As always, there wasn’t much time for me to come up with any sort of elaborate plan to face my opponent. The battle was here, and there was no running from it, not in this small arena.

  Shreek!

  The giant mantis let out an ear piercing screech and then lunged at me, one scythe aiming to cleave my head off from the left while the other aimed to split me from the hip down. I jumped backward just to give myself enough room to use my spear to deflect both strikes, tilting it toward the left first and angling the butt of the spear toward the right side.

  I did this on instinct, but I was extremely worried that the spear would not survive the sharpness of those scythes. Thankfully, it did, and I was now extremely grateful to the Freddy of the past who decided to use his reward on a weapon and grab the spear.

  That Freddy was a genius, and I’ll appreciate him forever.

  But of course, the battle didn’t stop there. The steel of my spear continuously met the steel of its scythes, sparks flying throughout the battle as if we were two blade masters clashing in the night. Though I guess apart from the night part, the former wasn’t too far from the truth.

  It was in this battle where I felt patience mattered far more than in others because the creature itself was patient. Most of its strikes, though not all, weren’t aimed to kill. Of course, if I allowed them to connect, they would still cause serious injury, maybe even death if they hit the right spot, but it was almost as if it expected me to block or dodge or counter.

  It was interesting and frightening at the same time. But what was far more interesting was as the battle went on longer and longer, I began to truly experience my new skill, because there was quite literally an ebb and flow to this battle.

  The only skill I’d used so far was Surging Step, and although I had plenty of mana to spam the skill, each use still took mana from my body that I had to spend time gaining back. During the ebb stage of the skill, I could feel it coming back rapidly, but at the same time, I could also feel that any use of my mana beyond a moderate amount would be met with resistance.

  It was almost like there was a soft lock on my mana that would cause problems if I tried to push through it.

  I would have to actually experience it to know for sure just how much of a problem it would be, but I didn’t think there was a need to. I was gaining my strength back faster than I was losing it. There was no reason for me to try to push through.

  I simply stayed on the defensive, and once the flow came, I didn’t miss it. The mana seemed to coil in my body before shooting to all my extremities with intensity, giving me stamina and a newly filled pool of mana, allowing me to time all my attacks and counters with against the mantis with my own internal flow.

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  But this was only my first experience using the skill, so there was much to learn, and it wasn’t like the mantis was giving me the necessary time to do so. It was relentless in its attacks, well timed and well coordinated, and even the ones that didn’t appear to have the primary function of killing me were dangerous.

  But I stayed focused, biding my time, and eventually I felt the moment was right. Once the flow came back, I did my best to time it perfectly and lunge forward at the mantis, aiming to drive my spear straight through its ugly head.

  But my timing was off, and that affected my balance.

  The lunge didn’t reach as far as I needed it to. It wasn’t aimed as true as I needed it to be, and the power behind it wasn’t strong enough. That gave the mantis a small window to attack me.

  Even though the timing of my attack wasn’t perfect, it was still a good moment, right after the mantis had already lunged forward with both scythes. But it was faster than me. It wrapped its scythes around the shaft of my spear and pulled it down just enough that I was brought more forward than I intended to. For the first time in the battle, it used one of its legs to attack, delivering a powerful kick to my left flank.

  Blood spurted out of my mouth, but I managed to stay focused, yanking my spear back from the grasp of the mantis and using Surging Step back to back to give myself some breathing room.

  “You won that round, you big fucker, but I’m not done yet!”

  Seemingly responding to my provocation, it let out another piercing screech and lunged right back at me, but I was ready for it. A series of intense exchanges went off in a flurry as I once again got ready to time my main attack with the flow. This time, I will not miss it.

  The battle continued for a while longer. Both of us continued clashing, trying to take the other’s head off their body, and I waited and waited until my moment opened up before me like the dawn of a new sun. Only this time, I wouldn’t waste it by trying to finish it with my spear. Let’s not play with my food.

  “Ocean’s Maw!”

  The roar of what’s described as the ocean’s favorite child shook the small arena, and the mantis was simply not strong enough to resist the clutches of this skill. It was crushed and rendered into nothing but a bloody mess between the jaws of the Unbound skill. The victory was mine.

  Now, that was a battle. I was truly and utterly exhausted, but the passive effect of my most recent skill was already showing results. My mana was indeed coming back at a much quicker rate than I had previously experienced. I wouldn’t be able to spam Ocean’s Maw, but it wouldn’t be long before I could use it again. That was significant.

  Now regarding my reward, since I had already given it some thought, I decided I would take the risk on Traits and make that my reward. Let’s see what we can get.

  Reward granted: Trait

  Heart of Currents (Unbound)

  The heart becomes a living tide engine, circulating both blood and mana in a unified motion. It greatly increases mana flow speed, stamina recovery, and pressure output, allowing the user’s body to maintain its peak state far longer than normal.

  You know, I think from this point forward, I will not allow a single soul, not even myself, to talk badly about the Gauntlet Dungeon. It clearly loves me, giving me what I need when I need it most. How can I not care for it in return?

  Ah…what a beautiful Trait.

  And the one it would be replacing was very easy to decide. Oxygen Efficient Lungs, you’ve been good to me and you were my very first Trait, but now I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

  It’s time for an upgrade.

  But what I wasn’t prepared for was the feeling of the new Trait settling into my body. It didn’t just burn. It caused me to fall to my knees and cry out in pain from how much it hurt while it took form within my body.

  It was not a pretty sight.