Ramblings of a MAD Man

The first week was weird in the fact that because of this weird labyrinth instance, I didn't need to eat. So I didn't really have a need to go into the maze to those weird rabbits. The weather was a perfect cloudy day with no sun, just how I liked it.

My first concern with my training was that my capacity for energy was really low. My stat focus was ability potency so I guess that meant that I had to have a shitty amount of ability to work with. I can slow down small things but what if I had to face a large beast or lion?

I surmised my best chance would be in little chunks of my power. When I siphon kinetic energy it takes longer than I would like to siphon 50%. But what if I take 2% really quickly, while something was attacking me? I can literally take momentum from any moving object. So my goal for the first week was to be able to take a small amount of kinetic energy as quick as possible.

Good thing I have leaves and sticks, they make great training partners.

…

The second week was a time of boredom and stupid confidence. A week of monotonous training with no real break or time to eat has a psychological toll. I have been bored before but never like this. There is no need to eat, no need to look for shelter, or any luxuries to distract me. So I did what any 20 something would do when bored, I looked for something to entertain me. And the only thing that could entertain me in this dimension was going into the maze.

My Kinetic Siphon leveled up 4 times and I was able to throw a bunch of leaves in the air and siphon enough from them to make them all fall down at the same time. It was a great reflection of my control and boosted my confidence enough to go into the maze.

I was able to kill the first rabbit that came up to me, with relative ease. My hunting knife was still fresh from the first time I was in the maze, so it was not dull at all.

Since I could handle the rabbit, I went deeper into the maze. Left, right, left and right, I was killing so many rabbits, I kind of felt like a young serial killer. Once I stilled their momentum, the hunt was relatively over. I wasn't a master fighter, but I grew up in a poor neighborhood so I wasn't new to blood or fighting. Once I chopped the rabbit's hind leg or slit a throat, the battle was done. I also found out that when I siphoned a target, I gained a small amount of my energy back.

After 2 hours of bunnyslaying, I took a break. Not smart enough to walk back to the safe zone, I took a seat then and there. At the best possible time, a little frickin gremlin hopped out the wall. It had completely red eyes and was two feet tall. All in all, it was not a fun time, the gremlin had a little bone dagger and it was the size of a toddler. I dispatched it quickly with a stunning head kick and subsequent neck stab.

Life got really sucky when an entire squad popped out the wall. The battle was the worst and bloodiest battle I had ever had in my life. They clearly had experience fighting together, and my ability tank was running low. It was only when scrimping on my energy that I was getting better at siphoning kinetic energy. KE was best siphoned right before a strike or when building energy, so on their back foot and or when they were about to wind up. Now I realized why life and death battles were so important in anime. There was no way I would be able to sit in the garden and just practice and get better. The timing could not be practiced in a safe zone.

Just exhausted, I took a long walk back to the garden.

…

"No, no that's just weird! I am not into feet Leonard"

"Well you're by yourself in your fetishes man"

"Well how do a bundle of sticks have sex anyway? I thought you guys photosynthesize?"

Yeah I know I am talking to a bundle of sticks but what can a guy do? No humans to talk to for weeks.

Now it has been 4 weeks since I have been trapped in this labyrinth.

Or 5, or 6, I honestly am not sure how long it has been. The light here comes and goes like on Earth but I am not sure about the reliability.

I have leveled up many times since my last venture into the maze. Daily practice and new skills have really set me apart from how I was when I first got here.

[Orwell Rod Jacobs]

[Class: Kinetic Energy Circuit]

[Title: Raza Potentate]

[Stat Focus: Ability Potency]

Skills:

KE Siphon Lvl.12

KE Saturation Lvl.2

KE Body Lvl.2

Knife Affinity Lvl.5

Once I got KE Siphon past the Lvl.10 mark, I got a new skill called KE Body. Which after I experimented, basically made me able to use more of the kinetic energy I siphoned, on my body. I could move slightly faster, and had more sustain with my ability.

Now I am trying to level up KE saturation more, I rely on siphon so much, it is lagging behind. The exercise I thought of is picking up rocks and throwing them by saturating it with Kinetic energy. They are basically bullets when I throw them. My arm strength added with the siphoned kinetic energy makes the rocks leave marks on the trees.

The only problem is that saturating objects with KE (new term for kinetic Energy) takes so much more of it than siphoning does. I don't have a lot of it to begin with. I also don't know of any special ways to coat an object.

Thinking about coating things in KE got me thinking about the saturating and KE body. I picked up my knife and using KE saturation started swinging and doing fake martial arts like in the movies. I looked silly but I was striking so fast there was clear air resistance against the blade. Saturating my arm felt more seamless and did not take as much KE. Probably another effect of KE Body because this did NOT happen before.

"...I guess it is time"

Closing out the Labyrinth was always a possibility, I just did not think I had the capability to do it. I noticed the last time I went through that if I follow the various monsters that spawn out the walls, I will eventually find an exit. And I came close! The band of gremlins and my shoddy KE consumption ruined my chances, but now I gotta get out of here.

…

Being desensitized is so weird when I think about it. One day seeing gremlin blood, pus, and brain matter made me vomit and completely ruined my day. Now I can see bloody corpses and only gag once or twice. The mind is truly a wonderful instrument.

After cutting through the rabbits in the beginning, I am now back cutting up gremlins. The maze weirdly has a pattern for how monsters pop out the walls. First one rabbit, then two, then groups of 5. The same goes for gremlins, I'm just wondering what is after the gremlins.

After taking out my third band of gremlins, I decided to take a breather.

"BABY, I need your lovin', GOT to have only your lovin"

KE body is an absolute game changer. At some points I moved too fast for my eyes to comprehend. I've never had my hands move faster than my eyes. Even when I would slap my beaver.

At this point of the adventure, I only used 40% of my KE, so I wasn't expecting to recover all of it but I wanted to be ready for the boss fight. I don't know what a scorned queen of thorns was but it did not sound great.

[You are in the presence of a SQUAD LEADER]

[YOU ARE COWED BY ITS PRESENCE]

[FEAR DEBUFF APPLIED]

When I was 12, I was mugged on the subway. It is probably my worst experience ever. What I feel right now is twice as bad.

There are pins and needles in my feet. My lungs feel like 50 year old smokers, just inadequate and lacking in power. It feels like a chore to breathe. My hands are getting really sweaty, I'm almost losing grip on my knife. The worst part is that my balls are sweatier than my hands. I haven't had a change of clothes in a month. All the sweat, blood and grime are still on my clothes, which makes the feeling even worse.

I look up and see a literal ogre. Pale green with a nasty scar across his forehead,7 feet tall with a stereotypical wooden club. It's eyes look like the gremlins, red like crayons.

I can't take a step, it's like a nightmare. How did I get here? I'm a delivery guy from New York! How did I get in this position? Fighting an ogre?! What kinda DND shit is this?

I didn't have time to complain as the ogre bounded to me. It was really slow, probably because it was like 500 pounds. I took a rock out of my pocket and threw it at the ogre's leg. I laced it with KE to test it's hide. There was a loud pop but no blood. It also barely stumbled.

I ran to create more distances and started siphoning the ogre. It was harder because the ogre was so large so I just siphoned kinetic energy from its individual leg. The difference in speed made it stumble, so I took out a thicker rock and saturated it with KE and whipped it in a pitcher's stance. There was a loud CRACK as the rock smashed into the ogre's other leg. There was STILL no blood, just a nasty bruise.

"You are a tough mother lover aren't you?"

"GRAHH" the beast replied as he rushed me

I need to keep my distance, I can't trust myself in close combat. So I kept running and throwing rocks. It noticed that I was draining something from it but it didn't know what.

I was running low on rocks and all around me were only shrubs and leaves from the maze. I kept dancing around the ogre thinking of a way to keep my distance when I tripped on a branch of some kind.

"Where the frick did that come from?!"

I tumbled on the ground and got up as fast as possible. The ogre was already on me, as I faced the green monstrosity, all I was able to hear was my heart beat.

Thump.Thump Thump. Thump

It vibrated through my ears, onto my hands, down to my toes. This was do or die…

In a bout of tranquility and stillness, I knew what I needed to do.

The ogre swung its club down in fury. In a thought of genius I siphoned KE out of its shoulder as its momentum slowed down. I then went under the strike to its back. It tried to turn around, so I siphoned some more KE from its abdominal muscles, straining its ability to turn around.

I am 6 foot so it had some height on me but it was nothing too crazy. I jumped up instilling KE in my legs and swung down on its brain stem. Instilling my back and arms with the 20% KE I had left.

The impact was explosive, my hands were vibrating with pain. I chipped off pieces of bone but I obliterated it's fatty tissue and nerves.

The ogre fell forward as the blood and life slowly drained from its body.

[Achievement Gained: Clear Outer Maze within a month]

[Access to Inner Maze open]

[Stasis until requirements met to enter]

"What is sta-"

Then I blacked out