"I've observed you all, and the only one who is 'worthy' of continuing is you."
Then, those strange words suddenly came from a hooded person who had been standing on the backlines from the beginning.
She hadn't spoken a single word ever since they got here, ignoring everybody who tried to approach her. Only through her voice just now was Adel able to tell that she was a woman.
Adel furrowed his brows.
"Those guys are worthless. They're rowdy, uncouth, and don't even know what they're getting into. The more you mingle with them, the more you're going to put yourself at a disadvantage. You are starting to realize that too, right?" The woman chuckled.
"What do you want me to do?" Adel's suspicions were raised.
"If you treasure your future, then leave them and go with me. The other two who left were smart, but they are too self confident. The Tower's challenges clearly aren't as simple as just beating some monsters. You seem to be much more reasonable than them in that aspect."
She lowered her hood and revealed herself to be an extreme beauty. Her platinum blonde hair and clear blue eyes glistened under the exposure of sunlight. Her skin was as pale as snow, and there were no blemishes on any parts of her body. Her expression was completely stoic, making her look like a doll.
"You.." Adel was stunned.
She looked so majestic and ethereal, almost unrealistic.
"I come from a world where magic already exists. In that Tower, there is bound to be endless fighting until we reach the end. Although you seem to have no experience in fighting, you have potential." The woman explained.
"What do you think? Join me and I promise you that we will be the winners on top in the end."
"..I can't. I can't just leave those guys alone, we are all in the same boat." Adel shook his head and refused the offer. "Can't we just group up with them?"
His conscience was weighing in on him.
The blonde woman clicked her tongue. "I waited here to recruit you, but it turned out to be useless."
"Then, this is where we part. Although.. it won't matter in the end. I can guarantee you that bunch, the only one who has the chance to come out to be alive will be you."
After saying that, the woman hid herself using the hood once more and went inside Ulya, leaving Adel alone.
"Ahh.. Those three were the ones who stood upright when they jumped to this place.. And they all left?" Adel pursed his lips. "Did I make the wrong decision..?"
He was eventually called by one of the group's men, snapping him out of the conflicting thoughts he had.
He, too, entered Ulya and saw that the beautiful woman was no longer in the group, just as she had said before.
To their disappointment, Lucas was now doing far better than them.
He had discovered his status from the get go, so he was now heading straight towards his first fight after picking up some items in the town.
Each Player was given an item box that was connected to themselves. Inside the box, there was already a money counter. He had a total of 100 gold coins, which he could freely take out just by thinking about the desired amount.
One gold coin amounted to 100 silver coins, whereas one silver coin amounted to 100 copper coins.
For context, the price of staying overnight at the town's best inn with meals provided was ten silver coins per night, so he had quite a lot of money to sustain himself.
However, he didn't plan to stay at inns yet, at least not for now. He wanted to be able to train continuously for days in order to boost his progress as much as possible, giving him a headstart.
He picked up a bag of food enough for a week or so, a map for the area, and a regular longsword from the blacksmith's shop.
Then, he luckily found a drug store that sold mediocre health and mana potions.
Why didn't he visit the alchemy shop he used to ran, you ask? It was because he loathed that place. Loathed the fact that he had been chained there. He knew that the upper realms must've made some sort of replacement to mask his disappearance, but he still didn't want to do it.
With that resolved, he was ready to set off to the first monster hunting location: Rudis Forest.
Rudis Forest was home to a series of weak monsters. It was located northwest from Ulya, and only needed around ten minutes of walking to get there.
Cecil instructed him to find a pack of Silver Wolves to be his first hunting target.
Although Silver Wolves were relatively weak creatures, they attacked in hordes and had great cooperative skills when battling.
Cecil's reason for it was because the wolves did not have any troublesome variables that Lucas needed to pay attention to. They could be taken down with enough endurance, attention, and brute force.
For the current Lucas, they were decently challenging opponents to get him used to moving his body and senses to fight. Training dummies.
He would be surrounded by the wolves in an instant due to the wolves' tendency to encircle and trap their prey with their numbers.
During that scenario, Lucas's mind would be forced to think of all the possible things he could do and take necessary measures, honing his fighting mindset.
With this goal in mind, Lucas walked to the places marked in the map.
People from Ulya regularly came here to gather herbs or other ingredients, so they'd want to avoid monsters using the path traced on the map.
Lucas strayed off the path and went towards the nearest location with a Silver Wolf warning symbol drawn around it to fight.
"Let's see.." Lucas hopped over a ledge that segmented the areas and stepped into the supposed Silver Wolf territory.
The forest itself had an eerie feel to it. Within the sea of trees, one could get lost in a matter of minutes, devoured by the terrain and never to be seen again. The 'safe' trail was more cleared up for the safety of the people, but the uncharted regions were completely unkempt.
It was hard to navigate around the place with the amount of blockages suffocating the place.
Lucas also had to keep the sound he made low, as to not attract any undesired monsters. Walking at a slow, but steady pace, he slid through the narrow path between countless trees blocking his sight until he was in a more spacious area.
He pulled out his map and marked another checkpoint on it. Getting lost was something he didn't want to do. He also had to survey escape routes and safe zones in case something bad happened to him.
"This should be it, right?" Lucas whispered.
The breeze was colder than usual. The trees swayed left and right, as if welcoming Lucas.
Swish!
Shortly after, the bushes not far away from him started to rustle.