When Clara had gone, Jae sat up and looked at the 20 stat points he had.
He was starting to understand the system now. He was supposed to distribute the points among his abilities.
He decided to place 10 points into Strength and 10 into Stamina.
His reasoning was simple: it was better to get stronger so that his attacks carried more weight and presented a higher threat. But it wouldn't make sense if he could deal heavy blows and then suddenly get tired after just a few minutes of fighting.
That night, he woke up again to a system notification:
He clicked on it and saw that the map was back, with the red dot blinking once again.
Jae went to his inventory, took out the Refresh Elixir, and drank it, feeling his body recover from the soreness. His joints became sharper, and his mind clearer.
He was ready now.
He threw on his clothes and headed out of the house silently.
At the entrance of the cave, he sighed before entering. This time, he didn't stop. He went straight into the lit expanse and waited.
Soon, the entrance sealed shut behind him with a loud thud, and the system sent a new quest:
Jae winced.
"What? How did the quest go from one to six so fast?"
He had barely killed the first spider, and now he had to kill six?
He sighed and activated his Mana Blade.
There was a loud scraping sound as the first spider crawled forward.
Jae knew he had to take the initiative, for two reasons. First, the faster he ended each fight, the more energy he could conserve. Second, he already knew the spider's weakness.
He launched himself at the spider before it could react. With a clean swing, Jae sliced off its leg. As it let out a powerful screech, he sliced off the second leg too.
The sudden imbalance made the spider fall forward slightly.
That slight stumble was all Jae needed.
He immediately brought down his Mana Blade on its head with all his strength.
The sword cut a huge gash right in the center of its head, and with a faint screech, the spider collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
Jae looked around him.
"Where are the rest of you?" he asked. "Are you cowards?"
Almost as if they understood him, two more spiders leapt out from the shadows
One of them immediately swung a thick cord of web at him.
"Okay, now they're swinging," Jae muttered, throwing himself to the side to dodge. He hit the floor with a grunt.
"Ugh…" he winced. "That's gotta break one or two ribs."
He pushed himself up just in time to be kicked by the second spider. The blow sent him flying into the air.
He crashed into the cave wall with a loud thud, pain exploding through his head, ribs, and sides.
With a painful grunt, Jae got to his feet, spitting blood as he gripped his Mana Blade tighter.
The spiders were now approaching him slowly, thinking he was cornered.
Perfect, Jae had a plan.
As one of them swung a leg at him, Jae dodged, ducked under the spider, and quickly sliced off one of its legs, followed by two more.
He turned to the second spider and swung at one of its legs but it was quick, retracting in time so only the tip was sliced.
Still, Jae knew it would feel the pain.
He tried again, but the spider dodged, almost as if it had predicted his move. It was defending against him now.
The first spider tried to slam down its leg to crush Jae, but he moved out of the way and sliced off a fourth leg. The spider shrieked and retreated.
Jae then deliberately dropped his guard, pretending to be gloating in his win.
The second spider took the bait and charged for a quick strike.
But that was what Jae had been waiting for.
He ducked under the spider and thrust his Mana Blade upward, piercing the spider's soft underbelly.
The spider let out a loud screech before collapsing on top of Jae.
Jae groaned, then cut and carved his way through the spider's body, eventually crawling out the other side, now covered in spider juice but still in high spirits.
He rushed at the first spider and cleaved off its head.
Jae looked around tensely, waiting for the next wave.
But after a while, it was clear there were no more spiders in that section.
He'd have to go deeper.
"Well… here goes nothing," he muttered, limping deeper into the cave.
He didn't see any spiders… until he reached a dead end.
"How many dead ends are in this thing?" he asked, frustrated.
Then with a loud thud, a spider landed behind him.
Jae spun around and swung his blade at the spider, striking it square in the face. It screeched and staggered back.
He swung again with all his might, and brought the spider down.
"I'm getting pretty good at this," he mused, stepping over the dead spider and continuing forward down a new tunnel.
Soon, he stumbled into another expanse where two spiders were crawling about inside.
They noticed him immediately and began rushing toward him.
Jae raised his Mana Blade, ready to finish the job.
But then suddenly, the Blade flickered out.
"What's going on?" he asked in alarm.
He checked the system:
Mana Blade Timeout: 15-minute Cooldown
Jae looked up at the two spiders, who had now backed him into a corner.
"…Oh crap."