Chapter 168: Resourcefulness

Chapter 168: Resourcefulness

This white orb safeguard... It feels like a trap. If you leave when you fall unconscious, it means you cannot sleep. But we can piece together that there is downtime between levels, and we have no indication of how long the trial will last.

But then again, it also allows you to survive if you pass out during a fight

No way Im picking the white orb, though. Im here to break everything. Im ready. Ill say it; this is rank one or nothing. Ill push this trial to its limits.

Even if Im unconscious, Pareth can fight. Even if I die, the rune can bring me back. I have no reason to play it safe.

Sofia was curious to see what everyone would pick, so she did not move. The old warrior was first to stand up. Black orb.

Mornn was next, followed by Alith. Bothblack orb.

Then Astelia stood up. She seemed hesitant but in the end Black orb.

There was only Sofia and the mage left.

The man looked at Sofia, he seemed to want to observe what everyone else was doing too, but he was nervous, shaky. And seeing Sofia so nonchalantly waiting cross-legged on her chair did not help.

Come on, my arms hurt, Sen called out.

As if.

The bespectacled mage finally gathered the resolve to stand up. He walked up to Sen. Raising his right hand; he reached for the black orb.

He stopped himself at the last second. His palm hovered above the black orb Then the white Then the black And he picked. White orb.

No shame in that.

Sofia felt the magic that was preventing her from speaking was lifted.

Sen looked at her with a smirk. Any last words, Miss Aphenoreth?

Prepare to see your ranking drop by one, Sen.

Hopefully, more than one. I pray for your success.

You pray?

Figure of speech.

If you say so Oh, I meant to ask, if I die with my rune, that will not disqualify me, right?

Did you really die if youre still alive?

I see; thank you for your answer.

Sofia touched the black orb.

Sofias first reflex was to put on the Orichalcum armor, activate the bone armor which layered itself over it, summon Pareth, and immediately start casting all the skills.

But then she stopped because although she was alone in the center of a large circular room, it was completely empty. It was well-lit, thanks to rectangular sources of light resembling windows lining the top of the wall, but Sofia could tell these were no windows. The light feels the same as Zereis ritual.

For a second, she wondered if the first enemies were ghosts, but a few system messages came along that explained the situation.

[Ranking Spire Phase 1 : Floor 1/10]

Then she burned through her stamina as fast as she could. Blew herself up with a bolt and started again with full stamina. That allowed her to keep going as fast as possible the whole time, much faster than pacing herself or waiting for stamina to regenerate naturally.

She only had to repeat this process a second time, and after burning through seven times her regular stamina, she was done. Almost.

[Points : 9998 / 10 000]

This sure took a while. Its bad, but not as bad as activating and deactivating [Armor of bones] for two weeks straight to get it to overcome the level 100 roadblock. I just kinda worry for Astelia Though if she reached level 100 of [Menial chores], she would finish even faster than me with no stamina consumption.

Since I have time, Ill regenerate first before continuing. And maybe take a short nap.

[Objective completed in 8 hours 12 minutes 08 seconds, teleporting to floor 3]

[Ranking Spire Phase 1 : Floor 3/10]

[Objective : Defeat the level 200 enemy]

[Time limit : 10 Hours]

Hey, now were talking Kind of?

A thin masked man wielding a buckler and a rapier appeared at the other end of the room. He was already running and casting a skill.

The masked man was still about ten meters away from Sofia. Mana was swirling around him, and Sofia could already see the hints of an incoming swarm of magical projectiles. She also noticed the rapier was made of mithril, and the mans light armor was thoroughly enchanted and reinforced with Orichalcum to protect the vital points.

He was no doubt a fierce opponent. To a lot of people my level, without a doubt. But not to me.

Your time to shine, Pareth.

Pareth appeared in between the two, towering over them both. Wielding a farmers scythe made of light, Pareth reaped the mans head in one fell swoop. Sofia watched the mans severed head and his headless body disintegrate into a mist of man.

No skeleton. Too bad.

You have defeated [Invader - lv. 200]

Underwhelming.

[Objective completed in 6 seconds, teleporting to floor 4]

Maybe I over-trained.

Sofia was teleported to a small dark room with stone brick walls. Her four limbs were shackled to the wall. And there was a closed iron door in front of her.

Prison cell?

[Ranking Spire Phase 1 : Floor 4/10]

[Objective : Find and reach the exit]

[Time limit : 1 Year]

YEAR?

This room is too small to summon Pareth If the whole place is like this

I can already feel the headache.The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.