Successively, different creatures from various races materialized and formed by a blue light that seemed like an otherworldly technology out of thin air at the base of a 20,000 meters tall mountain.
A strange humanoid plant, a creepy walking amphibian, a nightmare-inducing humanoid bat, a bloodcurdling humanoid sea serpent, an atrocious humanoid hyena, a hideous twin-headed blue ogre, trolls, goblins, elves, dwarves, and other indistinguishable creatures' arrival became a massive influx of players on the base of the mountain one after another after Liam.
Their eye-opening arrival flabbergasted Liam, who had uncertainty about extraterrestrials and mythical creatures' existence even though theories about them spread like a wildfire on Earth.
**DING!**
The blue translucent screens popped out in front of every player.
[Welcome to the pre-trial!]
- The pre-trial will take place at Mount Bahamoot's base in Planet Nullvard.
- To pass the pre-trial, you must kill 3 creatures and go to the peak of the Mountain overnight.
- The Floor Map feature in the system is now available.
- Failure will lead to your death.
- The pre-trial will begin in 5 minutes. Please prepare yourself.
[5:00]
[4:59]
[4:58]
Clamorous noises filled the mountain base as everyone scanned each other, looking for their prey once the pre-trial began.
In one quick look, Liam realized he didn't have the physical capabilities to handle even one creature, let alone three to five of them at once in a normal brawl circumstance.
Gratefully, the system gave him a chance to compete with those monsters.
They didn't even flinch after hearing that they would need to climb 20,000 meters overnight.
Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth, was only about 8,000 meters high.
So that would only mean that Mount Bahamoot was more than twice steeper than the tallest mountain on Earth.
However, the reason for the challenge was reasonable considering the participants' physical and mental capabilities.
Even Liam, who was still in his prime, was relatively stronger now because of the system's gifts, Extrasensory Perception and Improved Physical Capabilities.
He summoned his system via his thought, checking the terrain of the battlefield in the
Mountain Bahamoot was in the middle of the map and there were valleys, lakes, rivers, and forests surrounding the mountain.
'Brawler Mode activate!'
In a single thought command, the holy fire automatically emitted from his leather gloves, sparkling brightly and gracefully in the middle of the night, accentuating Liam's presence among the crowd.
The creatures nearby him were taken aback while others didn't mind him at all, pondering about their own plans.
Liam never knew what their battle skills were but he could at least tell from their gazes that they would pick on him once the pre-trial begins.
So his laser-focused eyes locked in on the peak of the mountain, intimidating some creatures that were thinking of assaulting him after he studied the terrain of the battlefield.
"Hey, is that a gargoyle!? Why in the world is a member of a higher species doing in the pre-trial?" one creature whispered to his friend, staring at the tall, muscular gargoyle with wings wrapped in its body, clasping bat wings' thumb together in front of its body to mimic a coat.
"You're right! That's certainly a gargoyle. He must be weak, that's why he will undergo a pre-trial," the other creature murmured back as they inspected the gargoyle.
"Forgive my intrusion, gentlemen. But if he's weak, why are these two gentlemen whispering like a coward?" Liam bravely asked aloud with his resting bitch face, obtaining both of their attention away from the humanoid bat creature.
Liam's burning eyes out of pure determination shone brighter than his blazing fists, causing the two to get petrified for a moment.
It wasn't Liam's business but it was a good way to stabilize his facade.
In their perspective, the unfamiliar creature was at least an average species to have an affinity to holy fire at the beginning of a mere pre-trial.
Because of that, they gave him the benefit of the doubt instead of thinking that it was a fluke and shut their insolent mouths until they had walked far enough from Liam.
"What's that creature's species and identity?"
"I don't know. He looks frail! But he has the holy fire to back his claim. We must avoid him at all costs. He wouldn't speak arrogantly if he has no power to back up the image that he was trying to exhibit, right?"
The creatures talked to themselves after they arrived at a distant location from Liam.
'Hmmm... They aren't so dumb, after all. That's good. That's better than having enemies with a 5-year-old brain that would act recklessly, like in most of the novels I have read back in the day,' asserted Liam without reacting at all as if nothing happened.
[0:03]
[0:02]
[0:01]
[The Trial would begin now!]
- Good luck, Batch 8411-2!
Pandemonium unavoidably ensued in the entire floor or battlefield with players' boisterous and monstrous battle cries as hysterias on various sides of the mountain immediately began.
Blood of various colors from different species splattered on the ground as they tried their hardest to complete the requirement of killing three creatures.
The malodorous and fusty aroma from the bloodbath soon pervaded the air as players aggressively attacked each other.
In contrast, some players preferred to sprint towards the mountain instead of engaging in fights early on the pre-trial like the gargoyle initiated when it hovered on top of the countless players towards the mountain.
It was an effective approach to preserve their Health Points for the latter part of the trial and concentrated on ascending the steep mountain first.
While everyone has their method to attain the goal, a man with blazing fists ran towards the wilderness, paying no heed to what occurred in his surroundings.
The creatures who saw him let him be, thinking that he must be out of his mind to run farther from the goal.
'Marksman mode activate, please!'
Once Liam saw he was far from most of the players, he shifted to marksman mode to remove their gazes from his blazing fists in the murky woodland.
In the
Green Zones were mostly the cities, towns, or any place where the NPCs, Guild Bases, Shops, and other important establishments were located.
It was also called Safe Zones since fighting between players wasn't allowed in those areas.
Yellow Zones were the places encircling the Green Zones most of the time, where programmed monsters spawn randomly.
Red Zones were the most dangerous parts of the map, an area with a proclivity for enormities and where killing other players was allowed.
Floor bosses monsters were also in the Red Zones.
However, at the pre-trial, no monster would appear in the Red Zones based on the system's instruction beforehand.
When Liam assessed the
If his premonition was correct, then there were creatures deep in the gloomy woods that he could fight to complete the requirement instead of fighting against other players who had almost the same stats as him.
Besides, the Holy Fire affinity was nothing but a bluff.
Once they found out that he wasn't as powerful as he had made them believe, they would certainly assault him too.
But by this method, he could safely ascend the Mountain since most of the survivors of the initial battles would climb and fight those who were waiting on top.
His only problem was getting there before the sun rose.
The night in an unknown place called Nullvard was a night of unnerving despair.
It became a quiet cold starry night after he entered the foggy forest with a faint light emitted from the few strands of light coming from an octagon-shaped moon or whatever celestial object that was floating alone in the dark sky, causing him to lose his sense of direction and disabled him to hear the loud battles outside the forest.
The few strands of light soothed him, lulling him to sleep but Liam summoned his system to use the
'So even this method isn't as easy as it appears to be, huh?' He wondered spontaneously as he watched the stunning octagon-shaped moon-like object in the sky.
As if the forest had read his thoughts, it responded by spine-tingling noises from the now foggy forest along with owl-like creatures' hootings and deer-like creatures' bleatings.
Sounds made by his footsteps crunching over the twigs gave an unsettling ambiance as Liam strolled towards the Yellow Zones.
Clouded by his euphoric thoughts and partnered by the fogs in the murky woods, Liam didn't notice a vine that made him stumble to the grass floor even with his improved perception.
As he painstakingly raised his head, the humanoid green plant with six vine-like legs that appeared like insect legs from earlier stood tall in front of him.
"You're... the... one... who... could... wield... the... holy fire... aren't you?"