บท 7: Ch 7: The third trial [pt1]
"Stay away, human. You do now know-"
The monster was killed before it could finish speaking.
The same thing happened for the next…and the next.
All monsters on this trial stage were level 15 and below to accommodate the difficulty setting.
So, Soma, who was already nearing his mid-20s, had no problem killing them easily.
"Stay away? Your species is a premium exp pool for me. Why would I want to stay away from you?"
Soma asked as he attacked the monsters.
They tried to run away from him, but Soma was too fast and hit too hard.
His wires cut the running monsters, killing them instantly.
[Master of mana Manipulation proficiency increased. 10% increase. You can now use mana infusion with the Rickard spider strings]
Soma flexed his hand as he poured some mana into the wire.
It sizzled with mana, burning the Monsters instantly when the wire touched it.
Soma instantly felt drained when he felt the mana leaving his body.
His mana currently only had ten skill points, causing it to be weak.
But even that much was enough to kill the hoard of Monsters before him.
"N-No! Stay away!"
The Monsters tried to run, but Soma used his fires to block their way.
The strings he controlled went off slightly from the course he had set for them, but that was a given in his situation.
His skill level was too low, along with his mana level.
"B-Boss, what should we do?"
The Monster asked, now looking at the lizard-hybrid in the centre.
But the boss had already given up.
The sizzling purple in front of him looked like a death door.
Soma did feel a little bit bad about killing Monsters, but he knew the creatures on the tutorial stages were not alive.
The tower made them entities to train the pre-players and get their hesitation about killing out of the way.
'After all, once you were in the tower, it was either kill or be killed. Compassion hardly had any place unless you trusted another person.'
Soma closed his eyes as he heard wire cutting through flesh.
He had done this so many times, but seeing the massacre never got easier.
[Congrulations: You have levelled up. You are the first one to achieve level 25 in this round.]
[Additional compensation will be issued based on the time taken to reach this level.]
[Congrulations, you hold the fastest record for reaching the milestone.]
[10,000 coins have been rewarded]
[A log of the world tree has been rewarded]
[Log of the world tree: A mysterious tree capable of conducting mana through its essence]
Shocked would be an underestimation of what Soma felt at that moment.
'Log of the world tree? I got it, just like that?'
Soma felt bitter about the gift he had received.
He had almost lost his life trying to get this thing last time.
The World Tree was a legend, but the war caused it to break down.
The sap of the last log of this tree had been used to make Soma's best puppet.
"Ah, I got a fantastic reward but cannot use it now. First, I must find the old man who made my puppet for me last time. But I only know the location of that old geezer after 500 years. Was he even in the tower at this time?"
Soma wondered, remembering the old man who had gained the title of 'Hephaestus' and made the best tools in the tower.
There was no telling where that man was; even the notes he had read said nothing about his location.
"Ugh, this is maddening. Let's calm down and think. I need to focus and get what I want from this trial before I think about anything else."
The notes Soma had received in his system were handy.
They detailed information he had not known before that day.
Moreover, they had information about exclusive skills Soma needed to acquire before moving on.
And here were some crucial ones that could only be found during the tutorial stages.
'Let's see. I have about 100,000 coins. Now is the time to buy the skills that I want.'
"Shopkeeper, where are you? I need to make a purchase."
Soma asked, and the fairy who had attended to him before appeared.
The straight-faced fairy looked at Soma blankly.
"What would you like to purchase this time?"
It asked without emotion, and Soma instantly opened the skill tree before him.
There were a lot of choices, but Soma instantly found what he was looking for.
"I would like to buy Angle of Agility and Master of Resistance"
Soma asked with a straight face.
Both skills were costly, 50,000 each, and they looked pathetic when you looked at their stats.
[Angle of Agility: Boosts agility by 1%]
[Master of Resistance: Increases Resistance against status and external mana by 0.1%]
Both skills were nothing to write home about…for now.
That was why Soma needed to level them up.
"You sure like to pick useless skills to master, young man. What are you planning on doing with these skills?"
The fairy asked, now finally showing its curiosity.
"What am I planning on doing with these skills? Well, that's a secret you do not need to worry about."
Soma closed that discussion and quickly moved the threads around to check how flexible these things were.
They moved as he wanted them, and there seemed to be no interruption caused by his skills.
There was no problem with any of his skills.
"Well then, I am off to farm again."
Soma jumped into the fry of things, his strings moving incredibly fast.
He slashed at things he could kill, and his strings dealt with those he could not ready.
[You have killed 10,000 monsters with your sword. New skill: Master of the sword is attained.]
Master of Sword: Sword-related skills +10%]
The skill flashed in the periphery of Soma's eyes, but he did not even stop to check it out.
His primary focus was to drag the boss of the first arena out.
To do that, Soma will have to farm for three hours and then kill the mini-boss that emerged from the shadows.
"Darn it. These monsters are too low-level for me to farm now. They do not drop enough exp to level me."
There was a 10-level difference between Soma and the monsters he was killing.
It was easy to see why these monsters granted him less experience than he needed.
Still, Soma continued to farm.
And finally, around two hours later, the mini-boss appeared.
It was difficult to tell which one of these minions was the mini-boss, but Soma kept his concentration high.
[Warning: the level of the mini-boss and the world boss has been recalculated and readjusted to fit the current overall party level.]
[Mini boss level raised from level 15->20. World boss level raised from 20->27]
Soma received this warning seconds before his shadow rippled, and the mini-boss appeared from it.
The blow from that arm felt heavy.
The power behind that shot sent Soma flying, but he regained his balance.
"Fuck! Those hurt."
The tree Soma had collided with had a dent where Soma had collided with it.
But the hardness of the wood withstood Soma's body weight when he crashed.
The monster mini-boss brought its club out and rotated it around in an intimidating manner.
'It will hurt a lot if I get hit by that club again.'
Soma's thoughts were instantly interrupted by the crackling of a tree before it fell.
The trajectory of the fall headed toward Soma, but he managed to get out in time.
His back hurt from where he had crashed into the tree, but Soma had some recovery potions on hand.
'I need a distraction so that I can take a potion.'
Soma was confident in his skills, but the mini-boss was a handful.
The mini-boss came to Soma with its club, causing Soma to make a split-second decision.
He extended his threads to capture one of the underlings, threw its body toward the mini-boss with one hand, and took a potion to gulp it down in another.
The mini-boss was startled by the sudden attack from its ally, but it took out its attacker in a single hit.
But that split second was the difference between Soma's death and victory.
"Fuck! This potion tastes just as nasty as before. I can feel it threatening to come back up."
Soma held his hand before his mouth to force the potion down.
These potions might taste atrocious but are incredibly potent in curing external wounds.
[Healing potion consumed. Boost recovery rate by 200%. All minor injuries will be healed]
Soma was lucky that this was a tutorial stage, and the mini-boss had no awareness of what was happening beyond attacking and being attacked.
Any regular floor and Soma would have been in trouble.
"Now, let's face off once more."
Soma did not have enough mana to use the strings again, but he had his sword.
The low-level monsters flinched and backed away when Soma took out his Ice jewel.
The cold air forced the monsters to back down.
But the mini-boss did not back down.
Its club thundered as it struck the tree Soma was leaning against, and Soma instantly moved around to try and catch the mini-boss off guard.
[Angle of agility is activated. Your moment speed has been increased by 1%]
1% sounded like nothing, but that 1% was the reason Soma could dodge most of the attacks he was being dealt with.
The mini-boss was flailing around wildly, but it would allow Soma to kill it soon.
And as soon as that opportunity came, Soma pounced on it.
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