"Urgh! Ah... ah..."
Feeling the spikes cruelly piercing through his body, Bruce resisted the urge to cry out in pain as he clenched his jaw tight.
Stab! stab! stab!
If he were to open his eyes right now, he would be able to see his body be continuously skewered and stabbed by the spikes.
Holes, as small as dots, erupted from his body, spurting out an unholy amount of blood like a volcanic eruption.
However, as soon as those wounds appeared, his flesh regenerated. The spikes retreated a little, only to begin advancing once more.
Bruce felt the spikes move away from his body. But he didn't dare to open his eyes. He was afraid that seeing them would just amplify his fear.
Instead, he redirected all of his focus to examining his body, searching for any abnormal changes.
He could vaguely feel that his wounds were healing at breakneck speed. It must be his ability—Lower Regeneration—at work.
According to the Cipher, to master the skill he first needed to understand it.
Going over Bruce Ryker's memories, he found something that could help him: "All abilities come from a source, an energy."
That was a line from a book Ryker had once read.
If that was true, then Lower Regeneration must come from somewhere. If he could find that out, he was at least half a step away from mastering it.
The spikes advanced again.
Bruce felt immense, excruciating pain. A searing agony coursed through his body, igniting his nerves.
Any normal person would be rendered incapable by such torture, but this is what separates him from other people.
Under the heaviest pressure, he excelled more than anyone else.
Focusing once more, he examined his body more thoroughly this time. He noticed that his wounds regenerated as soon as they appeared.
It was just like when he stabbed himself with a toothpick earlier—his wound had regenerated in under a second.
Similarly, the spikes pierced through his body but did no considerable damage to him because they were healed under a second.
This was an important discovery.
Lower Regeneration was not as simple as regeneration.
It functioned more like an automated immunity system against small wounds.
To put it in RPG terms,
His Lower Regeneration healed him at a numerical value of '+2', and it automatically canceled out any damage lower than that.
Therefore, if small wounds had a numerical value of '-1' damage then it was overpowered by the regenerative capabilities of Lower Regeneration.
This meant that he was not in fatal danger for now.
But that didn't mean he wasn't in danger at all. If anything, he needed to hurry up more and find the source of Lower Regeneration.
... There were certain fates worse than death.
Bruce felt the spikes retreat once more. Using that gap to concentrate on examining his body, he could now sense his regeneration more clearly.
'At first, it was just a vague feeling. But now I can feel it clearly...'
Without a doubt, he was making progress.
He concentrated deeply, immersing himself in examining the changes in his body.
He sensed something flowing within his wounds.
The spikes advanced once more.
But this time, he wanted to examine his body while being pierced by the spikes. He had a feeling... that doing so would make him discover something crucial.
Immense agony coursed through him. But he didn't pay attention to it and instead concentrated on the changes to his wounds.
He even used [Time Dilation], causing the spikes to stay on his body for a while, increasing the pain that he was feeling.
Bruce's eyes flashed.
There.
He found it.
... The source of his regeneration.
***
Green was the color of life.
It represented vitality and the vigor of life.
Bruce discovered a thick, green energy flowing quietly within his wounds. It was without a single doubt—the source of his regeneration.
Each of the wounds punctured on his body had such energy flowing within them, mending the damages done to it.
Life force.
There were many names to call the green energy, but nothing was as fitting as life force. It was the energy of life.
Then, all of a sudden, the description of Lower Regeneration appeared in his mind.
[Lower Regeneration: As long as you don't die, you're not truly dead. Your body will heal itself much faster than a normal person.]
[Extra Description: The ability to regenerate is granted by the healing power of life force. A universal energy.]
Now the first line contains a different meaning altogether...
As long as he was not dead, life force will continue to flow within him. It will heal his wounds, small and large.
He finally found the source of Lower Regeneration.
Now, he only needed one more step to finally master the skill. He needed to be able to control and manipulate life force to his bidding.
It didn't take him many attempts to realize that it was harder than it sounded. Controlling an energy source was hard.
But he didn't give up.
The spikes continuously retreated and advanced, but he never lost his focus. The pain seemed like an afterthought to him.
Round after round, Bruce got closer to his goal. He didn't even care about his surroundings anymore, only the objective of mastering the energy.
Even if it meant increasing his pain by using [Time Dilation] he didn't care as long as he could master the energy.
The energy was like a slippery eel, slipping through the gaps of his mind and returning to its origin. But soon an opportunity presented itself.
"..."
The spikes advanced once more, and before they hit his body... Bruce opened his eyes as a wide smile appeared on his face.
'Got you, you slippery bastard.'
Then, he willed something in him.
Something—a soft, green blurry hue—came out of him and coated his entire body, stretching from his back and to the front like some sort of shield.
As soon as the spikes hit him, instead of the usual gruesome pain, it was obstructed by his hardened flesh.
It couldn't pierce through his body anymore.
"Cipher!"
Bruce shouted as he clenched his fist tightly. He let out a laugh, seemingly both mad and ecstatic at the same time.
"I mastered it! I mastered it! You asshole! Let me out of this goddamn hell hole!"
[The Infinite Cipher]
[Body Domain Task: Master Lower Regeneration (110/100)]
[Evaluation: SSS]
[Due to exceeding the expectations of the Cipher, you not only mastered Lower Regeneration but also transformed it to its advanced version—Lower Immunity.]
[Returning to reality.]