Chapter 9 - "No Pain, No Gain"

After reaching the Tree hideout, I placed all the 10 that I brought into the mini trekking bag and changed my sweatshirt to a white T-shirt.

Then, I removed the boxing wraps that I tied around my shoulder, cleaned the skin burn, and looked at my while drinking some water.

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[LOOTED STATUS] (Secondary)

Name - Jay

Age - 23

Race - Lesser Human

Expected Level - N/A*

Estimated Tier - N/A

Strength - 0*

Agility - 0*

Vitality - 0*

Endurance - 0*

Spirit - 0*

Luck - 7

Health - 0*/0*

Stamina - 0*/0*

Spirit Energy - 0*/0*

Looted Stats - 15* ➝ 139*

INNATE TALENT[ - (Grade Unknown)

INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL -

[ACHIEVEMENT TITLES]

Common Grade - ,

[SKILLS]

Common Grade - Lv.3, Lv.3, Lv.4, Lv.5, Lv.5, Lv.6, Lv.10

UnCommon Grade - Lv.1

[RESISTANCE]

Physical Pain Resistance - 6%, Poison Resistance - 5%

[SPIRIT ITEMS]

Common Grade - ,

[WEAPON MASTERY]

STAGE 1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) -

Lv.1 - Lv.1 (Locked)

STAGE 2 (Lv.11 - Lv.20) -

Lv.11 - Lv.11 -

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I couldn't use the Looted Stats since they were not more than double the amount of my overall Stats in .

At the moment, my overall Stats were 84, and it meant that I needed over 168 Looted Stats to use them, but I only had 139 Looted Stats.

Setting it aside, I looked at the newly looted Skills. First, I selected Lv.5 to merge, and a notification appeared.

[Merging with will cause a permanent change within your blood and also gives immunity against the poison of lower levelled Tier-1 creatures.]

[Do you wish to merge with ?]

I accepted it after thinking that it can be used to coat my weapon with the blood poison, and also, if a monster bites me, it would get poisoned.

Just as I accepted it, I felt my blood getting warmer, and it reached a point where my skin became red, and it was painful but bearable.

With my enhanced senses from increased Spirit Attribute, I vaguely sense where the changes occurred in my body.

Once my blood temperature reached a certain point, I started to feel my blood marrow getting hot within my bones, and it was so painful that I almost yelled.

Meanwhile, a string of notifications appeared.

[Lv.6 ➝ Lv.7.]

[Lv.7: Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 7%.]

…..

…..

[Lv.14 ➝ Lv.15.]

[Lv.15: Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 15%.]

After nearly half a minute, the blood cooled down, and my skin slowly returned to its normal state.

By the end of the painfully long 30 seconds, my reached Lv.15. It increased my physical pain resistance to 15%, which helped me reduce the pain that I received.

I took a rest, and it just took me 10 minutes to completely recover. I became curious to find if my blood colour remained the same or not and tried to make a small cut on my palm with the Kitchen Knife I had.

Due to my high Endurance Attribute, I found it harder to make a cut on my skin. I didn't use the for an obvious reason of it being rusty.

After exerting more strength with the Kitchen Knife, I made a small cut on my hand, and a small streak line of black blood appeared.

I quickly moved towards the tree burrow's entrance and opened a gap in the bunch of bushes to get a clear look at the colour of blood.

I sighed in relief after finding that my blood was still red, but it was so dark that it was almost black in colour.

Next, I looked at the Lv.10 within my Status, and a notification appeared.

[Merging with will alter your Skeletal structure of both legs so that your blood fluids can be used to create Hydraulic force.]

[Do you wish to merge with ?]

After looking at the notification, I was sceptical but decided to accept it as the notification only said that my skeletal structure would be 'altered' but not 'replaced.'

Till then, none of the Skills I got merged didn't change my appearance.

After taking a deep breath, I accepted it as I reminded myself of the saying, "No Pain, No Gain."

I instantly felt an excruciating amount of pain, followed by the cracking sounds of my bones. I fell to the ground as I was not in a position to stand anymore.

I dug my fingers into the ground with all my strength to control myself from shouting out loud, as I was a bit afraid that if I shout outwards, some monsters might hear and attack me in my vulnerable position.

The pain was even more than the previous experience. I subconsciously let out some yells that can be heard within a 20-meter radius. Like the last time, another string of notifications appeared.

[Lv.15 ➝ Lv.16 .]

[Lv.16: Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 16%.]

…..

…..

[Lv.23 ➝ Lv.24.]

[Lv.24: Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 24%.]

With the amount of pain I experienced, my went up directly to Lv.24. The pain I received was reduced by 24%.

It was still painful but not as painful as in the beginning, and it continued for another minute.

By the time the pain ended, my forehead was completely covered in sweat, and for a few minutes, I took rest by laying on the ground.

After another few minutes, I started to check if there were any changes in my legs. Only by closely examining did I found that the bones in my legs became thicker. The muscles within my thighs and calves became more prominent and more robust than before.

I slowly stood up, and everything felt familiar as if nothing got altered in my legs.

So, as a precaution, I went outside and vigilantly scouted the nearby surroundings of 200 meters and found no monsters.

With that, I prepared myself for the first Trial on Lv.10.