013. The Trial of Competition (2)
Steel Flask.
A potion that creates special ability points given as a reward for the 3rd floor ordeal.
It’s a luxury item that will soon be worth the price, but…
“You took the Elixir of Steel.”
「The special ability ‘endurance’ is created.」
「The will of steel dwells in the body, and the durability of the body increases as the endurance ability increases.」
It didn’t feel important anymore.
What really matters is whether or not you can break through the 4th floor ordeal.
『Han Seong-yoon』
『Muscle – 34』 『Stamina – 29』
『Agility – 33 (+5)』 『Magic Power – 20』
『Endurance – 10』
『Unique Attribute – Necromancy (E)』
『Skill – See details』
I am proud to see the stats that have risen more clearly than before and the newly created durability stats.
However, perhaps because I was nervous, the sense of accomplishment was not as great as before.
‘I have to win this 4th floor ordeal by using everything.’
win or lose.
The final destination on the 4th floor of the Tower of Trials was no different from a fork in the road.
If you lose, you will die. If you win, you will become stronger and rise up.
At that time, only those who chose to fight without hesitation would survive.
‘I’m not sure if I can win the fight…’
At least he wouldn’t be avoiding a fight.
Oddly enough, climbing this tower of trials gave me confidence.
The belief that you can become stronger without living more powerless.
I feel like I can go anywhere with just that.
So there was no more hesitation.
At least he won’t avoid the oncoming fight.
And I was determined to fight and win.
Even with that simple decision, my mind quickly calmed down and the task to be done came more clearly.
Among them, taking the elixir of steel was the priority.
“As expected, the effect is good because the grade is high.”
Changes in the body come immediately and the texture of the skin changes.
Not soft and fragile flesh, but rough and hard to the touch.
It is said that the will of steel dwells, but it really feels like your body is becoming steel.
Not only that, but it was enough to know that the durability of the body would have risen considerably.
It was a bit disappointing to lose the reward in an instant, but there was nothing I could do about it.
I started preparing for training by checking the things I could use right away.
However, I decided to save a little more points.
To save and not use more, except for a few potions or food.
Because I thought it would be more efficient.
‘There’s a return stone, and they say they’ll sell skills later.’
Rather than using it now, it would be better to save it and use it later.
The equipment you have now is enough to survive.
And judging from the rough atmosphere, it seemed that the theme of the 4th floor ordeal was competition for real.
‘If it was just a trick to ruin the atmosphere, someone who knew would have said it.’
But it’s not like that, so it must be this quiet.
I was able to infer information like this without needlessly wasting the right to ask questions.
“Three in one…”
I suddenly remembered the way the trials were conducted on the 4th floor and narrowed my eyes.
It was the first time he had met other people since entering the Tower of Trials.
Because in the trial of the tower, contact with others was impossible.
So I was more nervous and also expected it.
‘Would all the other challengers have grown like me?’
Since there is no sample, it is difficult to fully realize one’s own growth.
Oh, of course, I know that my growth rate is quite fast.
but.
Aside from that, I was a bit curious about how much the challengers in the Tower of Trials had grown.
I don’t know the details of the people who entered this tower.
If it was natural, it was natural ignorance.
Even before he was active, he did not carelessly inform the community of what he had gained.
But if there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that they won’t be easy since they’ve passed through three trials.
It was clear that all of his competitors would be formidable opponents.
‘Even though I’ve grown up, I shouldn’t be overconfident.’
I made up my mind calmly and prepared for training.
In fact, there was nothing to be prepared for.
It’s because the end is to check the acquired skills and equipment and set the direction of training based on them.
And if there’s anything special, it’s just this.
“Are you sure you want to cancel the healing effect of the waiting room?”
“Y/N”
Using the information gathered right before the community went quiet.
Well, even if it costs a little bit, it’s worth checking out.
“The recovery effect of the waiting room has been canceled.”
“Physical fatigue builds up, and physical defects cannot be recovered.”
Didn’t you say that turning off the recovery effect would make it easier to learn or increase skill proficiency?
If that’s true, it’ll be quite helpful in this situation.
I checked all the rewards and took the Elixir of Steel.
So, now you have to be prepared to take advantage of all of them.
as it has been so far.
***
Around the time when he was polishing his skills and finishing adapting to a body equipped with strength.
A message popped up as if it was time to make a decision.
“Will you accept the 4th floor trial?”
A hologram message asking if you would calmly accept the ordeal.
I looked at it and breathed heavily.
“Hee hee hee hee.”
Damn, there is no recovery effect, so training is difficult.
‘I never thought there would be such a difference with or without a recovery effect…’
Physical fatigue accumulated from the act of swinging the sword and rolling on the floor.
A tingling sensation all over the body and a tingling sensation to the bone.
Of course, it wasn’t just that it was so exhausting.
「The skill ‘fast regeneration’ is activated.」
A situation where he even confirmed his high-speed regeneration skill by cutting his skin several times with the blade.
So, I couldn’t help but feel more tired.
It was only natural that he would be so tired as he hacked his body bit by bit.
Although it was a little bit, self-injury also put a burden on my mind and body.
However, the results were quite satisfactory.
『Skill – Fast Regeneration (E+)』
『Proficiency – 27%』
『Effect – Quickly heals wounds except fatal ones.』
As I hurt myself little by little with the blade, my proficiency rose bit by bit.
Self-harm does not raise the mastery of the resistance skill, so the mastery of the pain resistance remains the same.
Even if you can raise it, the problem is the activation condition of Pain Resistance.
Because it can only be activated when you feel extreme pain, even if you can increase the skill level, it is no different from torture.
Rather, it is fortunate that skills such as pain tolerance have restrictions that cannot be raised by self-injury.
If it was possible, one day I would have had to raise my proficiency even forcibly.
However, high-speed regeneration is just a skill that automatically activates when you get hurt.
‘It’s fortunate that I was able to raise the skill level of high-speed regeneration.’
Originally, there were quite a few skills that did not allow this kind of trick, so it was more like that.
Of course, even recovering from small wounds consumes a lot of stamina, so I couldn’t upload much.
There is a possibility that you will collapse due to lack of stamina.
And it was because the more wounds there were, the higher the chance that high-speed regeneration would not activate.
Of course, it is possible to turn on the recovery effect again in case of danger, but the problem was the point as always.
‘I don’t know if I get more points, but I can’t turn it off and on again yet.’
Still, there were quite a few harvests besides that.
Since there is no recovery effect in the waiting room, training has become more efficient…
He got tired well, and useless movements were removed from his body, and the performance of his skills was well revealed.
Like the effect of the durability ability gained from the steel elixir.
Such was the case with the increased cutting power of the dagger technique obtained as an additional breakthrough reward.
In particular, the increased cutting power of the Hunter-type dagger technique clearly reduced the power of the body.
At first, the cutting force that was higher than expected almost cut my wrist, so of course I had to do that.
Well, thinking back to those mistakes gives me chills.
however.
‘Still, it was a better training method than I thought.’
Adaptation has become faster than before because of trial and error.
In conclusion, it would be a loss not to use this training method.
You can know your limits well, and most of all, you can train close to the actual situation.
‘Are there enough merits to use other than just raising or acquiring skill proficiency?’
If you want to prepare for the ordeal, this is a must-have feature.
It would be perfect for him to die if he rushed into the ordeal without knowing his limits.
“…”
After taking a short break like that.
I caught my breath and turned on the recovery effect in the waiting room while watching the message asking if I would accept the ordeal.
Points are consumed immediately and vitality springs up throughout the body.
Injuries and sore muscles loosen up and fatigue recovers.
Now, with this, all the factors that would interfere with the ordeal are gone.
The use of skills, checking of rewards, and getting rid of physical fatigue were finished.
A situation where there is no reason not to respond to the ordeal anymore.
So now it’s time to challenge the 4th floor ordeal.
Maybe the training has just finished, so you might say that I’m trying too quickly, but it wasn’t like that.
‘Because if I hesitate, I might not be able to advance further.’
It’s one of the things I realized while climbing the Tower of Trials.
If you don’t move right away when you make a decision, you’ll just fall behind.
Because I personally experienced it on my way up to the 4th floor, I got rid of my hesitation as much as possible.
To not die and to rise higher.
“Will you accept the 4th floor trial?”
“Y/N”
It was obvious which option to choose out of the options that popped up in front of my eyes.
‘If it’s not now, I won’t be able to advance for the rest of my life.’
In the end, there is only one option.
After I made my choice, a hologram I hadn’t seen before appeared in my field of vision.
「Matching challengers…」
“Please wait until the match is completed.”
「Number of currently matched challengers – 18/30」
I was wondering what the other day, when I said that trials were assigned using the matching system.
‘Now I think I know what that matching system is.’
It is to collect a certain number of people and drop them on the 4th floor ordeal.
‘It’s simple.’
The Tower of Trials always gives challenges to challengers in an intuitive form.
It seems that they only consider routes that are easy for challengers to grow…
When I thought about it, I was curious about it.
‘What on earth are they doing this for?’
Even though I was only on the 4th floor, I became stronger than most low-level hunters.
The gap is even worse if you consider the special ability or the equipment you have now.
The more you go up the floor, the more vicious the difficulty becomes.
Towers come with more rewards and higher level environments.
“…”
It’s just a hunch, but I don’t think the tower will grow like this for free.
If you promote growth, there is a price to pay for it.
‘If there was anything the tower wanted from me, what would it be?’
Obviously, as the scale is large, it would be a difficult wish for an individual to dare to guess.
The moment when I was trying to carry on my thoughts in detail.
keying!
I woke up from my thoughts with the sound of mechanical gears engaging in my ears.
「Number of currently matched challengers – 30/30」
「The matching of the challengers has been completed.」
The environment to enter the 4th floor ordeal was prepared.
And at the same time, a portal was created in the waiting room as if to move quickly.
I stopped thinking about it and immediately moved to the portal.
‘Let’s think about complicated things later and focus on this for now.’
From now on, if I don’t pay attention properly, I could die.
“Enter the 4th floor of the Tower of Trials.”
「Difficulty – Hard」
「This ordeal is a special ordeal, and it is an integrated ordeal with 30 challengers.」
「The theme of this ordeal is ‘competition’.」
“I hope that the challenger will have a satisfactory result at the end of his or her chosen penance.”
Whoops!
As the surrounding scenery changed, a sight that seemed to come out in the Middle Ages came into sight.
The interior of a huge fortress made of bricks and decorated with paintings everywhere.
But there was no time to appreciate the sight.
“Start assigning team members.”
As the community said, team members started to be randomly assigned.
“You and your teammates have a close relationship.”
「Cooperate with them and together pass the ordeal faster than other competitors.」
A brief explanation followed, and then something unexpected happened.
Whoops!
The portal I came out of disappeared and then two portals appeared.
and.
“The 4th floor trials begin.”
「Remaining time – 1 day」
「Common Ordeal Breakthrough Condition – Defeat the Goblin King within the remaining time」
「Common ordeal failure conditions – the destruction of the challenger team or the end of the remaining time」
「Common ordeal breakthrough reward – All stats +4」
「Common Ordeal Failure Penalty – Death」
The time has come to begin the 4th floor ordeal in earnest.
