The pain was now a new constant for him, it was just like breathing. He quickly moved away from the site but despite his best effort before he could fully rest he came across another group. He tried hiding this time, something that he now wondered why he had never done. Hiding behind a thick layer of creepers he stopped his breathing as they seemed to pass. He waited and waited until his body forcefully inhaled a sharp breath and he sensed something was wrong.

He jumped out at just the right time, tearing through the creepers a wave of red spread along with the swing of his arm. It forced them to step back and his other had followed, a wide swing of his sword, and he barely beheaded two of them, others evading the strike despite the fire burning their bodies. Swinging again, he created some distance between the monsters and himself and the turned. Before he could take a step hums sounded and he was forced to jump sideways, bringing up the sword. He barely blocked the strike, his blade cutting deep into his flesh. He grunted, moving inward, a knife cutting off the monster’s windpipe.

He grabbed it by the neck, spinning, barely stopping himself from falling. A muffled scream left his mouth, the last arrows penetrated the monster's neck stabbing into his hand. His eyes widened, and he spun bracing as the war hammer struck, sending him flying. He rolled, barely dodging the attacks while the weight on his hand suddenly disappeared. A set of hums sounded. The monsters closed in from all sides.

Seeing no other way he waited for them to come closer while dodging the arrows, deflecting those he could not. His right arm felt numb, his left arm swinging in a semi-circle. A flame much bigger than before exploded, a swarm of red erupting outwards following the motion of his arm.

He jumped at them, and the red swarm exploded, lighting all of them upon the fire, not allowing them any leeway. While they were trying to put out the fire, he was like a wolf among the sheep. These sheep were still much too slippery, slipping away at the slightest of carelessness.

There was not a single moment when, if the archers were alive, he was not besieged by them. It was too much of a variable. It put too much pressure upon him, forcing him to push his enhanced physic to even higher extremes.

When surrounded by the close combat fighter-type monsters, he still had some meat shields, so despite the alarming rise in danger, he could still shield himself. Another kind of problem popped up when the fighters were all killed. The arrows were too fast. With only himself remaining the archers rained hell upon him.

It was an excruciating ordeal but it made him stronger. With time he slowly got adjusted to the bullet-hell that he faced during every fight. It forced him to get better at dodging. It was another trial by fire for him that dug out the abilities that he did not know he had while refining others to the next height.

As he came out of the fight, bloodied and bruised he quickly ran away from the site. He did not want to start another fight, he was in no condition to. After creating sufficient distance he started looking for a covered space that he could use for rest all the while keeping himself alert to his surroundings.

Blocking the entrance, he bit on the knife’s hilt and a small flame appeared above his palm. It was minuscule and looked more like a spark than a flame. It exploded, the sparks spraying upon his hand burning the wound. His eyes closed, his jaws tightened but he repeated the process until every wound on his body was closed.

The number of groups he fought increased. Two, then three, and so on. It seemed as though he had blinked his eyes and now he had started becoming adjusted to the new pace. He challenged himself.

The last of the fighter took its last breath as the arrows riddled its body. He decided not to use any obstacle to his advantage, purely using his capabilities to dodge through the storm of arrows. It was dangerous. But slowly as he fought, he kept getting better. It took some more time but he reached the goal.

20, 30, 40, 50, and the number of groups he wiped out steadily kept increasing. As the number went up his abilities were further refined. He now could easily wipe out a group if he did not keep himself handicapped but he kept on pressuring himself. The results showed the way he used his body and used the spells to fight became completely different than the start.

The fighting in the trees was like fighting in the sky. He had to be mindful of all three dimensions unlike the fights on the ground. The 3D environment made everything complicated making him appreciate the effortless movements of fishes and birds. As he survived and then thrived his skill was dragged to a higher level. As he tried to become better it shortened the time even further.

After each fight, he rested allowing his body to recover making sure it was at its maximum potential before the next fight started. The best way to rest was to sleep and to sleep required him to keep finding hidden places. There were a lot of those in the forest. In this thick vegetation, all sorts of things combined to keep many places out of the eyes. After configuring them to not allow anything in from the outside he would sleep for a few hours.

He struck its wrist, pushing the blade further in he instead struck the weapon of another monster. Closing in he stabbed the knife through one of its shoulders he pushed it. An attack struck the flying monster. A hum sounded and he rolled away hastily creating a barrier. A reddish orange colored barrier appeared. The weapons softened because of the heat as they penetrated the barrier. Not letting go of this golden opportunity he took out a spear and started stabbing the monster. Whenever the spear got close to the barrier he dispersed the energy at that area, safely allowing the weapon to pass through. Another hum resounded. He sidestepped the monster moving onwards hiding behind a tree. He quickly came out from another side attacking the remaining fighter and killing them before the archers could readjust.

He had fought thousand of fighter classes of these monsters during which he became intimately familiar with their movements, their attacks, and their behavior. Using them he started fighting them in close fights, deflecting, diverting, and directing their attacks to his advantage. He used their attacks to block and kill the attacks of their kin.

Slowly he kept on improving but there seemed to be no end to this floor. He had become so used to all the fighting that his body would execute the movements by itself while his mind wandered away. Only the archers were a danger to him but even they could be easily dodged if the environment was correctly used.

***

He blinked his eyes as he saw where he was. The sudden change in scenery brought his mind out of the auto mode and he consciously observed his surroundings. He had completely forgotten how this room looked so he went through every corner, in the end standing before the hologram.

Points: 930

Purchase:

Skills Elixirs

Skills:

Incinerate Cost: 405

Elixirs:

Elixir of Body Cost: 150 Elixir of Soul Cost: 150

Without a thought, he bought the spell, and with the remaining points, he bought two Elixir of Body and one Elixir of Soul.

After praying he lay down to sleep. It was a wondrous feeling that he had not felt for a long time. Without any worry, he laid down, no worries that he would be attacked, no worries about whether his body will be well once he woke up. No worries. The sleep that overtook him here where he genuinely felt safe was indescribable.

When he woke up the door was already there. Before going in there though he tested the spell. As he connected to the module information passed into his mind. He did not understand it but after going to a corner of the room he was able to draw a diagram on the ground. It was like just like how he did not understand Arabic but could read the Quran felt. Going to the other corner of the room he pulled the trigger that had appeared in his mind. An explosion took place and a grin covered his mouth.

Do not even need the bombs now, he thought as the looked at the aftermath of triggering the spell. There was no damage to the room but the visuals had impressed him and considering how useful the previous spells were he was sure that they would not disappoint.

Connecting to its spell module he quickly searched for the thing that regulates energy usage. It was the only thing he had identified but it had changed the way he fought. Again he went to the same corner and again drew the diagram. Moving back, he mentally pulled the trigger and another explosion occurred, this time it was much stronger. As strong as it was though, the amount of energy that was consumed was equally greater. Despite his energy reservoir being enhanced one more, he could feel them sharply fall after enhancing the spell. Satisfied, he offered prayer before passing through the door.

***

From light to the darkness. From peace to conflict. From ease to difficulty. Again he stood in the lightless hell surrounded by the massive trees from all sides. Everything here suddenly felt awful. An intense urge to vomit came but he had not eaten for months so there was nothing that could be thrown out. He wanted to scream in protest. He wanted to get out. He wanted to make them all pay but all he could do while being trapped in this black tower was fight, so he took a deep breath and moved. Again the cycle of war started.

From his storage, he brought out an unlit torch lighting it with a dark red flame that hovered above his palm. The flame exploded but the sparks all rushed out in a single direction hitting the torch and lighting it up.

He sat down, the torch stabbed into the white ground. How should he use the new spell? He could not set it up in advance as the fights started unpredictably and even if he set it up in advance he would be lost in this maze-like forest. He could not just set it up during the fights, the archers would fill his body with holes.

He kept staring at the flickering flames while ideas raced through his mind. Does it need to be set up on the ground though? He tightly grabbed onto that thought, expanding upon it. He took out another torch which was just a cut-off piece of wood. He started tracing his finger across its surface but the piece of wood started vibrating. Feeling the intensity increase he threw it.

The silence was suddenly ripped apart. Getting onto his feet, picking up the torch he ran. The sound of the explosion was echoing throughout the forest and this masked the sounds.

The first one hit back, breaking a rib bone. As the pain started registering in his mind, power rushed into his legs sending him crashing towards a tree. His hand and legs prepared for collision, compressing as he crashed, and then power again rushed into his limbs sending him flying towards another tree. Ricocheting from one tree to another he avoided the successive volleys of arrows but the one stuck in his back made him feel hell.

Bearing through the pain was something that he had become used to and this level of the wound was considered small in his mind now. That did not imply the damage was any less severe though. Every breath, every movement caused the pain to explode.