Yi Qiang had never tried to sense or use mana before. If he was honest with himself, he was slightly intimdated by it - as someone who had reigned in the physical world, and reached the limits of the mundanely possible, the feeling of adding magical powers and things that would be considered impossible on Earth was... unpleasant. So he had stayed away from mana, also for the more practical reason that it would likely be very difficult to learn how to use without formal trianing, and Yi Qiang had no doubt that would cost money, money that he didn't have to spend on things that weren't vital to his survival.

Of course, if he knew that he would find himself in this situation when he was back in the city, training, he would have spent any amount of money he had to to unlock his access to the mysterious energy.

But now, instead, he was left he, lying on the ground, a monster twice his level and ten times his size slowly approaching him, and with his only hope being in the energy pool he had disdained to unlock.

I guess it's unlikely the creators would make it completely impossible to unlock mana on your own...

Yi Qiang, as quickly as he could yet trying his best not to rush the process more than what was necessary, attempted to reach deep inside him.

He, however, found nothing out of the ordinary. Except for the highly unnatural circumstances he was in, it was almost as if Yi Qiang was back on Earth - he was far, far stronger, but outside of that, all he found was mundanity. No special feeling, no strange sensation, nothing to ever suggest that there was an energy called Mana.

I have to do this.

Giving up on that route, as he couldn't afford to spend much time on just one way to use mana, Yi Qiang tried another method, which was simply just willing what he wanted to happen to happen.

Unfortuately, no results manifested themselves on that route either, so Yi Qiang, pressed for time and with only one idea left, threw all of his strength into the final method.

Focusing intently on the weight of the now in his arms, Yi Qiang pictured something.

Instead of an energy spring inside of his body, Yi QIang pictured veins of mana flowing throughout his body, carrying the mysterious energy throughout it.

He followed that up by guiding it, gently yet firmly forcing it to leave his body and head to his bow.

Come on. I need you.

Help me.

He was too overwhelmed with pain and fatigue, present everywhere in his body, so he wasn't sure if the cool, blue sensation he felt was the mana he so desperately requested to move or his stamina regeneration, however crippled, working its wonders.

That question was answered, though, when Yi Qiang, arms trembling, because they had no choice in the matter, raised his bow feebly and slowly, barely, pulled back the string.

The arrow, should it have been ordinary, wouldn't even have travelled enough distance to clear his body, and would instead have had somewhat pathetically hit himself, though weakly.

That was why Yi Qiang knew he'd need the assistance of everything in his body, so in a moment of frenzied inspiration, he mentally shoved every rivulet of energy remaining in his body into that arrow shot.

He didn't get to see the results as he collaped to the ground, bow clattered onto the floor next to him, unconscious from exhaustion.

An unknown amount of time later, Yi Qiang awoke to a blue screen.

Congratulations!

You have leveled up to Level 38!

55 free stat points have been awarded!

You have created a new, unique skill!

Desperation Arrow

Level NA, Active

You have found yourself in a hopeless situation, without stamina, without even the capability of standing, with death looming over your sagging head. This skill is how you escaped it.

Upon activation,

Lose 50% of Stamina

Lose 100% of Mana

All regenerations are halved for the following two hours

Multiplies the ordinary damage of the arrow by 5000%.

You have gained a selection of one of three perks for being the first to create a unique skill!

Please choose from the following:

Fast Growth: Increases all experience gain by 30%.

Patience: For every level gained, 3 stat points are held back, which are returned, with a 50% interest, at the next level of a multiple of ten.

Creative Savance: Increase the speed of leveling up skill and creating new ones by 40%.

Yi Qiang blinked. What?

His bleary eyes, which managed to focus after significant concentration, picked up that he hadn't died, however much he felt like it. And the rewards that he seemed to have received indicated that...

I killed it?

Even though, to be totally truthful, that final arrow was a last chance at survival, Yi Qiang had already all but given up. If he was completely honest with himself, Yi Qiang treated it as more of a final training opportunity to gain more stats and maybe even a skill at that under the pressure of death.

So, for him to still be in the cave, after almost being killed, was amazing.

Placing his excitement at his survival aside, Yi Qiang focused his already wandering eyes onto the screens in front of him, before getting another shock when he saw what they actually said.

I made a skill? And got something this ridiculous for it?

Those perks, of which Yi Qiang could only choose one, were all incredible bonuses that would further define Yi Qiang's inevitable, in his eyes, success.

But the question remained, which one?

Working through his incredible excitement at another chance to heighten his potential even further, Yi Qiang began logically thinking.

The first to be eliminated was likely Creative Savance, for two reasons. First, Yi Qiang was confident in his patience and talent, which would give him already significantly heightened training speeds for skills; this would also overlap with the bonus Yi Qiang currently enjoyed on Bow Mastery, where the game detected his obvious proficiency and improved his skill increase rate significantly until he reached Master Level 5. Second, the only bonus to creating a skill seemed to be the skill itself, which, if what Yi Qiang heard about skills was correct, wouldn't necessarily be in high demand. This was because of the benefits of having a class, which give you specific, more potent skills at certain levels.

That left Yi Qiang between two bonuses: faster leveling, or more potent leveling.

Mathematically, both would still remain very effective at the higher levels. Those stat points would become even more valuable when leveling up required more and more experience, and harder and harder target, and that percentage-based experience bonus would have drastically higher effects when applied to Yi Qiang's already-insane leveling speed.

However, one thing sealed the deal for Yi Qiang: potency.

If he selected Fast Growth, then he would be augmenting his leveling speed, something useful, sure, but he wasn't originally worried on that front.

What he was worried about, however, was his ability to combat bosses of higher rarities at higher levels. In other words, how powerful he'd be at a certain level.

There was no meaning or benefit in killing a rare monster below his level. That, however, was exactly what Fast Growth would lead to. Patience, on the other hand, would increase Yi Qiang's ability to kill a rare monster above his level. The benefits from that potency would more than make up for whatever speed bonus he would receive.

You have selected Patience!

You have now gained the Perk: Patience. All further level-ups, starting at Level 40, will experience fewer stat points per level until a level-up into the next multiple of ten level, earliest 50, at which point they will be returned at 50% interest.

Having finished everything clogging up his vision, Yi Qiang sagged back down completely, simply lying on the floor. His regeneration speed would be crippled until a duration completed, thanks to the superposition of the Exhausted and Desperation Arrow's effects.

So all he had to do was wait, rest, and recover.