As it turned out, the fastest way to increase his stats was to fight. Repeatedly.

In Will’s current state, that meant getting the living shit beat out of him—again, repeatedly.

Caiyeri gave him almost no time between bouts. The store sold stamina potions at unranked for fifty credits. Will downed one of them every time he started flagging, leaning on the safe zone’s passive healing to patch up anything short of a broken bone. For the frequent injuries he took from the elf’s ministrations, he used a health potion.

“You’re not a terrible fighter,” Caiyeri eventually acknowledged. “Your fundamentals are sound, at least.”

“I did some training,” Will said in between gulps of ice-cold water from his inventory. “Back before the end, that is.”

Caiyeri shook her head. “I can’t imagine being born into a world without. Did you even have a purpose in life?”

“Yeah, I guess so… if you can call clocking into an office and typing up code and reports for ten hours a day a purpose.”

Helper: Can you?

“Not really, no. What’s your purpose, then? If this is all you’ve ever known?”

The elf sighed. “I can only guess as to what the original Caiyeri’s was. She is—or was, perhaps—supposed to be one of the best of us. My outpost, at least, was meant to discover ways to harness the effects of chaos and corruption using classes that aren’t very popular.”

“And how’d that go?”

“I’m here with you, aren’t I? I think that’s answer enough.”

“Ouch. That aside, if you were cloned for this, why aren’t you… stronger?”

Caiyeri arched an eyebrow. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

“I’ve had the system for like two days,” Will said. “You’ve had it for how long?”

“Less than a year,” Caiyeri replied. “My life until now has been spent training my body, mind, and spirit such that I am a perfect fit for my future skills.”

Helper: System natives don’t gain access until they’ve reached a certain level of maturity. Imagine giving a hormonal teenager nuclear bombs.

“So it takes about a year to reach Bronze 3?”

“Off of training alone,” Caiyeri said. “It’s much faster if you go around killing. Much messier, too.”

“I imagine there’s a lot more risk of death, too.”

“Correct. Don’t think that means I’m inexperienced, though. I’ve trained through more combats than you can believe.”

“Trust me, I believe,” Will said, gesturing to the bruises on his arms that were only now starting to fade thanks to the safe zone’s passive effect.

Caiyeri’s fighting style was like nothing Will had seen on Earth. His Brazilian jiujitsu classes had been some of the most effective self-defense he’d learned, but they were all about submission holds and leveraging an opponent’s weight.

On the other hand, the elf fought like she was trying to dance. Earth martial arts were intended to make maximum effect with minimum effort, but Will didn’t see how that applied here. All of her moves looked choreographed, but she moved faster than any human should have been able to and delivered every blow with devastating force.

It was a style borne out of knowing the system would enhance your traits to superhuman levels. Will had no idea how he was supposed to defend against it, so he did the best he could—mostly by backing out of range, but also quite frequently by taking a hard hit so that he could get in one of his own.

Interestingly enough, Resistance wasn’t the skill that went up while getting beat up and occasionally delivering a hard hit back.

[Power] advanced to Unformed 11!

[Speed] advanced to Unformed 14!

After a couple hours of nearly nonstop training, it was his Power stat that had advanced most. Speed had only gone up one stage, but it had started from a higher point.

“It seriously took a year of training like this?” Will asked during another one of their rare breaks. “I feel like you could get there in a week.”

“Like I said,” Caiyeri replied, drinking her first stamina potion of the day, “It’s about building the right profile. Proper, drawn-out training lets you do more with the same attributes, and it means you can control what skills you get more.”

“So we’re speedrunning and hoping I can unlock some good skills.”

“Essentially.” Caiyeri grinned. “How do you like your odds?”

Helper: Will, you’re progressing at an acceptable rate, but not fast enough for the difficulty of the tutorial. Your [Corruption] binding is helping patch up the gaps, which helps, but you should make as much of your choices as you can. Train like your life depends on it, because it does.

“Weren’t you just telling me how little you trust this lady?”

Caiyeri put a hand over her heart, mock affronted. “I’m hurt.”

Helper: I am a helper, not your party member. Your choices are yours to make, and now that you’ve committed, you should commit all the way.

“I hear you loud and clear,” Will said.

#

“The goblins aren’t going to wait for you to get back up before the next one comes at you,” Caiyeri said. “Don’t think I’m coming back for you if you get dogpiled by a bunch of them. Cave goblins are vicious.”

Will, who was currently struggling to breathe thanks to what felt like a collapsed lung, had to drink three basic health potions before he could reply. “Yeah, I’m getting that impression. And thanks for the backup. That really makes me trust you more.”

“I’d prefer to be known as a coward than a liar,” Caiyeri said.

“Is that an elf thing?”

“Is asking unnecessary questions a human thing?”

“Yes, actually.” Will got back to his feet once his breathing was entirely back to normal. “Again?”

Caiyeri shook her head. “What are your stats at now?”

“Power’s at 14, up from 8. Speed is at 15, up from 13.” Will had started to get better at defending and fighting against the elf once he’d realized that he didn’t need to optimally leverage the other person’s weight when he could just use his now-enhanced power to deliver harder blows, but he still hadn’t knocked her down yet.

“We’re reaching the limit of what we can do here, then.” Caiyeri strode off the mat. “How long has it been?”

Helper: 8 hours overall, comprised of roughly twenty minutes of downtime and the rest fighting. It’s impressive. I have not seen anyone this dedicated to improvement in the tutorial.

“Like you said,” Will said, allowing himself a lopsided grin, “I need to train like my life depends on it. That’s not going to happen if I don’t push myself to the limit.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Will was well versed with working to his breaking point, but this was a world apart from the endless projects he’d done in university. His work had been nebulous, all of it leading towards the potential of even more of the soul-grinding slog later.

Now, though? This training had a purpose. Will knew his hard work was going to pay off, and even more importantly—it was his choice as to what he was going to do with it.

That should be enough of a motivator for damn near anyone, he thought.

Caiyeri, of course, seemed keen on testing this. As snarky and unhelpful as she’d initially seemed, Will had to admit that she was pretty good at pushing him.

“Your Resistance stat is too low,” she said. “Unless you advance to bronze or get a binding that artificially raises one of your stats to bronze, you’re not going to be able to tank a full-on hit.”

“I took some from the Carrion Lord,” Will pointed out. “Plus a few glancing blows from previous bosses.”

“Do you seriously think he was treating you like a threat?”

Will thought back to the fight. The Carrion Lord had given him time to recollect himself when he’d asked, and he had stepped up remarkably right after he’d freed Caiyeri.

“Fair point.”

“If he hit you head-on with that hammer, you’d be gone,” Caiyeri said confidently. “Even that glancing blow almost took you out, and even if you’re better at dodging now, he’s still faster than you.”

Helper: All of this is true. [Resistance] is the best attribute to increase in order to assuage this issue.

“You’re not too bad, system god.”

Helper: Again, I’m no god.

“Whatever you say. My Resistance is my second-highest stat. It’s easy to train up.”

Will frowned. “I’m sensing a but here.”

Uh oh. There was that feral catlike grin again. He didn’t like that. Not at all.

She opened a hand, showing him a vial with a suspiciously neon purple substance within.

Item: Midnight Flower Extract

Common, unformed

Midnight flowers grow in mana-rich and light-poor areas. The Arcadian cave system is rife with the species. When ground, midnight flower creates a fine powder that has multi-industrial use. When boiled, however, it produces a much less forgiving liquid. Midnight flower extract is a favorite of Arcadian poisoners thanks to its use in paralytics, hallucinogenics, and toxins.

This can be used as a crafting ingredient.

Will put two and two together. “Oh hell no.”

Helper: This is such a blatant attempt on my User’s life that I actually think you’re safe on this one.

“You’ve got health potions,” Caiyeri said. “Midnight flower extract is lethal on its own to regular unformed, but with some assistance, I’m sure you can manage it.”

“You’re trying to poke at my ego,” Will observed. “That’s, like, a textbook case of marketing. Oh, the normal people can’t handle this, but you aren’t normal, are you?”

“Is it working?”

Will snorted. “No, but you’re not wrong about me needing a Resistance boost. Helper? Any thoughts?”

Helper: I have witnessed quite a few attempt poison [Resistance] training. It’s surprisingly common throughout all system-affected worlds.

“Is it effective?”

Helper: Yes, though the occasional death does result.

“…Define ‘occasional’ for me, will you?”

Helper: Two in three, though I’ll note the majority of them both ignored my advice and did it outside a safe zone.

“That isn’t helping.”

Helper: Would you prefer that I start lying to you?

“Nope. Alright, let’s do this.”

“Just like that?” Caiyeri asked. “I expected I would need to convince you more.”

“Time’s wasting away, and there are one hundred percent going to be goblins waiting out there for us. I’d like to get myself as prepared as possible.”

Caiyeri nodded and tossed him the vial. “Here you go, then. This one dose should be safe.”

“Am I really doing this?” Will asked himself.

Then he shrugged and drank poison.

[Resistance] advanced to Unformed 9!

It hurt more than he’d ever hurt before.

#

Axl watched over the preparations with a cold eye. His Overlord spell, granted to him by the sigil that represented his domain over the clans, enabled him to track the hundreds of goblins he had called into action.

The corruption was plaguing him. His will combined with his superior attributes—the Resistance, Power, and Speed of a silver-ranker—had kept him going so far, but it was rapidly becoming clear that this was no accidental act.

Sometimes, wounds became corrupted. That was the price of living in the Arcadian caves, and Axl had accepted that it might happen one day.

This, however, was no simple leak of ambient corruption. It was an attack, vicious and unending.

The human… he had not seemed like one of the wanderers from the surface. His mana had a different scent to it, and his style of dress was unnatural.

Another world had encroached onto Axl’s. He did not remember the advent of the system onto Arcadia, but he remembered what the Hunger had told him when bestowing the sigil upon him a decade ago.

When chaos strikes again, know that I will be waiting. We wait in the space between the worlds. If corruption cannot be contained, it will be stamped out.

He ran a hand over the sigil, watching in distaste as his own limb smoked with black distortion.

No. Axl had no love for the people of Arcadia, but this was his world. He would not call the Hunger in until he knew it was too late.

The Carrion Lord’s network stretched miles around, above, and below. The human would not be able to leave, even with a teleport.

Axl would end this corruption himself, no matter the cost.

#

[Resistance] advanced to Unformed 15!

Will’s vision had darkened and blurred to the point where he could barely make out the shape that he assumed was his partner. Four vials of extract had brought him to this point. Drinking a health potion in between each go had lessened the pain, thought it was nowhere near patching all the mistakes up. Each time Will thought he had reached the physical limit of what pain meant, it somehow managed to get worse.

But he was still alive, wasn’t he? Will had been forced to drink the first vial in three separate sittings because he’d immediately vomited after drinking a sip, but the fourth had gone down almost entirely in one gulp and stayed down. He could feel his body adapting to it, and it wasn’t just the poison—he felt more resistant. Though Will had no basis for the assumption, his body felt strong enough that he could take a direct hit from the elf without falling.

“My aunt told me to detox once,” he muttered, deliriously drinking another potion down. “This is the total opposite of that, but somehow I feel like it’s better for me.”

Helper: Let’s stop it here.

“I agree with the helper,” a sharp yet lyrical voice said. Was that… Caiyeri, right, that was her name. “Health potions help, but they don’t fix all the poison.”

Stop? Why would they stop?

“I’m getting stronger,” Will said. “Give me another.”

“You—“

“I said give me another, Caiyeri,” he hissed, stumbling to his feet. “I’m weak, right? I need to be able to take a hit? Let’s finish it. Get us all the way up.”

“I mean—“

“Give me another.”

“Your funeral.”

Helper: This one’s a first. Nobody else has tried to keep on taking poison after they’re already dying from it.

The elf handed him a vial, and he drank.

#

Caiyeri hadn’t seen much of the world outside the outpost yet, but she’d been given enough research material about it to understand what lay beyond. This… had been covered in theory, but not in practice.

Her poison resistance routine had consisted of microdosing herself once a week for a month, then gradually increasing the dose of unformed midnight flower extract until she had been able to take a full vial every time. She’d never gone over a single vial in one go.

Will had made it to seven before his body had started twitching.

He was… no longer twitching. Caiyeri knelt down, checking for a heartbeat. Nothing.

“Oops,” she said out loud.

She considered him for a moment, then shrugged and turned to leave. Caiyeri had to admit that she was thoroughly impressed by his persistence, but he’d pushed it too far.

And then she remembered that her corruption amulet was at ninety-two percent.

Caiyeri pursed her lips. She had an item that might be able to help, but it was her only silver-rank potion. If she used it now and it didn’t help, that was one of her most valuable magical items tossed down the drain.

In the end, it wasn’t the self-preservation that drove her back. Caiyeri was sure she’d be able to loot one of her comrade’s bodies.

Will had saved her life, though, and she owed him. She didn’t want to admit that out loud—a personality fragment from the original Caiyeri, she was sure—but it was true.

The potion of greater restoration cleansed all negative conditions of silver rank or below, which this poison certainly was. She wasn’t sure if it would bring him back from this condition, but it was the only item in her possession that might help.

She knelt down next to Will, whose veins were visibly purple and who was bleeding from every orifice, unstoppered her tiny vial of potion and gently tipped it into his mouth.

The color in his veins disappeared almost immediately, but he did not move.

Did I wait for too long?

For a heart-stopping minute, she thought she’d just wasted a potion that was currently more valuable than her life.

Will gasped awake, his eyes fluttering open. Caiyeri poured some water over him, clearing the gunk he’d excreted thanks to the poison.

Helper: You died for a moment there.

Will lit up with excitement, ignoring the message.

“Did it work?” Caiyeri asked.

“Check this out!” he cried, highlighting one of his attributes.

[Resistance]: Bronze 0

Caiyeri hid her shock. “Impressive.”

Impressive was underselling it. A rank jump from the middle of unformed? She hadn’t seen that in anyone, ever.

She suddenly found any lingering regrets about healing him vanishing. If he could make that much use out of the poisons…

“We lost some time there,” Caiyeri said. “We’ll spend the rest of your time training your skills.”

“I’m up for that,” Will replied. “Anything in mind?”

“Well, first things first,” Caiyeri said, “I hope I don’t regret this.”

She drew a tablet from her inventory.

Item: Tablet of Midnight

Epic.

Awaken the power of the darkest night. This tablet grants a grand, dark power.

Affixes a [Soul], [Affinity], or [Perception] skill.

“I’m full up on those three attributes. This is for you.”

Will grinned, apparently unworried about the fact that he’d been dead five minutes ago.

“Fucking awesome.”