The sound of the morning bell rang."It's earlier than usual," Michael grunted as he sat up. "What gives?"Sitting up, Francis chuckled. “It’s Phillip. One never knows what he’s going to have us do.”“That’s for sure… let’s get dressed, I don’t want to be last,” his brother replied.Francis nodded, anxious to see what waited for him on the other side of the battlefield.[ Quick Attack ( Uncommon ) - This skill is an activatable ability that speeds up the attack while also altering its path. It can be used in any form of melee attack. The damage and power behind the attack is reduced by .5 the normal output. Utilizing the ability drains a portion of the user's stamina and the cooldown is based upon the skill rank as well as the user's physical ability. As the rank increases, the damage reduction will decrease. Skill does not protect the item used or the physical body from injury when attacking. ]***Francis roared, ripping his sword from the snake’s scales, driving it repeatedly into its chest, and glancing around at all the beasts staring at him.I can’t believe it took two hundred and forty-eight deaths just to defeat this one beast... Four deaths prior, his Perception had increased to a twenty-six, and everything changed. The only disadvantage to that increase in perception was the horrible death he experienced when his senses overloaded and the snake-kin ripped his head off.Francis had convinced Stenson he needed to do this. The old man had agreed, still seemingly amazed at how much Francis had progressed.Even now, with his stats, there was no way Francis could have achieved this growth in the Spires without long, drawn-out weeks, if he could stay alive there. Here, he had a place that didn’t care about what his birth order was.All they wanted to do was kill him.And all Francis wanted to do was get stronger by grinding himself to death against (...)