As Kenny brought his arms up to protect his face he felt his blood start to boil. He couldn’t break his legs free to get away and even if he tried to dodge it wouldn’t do him any good other than wasting his stamina. He was truly in a pinch as his health continued to plummet with each strike.

He could feel his anger start to fill and cloud his mind as he felt the situation grow more hopeless. He peered through the space between his two arms to get a good look at the Vine Whip Ram and glared at it. He had to thank the monster for concealing this attack instead of using it earlier. If it had used it earlier then he wouldn’t have had the chance to replenish his health and stamina. Not that it was doing him any good right now. All it did was give him more time to get a beating.

As he stared at the creature he glanced at the vines. He noticed that instead of the four that were thinner and separate, there were two and they were thicker. It must have wound two together to make it like that. From this angle the vines reminded him of something. Something his father used to have him do. It was an exercise that always left him drained and he hated it.

Kenny’s lips slightly opened as an idea popped in his mind from the memory. It was crazy and, like the exercise, would leave him exhausted. However, he didn’t have any other options to try that he knew of.

Feeling a sense of determination, the boiling in his blood and the anger that was starting to cloud him had cooled off. However, it didn’t disappear, instead he felt it wash over his arms and legs almost like he was getting an extra boost from it.

With a whisper, Kenny muttered, “Alright, fuck this. I’m done being your little pincushion.” He then waited for the two vines to strike both of his sides. The moment he felt the impact; Kenny swiftly wrapped his arms around and over to get a strong grip. The thorns of the vines dug into his vest as he tightened his muscles and held on for dear life.

The Vine Whip Ram let out a confused bellow as it saw this. It then tried to pull the vines back, but was denied as Kenny dug his trapped legs down for support. It tried yanking a few more times but then stopped as it heard Kenny say, “You know, standing here and holding these vines like this reminds me of an exercise my father used to have me do to help build my upper body muscles up.”

Kenny stared at the creature. He didn’t have a smile nor a sneer. He just wore a neutral and uncaring expression as he continued, “It was a tiring exercise that required me to constantly move my arms up and down while gripping tight onto a thick rope in each hand. You probably have never heard of it since you’re a creature of the Tower and all, but it was called Battle Rope…I hated that exercise. Do you want to know why I hated it?”

The Vine Whip Ram let out an uncaring bellow as it continued to try and free its vines from Kenny’s grip. Kenny didn’t care about its response as he pressed on. “I hated it because it would leave my arms feeling like Jello. Sore, exhausted, and limping. He would then have me spar with him right after that making it so hard to keep my arms up. Sure I got better as time went on, but that feeling…god I hated that feeling.”

Kenny gripped tighter as he felt the vines slip for a brief moment. “However, I have to thank him for those times right now. Without doing those exercise I probably wouldn’t have come up with this idea. Hopefully, it works out like I think it will.”

The Vine Whip Ram paused as it let out a puzzling bellow. That bellow changed to a surprised one as Kenny raised and lowered his right arm in an explosive movement. The wave that ran back to the ram caused its left side to raise slightly. It went to push its left two hooves down, but as it focused on its left side a powerful wave on the right side came.

Kenny continued to send powerful waves one after another on each side as he raised one arm up then down as hard as he could. He started slowly but then slowly picked up speed as he tried to get a good rhythm in. The ram was doing a good job holding on as he continued, however as Kenny started picking up speed, the creature was having a harder time not slipping out of the ground.

Kenny watched as the monster slowly raised up from the ground. He could see the struggle it was having trying to time when it could dig its hooves down, but it was turning out to be useless as the pace quickened with each second. He waited as he wanted to time the last assault just right. When he saw the moment he should strike he took it. With a single powerful and explosive movement, Kenny whipped both vines back in a single wave at the ram.

As the wave that ran through the vines finally reached the ram, Kenny watched as the creature’s hooves escaped from the dirt beneath it. He could see two vines behind it still in the dirt, but the sudden upheaval of the creature made him see a small amount of the vines stretch and tightened. He needed to do something to get those two vines out of the ground as well.

Reacting instead of thinking on more he could do, Kenny yanked the vines he still had a death grip on to his right. When he twisted as far as he could, he spun to his left doing the same. He kept going back and forth trying to pull the Vine Whip Ram around, not giving it any time to recollect itself. To his surprise and utter glee, the Vine Whip Ram was being thrown left and right like a rag doll. The vines behind it was slowly being pulled up out of the ground like roots of a tree as they came out of the ground following the path to him.

Kenny could feel some slack from the vines, but still felt they had a tight grip on his legs. That didn’t matter much as he stepped backwards each time he felt they weren’t tight enough to hold him in place. He kept this up until he reached the wall of the pit. After he reached there he started moving to his left. After a few more times he saw the last bit of vines still in the ground finally were exposed.

This was the moment he decided to switch things up. Instead of allowing some slack between him and the creature making it harder to move the ram around in a confusing manner, Kenny started wrapping more of the vines around his arms, trying to tighten them so the ram couldn’t get any time to stabilize its feet on solid ground. When he felt he had wrap enough of the vines around his arms, Kenny started swinging around and around.

He could hear the ram letting out bellows of uncertainty and fear as they both spun around like children. With a smile he remembered an old lullaby from when he was a kid. He couldn’t remember who the speak was, but knew it a female.

He knew it wasn’t Nora because she despised singing lullabies, but at the same time he couldn’t remember the face of the person. He just remembered how sweet and caring the voice sounded. It was warm and loving and ethereal to him. He shook his head trying to focus on the fight before him. However, he could help but sing the song that had popped in his mind as he started moving his feet, trying to get closer to end this fight.

He couldn’t remember the whole nursey rhyme, only the first part, but it was enough to last as he reached his destination and slammed the creature he had linked together to for this spinning escapade.

As soon as he slammed the Vine Whip Ram into the wall with the momentum and force from all the swinging around, he heard a loud pop echo through the pit and watched as it exploded into pieces of leaves, broken vines, and body parts. Kenny thought it was fitting because the moment he heard the pop he had finished the first chorus of the lullaby. Pop! Goes the weasel. Or in this case the ram.

As happy as he was that he had finished the troubling Mid-Area boss, he was also exhausted. The moment the vines went slack from no longer having a solid hold or a body to be attached to, Kenny fell to the ground and rolled to his back. He let out a few coughs as laughter slipped between them. He had done it! He had turned a deadly situation around with the help of an exercise he hated in the past and an old children’s nursey rhyme.

He wheezed out a breath as he stared at the sky. The once dark sky was starting to brighten, bringing a brand new day with it. He knew he had to get up and move on, but his arms and legs were as he expected them to be. Too tired to move. Too tired to get back up. His breathing attested to that as well as he gulped for air.

Another funny thought filled Kenny’s mind as he laid there. Even though he had finally escaped from his father and the tough training he would have him, he was still forced to think about it and use them as an application to his fighting. Something he never thought he would have to do. A screen suddenly appeared in front of him as he kept staring at the sky.

[Congratulations! You have defeated Mid-Area Boss, Vine Whip Ram. Exp earned. Tower Credits earned.]

[Calculating results.]

[Fighting the Mid-Area Boss solo has been taken into account.]

[Calculations completed. Appropriate loot suitable for performance and involvement has been determined.]

[Congratulations! You have received the Uncommon Title: All around the Mulberry Bush!]

[Title: All around the Mulberry Bush. Solo fight and kill the Vine Whip Ram by swinging it around like a child and slamming it against a wall making it go pop. Title: All around the Mulberry Bush awards +10% to Stat Strength.] 

[Congratulations! You have received the Title: Poison Denier 1!]

[Title: Poison Denier 1. Deny a Mid-Area or Area Boss the chance to poison you. Poison Denier awards +5% to Endurance.]

Feeling his chest moving up and down as he breathed heavily, Kenny’s eyes widened as he stared at the screens. He didn’t get one, but two Titles from that fight and one of them was an uncommon one. Not only that but it gave a ten percent increase instead of a five percent.

If titles had a rarity to them and the better the rarity the higher the percentage then this was a great discovery. Especially since after receiving that it made his percentage multiplier in his Strength up to fifteen now bringing his Strength from twenty-eight to thirty-two. That alone was great news.

  The five percent increase to his Endurance was also welcomed as well since it gave him another two points to his stat bringing it to forty-five. He still wasn’t entirely sure where he stood stats wise compared to the others in the Trial Grounds, but one thing was for sure. He was getting some nice things even if he was on his own.

Kenny heard something thump on the ground not too far from where he laid. He didn’t turn to look at it because he knew what it was. It was his chest reward. He closed his eyes as he contemplated on just taking a short nap there to regain his strength. However, he thought against the wonderful idea as he didn’t know if there was a timer for the chest.

With what little strength he could muster, Kenny slowly got up and limply walked over to the chest. As he placed a hand on the top he was thankful the object automatically opened for him.

Kenny peered inside the chest to see what he got and was slightly confused. Sitting all nice and bundled up were two hand wraps. However, the hand wraps had bulges within them making it seem kind of weird. He stared at them and waited for the screen to pop up so he could get a better idea of what he had gotten.

[Thorned Hand Wraps of the Ram (Common) Tier 1.]

[Thorned Hand Wraps of the Ram. Hand Wraps made from materials off of a Vine Whip Ram. When wrapped correctly, the user will have thorns sticking out and around the hardened steel plate with the picture of a ram over the knuckles. Some thorns will also cover the back of the wearer’s hands to give it a slightly thornier feel when they back hand a target or get physically hit by a target in that area. Can apply or channel poison to the thorns if the wearer has knowledge on applying poison or has someone who does. + 4 Strength, +2 Endurance, +1 Intelligence.]

He was happy for the increase of stats the item gave, but he was confused by the one in Intelligence. He still had no way to use magic, and he felt this was a waste of a stat, but at the same time he wasn’t going to complain. An increase in a stat right now was an increase of a stat, especially if the other stats it increased were ones that helped him the most.

He pulled the items out of the chest then slowly made his way to his pack. As he walked over there he thought about how he was going to get out. There wasn’t any signs before the fight that there was a way, but as he searched he saw something had changed. The body of the dead Vine Whip Ram had changed into a vine-like staircase.

He chuckled at the thought of the creature’s dead body becoming useful to him in this manner. The creature was probably rolling angerly in the afterlife seeing this, but Kenny didn’t care. He did have another issue though.

He was dead tired. He was up all night fighting monster after monster. This last fight wore him out even more. He was extremely exhausted so now he had a choice to make. Get to the top of the pit and make camp there or do it here in the dirt pit.

He mulled over the pros and cons of each option. If he made it up there he wouldn’t have to worry about the vined staircase disappearing while he was sleeping. The con there was a chance that there were some more bird creatures flying around and would attack him as he rested. Being down here would shield him from sight of any creatures, but at the same time he wasn’t sure if the staircase would disappear.

The large yawn and his tired bones made the decision for him. If the staircase disappeared while he slept then he would figure something out. For now he needed to air out his equipment and get some rest so he could continue to press on.

                      

---

 

A loud and boisterous laughter filled the room causing some of the people in it to cover their ears. The noise was coming from Gunnar. His calloused pointer finger pointed at the screen as Kenny fell to his back after killing off the Vine Whip Ram.

“Now that was something!” the older man yelled out in excitement as he continued to laugh.

Christian looked on at the screen with shock and approval as he added, “I must admit that I was not prepared for a strategy like that to actually work.”

Estrella scoffed as she commented, “It was an inelegant and barbaric way to go about it.”

“The participants aren’t fighting with elegance in mind. That’s not the point of this Trial Grounds,” Vesely retorted as she glared at Estrella. “He was presented with a challenge and overcame it with adaptability and ingenuity.” She slightly grimaced as she added, “It wasn’t a strategy that had any sound proof it would work, but it still worked out in the end.”

“Let’s just call it for what it was. It was a gamble,” Mimi corrected Vesely. “A gamble we all know doesn’t always work out well in the end. He may be getting through these monsters by himself, but from what we have been seeing so far…he’s been lucky. He’s taken gamble after gamble, and we all know that gambles won’t always pay off and the luck in succeeding in the win in a gamble will eventually stop happening.”

Mimi then looked at Ayla and added, “If all he has going for him is luck in winning a gamble then he really isn’t ascension material. Even if he makes it to challenge the Tower, he won’t get far on that alone.”

Ayla stared at Mimi. Her opinion was valid. Time after time she had watched Ascenders gamble their life away against creatures they had no right challenging and ended up dying. However, she felt Mimi was wrong…at least for right now. She voiced what she was thinking even if it didn’t go with Mimi’s logic. “While what you are saying is correct there are still variables you aren’t taking into consideration when making that comment.”

Mimi and the others stopped their talking and bickering to listen as Ayla continued. “Mimi you say that all he has going for him is luck and succeeding in his gambles then I have to both agree and disagree with you. He does have luck so far in winning those gambles of his, but that’s only because that’s all he currently has due to his disadvantages.”

Mimi went to open her mouth, Estrella ready to back her up and Vesely ready to argue. Ayla cut them off as she added, “However, you are forgetting he doesn’t have his other two Skill Trees awakened as well as the accompanying abilities that come with them. Also he is fighting alone. We haven’t seen him fight in a group only by himself. Another thing you aren’t seeing is he is applying the knowledge of what he gained before coming to the Trial Grounds. I don’t know if any of you were actually listening when he decided to monologue for a brief moment, but that gamble of his was brought out due to his training with his father. A father that had pushed his son repeatedly to push himself farther even when tired. That, at least to me, didn’t feel like a gamble but more of a this scene feels similar, and I believe this will work here in this type of situation.”

“Still sounds like a gamble if you ask me,” Mimi muttered as quietly as she could to herself.

“Either way you slice it, I think it was an excellent way to turn a situation around,” Gunnar stated. “It was new and played to his strengths as a melee fighter. Not to mention his ability to negate the poison came in handy for this fight.”

Ayla smiled as she nodded. “I agree. That ability played more in his success than he probably realizes. Without it he probably couldn’t have pulled that off.”

Vesely smiled at that. She agreed with both the older man and Ayla. Without that ability, as a melee fighter that required him to take hits and hit back with his fists, he would have ended up paralyzed and splattered against the walls of that pit several times over before even figuring out what had happened. Something that already happened with a couple of the participants that fought this monster just a day or two ago.

Vesely looked back at the screen and watched as Kenny opened the chest that had appeared in the pit. She was anxious for him. She wanted him to succeed and see what he would awaken as his Power Skill Tree and Support Skill Tree. Would he get something close to what she was hoping for or would he become a fully-fledged brawler type fighter? Either way, even if he did get the later, she already had plans that would help him grow.

Vesely looked at the rough and gruff older man. He noticed she was looking at him and gave her a puzzling look. As much as she didn’t want him anywhere near the young man, his expertise in melee combat would definitely help him.

She knew Gunnar would be excited to do too, after seeing his reaction a few times to his unorthodox way of battling monsters. However, at the same time she also felt annoyed that she would have to rely on the man. She had her reasons, but she would never voice them aloud.

“Alright, now that this fight is over the others are starting to wake up and make their move,” Ayla announced as she focused on all of the other participants. “Let’s see who is closer to a tougher fight than the others.”