After taking a rest in the shelter, I woke up to the blistering heat. I still had enough rations to survive three more days. I either needed to get out of here before then, or procure a source of food and water somehow. I had an idea for the food, my only problem was the water, how was I going to find that in this vast desert?

As I was having these idle thoughts I left to go battle some sand worms. After a few moments of walking I activated navigation using the robust particles (I’ll call them geo particles from now on) and as expected, I received a signal that a sand worm was a few metres beneath the ground.

Lo and behold, I heard the signature rumbling coming from below the sand signifying its presence. Much like the other worm, I used a combination of Stealth and Power Strike to gain distance and shoot the worm. This was turning into a mundane routine now, yet the system’s voice was a great motivator

[1 Sand Drago-Worm Defeated]

[Experience Gained]

As I took a moment to rest before moving out again. My navigation detected three new enemies underground. Two of them had the same aura as the worms, but the third one felt much more powerful…

I had enough time to barely get out of the way before they appeared above ground. Suddenly, all my senses were overwhelmed by the pressure that the monster exuded. The creature was double the size of the worms, instead of hide there were thick earthen-looking scales. Its eyes were piercing right through my core, seeming to possess intelligence. Horns so long and sharp they’d put any spearhead to shame were placed on the side of its head, while teeth so sharp they could tear through anything decorated its mouth. I barely had enough will-power to activate analysis.

{Sand Wyvern Lv 30

Strength: 25

Stamina: 20

Agility: 19

Endurance: 23

Intelligence: 8

Peak of the sub-dragon family, wyverns have slight intelligence allowing them to use their respective element of magic. A wyvern’s cruelty is second only to their strength, many adventurers have lost their lives battling them.

Weakness: Dragon-Slaying Attribute, Magic}

I couldn’t do anything. Beating this wyvern was near impossible the way I was right now. Before I could activate my stealth, the wyvern moved first and went on the attack. I barely dodged its first attack at me.

The wyvern had a long, snake-like body just like the worms but it had so much more control over its different joints than them, making each one seem like a living entity in its own right. The drago-worms looked like...worms in front of this ferocious monster. As I gained some distance on it, my senses started ringing like an alarm.

RUMBLE……

BOOOOOOOM

I looked behind me for a moment and saw multiple balls of earth floating around the wyvern as if they were moons. The wyvern launched the first ball and my predictive abilities helped me dodge it. Thank god I did, because as soon as the ball hit the sand the surroundings exploded around the area of impact leaving behind a crater so deep I couldn’t see the bottom.

This was truly the strongest enemy I had faced to date, even stronger than the undead king’s avatar. I activated a brain boost to give myself at least a few extra seconds of thinking. I could only think of one thing to do at this point. I needed to spend my extra stat points!

“System! Take half my allocatable points and put them evenly into agility and strength!”

[20 allocatable status points used.

Strength: 28

Agility : 28 ]

A wave of euphoria washed over me. A mixture of pain and ecstasy was running across my body. I felt….alive. My muscles were about to explode, and my senses were expanded further. I looked at the wyvern and it seemed….so...slow.

My first goal was to eliminate the drago-worms so that the fight wouldn't be interrupted. As the two worms approached me I didn’t even have to prepare my power strike. I used a combination of navigation and prediction to sense where they were and readied my sword. As they jumped out of the sand again, I dashed faster than they could move and slashed through both of them, forming a clean cut.

[2 Drago-Worms Eliminated]

[Experience Gained!]

I managed to deal with the two worms, but in return my sword shattered. To be honest I was surprised a replica sword lasted this long but alas, this was its fate.

The wyvern surprisingly didn’t move, as if observing my fighting style, it did possess some intelligence after all. I got into a neutral fighting stance, ready to move at a moment’s notice. My mana sense noticed some geo-particles moving towards the wyvern right before another earth ball formed. I tensed my legs ready to burst out towards the wyvern. Right as I sensed another movement in the particles I charged, now was the best moment to strike at its vitals.

I summoned my trusty iron bat and coated it with a power strike. So much energy was running through the bat that it started vibrating slightly. I jumped so high it seems like the laws of gravity didn’t apply to me, oh what freedom. However, naturally I started to fall down towards the wyvern.

Before it could fire its earthen balls I summoned my spear and threw it at one of the wyvern’s eyes causing it to roar in agony, shaking the sand around it.

Finally, I got within striking range and gathered all my momentum to the point of impact, shattering the wyvern’s skull. As its eyes rolled to the back of its head I finally heard the message I was looking for.

[Sand Wyvern Slain]

[Experience Gained]

[LEVEL UP]

[LEVEL UP]

[LEVEL UP]

[Analysis is now Level 4]

[Power Strike is now Level 3]

[Gained Title: Rookie Dragon Slayer]

[Analysis Lv4: You are now on the sage’s path, only those of monstrous strength may block your eyes from the truth.]

[Power Strike Lv3: The user’s next attack is now 6 times stronger.

Mana Cost: ??? ]

[Rookie Dragon Slayer:

You have started walking the path of heroes. All those of the sub dragon family will be wary of you.

Effect: Cause 3 times damage to sub dragons when equipped, 1.5 times damage if not equipped. ]

“How do I equip titles?”

[Answer: Say ‘equip title’ followed by the name of the title.]

“Equip title, Rookie Dragon Slayer”

[Title equipped]

[Opening Status]

{ James,

Health 320 Mana 1900

Job: Player Lv 14 Exp 40%

Title: Rookie Dragon Slayer

Base Status

Strength: 31

Stamina: 19

Agility: 31

Endurance: 19

Intelligence: 14

Allocatable Stat Points: 36

Active Skills: Stealth Lv 4, Navigation Lv 4, Analysis Lv 4, Power Strike Lv 3, Berserk Lv 2

Mastery Skills: Beginner Blunt Weapon Mastery 100% , Beginner Martial Arts 19%, Beginner Spear Mastery 39%, Beginner Blade Mastery 60%, Sharpshooting 40%

Passive Skills: Status Resistance Lv 2, Laplace Authority Lv 2, Parallel Thinking Lv2, Speed Processing Lv2, Mana Sense (Beginner) }

I once again hit a milestone for my strength. If this wasn’t the boss, then I could only fear what was really out there…

I walked back to the shelter to further my understanding of the skills I had. I’ve come to find out that It wasn’t very good if I had the tools but didn’t have a clue as to how to use them. Since my analysis skill has improved, I wonder if I can find any clues regarding this task? I decided to activate analysis on my Berserk skill:

[Berserk Lv2: The user’s status is tripled for 10 minutes but afterwards the user’s status is halved for 5 minutes]

I focused even harder this time and tried again.

[█▉▀▄ Lv ◇◇: ▞▌▊▲▻▷▀▐▅▄▎]

[ERROR ERROR]

….

…..

….

….

I suddenly heard a voice project into my brain-

So you’re playing it this way huh? Well, I’ll entertain you, why not.

[M▙n▊ ▋r▆d Lv▼▼▼ : ▮▮▮▮ mana▛▟▚▚▟▝▞ control]

[Player’s body as surpassed the limit, beginning rebuilding process]

My entire body felt as if an electric shock had flown through it, bringing with it a colossal amount of pain. I fell to the ground and screamed in pain, so much cryptic information was flowing into my brain as if repeatedly hitting it with a mallet. For some reason I could still sense the particles around me, they were moving excitedly, flowing straight into me as if trying to hold me in one piece to survive through the pain. After what felt like a few hours of this endless suffering I heard another voice I was much more familiar with.

[Rebuilding Complete]