After a long soak ih, I took out a mirror, looked at myself, and stared. By this point, I should have bee aced to surprises left and right, but I wasn't. I looked even younger—like I did in my mid-twenties. But since I always looked much youhan my peers, I looked twenty tops. My eyes and hair were also ging. I always had a unique eye color, a light gray with purple uones, but now the purple was much more vibrant and pronounced. My hair was light blond, almost bleached-like, but now it looked closer to silver than blond. The ges were so drastic, I couldn't help but feel a sense of fusion and curiosity about their in and implications.

  After shaving, I looked closer at my skin—it looked smoother than ever. In the past, I had some ae scars, but now they were gone. Fog specifically on all the ged parts, I diagnosed my body and discovered that everything was fine—more than fine, in fact. I was a young, healthy male. After taking out a full-length mirror, I undressed and looked at my body; the ges tihere. I used to have a slight potbelly that my wife called my pasta baby; now I had a six-pack. It wasn't big or defined like a bodybuilder's; I was still slim, but now I had a pronounced muscle definition. My shoulders were broader, I had muscle definition in my arms and legs, and I thought I was taller, but I wasn't sure. I didn't bring a measuring tape—an ht. Still almost no body hair—oh well, you 't have everything.

  I went to sleep thinking about all the ges. Is this the mana's doing, or the stats, or what? The mystery of these ges kept me awake, my mind rag with possibilities.

  After enjoying an excellent breakfast of something resembling oatmeal in the m, I approached the innkeeper. "Thank you for your service during my stay," I said, handing him three coppers as a tip.

  He held up his hands, refusing the money. "You don't o do that," he said, shaking his head, his fusion evident. It was as if the cept of a tip was pletely fn to him, which I found quite amusing.

  "It's called a tip," I expined with a smile. "Just a way to shoreciation for excellent service."

  He ented, "You isnd folks must be rich if you give your money away willy-nilly."

  I ughed, shaking my head. "Only to deserving people for exceptional service."

  He looked pleased as he took the tip. "Do you have more of those 'rich folks' coppers' to ge?"

  "Actually, I do," I replied.

  His eyes widened with excitement as he produced aen gold and forty silver s. I handed him twe pouches filled with copper. He started ting the first five pouches, his fingers moving quickly.

  After a moment, he just took the rest and said, "I'll return the pouches shortly."

  I waved my hand dismissively. "You keep the pouches."

  He shook his head firmly. "Those leather pouches look real fancy; you sell them for many s."

  I smiled, unsure how to expin that it wasn't genuiher but PU leather, so I just let it go.

  Outside, I took out my bike, ected the trailer, Stretch hopped in, and we rode to the location of the jurbers. It took me five hours to reach the area, so before looking for them, we had lunch. Stretch ate twelve burgers and looked like he could eat more.

  I looked at him, really looked at him, and saw he was ging too. He was taller—before his torso reached my mid-thigh, and now it reached my pelvis. He was stockier and looked less "stretched." His paws looked bigger, and his fur, which used to be mottled with white, gray, tan, and bck, had smoother transitioween shades of light and dark gray with a lighter white belly. I Diagnosed him, and his body was in top dition.

  I Identified him:

  StretchAdult Bushnd Dress to awakening 34%

  Scratg his neck, I said, "We are ging, huh, buddy?" He wagged his tail furiously and slobbered all over my face.

  After lunch, I put on skinny jeans and loose, thick leather pants on top of them to protect my legs, a thinel shirt, and a leather-armored motorcycle jacket. I immediately started sweating a like I was melting, but it was better thaing bitten. Just in case, I put on a full-face motorcycle helmet and summoned my staff. Stretch gave me a strange look and shook his head—I hadn't imagi; he shook his head judgementally. I couldn't see his eyes from where I was standing, but I got the feeling that he rolled them—hard.

  We went looking for the jurbers. After five minutes, Stretch started growling, his hackles raised and eyes sharp with focus. I knew we had found them. I looked in the dire he was growling and followed it.

  The first jurber leaped out at me, its jaws snapping shut just inches from my leg. I swung my staff with a swift, practiced motion and crushed its skull, the sound of bone crag eg in the air.

  Almost immediately, another jurber lu me from the side. I spun around, my staff a blur, and struck it down. Before I could catch my breath, two more jurbers sprang at me, their teeth bared and eyes gleaming with feral hunger. I barely had time to react as I swung my staff wildly, fending them off.

  Then, suddenly, over twenty jurbers surrounded me. They moved in a chaotic frenzy, their growls and snarls filling the air. They were fast and vicious, darting in to bite and thereating before I could strike them. One sank its teeth into my calf, and I felt a sharp pain followed by a warm trickle of blood. Another bit my thigh, but the damage wasn't as bad as I expected—it felt more like deep scratches than serious wounds.

  I gritted my teeth a swinging my staff, each impact sending a shock up my arms. It was easy to dispatch them; they weren't tough, just fast, bitey, and incredibly annoying. Each time my staff ected, another jurber fell, but their numbers seemed endless.

  Out of the er of my eye, I saw Stret a. He was a blur of motion, his powerful jaws snapping and tearing through the jurbers. He took care of a few of them, but I noticed he got bitten a few times, judging by his winces and yelps. Despite the bites, he never slowed down, his determination unwavering.

  The fight felt like it sted ay, but iy, it was only a few intense minutes. Finally, the st jurber fell, and I stood there, panting and covered in scratches and blood. I immediately went to Stretch, agging his tail despite his wounds. I healed him and ed his fur, feeling a sense of relief wash over me as his injuries disappeared.

  Stretch looked pleased with himself, his tail wagging even harder. I checked my health to uand how the numbers worked, but it wasn't enlightening. My legs hurt, and I could feel I was bleeding, but the numbers showed 2980/3000. It made little sense.

  What else is new?

  With a sigh, I facepalmed and shook my head. I had the mana dart spell I once used oh to heal the rider and had fotten it ever si would have beeer if I had baited them to e out and shot them from afar. LitRPG books eveion mages being pared to artillery. I o make a list of all the ideas I got from those books and practice implementing them. What was the point of calling it "research" if I never used what I learned?

  After undressing, I healed my legs, ed myself and my clothes, and ied them. The leather pants had small tears in many pces, but the jeans had only small holes. I'd o fix that. I had an idea–I checked the Skills and Spells list and found the Mend spell. After a short deliberation, I bought it. Forty-eight ability points left. I was still good on that front.

  The red dot was blinking rapidly, like it was jumping and shouting, "Check me! Check me!" so after getting re-dressed, I checked it.

  Level 1 Jurber defeated Level 1 Jurber defeated Level 1 Jurber defeated Level 1 Jurber defeated Level 1 Jurber defeated Level 1 Jurber defeated Level 1 Jurber defeated …

  Of course, there was no other information. What did I expect?

  I approached the first jurber, diag, and got a BIG surprise. My surprise didn't even surprise me—I was getting used to surprises left, right, aer.

  Or was the mental aspey Strength stat finally kig in?

  The jurber wasn't a real animal or creature. Despite having a type of anatomy, it primarily sisted of polluted mana and was dissipating rapidly. It ossible for me to "see" it breaking down and dispersing into the air. Instead of attempting to loot it my "traditional" way, I swiftly eled my mana around it like a bubble and started pressing it, reizing the futility of my initial pn. I partitioned my mind and, with the sed half, tried to visualize a "spirit ." I just kept pressing and pressing and holding the idea of a ade of mana. It shrank more and more with the pressure until it felt like it folded on itself. My mind trembled as I pressed it even more, reag a point where I couldn't press it any further. After releasing it, a small green-gray crystal fell to the ground.

  I identified it:

  Polluted Earth Mana Crystal Inferior quality Unstable

  I tried to diag but couldn't; I felt a stroance. Instead, I sensed for its mana and immediately uood why it olluted" and "unstable." The mana was filthy; it felt even dirtier than in "jurber form." And it was breaking down fast; what I did hastehe dissipation.

  I rao the jurber aed the process, but this time, I partitioned my mind into three parts: Oo in mana and press, oo hold a picture of a mana crystal—I gave up on the idea, I k wouldn't work—and oo cast Purify on the mana. It was more challenging, and I got a headache, but I persisted until I got the crystal. Before eveifying it, I ed it again in mana and tried to create a shell around it to stop the dissipation. It felt like I could add mana into it, so I added mana into the crystal with the precise iion of ing and stabilizing it until it felt "full," and I couldn't add any more.

  My red dot was blinking. Yay!

  You have learo harvest Mana Crystals

  Again, not a Spell or a Skill, but learned.

  Why?

  It's not fair! I want a spell—a one-cast deal! I want to think "loot" a cool stuff!

  After a few minutes of mental griping, I Identified the crystal.

  Earth Mana Crystal Medium quality

  At least it rogress.

  Now, I tried something else; I created a mound of five jurbers aed the process. It was even more challenging and took much more tration, but I managed. Identified it:

  Earth Mana Crystal Medium quality

  The only difference was that the first crystals were the size of a pea, but this one was the size of a grape.

  Once I formed a bigger mound of half-dissipated jurbers and started again, a sudden wave of lightheadedness washed over me. Mana: 45/4200.

  Deg that I made good enough progress for one day, I went to make camp.