Soo Hyuk thought again as he entered the capsule.
'Poison is the only element fire is strong against…'
Pavian had promised to teach him poison. It was a bit wasteful to unlock the Door of Poison now.
'Let's challenge the Wind Golem after buying more potions.'
Soo Hyuk died against the Wind Golem because he couldn't replenish his health. If he prepared lots of potions beforehand, he might last against the Wind Golem. He quickly ran bought potions and entered the library again.
'This much should be enough.'
Soo Hyuk thought as he stared at the 100 potions in his inventory.
'I managed to bring its health down to 50% with 20 potions.'
With 100 potions, he had a definite chance at defeating the Wind Golem.
'I even bought special potions from the Tower of Poison.'
To prepare against any unexpected situations, Soo Hyuk had bought special potions.
[Warping to Archmage's Subspace.]
Soo Hyuk teleported to the subspace with 'Lapis Subspace' and immediately walked to the Door of Wind.
'Oh, right.'
Soo Hyuk first reached out to the Door of Earth beside the Door of Wind.
[Do you want to open the Door of Earth?]
'Phew, the other doors still work.'
Fortunately, he could still attempt the other doors after failing. After declining, Soo Hyuk touched the Door of Wind.
[Do you want to open the Door of Wind?]
The system message appeared, and Soo Hyuk pressed 'YES' once more.
[Opening the Door of Wind.]
[Number of attempts: 1 ]
[Summoning the Wind Golem.]
[Defeat the Wind Golem.]
Soo Hyuk quickly turned around as numerous messages appeared.
Shuaak.
Once again, the magic circle appeared in the centre of the room, and the golem started to materialise.
-Test Sta…
The golem spoke in a mechanical voice as the magic circle disappeared, but it couldn't finish.
"Magic Missile."
Soo Hyuk had cast Magic Missile the moment it was completely formed.
-Dispel
The golem didn't continue and cast dispel at the incoming spell.
'As expected.'
Soo Hyuk had cast Magic Missile as he had expected it would dispel.
"Firestorm."
He cast Firestorm straight after the Magic Missile was dispelled. He needed 5 seconds to complete the spell. He thought as he stared at the casting bar.
'Will I make it?'
Yesterday, he could only use it because the 10% stun chance on Magic Missile had activated. But this time, the golem wasn't stunned.
Boom! Boom!
Soo Hyuk looked back and forth between the casting bar and the golem running towards him. The casting bar was almost filled, but the golem was also nearing him at an uncomfortable rate. As the golem was almost upon him, the casting bar disappeared as flames appeared all around the golem to form a massive tornado. Soo Hyuk hurriedly threw himself out of the golem's range after Firestorm was cast.
Bang!
The golem's fist crashed into the spot he was in a second ago.
"Inferno."
Now, only spells that didn't have an activation time were left. Soo Hyuk cast spell after spell as he quickly retreated from the golem.
[The Wind Golem's health has dropped below 50%]
[Beginning the first awakening.]
It was the start of the 1st awakening.
'Already?'
Soo Hyuk couldn't help but be surprised at the message.
'I only used 10 potions!'
He had used over 20 potions on his first try, but he had only used 10 potions this time.
'I've gotten familiar to its movements.'
After all, he managed to dodge more attacks than last time.
'This is an opportunity.'
The golem took 5 seconds to complete its awakening. He could begin casting Firestorm now.
"Firestorm."
The casting bar charged up as patterns began glowing on the golem. When the casting bar was halfway full,
[The Wind Golem's first awakening has completed.]
-5
The golem started counting down from 5.
-4
The casting bar was fully charged up when the golem reached 4.
-3
Flames started appearing around the golem.
Kuaa!
The wind golem was drowned in flames as Firestorm was cast.
-2
However, the golem didn't stop counting down. Soo Hyuk gulped as he prepared to dodge the overwhelming strike from the awakened wind golem.
-1
The golem disappeared from its spot.
-Wind
Without looking upwards, Soo Hyuk threw himself towards the front.
Bang!
The golem landed on his previous spot a split second after he dodged, but like yesterday, the shockwave from the strike sent him flying again.
'Yes!'
Fortunately, he had managed to completely avoid the strike unlike yesterday. He crashed into the chamber wall and dropped to the ground. While shakily standing up, he quickly took a health potion.
-5
But as the golem started counting down again, his expression hardened in caution.
'What? It's going to keep attacking like this?'
Soo Hyuk restored all his health using the extra buffer time, and an instant before the golem finished counting, he cast Magic Missile.
"Magic Missile."
He had been hoping for the stun to activate, but things didn't go his way. After being hit by the Magic Missile, the golem disappeared again like nothing happened.
-Wind
The golem's emotionless voice sounded from above. Soo Hyuk once again tried to dodge.
Bang!
This time, he couldn't perfectly dodge and was caught in the aftermath tornado. He once again got up and fired magic spells in the short time frame while replenishing his health. This process was repeated multiple times. While firing magic spells, Soo Hyuk couldn't help but wonder.
'Isn't there a second awakening?'
Because of the way the first awakening was worded, he believed that there would be a second awakening. But after attacking the golem multiple times, there was still no sign of a second awakening.
'I only have 40 potions left.'
He now took 3 potions instead of 2 each time the golem attacked, and he only had 40 potions left.
"Magic Missile!"
Soo Hyuk fired the Magic Missile at the wind golem.
-5
Bang!
The Magic Missile exploded on the still golem.
'Did it take damage?'
He couldn't see the golem's health as the Magic Missile exploded. Since there wasn't a system message notifying whether it took damage or not, he had no way of knowing if it was taking damage. Then a series of messages appeared.
[The Wind Golem's health has dropped below 50%.]
[Beginning the second awakening.]
"..."
Soo Hyuk was struck speechless when he checked the messages.
'50%? What's this bullshit, it was 50% before.'
The previous message had stated that the wind golem's health had already dropped below 50% before its first awakening. Then why did the system message say 50% again?
'Don't tell me it's getting healed every awakening?'
Soo Hyuk grinded his teeth with anger when he thought this. No matter how much he denied it, it was highly likely that it was getting healed to full health every awakening.
Soo Hyuk breathed out to calm himself and stared cautiously at the wind golem.
[The Wind Golem's second awakening has completed.]
-3
The golem started counting down as soon as the message appeared. Unlike the first awakening, it started from 3 this time.
-2
Soo Hyuk tensed up, ready to dodge.
-1
The golem vanished from its spot.
-Wind
When Soo Hyuk heard the golem's voice, he panicked greatly.
'What?'
It was similar to the first awakening, except for one crucial difference.
'Why is it so fast!'
The speed, the speed of the golem couldn't be compared to its first awakening.
Bang!
Soo Hyuk was blown away before he couldn't even react.
[You were defeated by the Wind Golem.]
[You have failed the Trial of Wind.]
[You will only receive the access penalty.]
[The Door of Wind is closed.]
The messages flashed as Soo Hyuk's vision darkened.
* * *
Soo Hyuk's body was covered in sweat when he exited the capsule.
'What? How…'
He couldn't understand.
'How am I supposed to beat that?'
His health was almost full, yet he was defeated in one hit. Although it was a direct hit, dealing more than 20,000 damage in one hit? It wasn't made to be doable.
'I can't do it.'
He couldn't even use potions. How could he use potions if he was instantly killed?
'Do I really have to follow the elemental advantages?'
Since wind was impossible for him currently, the only possible option left was poison, as he suspected that the other doors were similar in difficulty.
'Poison…'
The problem was that only poison was weak against fire. The situation was risky and uncertain as Pavian could really teach him poison or he could just give him skill books, which Soo Hyuk couldn't learn from.
'Should I delay it until I level up more? I don't need to open a door right now after all.'
Soo Hyuk nodded as he had this thought. The second door was impossible for level 100s, but he didn't need to unlock them right now. He could wait until he levelled up more.
'Yes, let's wait until I improve. I'm not in a hurry anyway.'
Soo Hyuk could easily hunt all the monsters around Matab with just basic spells. That meant that he wasn't in a hurry to unlock another door. Soo Hyuk snapped out of his thoughts and headed to a bookshelf to read. His face as he walked towards a bookshelf was full of determination.
* * *
'Is he still doing the trial?'
Yang Joo Hyuk wondered as he stared at the monitor.
"Yool?"
"Yes."
"Is he still doing the trial?"
"...?"
Jang Yool was momentarily confused by Yang Joo Hyuk's sudden question.
"The Archmage."
"Ah! No. He stopped 6 days ago, after the second attempt. He's only been going to the library, the hunting areas and the tower of poison."
"What?"
Yang Joo Hyuk couldn't help but ask back.
"He didn't try again?"
He was sure that he would try and try again. But he just quit?
"Yes."
Jang Yool nodded to his question.
"I suspect he's trying to get stronger for the trial."
"Hmm…"
Yang Joo Hyuk was locked in thought after Jang Yool's reply.
'Was it too hard?'
He hadn't thought that the Archmage's Descendant would give up after two attempts.
"Tell me when he tries again."
Yang Joo Hyuk went back to his work after his order.
* * *
"See you tomorrow."
Soo Hyuk came out of Pavian's room after saying goodbye to Pavian. Then he opened his quest window as he headed north.
[30-Day Endeavour]
You, who lacks poison resistance! Pavian will boost your immunity. Take Pavian's poison once a day!
[Take Pavian's Special Poison: 20 / 30 ]
[Quest Reward: Title – Poison Maestro]
'10 more days left.'
20 days had already passed since he had started this quest. He would be able to complete the quest and learn new magic 10 days later. Soo Hyuk then scrolled down to check another quest.
[Special Quest – Troll's Regeneration]
[Trolls: 4000 / 4000 ]
[Troll's Blood: 391 / 500 ]
Quest Reward: Skill- Troll Blood]
It was the special quest 'Troll's Regeneration'. He had already completed the first conditioin of hunting 4000 trolls. There was only the second condition left.
'Should I just buy them?'
Of course, he could complete the quest straight away as he had amassed enough gold to buy 109 Troll's Blood.
'No, I want to hunt 10,000 trolls first.'
The reason he didn't buy the blood was because he wanted to hunt 10,000 trolls first. There was no point in buying the blood now when trolls were going to drop them as he hunted.
'I can probably finish it today.'
Soo Hyuk was close to reaching 10,000 kills. Close enough to finish it by today. So, he would first hunt trolls then buy the rest of the troll blood depending on how much blood he got.
'After the quest, I'll focus on reading.'
And so, Soo Hyuk arrived at the Balum Mountains and started hunting for trolls.
"Fireball!"
"Magic Missile!"
Soo Hyuk slaughtered his way through the troll forest, then not long after, the message finally appeared.
[You have hunted 10,000 trolls.]
[You have obtained the title – Enemy of all trolls.]
He finally completed his goal.
'I got a title like Doran-nim predicted.'
Soo Hyuk opened his status window to check the effect of his new title.
Occupation: Archmage's Descendant
Level: 102 Experience: 62%
Health: 28500 Mana: 40800
Satiation: 62%
Strength: 40 (+10)
Agility: 35 (+16)
Stamina: 554 (+10)
Wisdom: 2040 (+10)
'Woah.'
Soo Hyuk couldn't look away from his stats. In his line of sight was stamina.
'It rose by 100?'
Previously, his stamina was 454, but after he obtained the 'Enemy of all trolls' title, it had risen to 554! Soo Hyuk excitedly checked the title to see if there were any extra effects.
-Enemy of all trolls (Stamina +100)
'Crazy.'
Although it didn't have any extra effects, an extra 100 stamina was already extremely powerful.
'I have to tell him.'
It wasn't an understatement to say that he had only gotten this title because of Doran's information. Soo Hyuk opened his friends window to message Doran when…
Boom!