Upon hearing that message, the Mitsuya Guild members withdrew from three tracks in anger and frustration, as if they were tipped off about the arrangement in advance.
"How are we going to build the teams?"
The three tracks could each accommodate a total of 20 players.
So, my father could come up with the answer easily.
In other words, the Myongjin, Mirae and Tugal guilds agreed to take one track each.
But there was some confusion in the process because the Mirae and Tugal guilds expressed a strong desire to include me in their ranks.
But I couldn't help but reject their wishes this time because there was no guarantee that I could get the stat points that I wanted.
Anyway, after they deliberated and came to a decision, I stepped onto Track 1, along with my father, brother, sister and the elite players of the Myongjin Guild.
And when ten minutes passed, a new message rang.
[The quest "The Road to a New Hunting Ground" has begun.
-The quest 'Road to a New Hunting Ground' ends only after you finish the final 70th round.
-When you finish the 70th round, the following rewards are given to all 20 players on the track.
: Acquire 2 billion golden rings.
: Acquire 700 remaining stat points.
: Acquire 10000 coins.
: Acquire a key to the New Hunting Ground.
- Additional rewards will be given to the one who performed best out of the 20 players.]
Probably we would not have moved so quickly if the message was only about the new hunting ground. However, the rewards included a huge amount of 2 billion golden rings and 700 remaining stat points, as well as coins which were essential for raising the reality actualization rate. So we immediately formed a team and moved to this place.
Anyway, that message disappeared and an additional message rang.
[By stepping on Track 1, your status window will change to Strength 1, Agility 1, and Intellect 1.
-You have 3 possible attack methods: sword, bow, and magic. You can change the attack method at any time.
-The 1st stage of this quest will soon commence.]
"Check status window."
[Strength 1, Agility 1, Intellect 1]
As the message announced, that was all there was in my status window.
The huge stat points I had before, along with my three traits and nine titles were all gone. Even my ID was gone.
At that moment, I heard my father shouting loudly to the players.
"I am not expecting success on our first attempt. So, do whatever you want to do!"
I knew that I would be greedy if I could hope to succeed when all others failed until now, so I decided to test it on my own first.
At that moment, a message announcing the appearance of monsters rang.
[Round 1 has started.
-The monsters that will appear are Slimes.]
First of all, I opened my mouth quietly to the message.
"Magic attack."
[Your attack method has been changed to magic attack.]
I chose the magic attack that was most familiar to me.
Then, I launched an attack against the Slime group that appeared at the starting point.
Of course, not only me, but all the other 19 players on Track 1 did the same.
Puck! Puck! Bang! Bang!
This was the 1st stage of the quest, so a bunch of slimes continued to pop out at the starting point, but they couldn't move for long because they were immediately besieged by our attacks. All of them were killed with their bodies broken apart. Of course, that was the same with all the other tracks, not just Track 1.
And soon after that, another message rang.
[You have successfully finished Round 1.
-Your Intellect stat increases by 1.
-You have obtained 1 golden ring.]
"Wow! I chose the sword attack at the start, and now my strength has risen!"
"Ugh, I received an agility stat point. Should I change to a bow attack?"
"Absolutely, you should."
Since all their stats were 1 at the start, it was natural they began to change their attack method to match the stat that rose by 1 randomly.
In that respect, I thought it was because I was lucky that my intellect increased as if to match my magic attack selection.
And I also managed to save 1 golden ring.
According to the information that the Tugal Guild has already obtained through numerous experiments, I would have no difficulty in clearing up to the 5th round even without upgrading anything at this stage.
As if to confirm it, I succeeded in blocking all of the monsters without any exception until I cleared the 5th round.
"Check the status window."
[Strength 1, Agility 1, Intellect 6 ]
"..."
I was the only one out of the 20 people on this track who received increases in only 1 stat.
So, I had no choice but to think there was something special reserved for me.
At the same time, I made a choice.
"Check upgrades."
[Upgrades.
-Current golden rings: 5 golden rings.
: Sharp Blade
: Threatening Arrow.
: Lethal Mana Ball.
: Attack Speed Increase
-To upgrade one, you need 1 golden ring.]
"Choose Lethal Mana Ball."
I invested 5 Golden Rings in Lethal Mana Ball.
Then, a sign Level 5 appeared next to Lethal Mana Ball.
Soon a message announcing the start of Round 6 rang.
[Round 6 has started.
-The monsters that will appear are Darkness Spirits.
-Darkness Spirits have a 30% resistance to magic attacks.]
"This time the swordsmen and archers should do their best!"
"Got it!"
"Okay."
I was told that although Darkness Spirits with magic defense would appear in Round 6, a steel-armored monster Orc with 30% resistance to sword attacks as well as a monster with resistance to bow attacks would appear in the next rounds as if to balance it out.
Perhaps because I was lucky, only my intellect increased until now. And since I invested all the golden rings in Deadly Mana Ball, I had different results to the rest of them.
Bang!
[Kheeeeeeeek!]
Puck!
[Kek!]
Of course, all the monsters didn't die from my attack.
However, it was obvious that my attacks still inflicted critical damage even though they were magic attacks.
At that moment, all the other players cast their glance at me.
However, I had nothing to say except that I was really lucky.
Of course, it might be simply luck if my intellect increased again in the next round.
Anyway, I could finish Round 6 without any difficulty.
So, I focused all my eyes on the message that would ring soon.
If my intellect increased here again, it might mean that I have a special ability.
[You have successfully finished Round 6.
-Your Agility stat increases by 1.
-You have obtained 1 golden ring.]
"..."
As soon as I confirmed the message, I felt really let down because it confirmed I was simply lucky.
However, since I could not give up here, I used the 1 golden ring to upgrade Lethal Mana Ball again.
[You have successfully finished Round 7.
-Your Agility stat increases by 1.
-You have obtained 1 golden ring.]
[You have successfully finished Round 8.
-Your Strength stat increases by 1.
-You have obtained 1 golden ring.]
"...."
In the end, what seemed a good start ended up in a disappointing result.
That's what came to my mind when I confirmed a series of messages that showed no further increase in my Intellect.
Of course, by upgrading only Lethal Mana Ball, my damage power continued to increase compared to before. However, I could not help but feel regret that my Intellect stat had plateaued at 6.
Anyway, I kept hunting for a while, and we ended up losing all our 300 health in exactly Round 37.
"It's the first time we challenged it, but everyone did well."
Obviously, they did well.
The Mirae Guild, who challenged for the first time like Myongjin, failed in Round 32, while the Tugal Guild finished at Round 31.
At that moment, only one thing came to my mind.
'Man...this is more difficult than I expected!'