"Finally." Eldric almost jumped up with joy. At first, he was a bit skeptical about the promise the girl made and whether she was capable of fulfilling it. But now since she is ready to help him, he couldn't be anymore happier.
"But first, you need the blood of a living being." As soon as she spoke, Eldric who was smiling just a moment ago stiffened.
"What... What kind of blood?" The first thought that came to his mind was that he needed the blood of another human. But the next word from the girl eased his expression.
"There are so many beasts in this world. Just get the blood from one of them. Have you forgotten that you can use the auction to buy it?"
Tilting her head, she looked at him like she was looking at an idiot.
"Ah! Almost forgot." Eldric shook his head in embarrassment. After dying so many times, his brain had almost stopped working. Patting himself on the head, he opened the auction panel and searched for blood.
"Which one is going to be suitable?" Looking at the long list of blood vials, Eldric couldn't decide by himself.
"Hmm... Let me think." Narrowing for s moment, the girl replied "Buy the wolf's blood this time."
"Okay." Soon Eldric bought a rather expensive Wolf's blood for fourteen tokens, wiping out his entire balance.
"What do I need to do now?" Holding the blood vial in his hand, he asked the girl their next course of action.
"Take a rest." It was a short answer, but it stunned Eldric. He thought that after buying the blood, he was going to challenge the trial as soon as possible. But to his surprise, she told him to take some rest first.
"Okay... For how long?" He didn't ask her why, after all, going through so much, he was in desperate need of some rest.
"At least for a few days." As soon as she replied, her figure disappeared, leaving behind Eldric who was holding a blood vial in his hand.
"Never mind."
Exiting from the trial, Eldric closed his eyes and drifted into sleep. He didn't ask any questions. She knew it better than him and would tell him when he was ready.
So, for the next few days, Eldric just repeated his old habits. He would prepare meals for himself and Aria and then head to the shop. He would then come back in the evening and after dinner, would head to sleep.
During this entire time, he never once saw Aria. If not for the dishes being eaten and the empty plates being placed inside the kitchen sink, he would have thought that he was living alone.
It wasn't until the night of the fourth day while he was lying on his bed, about to go to sleep, did he heard the voice of the girl.
"Okay, you are ready."
It was a short sentence, but it was enough to fill Eldric with excitement. For the past four days, he had been thinking about ways to deal with the wolves and right now, his mind was bustling with ideas. As for whether any of those ideas would work or not... He could only find it in the trial.
Taking out the vial of the blood, Eldric eagerly looked at the girl, waiting for her instructions, but she shook her head.
"Not here. It will cause too much noise. We will do it inside the empty white space."
Eldric just nodded in response and without any further delay, entered the trial.
Standing in an empty white space, Eldric looked at the small window in front of him.
[Points: 1000]
[Please choose your difficulty.]
[Ordinary] [Hard] [Hell] [Nightmare]
Without any hesitation, Eldric touched the Hell difficulty and soon found himself standing in front of the familiar three-story tower that he had entered countless times.
"Now listen to me very carefully." It was the first time the girl spoke in a grim voice.
Hearing her, Eldric gulped down a mouthful of air and nodded toward her in silence.
"I will teach you how to draw a rune." Disregarding Eldric's expression, she kept on speaking.
"After you draw the rune with blood on your chest, you will have three hours to finish the trials.
Once the time is up, your entire body will be in unbearable pain and you won't be able to move. So, try to finish this entire trial in just these three hours."
Listening to her, Eldric understood the importance of the matter. He didn't know what the rune was or how it was going to help him. But since she was confident enough to think that he could pass this trial with the rune, it had to be something powerful.
Just when Eldric was thinking about it, a sudden thought came to his mind. What if, even with the rune he couldn't pass the trial? It was a sudden thought that he should have discarded, but he couldn't... And soon, this thought turned into a towering tree that overwhelmed his mind.
He had already spent all of his tokens to buy the blood, if he failed, then god knows how long it was going to take him to try it again.
He hesitated for a long time. Even though he trusted the girl in front of him and knew she wouldn't lie to him. He still wanted to keep another option in case things didn't go as planned.
"I can sense your hesitation." Just when he was lost in his train of thought, he heard the voice of the girl.
Gritting his teeth, Eldirc finally decided to ask her, even if it meant angering her.
"What if the rune fails? What if the enemy is still stronger than me? What will I do then?"
Contrary to his expectations, the girl didn't get angry but just looked at him in silence.
"If there really is an enemy that is stronger than you, then I will borrow your body to finish the entire trial."
It was a short sentence, but the contents were enough to shock Eldric. Looking at her with wide eyes he pointed his finger to her, but no words came out from his mouth. He knew she was powerful, but he didn't think she was powerful enough to just occupy his body.
"If you are done, then let's begin." Ignoring his overreaction, the girl floated in front of him before lifting her finger and waving in the air.
Soon, in front of Eldric, an illusionary circle was formed.
"Take out the blood and make this pattern on your chest."
Eldric nodded before following her. It wasn't until five minutes passed that a dense circle with innumerable lines and patterns was drawn on his chest. If an outsider looks at it they would feel dizzy.
"Now, pour the entire blood in the center."
Gritting his teeth, Eldric looked at the blood vial one last time with a reluctant face. This thing cost him his entire fortune and now it was gone too.
Pouring the blood from the vial, Eldric was expecting it to drop on the ground and all over his pants. But the moment the blood touched the circle, something magical happened.
Every single drop of the blood was absorbed by the circle which then began to emit dim red light. It wasn't until the entire bottle was empty that the circle and the numerous lines and structures inside it began to move. Soon, the entire circle became blurry.
And it was at that moment that Eldric felt a rush of cold air throughout his body.
"....." Feeling a sudden surge of energy, Eldric felt like he could do almost anything. It wasn't the destructive power or a sense of invincibility, but instead, it was more like a sense of freedom.
He didn't hesitate and looked at his screen, hoping to see any changes, and the moment he did, his breathing almost stopped for a moment.
[Name: Eldric Stormborne]
[Profession: Brawler]
[Vitality: 1]
[Power: 1]
[Agility: 2]
[Skills: Thunderous Barrage] +
"Agility has increased." Eldric narrowed his eyes, as he tried to feel the changes. But the sudden voice of the girl interrupted his plans.
"Are you going to waste the entire two hours here?"
"No...
Huh! Wait.
TWO HOURS?"
Eldric widened his eyes in disbelief. Didn't the girl say that he would get three hours? Why was it suddenly reduced by one?
"The blood wasn't enough you moron." Immediately answering his question, she pointed at the tower. "You can either argue or you can finish the trials."
"Damn it." Gritting his teeth, Eldric touched the door and entered the first floor.
As soon as Eldric arrived in the familiar location, he immediately rushed forward, hoping to hit the wolf hiding in the bush.
But the moment Eldric took a step forward, he felt his surroundings blur before he was already standing in front of the bush.
"This... This..." Even though there was a storm inside his head, Eldric didn't dare to be careless. He had died countless times in this trial, he wasn't going to squander this precious opportunity.
Activating his skill, he took another step and directly arrived beside the stunned wolf which couldn't even react.
"BANG..."
With a loud sound, the Wolf was thrown out of the bush with a punch which left it stunned.
Eldric didn't wait for it to hit the ground. At this moment, he could see everything clearly. It was like everything around him was slowed down and the wolves which were fearsome opponents were now like an old man in his late nineties who was having trouble walking around.
"Bang... Bang..."
Before the wolf could hit the ground, two more sounds echoed as its entire body turned into light and disappeared.
And the moment it happened, Eldric's points which were stuck at one thousand finally increased for the first time.
[Points: 1010]
Edlric didn't seem to care as his entire focus was on the wolves around him.
Suddenly, his body moved and in the eyes of the stunned wolves that were hiding around while trying to encircle him, he almost disappeared.
"Wooo..."
"Woooo...."
Soon, every single wolf began to howl. They didn't expect this week-looking human to be so powerful.
However before they could even react or run away, Eldric who was already aware of their locations after dying countless times had already punched those five wolves, leaving them stunned.
Without any hesitation, he then moved again and kept on punching the wolves lying on the ground without any mercy.
Before fifteen seconds even passed and his skill entered cooldown, Eldric had already killed the five wolves around him.
"HOLY SHIT."
Cursing out loudly, Eldric still couldn't believe how easy it was. It was as if he had returned to the first two difficulty modes of the trial.
"So powerful." Eldric was still in a daze.
Till now, he never understood what the point of Attributes was. Even in school, other than telling them that the attributes can make one stronger, they didn't tell them anything else.
When Ellina, the professor from the college showed her power and told them that more attributes represent more strength, she didn't say that the mere difference of one attribute can make such a difference.
Just when Eldric was thinking, he felt the familiar sensation of crisis from behind. But unlike the previous time when he couldn't react, this time he let out a smile as his body blurred and disappeared under the eyes of the confused wolf who was jumping with its open mouth.