Chapter 9: Deadman's Resolve

Now that I think about it has been a long while since I checked my status hasn't it? I wonder how much it changed?

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[Titles: Chosen Undead]

[Souls: 0 ] [Humanity: 0]

[Sl : 6]

{Vitality : 11 }

{Attunement : 11}

{Endurance : 11 }

{Strength : 11 }

{Dexterity : 11 }

{Resistance : 11 }

{Intelligence : 11 }

{Faith : 11 }

[Skills]

[ Inspect ](Active)

[ Pain Tolerance lv.8 ](Passive)

[ Boxing lv.4 ](Passive)

[ Basic Acrobatics lv.5(max) ](Passive)

[Critical lv.3 ](Passive)

[ Broken Swordsmanship lv.5(max) ](passive)

[ Multitasking lv. 3 ] (passive)

[ Throwing lv.8 ] (Passive)

(-)

[Traits]

< Curse of Undeath >, < Deranged >

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Good, good. My skills have grown well against the Asylum Demon. In fact, they are very good but then why am I still failing miserably against the Asylum Demon? He is slow and I can dodge him reliably with my acrobatics as long as I don't panic against him. And my critical skill enhances my attacks when I land it.

/But 2 x 0 is still 0 isn't it?/

That's my problem. This is no longer just a skill issue. I just don't have the tools to beat the Asylum Demon. I have a broken dull sword and some bricks as my only offensive tools against a giant demon with a club the size of my body. Maybe I could do it if I could increase my stats by working out but unfortunately, my hollow body doesn't grow or regenerate naturally so I can't build muscle.

What can I do? I've tried everything I could find. I even tried prying off the metal prison bars to no avail. Just what can I do against something that completely outclasses me in basically everything with only some broken swords and bricks?

/Did you even think you stood a chance in the first place? Did you really believe in your own hype so much that you convinced yourself that you could beat it? Just admit it, even with a system you are still worthless. Wouldn't it be better to just hollow than to torture yourself like this? You are just torturing yourself meaninglessly for an impossible goal./

It felt like the whole world was crashing down on me. I felt my own voice both taunting and pleading me taking the shape of a centipede made of the many, many, corpses I left behind with their mangled bodies and their faces twisted in anguish stitched together in a shape resembling a centipede. It crawled around me suffocatingly.

/You gain nothing by continuing./

But I refuse to go down like that! There has to be something. I'm not wasting my second chance at life just burn down to the ground and become an insane hollow devolved to the point where I am indistinguishable from an animal!

Resolved I scoured every inch of the Asylum available to me while brainstorming about any idea possible no matter how improbable.

I spent days brainstorming and trying to remember any information. No matter how minute from my past life to find anything for my situation. Thankfully my memory had always been pretty good so I finally found something. Something so out there, so unbelievable to do here. But it was possible.

Blacksmithing.

You heard me right. Blacksmithing.

I have thought about it long and hard. What I'm lacking most is a proper weapon to kill the Asylum Demon. And blacksmithing can give me precisely that. And I've got all the tools I need here. No matter how scuffed they are. They aren't ideal but they should work in theory.

I've got hollows providing me with metal in form of broken straight swords.

The bonfire burns hot enough to melt the swords.

I can use bricks as makeshift sandpaper. and as a hammer.

I've got water and a tall pot for quenching the blade too.

And most of all; I've got a system that can help me overcome those shortcomings.

First off, gathering ingredients.

I went down to get the tall pot in my cell and filled it with water in the waterlogged room that I use as a gym. Then put it in my inventory. After that, I went to my bonfire and did something I discovered a while ago. If I put souls into the bonfire, it burns hotter. The bonfire basically treats souls like coal if you want them to. Which makes sense I guess.

After spending a fair bit of souls I got the bonfire hot enough to melt the broken straight swords. I built a crude brick structure around the bonfire to put the broken straight sword in so that it gets red hot for me to properly handle it. Afterward, I put in a few broken straight swords inside to melt them. While waiting for my sword to cook I also built an anvil-like structure for myself with some bricks.

After a bit, the metals were hot enough to use so I grabbed them, With my bare hands mind you, and put it on my anvil. Before you ask, yes, yes it does hurt like a mother humper. It is red hot metal what do you expect? But that pain tolerance skill isn't for show. Now that it was on my anvil I started hammering it with a brick at full strength while adjusting the position sometimes for it to keep the shape I want.

I had to hammer for a while until I got it to get in the vague shape. The experience was less than pleasurable as feeling and watching your hand burn down to your bones isn't fun. It took a tremendous amount of willpower but I managed to stay dead focused on making the sword while ignoring my pain. After all, this was my ticket out of here and a burnt hand isn't making me botch this. And thankfully when I was on earth I used to watch a lot of blacksmithing videos so I actually had an idea of what I was doing.

After around an hour of laser focus alongside my knowledge of blacksmithing, I managed to get the metal into the shape I wanted. While doing that I had to repeatedly put it back on the fire to get it back to the ideal temperature which annoyed me quite a lot along with the fact that hammering with a brick is quite uncomfortable. But after a while, I finally was satisfied with the shape.

Now I brought out the water vase, the vase full of water to... Quench it, I guess? I don't know what the hell I am doing okay!? I am just copying what I know from the videos I watched before. Give me a break. I put the sword back in the oven to cook some more then I grabbed it and sunk it along with my hand and-

Holy fuck that hurts. Tip: Don't put your hand in cold water immediately after handling molten metal with your bare hands for an hour. Actually, fuck it, don't handle molten metal with your bare hands in the first place.

Even better, don't ever get into a situation where you have to do something that even remotely resembles what I'm doing, okay!?

After enduring a minute of mind-numbing pain I finally pulled out my piece. Something to note is that I was missing several segments of several fingers after pulling out of the water. Finally done with my piece I set it aside to heal my 7th-degree burn at my bonfire. Kind of ironic isn't it?

After healing I finally took a look at my sword and I gotta say; It doesn't look too shabby. Although it had plenty of room for improvements. You could see that it was indeed a sword. It looked like a standard straight sword although it looked a little crude and cheap due to the quality of the metal and my inexperience. But it wasn't over.

I need to sharpen it for it to be complete. So if a remember correctly a brick can substitute for sandpaper or a whetstone. I pulled out yet another brick from my storage and poured plenty of water over it. Then emulating the way they did it in videos I started to sharpen my blade. Taking care to make my movements even. After rewetting the brick a few times I was finally done.

< You have created { The Deranged Hollows Blade } >

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< The Deranged Hollow's blade >

A weapon that while its quality of the material is certainly lacking and its smith is inexperienced. The Deranged Hollow's pure dedication and focus that went into making the weapon make up for his lack of experience and material.

It is a mediocre straight sword with unusual durability unbefitting of its material yet matching its wielder.

Abilities:

-Increased Durability

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< You have made multiple achievements at once! >

Wow. This is weird on multiple levels. First; this is the first time the system actually communicated with me this much. And the other one is, is my blade really that good? I mean it doesn't look very impressive. Though its ability is nice. Anyways, Yes fuse them.

< You have acquired the title: {Natural Craftsman} >

< You have acquired the skill {Blacksmithing lv.3} >

< You have acquired the skill {Focus lv.1} >

With that wave of notification going through my head. Before I could even express my surprise about my achievements and gains I suddenly got a headache. I felt like a wave of information was being shoved into my brain and alongside that, I felt my very nature change.

After my headache subsided I checked my gains.

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< Natural Craftsman >

You are unusually gifted when it comes to crafts pertaining to production such as blacksmithing, tailoring, etc.

-Increases the rate at which production skills level up

-Increases the rate at which production skills are learned

-Increases your efficiency with all production skills.

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< Focus lv.1 > (Composite)

-Enhances your focus when used actively at the cost of stamina

-Slightly increases your ability to focus on any subject passively

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Huh, my first semi-active skill and it seems really useful overall in basically any situation. Especially during combat and production. And talking about production, I don't think I have to explain just how good the Natural Craftsman trait is, do I? For anyone pursuing the art of production, it's basically the trump card, if the trump card flipped the table over and shot the other player. It's just that good.

But now.

It's time to end this.

I finally have a weapon good enough to wound him. But first I swung my sword around for a few hours to get used to it and fix my swordsmanship skill.

< Your skill { Broken Swordsmanship lv.5(max) } has evolved into

{ Basic Swordsmanship lv.1 } >

Now. I'm ready and It's now or never, I refuse to fail this time. I will win. /No matter what/.

I approach the doors with my blade grasped tightly as I enter my all too familiar execution chamber. A place that has caused innumerable deaths and pain. But this time the air inside felt different. For it wasn't my execution chamber any longer. /It was his/.

The moment he jumped down I activated my skill focus and I felt my surrounding become blurry as all my senses focused on the Asylum Demon, anticipating his move. He swung down vertically toward me. Just as it came closer to me I sidestepped it and sprinted toward him while he was stunned. I reached his thigh and swung.

/*Slice*/

For the first time. I actually felt the blade dig into the Asylum Demons' flesh and draw blood, it felt exhilarating but I didn't let my focus waver as I slashed him again and then retreated just before the great hammer fell on the spot I was standing on. From my position, I could see the wound I inflicted and his angered expression.

This time he swung diagonally toward me but anticipated it as I rolled under the great hammer handle as it passed me by and then rushed toward his unguarded stomach. Having reached him I focused again and plunged the blade right into his stomach with all my might.

[CRITICAL!]

< Your skill { Critical lv.3 } has leveled up! >

< { Critical lv.3 } -> { Critical lv.4 } >

The moment I pulled my blade out from his stomach after my critical strike he staggered backward from the pain. /How pathetic, can't handle even a single percent of the pain you inflict?/ But seeing how he staggered I didn't let up as I pursued and slashed him a few more times on his belly putting more wounds and worsening the critical wound I inflicted before.

But it seemed like he wasn't a sitting duck, however, as from my blind spot he swung toward my side. Knowing I couldn't dodge in my current position I instead braced for the hit and jumped a bit just before he hit me. I was flung across the room, I felt my broken left arm and half my ribs along with most of my bones pain me as I felt the world getting dark.

/I won't go down like this./

Pulling together every string of my consciousness I focused on my body as I got up. Due to focusing on my body, I felt incredible pain But I didn't waver as I rose to my feet and ran toward the Asylum Demon with my broken body being held together by sheer willpower.

< { Pain Tolerance lv.8 } -> { Pain Tolerance lv.9 } >

< { Focus lv.1 } -> { Focus lv.2} } >

< { Focus lv.2 } -> { Focus lv.3} } >

I saw his hammer come down in front of me, In a flash, I got an idea fueled by adrenalin as I backflipped narrowly avoiding the hammer by a hairs breath but I wasn't done as I pulled every inch of what little stamina was left in me using my focus skill as I, befitting of the deranged hollow ran up the Asylum Demons Great Hammer while he was stunned. Successfully keeping my balance and speed until the end while running up his hammer handle I reached his ugly face dyed in surprise.

Pushing my focus skill to it's very limit I powered through the unbelievable pain to use a very strand of whatever power was left in me to the extreme as I slashed out with literally everything I had toward his neck.

'DEADMAN'S BLOW!'

[CRITICAL!!!]

With all of my power focused on a single point alongside my critical hit I beheaded the Asylum Demon.

[VICTORY ACHIEVED]

I fell down along with him but I didn't care as I lifted myself back up using my sword as a crutch while I grinned at the message. I felt my body turning to dust as I was dying but I didn't care as I used the last of my strength to make myself stand properly while leaning on my sword to give one last gesture of spite to the dead demon.

I pointed down.

Then I passed out.