(Jamie)

New Skill! Poison Resistance Passive Resistance to poisons, venom, and various other toxins.

Yeah, like that's helpful. The next Health decrease a second later revokes only nine instead of the ten it did before. I still lost 59 Health in three seconds, with only 135 Health total, leaving me at only 76 Health.

And the Crimson Field Viper seems to want to bite me again, if the way it's moving is any indication.

The next thing I see, Max is stepping on the snake, right beside me. He looks at me.

"Health?"

"Rapidly depleting," I say. "Why didn't you kill it before it bit me?"

Poison Resistance is Now Level 2! You have been Poisoned -9 Health!

"Every damn second."

"You'll survive."

"And you know that how?"

"Limitless Adaptation," he answers. "Its primary function is to ensure your survival. The fact that it takes time to kill you means that you'll adapt and survive."

+1 VIT! +1 CON!

That's not enough to help me survive.

"I'm already at less than half of my Health, Max," I tell him. "And I'm not healing enough to make up for the massive amount of Health I'm losing."

"How much Health are you at now?"

"Nineteen."

Limitless Adaptation is Now Level 2! Poison Resistance is Now Level 5! +2 CON! +2 VIT! +2 END! New Skill! Adaptive Resistance Passive The ability to adapt to repeated afflictions, the effects of any resistances growing stronger as they occur more. This effect fades the longer it's been since the last repeated affliction. New Skill! Accelerated Regeneration Active Rapidly regenerate Health, increasing healing speed by 100% of your base per Level of this Skill. Drains Mana based on your INT and VIT during its use.

No time to think on that one, immediately focusing and using Accelerated Regeneration. My Health starts to rise a little, only to drop some with the next second. Rising and dropping occurs several times, the amount it drops by decreasing each time, my Health still steadily making its way to zero.

Even with the boosts of VIT, END, CON, and Poison Resistance.

Somehow, though, I manage to survive.

Poison Resistance is Now Level 10! Your Health Regeneration Exceeds The Poison's Damage You Are No Longer Poisoned

I drop to the ground, exhausted. I'm soaked in sweat from trying to fight off the poison of the Crimson Field Viper.

"That," I look up at Max, once I've recovered a little. "Was not cool. That seriously could've killed me!"

"But it didn't," he states. "Once you started using Accelerated Regeneration – no doubt courtesy of Limitless Adaptation – you were able to survive, especially with Limitless Adaptation adapting to your needs, as you no doubt gained a Level or two in Accelerated Regeneration, a fair amount of Stat Points as it hurriedly attempted to allow you to survive, and a few Levels of Poison Resistance. I'd say you probably managed to hit Level 6 or 7 of it, considering how deadly the venom of a Crimson Field Viper is. I'm surprised you recovered as quickly as you did, though, as it's almost always a guaranteed 10 Health reduction from its potency, and Poison Resistance wouldn't be able to negate more than half of it, at most, due to its potency, even at Level 10."

Should I tell him?

"Limitless Adaptation," I say. "Also granted me Adaptive Resistance and acquired another Level, probably adapting itself to try and enable me to survive. Had I not used Accelerated Regeneration, I doubt I would've survived."

"Probably," he nods. "The power of the Skill doesn't allow you to survive anything, but rather, it grants you what you need to survive, so long as it's able to. A powerful, immediate need to survive from something that is repetitive and not ever-changing, such as the venom of a snake, is easier for it to adapt to. What's your Health at?"

"You do realize that I really could have died, right?" I ask.

"You didn't, though," he says.

"And what would your father say," I stare at him. "If he found out you knowingly let me be bitten by something that really could have killed me? I went down to 2 Health twice."

"You-" he starts to say something, then stops. "Oh. Shit. Yeah. That was bad. Whatever. You survived. Just be careful not to be bitten by several of them or several times, as that only increases the effects, so it'll be harder for you to-"

"To adapt to something like that?" I ask. "Yeah, it would be, wouldn't it? Please think about that and make sure I don't get killed by these. You might not care about my life, but I do, and I'm sure your father does, too."

"Whatever," he says, then swings a fist at me, just barely faster than I can defend against properly.

From there, he launches into a flurry of attacks that-

"I'm not fully healed yet, you idiot!" I dodge backwards, and he stops, staring at me. "You seem to be trying to kill me, Max. Did I upset you or something?"

"You need to learn to fight," he says. "Even while recovering from-"

"You need sex, don't you?" I ask.

"No," he answers quickly, face flushing as he casts his gaze down.

"Uh-huh, Mr. Demon," I say. "Please remember that you've already spilled to me about how even you are affected by your Species' need for having sex and inflicting pain and fear upon others. Since you can't have sex, you're channeling it into inflicting pain."

"You can't blame-" he starts to say, only to find my fist meeting his face.

OW! That hurts like a bitch! I mean, he only seems stunned that I actually punched him, but still! That hurt me!

"Okay," he says. "Putting aside the fact that you seem surprised by that, why did you punch me?"

"Aren't you the one to always be prepared for an attack?" I give him a cheeky grin, and he looks at me, then swings a fist that I jump back to avoid. "Plus, you did just attack me while I'm recovering from being poisoned. My body isn't exactly that adaptable, you know. Not yet, anyway."

He sighs, then looks around.

"I'll handle most of the Crimson Pit Vipers that come at us," he tells me. "You practice your Squire shit with that sword."

I nod, then grip the hilt of my sword and he becomes a blur around me. Instead of drawing my new sword, I track him with my eyes for several long seconds.

+1 PER! +1 PER! +1 PER!

Shut up already. I'm not doing it to keep track of him, and I don't need to keep track of him.

I pull the sword clear of the sheath, feeling it bite into my hand, hissing from the pain, but keeping my grip on the sword. The runes glow faintly, and I take a stance, beginning to move through motions.

As I do, I hear a faint hissing sound, one barely within my hearing, and I react, spinning and stabbing down in the direction of the sound.

Max stops moving right in front of me, bent down, his face literally a hair's breadth from the edge of the blade, his breath fogging it.

"Hi," I say, and he slowly moves his head back, looking up at me.

I look down and see the Crimson Field Viper I stabbed clean through the head. Somehow, I managed to do that without seeing it and with very little training with a sword or doing things like this.

Which probably explains the message in my vision.

+1 LUK!

The boosts in my PER must have been from the Skill knowing it'd be coming towards me, especially considering its head is right where my ankle had been.

"Had you not done that," Max says. "It probably would've bitten you. And it's three times the Level of the one that bit you before. That… would have been bad. How the hell did you do that?"

"No clue," I answer as he stands up. "I just reacted when I heard it hissing."

"Did you get any loot?"

"Yeah," I summon the item, a vial of liquid a green so dark, it almost appears black. The only reason I even know it's green is from the description from Identify. "Crimson Field Viper Venom – Small Vial. A vial of the dark green venom of the Crimson Field Vipers."

"I got two of those," he says. "Their scales seem to be more common, I received six of those."

"You must have decent LUK."

"Demigods have high drop rates from Dungeon Monsters," he explains. "Just remember that outside of Dungeons, you'd have to actually harvest them yourself. The way you moved… I almost didn't see you, and barely caught myself in time. Considering my natural speed and their amplification from my stats-"

"Speaking of," I interrupt him. "You just got Access shortly before we met. That means you had no Classes then, right?"

"Sort of," he says. "I qualify for Squire, Martial Artist, Brawler, Warlock, Adept, Wizard, and a few others. As I'll be dealing with you, I accepted the melee-based ones that became available as we sparred. That said, your Total Level is currently higher than mine, due to various other Classes and a higher Level Brawler and Martial Artist than me."

"And Squire, probably," I say. "It somehow went up when I killed that."

"Not surprising," he says. "It's a vast difference in power. Though their damage is negligible to most adventurers who would normally come down here, their venom is pretty potent, and it takes a lot to regenerate more than they inflict each second, especially when you get to ones as strong as the one you just killed. In addition, they're pretty fast, so I'm amazed you were even able to tell it was there at all. That was definitely a stroke of luck, but the high difference in skill, Level, and Rating would mean that you definitely got a boost. You're actually probably almost at the next Level of Squire from that."

"Ah," I say. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Next time, please try to kill it before I'm in danger of dying."

"It really doesn't-"

"Matter to you if I die?" I ask. "Even though your father asked you to train me up and your sister seems to want me to get stronger? Please know that if I die because of you or your lack of protection, I will come back as an undead something and haunt you for the rest of your life. And as it's a strong, powerful desire, Limitless Adaptation will see it as a need."

He glares at me, then returns to being a blur around me, sticking to being at least five yards away. With his actual speed, he's probably slowing himself down so that I can at least see him.

At least I know what the boosts to my PER was about, now.

That in mind, I resume my earlier stance, then begin practicing motions with the sword, the same ones I learned from acquiring One-Handed Swords Mastery Level 1. Every now and then, Max stops blurring and spars with me, and after a few hours, we stop for lunch.

We haven't seen a single adventurer come through here. People coming this deep must be pretty rare.

As we're wrapping up lunch, Max gives me a curious look, and I know what he's thinking before he even says it.

"No one's come through here," he says. "And you were right, I'm needing sex. Do you-"

"Okay," I say. "While I don't mind the thought of doing it with you again, Max… LUK probably doesn't affect the odds of someone walking in on us romping. Probably once we're a bit better used to this place, we can go in the mountains or something and fuck, but if we do it here, in the fields, not only will we likely be bitten by the vipers, but we'll also probably have someone walk through the entrance and see us. Or come from the mountains on their way back down."

He nods, and we resume our training. Not even twenty minutes later, a figure appears in the distance, then as they draw closer, we make out a group of five adventurers. Two wearing plate mail, one in a long, white and gold robe with a cross clasp at the neck, one in a long, black robe with crimson runes, and one wielding a bow.

+1 LUK!

The fuck is that about?

"Would you look at that?" I ask, and Max blushes furiously.

The party reaches us.

"Just the two of you?" The knight in the lead looks me up and down. "A Level 2 Squire with a Total Level of 12 and 215 Health… are you sure this is a good place to be training? Especially since you," he looks at Max. "Can't even be registered."

"Tara is my elder sister on our father's side," Max says. "And if you ask her who the superior is, well… there's a reason gods have more female children than male. Jamie and I are utilizing the Dungeon's boost to learning Skills and gaining Stats to aid him in growing stronger. I'm taking out the vipers for loot. How far did you guys go?"

"We typically run down to Floor 9," the knight answers. "Clear it, then come down here to try for some of the loot, including the viper's venom. It's a high-demand item for certain alchemical concoctions, including a high-demand restorative and a similarly-demanded antivenom. Combined with how difficult it is to acquire, and the few adventurers capable of it who actually come down here, then the LUK needed for it to be a consistent drop, and, well, each vial sells for a full gold. The scales are even rarer, and sell for five. Be on the lookout for the fangs – they're worth twenty gold apiece, but they're also incredibly rare."

Isn't Max getting more scales than venom?

The other knight gestures whispers something to the first one, who nods, looking at me.

"From what I know," he says. "That sword is one of the possible rewards for the Floor 11 Floor Boss. I'm assuming Lady Tara must have earned it earlier. Shame. I was hoping to get it one day. I may look like a regular knight, but I'm going for Berserker, and a sword that bites me and heals me at the same time is useful for us."

"Yeah, she gifted it to me," I nod. "We were going to buy a sword later, and she said she doesn't have a use for it. I think she mostly gave it to me to agitate Max some."

"One of these days," the Demigod says. "I'm going to throw her in a hole, and then lose the hole."

The knight laughs.

"We'll see you two around," he says. "By the way – we're the only ones who go this deep anymore, save for your sister, who prefers the night as well. There are certain rare monsters at night and early, early morning that we go after. No one else comes this deep. The vipers also won't go into grass less than six inches tall, though it does regrow during the night back to the foot it is now, even if you completely burn it away. That, or if the Floor is empty."

That explains what the point of luck was about. A lucky coincidence.

"Thanks?" Max looks confused.

He has a lot to learn about mortals, I think.

The adventurers wish us well, then leave, and Max looks around the field, clearly trying to figure out why the adventurers were telling us about that.

"Max," I say, and he looks at me. "He was telling us that we're in the clear if we want to have sex."

"What?" He looks confused.

"I just told you what," I say. "They literally just told us that we're in the clear if we want to have sex here, that the odds of anyone walking in on us are next-to-none. If you want to get off…"

"Oh," he says. "Oh, okay."

He looks around, then turns into a blur for a moment, and a span of grass eight feet in diameter is suddenly flattened.

"There," he says, then pulls his shirt up over his head. "Get undressed, you're fucking me."

Gone is the confused, naive Demigod, back is the demanding, cold, uncaring one who needs sexual relief.

If I don't, he'll probably get more and more aggressive with me until I do, though that's not why I want to. I want to because I need to get off, and he looks damn good. And is a decent person, when he stops being an ass.

I just shake my head as he continues to undress, then shuck my own clothes off as he reverts to his true form. He looks around for a moment, then lies on his back, lifting his legs up. I kneel in front of him.

We haven't done this position before, he's always taken me while leaning against a tree or standing on all fours. I have to lift his ass up a bit, but he doesn't seem to care.

I slowly start to push in, his ass tight from lack of use the last week, and he moans softly. Once I'm all the way in, I begin thrusting myself in and out of him, and he begins jacking himself off. It doesn't take either of us long to finish, and once we do, we lie on the grass for a bit, cooling off in the gentle breeze.

"Are you ready to resume your training?" Max asks, and I do my best to refrain from laughing, but a snort still escapes me. "What?"

"Nothing," I stand up, then hold out a hand to him, to help him up. Once he's on his feet, I look in his eyes. "You ready to get cleaned up?"

He nods, then we clean up and get dressed. Then, he resumes killing Crimson Field Vipers as I go back to practicing with my sword, though after around half an hour, he begins sparring with me. We have to move away from where we had sex, because his spikes dug gouges into the ground.

By the time we activate the warp stones to return us to the entrance of the Dungeon, I'm hot, sore, exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and ready for a good meal, bath, and sleep.

I'm getting stronger, though. Hopefully, by the time Caleb and Adam return to me, I'm strong enough to make sure they never get chased out of a town again, so long as they are with me.