Drip drip drip, the sound of liquid falling into a puddle causes Jason to stir. His body feels pain and yet relief at the same time. Like a snake having just shed he feels like a restriction on his growth has been lifted. Opening his eyes he takes note of and swipes away an alert about gaining 5 Toughness, 10 HP, and strangest of all 1 more Energy. Next another pop up greets him though this time he pays attention.

Now titles aren’t rare but getting one before level 10 is. Willful Survivor isn’t a unique Title by any stretch of the imagination. Many others had gotten it before though mostly wizardly types. After all that is basically what spells are to some extent. Especially once a person gets into making their own magic. However getting it below level 100 and through forcefully keeping yourself alive at 0 HP? Jason is probably the first on both accounts. Not that 0 HP is an automatic death but unless you have a healer, then even someone with regeneration will soon bleed out. The hair on the back of his neck stand up as he realizes how close he was to failing.

“That was a little close for comfort. I wonder if… No going down the ‘what if’ rabbit hole won’t help anyone. I lived and it should have worked. Getting a Title for it is nice but I don’t do magic so the use of it will be limited for me. Not that I will complain if it helps me in creating new skills but that is a way off.” Looking down at himself Jason notices everything is covered in his blood and his whole body looks like one big bruise that is slowly healing. “Yep, definitely healing slower. It appears I lost the regen ability. Though it still seems faster than normal. I guess I can’t delay it anymore.” Looking up again he checks out the final screen.

“Okay, not as bad as I expected. The skill only went down a Rank. No starting over from the complete beginning. Though the rank of the skill. God that is awkward, should probably be something like rarity but historically that is how such things were called. Let’s just change that.” Then aloud Jason says, “System Rename Rank of Skill to Rarity of Skill”

“Anyway, back to the RARITY of the skill. It changed from Unique to Truth. If I had to guess this means that instead of being something only I can use someone else could now cultivate this skill. Just going to file that under Dao for now. Besides that two of the effects have changed. Energized Flesh has gone up to 3% despite losing the Rank. Looks like fighting ghosts won’t be as much of a problem in the future. Also, Blood is Life and the Heart its Throne or whatever that was called no longer exists. In its place is Untainted Core which would explain the bruise healing faster. I wonder what exactly counts for this. If my eardrums burst do they heal twice as fast? What about charms that affect the mind? My brain is after all internal. Meh, I can figure it out with time. For now, I should continue on my way. The only reason my blood wouldn’t have despawned by now is if something in the area is paying attention to it. Also, more Strength training. My Toughness is far and away the leader and I would much prefer to equalize them out.”

Standing up Jason stretches and mumbles to himself before packing up camp. After a sweep of the area to check for any ambushes, he heads parallel to the wasteland while carrying his training rock. Even if the monsters in there aren’t willing to enter the plains that doesn’t stop them from gathering on the border. Better safe than sorry. Though Jason admits to himself, he also spent way too much time sitting around doing nothing and probably needs some training time. Even if only to get used to the changes in his body. That and a quick glance at the sun shows him it is well past midday.

An hour goes by and Jason sets up camp again. This should be far enough that tomorrow he can enter the wasteland without being dog piled. Shaking his head, he gets down to training. Eventually as night falls, he stops and nods to himself. The changes to his body did not radically alter his body. Even if he doesn’t technically have bones or muscles in his body, this doesn’t allow him to just bend his body willy nilly. Everything seems to be under the same limitations as reality. Though the joints are a lot smoother and he would probably be called double jointed by others. He even picked up a point of Agility from testing his flexibility. Satisfied with his results Jason settles down for a night of meditation. Only tomorrow will tell how quickly his cultivation will improve now.

As Jason drifts off though not all is peaceful. Back at his previous camp the area is swarmed with rabbits of all types. Instead of the young that would swarm Jason during his mediation these are fully grown. Tens of these rabbits are taking turns at licking up the blood that was left behind. While that is happening off just out of sight a battle between wasteland monsters and some other adult rabbits is taking place. Finally things calm down at the last of the blood is consumed and the rabbits disperse. Each one though carries a slight glint of red whether on the tip of a horn or the at the edges of their wings. While not enough to cause a variant rabbit Jason’s blood which was packed with purified Energy assisted many a rabbit that night.