Over the next 75 days, Degritone focuses on leveling his Skills while Degriclone focuses on finding and killing monsters to increase the main body's Skill level limit high enough. After testing the limits of his body, he quickly gets Requiem of the Gravedigger up to 1500, Great Cleave to 500, and Overhand Strike to 500. The bulk of the time is spent waiting for Inevitability of the Immortal Troll to reach 7000.

During this time, Denial also reaches level 880 as he uses it to deny Flesh's version of Limit Break's self-damage and his body's inability to keep up with the force exerted when he uses his full power. In addition, he completed the Adrift III through X Paths; the Wayward Path he got for completing those; the Adept Path he got for getting to 10k skill level; Frontrunner, which he got for being the first to get a skill to 1k; Greatsword Mastery III, which he got for getting Greatsword Mastery to 900; Soul Scripter, which he got for modifying a a skill using Soul Script; and Monster Hunter I through XVII, the first of which he got for killing 25 monsters, and the rest he got for foregoing rewards for better rewards down the line.

He stopped at 17 because he was finally approaching 15k and he needed to save 1k PP for the Initiate of Loyalty path. As soon as he's able, he maxes out that Path, as well, completely ignoring its rewards. Once he does, he reappears in the garden, once again. He immediately senses his Patron to his left through his Sense Lolis Skill and turns to face her. She's in the middle taking a sip from a cup.

Upon spotting him, she coughs up the mouthful of her drink into the nearby flowers and asks, "How are you here already? It's not even been two hours! And why are you giving off so much excess Health?" She appears before Degritone, pointing a finger into his now noticeably thinner belly. "You didn't eat the vitalower, did you?"

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small mana orb. It dissipates in his hand, revealing the vitalower, whole, as it was given to him. She looks at it, snatches it out of his hand, and inspects it. "It's whole, alright, and the same one I gave you... Then how...?"

"I spent over two months in a dungeon," Degritone says, "got to the 15k skill level you required."

"15k? Two months? It's not even been two hours! What do you mean-" She's cut off by an announcement, and Degritone suddenly feels himself feel weaker than he's felt in over two months as his mana equipment and the Health glow around him disappear.

System Update Testing Complete

The following System changes have been tested in a localized area. The degree to which they have been kept is listed below. Compensation will be given to individuals impacted by these changes. Testers will be given compensation for their contribution to the test.

Paths changed from goals to achievements Unimplemented Skill experience gained being completely based on the output of that Skill Partially kept Active Skills will and now gain 1 experience, plus up to an additional 10% Skill Level experience, based on Skill output, per second Passive and toggled Skills now gain 1 + Skill Level/(5+Skill Level) experience per second when in use Resource and skill effects being multiplicative Partially kept Check your resources and Skills to see the new math Images being more lenient toward otherwise impossible effects if the creation of Image Skills would involve incorporating existing Skills Almost entirely reverted Otherwise impossible effects now only possible if related to the incorporated skills Skill gain being based on user's understanding of what a Skill is Unimplemented Class gain being entirely based on user self-image Partially kept User self-image will now only minorly affect initial class options, but will allow for class evolutions in the future 100% customizable UI Kept entirely Dungeon time compression Partially kept Reduced to 5 times compression The Scan skill Unimplemented Further testing required Levels, or lack thereof, in image associated Skills affecting image power Unimplemented Will not be implemented at any point in the future Intent of Skill creator affecting Skill power Partially kept Skill creator's intended power will be taken into consideration of the auto-balance of the Skill Stamina and Mana pools having a physical location Unimplemented Further testing required Patron-specific Paths Kept entirely Title Paths Unimplemented Regeneration-sealing Skills Unimplemented Skills that have a portion of their Skill Level count as a stat Unimplemented Further testing required Maximum Skill Level total increase Partially kept Maximum is now 125 times level plus 75 Is no longer a hard cap Skill experience gained toward going beyond the cap will be reduced based on the strength of your soul Separation of Health and body durability Unimplemented Further testing required Condensing speed increased by relevant image power Unimplemented Power of Condensed items given as Skill Unimplemented Condensing efficiency increased by soul strength Kept entirely Those with weaker souls will now use exponentially less energy to Condense the same as those with strong souls Does not affect those with stronger souls More quests Unimplemented Basic knowledge on how to use a Skill Partially kept This knowledge will not be imparted into a user's muscle memory Compensation

As you were part of the testers, your Stats, Skills, Paths, and Class have been reset to what they were before the test started.

As compensation, you have been granted the following.

20 free Stats

2 Strength, Agility, Endurance, and Vitality

10 flat Health, Mana, and Stamina per level

10 flat Health, Mana, and Stamina regeneration per level

1 free Stat per level

20 PP

As you do not have a Class yet, the following will be applied once you obtain one.

2500 Experience

Minor class evolution

Additionally, for your personal performance, you gain the following.

10 flat Health regeneration

5 Vitality

2 Endurance

2 Strength

5 Bonus Health regeneration

2 Bonus Health

1 Vitality per level

1 Bonus Health regeneration per levelCongratulations!

Your bond with a Patron allows you to skip the usual process of choosing a Patron!

Summon Ally lvX

5 free stats

As Degritone read the changelog and compensation notifications, so does his Patron, who finished them long before he did, then glared at him until he's finished. She sighed, then shook her head. "What's done is done, I guess," she said, going back to her table to sit down. "What should have been your goal was to reach level up 3 times and max out your Skill Levels, but," she pulled out her chair, sat, and scooted back into the table, "that shouldn't have been possible in under a month without use of the vitalower.

"I'd expected to see you again in about 3 months. I didn't even consider that there were system changes being tested and that you were affected by them, let alone what impact they would have on you, since I didn't know what they were. This was meant to-" she gets cut off as Degritone starts his calming image, now much more defined than it was when the system was limiting it.

"I'm listening," Degritone says from his prone position. "I just lost 2 months of progress. Need a but-bit of calm." And a hug would be nice, but there's no way I'm saying that out loud, he thinks in addendum.

The Patron of Loyalty now sat on a chair suspended above waters made turbulent by hurricane-force winds, getting completely soaked by the rain. She dried herself off and created a bubble of reality around herself, though she looked surprised after she had done so, and asks, "This is your image?"

"One of, technically. Apparently, the system was limiting its power before, though that's not what you asked. Uhhh... Well, this is the one, one that I had before the system came. During my bouts of depression, I would lay in bed and think of this." He paused a few seconds and just before his Patron responded, he continued, "Well, the storm is relatively new, but otherwise, it's the same.

"The one I was using for Skills and stuff was the Immortal Troll, a character from a game I'd played with my family before the system hit," he said. Sighing, he said, "And now everyone is reset and we have a village monster coming with less time to prepare than I thought thanks to dungeons not having as much time compression." His eyes watered. "Anyway, off topic."

She stayed quiet for a long while after that, just letting Degritone ride out his time in his image. By the time he finished, an hour had passed and she'd finished her drink, though slowly. Degritone then stood up and slowly made his way to the table, unconsciously attempting to create a chair for himself out of mana as he sat in empty air, but his mana pool no longer being in a physical location tripped him up and he fell flat on his butt, instead.

Giggling with a smile and shaking her head, the Patron of Loyalty conjured a chair for Degritone. "So, tell me about what happened in your two months."

And Degritone did, though maybe in a little more detail than required in some areas, and too little in others.