that would consume DP. Carly had decided a while ago, her DP was reserved solely for boosting her speed and efficiency to progress around the loop.

Standing up, she exited the room and went to the intersection between the safe room, and the two straights. Looking at the rabbit ahead, she nodded to herself. "I got this one at least," she said with bravado.

She focused on casting [Melee] spell towards her left hand this time leaving it at its most efficient mana consumption size. Developing the skill would be of secondary importance, for now. Instead, Carly would not rest until she needed to regenerate endurance. Besides, the spell was not too far from leveling, and she did not have a single DP available in reserve at present.

Carly burst into a run, not wanting to waste more time, she was familiar with the attack patterns of the rabbits and so charged towards the creature. When Carly was around 10-meters distance from the first rabbit, it intern charged at her before leaping at throat height.

Carly saw it coming. 'Shit,' she thought before stepping off the right foot and leaning to the left, she let off a quick left jab into the rabbit side with her mana blade.

< You perform a weak [Jab] to attack a Rabbit dealing 17 (-7) kinetic damage, and 17 (-7) crush damage. Your arcane construct deals 29 (-2) arcane damage, and 9 brutal damage >

Successfully dodging and landing a hit that sent the rabbit off balance mid-leap. The [Jab] lost some of its power as Carly's body moved away from the beast during the dodge. The rabbit's body started turning horizontally after the impact. Hitting the ground awkwardly, it rolled before coming upright with minor disorientation facing the side wall. It might have lost sight of Carly, but it heard her coming.

It leapt forward to evade, Carly tracked it closely she came in low, diving, ramming a [Straight Punch] into its right hind leg and reducing its mobility while it released an anguished scream.

Another quick [Jab] to the rabbit's other side, before she grabbed hold of its fur and started laying into it with consecutive right-handed strikes with the push dagger. Aiming at vital spots on its body she soon received the death message from the combat log.

After taking a quick look at the log, she soon noticed that her last few strikes also added critical strike damage on top of her other damage. Killing rabbits so often in the loop as well as butchering the odd one in her TME on her farm to cook, she was very knowledgeable about the anatomy of the creatures. Such knowledge would indeed make things easier. Checking her endurance was the best discovery, she had only used 46-endurance in total, Carly was completely in love with how ridiculously effective the magical rune seemed to be. With 2400-endurance pool and regenerating 120-endurance per second when outside of combat, Carly was going to be able to take out a lot of rabbits before resting.

The surprise in the engagement was that the rabbit acted so aggressively. If not for her immaculately honed martial skills she may have been taken by surprise with its charging leap towards her neck. They weren't aggressive like that before in the loop, and they always focused futilely on evading attacks on every practice run she had ever done. Only when that didn't work would a rabbit then attempt to defend itself. It was strange; she understood the new mobs were to create a significant variance in encounters. 'But why would the rabbit's behaviour change? Had it changed or was that an anomaly?' Carly did not know. She needed a wider test base than just one rabbit. Fortunately, that fight took about 10-seconds, and if their behaviour had changed, it probably worked in her favour. Fighting an aggressive mob with low physical resistance was going to be much faster than chasing down an evading one.

'Time to start growing my sample size for my thesis on rabbit combat behaviours.' Carly started to [Jog] towards the next rabbit, this time, ready for anything.