With the ringing in his ears and his throbbing headache, Rylan had some difficulty focusing his eyes on the approaching platform that he was about to launch himself towards. When he finally managed, however, his blood ran cold at the sight of the blue puppet soldier standing there, slowly raising its arm.

[Woah! Don't worry, Boss, I'll uh, I'll look for another route!]

"No—there's no time!"

The rush of nervous energy helped clear his head a little, allowing Rylan to focus on the Jump he'd been charging to its absolute limit. He crouched down, staring intently at the puppet in front of him.

Wait for it... now!

The puppets were nothing if not consistent. They always aimed, paused, then fired. Now that Rylan had gotten used to the timing, their shots were easy enough to predict. Thus, he Jumped right before the puppet loosed its bolt.

He drew up his knees in mid-air, lifting his feet in front of him, and the projectile zipped right underneath. He'd charged the Jumping Skill to its current limit: a full 1.3 points of mana. However, unlike with the last two jumps, he kept some of that in reserve for his 'landing.'

Another thing Rylan had noticed, was that the puppets always remained standing for just a beat after they shot. Just long enough for him to cross the distance.

Both of his feet hit the puppet square in the chest, and the mana that was meant to slow him down did just that, at the puppet's expense.

The awkward backwards knees of the puppet crumpled as it skidded backwards over the blue stone, and then it was over the edge. The puppet fell for a good two seconds before it smashed into a lower platform. The impact broke both stone structures into pieces which rapidly shimmered and disappeared.

Well, that was one less puppet to worry about.

[Boss!] Arphin called out, sending along a warning about a bolt fired by one of the two remaining puppets, which were quickly chasing after him.

Rylan just barely side-stepped the shot, keeping his gaze locked on the next platform. Even if he'd taken one out, he wasn't about to change his strategy now; he was so close!

He transitioned from his current platform, which was performing a wide orbit, to one spinning in tight circles. A puppet landed nearby, raising its arm as Rylan waited one rotation for his platform to line up with the next one, which travelled back and forth along a long line.

Despite what felt like a lightning-fast rotation of his torso, the practically point-blank shot painfully grazed his waist, his Mana Shell lighting up with a disconcertingly dim glow in response.

Out of other weapons, Rylan drew Arphin.

[Woah, is it my turn, Boss?]

"Not yet, Arphin," Rylan replied as he faked a throw, and crouched down, preparing to leap. "In fact, I'm hoping—"

A stinging pain erupted from his rear-end mid-jump. Rylan let out a yelp as he was suddenly flung off course, his body rotating to the left and his feet moving out from underneath him.

He still landed on the platform, but very awkwardly, bouncing on his hip and sliding towards the edge uncontrollably.

As he inevitably went over, Rylan scrambled to grab onto the ledge. However, his right hand was still clutching onto Arphin, and the spiritgear's pommel slid over the stone like butter in a heated pan.

Only his left hand found purchase, but it proved enough to halt his descent, the muscles in his arm straining as he swayed, legs dangling freely over the golden void below.

[Woah! Boss, you... you didn't drop me,] Arphin spoke, sounding touched. [Even though you might fall yourself now, you—wait, what are you doing?!]

Rylan grunted as he brought his right hand up to his face, and stuffed Arphin's handle into his mouth, gently biting down onto the soft white leather to keep it in place.

[Ah, Boss, not your food-hole! Eeeew!]

Rylan brought his now-free hand up to the ledge and started pulling himself up, very glad for the point he'd put into Strength.

A bolt smashed into the platform between his hands, cracking the stone, but not breaking it just yet. The high-ground was finally working against the puppets.

Rylan heaved himself over the ledge and into a forward roll. Another bolt landed behind him as he rose, letting Arphin fall out of his mouth and catching the spiritgear in his hand in a single motion. "Where to?!"

[Ewewew—oh! That way, Boss!]

Rylan jumped after the platform that had almost, but not quite moved out of his reach. "Now what?"

Another bolt came flying by, and despite a quick jerk to the side, it grazed his neck. A pitiful white glow flared from the area, and Rylan immediately felt some drops of warm liquid trail down his throat.

[This is the last platform!] Arphin replied quickly. [The final jump is coming up in about six, five, four...]

Rylan looked down towards the exit platform and swallowed. It looked like an awfully long way down, probably at least sixty feet.

But he wasn't about to wimp out now.

He pushed pretty much all the mana he had remaining down to his feet, his Skill creaking in protest as he charged it over capacity, but he paid the discomfort no heed. He crouched down, right in time to dodge one last bolt, straining his muscles while Arphin continued to count.

[One... Go!]

Rylan leapt. This time, he did the opposite of what he'd done earlier. He used only a small fraction of the mana—about a quarter—on his launch, aiming it mostly forward, and kept the rest in reserve.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Wind rushed past his face as he flew forward, then started to accelerate downward. A bolt passed by overhead as he plummeted.

Finally, his feet hit stone. The glow beneath his soles brightened, the mana turning what would've been an agonising smack into a relatively gentle touchdown. It wasn't enough to fully compensate his momentum, however, so he ended up sprawling forward onto his belly and sliding several feet before he came to a halt.

[Boss, we did it!]

《Final platform reached in 47 minutes and 13 seconds,》Ethereon spoke over the ringing in his ears, dispassionate as always.《Random reward selection initiated.》

Rylan weakly lifted his head as a plinth of blue stone rose from the platform in front of him.

[That was so awesome,] Arphin continued. [And I totally don't want to ruin the moment, but, ehm, do you think you could get off me now, Boss? Feeling a little trapped here.]

Rylan glanced down at where he was still clutching onto Arphin's handle, with the blade stuck beneath his hip. "Whoops. Sorry."

With a groan, he got up, and gently put Arphin back in his sheath. Then he straightened up and started shuffling over to the plinth, his whole body aching as the stone structure unfolded, revealing a small red gemstone.

《Random reward selection complete. Selected reward: Strength Enhancer. Congratulations on your successful completion of Challenge Dungeon AW3.》

Despite the pain, Rylan sped up, intent on admiring his prize, but before he'd gotten much further than a single step, Ethereon unexpectedly continued.

《Manipulation threshold has been achieved, Rank-Up conditions met. Applying Augmentation: Flying Kick, to Skill: Jumping. Do you accept?》

Rylan froze, his eyes widening. He'd been considering how the control he'd developed over his Jumping Skill's mana distribution might be turned into an Augmentation at some point, but hadn't come up with anything solid yet. Clearly, however, Ethereon saw merit in his idea of using the 'landing' portion as an attack.

Well, who was Rylan to disagree?

"I accept!" he exclaimed, feeling the corners of his mouth rise.

For once, he couldn't feel the warm breeze coming. Instead, it was suddenly upon him, seeming to arrive through the shimmering gold all around, pouring into his spirit from there to upgrade his Jumping Skill.

《Augmentation successful. Jumping has reached Rank 3. 100 Quintessence Credits have been added to your balance.》

[Woah, did you just Rank-Up Jumping, Boss?] Arphin asked. [I could totally sense that! Congratulations!]

"Thanks, Arphin."

[But you still prefer Knife-Throwing, right Boss?]

"Of course," Rylan replied absentmindedly. "Blessed Ethereon, may I see the Skill Window for Jumping, please?"

Jumping

Rank 3

Effects

Foot guard

Improved launch velocity

Safe landing

Augmentations

Overcharge: 1.5 mana

Flying Kick

The window told him little new information. His Overcharge capacity had gone up a little with the Rank-Up. Flying Kick was listed now, but he didn't know how exactly it functioned; he'd just have to try it out.

Dismissing the window, Rylan finally started moving again. He stopped in front of the plinth, taking a moment to stare at his prize, before picking it up with shaky fingers. An actual Enhancer... this thing is worth fifty gold crowns!

[What a dense object!] Arphin marvelled, his brief bout of insecurity seeming forgotten.

"It feels dense to you?"

[Yeah! Kind of like your spirit, Boss.]

Rylan nodded. "That actually makes sense. There's got to be a lot of power stored in there."

[Awesome! What are you going to do with it?]

Rylan bit his lip. "That's a good question, Arphin. It's a pretty valuable item. It'll... improve me if I eat it, but if I don't, I could sell it. But then I risk someone taking it from me in the meantime..."

[Improve you? How though, Boss?]

Rylan scratched his neck, staring down at the little gem. "It would raise my Strength Attribute, which would allow me to... exert more force with my muscles, I guess is the best way to put it."

[Woah! So you could throw me even harder?! What are you waiting for, Boss; stick it in your food hole!]

Rylan smiled wryly. "I could, but... I also still owe a debt to Soren's family. And this would pay it off, and then some."

[Oh... well, it's up to you, Boss!]

Rylan stared at the little gem a little longer. On the one hand, the idea of settling his accounts with the Thistlethorns was very appealing. On the other hand, the Enhancer was more than thrice his debt's value, and he doubted Soren carried around over thirty gold crowns in change.

Even if his friend did, Rylan would much rather receive it securely at a bank in a free city than down at the bottom of the cloudsea, surrounded by former pirates.

Plus, the siren call of becoming physically stronger was quite, well, powerful. It was mere minutes ago that he'd been supremely grateful for the extra point of Strength he'd picked.

Higher Attributes mean access to more Skills, which can get me more Attribute Points... Even if I'm not currently aiming for any Skills that require a Strength of 3, there's definitely no harm in having it.

"Fog it," Rylan muttered. "I'm a Quinthar now. There will be other ways to make money."

And with that, he popped the gem into his mouth and attempted to swallow. Contrary to his expectations, nothing went down his throat. Rather, the moment his mouth closed around it, the gem seemed to suddenly dissolve into a stream of hot energy that flowed down and settled in his spirit. "Ethereon, please display my Status Window."

Status

Mana Pool: 0.2/13

Mana Shell: 0.1/5

Attributes

Strength 3

Dexterity 3

Endurance 2

Mind 3

Perception 3

Presence -1

Skills

Knife-Throwing, Rank 3

Jumping, Rank 3

Quint Structures

Mana Core, Tier I

Mana Pool, Tier I

Mana Shell, Tier V

Quintessence Credits: 158

Oof... I really pushed my mana reserves to the limit, huh?

Rylan waved away the window with a satisfied sigh. His body may be hurting, but in a way it was a good kind of hurt. The kind that said he'd pushed himself and grown stronger.

Yeah, I'll just keep telling myself that.

He did his best not to grimace as he limped towards the exit.

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