As I carefully remove the drake's heart I find myself crying again. I really hope he is reborn in a much better life, and although I doubt it will happen I hope we will meet again. It takes me a half hour to eat the heart that is almost as big as my chest.

Devour has activated! +5 to all stats! +100 HP!

'Wow! I will just consider this a gift from my friend.'

The next two days I spend healing up and cleaning the bones of the drake. I tried putting them in the pouch but for the first time since I got it I hit the capacity limit. I am going to have to go through everything and sort what I want to keep, but that can wait till later.

Besides, by the time I escape from here I will probably have eaten a lot of the food stored in the pouch. For now I guess I should take a look at the skill books, I pick up the Supreme Swordsmanship and open the cover.

Warning! Learning Supreme Swordsmanship will remove all non-sword weapon skills! (Stat gains will remain.)

Do you want to learn this skill? Y/N

'Hm, the other weapon skills are useful, but I only ever really use Blitz. It's nice that I will keep the stats I gained, that was the main reason for learning weapon skills. May as well, the name makes it seem really powerful.'

"Yes!"

Congratulations! You have acquired the skill Supreme Swordsmanship!

Skill Deleted: Dagger Basics

Skill Deleted: Blunt Basics

Skill Deleted: Spear Basics

Skill Deleted: Polearm Basics

Skill Deleted: Axe Basics

Skill Deleted: Bow Basics

Skill Deleted: Sneak Attack

Skill Deleted: Dagger Throw

'Ouch, that kind of hurt my soul!'

Lets see, the skill is broken down into forms, the first form is just called Pierce. It is a simple thrust, what kind of rip-off is this? I study the diagrams and instructions in the book then stand up and try to practice the attack.

Despite how simple the skill looks, actually performing it proves to be very difficult. It requires a precise series of muscle movements that is very hard to pull off. After five hours of trying I finally succeed once, and the thrust is so quick that I can see the air currents distorting around it.

While I am resting and eating I pick up the other book and take a look at it. This book is different, instead of just granting a skill it is a long series of instructions designed to create only one skeleton. When I finish reading the description and find out it only creates a single level one skeleton I am very disappointed.

'Wait, why is it a level one skeleton? Does the fact that it has a level mean it can level up?'

Intrigued at the possibility I pick the book back up and continue reading. Okay, so it can level up, that makes it more useful. It can also equip items, and it is basically immortal.

Any time it is destroyed it simply returns to me and I can resummon it, it doesn't lose anything from 'dying'. This is sounding more and more like a death knight's pet from an rpg game. It turns out this was a pretty good reward after all, it will take some work before it is useful though.

'Hmm, what is my group missing? We have a healer, melee dps, and ranged dps. I have been acting as the tank but I'm not really suited to it, so I should make a pet that can tank for me.'

Setting the book aside for now I return to practicing the new pierce technique. After a few hours I have it to the point that it works properly every third try. I have a drink of water and then walk back out to the natural cave and stand a few feet from the barrier.

I start practicing again but I am hitting the barrier now instead of just air. I notice that when I get the strike right there is a tiny ripple in the barrier where Blitz hits it. That means the barrier can be affected without divine power, there is hope!

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Sword Basics has progressed to level 6!

Sword Basics

Level 6

Str +6

You do 30% extra damage with swords.

'Haven't seen that level up since I was trapped underground last time. Is it because I am learning a technique instead of just flailing around?'

It is hard to be sure but it looks like the ripple in the barrier is just the tiniest bit bigger after the skill leveled up. Maybe with enough work I can get to the point of cutting through the barrier. That might take years, but wouldn't it only be a few weeks outside?

Swordsmanship alone won't be enough, but against the drake I was able to use zap with a sword strike and it was super effective. So if I level up my sword techniques and zap that should be my best bet. If I also raise my rank to increase my overall power I think I will actually stand a chance of beating this trial.

The main drawback of this method is going to be time, it will take a long time to perfect the swordsmanship. I go through my pouch to check on my food supply, between the bird things, the fang bears, the ogre, and the drake plus other random stuff I have collected. I calculate I have about two years worth of food. That is just eating everything raw, if I can figure out a way to cook it I can make it last a bit longer.

'I wonder if there is a way to use zap to cook?'

Out of the next two thousand tries using pierce only one in four fail. This means I am getting fairly close to being proficient with the attack, although that isn't even close to mastering it.

Throughout the hours of practice I have been racking my brain for any other method to escape, but after going through all my ideas this seems to be my best bet. So it is decided, I will devote however long it takes to becoming a sword master able to cut through the barrier.