Ivan stared at the skill for what felt like an eternity, trying to comprehend the implications of what it meant. It was already extremely bizarre that he could leave the game without reaching the twentieth floor, but now, did this mean he could enter and leave anytime he wanted, possibly without needing a pod?
His hands trembled with excitement as he hesitated at the prompt before him.
[ Would you like to enter the game? ]
[ Y/N ]
Ivan glanced around his surroundings once more, taking in the reality of the moment. Then, with a mixture of trepidation and exhilaration, his finger clicked on "yes."
In an instant, his vision turned blue, and he felt as if his body was being ripped apart and then reconstructed. With a thud, he dropped to the floor.
"Ugh," Ivan groaned, slowly getting up. As he looked around, excitement overshadowed the pain he had just felt.
"This... this is the game," he said in amazement, realizing he was standing in the very same boss room where he had fought Malachi.
[ Tutorial Resumed ]
[ Malachi, The Arcane Archmage has been slain ]
[ + 4000 XP ]
[ + 3 Stat Points (SP) ]
[ Would you like to proceed to the next floor? ]
[ Y/N ]
Ivan still stood in awe as the notifications and prompts kept coming in. He couldn't believe his eyes. This very ability was a game-changer, one that could alter his entire reality.
He accepted the prompt and was instantly moved to the third floor of the tutorial, right in front of the boss room.
[ All dungeons skipped ]
[ + 3500 XP ]
Hesitant to enter the boss room, Ivan paused. He hadn't entered the game through normal means, so he wasn't sure if his physical body was still in the real world or if he had somehow been transported here entirely.
The advanced realism of New Oasis made it impossible to tell, especially after it went rogue.
Ivan stood there, contemplating his actions carefully. If he had entered the game physically, dying here might mean no respawn. On the other hand, if he remained unconscious in the real world, he would be vulnerable, especially if Malachi returned.
Neither scenario was ideal, so the smart thing would be to leave the game and confirm how the "game gate" skill worked.
With a moment of hesitation, Ivan reached into his inventory and grabbed Rustless.
"But to hell with being smart! Now that I have this chance, I must increase my stats," Ivan declared, brimming with determination, as he headed into the boss room.
[ Quest: Kill this floor boss in 01:00:00 ]
Reward: +1 game gate usage
Failure: Suspension of game developer privileges ]
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Not this again," Ivan exclaimed, frustration evident in his voice.
"How can I farm any stats if I have to defeat the boss quickly?" he muttered, holding his head with annoyance.
After taking a deep breath to calm himself, Ivan walked towards the boss room.
"I just have to be quick," he said to himself, his steps purposeful.
As he entered the boss room, the familiar feeling of darkness enveloped him. The boss, as always, remained hidden at first, but Ivan could sense a presence lurking in the dark corners, and found himself entranced.
[ Azura, the Crystal Serpent (Lvl 50) is present ]
"Crap, I must look away..." Ivan's voice trailed off as he stared into the eyes of the giant serpent that slithered out of the darkness.
[ Azura skill: Crystal Gaze is active ]
[ Player has been rendered immobile ]
[ Azura skill: Crystal Shards is active ]
Following the notification, numerous crystal shards erupted from the ground, skewering Ivan.
[ Player has died ]
[ Player will respawn ]
Ivan's respawn reassured him that entering the game this way wouldn't take away his respawn ability, and that signaled for Ivan to begin his stat farming.
As he respawned, Ivan immediately looked away from the serpent as he grabbed his sword. He was familiar with this boss, having created her himself.
Azura was a massive serpent-like creature with shimmering, translucent crystal scales, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow. Its eyes and body emitted an enchanting glow that mesmerized its foes, rendering them immobile.
This enchantment made Azura a challenging boss to fight, as one couldn't engage at full strength while avoiding its gaze.
However, Ivan knew that the serpent's eye enchantment was far more potent than its body's, so if he took a quick look and then averted his eyes, he could still mark its position and attack.
Using the "Eye of the Creator" skill, Ivan decided to confirm its stats.
[Name: Azura
Title: The Crystal Serpent
Boss Level: 45
Class: Beast
Beast Level: 30
HP: 160
Stats:
- STR: 79
- AGI: 89
- INT: 19
- DEF: 39
- MAN: 629 ]
"Wait, were its stats always this good? It's way stronger and faster than me," Ivan said, a sense of astonishment in his voice as he studied the stats.
"Well, it's better it's stron—" Before Ivan could finish his words, Azura closed in on him, and her massive fangs impaled his body, killing him instantly.
[ Player has died ]
[ Player will respawn ]
Ivan respawned and immediately rushed at the serpent with his sword, intending to land any attack and increase his stats.
Swinging his sword down at Azura, Ivan failed to notice that she had dodged the attack and was now behind him.
The serpent swung her tail, slamming Ivan into the wall, creating a deep crater.
[ HP: 80 (-20) ]
Ivan groaned in pain as he regained his footing, attempting to track the boss without staring directly at her.
In that moment, Ivan realized the best way to attack Azura without looking at her.
[ Skill: Iron Rain is active ]
Suddenly, small iron rods materialized above Ivan, all pointing at Azura.
[ Target locked ]
Following the notification, the iron rods began to rain down on Azura as she slithered in a rapid frenzy, trying to dodge them. However, some of the small rods still managed to pierce through her crystal scales.
[ Azura skill: Crystal Shards is active ]
Ivan moved as quickly as he could to evade the numerous shards that erupted from the ground, but despite his efforts, some of them still impaled him.
[ AGI +1 ]
[ STR +1 ]
[ Player has died ]
[ Player will respawn ]
[ Player has leveled up ]
Ivan couldn't help but think this was perfect. With his Iron Rain skill attacking the serpent while he dodged the shards, he could increase both his strength and agility at the same time.
Ivan restarted the skill and continued the onslaught of raining rods on Azura, but he had forgotten one other skill the serpent possessed.
[ Azura skill: Crystal Shield is active ]
Azura became encased in a very hard crystal shield, protecting her from the onslaught of iron rods. To make matters worse, the iron rods had stopped.
[ Mana has been completely depleted ]
Ivan's mana had been completely drained, turning the situation from perfect to a mess very quickly. However, as he began to dodge Azura's onslaught of crystal shards, he came up with a solution.
[ AGI +1 ]
[ Player has died ]
[ Player will respawn ]
Ivan quickly took out one of the three mana potions he had bought from the store and immediately downed it as he restarted the skill.
[ Skill: Iron Rain is active ]
Azura quickly reactivated her crystal shield to stop the incoming rods. Ivan was aware that Azura could only use the shield for five minutes every thirty minutes interval, so if he forced her to use it continuously and elapse this five minutes, he could continue damaging her with the iron rain.
After dying numerous times to Azura's crystal shards, the serpent's shield duration had expired, and Ivan began damaging her with the rods.
[ STR +1 ]
[ AGI +0.5 ]
Ivan continued the cycle as he dodged her shards and attacked with the iron rods, slowly increasing his stats and chipping away at the serpent's HP. However, he was still far from killing her.
Eventually, time had passed, and Ivan noticed this fact by the notification that blocked his view.
[ Quest time limit: 00:30 ]
After this thirty seconds were exhausted, Ivan would be permanently killed by the serpent's shards, and he knew he couldn't defeat the boss in that amount of time. So, he made the best decision in that situation.
"It's been fun, why don't we pick this up another time?" Ivan said as he activated the Game Gate skill.
[ Are you sure you would like to exit the game? ]
[ Y/N ]
"Yes, of course," Ivan said, and with that, he vanished from the boss's presence.
Like before, his vision went blue, and he felt an immense feeling of being ripped apart before falling to the ground with a thud.
Ivan let out another groan of pain as he opened his eyes to see Iris standing above him, looking at the roof.
"Huh? How'd you do that? Where the hell did you come from?" Iris said, her voice full of confusion.
Ivan laid his head back on the floor and muttered, "status."
[Name: Ivan Golborne
Title: The Creator
Player Level: 25
Class: Game Developer
Game Developer Level: 4
Lives Used: 0/1
XP: 10360 (12770)
HP: 63
SP: 6
Stats:
- STR: 55
- AGI: 43
- INT: 16
- DEF: 33
- MAN: 3/15
Skills:
- Sword Mastery: C
- Eye of the Creator: C
- Master Craftsman: D
- Skill Developer: D
- Iron Rain: D
- Stat override: D
- Game Gate: D
Inventory:
- Health Potion x1
- Bow
- Orc Slayer
- Rustless
...
Quest Log:
- Complete the Tutorial: Halted]