It didn’t take as long as it did the first time for Lucian to reach the edge of the jungle.

  He quickly scaled his way up one of the trees, grabbing onto branches and pulling himself up until he was perched high upon it.

  Lucian used the tops of the trees to traverse the jungle, moving from branch to branch to avoid the tangled maze of the jungle floor.

  When he reached the river, he was forced to descend to the ground so he could cross along the same stones he had used before - where he once again came across the body of the giant mantis.

  It was mostly gone, torn apart by the denizens of the jungle - one such monster, another giant centipede, was actively feeling on the carcass.

  As Lucian approached, it stopped eating and reared up, clicking its mandibles at him and hissing. Lucian rolled his eyes and summoned his weapon, “You stopped being threatening 5 levels ago.”

  The monster paused for a moment, before lowering itself back to the ground and rushing at him in a serpentine motion. Lucian stood there, adjusting himself as it approached him. It lunged at him and Lucian took a step to the side.

  The centipede’s jaws missed his legs and it continued forward along its path. Lucian raised his heel and brought it down, stomping on its back and pinning it to the ground.

  It tried to activate its defensive skill, but the barrier of light flickered and shattered instead of forming. “Maybe because my leg is where the barrier would form?”

  It writhed, whipping its head around towards him since it couldn’t move - Lucian’s left hand moved like a blur, his fist closing around the back of the centipede’s head like a vice preventing it from moving further. Its venom fangs snapped, trying in a futile attempt to bite Lucian.

  He brought his sword down, stabbing through a gap in the chitin plating along its back. He jerked the sword sideways, slicing out of the side of its body with a spray of dark blue blood.

  The monster snapped its fangs more wildly, thrashing harder in Lucian’s grip, but he held firm. He thrust his sword towards its upper body, near the head, aiming for its exposed underbelly since he was holding it off of the ground.

  He felt the tip of his sword impact the underside of the chin armor as he skewered it. With a firm push, his sword parted the plates from the inside, piercing all the way through it. After a moment, it stopped thrashing and went limp.

  Lucian pulled his sword out and let it vanish into wisps of blue light, lifting his foot off of the monster’s back and tossing its severed upper body a few feet away.

  “Seeing the numbers go up is one thing but… experiencing the changes that it brings is…” Lucian laughed, “Much more impactful.” He readjusted his backpack and continued on his way.

  As he continued further into the jungle he climbed back up into another tree. They were taller here, and as he climbed towards the top he could see further out. He sat himself on one of the branches, back against the trunk.

  He looked out over the jungle. It was trees and trees and more trees, but there were the occasional remains of a building here and there. “That’s weird. There should be buildings everywhere, but only a few of them are still here. If the jungle grew up from the ground overnight then the ruins should be everywhere. It if was dropped on top of this part of the city there shouldn’t be any buildings at all.” Lucian mused as he looked at a somewhat tall apartment building standing in the distance, now overgrown with roots and plant life - but still standing. “What happened to the people in the buildings that just aren’t there anymore?” Lucian wondered but quickly shook his head. “No. Thinking about that won’t do me, or them, any good. I can only hope for the best.”

  Lucian’s gaze swept across the jungle. There was another building standing further away… “No… that's not just one building…” Lucian’s gaze settled on a group of several buildings standing in the distance. “Maybe there’s something interesting over there. Or more people.” Lucian nodded to himself. With a destination set, he set on his way - yet again using the trees to move more swiftly than he would be able to on the jungle floor.

  He gauged that at his current pace, it would still take a bit to reach the buildings - however his journey there was not going to be as boring as he assumed it would.

  It didn’t take long for Lucian’s treetop movement to draw the attention of a flying monster.

  Lucian’s ears twitched and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. He looked around quickly, before his gaze shifted upwards to a shape rapidly approaching him.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  In the tree, Lucian was a sitting duck. He quickly started descending, jumping halfway down into a roll on the jungle floor.

  As he hit the ground, he felt static in the air around him as a bright flash of light arced across his vision. Several forks of lightning raced across the sky and impacted the tree, each landing lower than the last, scorching leaves and carbonizing wood.

  The monster, which Lucian could now see was a giant hawk-like creature with black feathers that had silverish metallic edges, swooped over the tree he had been perched in. Sparks of electricity arced across its body giving it the appearance of being charged.

  “Shit.” Lucian gulped. It had barely missed him, and he didn’t fancy his odds of surviving being hit by an attack like that.

  The hawk turned and started flying back towards Lucian, flying lower over the treetops. The energy arcing around its wings arced more dangerously, gaining brightness as it flew.

  “This thing will kill me…” Lucian needed to move faster than he had moved before.

  He briefly recalled the feeling of power in his chest, the feeling of his Spirit when he used his skills - the way it moved, flowed, within his body.

  “Fuck!” Lucian swore as the charge dancing on its wings hit a visible crescendo. His heart was racing.

  He pulled on it desperately, willing it to move. For a split second, nothing happened.

  Then the world around him shifted as he took a step to the side. Air rushed past him as he flung himself sideways with supernatural speed.

  The ground where he had been standing exploded as lightning lanced out from the beast’s wings, charring the ground and arcing off into the surroundings.

  Lucian flew through the air, passing several trees before crashing into one. He felt the air leave his lungs and his vision blur.

  The hawk shrieked again as it pulled up, flapping its wings and climbing higher.

  Lucian gasped for breath as his vision swam, heart beating out of his chest and adrenaline pumping through his veins.

  The hawk stopped climbing and spread its wings, arcs of energy sparked out into the air.

  Lucian didn’t have time to rest. He grabbed the bark of the tree hard enough to cause it to splinter slightly, pulling himself to his feet. He looked up with horror at the hawk charging another attack.

  Lucian didn’t have time to think, either. He had to act if he wanted to live. He pulled on his Spirit again.

  He instinctively tried to use less Spirit this time, to control the power. Knocking himself out against a tree would mean he couldn’t dodge the next shot.

  He took a step just as the hawk was about to fire its attack, and as he pushed himself forward he felt himself accelerate. Wind rushed past him again as he moved, narrowly missing another tree.

  Lightning fell where he had stood as he moved, sending dirt in every direction. He skidded to a stop and looked back at the smoking crater in the ground.

  He didn’t have enough Spirit in him to keep this up. He was down a third of his pool.

  The hawk flew forward as its wings glowed brighter again, charging up once again.

  Lucian exhaled and took a breath in. He tried to focus on the remaining energy in his chest. He took a step forward as the bird unleashed yet another fork of lightning at him.

  He felt his Spirit drop to 0 as he burned through the last remaining points as he launched forward, the ground behind him exploding in a flash of light yet again.

  The momentum of his movement carried him forward for a moment before it rapidly dropped and he came to a stop. He felt dizzy, both from the sudden deceleration and from the fact that he had used all his Spirit.

  Luckily, the bird seemed to be in a similar position, as it pulled up and began to fly away.

  Lucian dropped to his knees, taking several long breaths before letting himself collapse onto the ground.

  He felt something change inside him as a system message pushed against his mind.

  Lucian blinked a few times before checking what it did.

  “Ah…” Lucian coughed a bit, slowly sitting up. “It gave me a skill to do what I did manually…” Lucian looked back at the destruction around him - the ground was riddled with smoking craters, and the plant life around them was burnt. “Why didn’t it give this to me earlier?” Lucian wondered, before coming to a realization, “I wasn’t fully in control the first time. Once I managed to control the movement more it gave it to me. It costs less Spirit as a skill, too. It's like a reward for acting outside the box and being good at it.” Lucian laughed a bit but started coughing.

  He pulled himself up to the trunk of a nearby tree and leaned against it, taking a few more steady breaths.

  “I’m still not strong enough.” Lucian looked up at the sky. It was getting closer to dusk. Soon he might be able to see the stars. “I’ll come back for you… once I’m strong enough.” Lucian smiled. “Another goal to work towards. Those are good to have.”

  For a moment, Lucian considered getting up and continuing onwards. The exhaustion and soreness throughout his body insisted he should take a break.

  He relaxed against the tree and sighed. “Fine… a bit of a break won’t hurt. Probably.”