Brett pulled up his notifications before moving any further through the dungeon.

Skill one gained. Skill: Juggernaut's Drive. Description: A Juggernaut is always moving forward. Wounds and injuries do not slow the Juggernaut. They are shaken off and ignored for the sake of endless progress. Effect: Ignore non-fatal damage while active. Slight increase in all physical stats while active. Duration: [Skill Level] minutes. Cooldown depends on the amount of damage deferred.

Brett quickly pulled up his menu. 

One skill down, four more to go. Brett was pretty sure that the system hadn't told him everything in the description, but he wouldn't complain. This was the most useful it had ever been. He would have to do some testing to figure out the exact limitations, though. Also, he wasn't clear on what counted as a fatal wound. 

If his head was cut off, he was pretty sure that would count. But what if his femoral artery was cut? He didn't really want to test that, as it seemed like he would be hit with all the damage once the skill ran out too. But if it scaled with his level, then it would be very useful. Also, how much of an increase was slight?

Endless questions, as always. Brett had one more notification to check, though. 

Congratulations, you have reached level two! One free stat point is available to allocate.

Checking his screen, he saw that there was one point waiting for him in a new row. He was about to allocate it when he looked up and saw the exit portal. I guess that can wait for now. Brett closed his status screen as he stepped out of the dungeon.

"That didn't take long." Ravenous remarked, looking up from the cards in her hand. "A couple cuts isn't bad, and congrats on the level." 

Congratulations on completing The Crystal System. Completion score: A. Time elapsed: 45 minutes. Reward: 35 coins.

Wow, my first A-grade completion. Well, without adjustment for levels. Didn't get the sword, though. Brett sat next to the pair, slightly out of breath. "Yeah, it wasn't too bad. Daggers aren't very effective against golems though. Also, just coins sadly."

Ravenous tossed him a potion, which he drank in a quick gulp. He could feel the cuts closing up slowly. Pulling up his pant leg, he noticed the newly forming scars were faint compared to the others covering his torso from the survival dungeon. "Healed much better this time."

"Yeah, less damage-” Ravenous winced as Alan played a new card. “C'MON that's not fair!"

She threw her hand of cards at Alan and turned her back towards him in a huff. Alan cracked a rare smile and started gathering all the cards on the field together, making the large stack disappear. "You should have taken me up on the offer to not play for stakes."

"Hrmph." Ravenous ignored his jab and looked at Brett. "Anything else happen?"

"Got my first skill." Brett said with a shrug while looking at the description again. 

"One of the ones your new friend told you 'bout?" Ravenous asked with a knowing tone. 

"Yeah, Juggernaut's Drive."

"What's the system description?"

Brett read it out to them. Alan nodded with an impressed look on his face, but Ravenous just grunted. "That's going to mean you use a lot of potions or need to have a healer nearby. Also I'm not sure on specifics. Do you need to grit your teeth through the wave of damage after or can it be healed before it even hits you?"

I didn't even think about that. Depending on a healer might be hard. I know that they aren't as rare as they could be, but still, I have my own goals to accomplish. I don't think I could get someone else to sign up for that long-term. Brett got lost in his thoughts and missed what Alan had said. But the sneaky guy pulling a knife and advancing on him snapped his mind back to the conversation. 

"Wait wait wait, I don't know how to trigger it!" Brett said, extending his arms to halt Alan's apparent "test." 

"Try just thinking about it." Ravenous suggested. "It's usually not too hard to use new skills."

Brett was still not thrilled about going under the knife, but he focused inwardly on the skill. Suddenly a well of power sprung up from him. He shot to his feet, the need to move consuming him. His body seemed more responsive, like there was less time between his deciding to do an action and that action starting. Like my reaction time is instant.

Alan held out his knife and drew a line on the back of Brett's hand. Ravenous hopped on Brett's shoulder, and they all watched as a faintly glowing red line traced where the knife had seemingly parted his skin. Brett felt strangely disconnected from it, knowing the damage he had taken but feeling no pain or distraction. It was just a bit of information floating around in the back of his head. 

Ravenous poured a little bit of a healing potion on the glowing line, and it disappeared.

"It feels like it's healed." Brett reported as the line and mental impression of the wound both vanished. The need to move was still running through him, and he constantly shifted his weight from foot to foot. Alan noticed. "Hit me."

Before Brett really thought about the question, he had thrown a quick jab at Alan's nose. Alan slipped next to it without apparent effort but looked a little surprised. "That seems like a lot more than a slight improvement to physical stats."

As he was speaking, Brett followed up with a cross and hook combo that Alan slipped and rolled under like a master boxer. "Yeah, when you rank that skill up you have serious level skipping potential."

Ravenous tisked slightly. "This seems too broken, especially for a level one skill. There has to be some downside."

As if on cue, the skill ended. A wave of exhaustion rolled over him as Brett sagged back to the ground. "There it is."

"Oof, I feel a little winded." Brett wheezed, taking a few breaths. As suddenly as the moment of weakness came, though, it passed, and he felt back to normal. "And now I'm fine. Weird"

"Fast recovery, still will fuck you in combat though." Alan noted. "What's the cool down like?"

Brett examined how he felt and thought about accessing the skill again. "None really, I could access it right now. Maybe the cool down only takes effect if the damage applies?" 

"Could be. How fast can you start it again if you take no damage?" Ravenous asked. 

They ran a few more tests before Brett needed a break. They found out a lot more nuances than the skill description mentioned. The cooldown and the feeling of weakness were the same thing; if he took no damage, the cooldown period was just a delay of the exhaustion that he experienced during the time the skill was active. Apparently, fatigue also was counted as damage. 

After he caught his breath, Brett asked about what they should do next. 

"Well, you can keep running dungeons. I think you're mostly set up to be honest. You're already making decent coin anyway. Being able to solo a level 5 dungeon at level 1 is rare and valuable. Maybe grind up some stats or levels?" Ravenous suggested. 

"He can do that tomorrow after we leave. If he has any questions he can message us. Why don't we do something that we can help with?" Alan said. Brett was starting to get a better handle on Alan. At first, he was terse and didn't seem to enjoy speaking, but certain topics got him going. Training and system skills were definitely some of them.

"Sounds like you have something in mind." Ravenous noted.