Lucian figured it had been a little over half an hour since he got bit by the centipede. The sluggishness of the venom was finally starting to wane. Shortly after, it was gone entirely. He stood up and rolled his shoulder, the wound was mostly superficial but it stung slightly. Thankfully he didn’t need his left arm in ship shape to fight.

  With the venom’s effects gone and his Spirit refilled Lucian stood up and stretched. It was time to continue onward.

  Lucian had to admit, the scenery was beautiful. As the trees grew more plentiful deeper into the jungle so did the wildly colorful flora.

  The sweet rose-like scent of a pink flowered vine clinging to a nearby tree drew him away from his path briefly. As he began to approach the flowers, he heard a buzzing sound that set the hair on his neck on end. A giant wasp - about the size of a football - flew into view, causing Lucian to leap backwards a few feet, swearing internally. The monster landed on the tree beside the flowers and began to drink their nectar.

  Lucian took a few more steps back. While he would have loved to kill it, where there’s one bug there’s probably more, and he wasn’t in the mood to be swarmed and stung repeatedly. “I don’t think I really have the tools to deal with a massive group of small enemies right now…” Lucian let out a sigh and resumed walking into the jungle, away from the insect. “Couldn’t have been a bumblebee… had to be a fucking wasp.”

  Lucian continued along his original path, away from the horrible monster. Far away from it.

  It wasn’t long before the sounds of water reached Lucian, and he began to make his way towards it. After a moment he found himself stepping out onto the bank of what he could now see was a nicely sized river. “Where there’s water…” he thought as he looked both ways down the river.

  Lucian figured that following a river would probably take him somewhere interesting or help him find something bigger to fight, something that isn’t a wasp.

  It took a bit of walking, but he eventually found what he was looking for.

  Lucian spotted it down and across the river, on the other bank - a giant mantis, three heads taller than he was. Another creature of some sort, which was by this point in the process unrecognizable, was caught in one of its forelimb scythes and was being eaten, cut to shreds by its mechanically efficient mouthparts.

  Lucian briefly stretched out and took a moment to gauge the distance across the river. “I feel like I won’t be able to make the jump across, not with my Agility… But…” His gaze shifted slightly down river, closer to the mantis, towards a couple of rocks jutting out from the water. “Those, I can reach.”

  He walked down the river until he was close enough to the rocks and took a few steps back. He got a running start, and pushed off the ground. He felt the air whistle past him as he leapt through the air with a force that made his heart soar, it was thrilling. A brief mid-air adjustment saw him landing squarely on the rock as intended.

  The mantis raised its head and dropped its meal to the ground, looking to Lucian as it took up a threatening posture. “Ha… You wish.” Lucian chuckled and put his hand out, activating [Manifest Weapon] and summoning his sword.

  The rocks between him and the other side of the river were more conveniently located. He was sure he could reach them without a running start. And he did, taking another two leaps, before the third leap saw him land on the other bank of the river and the mantis began a charge.

  Lucian immediately shifted out of reach when he touched down, its scythe-like appendages cut through the air where he stood a moment earlier. “Don’t want to get caught in those…” Lucian whistled as he brought his sword to his side before swinging upwards at an angle as he leapt forward.

  His sword cut against one of the forearms, digging slightly into the chitin that armored it. Lucian’s pupils dilated slightly and he twisted his body downwards, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the other arm - “Fuck, you’re fast!” Lucian laughed, “And tough, huh!” He took three hops backwards, creating a much more comfortable distance.

  Lucian re-adjusted his grip on his sword bringing it up, the crossguard beside his head and the blade pointed forward. He pushed against the ground again, thrusting the blade forward in a lunging attack.

  The mantis responded by bringing both of its scythes downwards. At the last moment, Lucian realized he wouldn’t make it. He ducked down and twisted his body, his feet leaving the ground as he rotated to face upwards, bringing his blade with him and managing to parry the attack. He skidded across the floor and slid underneath the monster’s legs, cursing as he quickly got to his feet.

  “Thats the fucking problem… reach. It has more reach than I do.” He thought as he groaned and cracked his neck. His back stung slightly, no doubt the fall and skid had caused damage. He would have to worry about it later. “Right now… I need more reach.” Lucian breathed out and focused on his sword, on the Spirit flowing from his body into the weapon. He deflected another strike from the mantis as his mind raced. “I can’t risk reactivating the skill. The Spirit draw and the delay are problems.” He ducked under another slash and bolted off to the side, creating distance yet again.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  He had no idea if what he planned would work. He felt like he had to try. He focused on the skill, his skill, and mentally pictured a change.

  He felt a pushback, and focused harder. He watched as the mantis began to move towards him again, and forced his will against the skill harder. “Work!” He shouted at himself. The pushback suddenly gave way and he felt the skill buzz in response to his efforts.

  He pivoted and placed one foot further backwards, pulling his sword into a batting stance. The mantis began to wind up its attack and Lucian swung.

  As his sword cut through the air, the blade grew longer - the skill itself bending to his will. The mantis didn’t plan on its range advantage suddenly disappearing.

  Lucian activated his new skill [Penetrating Strike] as he swung, and felt another 10 Spirit vanish. The edge of his sword shone with a faint white glow as it made contact with the mantis’ forelimb as it swung down - and cut through the chitin armor protecting it. With another push of strength, Lucian followed the swing through, severing the attacking limb and grinning like a maniac. “Ha! Fuck you!” He laughed and side stepped the other arm’s attack, swinging his sword up into a second attack.

  Even with his extended reach, his sword only grazed a cut across the monster’s body - and not a very deep one at that. “If I want to deal any real damage to it… I need to either use [Penetrating Strike] again, or get closer. But I can’t get in close without the remaining limb being an issue.” He brought his sword down and moved back a step, the mantis also taking a step back to reassess the situation, blueish blood dripping from its severed arm.

  “The simple solution… is to get rid of the other arm too.” Lucian chuckled and took a step forward. Then the mantis raised its arm and a silver light encompassed it.

  Lucian’s senses screamed at him to move.

  He tilted to the side with as much speed as he could muster as the mantis swiped down, sending an arc of silver energy shooting out, activating a skill of its own.

  He felt the air rush past his cheek, and saw some of his hair drift down past this face as he narrowly dodged the slashing force, “Fuck! Of course!” Lucian gritted his teeth.

  It reared back and let out a hissing sound, sending another slash out at him. He was ready this time, and pivoted out of the way, bringing his sword forward through the air.

  The silver arc of light and Lucian’s own blade met. Lucian’s blade shattered the skill in its flight, dispersing it into motes of light and a gust of wind. The force of the clash sent Lucian backwards a few steps.

  Lucian felt [Manifest Weapon] take its toll as he regained a single point of Spirit, and charged forward winding up another heavy strike. “Can’t let this go on much longer.” He leapt to the side, deftly strafing out of the way of a third slash, then leapt forward off the ground.

  The mantis tried to deflect his downward strike with its remaining claw, but was met with [Penetrating Strike]. Lucian’s attack cleaved through the arm, but found no purchase in the mantis’ actual body. It didn’t matter - he had literally disarmed it.

  The mantis moved backwards, trying to retreat from what it now knew to be certain death. But it wasn’t as fast backwards as it was forwards. Lucian took two steps forward and swung his sword again - activating [Penetrating Slash] a third time.

  Blue blood sprayed against the dirt as the mantis let out a choked sound.

  Lucian’s sword had cut halfway through its body, lacking the force to cleave the monster in two. With 13 Spirit left in his pool, Lucian pulled the sword out of the wound and spun around, slashing into the other side of its body and yet again activating [Penetrating Strike].

  Like cutting a tree from both sides, Lucian’s sword cleaved through the armor and flesh of the bug and cut all the way through, fully disconnecting its upper body.

  Lucian moved backwards as the top half of the mantis fell forwards, taking a breath as he came to a halt a few feet away from the monster. His reserves nearly empty, he let his weapon vanish.

  The fact he leveled up three times only confirmed what he had thought. The mantis was stronger than the things he fought before. “It’s probably going to get worse the further into the jungle I get…”

  Regardless of his back, which stung from sliding across the riverbank, and his near complete lack of Spirit - Lucian was happy.

  He put 5 of his free points into Strength, bringing it up to 40, and put the other 4 points into Constitution bringing it up to 25 - on the assumption it would either help deal with pain or make him heal faster. “Constitution wasn’t the plan, but if the monsters keep getting stronger like this, some might be nice. Not too much, though.” The pain dulled slightly.

  The increases to his stats brought his Spirit up to 60.

  He tugged his hoodie up and reached behind his back. His skin stung where he touched it and upon examining his fingers he confirmed that he was bleeding.

  Lucian pulled his hoodie and shirt off so that the clotting blood wouldn’t adhere the fabric to his skin, and hoped that the Constitution buff would help him heal faster. He found a nice rock beside the river to sit down on and rest for a little. Going further in low on Spirit would be a death sentence.