Ss gritted his teeth as he struggled to match the mutant''s strength. He could feel his energy depleting, and if he continued like this, the ws would soon make contact. Summoning all his might, he pushed the ws upward and leaped several steps backward.


    Ss didn''t stop there. He swiftly closed the gap and swung his de toward the mutant''s exposed right side.


    *CLANG!*


    Upon impact, a loud nging echoed throughout the chamber. The sensation Ss felt was akin to striking solid metal.


    "Curse these tough scales!" he muttered, leaping back once more to create distance and n his next attack.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But before he could catch his breath, the mutant charged forward. In the blink of an eye, it closed in and shed its vicious ws toward him.


    Ss''s eyes widened in terror as the ws hurtled toward him at incredible speed. At thest second, he raised his de to block the attack.


    *CLANG!*


    *BAM!*


    Though he managed to block it, the sheer force of the mutant''s blow sent Ss flying backward. He crashed into a pir and fell face-first onto the floor.


    "Argh... ugh..." Ss groaned in pain. He felt several bones shatter upon impact, but for some reason, the pain vanished within seconds, and the broken bones mended themselves.


    *DING!*


    [Passive skill: Super Fast Healing has taken care of your injuries.]


    [-10 Soul Points]


    [Soul Points: 90/100]


    Notifications popped up before Ss as he wondered what had just happened to his injuries.


    "Passive skill... I see," he mused, his gaze fixed on the screen floating in front of him. "This wasn''t listed among my skills earlier. I guess the system only disys active skills, while passive ones are hidden."


    In the games he used to y, characters had both active and passive skills.


    Active skills required the yer''s input to activate, while passive skills didn''t need attention. They would automatically trigger when certain conditions were met—like when a character''s HP dropped below a specific threshold, and a passive healing ability would kick in to restore health.


    "This passive skill is definitely useful. The only issue is the insane amount of soul points it consumes."


    The system had already warned him about what would happen if he ran out of soul points—and how he would need to restore them.


    The thought of running around the academy, looking for souls to consume, made him sick.


    "I''ll have to try my best not to get injured," Ss mused, eyeing the Turtle w mutant as it prepared for another attack. "But can I even win this fight without getting hurt? Honestly, I''m not even sure if I''ll make it out alive."


    Ss gulped as he took up a fighting stance, fully recovered from his injuries. All he had was a worn de from a dead staff member and the martial arts techniques he''d learned at the academy.


    Ever since failing to awaken a mutant ability, Ss had focused on martial arts training. Maybe if he learned enough, he could join a lower-tier guild and earn a few tokens—better than being jobless and dying without purpose.


    But could a battered de and martial arts skills really defeat a Grade Five god of the Realm?


    *THUD! THUD!*


    The chamber shook as the mutant charged forward, its thunderous footsteps echoing through the space.


    Ss gripped his de tightly, took a deep breath, and charged toward the mutant.


    As he neared striking distance, the mutant shed its ws toward him. Ss, reacting swiftly, sidestepped, narrowly dodging the attack by mere centimeters. He continued his advance, closing the gap.


    "Die!" Ss screamed at the top of his lungs, swinging his de with all his might at the mutant''s body.


    The de sped forward, but when it made contact, Ss''s eyes widened in disbelief. The de shattered on impact.


    The top half of the de exploded into millions of pieces, leaving Ss with nothing but the hilt.


    "What the hell—?" Before he could finish, a sharp pain shot through his back as the mutant''s ws shed him from behind, sending him flying once again.


    He crashed through three pirs before finally mming into a wall, crumpling to the ground.


    [You have been injured.]


    [-30 HP]


    Ss clenched his teeth in pain, struggling to rise. Blood poured from his back, staining the floor beneath him.


    As expected, the pain disappeared a few secondster, and the bleeding stopped as his body healedpletely.


    [Passive skill: Super Fast Healing has taken care of your injuries.]


    [-10 Soul Points]


    A holographic screen appeared before Ss, and his attention fixed on the number of Soul Points remaining.


    "Only eighty soul points left, and that bastard doesn''t have a scratch on it," Ss cursed internally, his heart pounding.