The blade had missed my spine.

  I at least had that much going for me.

  But whatever venom it had been coated with was now coursing through my body, and I was now fighting just to stay conscious as I pulled up the class list. In theory, this would let me unlock the next mana orb within the sword, but I wasn't entirely sure how useful it would be to my current situation.

  I only had a single new class.

  __________

  Class

  Lost Hero

  Type

  Paladin

  Rarity

  Mythical

  Hello Eighdum, welcome back.

  Key Ability

  Recapture

  Throughout their lifetime, warriors tend to accumulate countless skills, spells, and other abilities as they fight the hordes within the System-space. For various reasons, those abilities are sometimes lost to the user. Recapture allows for the re-acquisition of anything that had previously been known by the Lost Hero at a rate greatly accelerated when compared to anyone else.

  __________

  Damn. It was an amazing class. I couldn't argue with that. And it had clearly been chosen directly by the System for me. Which, in itself, was never a good thing. Anyone who got entangled enough that the system began to interact with them on a one-to-one basis was in for a difficult future.

  The keyword there, though, was future.

  A new system notification popped up, letting me know just how fast Recapture had gone to work.

  __________

  Adaptation

  Lesser Poison Resistance

  Type

  Reactive

  Through countless exposures to differing types of poison, your body has finally begun to adjust. The Lesser Poison Resistance adaptation reduces all effects of poison by 10%.

  __________

  After reading the first notification, a second one immediately popped up.

  __________

  Adaptation

  Poison Resistance

  Type

  Reactive

  Through countless exposures to differing types of poison, your body has finally begun to adjust. The Poison Resistance adaptation reduces all effects of poison by 25%.

  __________

  And then a third notification hit. Why they weren't all coming at once, I wasn't sure.

  __________

  Title

  First To Adapt

  Rarity

  World

  Your body has evolved faster than everyone else within the integration. First to adapt grants an increased 5% bonus to all adaptations, with numerical values.

  __________

  I was already at my third title, which was the limit of what most people could equip. It was also not something most people reached until far higher levels. This integration was feeling more and more like it had a target in mind.

  That again was something to worry about for later. I equipped the new title, feeling it immediately enhancing the adaptation I had gained. The spread of the poison coursing through my body slowed drastically.

  The spider's appendage that still protruded from my body hurt like hell, but I no longer felt like I was going to pass out from it. But now the next question loomed instead. How did I get this out of me without killing myself?

  “Oh my god! Dad, are you okay?” Ash called. The garage door had been opened, revealing my wounds to everyone inside.

  “Can someone give me a hand? And, Ash, do not pick anything until I can think a bit clearer,” I said, trying to get myself back up. Doing so without jostling the foreign object embedded in me was not the easiest thing.

  “Come on, we've got you,” Lukiss said, leaning down, a pair of Rock Trolls beside him.

  “Good job dancing around that thing. I don't know how you managed not to let it pierce a single organ. Kind of impressive, Adam,” Ralph added, looking at me.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  That was likely his way of telling me that it was reasonably safe to remove the blade. Still, I was going to wait until we were safely inside the garage, so I could attempt to do it in a more controlled setting. Sadly, a hospital was out of the question, and would be for the immediate future.

  “He's gonna be okay?” Ash asked, looking at me with her eyes wide. She was on the verge of tears.

  “I'm going to be fine. This is nowhere near the worst thing that's ever happened to me,” I replied, trying to keep my tone as warm as I could while fighting the pain.

  It helped that what I said wasn't remotely a lie. Every single bone in my body had been broken at least a dozen times. I wasn't sure that any of my limbs were my original ones anymore. This, compared to some of the things I had experienced before finding Earth, was just a minor nuisance.

  “Your dad's right. He's going to be fine. We just need to get him inside and get that thing out of him. He might need to lie low for a little while, considering the level of notoriety he might have gained,” Ralph added.

  I really hoped at that moment that Ralph was speculating. Then again, the global rankings were eventually coming, and there was just no way I could avoid my position on them.

  Between the rune blade, three titles, and already destroying a stronghold, there was a strong chance I was a shoo-in. Top ten was a guarantee. It would come as no surprise at all if I was number one.

  What exactly that meant for the future, I wasn't sure. Either way, at least Heather would recognize my name, be it Adam or Eighdum. The second one came with a lot more problems than the first one did, though.

  “Ouch.”

  I involuntarily groaned in pain as I bumped the blade’s end into a shelf when we passed into the garage. It sent a shudder of pain through my whole body. But the fact that I could still feel the pain so strongly was probably a good sign. My arm had rapidly gone numb last time, so at least this meant at least my poison resistance was working.

  “Dad wants you to bite down on this,” Lukiss said, producing a stick from somewhere.

  “Got it,” I replied grimly, opening my mouth. I knew what was coming. I had done this many times before. It was going to hurt like hell. For some reason, no matter how good your pain resistance got, it always still did when things were ripped out of you.

  Two of the Rock Trolls held me from behind, while Lukiss' father grabbed the blade with two wrapped hands and yanked. It came free with a sickening squelch, and a loud crunch came as the stick broke in half between my teeth.

  Another set of hands started with the work, cleaning and patching my wound. I had no idea where they'd found the needle and thread, but they were already working to close me up. Hopefully, my internal injuries weren't so bad. If nothing had been damaged, like Ralph said, there was a chance I could heal this easily enough. But luck hadn't been on my side so far there.

  I doubted I could get my regeneration adaptation back anytime soon. There was the chain of fast healing adaptations that had come so long ago; how hard would those be to reacquire? It was definitely something to consider, once I was more able to fight again. How many of my old abilities could I brute-force back in this manner?

  I let that question hang for now as the Rock Trolls guided me back to the lawn chair I had spent the night in.

  “Thank you,” I said, more in a groan than words.

  Lukiss translated it nonetheless. “They say it's the least they could do.”

  I'd shot up to level twenty-seven after that fight. It would have been higher, but after crossing level twenty-five, the experience requirements per level doubled. They would do so again every twenty-five levels until we hit one hundred, where the final adjustment to experience requirements would hit. One last times-ten multiplier.

  At least, the final one as far as I knew. It was possible at some extreme level that things grew even harder. But leveling in general slowed to a crawl past a hundred, so it was hard for me to believe things could get even slower.

  I put the fifteen additional attribute points into Constitution. If it weren't for the giant hole in me, I would have considered spreading them out, but that wasn't the best choice at the moment. With the level increase, that meant more Constitution available for Ash, and I didn’t want to risk decreasing that yet.

  Taking a deep breath, trying to settle some of the pain still coursing through my body, I forced myself to sit up slightly.

  “Ash, what exactly did you get from the levels?” I asked, looking at her.

  She had been watching me through the whole thing, with deep, worried eyes. “You sure you're going to be okay to talk about this right now?”

  “It's going to take me a couple of days to really be back in action from this. With the spiders gone, that just leaves the dungeon. So we're probably about as safe as we can get to go over this right now, so let's get it done,” I replied as firmly as I could muster.

  “Okay, so the class, the focus, I still can't read them, but I can read the title now,” she said before reading it.

  __________

  Title

  Green Forge Marked

  Rarity

  System

  You are the first living sapient being within the System to have ever been marked by the Green Forge. While this title is equipped, you will possess some manner of authority over things within the Green Forge’s domain.

  __________

  “You should equip that and see if any of the other things are viewable now,” Ralph said, joining us.

  Ash looked to me for confirmation, and I just gave her an affirmative nod. I trusted Ralph enough to steer us correctly here. As far as I could tell, it seemed to be in his best interest.

  “I can see the focus now, too.”

  __________

  Focus

  Affirmation of Green Forge

  Your connection to the Green Forge is empowered, as long as you utter an affirmation weekly.

  __________

  “I assume you guys want me to take that too?” she asked nervously.

  “Yes,” we both replied.

  “Okay, the class still hasn't unlocked. Do you think I need to say an affirmation? What would the affirmation be?”

  “Try something simple, like thanking Stalplaht for this to help,” Ralph answered.

  “Hey there, mister Stalplaht. Hopefully you're a mister. Thank you for everything you've done to try to help me. I appreciate the connection you are offering to the Green Forge.” She paused briefly after the statement, before speaking again, with more excitement in her voice. “That did it!”

  __________

  Class

  Acolyte of Green Flame

  Type

  Cleric

  Rarity

  Unique

  The Acolyte of Green Flame is a unique cleric-based class. Stalplaht is the god over the creations of the Green Forge. The Green Flame is the binding web of energies that connect the magic of the living world to the building blocks of the cosmos. It is the energy that fuels the Green Forge. As the class grows, so does your status within Stalplaht’s domain.

  Key Ability

  Aspect of Green Flame

  All living creatures are bound to the web of the Green Flame. When a creature dies in the presence of an Acolyte of the Green Flame, they may collect their aspect. Every aspect collected by the acolyte grants them a new ability, one uniquely based on the creature from which the aspect originated. Initially, the acolyte may only equip one of these aspects at a time, but as their strength grows, so will their ability to utilize these aspects together.

  __________

  “Alright, before you select that class, put all your attributes into Constitution again. I'm worried about the fact that it's unique. And I'm also worried about what it means for you to be an acolyte of a god that doesn't have other acolytes. But I do think this is the correct choice,” I said.

  “Yeah, I agree with your dad. It should be interesting, though.” Ralph added.

  “Wait, why can’t we leave with them?” Alecks asked.

  “Like I said, sadly, with the way the integration is still underway, our tickets will only allow you to go back to where you came from when you used them. Otherwise, the system could see that as a potential loophole, one letting you assassinate other rivals,” Grimbleflork replied. “Sorry.”

  “It’s alright, you can find us again when you get back. Make for the village, and we will meet you there,” Ulrun replied.

  Memories of Adam Miller before he found Earth