Simple and Straightforward

Grant spent the next few hours going through all the different options for the dungeon.

A plan for expansion slowly formed in his mind, but rather than execute said plan immediately, he closed the menu and prepared to walk out of the room.

Before he could take so much as a step though, a staff suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision.

Based on the speed and the apparent power of the swing, if it struck him, he would be sent flying into the wall in immense amount of pain.

On instinct, Grant rolled away from the oncoming staff before jumping to his feet and drawing his sword in one fluid motion.

On high alert and ready to fight, Grant confronted his attacker, "What the hell Skit?! Why are you attacking me all of a sudden?!"

However, the skeleton man simply ignored his questioning and attacked again.

Seeing the skeletons actions, Grant became frustrated.

"Fine! If you want a fight, lets fuckin fight!" and with that, Grant lunged towards Skit as well.

The distance between the two was closed in a nanosecond due to both of their strengths and the small size of the room they were currently fighting in.

Grant brought his sword up above his head and prepared to execute his Tectonic Slam skill.

Unfortunately for Grant, although he had gained a few levels and stats over the past two weeks, Skit was still far stronger than he was at the moment.

Skit simply waved his staff in front of Grant and a moment later, Grant felt like he had been struck in the chest by wrecking ball.

The impact managed to knock the wind out of him and forced him to expel a mouthful of saliva and bile while he was flung backwards.

Whether it was planned by Skit or not, Grant's backwards trajectory was perfectly in line with where the entrance to the dungeon core room was located, so he was flung out into the room that had been used as the leaders meeting area until just recently.

Thankfully, the room was empty, because Grant flew through the air like a rocket and destroyed anything that was unlucky enough to be in his path before he was lodged deep into the wall on the opposite side.

The impact looked like something straight out of a Sunday cartoon from when he was a kid.

While coughing and cursing, Grant attempted to pull himself out of the wall.

Before he could fully dislodge himself though, he was suddenly bombarded by skills being cast from the other side of the room.

Being continuously bombarded by skills, Grants anger grew exponentially until it burst forth in all it's glory.

Grant activated Dragon's Roar before using Unbound Stats; transferring all of his Stamina and Mana evenly into Strength and Agility.

He intended to win or lose the fight in the next few seconds and knew full well that none of his skills would penetrate Skit's shields so he had to overcome said shields with brute strength or accept the beatdown that was being thrown his way.

With his momentary burst of power, Grant managed to pull himself out of the wall even while being bombarded with the magical attacks before planting his foot into the ground and diving headlong into the oncoming onslaught.

Skit, for his part, didn't even move when he saw Grant charging towards him. He simply stood his ground and watched the young man approach. Grant swore he could see a smirk on the skeletons face but he simply ignored it and continued his charge.

Of course, this all happened in milliseconds and Grant was mere inches away from Skit when he launched another downward chop which contained all of his power behind it.

As he had since entering the old meeting room, Skit remained standing in the same spot he had been even as the sword grew larger in his field of vision.

Seeing this, Grant grew confident. He was confident that with his current stats and strength it wouldn't be impossible to break through Skit's defenses and he might actually win this impromptu fight.

Sure enough, when the Sword of the One True King made contact with Skit's barrier, it quickly shattered it and continued on its trajectory towards the skeletons head.

Watching the barrier shatter, Grant's confidence in himself grew even higher.

Unfortunately for him however, that confidence was quickly shattered by the appearance of not just the second, but the third, fourth, and fifth barriers that appeared around Skit.

Grant knew it was too late to adjust his attack so he tried his damnedest to put every ounce of strength he had into the blade and tried to force the attack to hit its mark.

The momentum of his attack managed to pierce through the second barrier with relative ease and then the third barrier with a bit of difficulty, but the fourth barrier stopped his sword dead in its tracks.

It was at that moment, Grant knew, he was fucked.

Sure enough, before he could even withdraw his sword and begin another attack, Skit's staff once again appeared in his peripheral vision.

Exhausted due to his lack of stamina and knowing full well the battle was already lost, Grant simply accepted his fate.

As the staff made contact with the side of his head, the world around him went dark.

While Grant lay on the ground unconscious, Skit looked at his own mana reserves in surprise.

{Mana: 21/9869}

It had been a long time since anyone had forced him to exhaust nearly all of his mana. Of course, he had skills and potions to replenish his mana rapidly, but using them felt like cheating in a way.

Skit thought back to the first time the two of them had met and was pleasantly surprised and impressed by the progress the young man had made.

Although Grant's fighting style was still overly simple and straightforward, his actions had conviction and he knew full well the consequences they would bring if he failed.

After a few moments of reflecting on the fight, Skit spoke at his unconscious ally and student, "If only you had managed to penetrate the fourth barrier, you might have won. The fifth was merely for show and was meant only as a bluff."

"Yeah yeah, you and I both know full well that even if I had managed to break that fourth barrier, you would have still won the fight."

"Oh ho ho ho, it appears as if I held back too much. You should have been unconscious for a few more hours based on how hard I hit you."

Grant, rubbing the side of his head, slowly picked his upper half up off the ground until he was in a sitting position. "What do you mean you held back too much?! My head is throbbing and hurts like hell man! Why did you even attack me in the first place?!"

"Do you really need to ask?"

"Fine. I'm sorry I left Hailey with you and ran away. I have learned my lesson and won't do it again."

"You better not. Or you'll find I won't hold back the next time we spar. I know some very fun skills for people with high pain tolerances."

Grant shuddered at the thought of what more the skeleton could do to him.

Seeing the young man's reaction, Skit seemed satisfied and turned to leave.

Grant however, remained seated on the floor for a few more minutes, with only one thought in mind.

[My strength has stagnated...]