When I woke up, I couldn’t recall any dreams, likely due to sheer exhaustion. “How long did I sleep?” I asked.

  “Thirteen hours,” Rabbit replied.

  “Wow! That is a lot,” I remarked, surprised by the length of time.

  “Well, considering all your recent ups and downs, it seems reasonable. How do you feel?” he inquired.

  “Oddly better, like I’m completely healed,” I stated, puzzled by this unexpected recovery. Previously, I could have been fully healed in twenty minutes, but since the melding, just being alive felt like a stroke of luck.

  “That’s because a couple of things happened while you were sleeping,” Rabbit informed me, his tone laced with mystery.

  Sensing he might be holding back, I pressed for more details. “What happened?”

  “That’s more like it,” Rabbit said approvingly. Then, he brought up details on my status page. “Over time, your repeated healing and the self-inflicted damage have helped your body develop resistances to the Biodium in your system.”

  Resistances:

  Biodium poisoning: 95%

  Metal poisoning: 25%

  “This means that you are healing nearly as fast as you were before. Not the same, but with your increase in Constitution, you are healing faster than you were before the battle.”

  “How is that possible? It’s not like it’s a virus. It’s more akin to heavy metal poisoning, which people don’t typically develop a resistance to,” I questioned, puzzled.

  “Now, you’re talking my language,” Rabbit responded with enthusiasm, clearly excited by the topic. “I hypothesize that as your cells are destroyed, those that are most resistant to the Biodium manage to divide and replicate. These cells mutate, and the ones with resistance survive while the weaker ones perish. In your case, this cycle can happen repeatedly and rapidly as the cells are destroyed. Unlike a viral infection, where antibodies evolve to combat the virus, this is more akin to the genetic mutations seen in individuals resistant to malaria, who have cells that the disease can't attach to properly because of their altered structure. Normally, mutations like these occur gradually, over generations. But in your body, entire cells can be destroyed and regenerated almost instantly. You might be the only person capable of undergoing such rapid cellular adaptation.”

  “Could a group of healers do the same?”

  “Nope,” Rabbit replied. “Remember what others have said. Traditional healing restores the body to its original state by reversing the damage. In contrast, what’s occurring with you involves only the cells best adapted to the conditions, which survive and multiply. These cells have developed the right mutations and create alterations that don’t merely withstand the Biodium but also integrate with it effectively.”

  “If my body has adapted this way, do you think I should try to integrate more metals into it?”

  “As tempting as it would be to experiment further, absolutely not. Imagine if none of your cells were able to adapt to the Biodium. Currently, you have cells that can handle it, allowing them to survive, heal rapidly, and multiply, while others die off. But if you hadn’t had any cells capable of adapting, the outcome would have been disastrous. Consider yourself lucky this time. We should definitely not test our luck again.”

  I decided I should check out the rest of my prompts.

  Congratulations, you are the first to survive a melding between yourself and Biodium. Being the first has awarded you double the rewards and half the penalties.

  You have become fire-resistant up to the temperature of 1,761 degrees Fahrenheit, and anything above that temperature reaches the melting point. Additionally, since your body is now composed of metal, energy transfer will be significantly enhanced.

  93.75% resistance to Lightning Magic

  100% attraction to lightning

  Increased weight caused an 8% reduction in speed

  Increased piercing defense by 52

  Bone structure defense increased by 40

  Biodium poisoning caused 5 points of damage per second permanently. You have a 95% resistance, causing the damage to be reduced to 0.1 per second.

  Other prerequisites have not been met or may not be met in the future. Until they are, those bonuses may or may not be conferred.

  “Wow, those stats are both awesome and confusing. How is my lightning resistance up to 93.75%? If it were doubled, wouldn’t it go to 150%?” I asked, curious but not upset, as I was still pleased with my rewards.

  “Yeah, that was my first thought too,” Rabbit replied. “However, any resistance over 100% would likely convert to a healing effect or some other beneficial change in the stat. So, I considered how lightning could heal you, but nothing about your physiological changes suggests that it could. Then, I thought about how you might achieve 100% resistance. Logically, your body would need to be fully made of metal to achieve that. What the system likely did was apply an additional 75% resistance to the remaining 25% vulnerability, resulting in a total of 93.75%. While this is just a theory, I suspect that the 75% resistance could be a natural adaptation from the metal now integrated with your body, and magical properties enhance the rest. It’s akin to how magical enhancements in your stats amplify your natural strengths.”

  “So, do you think if I somehow increased my natural resistance, it would also boost my magical resistance?” I questioned.

  “Unknown,” Rabbit replied cautiously, “but what might be more concerning is your 100% attraction to electricity.”

  “That doesn’t sound fun. What do you think that means?” I asked, apprehensive about the implications.

  “I think in battle, I’d definitely want to be next to you if the enemy were using Lightning Spells. In the games you play, you can control lightning bolts quite precisely, but from what I gather here, the control seems limited. If someone were targeting your ally or an enemy nearby, it might divert to you instead. You’d act almost like a grounding rod,” Rabbit explained straightforwardly.

  “Oh, great,” I muttered, not thrilled by the prospect.

  “Shocking, I know. But it’s not all bad, though,” he quickly added. “Imagine you're in a large battle. You might end up absorbing a lot of damage meant for your group. Plus, with your high resistance and healing abilities, you could prove to be a significant asset. Just standing there and healing could prevent a lot of damage to your entire group.”

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  “Assuming I have support. At least I'm relieved that my speed has increased. It would've been horrible to be slow. After experiencing combat firsthand, I've realized that speed is life,” I confessed with a sigh of relief.

  Rabbit quipped, “I thought you were into coke, but hey, if you’re into speed now, that's your call.”

  “Funny,” I replied dryly, not quite amused. “Did you get through the notifications and into the city’s system?”

  “Took longer than expected, given how fast I can read. Most of the notifications were repetitive, mainly warning about a Void that never materialized. The last notification mentioned the Void was detected, then everything cut off until now.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “No clue, but at the pace you were reading, we'd have never accessed the system before you died of old age. There were some deviations in the notifications about collapsed sections, and a big one about the volcano, but we all know about that.”

  “Volcano?” I asked.

  “Yes. We started this world on a volcano that eventually erupted. We observed fissures with distinct layers of ash and sediment. I believe the combination of rock and ash is what helped bury this city. Why else would no one else have found it?”

  Disinterested in the historical details, I shifted the topic. “What can the system do?”

  “Just normal city management tasks. There's a pool of gathered energy we could use, but I suggest we table those decisions until we have a firm grip on the city. We wouldn’t want to waste resources on a city that might not support you.”

  “True. How are things looking outside?”

  Rabbit pulled up images on the main screen and began to explain. “It went more or less as the women predicted. With the power vacuum, a group of ambitious individuals quickly turned on each other. They culled their own population before the women intervened and took control. Those who had just fought for dominance weren't happy, but they lacked the power to resist, and most died.”

  “So they killed most of the men?” I asked, saddened by the turn of events.

  "Not even close. You were the one who killed the most. Aside from your genocide, only about 15% of the men fought for dominance. Many of them seemed to be just following others and didn’t genuinely want to fight. The rest tried to stay out of the fray, as they had probably done for most of their lives."

  I scanned the screens, searching for any signs of ongoing conflict. To my relief, the fighting seemed to have ceased. Clusters of Goblins milled about peacefully, but one unsettling sight caught my eye. A sizeable gathering of Goblins, both females and males, was assembled outside the lightning chamber and stationed on the bridge leading away from the spiral. Their intentions were unclear, leaving me uncertain whether they were friend or foe.

  “What do you think we should do?” I asked, pointing to the group.

  “You have two choices,” Rabbit suggested, bolstering my resolve. “You can either hole up here for the next couple of weeks, surviving on what food we have, but it will start to smell like a monkey's cage, and I don’t want that. Or you can go out there, show strength, and make them realize you are a better ally than enemy.”

  “Right, let’s move out,” I replied, strategizing the best way to approach the Goblins.

  As I headed toward the hallway to exit the area, Rabbit interjected, “You might want to turn off the security system of this control room before you go through there.” Lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t even considered that.

  Not wanting to make a foolish mistake, I followed his advice. I focused, prompting the security system options for the control room to appear. The interface materialized in front of me, just like my other prompts, ready for my command:

  Warning: The control room security system has been activated. Do you wish to deactivate it?

  Yes or No.

  ‘Yes,’ I thought, and walked on through. An idea came to me. If the Goblins were planning to ambush me the second I left this area, that would make them think twice. I smiled and pushed it from my mind until I was almost done with this corridor.

  “Now that we have a minute, we should explore the Skill tree?” Rabbit asked.

  I had previously given Rabbit permission to manage my Skill Tree for the next week, allowing him to choose whatever he wanted. Knowing that, I decided not to remind him. With a hint of cheer, I added, “I’m sorry, Rabbit. We should have done it last night. That way, you would have gotten extra points for the Skilled branch.”

  I couldn't bring myself to feel remorseful for neglecting to invest more points into Skilled. I knew it was logically the correct move, but it was a difficult choice to make. It meant giving up the use of my Skill points now for a future benefit.

  Of course, this wasn’t true for most people. Three unique factors set me apart from ordinary individuals. First, my long lifespan allowed me to continue accumulating points for far longer than others. Second, my ability to learn any skill was exceptionally rare and could become invaluable if I chose to master obscure abilities later in life. Third, I had been granted double the skill points for this month only.

  Even with all of that, a little indulgence in spending some points elsewhere wouldn’t have been so bad. Would it?

  “No problem. I had a theory that I wanted to test. That’s why I didn’t mention it last night or select them while you were sleeping,” Rabbit confessed, revealing he was steps ahead of me once again.

  Curious, I asked, “How many Skill points do I have now?”

  “During the battle, your Fire Magic rose from level 1 to level 5, giving you 72.8 points. Spatial Magic climbed to level 16, earning you 473.2 points. That was mostly my doing since I crafted the spell that boosted your experience,” Rabbit boasted.

  “You're kidding. That spell nearly got me killed,” I interjected.

  “Yeah, that was fun,” Rabbit remarked, ignoring the whole life and death thing. “Like I was saying, I am awesome and got you 473.2 points with my amazing knowledge of how to create spells.”

  Under my breath, I said out loud, “It could use some work.”

  He continued, unperturbed. “Your Time Magic increased by only four levels to level 26, but it still awarded you 509.6 points. Gaining levels becomes more challenging at higher tiers, but they yield a greater number of points. You also learned Life Magic and raised it to level 3, so you received 31 points from that. You previously had 489.6 points, so in total, you have 1576.4 points.”

  “Now that is some cheddar. Let’s see what we can spend it on,” I said with glee.

  “Let’s purchase the next level of Skilled,” Rabbit replied, and I groaned.

  I just wanted to see the Mage Tree! Was that so much to ask?

  Well… maybe see it and purchase one… maybe two talents on it.

  Okay… I guess he had a point.

  As I ventured through the tunnel, I anticipated a gruesome scene of fallen Goblins, but there wasn't a single corpse in sight. The absence of weapons and even my shoes, which had been obliterated during my frantic dash, was puzzling. I made a mental note to inquire about this bizarre phenomenon when I returned to the Goblins.

  In the meantime, I accessed my Skilled prompts and, as Rabbit had advised, acquired the ninth level of Skilled. I hoped this decision would pay off in the long run, even though it didn't seem to provide immediate benefits.

  Skilled IX unlocked.

  You may earn 90% extra Skill points from any source and may be used in any category.

  Skill points earned from unlocking this skill: 202.

  Total Skill points: 1099.

  Skilled X.

  You may earn 100% extra Skill points from any source and may be used in any category.

  Cost: 1100 Skill points.

  “Just one point short!”

  “Unfortunately, the requirements are the prior level cost of 420 plus the 680 cost of this one, so the next level costs the same amount as the previous two levels,” Rabbit informed. “So yeah, I saw that one-point difference. Too bad, if we had that one point, we would get another 202 points for unlocking that skill.”

  “Wait. I thought we didn’t get any points after the original day. If I slept for thirteen hours, wouldn’t I be missing those points?” I asked.

  “That’s what I wanted to test. You arrived as it was getting dark, took over the city, then used the Time Spell to slow down time. At that, one hour was 17 hours, meaning even with that long sleep, it still hadn’t been an hour in real time,” Rabbit explained.

  Wow! That was a quick way to take a nap.

  “So you’re telling me that you could have chosen this talent last night, but you didn’t do it? You wanted to gamble and see if I would still get the bonuses the next day, since in real-time, I would have only been out one hour, am I correct? But what if that didn’t work and I lost all those points? That would have screwed me,” I remarked, grateful that it didn’t turn out like that.

  “Don’t pretend you didn’t think about it last night, too. You purposely didn’t remind me, hoping I would forget and we would use our points on something else,” he countered. I felt a little sheepish because that was precisely what I had been doing.

  “You win. We’re nearing the end of the hallway. I need your help with something. Can you figure out how many lightning strikes I could take before it shows any damage?” I inquired while forming a plan.

  “Getting struck by lightning sounds like fun,” Rabbit said, more enthusiastically than I would have liked.