I took off, out into the desert, black sand crunching under my boots, axe tight in my grip. Intisak had stressed that the sands were more than just something to stand on. I had to tread lightly, or I'd find myself in a situation that could very well be the end of me. Each step needed to be deliberate, measured, even when the grains themselves seemed unyielding beneath the weight of my boots. The sand shifted in ways that weren't entirely predictable; a false step could send me sliding down a slope, leaving me exposed to whatever might slither or crawl in the shadows.

Though, given the supposed rules of this place, with only Squall Class beasts in the first circle, I had nothing to worry about for now. My Enhanced Resistances would make short work of most any attack that was thrown my way. I could feel the lingering warmth of confidence in my chest, that my body could handle far more than the environment was currently offering. Still, caution was a habit, one I needed to keep polished and ready for when the real dangers began.

My eyes scanned the horizon---a line barely distinguishable from the surrounding darkness. It was the pitch-black sand, against a darkness similar to a night sky. Visible, but just barely. The lack of light made it hard to distinguish anything beyond the faint undulations in the dunes. There was no vegetation, no landmark other than what my instincts told me might exist: variations in shadow, the subtle gleam of the sand under dim illumination, and the vague contours of dunes merging into one another. But other than the separation itself, I could spot nothing else.

I walked a good few minutes, letting the rhythm of my steps settle me, before I eventually threw a glance backwards in case something decided to sneak up on me from behind. But it was something entirely different that caught my attention. Rising from the darkness, a massive, thick pillar of black light extended from the desert all the way up into the sky, past the dark clouds, and no doubt meeting the cave ceiling I'd seen on the way down. It was in the direction I had just come from, a column of sheer black that seemed impossible to miss, yet all this while, I had.

Is that...where the lake is?

Logic stated that much. Intisak said they believed the lake to be a center point. Perhaps it was another enchantment placed by one of their Ancestors, to make it so their people would have something marking their direction in these freakishly featureless lands.

It made sense when I looked at it that way. That pillar of light would make my journey to and from the third circle a whole lot easier. I made a mental note to memorize its position relative to the dunes I had been traversing, so that retracing my steps wouldn't become a matter of chance or guesswork.

I turned to face the opposite direction, resuming my trek deeper into the desert.

Intisak wanted a Crisis-Class Beast Core, and I wasn't allowed to use my Channeling. He hadn't sealed it with a pact, meaning I could probably still sneak a little in without him realizing...but that would defeat the entire purpose of this exercise.

I was here to prove myself. And if I had to cheat to do that...then I'd be proving nothing but my inadequacy.

Crisis-Class, no channeling, but regeneration is fair game. And just one day to do it.

I would need my Physical Resistances to, at the very least, reach the Gold Rank if I had any hopes of accomplishing such a feat.

I pulled up my Status, letting my second mind keep track of the environment as I browsed through the details.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Details]

Name: Axel Vorous

Titles: Professional Crash-Tester (Legendary), Eidolon's Blessing (???)

Species: Human

Stage: Silver | Level 3 (8450/9950)

Health: 494/494

Stamina: 407/494

Mana: 525/525 (735)

Gift: Adaptive Regeneration (????)

[Attributes | AP: 0]

Strength: 61 (70.15)

Speed: 70

Mind: 49 (73.5)

Constitution: 38(49.4)

[Skills]

(Unique) : Mana Strain Resistance X

(Silver) : Enhanced Pierce Resistance V - Enhanced Impact Resistance V - Enhanced Slash Resistance V - Enhanced Poison Resistance III

(Bronze) : Fire Resistance X - Rot Resistance X - Ice Resistance X - Unease II - Darkness Resistance IV

[Mastery | MSTP: 0]

-Greataxe Mastery (Sub-Par) : 580/1000 (+)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Physical Resistances were all at Level 5 of the Silver Rank. Poison Resistance was only Level 3 in Silver, and I was damn sure I'd be needing that if I was going to be fighting Scorpions.

Getting Rot Resistance up there wouldn't be too bad either, but the problem, really, is finding a Beast with the elements I'm looking for. Poison shouldn't be too hard to find, considering I'm in a desert biome, but Rot is a little more unique...

For all I knew, these caverns didn't hold a single Elemental Beast. The desert was deceptively empty; what little life there was had evolved to remain hidden, blending into the shadows, sand, and stone. But either way, my top priorities were getting the Physical resistances and Poison Resistance into Gold, or I'd be way out of my league trying to fight a Crisis-Class Scorpion. The rest...were unimportant, until I found myself facing those elements again.

My second mind continuously monitored the sand around me, scanning for motion, heat signatures, or any shimmer that might indicate the presence of a beast.

The silence stretched, broken only by the wind brushing against my boots, but then, as if the desert had decided to reveal one of its secrets, I crested a particularly high black dune. My eyes fell on something moving across the sand below. At first, it was just a flicker, a shimmer, a glint in the darkness. Then I saw it: a fairly large six-legged lizard, about as tall as a horse, its scales black as the sand it walked on, moving with a predatory grace.

Its tongue flicked in and out, catching the faintest glimmer of whatever light touched it. But the strange part—something unnatural—was that the tongue itself shone with a faint luminescent green, casting an eerie glow against the surrounding darkness.

Analyze.

[Blacksand Bilespitter Iguana (Squall) (Lvl.7)]

Surely enough, it was only a Squall Class creature.

I approached it deliberately, almost lazily, axe swinging gently at my side.

The beast noticed me immediately, its compound eyes locking on with a predatory gleam. With a roar, it lunged forward, rows of jagged teeth exposed, acid spraying from its maw in a narrow stream.

This looks new!

I moved towards it, meeting the jet of acid head on, letting it splash across my chest, burning, blistering, searing into my flesh, and as always, my skin knit itself back together as fast as it was being eaten away.

[Your flesh has been dissolved by Acid: x10]

[Host's [Acid Resistance] has increased greatly: x5]

[The Bronze Ranked Skill [Acid Resistance I] has been acquired.]

The pain was present, sharp, immediate, but irrelevant. My body compensated, regenerating, testing, adapting. Each blister popped and resealed instantly. The beast's acid continued to hiss against me, my chest glowing faintly with the heat of chemical reaction, but I kept moving forward, step by step, completely unfazed.

You wanted to see my Gift my gift at work, Intisak?

I grinned.

I'll give you a show then.

The lizard finally reached me, slashing with claws long enough to pierce through a fridge, but their size and sharpness meant nothing in the face of Enhanced Slash Resistance.

I didn't bother moving.

The beast's claws simply glanced off my skin, ricocheting down into the black dune. The creature paused in place for just a moment, as if processing what it had just seen, but then its instincts took over and it attacked again.

The blow glanced off once more.

Again it attacked. And again it failed. Over and over.

The creature's frustration grew, evident in its wild swings, desperate chomps, and violent tail lashes. Every attack was met without evasion, every strike absorbed, every bite countered by Resistance. It felt amazing to see this small semblance of my final goal in action.

I let the beast continue to attack me for a while, watching my Acid Resistance tick upwards all the way up to Level 6 until I finally decided that it was enough.

There was no doubt in my mind that Intisak was watching me from somewhere nearby. That was the only reason I'd allowed this to go on for this long in the first place. But now that I'd displayed the gift's potency best I could against a Squall, it was time to end this.

With a precise sidestep, I avoided one final claw swipe, darted beneath its swinging forelimb, and emerged beside its neck. The axe came down, decapitating the beast in a single, clean stroke.

[You have killed a Lv. 7 Squall-Class Blacksand Bilespitter Iguana.]

I exhaled sharply as the beast collapsed into the sand, blood pooling around the stump of its neck. I took a moment to let my healing take care of the remnants of the acid, then carved out the beast's core, and without ceremony, popped it in my mouth for a measly 100 EXP.

I glanced back at the black pillar of light, confirming the direction. There was no point lingering here.

The first circle had nothing for me, the Second was where I'd make my gains. And the third, was where I'd meet my challenge.

Now all that was left, was to get there.

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