Dogmen, or whatever these things were called. Are very unreasonable creatures. Here I just protested my innocence regarding his friend's death and confessed my looting of their corpses. And the fiend still tried to knife me with a machete. I mean, how uncivilised of this barbarian creature.

  Then again, I was pretty sure he didn't understand Grimgardian; he might lack any language skills whatsoever. Given the language barrier, it made sense that he would resort to using a machete. Why talk when blades can end conversations on a high note? Or a low note, depending on how the blade swings.

  Fighting monsters is one thing; fighting dogmen in armour and with a machete is another thing entirely. On reflex, I raised my weapon and barely parried the strike. The sight of his weapon scraping against my own and narrowly missing my eye was a sobering sensation.

  The force and resilience attributes made their presence known. A clumsy swing of my machete actually pushed him back, preventing a subsequent clash. I felt the powerful force travel down my arm to the tip of my blade and transfer against the dogman. Thankfully, I didn't injure myself in the blow.

  It still hurt a bit, but a dull ache was nothing in comparison. But every strike and near miss revealed certain truths were not ready for. Even with my enhanced abilities. I still lacked several attributes to round out my capabilities. I could already see the pain that awaited me, the excruciating feeling of integration.

  I wondered if it was not too late to hide in a cave for the next few decades. But then again, I have been a desk jockey hermit for far too long. It was time to strike out and make my way into the world. I needed strength, the typical motivation of most protagonists. But was I the main character in my story? No clue.

  "I need to know what I am dealing with. Scan this guy." I ordered.

  Spending five of our precious system points, I use a full thirty-metre radius scan on a single opponent. Wasteful as hell, I will need to come up with a more cost-effective method in the future. Mid-battle, Jenny gave me a summary of my opponent.

  [Name: N/A.]

  [Level: 7]

  [Race: Volkaran]

  [Class: Blood Butcher.]

  [Skills (Filtered):]

  [Blood Rage: Gains +10% to movement speed and attack damage. Cooldown: 5mins]

  Internally thanking my companion for the summary, that blood rage skill would probably enable this guy to rip me apart. His speed was already too much for me and even without. Only a matter of time before that machete ends up embedded in my chest.

  And like clockwork, the Volkaran or whatever this thing was. Stopped trying to hack me to death and instead leaped back. With some distance, I had time to rest. My stamina drained completely and trickled back up. The wheezing and general lack of endurance suggested I was reaching the limits of my ten in resilience.

  That attribute is probably the only reason I lasted this long. Glaring at the creature as a thick sheen of sweat threatened to drench my lower back. I noticed its hound-like face was sporting a grin.

  I knew nothing about the actual function of skills, but a cooldown-like system governed most and allowed only sparing use. I did not know how to sense when someone used such powers and didn't want to give him a chance.

  Maybe I could scare him away? I mentally suggested before communicating an idea to my companion. She thankfully crafted the message I wanted to convey to this beast and promptly sent a little package.

  [Soulrot Venom: A poison has affected you! You have 1 minute to live!]

  The notification passed from me and to the temple guardian. I could see the wide yellow eyes as the creature acknowledged its fate. Soon he would flee desperately to find a cure. Although one minute is a bit too low? Maybe we should have given him five or ten minutes to live.

  Snarling, the beast waved its machete in the air. Clearly, he was not a cheerful chap, and I was just using the brief reprieve to get my stamina back. Yet, against my expectation, instead of fleeing, he just stood there, growling low and eyeing me like a stain he wished to remove violently.

  "Jenny, he isn't leaving. In fact, he looks pissed." I said, stepped back a few paces to get some more distance. "You're poisoned dude, you need to get a healer real quick." I suggested and realised he likely didn't understand any of my words.

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  I thanked the system for having a translation function built in. Or he would have got some gibberish Grimgardian text showing up on his interface. So he should have been able to read it. Eventually, it became clear what he was going to do.

  The Volkarans eyes blazed crimson, and I wasn't entirely sure but that looked like he just activated Blood Rage. If I weren't screwed before, I definitely was now. My gambit failed and made it worse, since now he was going on a suicide charge.

  Thinking quickly, I tried to come up with a fresh idea. Raising my weapon in a pitiful defensive stance, I suddenly had an idea. Giving Jenny a quick query about two of her system powers, I made a few adjustments in a telepathic moment. Yes, this could work.

  Assured a new gambit would definitively work this time, I set in to wait for his attack. Muscles slightly bulged on the enraged beast as he raised his weapon, roared like a pissed-off lion and charged me with reckless abandon.

  "I cast Blind and Max Volume." Saying it out loud was unnecessary, but also necessary at the same time.

  Jenny reacted to my command and promptly sent a new notification to his interface mid-rampage. As the mighty Volkaran barreled towards me, a notification popped up on his screen. Enlarged to a size that covered his entire vision and with a pitch black background.

  In the next second, Jenny broadcast music piped right into his head at max volume from a recently established playlist of the loudest songs I had access to. Randomised for the fun of it and piped right at my enemy.

  The roaring anthem of Filipino pop blasted through his mind. An entire pop star group commanded the creature to get out of their way. The mighty chorus rose to a crescendo as the now blind and probably deaf beast clutched his head and slammed into the wall behind me.

  I had moved out of the way a few seconds before he arrived and immediately seized upon the opportunity. Plunging my machete into the downed creature. A single stab not being enough, I tore the blade away and struck over and over until the level seven enemy, far beyond me, died from three strikes.

  [Experience Points Harvested!]

  Jenny's prompt resounded as I fell back, spent and exhausted from the fight. Turns out stabbing someone in a frenzy spews blood all over the attacker. The blood drenched my poor suit, leaving me feeling sticky.

  "Oh, this will never come out." I complained, not sure why, since dry cleaning was probably not an option.

  Ignoring the stench of blood and death, I gingerly looted the corpse. Yeah, I know not very respectful, but I just stabbed this guy while he was down. Respect went out the window the moment prison rules came into effect.

  Getting another pair of shabby leather armour, a machete and, weirdly, a bag of old-looking gold coins. A crescent moon stamped each coin, and they all looked ancient. Shrugging, I shoved them into my bag like a regular pack rat and went about my business.

  "I need an attribute for dexterity or maybe better senses. The gods were on my side in that battle."

  Pondering whether I should continue on and find another place to hunker down in. Or go back to the entrance and try another integration. To be honest, I was not keen on any of that, but I had XP to use and that crap was just piling up.

  Eventually, after some discussion with Jenny and the brilliant conversationalist, Jeremy. We returned to the entrance, hid in a side chamber I didn't realise was there, and sat down to stab myself with hot pokers. Yeah, that's how painful it is.

  "Okay, Jen, Jer, here is the plan." Getting a rapt audience, I explained my idea.

  Jenny played thinking music in the background — some soft and melodious sounds. Jeremy just sat in front of me, staring into my soul. It only took a couple of minutes to explain, but it was a dire plan, all things considered.

  "So what do you think?" I asked the two.

  Jeremy just tilted his head, probably confused at the strange gibberish that came out of my mouth. Jenny started playing a bluesy rock ballad with smooth guitar riffs as the singer himself said we were all crazy.

  "I know it's insane and I should pace the integrations, but I can't just continue on without a full suit of abilities."

  What I was saying was valid. I had force and resilience attributes, but lacked balance. I didn't have the reflexes or senses to use my strength and speed. Got no active or passive skills, it left me reliant on Jenny most of the time. To be honest, I didn't want to drain her resources as I was not sure what would happen if she ran out of battery.

  "Look, guys, I know you're worried about me." I exaggerated with the bundle of indifference that was Jeremy and mostly directed it at Jenny. "But I need to do this, and I can't drain your battery every time I get in a fight."

  Again, I was exaggerating. I had used only a fraction of her resources. But every point lost would take ages to recover. And honestly, I was even considering funneling some XP to her. Ambient mana recharging was notoriously slow, and I had no clue where to get mana crystals.

  "Well, if we are all agreed, let's get started." I affirmed and assumed everyone was on board.

  What followed was a long chat about the new attribute integrations, how they will work and potential active skill ideas derived from her system features. It was all a way to give me powers and reduce the burden on Jenny. I mean, she will still be necessary to integrate new system features and would contain the lion's share of advanced capabilities.

  The lineup was decent, and the new attributes and skills were shotty, but serviceable. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to unpleasant side effects. With that in mind, I spent a little more time working out the bugs. Which translated to, I had Jenny look it over.

  "Okay, ill get the belt and let's get started."

  Placing the belt again between my teeth, I braced for impact. Psyching myself up with a few quick breaths and a mantra that insisted pain was only in the mind. I went through every excuse to delay before pressing the red button. I screamed like a little piggy, but I dare you to try this at home.

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