Breaking Through The Human Limit and Clearing The Dungeon Floor

Instantly, I felt power fill my frame alongside a wave of heat so hot it felt like I had fire in my veins. My bones shifted and my muscles rippled while my tendons and ligaments snapped. My entire body was broken down to it's base and then rebuilt in a better, more improved way.

After the uncomfortable and painful shifting...all I felt was power.

...It's odd to think in the big scheme of things, Cap is weak. Especially when this type of strength feels higher than anything I've ever felt before.

Yet there's no reason to not stop here, right?

After playing around with my heightened physical ability and my even more robust Qi, I decided to split the points somewhat evenly between my External State and Internal State. There's no need saving these points for later - if I need them later, why don't I just spend them now? It'd save me the trouble of having to take my attention away from the potentially troubling fight which could get me killed outright.

But the real question is this: What should the split be? Completely even? More sided toward one of them?

Sitting down in the cavern in front of the clone corpses, I ignored them and got to thinking on which one I needed more. External means more strength, speed, agility and stamina...yet I can get that from Qi as well. Internal means more robust Qi, better control and who knows what else. Yet because I don't fully understand Qi just yet...I'm gonna stick with what I know. While using Qi is quite fun and I do seem to be somewhat of a natural at it, it's better to not put all my eggs in that basket just yet. If I focus on Qi and hit some form of bottleneck, I'd have wasted points.

...Yeah, it's better to focus on the body for now. Not that I'm gonna leave Qi behind too far behind.

So, with that in mind, I allotted 50 points to my Internal State to take it up to 200 and I put the 180 remaining points into my External State, pushing it all the way up to 330. And with it decided, I mentally accepted the choice and another wave of change flowed through me.

But this one...this one was different. Compared to the one before this wave of change was like a Tsunami compared to a ripple in a pond.

Is it because I'm pushing passed the human limit? Is that why I feel so much changing inside me?

My muscles snapped and withered, my bones cracked and became brittle, my tendons and ligaments snapped with my muscles, my skin dried up and cracked like dry ground--my entire body was broken and sapped of every little piece of energy it had. Then the rebuild began.

Just like the first time, my body was built up stronger...yet it was impossible to compare the two. The first rebuild, compared to this one, felt lacking. Like a wooden shack held loosely together.

But this rebuild process felt like my frame was being made out of tempered steel and held together by steel cables. It felt like my body was being supercharged. Everything was improved by many, many times. It was an intoxicating feeling when you got passed the uncomfortable/painful shifting and breaking of your body. The feeling of power being the intoxicating part, obviously.

Opening my eyes that I hadn't even realized I'd closed, I looked down at my body. My light brown skin was...different. It looked better. Less rough. I still had a few scars here and there...but they were faded and unless you were looking for them, they were quite hard to find.

But what could my attention more was the changes to my muscle and body structure.

My muscles looked more balanced. Impossibly so. Like I had impossible speed and strength, alongside inhuman stamina and toughness. And if there's one thing I know about the body, is that you can't have it all. You can't be as strong as a power lifter and as fast as a sprinter at the same time. You can't have the stamina of a long-distance runner while also having the explosive upper body strength of an Olympic-level rower.

...And yet right now, I found my muscles having all these qualities to utterly inhuman levels. Strength, speed, stamina, toughness, flexibility and pliability...it was like they'd been changed from the very core of their being. Like the instructions inside my DNA were just...better now.

Before, when my agility caught up with my strength, it felt somewhat forced. But now it was just the natural course of what my muscles should have.

But most of all, my strength felt titanic in it's amount. Like I could wrestle a bear to the ground.

Yet something stuck out in my mind as I felt these changes: It's too much.

If we go off of just the numbers...I only doubled in strength. Well and a little extra. But it's still only double my earlier improved state. But right now, it feels much more than just double my old power.

You got an answer for this, system?

[Every point passed 150 in either External or Internal State is worth exponentially more than before the 150 mark.]*

(*A/N - I did this for one main reason: If I made it linear and 300 points in External is just double 150 points in External...he'd need thousands of points in either attribute for him to have a decent level of power. Basically, every point passed 150 is equal to ten points before 150. So, while it doesn't look like a big difference, someone with 160 points in their External State could overpower someone with only 150 points in their External State. If you ever wanna know the MC's strength, do this with his External State attribute number [330 (<--This is where his External attribute number should go) - 150 = 180 // 180 x 10 = 1800 // 1800 + 150 = 1950 // 1950 divided by 150 = 13]. And Cap can bench 500kg, so just multiple that by 13...and bam, you've got 6500kg or 6.5 tonnes. If you don't get it...just ask me and tell me what you don't get and I'll do my best to explain it to you.)

So...a qualitative increase instead of a quantitative increase, huh? I can get with that. I'd probably need thousands of points to be somewhat strong with that type of system. Even with Qi. And with only 10 points given to me each level up...I'd need a lot of level ups, let's just leave it at that. What's my maximum strength looking at right now then?

[You should be able to bench 6.5 tonnes without being enhanced by Qi.]

...6.5 tonnes? Jesus fucking Christ. I could already wring a guy's neck like a rag when my External and Internal States were at 130, so when they've both been heightened beyond what's humanly possible, I should be able to do some major damage, huh?

Smiling I stood up from my sitting position just as a screen popped up in front of me.

[Mission Available!]

[Tutorial Part 2]

[Mission: Clear the first level of the Murim-Dungeon.]

[Mission Rewards: Three levels and two pieces of equipment.]

Tch, no more massive amount of points? Well, I guess that would void the purpose of this system. Martial arts isn't just about who has the stronger body. That is a vital part of a fight, don't get me wrong. But technique, mentality, style of fighting and even a person's personality all play a part in a fight. This system...is probably gonna try and forge me into some sort of super warrior. The injection of those 200-odd points was just to get me started and make sure I didn't die. From now on it's back to the grind, I guess.

Nevertheless, I got on with it and began to walk further into this so-called dungeon. I could feel the explosive strength brimming in my muscles. The energy thrumming in my blood. The lightning fast sparks arcing along my nerves.

I was ready to clear this dungeon and test out my new strength~

. . .

"Not to be rude, man...but you sure don't look like a human being," I chuckled to myself as I looked at the slab of walking muscle in front of me.

He was about two and a half meters tall and, like described, he was covered in thick muscle. It didn't seem to effect his flexibility or movement at all either.

...Cheater. Not that I get a say on who's a cheater and who isn't.

Shrugging, I continued to look at the inhuman-looking fella. What really set him apart from humans, however, was the fact that he had pure red eyes and two stubby little horns poking out his forehead. That's what really sold the whole 'inhuman' image.

All I got in reply to my quip was a roar before he blasted off from the ground toward me.

He moved with stunning speed despite his massive bulk and if it were the me from before...I'd have been turned into a red stain of mush on the surrounding walls. But right now, I could react to the thing's lunging palm strike.

Ducking under the strike, I tried out something I'd been testing through this whole dungeon. Dozens of opponents were used as guinea pigs and I felt like I finally had the timing right.

Clenching my fist, I swung a shovel hook just below the thing's ribs, aiming to use the upward momentum of the hook to slide under the ribs and hit the liver beneath. If there's one thing I discovered, it's that whatever the humanoids in this dungeon are, their anatomy is nearly identical to a normal human's.

And if there's one thing I have intimate knowledge of destroying...it's human's.

So, my precise hook hit the mark and the massive force behind it allowed it to brute force itself through the thick skin and muscle and at the liver below. Except, while I was doing this, I matched the flow of force with the flow of Qi in my arm's meridians.

Just as my fist hit the thing's liver...my Qi caught up to my fist and a shockwave spread from the point of contact between me and this beast.

A second later, sound seemed to catch up with what happened and a massive boom echoed throughout the cavern alongside the crunching sound of ribs being utterly smashed.

The horned-humanoid recoiled from the punch, blood pouring from it's mouth as it's pure red eyes looked down at me with utter shock, like it couldn't believe someone smaller than it could produce such force.

...I did it~

Laughing, I pulled back my left fist from the indent it had left in the thing's side and with the movement, I brought my right fist up and swung it toward the thing's chest as I brought my left fist back. Precisely controlling my Qi once more alongside straightening my legs to add to the power of the punch, I went all out.

The fist shot forth with the speed of a missile and impacted the thing before it could even recover from the first punch that had wrecked it's ribs and liver.

The result...was wonderfully beautiful.

Another sonic boom, mouthful after mouthful of blood coming out of that thing's mouth...it's entire internal structure crushed to pieces...it's entire back gone, after bursting from the force. It flew with the exploded remnants of it's back before landing a few meters away from me with a wet thud.

Looking away from the horned corpse, I looked to my fist.

"I recreated the Soul Crushing Strike from 'The Breaker'...I wonder what else I can steal for my own?" I felt my smile turn wide and savage as the adrenaline from all the fights before and including this last one ravaged through my system. The smile soon faded as I walked over to the corpse of the thing I was hoping would give me a good fight.

Squatting down next to it, I poked it's head which limply rolled to the side and I scoffed, "As if you're the boss for the first floor...Well, it is the first floor, so what was I expecting?" I asked myself a rhetorical question before chuckling and standing up when I saw a familiar screen.

[Mission Accomplished!]

[Mission Rewards: Three levels and two pieces of equipment!]

...And I wonder where this equipment is?

[Mission Available!]

[Tutorial Part 3]

[Mission 1: Retrieve your equipment from your inventory.]

[Mission 2: Enter the second floor of the Murim-Dungeon and then exit the Murim-Dungeon.]

[Mission Reward: Full Restoration.]

Huh..."Inventory?" I called out and to my surprise, a screen appeared. A screen full of boxes and a screen that looked remarkably similar to an inventory from a game.

Inside said screen, two of the square slots were taken up. Tentatively, I reached up and into the screen. Restraining a shiver at the sensation of my hand entering the jelly-like inventory screen, I pulled back from I felt something and a pair of gauntlets appeared in my hand.

They looked oddly...like the same material the suits from 'Gantz' are made from. Sliding the sleek black 'gauntlets' on, I remarked to myself that they fit perfectly and felt like a second-layer of skin. My sense of touch wasn't impeded in the slightest. Deciding to test them out, I slammed my hand into the ground without any Qi enhancement.

The ground shook and broke apart under the hit but it wasn't anymore than I was expecting. One thing, I didn't expect, however, was the lack of any sort of pain in my hand. Despite the enhancements, hitting solid rock was still uncomfortable and doing so with my barehands would result in the skin getting bruised or maybe even cut depending on how hard I hit the rock and how hard the rock was.

But with these sleek gauntlets on...it didn't hurt at all. Didn't even feel slightly uncomfortable.

Realizing this, I decided to take a closer look at the sleek black gauntlets.

They reached up to my elbow and other than the area around my knuckles and wrist being padded/thicker than the other parts, it just looked like a sort of skin-tight latex glove. But obviously, despite the texture and how comfortable it was...it definitely had some very good defensive attributes.

Reaching into my inventory for the other piece of equipment, I pulled out similar boots. Sleek, black and latex-like. Deciding to slip them on, I was pretty shocked when both the pieces of equipment began to grow and spread across my skin.

But after a brief bout of panic, I quickly calmed down when I realized I hadn't just put on a symbiote and the pieces of equipment were just expanding over my body to meet one another and to but me in a suit of sorts*.

(*A/N - Imagine the skin suits the Kryptonians where in 'Man of Steel' or the suit Kanoh Agito wears in 'Kengan Ashura'.)

It had padding all over but mainly around my joints and major muscle areas. Oh, and around my junk, thankfully. That place needs protecting, after all.

It reached up until my mid-neck and seemingly merged with my skin at that point...though I had an instinctive feeling that I could mentally command this suit to return to just being the two separate pieces of equipment. Except, I can't feel my clothes underneath this suit anymore...so I'm pretty sure they're gone. And I don't want to walk around a dungeon naked, honestly.

So, uh, yeah...I'll just leave the suit on.

Having completed one mission objective and having gotten a decent suit for defense out of it, I looked around before my eyes landed on a staircase that wasn't there before.

Figuring it was most definitely the entrance to the next floor, I walked over to it.

The future...I wonder how many fights it has in store for me~?