Lament of the Slave

Chapter 45: Speed

"Oh, I can be even faster?!" I said excitedly after looking at the description of my fourth second-tier skill. [Swift as a Whip] was a skill that was quite useful in combat to me, although demanding on endurance. Now that the fight was over and my body was not flooded with adrenaline, I felt tired and quite sleepy.

Despite how I felt, I wanted to test the changes that the new tier had brought right here in the labyrinth. Though I looked around before I started testing anything, checking there were no other rabbits in sight. Making the same mistake twice would be stupid!

Lastly, I made sure I didn't lose the platform. For peace of mind, I stood on it. It was only when I saw the text [Floor 0] hovering over my labyrinth mark I calmed down enough to focus my attention on my body.

Starting lightly with a few punches, I tried to get used to the new speed. That ten percent change was noticeable, which made me thrilled, and I had to try more right away. So I ran and ran as fast as never before.

Okay, to be honest, I wasn't that much faster, but the difference still made me squeal with joy.

After I dashed back to the platform, I tried sidesteps, jumps aside, backward, forward, even rolls just to get used to the new speed. I really didn't want to be surprised by it in the fight, and it wasn't just about speed.

My endurance did not increase with the change in skill, which meant I got tired faster. Just a few minutes of this training, and I was dripping with sweat. Even so, I pushed my limits and practiced as long as my body allowed. I trained until I fell into the grass, gasping and unable to move a muscle just to find out where my new limits are.

Lying there and gathering strength, I looked once more at the description of the second tier of the [Swift as a Whip], making sure I had missed nothing.

Tier II - The speed of the tip of the whip may be out of reach for you, but as long as your body and endurance allow, you can double your speed. Although a slave's body has its limits, and you will have to face the consequences of exceeding them.

The double speed at the expense of endurance, I understand. I expected to get tired much faster than a while ago when I used the thirty percent increase in movement speed. But what worried me were the consequences about which I had no idea what they might be!

Hmm...

There was no sun in the false sky, no way to tell how long I had been lying there thinking about the possible consequences as I gathered my strength. Well, that is until I looked at the system clock. To my dismay, I lay there for over two hours, and given how little I thought about the consequences, I had to have fallen asleep.

"Shit!" I swore, cursing myself for my carelessness. Panicking, I immediately looked around, almost expecting a rabbit gnawing on my leg. Luckily what I felt on my leg was just my tail, there was no rabbit around.

"Why didn't you wake me up?!" I growled at Sage, knowing it wasn't his fault that I took a nap.

I stood up, wiped the drool, and was ready for the double speed test. Well, not as ready as I thought, I was still sleepy. So I slapped my cheeks, took a deep breath, cleared my mind, and focused on the skill.

Right from the start, I rejected the voice activation, just like with [Master's Shield]. For active skills, although embarrassing, it was a valid way to activate the skill.

At least in my experience!

It's been a long time since I've tried to activate skills in Dungreen's dungeon that way, and I've learned a lot since then. It wasn't necessary for me to shout the name of the skill out loud anymore and I was proud of it. However, what was tricky in this case was distinguishing, say, a normal mode from a double one.