Blake crept through the den, torch in hand. He had learned a lot from his foray into the den. For example, torches. He didn’t have a proper torch the first time around and had lost it in his very first conflict. The torch he had now was little better, but he brought multiple and planned to take more care with keeping them close by.

  The biggest change from his first go around was his choice of weapon. Blake had originally chosen a spear as his go-to weapon because it was easy to make with low-quality materials and would be of great use against larger monsters. It also gave him some space from the monsters, which was a necessity when he first started out, if only for his peace of mind.

  It was overkill for fighting rabbicorns, but there had been no problems with the weapon outside the den, so he had stuck with it even if there might have been better options. While in the den, he had found the spear’s biggest flaw. It required a certain amount of room to be wielded effectively that he just couldn’t be guarenteed while in the tight confines of the den.

  He was also constantly surrounded by rabbicorns, making the spear rather difficult to utilize to its full potential. As if that were not bad enough, Blake found that the slow speed at which he could reposition with the spear made it a bad choice for fighting groups of enemies.

  He could slash with the spear to a degree, but the monsters kept getting stuck on the end of the weapon, which took time to remove. No, Blake needed a weapon that could be used rapidly in quick succession and could be used with minimal training.

  Having given himself only a month to prepare, Blake did not have the time to train with his new weapon to the same extent he had with the spear. There were also limitations to the quality he could make with anything but a spear or sometimes a small knife. The rabbicorn horns were just not the right shape for other types of bladed weapons.

  In the end, Blake landed on using an axe. He had already made small hatchets to cut down trees and shape logs with, so he had the basic skills for it. All he needed to do was extend and thicken the handle while making the stone axe head bigger and heavier.

  Shaping the axe head was the most time-consuming part due to its sheer size. A spearhead was no bigger than a hand, but his newest weapon had a blade the length of his forearm. Blake managed to sharpen it to a higher degree than any of his prior stone tools by using the sub-boss’s horn.

  The horn was indestructible to the current him, so he was able to run it along the axe’s edge, using it as a whetstone. The blade would still dull faster than his rabbicorn-based weaponry and was weaker, too, but horn weaponry was overkill for the basic rabbicorns.

  The heavy stone blade, when combined with Blake’s second threshold Strength, could put down multiple rabbicorns in one swing if they were grouped up tightly enough. He had tested this extensively on the monsters that came up from the den over the last month.

  The sub-boss was a different matter. That creature had proven to be far harder to kill, but Blake had a plan for that. An axe would do until then. He had tried dual-wielding axes, but while it would help speed up his potential killing speed, it would take a lot more time and practice to make it a viable option. Time he did not have if he wanted a chance at making it to tier 3 within the next half year.

  Blake entered the first monster chamber, ready to kick some rabbicorn butt. In his right hand, he held an axe, while in his left was a torch. Attached to his plant skirt was a rabbicorn horn knife. Strapped to his back was his sub-boss-killing weapon.

  With a savage grin on his face, Blake charged into the chamber. Giving no time for the monsters to react, he swung his axe towards the nearest rabbicorn. With only a hint of resistance, the monster’s head wasn’t only cut clean off but completely obliterated under the weight of Blake’s Strength.

  With a twist of his wrist, Blake’s Dexterity let him twist the momentum of the swing into the next monster. With Celerity acting at maximum capacity, he watched as the rabbicorns began to charge toward him. He deftly stepped out of their way and cleaved through another rabbicorn.

  Within short order, the room was cleared. Blake couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the ease at which he had killed them all. He had been certain of his own demise the first time through, and even though he had eventually won, it had taken a long time.

  Blake would have been surprised if it took even a minute this time. A combination of higher stats, practice, and a proper weapon made all the difference. He hadn’t even put his torch down. His control over the situation let him carry it through the whole fight.

  Pulling out his knife, Blake began to carve into the wall he had entered through. Not having any particular interest in creating unique names for each chamber and tunnel, he was just going to label each one ‘A’ through ‘Z.’ Outside would be ‘A,’ so the first chamber was ‘B’. Next to each tunnel, he would label which chamber it connected to, while on the floor of the chamber, he would put the chamber’s designation.

  With the entrance and chamber, both labeled Blake labeled the first tunnel he was going through before moving on. Once the next room was cleared, he repeated the process of labeling the chamber and the tunnel he came through. Rather than going through another tunnel off of chamber ‘C,’ he returned to the entrance, chamber ‘B.’

  From there, Blake took a second tunnel. To keep things a little simpler, he was going to mark every tunnel in each room before moving to a new chamber. So once he completed marking all chambers off of ‘B,’ he moved into room ‘C’ and repeated the process.

  The methodical process of marking each room took more time than the actual clearing of each room. It was even slower than his first run-through, and by the time he had marked and cleared all but the boss room, the first monsters were respawning.

  He was more confident in his ability to take on the sub-boss, but Blake still didn’t want to risk the entire den’s population of monsters coming down on his head all at once, so he left to take a break.

  The staggered respawning would be too difficult to keep track of, so Blake took a day off to let everything respawn. During that time, he took a plank of wood and carved out a map of the den into it.

  The next day, Blake returned to the den. With everything mapped out, he was able to quickly and efficiently clear all the monsters from the den, with the exception of the sub-boss room.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  ‘I should have done this his first time around, but, well, live and learn, I guess,’ Blake thought.

  Rather than charging right into the final chamber axe in hand, Blake attached the axe to a loop on his belt. From his back, he unslung his plan to quickly kill the sub-boss. A javelin made from the previous sub-boss’s horn.

  Javelin in hand, Blake charged into the room. Once again, the basic rabbicorns were caught off guard and had no time to react before he began to attack. Unfortunately, the sub-boss was not so unintelligent and had heard him coming.

  With a yell, Blake threw the javelin with all his might straight at the sub-boss. It might have been aware he was coming, but it was clearly not prepared for the speed of the weapon launched towards it. It couldn’t dodge out of the way before the weapon pierced its body with ease.

  While it had failed to dodge the attack, it did shift far enough out of the way to prevent its immediate death. Combined with its inhuman levels of vitality, it stayed upright, glaring at Blake. He let out a groan in frustration.

  Hours of practice had gone into practicing javelin throwing, but without more complex moving obstacles, there was only so much Blake could learn to adjust for. He had hit the sub-boss, sure, but he had been betting on one-hit kills so that he could quickly clean up the rest of the monsters without concern.

  With the sub-boss still alive, Blake would now have to be cautious while fighting the basic rabbicorns. Even a hobbled sub-boss could prove deadly if he underestimated it. The large monster began stomping its feet to call all the rabbicorns to it. Unlike the first one, it did not start by calling only in the den and then later move to the rest of the region.

  Unlike his first clear of the den, Blake did not kill every rabbicorn outside the den but was rather relied on his base defenses. Any rabbicorns that tried to come to the sub-boss’s aide would find themselves facing a trench full of wooden spikes.

  No, clearly, this sub-boss understood the danger it was in and was going all out from the beginning. If that had been all, Blake was still confident in moving through the basic rabbicorns quickly with his axe before finishing the monster off. It might have been standing, but its injury prevented it from moving with the ease it was used to.

  Instead, Blake got confirmation of one of his theories about this powered-up variant of a rabbicorn sub-boss. It did indeed have magic. The first one never had a chance to use its magic after it had become necessary, but this one did. Its horn’s subtle glow began to intensify.

  The light surrounding it looked like it was bending as it gathered on the tip of the horn. Moving quickly, Blake grabbed his axe and began carving a path towards the sub-boss. He wasn’t fast enough.

  Blake was halfway to the sub-boss when it finished its working of magic. A projectile that looked to be made of solid light shot from its hard at him. He was lucky that it did not truly move at the speed of light and instead was moving at a speed more reminiscent of an arrow.

  The effectiveness of his Celerity was on full display as Blake dove out of the way. The bar of light impacted his side, throwing him to the ground. He cried out in pain as he felt his right side burn from the projectile energy.

  The basic rabbicorns pounced on his fallen body, determined to rip him apart. With a roar, he threw them off and leaped back to his feet. No longer caring about the rabbicorns and the multitude of wounds they inflicted on him, Blake charged the sub-boss.

  He would not let it get another shot off. A look of panic crossed the giant rabbit’s face. Blake couldn’t explain how he understood the monster’s facial expressions if he tried, but the fear in its eyes was unmistakable. The intelligence it possessed almost made him hesitate, but his right side still burned in pain from its magic, keeping him focused.

  The sub-boss released another strike moments before Blake reached it. It didn’t have as much time to charge this one up, resulting in a dimmer, slower attach, but the distance was also much shorter. It took him in the shoulder, but other than stumbling a little, Blake showed no signs that it affected him as he swung his axe at the monster’s head.

  That was all it took as its head caved in from the blow. It didn’t pop as the weaker rabbicorns had, but that was to be expected given its enhanced Constitution. Taking only a moment to confirm the sub-boss was down for good, Blake turned around to face the remaining basic rabbicorns.

  A short time later, Blake was the only remaining thing alive in the chamber. It could be argued that monsters were never truly alive in the first place, but that was just semantics. He collapsed to the ground in pain. His entire right side was burned from the first magic attack, and his left shoulder was little better.

  Blake might have pushed through the pain while fighting, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t badly injured. His third threshold, Will really came through when keeping him focused during battle. His battle meditation had barely flickered despite being even more injured than he had been after his first boss battle.

  The only reason he hadn’t passed out this time was because the fight was so short. Well, that and his injuries were more in the form of burns and bruises, not so much as jagged claw wounds that caused blood loss.

  Blake let out a self-deprecating chuckle. ‘And here I thought the second time would be easier’

  With a sigh, Blake focused in on his stats. He needed to know if it was worth it after all. He was surprised to find that his stats were actively growing as he watched. Apparently, the stat bonus from killing the sub-boss didn’t occur all at once and was rather absorbed over time.

  He had passed out for an indeterminate amount of time following his first battle, so he had never noticed. Hoping to learn more about the strange phenomena, Blake focused in on the chains he visualized when checking his stats. He tried to trace where the growth was coming from.

  If he could identify what he was getting from the monsters he killed that helped him grow his stats, he might be able to better optimize his training, cutting down on how long he delayed ascending.

  After a fight like that, it was tempting to ascend immediately just to get the doubled strength boost. Or would it be Strength? He wondered if his stats were what was doubling with each tier up or if there was something else to the process.

  With a shake of his head, Blake turned his attention back to his growing stats. Alas, he was unable to detect what was happening. Perhaps once his Affinity reached a higher threshold, or even after ascending, but for now, he could only watch the stats grow and try to draw conclusions from that.

  A moment later, Dexterity reached the second threshold. With that, only three stats could still be trained within a medium-density region. Alacrity, Celerity, and the mysterious third spirit stat. Blake was interested to find that the speed they grew increased once Dexterity maxed out.

  Whatever benefit he was gaining was clearly divided among every stat that could still grow. Though, as he had previously noted, it wasn’t divided evenly. How much he used a stat during the fight influenced how much it benefited. Celerity was the clear winner in this regard as it outgrew both Alacrity and the third spirit stat.

  The third spirit stat grew by far the least. Even after Dexterity stopped taking up a chunk of the potential growth, it did not show much improvement. That didn’t matter too much to Blake as he now had a way to force its advancement to the first threshold.

  As long as he delayed moving to a high-density region, he could max out Celerity and Alacrity so that all that extra growth went to the unknown stat. It wouldn’t matter that he didn’t use it during a fight, as it was the only available candidate for growth. Once it reached the first threshold, Blake would be able to tell what the stat was by applying his Affinity to it and then use that knowledge to train it intentionally.

  The stat growth tapered off after a few moments. None of the remaining stats reached the second threshold, but Celerity was close. Very close. In the pooling blood of the rabbicorns, Blake wrote out his current stat thresholds and, for those not maxed, how close they were to the next.

  Strength - 2nd

  Constitution - 2nd

  Dexterity - 2nd

  Memory - 2nd

  Celerity - 1st (90%)

  Alacrity - 1st (75%)

  Will - 3rd

  Affinity - 2nd

  Unknown - 0th (40%)

  It was good progress. Now, he just had to clear dens as fast as possible to cap out his remaining stats.

  Patreon