Arnold White plunged his sword into a clay golem. Schlop! A loud sucking sound could be heard as he pulled his sword out of the golem. Clat! A broken core fell to the floor. He picked up the core and stuffed it into his watch.
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[Points: 13]
Unlocked:
[Kill 1 Clay Golem(s) (23)] - 1 point(s)
[Kill 10 Clay Golem(s) (64)] - 5 point(s)
[Kill 1 Pebble Golem(s) (47)] - 10 point(s)
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He glanced at the boys standing next to him. "What're looking around for? Find me a pebble golem now!" He roared at them. They took off, running away in fear. He had a tight grip on their families. Disobeying him would only hurt the.
Arnold looked up to the ceiling of the cave in frustration. He screamed out loud. That blue-eyed wimp had really done it! He'd made him waste another half an hour searching for clay golems. Arnold fumed silently. Who the hell was that boy to defy him? He was from the White family, second only to twenty or so families. His father was an S rank gatekeeper.
Ethan Miller. He wouldn't forget his name. He'd hunt him down once he got out of here. He smiled, imagining how he'd torture his family and make him beg for forgiveness. He looked at his watch.
[Kill 1 rock golem(s) (29)] - 100 point(s)
His face paled. The rock golems task only had 29 slots left! There were only 40 slots in the first place. What the hell was happening? Surely 10 people couldn't have reached this task, right? After all, only ten people would be getting promoted to the next round. He scanned the list. No. Ten people hadn't reached this task. Somebody was trying to poach all the slots from this task. But how?
Rock golems weren't that common. Poaching it definitely wasn't easy. Maybe.....What if that blue eyed weakling was killing the golems in the moat. He shook his head. That wasn't possible. That kid was a weakling, and he'd managed to get three clay golem cores by luck. There's no way he was killing rock golems down there. Right?
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"Whirlwind." WHOOSH! Ethan unleashed a barrage of attacks as another round of rock golems fell. "Huff...huff...huff." He panted. His mana was extremely low, and he was about to fall down in exhaustion.
"ROAAAAR!" The rock golems bellowed as they lumbered towards him. "Huff...huff...huff." Ethan was tired. Fighting hundreds of rock golems endlessly had taken its toll. His head throbbed as he stumbled backwards.
Ethan had missed many golem cores while fighting. He would find himself surrounded by monsters, unable to pick up the cores a lot of times. His back hit a wall. "Huff...huff...huff." He'd reached the edge of the moat. He stared up. He was about a hundred metres beneath the surface. He could make it.
[Skill: Mirror Blade(G)]
Ethan jumped over a golem. "ROAAAR!" It swung its arm wildly trying to hit him. Shing! He stuck his knife into the wall of the moat. He channeled mana into his arms. Shing! Shing! Shing! He slowly climbed up the wall, reaching the top of the moat.
"Huff...huff...huff." He collapsed on the rocky ground, catching his breath. He'd done it. He had ventured into a dead zone and come back. His right arm hurt like hell. Using the 'Mirror blade' skill so many times had overheated his pathway, making his arm throb in pain. He sighed in pain. At least his skill hadn't regressed. Ethan checked his watch.
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[Points: 10,471]
Unlocked:
[Kill 1 Clay Golem(s) (0)] - 1 point(s)
[Kill 10 Clay Golem(s) (2)] - 5 point(s)
[Kill 1 Pebble Golem(s) (15)] - 10 point(s)
[Kill 10 Pebble Golem(s) (35)] - 50 point(s)
[Kill 1 Rock Golem(s) (0)] - 100 point(s)
[Kill 10 Rock Golem(s) (10)] - 500 point(s)
[Kill 1 Ore Golem(s) (20)] - 2000 point(s)
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Ethan smiled as he looked at his watch. He'd breached 10,000 points. With this, he was certain he'd pass the first round. Of course, his strength wasn't close to the top ten candidates here. But in terms of skill and drive, he was pretty sure he made the cut.
"Huff...huff...huff." Ethan panted loudly. He still hadn't recovered. Suddenly, he felt a surge of energy coursing through in his body.
Beep!
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[Name: Ethan Miller]
[Age:15]
[Status: Awakener(Physical)]
[- Stats]
[Rank: G-6]
[Strength: G-6]
[Agility: G-6]
[Stamina: G-6]
[Mana: G-6]
[Magical circuit: G-4]
[Personal stat(unnamed): G-5]
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Ethan's rank had increased. He'd become a G-6 rank awakener! He could feel a sense of excitement bubbling inside him. Progressing ranks felt good! The idea of going through each rank, becoming stronger and stronger was something that a webnovel enthusiast like him loved.
Ethan stood up on his feet. He wobbled slightly. A wave of nausea assaulted him. Mana deficiency was no joke! Tap...tap...tap. He stumbled towards the exit. He could see a lot of people gathered here. Seems like most people had come back, deciding to turn in their scores. Ethan submitted his watch. Beep! A terminal recorded his score. A message appeared on the screen. "Please head through the portal!" Ethan headed out of the gate.
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Arnold stared apprehensively at the screen. He had to have passed. Surely, he had passed! Right? After the test was over, all the applicants were sent back to the room they were waiting in earlier. The woman was also their, watching over the kids sitting their as they waited for the results. Beep! The clock ticked 3:30.
Everybody started talking. The results had arrived! "Ahem!" The noise stopped at once. "I will now be listing the names of the students who have passed this stage. "First place - Agung Sari. Second place - Eric Wagner. Third place - Chu Tian. Fourth place - Amano Haruto. Fourth place - Frank Edwards. Fifth place - E....." The woman suddenly faltered.
Arnold stared at her in anger. Why wasn't she listing the names? Why had she stopped talking? Was this Keystone's idea of suspense. Who was this E kid that this woman was talking about? Surely it wasn't that blue eyed weakling?
The woman looked sick. "F-fifth place. E-Ethan M-Miller." Arnold's face paled. How was this possible? How had that weakling survived? Surely he hadn't survived that damned pit? Did that guy seriously rank above him? A loud voice called out, almost lazily. "You forgot to add. F rank potential." The woman's eyes blazed.
Immediately, the room burst into commotion. "How's that possible?" "That F rank piece of trash scored better than me?" "This isn't fair, he must have cheated!" "Take the tests again!" "Launch an investigation!" "I....I," Arnold tried to say something.
"Silence!" A voice thundered. The woman had managed to regain her composure. "He hasn't cheated. All exams are conducted fairly, irrespective of background." She pursed her lips. Heavy silence descended into the hall. The idea that somebody worse than them had managed to score better than them was shocking.
Ethan stared at all the people sitting around him in disdain. "I guess I was lucky." He broke the silence with a smile. Everybody silently fumed at him. Even the bitch standing up there couldn't do anything.
The woman ratted off some names off the list and finished up. Strange. There were only nine names listed. Whatever. Maybe some people's identity were kept secret. Ethan didn't care. He walked up to the stage along with the other selected applicants. The woman handed each of them an electronic card.
Soon, Ethan's turn came. The woman looked down as she handed him his card. What happened today was completely beyond her expectations. "Well, I guess my heart didn't break too much." He smirked at her. Her eyes blazed as she opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but Ethan was off.
Tap...tap...tap. Ethan breathed in the outside air as he walked out of the building. He could feel a sense of victory and achievement, as if he had conquered the world. He grinned. "Hey dad! My test is over. Yeah, I passed. No, I'm serious! I actually passed. I came sixth. I even got more that ten thousand points. No, I...."
Ethan walked away without looking back. All those sneering gazes had already become insignificant in his eyes.