My vision went dark. The passage of time became vague for me as I was transported back into reality.
When I awoke, I found Worthy Adversary looking at me with a shimmer in his eyes.
"You are quite the interesting fellow," He approached me with great intrigue, stopping just inches away from my face. His two-toned hair swayed as he circled me, using his fountain pen to write notes on his sword.
"A perfect clear... I wonder what else you know?"
I let out a laugh, glancing at King who stood there in confusion. Although an entire day had gone by for me, only a moment had passed in reality. King had simply blinked, and suddenly Worthy Adversary was talking about a perfect clear.
"I only know a bit," I looked into Worthy Adversary's shining eyes.
I paused and let the silence linger. A small smile crept up my lips.
"I choose to enhance my Physique with all three of my chances."
"Haha!" Worthy Adversary grinned widely, "Perfect! I will grant your wishes."
The genie moved backwards and snapped his fingers. A mystical flow of mana enshrouded his being, clear for my Mana Vision to see. Certain sets of complex mana programs were layered together to form the unique spell before me.
Snap—!
A stream of mana flowed into me, pouring into every pore in my body, cleansing it, purifying it, and enhancing its capabilities by leaps and bounds. I suddenly felt refreshed, as if a spring breeze had blown through me, blessing me with its fair-weathered scents.
I then felt power surging through me as my talent grew by three grades. From a simple High rating to Grand. My Physical Ability was thus boosted from F+ rank to E+ rank and therefore became my first capped-out stat. To get to the D rank from there meant that I had to break the famous bottleneck between letter ranks.
I had to push all my other stats to the E+ rank first before I could advance.
That aside, my rapid increase in strength was truly a wondrous feeling. I could feel my muscles brimming with energy, pulsating with the flowing mana within me. The physical mana that I kept in my body was throbbing as if overjoyed by the fact that its container had been upgraded.
But that was not the end of it.
A subtle, hidden power had bloomed within me. I did not feel that much different, but I knew that my body was no longer the same. This power was like a chameleon, blending in with its surroundings.
I couldn't help but lick my lips. With this little power of mine that was basically a [ Specialisation ] like Virion's Bloody Halo, I could gain even more strength in a short period of time.
[ Mutated Physical Intuition ].
Mutated Physical intuition granted me just what it entailed—an intuition that was beyond that of any other human when it came to the body, accelerating my ability to learn and achieve feats that only trailblazers and pioneers could achieve. From weapon arts, martial arts, movement techniques, and even when it came to identifying poisons and sicknesses in my body, I could easily grasp the most vital components of what I was learning, doing, or perceiving.
This was the bonus for enhancing my body thrice in one breath.
Worthy Adversary, who had been quietly observing me, thus opened up his lips, "So, mortal, how does it feel to become one of the talented?"
"It's addicting," I confessed, "I can't help but desire more,"
Hearing this, Worthy Adversary laughed, "That's what they all say,"
The two of us then turned to King.
"Would you like to challenge the Three Tests of Worth now?" Worthy Adversary approached the man. Wondering if he was as special as I was.
"He's drunk," I answered in King's stead, as he seemed hesitant on what to do. His eyes had met mine, asking for the answers he so needed at this moment. Confusion still consumed him. "I'll allow him the opportunity tomorrow."
"Eh? Alcohol?" Worthy Adversary pouted as he glanced at me, "Indeed, it is best he doesn't challenge my tests just yet. Seeing that there's no one else in the room, I shall return to my throne. If you need to summon me, you should know what to do."
Without another word, Worthy Adversary dissolved into a faint white mist. All the white mist was then sucked up by the prism at the centre of the table, like a black hole pulling in light. Not even a wisp of mist had escaped.
A little snicker escaped my lips as I shook my head and walked over to the confused man.
"Alright, I guess I'll have to explain what happened," I gave King's shoulder a few pats.
...
For the next hour or so, I gave King an in-depth rundown of what I had done, how I had done it, and what he could do differently with the same success rate.
Given the weakness of my base stats, I had chosen to go with survival with a group. I told King the general sequence of the opening events, the possible choices he could make, and the pattern he had to execute once the opening events were complete.
I also told him how to go solo. It was mainly comprised of two pathways, as lonesome survival entailed a lot more freedom of movement. The prerequisite, of course, was that going solo required a certain level of talent.
The first path one could take was the boss-ridden path. A path where one would have to fight many mini-bosses so as to amass enough Mid-Tier Mutation Fragments to break the bottleneck and advanced into E rank and beyond. One would then have to visit many nesting sites for Level 6, 7, and 8 zombies to kill them all one-by-one.
After that, one would have to kill three injured Level 9 zombies and take their High-Tier Mutation Fragments before finally reaching the platform that Hunter stood on. It would be a magnificent 1 on 1 duel from there.
The second path involved creating a zombie squad. Virusian Pearls, when fed to other zombies, would instil a certain loyalty within them. Like wolves in a pack following their alpha. This path was by far the riskiest yet most relaxing path at the same time.
After all, why would you have to fight if you had a swarm of high-level zombies fighting for you? The only problem would be that you, the master of them all, would be fragile and weak.