Bully Lord

Part-113

With each passing second, his body screamed in protest, but his mind remained clear. He focused on his breathing, on finding a rhythm, on enduring the pain. The minutes felt like hours, but finally, the two-minute mark arrived. James was battered and bruised, his body aching, but he was still standing.

He had done it. He had survived the grueling test. The mission was complete.

As the final seconds of the grueling two-minute match ticked away, a sense of accomplishment washed over James. He had survived, and in doing so, had completed the chain mission. The physical pain was intense, but it was overshadowed by the mental victory.

Exhausted but exhilarated, James collapsed onto the mat. As his breath slowly returned to normal, the System's familiar chime sounded in his mind.

**Mission 18 Complete. Success!**

A list of rewards followed:

1) +5 Increment of all stats

                Strength (STR) - 28

                Constitution (CON) - 32

                Dexterity (DEX) - 22.9

                Intelligence (INT) - 23

                Wisdom (WIS) - 25.3

                Charisma (CHA) - 54

2) Basic Judo Skill Set

3) Crabs Arm (Defensive Skill) - Rank C

    * Description: User can defend against anything with 100% damage reduction using their arms if the opponent is weaker. There is no limit or cooldown for weaker opponents. Against stronger opponents, the user can activate it for 10 seconds, with the first blow's damage repelled by 80%. Subsequent attacks' damage will be reduced by 50% for the remaining 10 seconds. Cooldown for strong opponents is 45 seconds.

4) Ultimate Skill: Sloth View

    * Description: You will see everything in slow motion and can move normally in that state. The degree of slow motion depends on your physical stats. Mana Cost: 1 MP per second in Sloth View.

James was stunned. The rewards were far beyond his expectations. A +5 increment to all stats was a significant boost, the Basic Judo Skill Set would streamline his learning process, and the Crabs Arm skill offered a powerful defensive tool. But it was the Ultimate Skill, Sloth View, that truly captured his imagination. The ability to see the world in slow motion, to react with superhuman speed, was something out of a fantasy.

As he sat there, processing the information, a sense of excitement and anticipation filled him.

James was eager to test the Sloth View skill. He envisioned himself dodging bullets, reacting to opponents' muscles tensing before a throw, dismantling his opponents' attacks with superhuman speed. But as he activated the skill, a wave of disappointment washed over him. The world didn't transform into a slow-motion ballet; instead, time seemed to tick by at a marginally slower pace.

According to the System, Sloth View operated at a 1% reduction in the flow of time. This meant he perceived 60.6 seconds for every 60 seconds in the real world. An improvement, certainly, but barely noticeable to the untrained eye. It was like watching a movie at 0.99x speed – a subtle change that felt more like a mental trick than a true alteration of time. Yet, this seemingly negligible difference was enough to make James question the skill's true potential. Was this all there was to Sloth View, or was there more to it? Did the time dilation effect increase with higher levels of the skill, or was 1% the maximum limit?