Another year in hell

A year has passed since I got Prime and the system.

My days that used to be filled with anguish and uncertainty are now filled with a clear goal in mind.

If not for Prime, I would be aimlessly living my life in this hell. Slowly living my life here, training everyday in moderation to keep my mind clear, and the overwhelming feeling of isolation being in this hell.

Why am I here? That is my main goal for doing all these ridiculous quests, I will admit that it feels empowering to be constantly improving, but finally having an answer to my existence in this place is what is keeping me on the path to growing stronger.

I long for a life where I do not have to constantly fear for my existence.

I want a life with a purpose.

I need to interact with people.

I must regain my feeling of being truly human.

I will do whatever it takes to get what I desire.

Whatever this Dungeon is…I will conquer it in its entirety and be able to get the answers from Prime. I have confirmed he is physically unable to tell me, because he cannot even say the names of beings higher than the 4th Tier. There is no way he will be able to tell me anything else if I do not have the qualifications to do so.

For the last 6 months since I have hunted that Blood Boar, I have relentlessly trained myself to the absolute limit. I can feel that bottleneck of a wall shatters every time I train, so I keep training until I can confidently complete these quests. These quests are no joke…hunting these monsters are horrible, I wonder why I was given such tasks. Apparently, these tasks are given based on the attributes of the System's user, a.k.a. me, so it technically is my fault I have to this shit…but still.

In this passing year, I have trained my abilities to its utmost and have been working on diversifying my abilities. I learned from Prime that if I learn enough abilities, the skills that show up on the system will start to merge into a compressed form, and the power of the system will finally show its worth. I always thought this system was a bit lacking, but that was due to the fact of my inexperience that I have not truly optimized the benefits. The system was designed as a guideline towards the pioneering of abilities, so depending on the paths I tread toward, the system will evolve towards what I need the most.

For example, feeling my lack of diversity in my magic prowess, I decided to learn more varieties of magic elements. As a result, I ended up learning most of the magic elements easily since Prime was guiding me, and all my mastery of magic elements had fused into one skill that has been superimposed. I thought it was just so it could process in my head better, but it turns out whenever my skills fuse in the system, the rate of growth for that skill increases.

Ecstatic at the prospect of gaining a boost in my growth, I have been focusing a lot of my efforts to combining these skills. However, I got way too excited thinking that this was too good to be true. It turns out if I fuse my skills like this, the completion of quests also gets invalidated and I must learn more separate weapon/magic/technical skills in order to compensate for the loss. Each of the new skills must also be entirely different from the skills I have learned so far, in order to not get absorbed into the fusion skill I made earlier.

I am conflicted on how I should feel… on one hand I am growing faster, but on the other hand I am also making things harder for myself.

Well…I cannot change the past, so I got to keep moving forward. As I was idling away in my thoughts, Prime appeared and asked what progress I made over the last year since his arrival.

"I am unsure as well…I always put of looking at this status because it hurts my head. Plus, I do not want to get too cocky of my progress."

(Bring out your status then.)

"Alright…'Status'."

Name: **********

Race: Human

Age: 22

Height: 190 cm (6'2)

Weight: 78 kg (171.9 lbs.)

Physical Prowess (Tier 2) (Advanced)

-Strength Tier 2 (Advanced) [19.2]

-Stamina Tier 2 (Advanced) [16.4]

-Speed Tier 2 (Intermediate) [99.0]

-Endurance Tier 2 (Advanced) [99.9]

Mental Prowess (Tier 2) (Advanced)

-Intelligence Tier 2 (Advanced) [52.3]

-Endurance Tier 2 (Advanced) [12.6]

-Composure Tier 2 (Intermediate) [89.7]

-Resolve Tier 2 (Intermediate) [95.4]

Magic Prowess (Tier 2) (Pinnacle)

-Capacity Tier 2 (Pinnacle) [0.8]

-Power Tier 2 (Pinnacle) [5.1]

-Control Tier 1 (Advanced) [53.4]

-Endurance Tier 2 (Advanced) [85.2]

Technical Prowess (Tier 2) (Advanced)

-Accuracy Tier 2 (Advanced) [23.1]

-Concentration Tier 2 (Intermediate) [75.1]

-Endurance Tier 2 (Advanced) (30.9]

-Speed Tier 2 (Intermediate) [85.3]

Weapon Skills:

-*NEW*Close Combat Martial Arts Tier 2 (Novice) [98.9] (Fusion of Sword/Spear/Axe/Hand-to-Hand Arts)

-*NEW*Long Range Martial Arts Tier 2 (Novice) [95.8] (Evolved Version of Projectile Arts)

-*NEW*Silent Feint Strike Tier 2 (Novice) [0.2]

Magic Skills:

-*NEW* Enhanced Rejuvenation Tier 2 (Basic) [86.3] (Fused/Evolved form of Rejuvenation and Strength Enhancement)

-*NEW*Typhoon Manifestation Tier 2 (Novice) [99.1] (Evolved form of Whirlpool Manifestation)

-*NEW*Elemental Magic Tier 2 (Basic) [50.0] (Fusion of Fire/Water/Wind/Earth/Shadow/Light)

-*NEW*Elemental Enchantment Tier 2 (Advanced) [71.2]

Technical Skills:

-*NEW* Craftsman Tier 2 (Novice) [18.4] (Fusion of Forgery/Carpentry/Stone Masonry/Cooking/Farming/Dismantling)

-*NEW* Medical Arts Tier 2 (Novice) [82.4] (Fusion of Pharmacy/Surgery)

-*NEW* Analysis Tier 1 (Master) [99.9]

"Nice. I was worried about my skills, but I still have enough in each category to evolve to the Tier 2 (Novice) Stage. I am still pissed that some of these degraded however…"

(Naturally. These fusion skills are on another level compared to your prior individual skills. Having a fusion skill improves all aspects under that category. Plus, I see you got the Analysis skill. That is an ideal skill when it comes to make fine adjustments to your equipment, checking the quality of materials, and can even help you with your other two skills while not being fused to them.)

"How come Medical Arts is separate from Craftsman?"

(Medical Arts is different in the sense that it is making potions and medicines, but Craftsman is for all other equipment. On paper they are almost the same, but there is enough difference there to be separated. Plus, the way you have been using them are vastly different in terms of results. Your combination of surgery and pharmacy was enough for you to create unique medicines from the blood of your enemies to not only stitch your scars, but also heal them in their entirety within a week. Your understanding in that regard has far exceeded that of the Craftsman skill. So do not sweat the small stuff and enjoy in your accomplishments.)

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how do I compare to the monsters of this place now."

(…You would rank around the top 8,500 of the 250,000 creatures in the Dungeon. Congratulations on making it this far. Even without a Unique attribute, this is quite a feat.)

"…I think I am satisfied with the strength I have now. I believe it is time."

(Yes. It is time for you to make your own Unique Attribute.)