The Eight Night - Part 2 - Rune
Even with his high pain tolerance, Renir felt his eyes swelling from his incessant crying.
That was when he stopped and fell into silence.
Lifting his head, and when he turned, he still saw his murderer, still standing with their eyes locked to each other.
Renir felt little fear, knowing it couldn't get him.
While he was crying, he already noticed the sound of water drops falling amidst the noise from the unending rain.
He looked up and saw that there was a leakage from the cave's roof. But from the left, besides the cave passage was the stairs from the cliff, bringing in water.
The half-closed eyes of his were blank, unable to think of anything.
Renir knew he used too much time from crying. However, he couldn't keep his sanity without it.
He stood up and looked at the quiet giant black slime.
Dauntlessly, he touched the stone tablet and tried to touch the giant. But before his finger made contact with the giant, his eyes shone together with the unknown symbols on the stone tablet.
[
Giganslik
The creature that spawns on the fifth night, the King of the Slime Kind.
Its prowess is already stronger than that of an elder slime and couldn't be killed immediately.
Its special ability is to devour any type of slimes towards obtaining its full potential.
It could eat up to 200 spirit slime until it reached its full form.
]
Renir opened his eyes slowly, but still half-closed.
"Giganslik...", but the numbers bothered him the most.
Before this, he realized that even without touching the stone tablet, he could learn about anything he wanted.
So he mildly perspired as he looked at the strange man in chains with sharp eyes.
Both his eyes and the symbols on the stone tablet then glowed...
[
Demon Marionette, Killburg.
Killburg was created from the corpse of the Demon Ghoul General, Xenaphez. The creator is his own self.
However, it was captured by a principality and was held captive as the Gantlet's secret passage.
It longs for the Bead of Revival so it can escape from the chains of Gantlet.
Its strength is below an angel - the lowest in the celestial hierarchy - but is stronger than all the Element Sentinels combined.
]
Both lights dispersed...
Renir's forehead wrinkled, "...even demons and angels are included?"
He looked at the stone tablet in awe and amazement but also, commonly, fear.
So he had to deal with these mythical creatures, not just some fictional game monsters?
This was giving Renir a headache. He looked once more at the stone tablet and tried something.
He closed his eyes and touched the stone tablet once more, and he thought;
'Element Sentinels'
It was worth a try...
And to his surprise, the symbols on the tablet revealed light!
[
Element Sentinels
The five harshest trials after the appearance of the Giganslik:
Water Sentinel, Wind Sentinel, Earth Sentinel, Plant Sentinel, and Fire Sentinel.
Each of their strengths are ranked by their sequence - stronger than the last and even the true form of the Giganslik.
]
When the light disappeared, Renir gasped out of surprise!
"The next five harshest trials?!", a revelation hit him!
But because of this, questions popped in his head like:
Are there thirty nights here or are there more?
But the reason for his uncounted surprise was when he recalled about the demon marionette.
"But just one of the Element Sentinels are supposed to be stronger than the true form of the Giganslik."
He look in terror at the Giganslik that beheld its immense size in front of Renir. But that was surely not the reason why his legs trembled.
"And the next Element Sentinel is stronger than the next..."
Renir then slowly turned his head around. It was no longer the Giganslik he truly feared.
"There are five of these Element Sentinels..."
His trembling eyes locked with the unblinking red eyes that glowed in the dark.
"But it was said that even if they are combined, they are still weaker compared to... the demon marionette."
Renir's legs were about to fall but he held himself up.
'It was a good thing that was chained!', he gladly thought.
After resting his mind, he looked at the stone tablet, "... there should be more!"
The curious fingers of his touched the stone tablet again.
As long as he knows what he doesn't know, he can learn it. So by learning new terms, he can get a stream of information out of it!
The light was revealed once again.
[
Water Sentinel
The second harshest challenge that will reveal itself on the tenth night of Gantlet.
On the seventh night, the landmass will change and the first rain will drop.
On the eight night to the ninth night, the great flood and water creatures in it will be the challenge to the Rune User.
And on the tenth night, the Water Sentinel will gain its power and cover the whole Gantlet Woodland with floods.
It has the appearance of a big fish.
]
[
Wind Sentinel
The third harshest challenge that will reveal itself on the fifteenth night of Gantlet.
On the twelfth night, the wild wind will appear.
On the thirteenth to the fourteenth night, the skin-tearing gust and mindless birds will be the Rune User's challenge.
And on the fifteenth night, the Wind Sentinel will gain its power and true destructive forms of wind will form.
It has the appearance of a great bird.
]
[
Earth Sentinel
The fourth harshest challenge that will reveal itself on the twentieth night of Gantlet.
On the seventeenth night, earthquake underneath the great flood will tremble the Gantlet Woodland.
On the eighteenth night to the nineteenth night, landmasses that will appear above the great flood, golems, earth spikes, and if unlucky, meteors from the sky will be the Rune User's challenge.
On the twentieth night, the Earth Sentinel will gain its power and devastate the new form lands of Gantlet with mountains and valleys.
It has the appearance of an ancient golem.
]
[
Plant Sentinel
The fifth harshest challenge that will reveal itself on the twenty-fifth night on Gantlent.
On the twenty-second night, plant and tree lives will bloom on the newform landmass.
On the twenty-third to twenty-fourth night, living poisonous vines will crawl, man-eating plants will hide, and tree ents will rule the earth along with the golems and it will be the Rune User's challenge.
On the twenty-fifth night, the Plant Sentinel will gain its power and rule over all the living plants to aggressiveness.
It has the appearance of a fairy.
]
[
Fire Sentinel
The sixth and last harshest challenge that will reveal itself on the last night of Gantlet before the Door of Ascension opens.
On the twenty-seventh night, juvenile volcanoes on the newform landmass will erupt.
On the twenty-eight to twenty-ninth, wildfire and magma beings will be released from the multiple volcanic eruptions will be the Rune User's challenge.
On the last night, the Fire Sentinel will gain its power and burn everything
It has the appearance of a demon
]
Renir gasped again. He wanted to puke.
"Last night.... thirtieth night..", Renir was devastated by the words from the stone tablet, "..but... isn't this just the eighth night?!"
He shouted in despair.
But he continued by touching the stone tablet again.
[
Bead of Revival
Gantlet's gift for Rune Users. It can revive a recently deceased Rune Users and grant them invincibility for sixty seconds.
There are ten in total.
]
[
Celestial Hierarchy
From the lowest and weakest to the highest and strongest celestial being: Angel, Archangel, Principality, Power, Virtue, Dominion, Throne, Cherubim, and Seraphim.
]
Renir stopped and thought about a moment... What he needed the most was the knowledge of how to survive all of this.
"Aren't I the Rune User?", Renir now only remembered and the one thing that bugged him the most. What is the rune?
So he closed his eyes and touched the stone tablet.
[
Rune
The Rune User's manual and skill converter, It is located all over Gantlet with the appearance of a flat boulder.
]
A huge bolt of hope struck Renir, "Skill converter?"
But also, he felt stupid, "So you are the rune after all this time..."
Right after he whispered, the light appeared again as his fingers never left the stone tablet.
[
Skill Converter
The Rune will grant the Rune User a skill that it was most affiliated from surviving and upgrades it beyond the power of a mortal.
The power of upgrade depends on the experiences the Rune User has.
]
"This is it!", Renir joyously opened his eyes but he thought again, 'Experience'
[
Experience
Unit of what the Rune User underwent, learned, overcame, and their literal experience in surviving in Gantlet that can be converted into skills using the Rune's upgrades.
The Rune User currently has experience points of:
0342 EXP
]
Renir didn't know how large it was and thought hard until he thought, 'Upgrade'
[
Upgrade
The Rune User's most-used skills while surviving in Gantlet will be significantly improved using the Rune.
The First Upgrade requires 0010 EXP
The Rune User must speak "First Upgrade" to confirm the first upgrade.
]
This should be the part where he will contemplate first before taking a step forward but...
"FIRST UPGRADE!", Renir enthusiastically shouted without the slightest hesitation.