With a shimmy here, a wiggle there, a steady hand, and a whole lot of stamina burned, 10 minutes after being turned into a snared animal, I was finally atop the tunnel, wedged into the two-and-a-half-foot wide crevice.
To my surprise, when I made it to the top of the rope and unhooked my backpack from the small ledge, I realized I was in a better position than I initially believed.
Once again, the Goddess of luck had shined down on me and graced me with her benevolence because there, hidden from view from down below, was a teenie-tiny cave…well, calling it a cave is a massive overstatement.
In actuality, right above the lip of the crevice was a hole barely big enough for my small body to sit upright; so long as I brought my legs up and crossed them, I would be completely invisible from down in the tunnel.
’Well…I guess this is fine; it’ll be rough to sleep, and I’m sure my body will get stiff as hell, but it’s better than nothing.’ I mused while storing my backpack in my inventory and slowly pulling the rope up from the ground, a task that seemed to take forever due to how long the item was in length.
After what seemed like an eternity, and with my arms screaming for mercy out of fatigue, I finished putting away the rope and leaned against the rocky wall that would be my home for the next seven days.
That’s right, I would be spending the next seven days up here, in a tiny cave hole, without moving…there could only be one singular reason.
Closing my eyes and turning my breathing rhythmic, I extended my perception to the full extent and reached out with my mind…the target, Alpha Particles.
Although I hadn’t leveled up, nor had I Ranked up to Alpha, that didn’t mean I was going to sit still and do nothing for a week. That’s right, I was going to spend this time figuring out how far I could push my circulation technique.
Unlike Earth, where there wasn’t a single shred of particles, the Instance was teeming with thick, untainted, and pure Alpha Particles.
That was only the beginning; the deeper I delved into the Caverns, the thicker the concentration of particles would be until, eventually, near the epicenter of the Instance, they would evolve into Beta Particles.
This was the perfect area to train my Hidden Vestiges of Physicality.
Free, naturally occurring resources that didn’t require me to spend a single non-existent Arkadia Coin; I would have to be a total nincompoop not to take advantage of this opportunity.
However, there was a question brimming in my mind, and that was how many complete circulations I could execute. Back when I was 1C, the limit was only one time in 24 hours; however, I noticed that I was able to push my supersecret circulation technique further upon Evolving into a higher Classification, so that left the question, how many times could I use my skill now?
It would be around 16 hours later before I would get my answer.
Positioned forty-five feet above the rocky floor and covered in foul-smelling grey fluid, my eyes finally snapped open, and I felt as if I were about to pass out from exhaustion.
Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.
’Six times, I tried pushing the skill further, but the Particles won’t listen and follow the predetermined path…’ Feeling parched from the intense session, I withdrew a bottle of mountain spring water from my inventory and began taking small sips.
*Sniff Sniff*
’Blegh, I stink; it’s a good thing I stripped down, or else I’d burn through the few pairs of clean clothing I have; how much time has passed?’ opening my status panel, I checked the gains and peeped at the digital clock in the top right-hand corner of my display.
’Damn…I know the time to complete a cycle would extend after each rep…but 16 hours…no wonder I’m so tired and hungry.’ Continuing to sip my water, I quickly finished it off before pulling out a bag of beef jerky along with a Crocade, a flavored sports drink filled with electrolytes.
Over the next few minutes, I devoured a quick protein meal to replenish the vast amount of nutrients I had burned during my little training session, and when I polished off the beef jerky, I moved on to protein bars and meal supplements until I was finally full.
That was the downside of consecutive use of a Circulation skill: no matter which stats it increased, your body would require large amounts of supplements to replace what it was burning throughout the Cycle, and compared to my previous Circulation Skill, the Hidden Vestiges of Physicality burned ten times more nutrients, meaning I had to binge eat to replace what was lost.
’0.6 points in both physical stats, but I struck out for bonus points; if I do this every day, heh, I should be able to make it decently far into the Caverns.’ Tossing my garbage into my inventory for disposal at a later time, I gave myself a quick birdbath to clean up, then pulled out a blankie and a small pillow.
With such a small amount of space to move around, I knew I was in for a long and uncomfortable night, but it didn’t bother me. I had slept in worse places, and since I knew I didn’t shift around in my sleep, there was no risk of me falling from my hidey hole.
Leaning forward just enough to fit my pillow between my head and the wall, I was soon tucked in and ready for bed; unfortunately, no matter how tired I was, my brain refused to power down.
’If I do this every day for a week, although it’s tedious and boring, I’ll earn 4.2 points in each of my physical stats…that’s an insane level of growth for a No-Ranker.’ I thought while leaning against the wall and staring off into the darkness.
’I have my Racial Classification to thank for that; if I were only a basic human, I’d be locked into one Cycle a day, 6.2 Phys stats…sheesh, that’s already pushing the peak of No-Rank borderline Alpha for people who invested all their stat points into a single stat before ranking up. The future is looking bright.’ Closing my eyes, my head slowly drooped until I finally fell asleep, putting an end to my first day in the Instance.