One poorly-made meal of turtle soup, a not-too-long day of sprinting, and a single self-healing session later, Reid looked down into Snug Valley with a brow raised. It was more of a mix of a gorge and a valley than one or the other. Grasses lined a series of rolling hills that sloped upward the further they got from the water, until they turned into near-vertical rock faces. The valley stretched far off into the distance on his right, and there was a way down visible a few hour's walk to his left.

At first glance, Reid had assumed the larger static shapes he saw dotting the landscape were some form of tree or large shrub. His guess put them around two stories tall, each one marked by a smattering of orange, yellow, and green striations. The troop - obvious in that it was the only herd or group of creatures visible in the area - trampled the ground as they moved from shape to shape and devoured each with a ravenous appetite. That was when Reid realized what he was looking at weren't shrubs or trees - they were gourds. Each was a solid mass - until the troop attacked.

The troop screeched and vocalized as they ran and rolled along the valley floor, then let out gleeful grunts as the house-sized gourd disappeared before his eyes. The whole thing reminded Reid of cartoons about piranhas - just a swirl of violent motion to reduce something to its bones. He shuddered and hoped the beasts were vegetarians.

Some of them brought pieces of the house-gourd back to what was very obviously Reid's primary target. A pair of freight-train sized creatures lay next to each other, happy to stay still unless there was food sitting in front of them. When meals were delivered, they opened set of jaws defined by a vicious pair of elongated upper and lower teeth, and devoured the meal. Nyx interrupted his scouting and made Reid question just how long he'd spent observing his targets.

"You good, Reid?"

"Yeah, a bit surprised I guess? I mean... I just didn't expect Guinea Pigs."

The troop, a mass of varied furs and patterns, was made up of dozens of the things, each one probably as tall at the shoulder as Reid's waist. Despite their size, Reid watched on with a slight bit of unease as they effortlessly flung themselves up onto one of the two-story gourds to chomp at a less crowded area. He had little experience with the things - Sara had brought home a class pet, once. That one, as small as it had been, was capable of jumping from the floor onto their couch... so maybe a two-story leap wasn't outside the realm of ability for these mutants. It begged questions on the abilities of the twin lords that Reid couldn't answer.

He rolled back off the balls of his feet and sat cross-legged on the ground. Bits of grass brushed at his legs where he'd removed his armor in an attempt to run faster through the tutorial space.

For all the issues he'd had with the turtle, the thing hadn't managed to do any properly lethal damage to Reid. It had a hard shell, and interesting abilities - but it was a solitary creature. One that had a much lower level than what he was looking at in the valley.

-

Identify Successful!

Name: Snug Valley Troop Guinea Pig Level: 38

Name: Snug Valley Troop Guinea Pig Level: 39

Name: Snug Valley Troop Guinea Pig Level: 36

Name: Snug Valley Troop Guinea Pig Level: 37

-

Even the riff-raff below was seriously powerful. Groups - especially large groups of physically capable combatants - posed a unique challenge for Reid as a solitary fighter. And the Guinea Pigs definitely struck Reid as potentially capable combatants. They had the physical capabilities to be dangerous - plus whatever magic they might be hiding.

Reid was torn. He had points he could affix for himself, or he could go observe the creatures at a closer distance to better understand when he'd actually be ready to take them on. Or - he could do both. A few rounds of self-affixation, just close enough so he could keep an eye on the troop and the twins between each set.

He moved himself along the rock face, and set up his small 'camp' in a spot that had bushes between him and the ledge. It contained one decent bedroll, a pot he could boil water on, and a chair. There was just something about a good chair that changed things up. A way to relax in a different position - or at least on something other than his bedroll or the ground.

As Reid laid himself down, Nyx made herself known.

"Only one bit of advice, Reid. Don't even try to fill the whole gap in one go. Being that unbalanced would be bad, even with the titles you have helping you out."

"Got it. Not going to ask what I'm starting with?"

"The smartest choice would be intelligence, but I have this... odd premonition that you'll be making your muscles bigger again."

Reid smiled, and dove into himself.

As he moved from point to point within his body, Reid decided that he should've immediately tried to strengthen himself as soon as he hit F grade.

The experience of self-affixation, closer to the end of G grade had been a very intensive and taxing process. But now, everything hummed with promise and simplicity. It made everything feel so much more... sublime.

He did have the valid excuse that his cancer re-emerging as a timed threat had prevented him from spending time on his strength - but that only applied up until he'd killed the turtle. Instead of taking his time to realize his gains then and there, Reid had rushed to this valley. Lost in reflection, Reid only slowed down his push in the first focus areas when the familiar pain grew and burned with a mild intensity. Then he swapped to boosting constitution in the same area.

His assumption was that if he worked to increase his constitution alongside his power - not just one after another, but within the circles of self-improvement - he'd end up with a more efficient and balanced set of improvements.

Muscle grew over bone, and then bone was reinforced. Blood vessels and organs were strengthened, until he felt burning intensify again. But the first spot was done now, and he moved onto the second. Reid wasn't actually sure how far from the limit he was taking himself. He just focused on the steady and sustained progress as he worked.

Time slipped past as his work continued. Two sets of empowerment turned to five, twelve, and more as he stayed wholly focused on the work.

He felt some true strain - but nothing that was great enough to make him feel like he needed to slow down or back off.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Honestly, as he kept working, Reid felt like he was getting a runner's high. Or, he assumed that's what a runner's high was supposed to feel like. His muscles and his bones and his body was all simply... better. With less pain and strain, like his body was working for him in new and exciting ways.

Reid had stopped at each space when he felt close to facing consequences, or backlash.

Just a bit shy of forcing himself into the dangerous territory Nyx mentioned.

As Reid shifted from limb to limb and felt how drained he was, he started to suspect he might've misjudged something.

#

Time passed, and Reid grew more fatigued. The runner's high struggled to keep up with the progress - and pain - coursing through him. He felt himself burning, aching, and straining for every bit of growth... more similar to the end of G grade than his beginning sense of ease.

His pace slowed considerably as he continued - he and his body just couldn't keep up the same tempo he'd started with. There was a good lesson here, somewhere, about finding your limits and looking before you leapt. Reid was far too distressed and focused to find it - but it was definitely there.

#

By the time he made it to the final bit of leg muscle, Reid was drenched in sweat - and screaming as loudly as his sore throat would let him.

His body burned like he'd been cored out with streams of lava, his resource stores were empty, his lips were so dry and cracked that he was bleeding from them, and he could feel the energy in his pool was running dangerously low. Even as he pulled himself back to consciousness, it continued to dwindle as his body tried to supplement his other resources to make up for Reid's... poor decision making.

When he finished the last bit of work, Reid forced himself to stay conscious long enough to summon a water and check his results. Nyx's voice was stern.

"Reid, that was impressive. And completely stupid. Impressively stupid, you might call it. You spent a few days working on yourself just now - so drink plenty and rest plenty. Recover. When you wake back up, we're going to have a talk."

His throat burned as he gulped the first water down. The pain of swallowing the liquid was very much like when he'd had a case of strep throat - with the added fun sensation that his throat itself was going to crack open and start bleeding into his stomach.

Thirst overpowered pain by a far margin, and Reid summoned another bottle before he even finished the first. The second bottle of water was just as painful to swallow.

Still - he was grinning through his cracked and bloody lips. It was hard not to.

Constitution: 130 -> 274 Power: 130 -> 276 Perception: 130 -> 137

#

#

Reid groaned himself awake, and then groaned again as soon as he moved. When he checked his quest timer, he let out another, more complaintive grunt.

Secret Challenge: Complete Stage 4 in less than 30 days. (19d 17h 28m Remaining)

Reid was no stranger to losing time in exchange for growth, but he hadn't expected to kill 10 days with that single session. His growth was wonderful - the new stat limit was 450 in total, which meant 225 each for the physical and metaphysical halves. So his power had jumped up to... 211/225, and constitution should be 209/225. That was monumental progress. And was... definitely very close to the 'all at once' growth Nyx had warned him to stay away from.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Reid."

He groaned again.

"Well, I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is, since you've leveled up to F grade, I was able to exert myself to do a bit of work on you - it wears me down faster, but keep killing these beast lords and that won't matter. Because of that extra ability and my natural talents, I was able to prevent you from suffering serious damage during your recovery, and during that lovely little last affixation itself. Without my help, you would've been down for another few days. And your recovery would probably take weeks."

Reid felt a bit ashamed at that.

The whole process had seemed easier, but he'd just assumed that meant he was in a better place or position to empower himself without so much strain. He hadn't even considered that Nyx would be stepping in to help him - nor that he had done something dumb enough to warrant her intervention.

"The bad news is, while you were asleep, there was a pretty serious storm. High winds and all that - but worse than you'd expect. It rolled you over a few times, and blew your bedroll, chair, pot, and mace down into the valley."

Reid's eyes flew open and he ignored his aching muscles as he scrambled through the brush over to the ledge. His bedroll and chair would be annoying to lose. But Requiem? Reid hadn't even thought to put his weapon back into his storage ring. He'd gotten into the habit of always having it handy and available whenever he needed it.

Branches and thorns scraped ineffectively over his skin as he shoved himself towards the ledge. Reid peered down, and saw the bits of his camp in disarray on the grass below.

The bedroll was folded in on itself, discolored where days of moisture had started to ruin it. The pot was flattened on one edge - but should be usable if it wasn't cracked.

His chair, unfortunately, had not fared well. The back of the thing was embedded in the dirt where it had snapped off. The seat and legs were scattered around the impact site.

Requiem was further towards the center of the valley, stuck into the ground at an angle with the handle of the weapon towards the sky.

He wanted nothing more than to climb down and get his mace - but his body told him otherwise. He still needed rest and time before he'd be ready to be in the Guinea Pigs' home turf. The troop and the twins were almost exactly where he'd left them ten days ago, which meant he should be fine to recover before he tried it.

Just a bit more rest.

#

Reid awoke to squeaks and grunts that were far too close.

His still-tired arms moved him over to the ledge, where he took in the horrors below.

The troop had moved - as had the twins. Waist-high furry terrors were sniffing around his fallen belongings. One chewed through a chair leg before deciding it wasn't good food. Another scared itself by chomping down on the pot. When the metal sang against the impact, the beast jumped into the air and glowed with purple light. Reid watched the pot get flung into the air, away from the creature. It almost seemed to accelerate as it moved.

So the troop members do have magic.

More cautious after its fellow had bitten the pot, a black-and-white spotted guinea pig slowly approached Requiem. The beast glowed with faint purple light, and Reid watched his mace float and hover in the air. Another creature jumped up and chomped, only to have its teeth break against the surface of his weapon. Reid felt pride mixed in with his unease.

Then unease won as the troop started to flow back towards the twins - his mace still moving along with them. Bits of his bedroll floated alongside his weapon, like confetti hovering in the air around a trophy.

As the small guinea pigs approached, one of the twins tilted its head and grumbled angrily when it saw no food. The other stood and locked eyes with the mace.

The troop parted to let Reid's weapon drop to the ground. The interested twin sniffed it for a moment, then raised a paw. It swung down, hard - and squealed when the weapon didn't break under its blow.

Goddamn right. My stuff isn't so easy to destroy.

The angered beast then lowered its maw. Two oversized teeth on each jaw pinched themselves around Requiem, and the beast bit down. Clacking impacts rang and echoed over the valley, and the twin screeched in pain and anger as a chipped piece of tooth fell from its mouth.

Requiem seemed to be intact.

Reid was brimming with pride, now. The things couldn't destroy his mace, and he could just get requiem back when they moved away from the area.

He just needed to rest for a-

The massive twin glowed with intense light.

It was a shimmering purple, and Reid could only stare as his mace rocketed out of the thing's jaws straight towards the ground. It was an unnatural amount of speed for his falling weapon to have gained. When it slammed into the terrain, Reid knew.

He'd heard cracking bone often enough to understand that his weapon was fractured. The twin stopped glowing long enough to pick the weapon back up, then used its magic to slam it back to the ground once again.

Reid winced and recoiled as his mace shattered into several pieces.

He logically understood that he never actually had to get his weapon back. He could just re-summon it using Smith's Recall.

But that wasn't what he wanted to do.

He wanted to get his weapon back - the same version of it that had taken him through the challenge dungeon. And now he couldn't.

The beast let out a low rumble, and made a preening circle around the broken mace. It looked angry - but also proud of itself. Reid rolled himself back out from the bushes and away from the ledge. He sighed through his nose, and cradled the top of his head in his hands.

Nyx didn't let him languish.

"Reid, I think it's time for a... different lesson."

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