Mike now had a goal, and he jumped right into action.
Dig a trap, scatter some bait.
Move to another spot, dig again, scatter again.
Then switch locations, dig, scatter—over and over.
Two hours flew by before he even realized it, and his initial excitement gradually settled.
In front of a battered shack, the ground was piled with pheasant carcasses.
Just as he'd hoped, he'd practically wiped out all the pheasants in this entire village.
He'd taken down fifteen pheasants, two rabbits, and one rat in three hours—earning himself a total of eighteen extra hours of lifespan. Minus the time he'd already spent, that netted him about fifteen hours.
Sure, these small critters were easy targets, but they were way too low-level. There was no point in pouring all his effort into them.
"Damn it!"
"I guess I kinda underestimated the difficulty of this place. This isn't a trial you can breeze through just by wandering around. Wiping out pheasants leads nowhere."
In fact, Mike had noticed something else: after he'd slaughtered nearly every pheasant, the other animals were now on high alert. He could hardly see anything else moving around anymore.
"This isn't going to work. I need to adjust my tactics."
"Killing monsters increases my lifespan, so it's gotta tie into this trial somehow. There must be some monster here on this level that grants a serious chunk of time when you kill it."
"That monster is my real target."
As he thought about it, Mike ran into another problem that made him want to tear his hair out.
Sure, gaining lifespan from every kill was amazing, but if all that EXP kept converting into lifespan, how was he supposed to level up and increase his stats? He was so weak that even offing a pheasant felt like a chore. Was he really going to take on a boss with all his attributes stuck at 1?
Mike forced himself to calm down and think. Eventually, he turned his gaze to the rundown houses around him.
He squeezed through a crack in one of the walls, and a few moments later he emerged carrying a beat-up wooden box.
Prying it open, he rummaged inside. The Eye of Truth gave him some pointers:
[Grandma's False Teeth]
[Quality: F]
[Attack: 0–1]
[Note: There's a bit of tomato sauce still on them. Wanna taste?]
…
[Rusty Nail Clippers]
[Quality: F]
[Attack: 0–1]
[Note: Tetanus Enchantment]
…
[Old Net]
…
[A Condom That Extends Sex Time by 1 Hour]
…
Mike: "…"
What the hell is up with these weird items?
They were basically useless, so he gave up searching any other houses. He grabbed a few long sticks, tied them together, and bound both ends with straw.
That gave him a makeshift weapon that offered decent reach—if not much stopping power.
[Simple Long Stick]
[Quality: F]
[Attack: 1–2]
[Note: This stick was originally used to stir up toilet waste, so there's a 2% chance of invoking Poison when attacking.]
…
[Ding! Conditions have been met. Do you wish to open the hidden class "Rune Blacksmith" quest?]
"Reject," Mike muttered without a second glance.
Sure, a Rune Blacksmith could be powerful, but it obviously didn't mesh with his talent.
This 0th floor was filled with various opportunities. Mike got up and was about to leave when he made an unexpected discovery.
Poisonous mushrooms!
"Turns out they're Spotted Mushrooms!" Delighted, Mike used his Long Stick to knock them loose at the roots, mashed them up, and collected the fragments.
These things were super handy—extremely toxic and capable of paralyzing their target. Once you got hit by this stuff, you weren't running anywhere.
Wandering around the village inside his Custom Space, Mike eventually reached a small pond on the western side.
To be honest, "pond" might be overstating it. It was more like a sunken patch of ground that had filled with rainwater due to the low-lying terrain.
Mike noticed animal footprints along the edge—some pressed quite deep, or with telltale marks of front legs kneeling.
"There's definitely something big around here."
He tossed the crushed Spotted Mushrooms into the water, watching as the surface turned a faint milky color.
"All I need to do now is camp here. But I can't go too far, or by the time I rush over, the beast might already be dead."
He climbed up a tall nearby tree and waited quietly.
Ten minutes later, a sturdy bull ambled into view.
Mike held his breath as it trudged over to the pond, dipped its forelegs into the water, then began to drink.
After a while, the bull lifted its head and shook its mane, content. But it didn't make it more than 100 feet before its whole body shuddered. The huge creature collapsed, foaming at the mouth and jerking uncontrollably.
"It's working!"
Mike jumped down from the tree and approached the bull. Sure enough, he could see a familiar health bar overhead, glowing green and ticking down bit by bit.
-3
-3
…
It was losing three HP every second, with a total of 100. Thirty-four seconds would finish it off entirely, but Mike had to strike at second thirty-three.
Finally, the bull's health dropped to 1/100.
"It's now or never!"
Mike swung the Long Stick with every ounce of strength he had:
-1!
"Moo!"
After a final agonized cry, the bull went limp.
[You have killed a Bull (lv4).]
[Supreme Blessing effect has activated. You have gained 18 hours of lifespan!]
[Remaining Lifespan: 1 day 15 hours 12 minutes]
[Supreme Being Legacy Activation Rate: 1.6%]
So that's how it works!
Mike understood now. The Supreme Being Legacy's activation rate was obviously linked to his total lifespan.
"One day of lifespan equals one percent of activation. So if I boost my lifespan to a hundred days, I'll unlock the Supreme Being's legacy and lift my own restrictions!"
"And the interesting twist is, as long as I land the final blow, the Supreme Blessing doesn't really care how the monster died—it just gives me more time."
That meant Mike could try kill-stealing other people's bosses if it ever came to that, swooping in just to strike the finishing blow… or so he was thinking.
But that was still a long way off. Besides, this Supreme Blessing wouldn't last forever; it was only temporary.
What Mike truly needed to focus on was his SSS-level talent, along with that 33% chance of snagging an SSSSS-level reward!
He felt certain that, with the Eye of Truth on his side, he could lock in that SSSSS-level reward.
Once he'd calmed his excitement, Mike decided to drag the bull's carcass away—but thought better of it. Instead, he slit the artery with a makeshift Sword and hid nearby.
Before long, a pack of hyenas, drawn by the scent of blood, crept in. They tore into the bull, devouring it.
Once they'd gorged themselves, they were thirsty. One of them glanced back.
Oh look, water.
Their little joy was short-lived. Moments later, they collapsed, convulsing and foaming at the mouth.
Mike emerged from the woods once again to finish them off.
[You have killed …]
[You have killed …]
…
[Remaining Lifespan: 4 days 3 hours 52 minutes]