A Path of Bone and Poison 128 I.T. 31 No pain, No Gain

The area around me was rather strange. It was still a Marsh land. The Trees were decaying and there was a horrible smell. But a fog had rolled in at some point in time. The area around me became hard to see, I had to strain my eyes to even observe an area of 3 yards around me. The rest was simple a field of fog.

This slowed down my progress by a lot. Thankfully I still had the connection with Hylia, and could feel that she was getting closer to me. From the rate our distance was shortening I could only assume she was traveling towards me as well.

I traveled for over an hour before I encountered the first problem. The problem was a rather large one. A large river spanning several hundreds of meters blocked me from advancing forward. It was large enough that one could almost consider it a lake, and it spanned for an indefinite distance in either direction. I could feel that Hylia was somewhere on the other side.

As I looked over the distance I was already undressing, leaving myself only in my bra and panties. The river was wide, but I would need to swim across. I knew such a river would not be uninhabited, but with my claws any enemy that I encountered would have a tough time if they saw me as prey.

I stretched before jumping into the water. Swimming had been of the few activities I had enjoyed back on earth, you could call it a strength. That being the case, I knew the consequences of not properly stretching become a lengthy swim. A cramp at such a time could lead to drowning.

I unconsciously let out a small moan as I stretch my body. It had been a long time since I had done so, and the rigorous stretching had left my body feeling lighter than it was before. Before jumping in a did a quick check of wverhrbing around me, and remembered at the last minute to tie up my hair.

The water was surprisingly warm when I jumped in. It was warm, but it felt rather gross. It was as if a film of grime had covered my body, leaving a slimy feel on my skin. The feeling sent a shiver down my spine, and I immediately wanted to get out.

I persisted, despite the disgusting feeling that covered my body. I would not get to Hylia by backing away now. I had only swak around 50 meters when I encountered my first problem. I had a large amount of strength, and my vitality was high as well, but I found myself already growing tired from the swim.

50 meters was a distance I could swim with my eyes closed, but the resistance the slimy water was giving me was increasing with each stroke I made. I could feel my body getting heavier. I started to gasp as I looked at the distance before me. I could only shake my head and turn back. If I were to continue forward I would drown before I could even make it half way. There had to be another way.

I stood on the shore of the river, looking in both direction. The river ran east to west, so after thinking for a moment I decided to walk down stream. I could only hope that she would follow my example and do the same. After all on earth it was common knowledge to travel downstream when lost.

As I traveled I noticed the river did not seem to twist or turn at all, rather it traveled completely straight, not deviating in its path at all. The river itself did not change either. It stayed the same width. The only thing that changed was the enviornment around it, but even that continued to be the same scenery, only arranged differently.

I continued to travel in this way for hours. I could not tell how long it had been, because the sky had been obscured by the thick fog. I could only see the few feet around me, and the surprisingly unaffected river. With a sigh I sat down and stared at the river. It seemed to be the only path I had, but it was far too difficult for me to cross it on my own.

I sighed as I reviewed my skills. My arcane bullets would be useless at this point, as would the two spells I recently got from Lucifer. The arcane sword, and arcane vampirism. The skill I recieved from the 5th floor was laughable. Which only left me with Arcane Body. A 5% increase in my body would not help much, but a 20% increase to my strength would be a huge difference. The problem was that even if I waited until I had no choice but to use it, it would still only last me 100 seconds.

A little more than a minute and a half. It would not be long enough. If only I had a way to restore my mana. A way to counter the 1% of my mana it stole from me each second.

"Fuck" I screamed, as I punched a nearby tree. The rotting wood splintering as it exploded outwards. Splinters filled my hand as pain welled up inside me. The pain was bitter sweet as the wounds began to heal, the splinters being pushed out of my body. I could feel myself getting excited at the pain, even as it hurt.

The wounds healed fast, far faster than they should have, even with my vitality as high as it was now. I could only look helplessly at my wounds that had already healed. It was already a miracle that the exploding wound had only wounded me to such a small degree, but that was thanks to my damage resistance. The necklace, my scales... and my new skill!!

Of course! Masochism not only gave me damage resistance and a weird fetish, but it also let me heal when I was injured. I could heal both Mp and Hp! as long as I kept experiencing pain I would be able to keep arcane body activated the entire time! The solution was so simple. It was like my gym teacher on earth always said. No pain, No Gain!

Chapter end