Bloody liquid ran down Lloyds arms, bonding agent flowing from every orifice of the halberd head. He dropped it on his workbench further worsening the stains permeating its surface, but he was too focused on the changes to care.

  After the second round of bonding agent, Lloyd had been astonished at just how durable it had been, but now after the third, it was on another level entirely. He was yet to test it, but Lloyd was pretty sure it would be able to cut even the sturdy lizard bone with little to no effort, something Thunder bone couldn’t have dreamed of.

  Getting straight into it, Lloyd grabbed his talisman and began infusing it with mana. The process had far less effect on bone compared to leather because of their structural differences, but it was still worthwhile for the added cohesion with the bonding agent.

  With a quick mana infusion out of the way, Lloyd summoned a bone he had prepared earlier. Whilst he was waiting for the halberd head to finish absorbing the bonding agent, Lloyd had pre-emptively carved inscriptions into the bone for this step of the process.

  Mana zipped throughout the bone in moments, making it crumble into an immensely fine powder. Lloyd scooped some up in his palm, vigorously rubbing it across the halberds surface until it disappeared into the near-microscopic indentations in the bone.

  From a glance, it looked like the halberds surface was perfectly flat, but when he focused and used his perception to its full effect, Lloyd could see the gaps. This was, in theory, meant to help reinforce the bone’s structure, but he couldn’t be sure as it was entirely guesswork.

  This part of the process just wasn’t something that you could test pre-system as getting a material fine enough to fit withing the fibres of the bone was just unfeasible. There were options out there, but it would just end up falling out immediately, something Lloyd didn’t have to worry about.

  Once he finished the weapon and soulbound it, the halberds structure would solidify, removing the risk of the powder falling out. Because of this helpful property, Lloyd could effectively use the powder to instantly increase the bones density and durability.

  In just a few minutes, Lloyd was done rubbing the blade with powder and nearly done with the blade entirely. With just one more step of the process remaining, Lloyd was so close he could taste it.

  With so little of the process remaining, Lloyd was already getting excited about how his new weapon would turn out, not to mention the skill that would come with it. When he finished off his most recent batch of bonding agent, the trickle of experience that came with it had actually managed to push him past level twenty-four in his profession.

  Lloyd suspected, that based off of the quality of the halberd, that this should push him past level twenty-five, securing him another skill. After scanning the blade to make sure that the bone powder had infiltrated it evenly, Lloyd got ready to move onto the next step.

  In the heavily engraved bowl, he had been using since the guildhall, Lloyd started melting down a chunk of resin. Once it was reduced down to the viscous glue-like state that he used in armour, Lloyd began sprinkling in bone powder and bonding agent.

  As it slowly congealed into a singular dark-red substance, Lloyd made the decision that it was ready. Lloyd stretched out his arm, closing his fingers around cool wood as he summoned his spear from his spatial ring.

  It had served well as Thunder bone’s handle, and with the strength it had gained from absorbing the mana he used, it would continue to serve its purpose. Lloyd dipped the tip of the spear into the adhesive mixture, twisting it around until it was adequately coated.

  The rest of the resinous glue was subsequently poured into the hole within the head of his new halberd, all disappearing into the dark hole. Taking the spear in his other hand, Lloyd pushed it into the halberd head until it could go no further, making sure it stayed in place.

  Lloyd lifted his hands back, stepping away as he looked at his newest creation. He could so clearly se how it had improved since Thunder bone, but it wasn’t done, not yet. Before he could truly call it finished, Lloyd had to inscribe it adding runes to empower it further.

  A deep breath escaped his lips as Lloyd sat down on the floor of the chamber, finding comfort in the shaggy fur of the pelt he’d laid out. At a certain point, Lloyd had gotten bored of the continuous work and made some small things like this rug just for the sake of comfort.

  It was a little thing, but a small change could make a big difference, and this amongst other things had served to make the room feel more like a workshop than a factory, even if it was just a cave full of barrels. sitting down with the blade across his lap, Lloyd stared intently down at the keratinous head of the halberd, carefully gliding energetic inscriptions across the surface.

  After so long making nothing but armour, Lloyd had forgotten just how resource intensive it could be to carve through bone with his skill. It was a good sign though, as the more expensive it was to cut through the material, the stronger the material was, so with it being so expensive Lloyd could look forward to the finished product.

  The inscriptions billowed across the surface of the blade in a mix of jagged edges and smooth curves, surrounding the runes of sharpness and lightning. Lloyd took utmost care to make sure that there were no mistakes, following his sketches to a tee.

  The only time he differed from his predetermined procedures was when he spotted a mistake or something that he could improve on, but that wasn’t very often. Bit by bit, Lloyd filled the empty space with inscriptions, giving the runes meaning and bringing out the blade’s full potential.

  Once the sun had sunk below the horizon and rose back up again, Lloyd looked down at his work with exhaustion, but it was done. Inscriptions infinitely smaller than Lloyd could have possibly seen pre-system snaked their way across the surface of the bone, tying together the runes at its centre.

  Lloyd laid splayed out on his back in the sunlight creeping through the cavern entrance, barely visible through the dense mass of roots blocking the way. Enjoying the warmth, Lloyd was satisfied with what he had accomplished, and once he had regenerated enough mana to regain a semblance of normality, Lloyd got up.

  With a mix of confidence and nervousness in his stride, Lloyd made his way back to the workbench at the rooms centre. Pulling his heavy bone hunting knife from the belt slung around his waist, Lloyd raised it to his hand and spilled blood across his palm.

  His fingers dripped with crimson blood as he pressed a palm against the bone of the halberd head. As he took a step back to heal his hand, Lloyd looked on as the blade lit up with electric cerulean light before reverting to normal.

  It felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he was no longer without a weapon and could go back to hunting until he needed to upgrade his armour again. The achievement also came with the bonus of the skill selection at level twenty-five, but he was too preoccupied with his new weapon to care about that.

  Sky piercer (Rare) A weapon made from high quality materials by a masterful craftsman this halberd carries the rage of the storm that threatens to tear the very sky apart. Invoke the wrath of lightning as you cut down your foes, face down the heavens with no fear in your heart, let none survive the storm.

  (Enchantments, Tornado round slash, self-repair, Soulbound)

  Lloyd felt the grin on his face grow wider by the second as he read the description, it was certainly a whole lot of flavour text, but that wasn’t a bad thing. It was his second rare item so far, and if that wasn’t enough to convince him of its power he could look to the terms used in the description.

  In all of his previous weapons, Lloyd kept seeing terms referring to the wrath of the storm of power of lightning, but this time there was more to it. He had gone above controlling the wrath of thunder, he was facing off against the sky.

  He knew it was just a matter of speech, and it was clearly hyperbole, but Lloyd felt that it was the system trying to articulate just how powerful this weapon was. The change in terminology, was a nice change that just went to show how much he had improved, but there was something that persisted.

  Like a ubiquitous shadow watching him from a distance, Lloyd could only ignore it as his eyes encountered the phrase once again. ‘Let none survive the storm’ it was a term that he just couldn’t seem to escape, with every big advancement he made it was there in the background.

  At this point Lloyd knew he couldn’t do anything about it, so he just looked past it, turning his attention to the skill selection he had just received. Once again, Lloyd was met with four options, three of which were of no interest to him, but the remaining one was a standout.

  [Advanced cultivation (Uncommon)] – Drastically increase the speed at which herbs grow and the effect they have on a given material once grown. Infuse plants with mana to stimulate increased growth, isolate genetic mutations to create the perfect material for your craft.

  This was interesting to say the least, Lloyd had only just started introducing herbs into his bonding agents, but he was surprised at the efficacy they had. The idea that he could grow these already fast-growing plants quicker and genetically select them to match his needs was intriguing.

  As opposed to adaptive affinities that was yet to have a major impact, thanks to his rather limited number of crafts, this could have some immediate benefits to him. Hopefully he could find some plants that boosted the parts of the bonding agent that helped him most and make them better from there.

  Compared to the lacklustre effects of the other three choices, Lloyd was completely sold on this skill and picked it without hesitation. Feeling knowledge being imparted into his brain, Lloyd got a pleasant surprise when the system graced him with some additional knowledge on herbs that would improve his crafts.

  The opportunity to more easily improve the part of his crafting process that had seen the least change was a great boon and would serve him well. For now, Lloyd wouldn’t be using his new skill to make stronger bonding agent anytime soon, but he would make sure to collect some more herbs while out hunting.

  With a vague idea of where he could find the herbs he wanted, and a strong desire to get back to hunting, Lloyd squeezed through the doorway and into the light. The scant rays of sun that made it this low in the forest were a pleasant surprise, and he spent a short while revelling in the feeling before moving on.

  As he ran deeper into the forest, Lloyd made frequent stops as he grabbed many of the myriad herbs he wanted to add to future bonding agents. With his ring beginning to look like a plant nursery Lloyd came to a halt, faced with an opportunity he hadn’t expected to find so easily.

  Nestled in amongst a patch of ferns, Lloyd could see an Azure thunder pod, a rare type of seed that was near impossible to find thanks to its extreme value to beasts. The fact that he had managed to find one already with such a dense population of low levelled beasts around was simply miraculous.

  It could be used to give his bonding agent an attunement to lightning that would only go to complement his runes and inscriptions. This was one of the best herbs he could have found, and Lloyd was quick to snatch it before a stray beast took the chance first.

  At least he tried to take it, most plants gave way with a quick tug, but considering the herbs quality it wasn’t outrageous for it to be firmer. Giving it a harder pull Lloyd had no luck, as he went to give it a full force yank Lloyd lost his balance as the ground collapsed beneath him.

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  Walls of what he thought were leaf litter folded up before morphing into a slimy pink flesh as he was sealed in by far too many rows of jagged teeth. Lloyd reacted quick, summoning a plasma mine that he hurled upwards into the creature’s maw.

  A mix of teeth, mucus, and blood flew out from the impact point, giving Lloyd a small opening he quickly leapt through with the help of boundless leap. Lloyd just managed to make it out feeling the brush of slimy flesh against his leg as he made it out.

  Landing on the ground, Lloyd looked back at what he was dealing with. It was a bulbous amphibian with an orange head and green body, it had a jaw that split in four places creating a disturbing scene when it opened its mouth to roar at him.

  Fat globs of sticky mucus flew out of the beast’s mouth as Lloyd saw the flower, or what he had thought was a flower. Instead of a rare herb Lloyd had actually grabbed hold of the beast’s tongue which forked like a lizard’s would, but a lizard’s tongue didn’t split in eight places like this abomination.

  A few mana bolts slammed into the beast’s maw as Lloyd activated identify, revealing this was a threat to be taken seriously.

  Split-jaw mimic toad -Lvl 23

  It was a mimic at level twenty-three, which made sense in retrospect as there was no way he would have found a thunder pod around here, but also because of how well hidden it had been. Lloyd leapt back in shock but was too slow to dodge the slimy tongue that had wrapped around his chestplate.

  Obviously, such a weak attack was no match for his rare chestplate and did no real damage, but the mimic seemed intent on doing more than that. Lloyd had to brace himself, digging his heels into the ground as he was suddenly dragged forward toward the beast’s open jaws.

  Acting quickly, Lloyd summoned Sky piercer to make a violent debut as he effortlessly slashed through the beast’s tongue. The slippery appendage fell limply to the ground as it lost grip of Lloyds chest but he was given no respite as Lloyd was immediately attacked again.

  One tongue quickly became two as the toad regrew the lost body part two-fold, both were cut back, but Lloyd saw a problem arise as he was confronted by four more weapons. Opting to restrain them with hastily weaved mana ropes, Lloyd tried to attack the main body but came to a dead end when he found nothing waiting for him.

  Where the toad had been sitting just a second ago was now an empty hole in the ground, and when he turned around tongues were gone too, leaving a mana rope floating midair attached to nothing. Just as he went to closer inspect the empty rope, Lloyd was thrown off balance as eight tongues slammed into him from the beast which had suddenly appeared atop a large boulder.

  It was clear that this beast was operating on the principles of a hydra, so Lloyd decided to fight it that way. With each tongue he severed he scorched the stump with supercharge, charring and burning them into unrecognisable masses of flesh.

  Taking a step back to avoid the acidic mass of mucus spouting from the toad’s gullet. Much to his shock, Lloyd was faced with not a mutilated beast at deaths door, but a mass of sixteen grotesque tongues poised ready to strike.

  Clearly, he had made a miscalculation, and while he weaved between the putrid appendages, he did his best to think of a plan. He thought as best he could, and came to a simple conclusion, he would just have to strike the beast at its body.

  Weaving between the constant onslaught of tongues headed his way, Lloyd trained a small field of mana bolts toward the mimic’s head as he summoned a supercharged plasma mine. Launching the ball of condensed plasma like a cricket ball, Lloyd summoned Sky piercer again as he entered melee against his best judgement.

  The mana bolts and plasma mines worked wonders tearing open large wounds as he slashed across the mimics back with his halberd. Unsurprisingly, the beast’s amphibious flesh was quite soft, and he quickly realised that it was no real threat at such close range.

  Sure, the writhing mass of tongues above him was quite dangerous in theory, but with a supercharged mana rope safeguarding him they were effectively useless. As such, Lloyd saw this as more of an opportunity than a threat and took the chance to test out his latest enchantment.

  Sky piercer lit up with vibrant blue energy as Lloyd activated Tornado round slash, the energy density growing until he felt it was time to strike. before he could swing, Lloyd felt an impartment of knowledge from the system, information regarding to how the skill worked.

  His arms tensed and his body buckled under the extreme pressure as Lloyd spun in a complete circle, his blade kicking up roaring wind in its wake. In a spile second the wind spiralling around him gained force, going a dark grey as it formed a wall of solid air around him.

  The violent maelstrom crackled with lightning, and as Lloyd redirected the swing into a downwards slam it all collapsed into a single point. A raging stormed reduced into a ball the size of a marble was bound to end in chaos, and as it crashed into the mimic’s skull he was proven right.

  Lloyd was pushed back by the winds blasting out from the epicentre of the explosion, digging his legs into the dirt to stay upright. When the dust settled and the winds abated, Lloyd was greeted by a clearing of utmost destruction.

  Ferns and small plants were flattened, and a small crater had formed around the explosion, as for the mimic, there wasn’t much left. Chunks of its body were strewn haphazardly amongst the trees and general vicinity, staining the forest with a crimson sheen.

  The gory display was not something he had intended, and as he kicked some of the beast’s entrails off his foot, he inspected the cost. As expected, such a destructive skill came with a high cost of seventy-five mana and twenty-five stamina, a price he was happy to pay for a something that could reduce a monster to scraps.

  As for the cooldown, Lloyd had expected it to be long, but he hadn’t expected it to be a whole day. some of his earliest enchantments had gone on cooldowns that long sure, but those could be justified to compensate for the lack of a cost, but this was another story.

  Tornado round slash was his most expensive skill yet but still held the longest cooldown at twice the length of immutable storms. It was an extremely steep price, and Lloyd wasn’t ecstatic about it, but there wasn’t anything Lloyd could do about it so he would have to be happy with it.

  To be fair, even with such a steep price the enchantment was amazing, one of if not the most powerful attacks in his arsenal. The sheer level of destruction the enchantment allowed him to unleash was unprecedented, so Lloyd was still more than satisfied with the outcome.

  Going back to the result of the battle Lloyd was lucky enough reach level twenty-four as a result of the fight, a nice surprise he hadn’t been expecting. He must have been right at the brink of a level up after killing the echidna because there was no way Lloyd had got more than a quarter level of experience from such a weak beast.

  The mimic must have been more focused on low levelled prey, going for quantity over quality which would explain why it was so physically weak. Lloyd would have thought the mimic would be smart enough to retract the false seed when something at a similar level came by but clearly not as it didn’t even react until he was literally on top of it.

  Lloyds best guess was that the beast simply didn’t recognise him as a threat since it hadn’t encountered a human before, likely underestimating him because of his underwhelming appearance. It was a very common theme for powerful enemies to also be very large with the cow sized mimic being the smallest beast he’d seen above level twenty.

  Looking around, Lloyd was a bit irritated that the mimic had been so weak as an outer layer of camouflaging leather would be a great addition to an armour piece. Unfortunately, that idea wouldn’t be coming to fruition as the beast’s mangled limbs were smeared across the ground in a red mosaic.

  As he made his way out of the horrific scene Lloyd kept a lookout for any other powerful enemies hiding in the foliage as such a loud battle was sure to have attracted spectators. This was soon proven true when Lloyd spotted a pair of eyes glaring at him through a wall of ivy, but they quickly disappeared when he looked at them.

  A short inspection soon revealed that the only creatures that had seen the fight go down were all around level eighteen, nothing worth his time. Picking up the pace Lloyd soon came to a large clearing full of deep scars and craters clear signs of a recent fight.

  Jumping up onto a large rock to get a better vantage, Lloyd dropped flat to his stomach as a dark-brown shape whipped just over his head. Quickly repositioning to see where the attack had come from, Lloyd had to jump across the boulder onto a tree branch as something he failed to identify shot past him with deadly speed.

  Summoning Sky piercer to his side, Lloyd waited for the attack to come again, ready to strike at the slightest sign of movement. Feeling something behind him, Lloyd spun around slicing through thin air as he hit a non-existent target.

  While he fumbled around in an effort to figure out what was wrong, Lloyd felt shock grip his body as the ferns gave way and a monster revealed itself. A brown serpentine body as thick as an oil truck unravelled all around him ending in a head that was large enough to swallow an elephant and already mid-strike.

  Lloyd jumped away from the heads path, launching a swarm of mana bolts into it as he tried to get his bearings. Landing on the ground Lloyd tried to locate where the next attack would come from, but with the beast’s whole body moving like a conveyor belt Lloyd wasn’t having an easy time doing so.

  With no idea where the beasts head was, Lloyd took the easy approach and swung his halberd into the nearest body part he could reach. Sky piercer easily cut through the beast’s scales, but with the sheer speed the beast was moving at Lloyd had to send it into his ring before it was ripped out of his hands.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Lloyd glanced the monsters head bending around a tree trunk as it shot toward him. Acting quickly, Lloyd summoned a supercharged plasma mine throwing a devastating curveball as the projectile exploded in the snake’s face, sending blood and scales everywhere.

  Jumping into the air with boundless leap, Lloyd felt as if his stomach had been pushed into his throat as a sudden feeling of overwhelming pressure bore down on him. Lloyd’s weightlessness was cut short as he was yanked down into the ground with explosive force.

  The snakes head just missed him, but as it glided past him, he could see just how much mana was currently gathered around it. As he tried to push himself up from the ground, Lloyd was barely able to get to his knees from beneath the pressures grasp.

  Suddenly, this feeling went away, and Lloyd got to his feet, but as he did, he felt something was wrong. Why had the force abated so suddenly? Why hadn’t the snake swallowed him while it had him trapped? His answer soon came.

  The ground burst open as it split into stony plates all around him, throwing Lloyd into the air and threatening to crush him in the chaos, but the snake was intent to get to him first. With so little time to react, Lloyd hastily weaved together some mana ropes to stabilise himself as he began charging plasma bolt.

  Before he could get the skill off though, Lloyd was covered in darkness as the beast’s jaws encompassed him. The blue light of the plasma bolt was all he had to guide him as he slid across the floor of the beast’s mouth, but even that soon left when he hurled it upwards.

  Sounds of a beating heart and growling stomach soon filled the expanse, filling Lloyd with a sense of dread as he tried to figure a way out. Not sure if he would be able to keep himself alive in here for long, Lloyd summoned his halberd for a second try against the beast.

  As mana flooded its structure, Lloyd supercharged his legs and launched himself upwards, plunging the blade into the roof of the snake’s mouth. The room was all too suddenly flooded with light as the beast let out an almighty hiss, thrashing its head around until Lloyd went flying out.

  Skidding across the ground, Lloyd kicked up mud and leaves in his wake coming to an abrupt halt as he slammed into the snakes writhing body. Lloyd looked up at the snake seeing the rage in its eyes and being taken aback by the sheer quantity of mana coursing through its body as it encircled him.

  In a flash of light, Lloyd was briefly blinded only to see a snake now covered in rocky armour even Sky piercer wouldn’t be able to cut without some serious effort. Before he got the chance to properly analyse the changes the snake had undergone, Lloyd was put back on the defensive as massive pillars of stone rose out of the ground around him.

  Running around in an effort not to get impaled on the mass of rapidly growing stalactites, Lloyd peppered the beast with plasma mines and mana bolts in an effort to distract it. This proved futile as the serpent didn’t so much as flinch at the pain, only expending more mana as the stones began to break apart, sending chunks flying toward him.

  As hard as he tried, Lloyd’s efforts to dodge the many boulders were proven for naught as piece after piece slammed into him, shattering upon his armour and sending him into the ground. With each impact Lloyd became more desperate, trying to find a way out as he tried to fend off the horde of rocks.

  Seeing no other way, Lloyd felt his body light up with energy as his resources were sapped away by an enchantment. Lloyd looked around as the swarm of boulders was replaced by wind, thick grey walls of it crackling with lighting around him, ready to lash out at whatever tried to penetrate the barrier.

  Trying hard to regain his footing, Lloyd dug his boot into the ground as he tried to locate the beast’s head. As the storm raged around him, Lloyd became afraid that he would run out of time before he managed to find the serpent, but a quick break in the winds gave him all that he needed.

  A thunderous roar rattled Lloyds bones as smite struck down with full force, supercharge pushing it further than if had ever gone before. The following shockwave running through the ground was all the conformation he needed, and Lloyd began to dissipate the enchantments barrier knowing the beast had been struck.

  Just as he had hoped, the snake was damaged beyond repair, its head was a mangled mess of charred flesh and exposed brain matter with strange black fluids leaking onto the ground. As he walked forward Lloyd suddenly stopped in his tracks as a feeling of overwhelming peril ran rampant through his body.

  Before he could even register what was happening, the snakes head was barrelling toward him with a massive stalactite protruding from the front of its skull. Lloyd stood still, trying desperately to regain control of his body as the snake barrelled closer.

  Just a matter of metres remained between the two when Lloyd was blinded by a flash of cerulean light. It was the last vestiges of immutable storms energy being focused into a bolt of lightning like it had against the tortoise monster, only this time it had done a whole lot more.

  Finally, the beast truly collapsed, and Lloyd had the notification to prove it.

  You have slain an Earth-born colossus serpent -lvl 25

  Experience gained, + 200 credits

  Level up available, you have reached lvl 25 in your class.

  Class skills available

  As Lloyd felt the sensation of a level up worm through his body he was suddenly stumbling across the clearing like he forgot how to walk. It suddenly felt as though he was violently ill and his body was trying to reject itself from his own being.

  The feeling was incomparable to anything he had gone through before, but he knew for sure that this was not normal.