Chapter 8: The Warm-Up BossDAY 8 OF 30The notification about the Ironhide Boar had changed his calculus. Grinding for base stats was still essential, but now he had a specific, imminent target. A boss fight. And any gamer worth their salt knew you didn't walk into a boss fight blind. You scouted. You prepared. And if necessary, you died a few times to learn the mechanics. Lin Wu woke before dawn, as had become his ritual. His body still ached, but the pain was becoming familiar—a background hum rather than a screaming alarm. The [Masochist] title was earning its keep.
He reviewed his objectives for the day.
He started with the stones. The irregular weights he had gathered at the field's edge had become his primary strength training tool. He lifted, held, lowered. Ten repetitions. Rest. Repeat.
By the twentieth set, his arms were on fire. By the fortieth, they were numb. By the sixtieth, he could barely feel them at all. Then, on the sixty-third set, the notification appeared.
Lin Wu let the stone drop from his trembling hands. He stood there, breathing hard, feeling the faint, almost imperceptible shift in his body. His muscles weren't visibly larger, but they felt... denser. More responsive. The axe, when he picked it up a moment later, felt marginally lighter in his grip.
Still mortal. Still trash by cultivator standards. But I hit a little harder now. He allowed himself a small, satisfied nod. Then he turned his attention to the second objective. SCOUTING THE SPAWN LOCATIONThe System had provided minimal information: "feral spirit beast will wander near the village outskirts" in two days. That meant somewhere in the dense, tangled woods that bordered the eastern edge of the farmlands. The same woods where villagers sometimes went to gather firewood and herbs, and where children were warned not to wander too deep. Lin Wu grabbed his axe—the Null Crown fragment still securely lashed to the blade—and walked east. The woods were quiet. Too quiet. The usual birdsong and insect chatter were muted, as if the forest itself was holding its breath. Lin Wu moved carefully, his eyes scanning the ground for tracks, broken branches, or any sign of a large animal.
No Perception skill yet. I'm basically blind out here. Need to fix that. He pushed deeper. The trees grew thicker, their canopies blocking out the morning sun and casting the forest floor in a perpetual, green-tinged twilight. The air smelled of damp earth, rotting leaves, and something else—a faint, musky, almost metallic scent. Beast spoor. He found the first track an hour later. A large, cloven hoofprint pressed deep into the mud beside a small stream. The print was fresh, the edges still sharp. And it was big. Bigger than any normal boar's print had a right to be.
Lin Wu knelt and studied the print. Four hundred pounds of angry, armored pig. Fast. Tough. And imbued with Qi. Standard low-level beast. High physical defense, moderate attack power, predictable charge pattern. Weak points: eyes, underbelly, inside of mouth. He followed the tracks for another hour, mapping the boar's likely territory in his mind. He found a wallow—a muddy depression where the beast had rolled and rested. He found trees where it had rubbed its iron-hard hide, leaving deep gouges in the bark. He found scattered bones—the remains of smaller animals it had killed and eaten. And then he found the boar itself. It was sleeping in a dense thicket of thorny bushes, its massive, dark gray bulk barely visible through the tangled branches. Its hide looked like rough-hewn stone, studded with bony plates. Two curved tusks, each as long as Lin Wu's forearm, protruded from its snout. Even in sleep, it radiated a faint, oppressive pressure—the unmistakable signature of Qi.
Lin Wu watched the boar for a long moment, memorizing its size, its posture, the layout of the thicket. Then he retreated, silent as a shadow, back to the farm. Attempt one: Scouting complete. Tomorrow, I test its combat capabilities. DAY 9 OF 30He spent the morning preparing. He sharpened the axe blade as best he could with a whetstone—the edge was still chipped and rusted, but marginally keener. He reinforced the lashing holding the Null Crown fragment. He gathered a length of sturdy rope and carved several crude wooden stakes, which he sharpened to wicked points. Primitive traps. Not elegant, but they might buy me a few seconds. In the afternoon, he returned to the garden. The [Botany - Novice] skill was at 14.2%—slow progress, but steady. He watered, weeded, and observed. The plants were still struggling, but the tomato he had eaten yesterday had been followed by two more tiny, pale fruits. Life persisted.
The stone in his pocket pulsed with faint warmth. It seemed to respond to his proximity to the garden, as if recognizing something familiar. Soon. I'll unlock the skill and learn your secrets. As the sun began to set, Lin Wu made a decision. He had scouted the boar's location and patterns. But he didn't know its attack speed, its reaction time, or how its Qi armor interacted with the Null Crown fragment. He needed combat data. And there was only one way to get reliable combat data against a superior opponent. He walked to the edge of the woods, sat down with his back against a tree, and pulled out the small leaf containing a dab of Bitter Moonflower paste. He had kept it, just in case. Controlled regression. One death to learn the boar's moveset. Cost: 2% sync. Current sync: 18%. Acceptable risk. He swallowed the paste. The convulsions took him. The pain was familiar now—an old, unwelcome friend. He counted the seconds, catalogued the sensations, and let the darkness claim him.
ATTEMPT ONE (SCOUTING DEATH)He gasped awake in his cot. The morning light was just beginning to filter through the cracks in the walls. The save point had been updated—he had slept since his last regression, creating a new checkpoint.
Worth it. Now I have a full day to prepare, and I know what I'm facing. He spent the morning recreating his preparations—sharpening the axe, crafting stakes, gathering rope. It was faster this time; his hands remembered the motions. By midday, he was ready. He entered the woods and found the boar in its thicket, exactly where it had been in the previous timeline. It was awake now, rooting through the underbrush for tubers. Its massive head swung side to side, tusks gouging the earth. Lin Wu took a deep breath. Let's see how you fight. He didn't bother with stealth. He wanted to see the boar's full aggression. He stepped into the open, raised his axe, and shouted. "Hey! Bacon!" The boar's head snapped up. Its small, piggy eyes locked onto Lin Wu. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the beast's hide seemed to ripple, a faint gray sheen of Qi hardening its already stone-like skin. It squealed—a deep, guttural sound that vibrated in Lin Wu's chest—and charged. It was fast. Far faster than its bulk suggested. Twenty-five miles per hour of armored muscle and razor tusks, tearing through the underbrush like a battering ram. Lin Wu threw himself to the side, but he was too slow. The boar's shoulder caught him, and the impact was like being hit by a cart. He felt ribs crack. He flew through the air and slammed into a tree trunk.
The boar wheeled around, tusks lowered, and charged again. Lin Wu, still stunned, could only watch as the beast bore down on him. He tried to raise the axe. Too slow. The tusks punched through his abdomen, lifting him off the ground. The pain was white-hot, all-consuming. He felt the Null Crown fragment pulse against the axe blade, leeching a tiny amount of Qi from the boar's tusks, but it was too little, too late.
ATTEMPT TWO (COMBAT EXECUTION)Lin Wu gasped awake. His hand flew to his abdomen. No wound. No blood. Just the phantom echo of being gored.
Okay. I know how it moves. I know how fast it is. I can work with this. He went through the motions again—sharpening, crafting, walking to the woods. But this time, he didn't approach the thicket directly. He found a spot near the boar's wallow where the ground was soft and muddy. He spent two hours digging a shallow pit, lining the bottom with sharpened stakes, and covering it with a lattice of thin branches and leaves.
Thirty percent. Not great. But better than zero. He found a sturdy, flexible sapling and bent it back, tying it with the rope to create a crude spring-loaded snare. Another trap, equally shoddy.
He positioned himself upwind of the boar's thicket, behind a large tree. He picked up a fist-sized rock and threw it into the bushes near the beast. The boar emerged, snorting, its Qi armor already shimmering. It scanned the area, piggy eyes narrowing. It saw Lin Wu. The charge began. Lin Wu waited until the last possible moment—until he could see the rage in the boar's tiny eyes and count the cracks in its tusks. Then he dove sideways, rolling behind the tree. The boar thundered past, unable to adjust its trajectory. Its front leg caught the edge of the pitfall trap. The thin branches collapsed. The boar's forward momentum carried it into the pit, and one of the sharpened stakes punched into its less-armored underbelly. It wasn't a fatal wound. But it was a wound. And the boar was now stuck, its massive body wedged in the pit, its legs scrambling for purchase.
Lin Wu didn't waste the opening. He sprinted forward, axe raised. The boar thrashed, trying to free itself. Its tusks swung wildly, but Lin Wu was already inside its guard. He brought the axe down on the boar's exposed flank, just behind the shoulder. The Null Crown fragment, pressed against the axe blade, made contact with the boar's Qi-reinforced hide. The effect was immediate and dramatic.
The boar's Qi armor flickered violently. The rusty axe blade, enhanced by the sudden buff, bit deep into the creature's flesh. Blood, dark and hot, gushed over Lin Wu's hands. The boar screamed—a high, piercing sound of genuine pain and fear. It wrenched itself free of the pit with a surge of desperate strength, leaving a trail of blood and torn earth. It turned to face Lin Wu, its eyes now wide with something it had never felt before: vulnerability. But Lin Wu was already moving. The Null Infusion buff made him faster, sharper. He circled the boar, avoiding its frantic tusks, and struck again. And again. Each hit leeched more Qi, refreshing the buff. Each hit opened another bleeding wound. The boar's movements grew sluggish. Its Qi armor flickered and died, unable to sustain itself against the relentless drain. It was just a large, angry pig now. A dangerous one, but mortal. Lin Wu delivered the final blow. The axe blade, guided by [Axe Adept] and empowered by [Strength Novice] and [Null Infusion], sank deep into the base of the boar's skull. The beast collapsed. The ground shook with its weight. It let out one last, shuddering breath, and was still.
Lin Wu stood over the massive corpse, chest heaving, covered in blood and mud. His hands trembled from exertion and the fading adrenaline. But his eyes were bright. Triumphant. First boss down. And I only died twice. He looked at the boar's corpse. Three hundred pounds of meat, hide, and valuable beast parts. Enough to feed his father for weeks. Enough to trade for supplies. And the Impure Beast Core—a low-grade Qi crystal formed in the beast's heart—could be a valuable resource, even if he couldn't absorb it directly. This changes things. Hunting beasts is more efficient than grinding wood. Higher risk, higher reward. He began the long, bloody work of field-dressing the carcass. The [Butchery - Novice] skill guided his hands, showing him where to cut, how to preserve the valuable parts. By the time the sun began to set, he had the beast's hide rolled, the tusks extracted, the core retrieved, and several large chunks of meat wrapped in leaves. He was exhausted. But as he dragged the heavy load back toward the village, he felt something he hadn't felt in either of his lives: momentum. DAY 10 COMPLETE. 20 DAYS REMAINING. |
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Chapter 11: The Mortal Who Broke the Rules DAY 30 OF 30 — THE DUEL Lin Wu woke before the sun, as he had every morning for a month. But today was different. Today, the grind ended. Today, the boss fight began. He lay still for a moment, cataloguing his body. The hairline fracture in his right forearm from the boar hunt had healed to a dull ache. His muscles were loose, warm from sleep. The Numbroot paste, applied the night before and sealed under cloth wraps, had left his hands and forearms comfortably distant—a buffer against the pain to come. STATUS REPORT HP: 100/100 Stamina: 100/100 Soul Sync: 29% ...
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