"…" Leon knew now that everyone should already know of his presence thanks to the video, but he didn't really care: it just meant being more famous and people not wanting to mess with him if they felt like they wouldn't be able to defeat him.
[Good job, Host, you kicked that ELITE's ass!] EGO laughed.
"And yet, I didn't level up," Leon grabbed EGO from its little flame at the top, "Anyone who defeated that thing should have leveled up at least once or twice, yet I'm still stuck at 17/20 souls?!"
[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]
[You have 16 stat points to assign!]
"All on Endurance, that shit hurts like hell," Leon groaned as he continued walking toward the end of the first zone.
[Your Endurance Stat has increased by 16 stat points!]
And after less than two minutes…
~FWISH~
He was able to leave the [Forest of Darkness].
[Congratulations, you are the… 43rd to escape the first zone!]
[Second Zone: Clearing Before Ascension]
"A clearing…?" Leon looked around, and it looked like the dimension was indeed right: although the second zone was also massive, it was completely surrounded by the forest, which is why it was so difficult to mean anyone: the forest was giant, and you could escape it from any angle (except if you go backward that is as you would meet an impenetrable wall).
But the most interesting thing of all, and the one that probably caught the attention of all the people that had arrived here, was… the giant tower in the middle.
It was placed EXACTLY at the middle of that clearing, meaning that the same distance separated it from the first zone in any angle a participant would come out from.
The tower looked to be made out of stones, and as expected, was circular yet fairly wide, and at the top was a giant "eye" symbol.
[The boss is up there!] EGO smiled as he looked up, [We should hurry before the others steal our opportunity!]
And of course…
~DING~
[You have received a QUEST!]
[Quest: "Ascension Tower Boss Killer"]
[Objective: Devour the Boss (name unknown)]
[Reward: "Fire Breath" skill (Skill for EGO)]
"Huh?" Leon rid the last part several times as it clearly said "skill for EGO".
[I mean, duh, each of us have our own status windows, meaning that although we can get the same skills, there are also many other times where each of us will get a skill special to one of them.]
"Oh…"
This was insanely interesting since it meant the possibility that at some point, EGO's skills would be strong enough for him to be considered as a fighter too, right?
[Yes, but there is one simple problem: my current body is weak, and I have less than 300 HP.]
"Huh? Didn't you say that you can't die as long as I'm alive?" Leon felt like he had stayed in place for too long, and so he began running toward the tower as well.
[That is true, I cannot die even if my HP reach zero, but my physical body on the other hand will disappear, meaning that I'll be forced to seep back into yours and wait for me to regenerate,] EGO sighed, [Basically you'll be alone, though I'll still be able to speak to you!]
"Fair," it made sense, otherwise Leon could just hide behind while EGO did all the work, right?
And so he continued running.
After a minute or two, though… he found people.
They weren't close to him, not at all, actually quite far, but they could all be seen fighting a monster, and it was the same monster for all of them.
"Weird…"
[I'd watch out.]
Leon kept going for a little while after that, and as soon as he reached the approximate distance all those other people were fighting in… something appeared in front of him.
[If you want to access the 'Ascension Tower', you will first need to pass the guardian to prove yourself worthy!] such a panel appeared in front of him.
"…" but Leon wasn't impressed, "Here we go again," he sighed.
[Doesn't matter, just kick its ass quickly and reach that tower before anyone else!]
And right as the first panel dissolved…
~FWISH, BRRRR~
The ground trembled beneath Leon's feet, a low rumble that resonated through the clearing, and a fissure split the ground, sending shards of dirt flying.
~SMASH~
The ground shook again, and from the newly formed fissure, a massive figure began to emerge.
First, its massive rock hands smashed the ground, then another, using them both to rise.
~SMASH, CRACK~
And once the guardian finished emerging… it stood in front of Leon, at least three times his size, towering over him easily.
[Stone Golem - Level 15 - Mini-Boss]
Its body was completely made out of gray stone, with lots of vines surrounding not only its body, but also its limbs and head, a small aura burning in its eyes as it stared at the human before it.
Leon took a few seconds to check out all the others, and he noticed that they were ALL fighting the same monster.
"Huh."
[Mini-Bosses aren't categorized as a type of monsters, but they do exist, and if I was to place them, they would be between elite and boss.]
"And so everyone is fighting the same monster because…"
[Because that's the 'challenge' to access the ascension tower.]
"And what's stopping me from just… leaving?"
[You can try,] EGO smiled.
Leon actually felt like pushing his luck, and so he ran past the golem at incredible speed while it was still trying to get its last leg out of the ground.
But, right as he was about 10 meters away from the [Stone Golem]…
~BUMP, THUD~
He crashed into an invisible wall.
Well, not really invisible since it was blue and transparent, but it was kind of hard to notice if you didn't know it was there.
But the closer you get to it, the more apparent it becomes.
[You cannot escape the 'arena', please fight the guardian.]
Leon scoffed as he got up, now he knew why EGO had asked him to try: a circular arena had actually formed around the boy, meaning that no one could enter to disturb his fight against the mini-boss.
This was probably exactly what was happening with all the others…
[As I said, just kill it.]
Though, somehow, Leon wasn't overwhelmed or anything of the sort by the fact that he was stuck, after all… didn't he do that several times against the dummy back at the facility?
Maybe this was another reason as to why they forced them to defeat one of those dummies to pass.
"Yeah," Leon smiled as he took his fighting stance, "I'll be as fast as possible."
[Stone Golem - Level 15 - Mini-Boss]
And on the other hand, the golem turned around, still looking at the human with its hollow eyes.