So, how am I gonna approach grinding my skills? I checked the Customize tab and saw that I can’t put any target dummies, I’ll have to go to the Market tab for that. I also can’t just spar with the monsters, since if I did that, any random trespasser could end them if they were recovering.

Some physical exercise maybe? But, how am I supposed to do that? I don’t have a human’s body anymore, and I’m not that familiar with the body of a gorilla. Sure, they may be similar to the body of a human, but you have to admit, being stronger than a human will net you completely different ways to bulk up your strength.

Should I work out? Like, do push-ups and sit-ups work out? I mean, an average gorilla is stronger than a strong human adult male, then if I worked out, will I stronger than most humans in the physical category?

Decisions, decisions… So for now, I’ll settle with doing some push-ups and hope it works.

150 push-ups later…

Holy lord… 150 push-ups and I’m just half-tired. My arms don’t feel that heavy, but I’m beginning to feel the strain, so how about I do some sit-ups next?

75 sit-ups later…

Okay… I’m beginning to feel the burn in my body, but my legs are still good to go. How about some squats?

30 squats later…

Holy lord… Having short, stubby legs with a huge upper body and arms makes it incredibly hard to do squats… I’ll have to find another work out for my lower body, maybe walking and jogging since these legs are already hampering my lower body enough as it is.

[Gorilla Body] and [Inhumane Endurance] increased a level!

Huh… I checked the my [Skill] window and saw that my two skills increased the effects of their passives, with [Gorilla Body] giving 10% instead of the usual 5% and [Inhumane Endurance] to 20% instead of its initial 10%. I then checked my status to see any difference.

Name: Jionni

Age: 0

Gender: Male

Race: Gorilla

Class: Juggernaut

Level: 1

Exp: 0/ 100

HP: 370/ 370

MP: 230/ 230

Str: 12 = 23

Vit: 16 = 27

End: 11 = 19

Agi: 8 = 9

Dex: 9 = 10

Int: 9 = 13

Wis: 8 = 11

Cha: 5 = 6

Luc: 1 = 1

Okay, I’m beginning to understand my status a little bit. For my stat attributes, the left corner are the base stats, while the right corner are the modified stats after being processed by my skills, and doing some quick math led to the revelation of 1 VIT = 10 HP, and 1 INT = 10 MP, rather simple calculations if you think about it. I wonder if I’ll get a skill that increases its multiplier though, that would be useful.

Now then, time to test my strength. A good workout increased my two skills related to my body, how about the other skill related to my strength. If I recall correctly, it has both an active effect, and a passive effect.

I directed my gaze at a nearby tree. Concluding that this tree will be fixed in about a few hours thanks to the dungeon, I settled it as my target dummy for the moment, until I can get a real one that can simulate an actual battle without any threat of death.

For now, I’ll check my natural strength. I cocked my fist back, and fired my log of an arm towards the trunk of the tree. Let me tell you, I did not think this through…

Imagine this, your body is currently in a relaxed state, and you tried punching something hard without actually readying your body for the feedback to come back. So based on my idiocy and short-sightedness, with a hint of delusion that nothing bad would happen, the feedback was something I was half-expecting, but did not expect to happen just yet.

“ARGH!! FUCK THAT HURTS!!!”

And that, is what happened. My hand burned, and I felt a very sharp, stinging pain from the knuckled and fingers of my hand. Sure, I did make a sizeable dent to the trunk, but it still hurt like a bitch.

Shaking of the pain by waving my right hand back and forth like a man obsessed, I rushed towards the lake and submerged it into the cold water.

“Note to self, before punching, ready body…” I muttered as I mentally kicked myself in the head for thinking that I had high pain tolerance.

Once the pain was gone, I looked for another tree so I could test the active part of the skill. Something about doubling the strength value of my next attack. I found a similar looking tree, which was not similar as it was instead, the actual tree I punched earlier. This time, ready for the pain about to come, I cocked my fist back, and tried imbuing mana into my hand.

I felt the muscles contort and compact, and I let my punch fly into the trunk. Once my hand met bark, the tree was literally blown away, its roots still clinging on the soil. The upper half however, was seen flying through the miniature garden and smacking against the wall a few meters away.

“… Holy shit…”

Holy shit indeed. My punch could literally uproot a tree, and suddenly, I was not so excited trying to test it against a live person or animal. Don’t get me wrong, if there was ever a threat to my life, I would eliminate the threat with extreme prejudice. I would not like to die twice, thank you very much.

But if I did use my punch against a human or person… Cleaning up the mess would be horrific… Eugh… Just imagining the blood spatters, organs scattered everywhere, and I’d have to clean it up… No, just, no… I came here to live my 2nd life the way I like it, not a fucking janitor to clean up messy and graphic situations, even if I was the cause of it…

While I was busy contemplating about life and death in this world, the Dungeon Core shined brightly, red text floating above within a holographic window.

Warning! Trespassers detected!

… Welp… looks like I’ll have to defend… Damn it… I so do not want to clean up blood stains…

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~ Third Person POV ~

It was just like any other day. Get a job from the Association, fulfill the job requirements, get paid. At least, that was what Jake was thinking when he and his team ripped off a job request from the board about investigating a strange cave found a few miles East from the town of Kazanpan.

As an F-ranker, the most he and his team did were some gathering jobs, and some investigations about new unexplored places in low-ranked designated areas.

Currently however, they were having the fight of their lives.

“Shit! Clayton! Some healing would be appreciated!” Jake yelled while he hefted his large shield against the incoming onslaught of these… humanoid beasts…

“Can’t! Those childlike monsters keep on getting in the way of my incantations!” Clayton, their healer dressed in a loose-fitting robe yelled back while dodging some stones thrown by the hairy, childlike beast standing atop the branches. When stones aren’t enough, they try to get in close and grapple their target and kick and bite at them to cause injury.

“Damn it! Fuckin’ beasts won’t gimme da time of day!” another one of their members, Jaxon, screamed as he barely got out of the assault of two chimpanzees, blood pouring out from his wounds. It was even harder because of the vines and trees surrounding them, leaving them at a disadvantage.

“Support incoming!” the last member, a woman named Flora in her mid-20’s exclaimed while firing a barrage of arrows towards the childlike beasts at the back. One of the arrows struck a leg of an unfortunate beast, felling one of them to the ground, blood pooling around the pierced leg.

“Fucking hell!” Jake screamed from the top of his lungs as he tried to shove off the huge beast bearing down on him with its huge log arms. His strength wasn’t enough, and he was crushed into the ground, his head crushed beyond recognition.

“Fuck! Dey got Jake!” Jaxon yelled while fighting off the two aggressive childlike beasts that won’t stop coming for him. “Clayton! Healing now!”

“On it!” Clayton responded as he chanted an incantation as green mist surrounded Jaxon. His wounds closed up, but the dried blood caked on his skin was still there, clinging like body paint.

“We need to run! Quick!” Flora screamed as she fired more arrows to deter the aggressive childlike beasts. The huge one however, spared no time and went forward towards Clayton, who was visibly out of breath from continuous casting. That was the 5th time he’d casted Heal in the span of 5 minutes, and as an F-ranking adventurer with a laughable amount of Mana pool, 5 heals were enough to leave him ragged.

“Clayton, run!” Jaxon screamed as he was able to decapitate one childlike beast and went running. Clayton, tired and exhausted, moved too late and was tackled by the huge beast and crashed into a tree, coughing up blood along the way. It wasn’t long before a chunk of his throat was cut out by a ravenous bite from the huge beast.

“Shit! Flora, run!” Jaxon yelled as he and Flora, the only two surviving members of the team, ran for the exit like men possessed. They weren’t able to reach them however, as another beast, this time with a colorful face, met them during their retreat. The colorful faced beast yelled at them while smashing the grounds with its hands and lunged for Flora. Jaxon tried to block the attack, but was deterred when another childlike beast grabbed his leg and began biting at it through the leather.

Flora, too scared to move, was tackled to the ground and mauled to death, blood and gore scattering around the place while her screams echoed around the forest within the cave. Jaxon pried off the childlike beast and impaled it with his sword, effectively killing it in one fell swoop, but the huge beast came running after him next. The last thing he saw was a huge, hairy black arm coming for his face before everything went black.

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~ First Person POV (Jionni) ~

Defense Successful!

Trespassers killed: 4 = 50 DP each

First Dungeon Defense Bonus: 500 DP

You receive a free Dungeon Spin!

“… Holy fuck with pee icing on shit…”

I stared speechless at the brutal scene on the screen. I gave the monkeys some tactics to go on, like the chimps throwing stones, and the gorilla fighting their tank, while the mandrill waits until they try running… Never did I think that the monkeys would dominate them the way they did. Sure, two chimps died, and one was injured, but I can just replace them.

Also, some things I found out during the battle, I can’t summon when there is a trespasser inside my dungeon, I can directly control the monsters summoned by me by telling them what to do, as seen by me giving them tactics, and I also gain experience from what my summons defeat. Here is my status now.

Name: Jionni

Age: 0

Gender: Male

Race: Gorilla

Class: Juggernaut

Level: 2

Exp: 180/ 200

HP: 440/ 440

MP: 250/ 250

Str: 16 = 30

Vit: 20 = 34

End: 15 = 26

Agi: 11 = 13

Dex: 12 = 14

Int: 11 = 15

Wis: 10 = 14

Cha: 7 = 8

Luc: 1 = 1

I gained 65 exp from the tank, 90 exp from the healer, 45 from the… I think he was a thief, and 80 from their archer. I gained a level, and my base stats increases, so that’s a good thing that came from this brutal encounter. Seriously, I did not need to see brain matter spilling out of the tanks head, or even the archer pleading mercy as she got eaten alive.

I can say for sure, that I would be traumatized by this event, and I know for certain, that future encounters would end up giving me more traumas to come.

For now, though, I want to sleep. I’ll check the Dungeon Status and that free Dungeon Spin when I wake up.. I’m mentally tired from witnessing something deepweb worthy.