Alexander awoke with pain. A lot of pain. It streaked through every corner of his body, and it pounded at him endlessly. He struggled, groaned, and writhed, feeling only pain. 

Jade, upon hearing strange noises from the shelter, went to investigate and found Alexander rolling around on the ground. 

“Oh, you’re up.”

“Yep,” Alexander said with another groan. 

“Here, take these.” Jade walked up to him, kneeled down, and displayed two white pills in her hand. Alexander took them without hesitation. 

“Water…” Alexander croaked out. 

Jade left the tent and returned with a canteen full of water. Alexander guzzled it down and immediately felt better. He then sat up, blinked a few times, and looked around him. 

“We’re in a shelter I made, and we’re a few miles north of St. Louis. How are you doing?” 

“I feel like shit. What did you give me? And what happened?” Alexander started searching through his mind and started to find glimpses of the fight. 

“Well, you fought Basher. And you won.” Jade sighed, her brow furrowing. “He was around level one hundred, and I’m guessing his buddy was around the same, if not more.” 

“How did we get out? How are you alive?” 

“Benjiro, the samurai looking mother fucker, didn’t want to fight. He was the one who let us go, and he was the one who saved your life.”

“What?” Alexander started to stretch, his muscles screaming. 

“Yeah. Benjiro gave you some kind of healing potion, and I was able to burn the fort down and get you out before reinforcements came. Again, you’re lucky.” 

“No kidding… What happens next?” 

“Well, since we’re now a bit behind schedule, I say we skip any more outposts and go meet this Riverman. But before that, though, we’ve got to train up a bit more. I’m only level fifty-seven, and this is one legendary figure.”

“Fair enough.” The blurriness in Alexander’s vision was finally starting to fade. 

“I’ll get some food ready for you.” Jade left the tent, leaving Alexander alone. 

Alexander stood up and took a good look at himself. He was dirty. And the kilt he was wearing was now almost in tatters. It smelled too. His feet were callused and rough, and his skin was caked in mud. His body was adapting to the open air, and he felt less of his environment, but he looked like shit. 

After looking himself over, he looked through his messages. There was nothing from Jacob, and Jessica sent him more screenshots from her matches. He gave an encouraging response, then looked at the new messages from the game. 

You defeated Basher! One legendary fight deserves one legendary reward! X10 level up! + 5 Dexterity! + 5 Charisma! +5 Strength! 

You leveled up ten times or more in one encounter, +5 ability points! 

You showed incredible ability to control your body and fight beyond belief! Your feat breathing techniques has upgraded to advanced! 

You showed extraordinary fighting prowess! Your skill “Martial Arts” has been upgraded to adept! 

A broken piece of Bahser’s gauntlet has been added to your necklace! The item “prizes'' now grants +5 Constitution in addition to +5 Strength. 

With all the ability points added together, Alexander had fifty five. He was now level 62. Alexander took a look at his stats. 

Strength (STR) 65 +5

Dexterity (DEX) 32 +0

Constitution (CON) 40 +5

Intelligence (INT) 57 +0

Wisdom (WIS) 22 +0

Charisma (CHA) 20 +0

Willpower (WIL) 53 +0

Perception (PER) 28 +0

I’m getting stronger, but is it enough? Alexander mused as he took a look at his skills.

Advanced Resistance:

This feat allows the user to have an advanced resistance to outside effects like temperature or wind. It is not impervious, but it does greatly increase one's ability to withstand the elements. It also allows basic resistance to magical attacks, although some will not be affected by this feat. 

Extraordinary Willpower:

Your willpower is beyond most people, allowing you to undertake impossible tasks and still come on top. Your will is increased by +10, and you have many resistances to effects.

Advanced Breathing Techniques:
You’ve shown skill in your ability to control your body. You can control heart rate, blood pressure, and increase your focus!
Martial Arts Adept:
As an adept, you know a great deal of martial abilities! You are limber and can utilize your body as a weapon! In conjunction with basic knowledge of martial weapons, you know proper forms and timing with your attacks!

Alexander also had his class ability, Demon Form. He took a look and saw that nothing changed. He decided to look around for a place to spend his ability points. The general abilities tab, which held the feats and skills, had nothing eye-catching for William. Sure, there was a buff here and a cool ability there, but nothing interested Alexander. Instead he took another look at his class. Branching off of the main ability Demon Form, he saw a few things that he liked. Mostly, they were smaller abilities that improved his Demon Form. 

Longer Demon Form– Cost: 10
Your Demon Form lasts for longer, and the ill effects are diminished slightly. 

Martial Arts Style “Demonic”– Cost: 50
You learn a specific fighting style adapting to your Demon form. It consists of wild, savage attacks in quick succession, and it can only be done while in Demon Form. You gain a greater attunement to your form. 

Alexander stopped at the second option. He hadn’t nailed down a specific way of fighting while in his form. So far, he’d only relied on brute force, but from the description it seemed like he could hone this raw power into something deadlier. So, without much thought, he bought the skill and dumped the rest into constitution, increasing it to 45 +5. Right after he finished that, Jade walked in with a cooked rabbit on a stick. 

“Hey, being honest here, you look like shit. Here’s some food. I’m going to head into town to scout out the place and… get you some new clothes. I’ll be back before dark.” Alexander accepted the food and started to say something, but he suddenly noticed his body felt weird. Over the past few minutes, the pain had gone away almost completely. And now he felt really good. 

“What did you give me?” 

“Opioids. Don’t get addicted. I recommend washing up in the nearby stream a bit. Anyways, I’m out of here.” And with that, Jade left, leaving a very high Alexander.