For a split second Randidly wondered whether this would be the point that he died He felt somehow instinctively that Shal would not save him
So as the monkey lifted the rock up Randidly used his free hand to withdraw the snake tooth he had taken from the dead snake and stuffed it into the eye of the Howler Monkey’s eye
Immediately it began screaming and Randidly shoved it off him and scrambled to his feet Gritting his teeth to resist the nausea Randidly glanced at Shal who watched him coolly in the distance and used the Phantom Half Step to cross half the distance Immediately he turned to the right using his good eye to land a couple Entangling Roots on those monkeys close enough to be a threat
Then he stumbled the rest of the way passed Shal and back to the safe room where he meditated for several hours to recover
When he opened his eyes Shal was standing there
You were not going to save me Randidly said slowly watching for a reaction from Shal Shal simply shrugged
If you had died it was only because you are too weak
So the training continued At around 2 and a half weeks a few days after the monkey incident Randidly reached the point that he could meditate while doing most actions Using active skills broke it but otherwise he could maintain the passive bonus while generally sparing with Shal
Sparring was a strong word for it honestly mostly it was just Randidly blocking and dodging but still He could now survive a lot longer against the onslaught of attacks from Shal
The next big change came when Randidly got his mana bolt skill to 20 unlocking the mana bolt path Still Randidly continued to go the the pathless paths feeling strangely connected to them now after grinding his way to here
Pathless IX was 25 and earned Randidly 14 stat points After some thought he ended up throwing all of the points in wisdom which provided a pretty significant boost to his mana regeneration
Pathless X jumped all the way up to 50 and it filled Randidly with a thread of excitement He threw himself into training working his way through the different spear moves focusing on the Spear Phantom’s footwork and Phantom thrust That combined with marginal improvements in the level of Physical Fitness and Meditation was enough to finish the Path
Congratulations You have completed the Pathless X Path +2 Health/Mana/Stamina per level +1 Stat per level You have realized that all paths are the same and all paths lead to the same place And that the path continues ever onward
Randidly allowed himself a wry grin So he still had more to go
Inside his path screen he saw that he now had access to the path Pathless without a roman numeral and it had 100 next to it He had a few spare PP after finishing it but
But then he just laughed out loud If he would get it it would only be by going all the way one step at a time No reason to hold back now
He put 3 PP into Pathless and followed Shal deeper into the forest to find more monkeys
Chapter 16
Shal gave Randidly a long look then finally sighed I suppose it is time You now have enough strength not to embarrass me Let us leave this place
It had reached the point that Randidly was about to fight against several Howler Monkeys and win His mana bolts sizzled their flesh and stunned them his phantom thrusts and heavy blows slowly whittling down their health
Randidly glanced at his status screen
Health(/R per hour) 206/200 (+6) (63 75 (+9
Mana(/R per hour) 139/139 (43 5)
Stam(/R per min) 105/105 (24 (+3
Vit 17 (+3)
End 27
Str 8
Agi 26 (+3)
Perception 18
Reaction 23
Willpower 50
Inteligence 39
Wisdom 26
Control 21
Focus 16
Equipment Average Leather Tunic Lvl 5 (+2 Vit) Gloves of Quickness (Vit +1 Agi +3)
Paths Newbie 7/7 P Def 10/10 M Supp 10/10 Risk Taker 15/15 Basic Physical Fitness 20/20 Trainee 15/15 Wandering Survivor 20/20 Pathless I 5/5 Pathless II 5/5 Pathless III 10/10 Pathfinder 15/15 Disciple of Shal 37/37 Pathless IV 10/10 Pathless V 15/15 Pathless VI 15/15 Pathless VII 20/20 Pathless VIII 20/20 Pathless IX 25/25 Pathless X 50/50 Pathless 79/100
Skills Running Lvl 9 Physical Fitness Lvl 17 Sneak Lvl 6 Farming Lvl 17 Mana Bolt Lvl 20 Heavy Blow Lvl 14 Acid Resistance Lvl 13 Poison Resistance Lvl 9 Sprinting Lvl 11 Iron Skin Lvl 19 Equip Lvl 12 Plant Breeding Lvl 9 Meditation Lvl 23 Dagger Mastery Lvl 8 Entangling Roots Lvl 21 Mana Shield Lvl 16 Dodge Lvl 22 Potion Making Lvl 18 Analyze Lvl 7 Pathfinding Lvl 3 Mapmaker Lvl 1 Spear Mastery Lvl 33 Phantom Thrust Lvl 27 Pain Resistance Lvl 9 Fighting Proficiency Lvl 19 First Aid Lvl 13 Block Lvl 23 Spear Phantom’s Footwork Lvl 19 Eyes of the Spear Phantom Lvl 9 Phantom Half Step Lvl 3
He was getting close to finishing the Pathless path but the rate of improvement was definitely slowing It had been almost 2 months since the training had began and whether it was physique mindset or work ethic Randidly was incomparable to the way he was before
Gathering his things Randidly followed Shal away from the safe room To his surprise they went towards the webbing covered area where the strange giant spider had set up shop As they passed through the groves of trees wrapped in webs Randidly reflexively activated the skill Eyes of the Spear Phantom burning a small amount of stamina but sharpening his vision to a degree he would have believed impossible before the strange system descended over the world
But things had changed He had changed
So when the first spiderling leapt out from the brush Randidly had seen it coming a mile away and speared it cleanly through the chest killing it instantly The small things were only Lvl 12 and Randidly wasn’t sure how much status point one gained while leveling up but his skill levels made this sort of enemy just too simple
Shal didn’t even look up calmly striding forward while the spiderlings began leaping out in twos or threes But he did calmly remark Although if one touches even the hem of my cloak perhaps we can revisit the sufficiency of your current pain tolerance training
Had he been the same Randidly as he had been two extremely long months ago he might have paled If he had been the Randidly a few weeks after that as the training started he might have gasped
The current Randidly just narrowed his eyes and got to work his spear blurring to intercept all comers
As they stepped over the corpses of dozens of spiderlings to reach the inner sanctum of the spider the tree that had grown the source of Randidly’s potions Shal stopped
You are running low on resources for your potion yes Fetch some And bring me the head of the guardian
There was a demand in Shal’s voice but Randidly just nodded and walked forward slowly His sharpened eyes immediately picked out the camouflaged form of the giant spider hiding in the canopy of the largest tree The fearsome Lvl 37 hovered above its head in Randidly’s vision as well as a strange purple coloring to its name
Clearly this type of enemy was unusual
As if sensing his thoughts Shal spoke from the edge of the clearing The coloring is something you will come to know White Green Blue Purple Red Orange Common Uncommon Rare Ancient Runic Legendary It describes items as well enemies There is also pink which is unique but that is reserved for extremely rare spawns and the Dungeon Boss The fact that an Ancient enemy is here in a level 35 dungeon well It must have wandered in from somewhere else Somewhere much more dangerous Good luck
Randidly stepped forward without hesitation raising his spear After training with Shal’s merciless attacks he couldn’t even help himself As he walked closer the spider first hissed and then began to slowly climb down spiderlings skittering out of the surrounding trees to rush towards Randidly
Without batting an eye 5 mana bolts shot forward slamming into the giant spider It howled in annoyance the speed of its descent increasing Randidly calmly dispatched any approaching spiderlings always advancing Shal’s voice whispering into the back of his mind
He who stops dies ’
Then the spiderlings were all dead and the spider reared up and spat acid towards Randidly He stepped to the side employing the foot work taught to him by Shal and then stepped closer Although some splashed on him and stung slightly his acid resistance was high enough that he could almost completely ignored non direct contact with that substance The spider spun its body and lashed out with its legs but Randidly just ducked under and calmly executed a phantom thrust the spider’s carapace cracking slightly It hissed and lashed out again