I didn't waste another moment with speculation. My fingers flicked open the System Panel, and pulled up the description of [Advanced Impact Resistance I] immediately.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Advanced Impact Resistance I] (Gold)

Per Level of Impact Resistance, gain 10% Damage Negation against all Impact Damage classified within the Gold Rank.

Current Gold Damage Negation: 10%

Per Level of Impact Resistance, gain 2% Damage Negation against all Impact Damage classified within the Platinum Rank.

Current Platinum Damage Negation: 2%

Immune to Impact Damage classified at the Silver Rank and below.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I coughed blood as I laughed.

"You seeing this?" I asked aloud.

A moment's silence, then two taps from my front.

My grin strained against the still-regenerating bones of my face.

Just as I speculated...the issue of being helpless against higher ranked beasts has started being solved here in the Gold Rank. It's only 2% a level right now, but its a great start. It means there's room to grow within the future evolutions, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

With a chuckle, I checked the descriptions of the other Resistances as well. I knew they'd be much the same---and they were---but I had to be sure I didn't miss anything important.

The rest of my injuries healed up as I browsed the other Skill Descriptions.

I took a deep breath the moment everything was complete.

It was time to endure that pain all over again.

This time, I didn't bother thinking about it. Didn't bother dreading it. Didn't bother gritting my teeth.

Because when I stood up...the pain came all the same.

BOOOOM!

Flattened yet again, but I felt the difference in force instantly.

That 10% reduction in damage was serving its purpose perfectly.

Pain flooded me, Damage Reports poured, the healing kicked in just as always, but, as that second batch of System Prompts came in, I realized...the upgrades wouldn't be so easy from now on.

[Host's [Impact Resistance] has increased greatly: x30]

[Host's [Pierce Resistance] has increased greatly: x30]

[Host's [Slash Resistance] has increased greatly: x30]

Not a single upgrade, and only 30 'great' increases to resistance for the same attack, as opposed to 40 before the Skill Evolutions.

It meant the skills were doing their job, but it also meant that my gains would slow down considerably.

And yet...

[Will Resonance: 30%]

Shit.

The gains to Will Resonance didn't change despite the reduction in my gains. Meaning, I had entered the curve of diminishing returns now. If I continued with this strategy of claw slams, I'd only have about 14 more strikes before it reached 100%. That wouldn't be nearly enough to take these resistances anywhere beyond level 4.

It'd be a waste. I know it. Ascension to Gold won't be long, and once I get there, fighting Crisis-Class beasts should become fairly straightforward. So here and now, when I can use a Crisis-Class exactly as I need, it'd be better to generalize a little and raise as many skills as I can to Gold, and leave the rest of the actual grinding for once I've ascended.

This was the best way to maximize my gains. The issue was, there was really only one other form of Resistance I could use the Scorpion to upgrade.

Poison Resistance.

"Alright then," I said as I stood back up to face the Main mind. "We're switching focus for now. Pursuing physical resistances will only yield fewer and fewer returns, it'd be a waste of this opportunity, when we can choose exactly what to improve."

The claw raised slightly off the ground and tapped twice in acknowledgement, its yellow eyes staring right back at me expectantly.

"Yep. We're using that tail of yours."

It tapped the ground twice.

The Blacksand Scorpions colossal, arched and segmented tail, came over its body, reaching over its head, and hovering right in front of me. I could tell the Main Mind wasn't yet used to moving such an alien-feeling limb. Even as it hovered in front of me, the tail's end wasn't very stable.

The gigantic stinger alone, dripping with a golden venom, was almost as long as I was tall.

I swallowed unconsciously, but I didn't overthink it.

My hands gripped gigantic tip---sharpened to a point---and brought it to the front of my chest, and then, muscles tensing in anticipation, I plunged the whole thing right in, and I felt the muscles underneath the chitin of the stinger pulse as the Scorpion's venom poured in in droves.

[You have been inflicted with [Poison].]

[You have been inflicted with [Poison].]

[You have been inflicted with [Poison].]

[You have been heavily inflicted with [Poison].]

[You have been heavily inflicted with [Poison].]

[You have been heavily inflicted with [Poison].]

...

I collapsed to my knees, body spasming against my will, both from the pain, and my muscles seizing from the effects of the poison. After the mush of meat I'd been turned into, the searing pain of this experience wasn't enough to rattle me, but paralysis was paralysis. Nothing I could do about it.

So I took it in stride, settling back onto my bum as I took a seat on the ground, calm as ever, stinger still plunged deep into my chest. Just like when I fought the Trapdoor Spider---I simply waited, letting the main mind take care of the continual input of venom, and letting my gift continue to heal me at the same rate.

It was frighteningly efficient.

Tick after tick, prompt after prompt, my Silver Ranked Poison Resistance skyrocketed to max level in absolutely no time at all.

[Enhanced Poison Resistance III --> X]

[Will Resonance: 65%]

And then it kept going.

[Host's [Poison Resistance] has increased greatly.]

[Host's [Poison Resistance] has increased greatly.]

[Host's [Poison Resistance] has increased greatly.]

...

[Host's [Poison Resistance] has increased greatly: x60]

Until finally...

[The Silver Ranked Skill [Enhanced Poison Resistance X] has evolved into the the Gold Rank Skill [Advanced Poison Resistance I].]

And once again, I was graced with that sensation of my regeneration creating something that wasn't there before. The partial resistance to poisons a Rank higher than I was.

I nodded, standing up from my seated position as I pulled the Scorpion's stinger out of my chest. We'd generalized and brought all 3 physical resistances to Gold, and now Poison Resistance, just because we could.

So now...it was time to return to our specialization.

My gaze flicked to the System Panels...

[Will Resonance: 75%]

...then back to the Main Mind's six pairs.

"Lets get this over with."

BOOOOOOOM!

The final slam came down harder than all the rest before it. The Main Mind had been forced to up its game, since the upgraded resistances made it more and more difficult to dish out that level of damage.

And now...dealing that damage had just gotten even harder.

[Host's [Impact Resistance] has increased greatly: x40]

[Advanced Impact Resistance II --> III]

[Host's [Pierce Resistance] has increased greatly: x40]

[Advanced Pierce Resistance II --> III]

[Host's [Slash Resistance] has increased greatly: x40]

[Advanced Slash Resistance II -->III]

30% Damage Negation within the Gold Rank, 6% Damage Negation against Platinum Ranks, and complete Immunity against anything at the Silver Rank and Below.

All that...and I was still a mere Silver Ranked Hunter, with Sub-Par Axemanship Mastery.

Heh. I have no doubt that that's impressive, but it's also a reality check. I'm still very much in the bottom rungs of this world's power system. I have a long way to go before I can afford to be proud.

Then came the long-awaited, final prompt.

[Will Resonance: 100%]

The ground shook, cracking, stone grinding as the Arena abruptly began to shift.

All the many craters we'd created were patched up all on their own, the blackstone bricks shifting and morphing until the ground and walls all became perfectly smooth again.

But the quaking didn't stop. It strengthened. More. More. More. Until I could barely balance myself well enough to stand.

And then I heard something. Right underneath me. Rising.

I didn't even have time enough to swear. I deploying all the strength I could into a hurried leap away from my position at the center of the arena.

But it wasn't enough. Farther. I had to get farther.

I didn't look back. Just ran.

A deep rumble reverberated through the ground, and then that something I heard finally became loud enough.

BOM. BOM. BOM. BOM.

The tremors came in quick succession, each one louder than the last, each one closer and closer to the surface, like something massive was driving itself upward and ignoring every layer in between.

Until finally, the entire colosseum shuddered, and the center of the Arena...detonated.

KRRTHOOOOM!

Slabs of the ground were sheared clean and hurled aside by a surging, colossal pillar of black-stone, lined top-to-bottom with Golden runes and geometric patterns, that rose up and above the clouds of the blue sky so fast I'd barely taken two breaths.

I stopped, frozen in place not far from the Arena wall, staring up at the colossal tower of stone.

The Blacksand Monolith...why is it here?

[You have successfully proven yourself in the Trial of Sand.]

[Time Elapsed: 1 hour and 11 minutes (NEW RECORD)(Previous Record: 6 hours 21 minutes)]

[Will Resonance Achieved: 100% (NEW RECORD) (Previous Record: 50%)]

Previous Record...Fifty Percent?!

[The Blacksand Monolith acknowledges these immense feats.]

[Calculation for Reward Distribution has begun...]

...

I was utterly confused. If the previous record for Will Resonance was only 50%...that meant achieving 100% Resonance wasn't what was needed to clear the Trial...so...how exactly was the Trial of Sand supposed to play out?

Intisak...what the hell have you been planning?

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