Chương 12: I'm... Strong?

.. Strong?

The orc only inspects me for a few seconds before lumbering forward. Unlike the snarling anger of the goblins or the calculating gaze of the hobgoblins, the orc stares with aloof disinterest. Moving in, I stop just outside of its reach. Just one. Just need to dodge one strike, then I can move in. The monster of a beast walks lazily towards me, then raises its club above its head limply. I fix my stance, preparing to dodge the second I see movement. The orc's arm suddenly clenches.

Veins bulge as twitches from finger to shoulder. My nerves explode, and my mind screams at me, but my body refuses to move. Its arm pulls back slightly, and my body jerks to the right. Panic flows at dodging too early, but the weapon blurs and slams straight through the spot I just stood half a second ago. Sparks fly as the club shears pebbles off the ground. Several massive nails on the club bend with a groan as tiny shards of cobblestone scatter from the strike.

"Holy shit!" My legs coil in a way I've only felt once before. The pain only lasts for a fraction of a second before the command suppresses it. The command jerks my body forward faster than I thought. The burn of a full workout spreads through my legs. The orc reaches for me with its free hand as it straightens and tenses at my speed. Like a snake, my waist bends, and I slip under its arm. In the same motion, I pull back my fist. Instead of going for the head, I aim for an easier target.

My arm tightens and compresses, and a dozen death grips clasp in my arm. In one movement, my body tenses and bends into the strike. The orc leans forward and compacts its stomach as it prepares to receive the blow. My fist makes contact with the liver. All the spikes tear through flesh like butter. The plate of my gauntlet collides with the muscles, but barely slows. A ripple flows across the belly of the monster, followed by the snap of bone. The spikes carving through the orc's stomach like a Thanksgiving turkey.

My fist exits the orc's side with a splatter of blood and an explosion of gore. Three massive trenches of removed flesh are left in my wake, several large chunks of bloody meat ripped off the beast. It tries to grab me again, but I slip under its arm. My eyes are wide at the damage. I agree with my body as I pull my fists up and move back in. Only my left arm comes up. My gaze pulls down as I hear the clank of my right gauntlet falling and hitting the ground. My right arm hangs loosely at my side, completely numb.

I try to move it, but the moderate amount of pain seeping through the command tells me the damage is terrible. With one limp arm, I back away and watch the orc turn to me while dragging its club across the ground. Blood gushes from the wound on its stomach and flows like a waterfall down its leg. Before even turning halfway, the orc grunts and falls to one knee. It coughs, splattering blood over the cobblestone from both its mouth and its wound. The command forces my body into motion.

I dash forward, one limb hanging limply and swinging by my side. The orc watches me and weakly pulls its weapon up with one hand and defends with the other. The side of my gauntlet comes down like a comet, bashing into the orc's skull and sending it careening to the side. It seems to fall unconscious for a brief second before abandoning its weapon and stopping its fall on all fours. My arm doesn't stop moving. It comes up and strikes down in the same place. The orc grunts and trembles.

Damn, this thing's skull is dense! I pull my arm up once more and slam it down on the orc's neck this time. The orc falls on its face, limp and unmoving. Again, my gauntlet crashes into its neck, spikes digging in deep. Chime The pain of all my wounds comes flooding in.

"GAH!" I stumble backward. My left arm feels like it was beaten by crowbars. My right feels like it was stuck in a trash compactor. My torso and legs feel the pain of a marathon. I struggle to speak as the pain mixes with the euphoria of leveling up. My body twitches and convulses as the sensation of fire ants crawls over all my bones. Alongside it, my body reinforces itself in between the pulses of pain. I tremble and flinch in pain on my back. Spasming screams leak from my throat as I attempt to speak.

"Kevin! Sleep!" An unnatural exhaustion invades me, but the wracking pains prevent it from taking hold. My eyes turn heavy like lead, then shoot open as the pain battles the command.

"Kevin! SLEEP NOW!" I scream. The command hits like a brick. My consciousness fades, and my mind retreats from reality into itself. I immerse myself in the feeling of nothing. My mind flows upon the ocean of emptiness and serenity. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. My eyes snap open to a powerful, throbbing pain. My right arm alone feels like it's being cooked over an open fire.

"Stop feeling pain, Kevin," I spit out quickly. Most of the pain in my body vanishes in an instant, leaving only a dull, pulsing ache in my right arm. Without the pain, the deep weakness comes to the forefront of my mind. Damn, I didn't know my control skill was this strong. It seems that after leveling up so many times, leaving out the 'without injuring yourself' part had consequences. My commands are becoming more powerful. The implications make me stop and think for a moment. System, stamina, and health.

[Health: 220(175)] [Stamina: 205(197)] Dang, so my max health went up by twenty-five, and my current health still went down. I do the math in my head quickly. I lost twenty-eight health from overclocking my own muscles. The amount of influence my skill has on me makes a shiver travel down my spine. In severe weakness, I stand up. My limp, hanging right arm is swollen red to an unnatural degree. I really hope it isn't broken. I don't see it bending in any strange ways at least.

My limping steps slowly take me back to the homeroom.

"Heh." My toughest fight yet against a monster that outclassed me heavily in level and strength. And the only damage I took was from myself.

"Heh heh heh." It didn't even touch me during the fight. Delirious chuckles leak out as I limp, making it back to homeroom. I grunt and sit down in my usual place, awkwardly pulling out a chicken salad from the plastic bag with one arm. My hatred of salad feels so much weaker as I chew the leaves. Alright, system, show me the goodies. [You have slain Orc lv. 10] It really did have a thick skull, huh? I couldn't even get through it after two or three strikes with the side of my gauntlet.

[Partial experience granted x2] [Tamer(lv. 5) > (lv. 6)] [Human(lv. 5) > (lv. 6)] [Control Tamed Being(lv. 7) > (lv. 8)] [Tamed Being Skill Gained: Enhanced Skeleton lv. 0] A new skill already? I'm not complaining. Ah, the sweet, sweet taste of the rewards of victory.

[You have earned a reward for clearing a room] [For finishing the tutorial section of the solo phase, additional rewards are provided] [For being in the first 20% of beings on your planet to finish the tutorial section of the solo phase, additional rewards are provided] [For being in the first 10% of beings on your planet to finish the tutorial section of the solo phase, additional rewards are provided] [For being in the first 5% of beings on your planet to finish the tutorial section of the solo phase, additional rewards are provided] [Accept(6) / Bank / Consolidate] My eyes almost bulge out of my head.

Not only at the rewards, but at the fact that not even five percent of humans on earth have done what I have. But I've had so many setbacks! Unconsciousness at the beginning, almost dying to the multiple injuries, the time it took to heal… It took me this long to clear only ten rooms! With that thought, the memory of wracking pain bubbles in my mind. My skin grows pale, and I shiver. Nausea rises up as terror envelops me. Before I throw up, I spit out some words.

"K-Kevin, d-don't be scared." For a few seconds, I bathe in the feeling of my rising bile immediately receding and settling in my stomach. The fear dissipates from my body as if it had never been there, leaving me with an unnatural sense of casualness. I chuckle nervously.

"This probably isn't healthy." The small situation gives me insight into why so many people haven't gotten as far as I have yet. I got three rewards for finishing fast. It makes me wonder if there are even higher percentages for people who cleared everything earlier than I did. If a soldier arrived here with a gun and ammo, I can't imagine a handful of goblins or even an orc would faze them. Still, it feels good to be ahead. My lips pull upward.

[After completing the tutorial section, the user now has access to the free roam portion of the solo phase] [The free roam section will contain more diverse enemies along with differing terrain and traps] [Rewards may continue to be consolidated] [Rewards will now be represented as chests located around groups of enemies, strong enemies, or key areas] [Difficulty, along with rewards, will increase the further the user moves away from the tutorial section of the dungeon] I read the text while stroking my ever-growing beard.

Simple, but it gets to the point. Relief fills me as I realize I won't be fighting through endless, bland rooms with no way around them. I shudder, imagining looking through a cell door and seeing 5 orcs with different weapons standing in a circle, waiting for me to enter. After finishing the last message, I scroll up and tap enhanced skeleton [Enhanced Skeleton: Enhances all aspects of bones comprising the skeleton. Flexibility scales with agility. Strength and density scale with fortitude. Blood production scales with vitality. Flexibility, strength, density, and blood production scale with skill level.] My eyes widen as I finish reading. This skill is absolutely packed with value. Combined with bleed resistance, a few skill level-ups in this will make it practically impossible for me to die of blood loss. Not to mention the addition of flexibility increasing. Usually, that kind of thing is a trade-off for durability, but it seems I get to have my cake and eat it as well.

The benefits of being considered a tamed beast are starting to really show themselves. Oh yeah, I forgot that blood cells were made by bone marrow. I wonder if melee classes have access to this kind of body augmentation or if that's only for monsters and tames. I sigh, laying my head against the stone wall. Even though I just woke up, I'm already itching to fight again. Sadly, my body does not agree. After a few minutes of wallowing in my weakness, I think 'status'.

[Vitality: 14 > 15] [Strength: 13] [Agility: 15] [Endurance: 13] [Fortitude: 11 > 14] [Intelligence: 12] [Wisdom: 15 > 16] [Perception: 19 > 22] [Unassigned: 2 > 1] Things are looking remarkably even. My poor mage stats have been hammered in the forge that is the dungeon. And in this dungeon, magical advancement simply isn't an option. I tap my chin in wonder for a few moments, deciding where to put my free point. I tap the screen and watch my vitality go up by one.

More healing and injury reduction will never be a bad thing. The thought barely finishes before a well of vitality seeps into me. I close my eyes and immerse myself in the sensation. My body loses a large portion of its weakness, and my arm changes color, the angry red pulsing turning slightly closer to my normal skin tone. A deep breath exits my lungs in relief as the moderate aching pain turns dull and muted. The feeling was weaker and briefer than when I got four vitality at once. It makes me chuckle.

The worst part of levelling up is not feeling its effects as much as the last time. Scooting over to the center of the room, I lay my hands on my knees in a cross-legged pose. My eyes close as I search deep for the slightest whiff of mana. An indeterminate amount of time passes, and I eventually give up and stand. The weakness in my body has lessened further, only to the point of a long workout. Moving my right arm causes the dull pain to flare.

"Heh," I smile. If I didn't have my commands, I would probably cry or grunt in pain right now. The weakness reminds me of when I was deadly sick. I was twelve, and I remember the aching of my body along with the struggle of lifting a cup of water. Not my best form, but it didn't take long to get better. Anticipation tickles my mind as I feel eager to re-enter the dungeon and explore the new section. But with my lingering frailty and the lack of usefulness in my arm, it's a daunting task.

If only there were a skill that could convert a previously unused resource into healing. If only. Unfortunately, it's not meant to be. So I take the second-best thing.

"Kevin, fall asleep." Shit. I forgot to lie down first.