Die. Respawn. Repeat.

The ring isn't filling up nearly as quickly as I would like.

The Forest Slimes aren't difficult to kill, exactly. Color Drain nearly instantly takes care of them, although I use it sparingly because it's more taxing to use than my other skills; a well-aimed punch full of Firmament through their heads also seems to do the trick, as long as they don't react in time. If they do, they can split themselves apart before I even hit them.

But it's taxing. It takes all my concentration to keep dodging their attacks. Everything they do is unpredictable — their bodies are nearly completely malleable, and I have to watch out for attacks from nearly every angle. More than once, a Slime nearly catches me off-guard by digging tendrils into the ground and shooting them up towards me.

If it wasn't for Ahkelios' watchful eye, I would have been killed a dozen times over, I suspect.

"Behind you!" the mantis yells out, and I spin around just in time to see a sharp spike of Firmament-enhanced slime headed directly for my head. I twist out of the way, using a last-minute Barrier at an angle to deflect it away from my head; it shatters the Barrier, but it still manages to change its course enough that it scratches my cheek instead of impaling me through the eye.

"Thanks," I say, although I'm so out of breath I barely have the time to breathe the words. Tough Body isn't helping me here — whatever those Forest Slimes are doing, they can reinforce themselves so much that they're cutting through me without much resistance. Barrier provides only the smallest bit of resistance. Crystallized Barrier would help, but it takes a fair bit more concentration and Firmament to use—

"Focus," Ahkelios admonishes me. A second later, he leaps off my head and towards a Forest Slime's attack, and I feel him concentrating a tiny amount of Firmament in his hands and feet; in a split second, he unleashes a spinning kick that ripples down the entire tendril.

There's a moment of resonance, and then the Firmament just falls apart; the tendril falls to the ground as just empty slime, dead and lifeless.

The actual Slime is still perfectly alive right behind him. It makes what I assume is a burble of anger, and then rushes towards him, but not before I step over him and land a Crystallized Strength-boosted punch right in his face. Two Barriers shaped to either side of my fist blast through the Slime as it tries to split apart to dodge my attack, and I watch in grim satisfaction as it collapses to the ground.

"Have you always been able to do that?" I ask, glancing at Ahkelios. The little mantis is wobbling on his feet like he's drunk, and I spare a second to pick him up off the ground before a Slime steps on him. A kick through the head dispatches that one, Triplestep accelerating it enough that it doesn't quite have time to dodge.

"I dunno," Ahkelios says. He clings on to my hair. "Woooow. The colors are pretty."

"Weren't you just telling me to focus?" I say. I pull out a Crystallized Barrier to block three simultaneous bolts of slime, orange-purple-blue splashing violently against the crystalline wall; it cracks, but doesn't break.

"That's right!" Ahkelios agrees immediately, so quickly I'm almost suspicious. "You... you focus. I'm gonna sleep. It's... it's moss time. Comfy, tasty moss."

I don't get a chance to respond to whatever he just said, because he abruptly cuts the connection between us and dispels himself.

Evidently, fighting like that is costly for him. We'll have to figure out a plan for how he can participate in battles, if he wants to. Figure out his exact limits, and whether we can train them—

A whip nearly shreds through the skin of my cheek, and I'm reminded that I'm in the middle of a battle. The translation stone is about half-done, although I'm well out of range of the Firmament bursts and moving ever-further. It seems that the more the obelisk is translated, the larger the bursts get — and in turn, the more Forest Slimes are dragged out of the Firmament in the ground.

I'm nearly surrounded by them, by now, and I grit my teeth. I need a plan. Without Ahkelios to watch my back, my survivability is cut nearly in half; I might pride myself on being perceptive, but I don't have eyes in the back of my head.

Based on the rate the translation stone's ring is filling up — and that thing is hard to see from this distance — it should take another ten minutes. I'll have to fight defensively. There are too many of them for me to be proactive in taking them out, and I still don't have any good area-of-effect options in battle, which is something I'm regretting.

If I have to fight defensively...

I turn tail and run. Might as well have something to my back, and if the edge of the Hotspot is as much a barrier to these Forest Slimes as it is to me, then I won't have to worry about being killed from behind.

If nothing else, this is proving excellent for earning those credits.

The Firmament pulses from the obelisk have almost reached the edge of the Hotspot. I'm alive still, although I'm not exactly at my prime; my breathing is ragged, and I'm not sure how much of that is my being out of breath, and how much of that is the hole in my chest.

At least it's a small hole. I'd managed to slice off the tendril before it did too much damage, and I think Tough Body is keeping me together and alive. I'm not sure how survivable "hole in chest" normally is, but apparently my Firmament-enhanced body can handle it.

What it can't handle are those Firmament pulses. They're getting close enough now that I have barely any room to maneuver, and the time between each pulse has gotten so low it's nearly a constant hum instead of a wave of deadly Firmament. I have a Crystallized Barrier layered around me, and I use Color Drain to take out the worst of the Forest Slimes — dodging is less draining, but I'm not exactly in an ideal position to dodge. Even breathing hurts, let alone moving.

"Come on..." I mutter to myself. I can't tell if the translation stone is done — I can't see it from here — but I can't even approach it as long as the obelisk is this active. I have to hope that the Firmament pulses will die down once it completes, or that the obelisk will simply reset itself before the pulse reaches the boundary of the Hotspot.

Right as I think this, the pulses waver and stop.

I don't hesitate. I'll die if I do — so I pour every effort into going for the obelisk and the translation stone.

I just have to get there before the pulses start up again.

Dodge to the side. Twist to barely avoid a tendril, then duck to avoid a swinging whip. Create a wafer-thin Barrier around my body so I skid, sliding across the dirt and just barely missing not one, not two, but three different Forest Slime projectiles, the last of which splashes onto my Barrier and hisses ominously. Employ Crystallized Strength defensively instead of offensively, leap high and across three different Forest Slimes...

If not for Mental Acceleration, I would be dead three times over.

I can feel Firmament building in front of me, which means I don't have much time before the next pulse. I can also see the completed ring on the translation stone, which means that all I need to do is inject Firmament into it and hope that does something.

I'm not going to get there in time.

All-Seeing Eye. Firestep. Triplestep.

They're two different Speed skills, which makes it easier to see how to combine them even without Intuitive Analysis. With it, merging them is almost pitifully easy, so much so I wonder how I hadn't seen it before. I suppose that's the point of the Eye.

[ A new Skill Fusion has been found. Would you like to log the results into the Interface? ]

Yes.

[ Accelerate (Rank C) obtained! ]

Accelerate.

It's the last boost of speed I need. I feel Accelerate's Firmament wrap around me when I use the skill, blasting me forward in combination with Triplestep and Firestep and leaving a streak of flame floating in the air; it's so much faster than what I'm used to that I nearly shoot right past my target. I slow down a second before I do so, brushing my fingers across the translation stone and using Firmament Manipulation to inject a burst of Firmament directly into its core.

Please let Mari be right.

Several things happen all at once.

First, the pulse from the obelisk dies down, and I sigh internally with relief — I will not add evaporation to my list of experienced deaths today.

Second, the translation stone shines brightly with Firmament. I feel that Firmament reach out and connecting with my own, granting me understanding; suddenly, the glyphs on the obelisk go from nonsensical to understandable.

Third, a different pulse starts up. This one travels from the translation stone into the obelisk, and I feel it resonating with a different kind of Firmament. Intuitive Analysis tells me whatever it is, it probably isn't deadly — but that doesn't matter, because as the obelisk begins to resonate, it cracks, and I haven't had the time to read the darn thing.

Time for a rapid, split-second decision.

[ Are you sure you wish to bank 132 Strength credits? ]

Yes.

[ 132 Strength credits banked! Rolling for results... ]

[ Select between:

Primal Fist (Rank B)

Concentrated Power (Rank B)

Crack the Skies (Rank A) ]

[ You have unlocked an Inspiration. Bonus will commence once skill selection has taken place. ]

The cracks are spreading. I need to choose quickly. Intuitive Analysis kicks in.

Primal Fist is simple. It's a skill that fills my arms with Primal Firmament, not that I know what that means; what I do know is that it's a magnitude stronger than Crystallized Strength. A basic upgrade, with potential down the line for me to figure out what I can do with Primal Firmament.

Concentrated Power is interesting. It allows me to essentially build up power for as long as I can concentrate on the skill, with an upper bound that's roughly equivalent to an S-rank skill if I'm willing to concentrate for several days.

Crack the Skies has more vaguely defined limits than the other two. For one blow, it gives me enough strength to 'crack the skies' — defined as a sonic boom.

Crack the Skies is the most powerful, but Concentrated Power has the greatest versatility. It synergizes well with the time loop and my ability to prepare, even if waiting to build up power sounds aggressively boring. More than that, Intuitive Analysis tells me it should be able to combine with nearly any other skill if I use it in combination with the Eye, allowing me to empower almost everything given time to prepare.

I'm still tempted to pick Crack the Skies, because raw, immediate power is tempting, but I grit my teeth and choose.

[ Concentrated Power (Rank B) obtained! ]

[ Inspiration commencing. ]

The world freezes around me. The obelisk is intact, though the whole structure is run through with tiny cracks — but the translation stone's effects are still active, and I can read.

I breathe a sigh of relief, and start scanning through what it says.

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