A long amount of time had passed and he had killed few other players, though the Beast slayer had not connected with him as it would only activate it's power on the presence of beasts.
Player Name : [ Shadow_Demon ]
Rank : [ Mortal being ]
[ No. 5209 ]
Number of kills : [ 31]
"Phew! That was fast!" Max heaved a sigh before wiping the beads of sweat that decorated his forehead with the back of his palm.
[ All stats have been increased by +5 ]
[ Strength 25 ]
[ Speed 25 ]
[ Agility 24 ]
[ Stamina 23 ]
[ Mana 800 ]
[ Endurance 21 ]
[ HP 25/25 ]
[ XP 65/100 ]
[ Due to activation on the presence of the soul eaters, the Beast slayer has consumed 200 points of mana and as such mana points have decreased ]
[ Mana points can naturally be replenished with the absorption of pure spiritual energy in a lotus position from a space where spiritual energy can be controlled ]
' I see why now,' Max thought, slowly nodding his head.
Afterwards, a notification followed.
[ You have successfully unlocked your first system in-built skill ].
Skill : [ Fury of a thousand blades ]
[ Skill allows user to create a limited number of 6 portals, each leading to a space of countless sword storage, with each storing a number of a thousand blades of different qualities. Blades auto renew after use, giving the user a chance to keep on using the skill for as long as wanted ].
Skill requirements : [ None ]
[ Next skill to be unlocked over the next 25 kills ].
"Fury of a thousand blades," Max whispered. "Sweet."
[ Game duration : 00:00:00 ]
[ Game round has elapsed and will begin in the next 20 hours ].
[ Portal activated ]
[ Destination : The Great City ]
.
.
.
' Computer, are there other cities apart from this great city?'
[ The Great City is the heart of this world which leads to other parts. Do you wish to leave the great city? ]
' No,' Max shook his head and took one more glance at the distance ahead. Hillary was yet to come and he had waited for her at the tree as planned.
"Looking for me?" Came a soft voice from behind Max that scared the wits out of him.
"Oh Jesus Christ! You scared the shit out of me!" He screamed as he fell to the ground.
"I didn't know you were so eager to meet again," Hillary smiled as she helped him up.
"Well..." Max laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head while looking through her stats.
Player Name : [ Dark Hillz ]
Rank : [ Mortal Being ]
[ No. 5218 ]
Number of kills : [ 25 ]
Special skill(s) : [ Botanical - mold transmit ]
[ Next skill to be unlocked over the next 18 kills ]
' Computer, what's a botanical - mold transmit?' He thought.
[ Botanical - mold transmit : Ability to communicate with nature in the form of plants and soil ].
' I see,' He replied.
"You don't need to answer. I get it's boring sometimes being alone in a world where you know nobody," Hillary said. "So, got any plans before the next game?"
"I think I have something in mind," Max replied and he turned to face the space in front of him.
' Computer, take me to the place called, the core of strength,' Max thought.
Since the day he had come across the place, his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he was eager to visit and see for himself what the place was like.
[ Portal activated ]
[ Destination : The core of strength ]
A purple portal suddenly opened up in front of the teenagers.
"Come on," Max turned to look at Hillary who looked almost speechless.
"Is this some kind of skill you possess?" She asked with a glint of excitement in her eyes.
"Uh I guess," Max shrugged making it sound more like a question than a statement.
"Sweet," She held onto Max's hand and they both went through the portal. Soon, they found themselves in front of a tall ancient building which held a boldly written description in golden letters.
' THE CORE OF STRENGTH '
"Woah! what is this place?" Hillary said as her gaze travelled up the tall building.
"What I'm going to see for myself. Let's go," Max went in with her following behind.
On getting to the huge black doors that were the exact size of a giant, the doors opened on their own accord. Their sights were greeted with something they had not even expected.
Behind the large doors was pitch black, allowing none of them to see through.
"Huh?" Hillary tilted her head to the side.
Max remained silent and acted on instincts by stretching his hand towards the darkness. His hand went through the darkness causing a ripple to hover over the dark space as if he had placed his hand into water.
"I think this leads somewhere," He pulled out his hand and said to Hillary.
"Don't you think it's dangerous?" Hillary asked.
"If it were, I don't think it would be open for the public," Max said before stretching his hand towards her.
Hillary took a deep breath before taking his hands and they both went through the darkness giving way for more ripples than earlier while the giant doors creaked slowly till they closed.
Stepping out of the darkness they came into a seemingly endless hall filled with bright lights. Hundreds of ladies wearing uniforms sat at almost every corner behind a fairly large desk on which several holographic screens stood in front of each lady. These ladies were obviously receptionists who attended to a fairly long queue of people.
Max and Hillary moved to meet one of the receptionists who had just attended to the last person in front of her desk.
"Welcome to the core of strength, how may I help you?" The lady asked with a straight face.
"Well, we're new here so we don't really know how things work here. Do you mind explaining to us?" Max replied.
"Actually, you are supposed to tell me what mode of training you wish to go for but since you two are newbies, I will propose one. For the beast slaying mode of training, we have three levels ; Easy, Normal and Difficult. Since I believe you two want to go in at the same time, you both will have to clear all levels but if only one survives at the end of the game while the other gets transported back here, the winner will become the survivor. On the contrary, if you both survive, you will have to fight each other. The one who eliminates the other will be the winner while the loser will be transported back here."
"The core of strength is designed to strengthen players in the areas they desire. Do you agree with the terms?"
"Yes," Max replied without hesitation.
"I do too," Hillary nodded.
"Player possessed weapons and skills may be used at wish," The receptionist said before pressing something on the holographic screen closest to her.
Blue lights appeared from the ground on which they stood and slowly they began sinking till their bodies disappeared entirely into the ground. Once more, they found themselves in another place - A vast green field beautified with flowers under the glory of the clear blue skies.
"Oh my God! Things just keep on getting more and more interesting. I love this place," Hillary exclaimed with her arms spread apart as she inhaled the sweet smell of the air.
Just then, the two heard the voice of a female.
[ Game will begin in 10 seconds ]
[ 00:10 ]
[ 00:09 ]
[ 00:08 ]
[ 00:07 ]
[ 00:06 ]
[ 00:05 ]
[ 00:04 ]
[ 00:03 ]
[ 00:02 ]
[ 00:01 ]
[ 00:00 ]
[ Game has begun ]
[ Level 1 ]
[ Mode : Easy ]
[ Time limit : 1:30:00 ]
Max immediately equipped the Lunar blades though it was still day time. He believed it would be better to save up his mana points to use to activate the Beast slayer in the highest mode of the training. After a few seconds, a swarm of colourful butterflies began making their way towards the two.
"What? Is this a joke?" Hillary was filled with surprise at the sight of the butterflies. "What are we expected to do? Break their wings off. Do they really see us as weak?"
But Max was focused on something else.
[ Name : Grub moths ]
[ Rank : Grade 7 supreme beasts ]
[ Beasts with the ability to lure their prey with their artificial form as butterflies with their true terrifying reality hidden away ].
"It's not a joke," Max finally said since the training began.
"What do you mean?" Hillary raised an eyebrow.
Something was quick to catch their attention. The once beautiful butterflies had begun to increase in size and change in shape as they metamorphosed into something Hillary had not expected.
Soon, in place of butterflies were muscular brown bodies with huge colourful wings sprouting from their backs, on whose necks stood heads which held bulging eyeballs, two holes in place of a nose and mouths storing jagged teeth. On their foreheads elegantly protruded single thick horns.
"I see you weren't fooled. The first set of smart humans I have ever met," One of the grub moths said with a smirk as he stepped forward.