Chapter 20 — Experiment

Chapter 20 — Experiment

I lay on the riverbank—on soft grass, slightly damp with evening dew—and stared up at the sky.

The sun had long since slipped past the horizon, and a deep bluish vault, pricked with the first stars, stretched over the gorge. They were astonishingly bright. It felt like I could just reach out and touch them.

Beautiful. Calm.

Nothing like what was going on inside me.

I was still replaying the fight with the dungeon boss in my head.

It was only level forty—fourteen levels below me.

But if someone had watched us from the side… they’d probably have said I looked pathetic.

That I was cowardly. That I was weak.

…Maybe that’s exactly how it was.

Yes, I’ve gotten stronger. Much stronger than when I first appeared in this world.

Now I can jump across the river like it’s just a shallow puddle.

Could I lift 200 or 300 kilograms?

Yeah. I think so. Maybe even more.

But all that is just dry stats.

I have almost no combat experience.

I’ve only fought rabbit-monsters. A weak, simple, predictable enemy.

And when a real opponent showed up—even if only level forty—I… almost died.

One hit.

One mistake.

And I was already sprawled on the ground, choking, with a shredded arm, staring death right in the face.

Power… doesn’t make me invincible.

Power… is only potential.

Experience is what keeps you alive.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

The stars shimmered quietly overhead.

The river rustled, shouldering water along the stones.

“Enough,” I whispered. “Enough feeling sorry for myself.”

Yes, I’m weak.

Yes, I’m inexperienced.

Yes, I barely escaped death.

But no one strong was born strong.

No master became a master for free.

They all trained, pushed, endured, fell, got up, and kept going.

If I want to survive—truly survive—I need to do the same.

Train. Learn. Fight.

Not just raise my level—but my skill.

I opened my eyes and sat up, bracing my palms on the ground.

Enough lying around.

Yeah. I’ve already decided.

I activated my “Training Room” skill and the next instant I was in the stone room.

Can I still even call it a room?

It’s too big now. More like a hall. Or an arena.

All right… enough distractions.

Let’s start with the hardest.

Dodging.

I confirmed the quest in my mind.

A hit.

Pain rolled through my stomach like a wave. I doubled forward a little.

Yeah, I didn’t manage to dodge.

But compared to when the dungeon boss almost bit off my arm, or when it kicked me with its hind leg and blasted all the air from my lungs…

This is almost nothing. Just unpleasant.

A light pain.

A faint prickle.

Nothing scary.

I took a deep breath.

“Let’s continue.”

A hit.

Another.

And another.

--

Phew…

I created a potion and drank it.

A warm wave spread through my body, and the red marks from the blows started fading from my skin.

Now there isn’t a trace left.

That’s already the third potion I’ve drunk during this session.

I opened the quest window:

Dodging — 53/100.

A little over half.

Phew…

All right.

I think that’s enough for now.

I need to switch.

Because I still haven’t managed to dodge even once.

Yes, I see the ball appear in the wall.

I see it streak toward me at insane speed.

My brain understands.

But my body—just can’t move in time.

If not for the sixfold gravity increase that hits me during quests, I’d make it. I’d be able to dodge. But no. In those moments my body gets too heavy to move fast enough.

Fine. I’ll switch to other quests. I haven’t completed even one yet. And I have to do each of them ten thousand times. That will take a very long time.

Well… all the more reason to start sooner so I finish sooner.

--

When did I fall asleep?

I didn’t even notice.

I feel great. Slept well.

Too well, even.

I slowly pushed myself up on one hand.

Only then did the strange sensation catch up with me.

Why… was I sleeping on the floor?

On cold stone.

No blanket. No mat. Nothing.

The memories slowly started to return.

The last thing I remember—I got tired of the exercises.

I created a health potion and drank it…

And immediately felt something odd.

My head spun.

My head spun and my body turned heavy, like I was losing control of it.

And then—darkness.

I just dropped.

And remember nothing else.

Why did I feel sick?

Oh… I remembered something else.

This already happened before.

When Rem asked me to prove that I had indeed leveled up using a quest in the Training Room—that time I also blacked out. If I remember correctly, it was exactly the same then: I got tired, drank a health potion… and collapsed.

So both times I lost consciousness, I’d drunk a health potion right before.

Which means… it’s somehow tied to the health potion.

Could the potion have had some defect?

No… that’s nonsense.

I don’t buy it at a shop or a pharmacy.

It’s created by my “Alchemy” skill, entirely from mana.

There’s nothing to go wrong. No spoiled ingredient, no bad water. It can’t be expired, either. I created it and drank it right away.

It shouldn’t have defects.

…or could it, after all?

Okay, I need to check whether I passed out because of the health potion.

My guess is that maybe I drank too many health potions.

I need to test it.

Maybe I shouldn’t?..

No. I should.

Using health potions is extremely important for me.

So I have to find out whether the cause of the blackout was the health potion or not.

I don’t think it’s that dangerous.

I hope not.

Right now I feel great.

I moved my arms and legs, hopped a bit in place.

Yeah, no aches, nothing strange. Everything’s normal.

Good.

Then let’s start the experiment.

--

I ran the experiment several times.

Here are the results.

First experiment:

I created fifteen health potions and started drinking them one by one.

After the sixth I felt dizzy… and blacked out.

Yes.

So even after the first experiment it was clear—the cause of the blackout really is the health potion.

Second experiment.

In the second experiment I decided not to drink potions one after another, but to spread the intake out.

I drank one potion about once an hour, and to not waste time, I trained between doses—worked on quests. I think that was a decent approach.

And… when I drank the eighth health potion, my head spun again.

And I blacked out.

Again.

After that I ran one more experiment.

This time I drank a health potion once every two hours.

And when I drank the ninth potion—I blacked out again.

The conclusion is obvious:

there’s a limit to how many health potions I can drink in one day.

Well, there’s good news too. It seems I don’t feel any side effects. Well… not counting the blackout. Yes, that’s not a great symptom, but after I wake up, I feel great. No weakness in the body, no pain, no weird sensations. Like I just fell asleep and got a good rest.

So I think if I cap myself at eight health potions a day, I’ll be fine.

No more than one potion roughly every two hours.

Yes, that’s what I’ll do.

--

[Quest No. 1 completed.

Gained +15,000,000 EXP.]

[Status]

[Name: Alisar
Level: 57
EXP: 2, 141,690/6,400,000

Rank: 3

HP: 13, 310 (+2640)
MP: 16, 520 (+720)

Strength: 361 (+24) (+64)
Defense: 437 (+24) (+64)
Speed: 533 (+24) (+64)
Intelligence: 286 (+24)
Magic Power: 281 (+24)
Magic Defense: 725 (+24)

Free Attribute Points: 0 (+192) (-192)

Skills: — Swordsman — (Rank 1)

Special Skills:
• Training Room (Rank 3)
• Alchemy (Rank 1)]

Five days have passed.

As always—only for me.

For the rest of the world, maybe about fifteen hours—don’t know exactly.

But at last I completed the first quest.

And my level went up by three.

So now I’m level fifty-seven.

I spent all my free attribute points on Strength, Defense, and Speed—that is, on physical enhancement.

During this time I did, of course, go to the dungeon.

I went as far as the third room, but didn’t enter the boss room—turned back.

Probably about ten times… maybe eleven. I don’t remember exactly anymore.

And now I think I’m finally ready.

Ready to fight the dungeon boss again.

Last time I almost died.

But this time—things will be different.