Ambros groggily opened his eyes, biting back the urge to scream in pain as he did that. Not like he could scream, or even talk, it seemed. He looked down to see all his limbs still intact. ‘That’s a relief…’ he thought, as his attention turned to the system messages he received before passing out.

Congratulations, skill [Barrier Manipulation] has advanced to Lv.2! Congratulations, skill [Barrier Manipulation] has advanced to Lv.3! Congratulations…

‘Well, if there is something positive about this shit of a situation I have found myself in, it is that my skill leveled up.’ he thought, without much enthusiasm as he looked at the last system message.

As you have been forced out of the Danger Zone by a skill of its owner, you are exempt from returning for 24 hours.

‘Haha, yeah, like I’d want to return after barely escaping with my life. I must have been fucking lucky to even get out of there.’ he thought as he heard a loud roar from the direction of the danger zone.

‘System, the time, please.’

The current time is 12:51 by the Pacific Daylight Time.

‘Ah. It hasn’t been long since the fight.’ he thinks as he begins trying to get up, but his body screams in protest.

‘System, can you just display my health and, what was it again… essence force, yeah.’ he asks the system in his mind as the screen pops up that shows him the asked information.

Health: 34/800 Essence Force: 4/210

‘Ah fuck, I shouldn’t have carelessly been looking for trouble, took me so long to get rid of my arrogance before, wouldn’t want it to return.’ he reminds himself as he goes against his inner screams and stands up, almost falling over just as he does that.

“Cough, cough.” he coughs as blood spews from his mouth. “I’ll die sooner or later if I stay here, I’ll return to base and recuperate, I should have some of that gel leftover. Can’t believe I got to fight again in a few hours, at least this trip wasn’t a complete waste as I got at least some essence points on top of the barrier upgrades. System, display my coins and essence points.” he commands, starting to slowly walk away from the zoo. ‘I’ll come to get my revenge, you better count on it.’ he threatens in his thoughts, giving a glance to the direction of the danger zone.

Essence Points: 19 Coins: 75

“Put all my points into vitality, and give me one of those band-aids as well. The healing should stack, right?”

Negative, using a gel and band-aid in one spot does not grant you 350% healing, using them in different spots will even the healing.

“Good enough,” he says as he grabs the band-aid and applies it over a wound on his chest. Ambros slowly makes his way back to the Pentagon, the walk there isn’t long by any means, so it took less than half an hour to get back. On the way, he encountered a few mutations, but even in his horrible condition, he was able to slay them, with difficulty no doubt.

When arriving at the Pentagon, he made his way back to the office with the chairs and computers, where he sat down, applied the gel, and went to sleep.

There are 5 minutes until the timed attack begins, please prepare to defend your claimed area.

Ambros awoke to a new system message, which he read and raised a slight eyebrow to. “Timed attacks, ah yeah, I remember. The monster attacks on claimed places, rewards, and 24-hour intervals… What the hell, I had over fifteen hours until its start, how long have I been asleep?” Ambros asks as his breathing gets faster and uneasy. “What’s the time, system.”

The current time is 7:55 by the Pacific Daylight Time.

“I have been sleeping for so long? Display my health and essence force.”

Health: 728/990 Essence Force: 167/210

“Alright, good enough. Unless I have to fight another strong opponent, I should be fine. Pray that the system is nice for the first timed attack, eh?”

“Ah, I should have a few essence points from my way back, if there are any, System, add them to dexterity.” as Ambros said that, he felt his body becoming a little lighter and some pain easing.

“Time to protect my, what is this place, home? Sure, let’s go with home.” he says as he heads out.

Finished implementation of all new features, as of now, essence points can only be earned from weekly reward sheets, defeating Danger Zones and timed mutation attacks. Starting first timed mutation attack, please do your best to survive.

When the system finishes its short speech, Ambros instantly starts seeing hordes of insect and arachnid-type mutations. Another short system message pops up and Ambros instantly dashes into action.

Day 1, insects and arachnids. Good luck!

When Ambros starts his mutation slaughter, he quickly realizes that the mutations aren’t strong, nor dangerous, but what they do have is quantity.

“Damn, why-” Ambros starts complaining to himself, but he is quickly interrupted by multiple spiders spewing their venom at him. “-are there so many of them!” he finishes, after slamming his hammer into the ground with all his strength, creating a shockwave big enough to kill tens or hundreds of the nearby mutations, yet it doesn’t seem like their numbers have lessened at all.

‘I wonder if I can weaponize my barriers.’ he thinks as he wipes off his sweat. His breathing has gotten heavier, and it seems that he is slowly starting to get tired.

“Might as well try!” he exclaims as he gets swarmed by a big group of cat-sized mosquitos. He focuses on sharpening and extending his barriers in the horizontal direction, like a big spike. ‘Yes! Make a spike!’ he tells himself as his veins get slightly bigger and glow blue, as a warm feeling flows through them.

Suddenly, multiple thin spikes shoot out from the ground, impaling everything inside the twelve-meter range.

Congratulations, you have gained a deeper understanding of the skill [Barrier Manipulation] it has leveled up to Lv.10 Congratulations, due to your deep understanding of the skill [Barrier Manipulation], it has evolved into the skill [Force Field Manipulation]

“Fuck yeah! System, display the skill,” he says as he slams his hammer into a spider on the ground.

Force Field Manipulation Rating: ★★★★[★] Effects: Create a Force Field anywhere within 15 meters of you. The shape is only limited by your creativity. How large you can make it, is dependent on the Essence Force you pour into it. The Force Field can defend from 198.9 points of damage, the amount can be increased by 25 for 50 extra essence force per second. When used offensively, the damage it can do is equal to the damage it can protect from. Costs 50 Essence Force per second, when used offensively, the cost is halved.

“Exactly what I wanted to see! Display my essence force and health, system.” Ambros says as he kills multiple bear-sized snails with a horizontal slash type of attack.

Health: 403 Essence Force: 56

Ambros nods as he acknowledges his current situation, and goes back to slaughtering insects. He rushes in the fastest he can currently go as spikes rise from the ground. They are larger and in a larger quantity than before.

Half an hour later, Ambros finishes smashing the head of the last ladybug insight.

Congratulations, you are the first to finish defending your claimed are from a timed attack in your continent. Congratulations, you have received 20 essence points. Congratulations, you have defended your claimed area from a timed attack. Your contribution: 99% Since your contribution was over 95%, you have earned a 2x multiplier to your rewards. You have received 158 EP. You have received 298 Coins. You have received a day worth of rations for 2 people.

“Well, this is nice and all, but why the hell did I not get 100% contribution, I am sure there would have been an extra reward for that,” Ambros questions in an irritated tone, as he slams his sledgehammer to the ground and walks back inside.