"What should I choose?" Alisa asked, turning to Ethan, who stood beside her with a thoughtful expression.
"Well... Honestly, I expected the choice to be a little different if the reward was something like this." Ethan muttered, rubbing his chin.
"Hmm?" Alisa tilted her head, giving him a questioning look.
Ethan pointed to the first card, "It's damage. Obviously, the tower will get some kind of laser, but we don't need it."
"Are you sure...? You barely defeated that monster... Strong fire support never hurts!" Alisa exclaimed in excitement.
Ethan shrugged, "You may be right, but we have a choice. These two are powerful beings." Ethan pointed to the left card with the knights in crimson armor, "But... Are they stronger than Magnus or Alf? I doubt it..."
"So... Maybe we'll choose the laser after all!" Alisa suggested, wanting Ethan to agree.
In fact, she could do as she wanted, it was technically possible, but practically she realized that Ethan was in control here.
"Nah. There's no information here. There's no telling how powerful this laser is or how often we'll be able to use it. More than that, I'm willing to take a chance." Ethan waved his hand, pointing to the center card.
The fruit on the drawing was covered in thorns and had a tough skin. The tree looked like it had come out of a dark fairy tale, which made Ethan have hopes that the fruit was something better than just a replacement for the healing fluid.
"Agh... Who would doubt it?" Alisa sighed, choosing the center card.
[Princess has made a choice!]
[Abominable Tree will appear in your territory! Choose a location!]
Whooooooooooooosh.
A black seed emerged in Alisa's hands, tiny, no bigger than a rice grain.
Ethan nodded and pointed to a spot not far from the fountain.
Alisa placed the seed on the ground and stepped aside a few meters.
Then, from the seed, a tree quickly began to grow, rapidly, in just a few seconds reaching its peak.
The tree was not very tall, a little higher than a normal person, with a thick, low crown and crooked branches. The trunk of the tree was dark, and the leaves were red.
There were fruits hanging from the tips of the branches, but they weren't ripe, that was obvious since they were tiny and white, not scarlet like in the picture.
"Hmm? Is it just me, or did we just get tricked?" Alisa frowned, staring intently at the tree.
Ethan scratched the back of his head, "Well... Perhaps if we water it, something will change?"
Ethan headed towards the fountain, and a dark root swept in front of him that was quick and sharp as a whip.
"What...?" Ethan froze in place, watching as the root curled around the monster that was killed by hounds and took the corpse for itself.
Then, all the roots of the tree lifted slightly, beginning to grind the corpse beneath it, turning it into a pure bloody mess that the tree easily absorbed into itself.
The white fruit immediately became slightly larger and a bit redder as a smirk appeared on Ethan's face.
"Hehehe, I don't know what these fruits are capable of, but we just found a way to get rid of all the corpses. Who knows, maybe some monsters from the next waves will be able to resurrect them?" Ethan chuckled evilly, then he looked at the participants.
"Hey! Bring all the monsters here! Do it as soon as possible!"
The people were slightly puzzled, but after seeing what the tree was doing, they quickly realized what was happening and set about their task.
The tree had no trouble grinding the corpses of monsters even with armor, but it took a long time to grind more than three hundred corpses.
[The next wave will start in an hour!]
'That's it...? Hmph, most likely all the waves up to the sixth wave won't be anything noteworthy. Well, that's good.' Ethan internally muttered with a faint nod.
"Alisa, let's buy some upgrades." Ethan suggested.
"Ughum!" Alisa nodded vigorously and opened the list.
For several minutes Ethan looked at the upgrades with complicated expression. Multiple times he wanted to make a choice, but kept changing his mind at the last moment.
"Fuck... I can't spend that much, but I definitely want to. It feels like a financial conscience, choking me from the inside out..." Ethan muttered, biting his lip.
Tap.
Alisa tapped the upgrade Ethan had been pondering for the past few minutes.
Ethan's eyes went wide, then he took a deep breath, "Well, most likely sooner or later it would have happened anyway."
Alisa smiled slyly, savoring this small victory.
Whooooooooooooooooooosh.
At the same moment, two giant mirrors appeared next to the tower. A light red light emanated from them in a cone-like trajectory.
"Hm? What is that?" One of the students asked with a confused expression.
"It's the reason why we only have 50 Points left..." Ethan muttered, taking a deep breath, "Greed... It can actually ruin."
Step. Step. Step.
Ethan slowly approached the mirrors drawing the attention of the participants.
"Though they cost a fucking lot, they only have one function. This light slows down all monsters by 30%. Yeah, I could probably buy something better, but for our tower specifically, this is the best option." Ethan shook his hand.
People stared at him puzzled, some raising their eyebrows.
"Look. The most important thing is to stay alive, I think you all realize that. This is the supreme goal. You'll die if you get critical wounds, usually caused by powerful attacks that you obviously can't dodge.
However, if the monsters are slowed down, you will have more time to react. So, you'll get a normal wound and given the regeneration effect, you'll be able to return to the fight very soon." Ethan finished his explanation.
"Oh... It's deeper than I thought..." Someone muttered, scratching his cheek.
His buddy nodded, "Yeah, given our situation all factors need to be considered, though I wouldn't mind seeing more weapons! Hahaha!"
...
For the next half hour, preparations for the fourth wave were underway. The participants took monster weapons, more specifically from White Guards and Light Knight. For some reason, anyone could use their swords, which was a nice bonus.
They took the armor too, it was covered in blood, but there was enough water to clean everything properly.
The remaining points, Ethan spent on food, as the past supplies ran out in a matter of minutes. After all, there were over a hundred people on their team, and everyone needed energy.
"Finally, it took quite a wait." Ethan smirked, looking at the fully ripened fruit. It was just like the picture, scarlet with black spikes.
Tap.
Ethan touched the fruit, and a message appeared before his eyes.
[Fruit of the Abominable Tree
A creepy-looking fruit with the same contents. When pressed, it explodes, spreading a black liquid that is viscous and flammable.]
Ethan smirked as he turned to the participants, "Hey, do any of you have lighters or anything capable of causing a flame?"
No one answered, which made Ethan feel strange, he didn't believe such a thing was possible.
"I have..." The same girl who had been the first to respond to Magnus's speech said quietly.
Ethan smiled, "What's your name? Though we went to the same academy, this is the first time we're talking today."
The girl started to say something timidly.
Alisa, standing in the distance frowned as she crossed her arms over her chest. Unlike Ethan, she could see the dangerous, even fanatical glint in the girl's eyes and her rapid breathing.