Chapter 297

[I just wrapped up five and am moving on to six. As for that aura, no clue; what was using it?] Cynrik stated as he double-checked his Iron shortsword for damage.

[Demonoids. There was one that seemed overbearing, like a noble, and when he felt threatened, I saw him charge up some kind of Mana cloud around his body in that color.]

Hearing about how this supposed “noble” demon had a strange Affinity made Cynrik curious. Demons using an unknown Platinum and Garnet-colored Affinity could mean anything, but Cynrik already had a theory.

[So it could be one of two things, the first, and most likely is something like Nether, which would make sense considering, as far as I know, Demons don’t naturally occur in the wild; well, let me rephrase that sentence.]

[Uh, they haven’t spawned in the wild for thousands of years. The rumors and old stories basically say they were inhabitants of the WildLands.] Shrugging his shoulders and flipping the dagger around his left hand, Cynrik thought hard for a second before giving his second opinion.

[The other thing it could be is a Fusion Affinity. I have no idea what the Platinum is, but deep red usually represents something like Blood, and well, Demons in lore tend to be savage, bloodthirsty creatures. Yet, Platinum could be any number of things, from some form of Metal or even an advanced form of Decay.] Reaching up and using his dagger to scratch the back of his head, Cynrik noticed the Timer hit zero, and the notifications for the next Wave popped up.

Advancing Wave after Wave, Cynrik and Brance took the opportunity to hone their skills by using the weaker creatures as stepping stones. Whether unleashing harsh Affinity Skills such as Brance’s [Swords Of Judgement] or Cynrik’s way of incinerating everything insight with multiple Condensed [Fire Balls], the brothers had little to no trouble when dealing with their enemies until they both hit the final Wave.

Looking around the room and noting how he had destroyed a large portion of the nearby pillars, Cynrik narrowed his eyes under the cover of his [Spectre Concealment] and observed the ten fierce Insectoid creatures across the room in their spawning location.

At a glance, he could point out what appeared to be a giant Ant, a praying mantis; hell, there was even an enormous cockroach standing on two legs. However, putting their characteristics aside, Cynrik felt a bit of danger from these creatures.

[Brance, do you see or feel something off about your opponents?] Cynrik asked as he slowly backed away and moved behind a half-shattered pillar just barely tall enough to hide his entire body.

Like his brother, Brance, too, had taken cover and observed his opponents, a group of ten different Half Dragonoid half Boar creatures. Each one had a different shade of scales or fur; some had wings, while others had sharp teeth protruding from their bottom jaw.

Activating his [Mana Sight], Brance picked up on what Cynrik was talking about, and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. From the Mana signatures, he saw that these creatures weren’t typical Peak Tier-1 beings. Each one of them had above-average Codexes; instead of a standard prism the size of a thumbnail that most Tier-1 beings had, theirs were all about the size of a normal human heart.

Inspecting their Codex further, Brance shivered as he noticed the presence of not one but four different Mana Particle colors swirling around calmly within his opponent’s Codexes.

[Holy shit…Cyn…all of my opponents have Codexes twice the size of ours and four Affinities.] Brance said as he felt his heart rate speeding up progressively.

Reaching up and gripping the hilt of his sheathed greatsword, positioned over his right shoulder, Brance couldn’t help but feel tense.

[Yeah, sigh, it’s the same over here. Well, I guess the whole “Creatures are naturally stronger after Tier-1 than a human in the same Tier” thing is true. If these guys are so strong at the Peak of Tier-1, it kind of gets me pumped up about the Second Obelisk.] Smirking while he circled the clustered Insectoids, Cynrik tried to find the optimal position to launch an attack.

[Interesting, they have so much natural Mana stored in their Codex; how the hell is this possible. Even at Tier-2, ours aren’t half the size, yet if we use these 20 creatures as a basis, we can assume that there is some kind of method within other races to grow rapidly.] Cynrik said as he drew his dagger from the small of his back and spun it in his fingers.

[You’re doing it again, Cyn.] Brance grumbled in annoyance.

[Listen, this is essential shit, ok? The fact that we are just now finding out about this bothers me. We’ve gone through three months of classes, and this is the first time we are hearing that Creatures have a rapid explosion of power during Peak Tier-1.]

[If I use only our peers as an example, these creatures would be equivalent to Benny or Gabby and would easily obliterate someone under Mid-Tier-2. Don’t you realize that these things could go toe to toe with us before our Tier-2 advancement? That is insane!] Unable to hide his excitement at the newfound knowledge, Cynrik fought the urge to creep closer.

Cynrik was not about to push his luck by getting too close to his opponents and alerting them of his position, regardless of his stealth skill’s rating, which stated it could hide him from any being under Tier-3.

[How long do you plan on fucking around and acting like a biologist? Because I am about to make my move and wipe them all out in one go. So what if they are a bit stronger than all our opponents so far. It doesn’t matter to me because this is only the First Obelisk, and we have another floor to go through.] Wiping away his anxiety with words, Brance took a deep breath and began channeling Light Mana while pointing his hands above the group of creatures.

‘One big attack, sigh; I’m already sitting at 85 percent MP right now; I should be fine to burn 35 percent, even if it drops me down to the half tank marker.’ Shooting a glance at his HUD, Brance watched as he quickly lost 3381 MP, charging a single skill, but even as he did, he didn’t feel like it was a waste to do so. In any other circumstance, burning 3000 MP on an enemy weaker than himself would be excessive, but it would be devastating against ten creatures that weren’t too far off from where he stood at their Tier.

Focusing on his targeted location, Brance activated [Swords Of Judgement], hiding each of the swords behind individual pillars, so they were out of sight.

He went one step further by instantly casting [Vanish] on each one. This way, until they were fully formed and ready to move, all ten of his swords could be utterly invisible to the ten unsuspecting weird dragon-boars.

Meanwhile, Cynrik was still sneaking around and observing the differences between each Insectoid like an Entomologist (Scientist who studies insects), taking mental notes of each specimen’s minute changes and characteristics. Once he jotted them down, he moved on to observing the Affinity colors swirling within their Codexes.

The first thing he noticed was that the color of their carapace had a distinct connection to at least two of each creature’s Affinities, which means that just like himself and Brance, who had colored strands of hair representing their own Affinities, these Insectoid’s bodies reflected how advanced their individual mastery over their Elements was.

Once he had gathered as much field data as possible, only then did Cynrik retreat back to the opposite end of the room and ready his own destructive AOE attack.

—

In her own Realm, Yennifer sat in a high-slit lavender dress with her right leg crossed over her left and calmly watched the battles occurring on each of the five monitors.

Turning her eyes slowly, she went from Cynrik to Brance and shook her head. Watching the older brother run around like a child tapping away on his System, seemingly taking notes, nearly made her fall out of her chair.

On the Semi-Final Floor, Yennifer attempted to create a challenging finale but was derailed by his blatant disregard for his own safety. If they managed to land one hit on him, these opponents could pose a significant risk to him. Yet here Cynrik was, totally uncaring and unbothered by the ten SUV-sized insects.

Moving away from Cynrik, Yennifer only glanced at Brance before smiling at how he was taking things more seriously by going so far as to lay a hidden trap that would allow him to clear the challenge instantly.

While Brance and Cynrik were close to clearing the Twenty-First Floor, so were Gabby and Selene; both had made it to the final Wave and hadn’t had much difficulty in the least; the only hiccup that occurred was Gabby nearly bottomed out on MP at one point during Wave: Eight. However, she rapidly fired bolts while staying on the move until she could recover to an acceptable point with potions.

Done with checking in on four of the five members of MyrkLys, Yennifer shrunk down their screens and enlarged the one with Benny.

Heaving a sigh after realizing Benny was struggling to keep up in a group battle against the ten opponents, Yennifer decided it was time to step in. With a wave of her hand, she forced Benny to appear several meters away from the creatures, a group of pig-faced burly orcs, and paused the scenario before teleporting into his realm.

Benny was both confused and terrified that he had done something wrong and failed the challenge the instant he appeared on the opposite side of the room and quickly noticed that his opponents had frozen in place as if powered off.

Before he could react, the beautiful Yennifer suddenly appeared, floating a meter off the ground in a stunning lavender dress sporting a plunging neckline that showed off her bountiful cleavage.

|”Hello, First-Year Student Benjamin Sanford; I am Yennifer, the Obelisk Administrator. Before you panic, don’t worry, all I have done is pause the challenge, and you haven’t lost, nor will you be forced to exit the Obelisk.”|

|”I am only here to offer a few words of advice as not only the AI in control of all the Obelisks but also as a superficial member of the VSFA Staff; in some context, you could even call me the Headmaster’s Teacher to an extent.”|

“Um…hello, Teacher Yennifer, I am sorry you were forced to come here because of my lack of ability and talent.” Still slightly confused, Benny quickly greeted the Hologram woman with a bow and some respectful yet self-deprecating words.

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