Trial Of Competition (2)

The Elixir of Steel.

An elixir you could get by clearing the 3rd trial.

Normally this would sell for billions but…

「 You've taken the Elixir of Steel. 」

「 Special stat 'Tenacity' has been created. 」

「 The spirit of steel encapsulates your body. The higher the tenacity, the stronger your body gets. ]

That didn't matter now.

The most important thing was whether or not I'd survive the 4th trial.

「 Han Sungyeun 」

「 Strength – 34 」 「 Stamina – 29 」

「 Agility – 33(+5) 」 「 Mana – 20 」

「 Tenacity – 10 」

「 Innate ability – 'Necromancy (E) 」

「 Skill – See details 」

Seeing my newly increased stats gave me a sense of pride.

'I have to do everything in my power to make sure I win the competition.'

Victory or death.

'I don't know if I can win against them in a fight but…'

I at least wouldn't avoid a fight.

I started to gain more and more confidence as I climbed the tower.

There was no more hesitation.

I wouldn't run from any more fights.

And I'd win.

More importantly, the effects of the elixir were taking place.

"It's doing its job as a C-rank item."

The change was almost immediate.

Everything felt hard to the touch.

It was as if my skin had turned into steel.

I could also tell that my endurance had gone up.

I was a little disappointed that the reward was gone already, but it was too late to worry about that.

Then it was time to inspect my equipment.

I decided to go easy on the points this round.

I wouldn't buy anything besides the necessary food and potions.

That was the most efficient use of my points.

'Especially since they're going to sell return stones and skills in the marketplace later.'

It would be more worth it to save up now.

I had already determined that I would be safe with my current equipment.

Also, it seemed like the objective of the 4th trial was indeed competition.

'If it wasn't, someone would have said something about it when they asked for more details.'

But the community was silent.

You could deduce an answer without wasting any questions.

"Teams of three…"

This would be the first time meeting anyone in the tower.

I was a little excited but still nervous.

'Would the other challengers have gotten stronger like me?'

I couldn't tell how much stronger I had gotten because I had no one to compare myself to.

But I did know that I was growing at an accelerated rate.

But…

I also wanted to know how the other challengers had progressed.

No one ever revealed information about themselves, even back when the community was most active.

One thing I knew for sure was that they were all strong enough to pass 3 trials.

'No matter how much I progressed, I can't be arrogant.'

I straightened up all of my equipment and prepared for my training.

「 Do you want to disable the waiting area's auto-healing? 」

「 Y/N 」

Using some information that I got before the community quieted down—

「 The auto-healing has been disabled. 」

「 The body will retain physical stress and injuries will not heal. 」

If that was true, it would prove to be pretty useful.

Training was the only thing I could do.

Just like always.

***

When I was just starting to get used to my new body, a message appeared as if to tell me I was ready.

「 Do you accept the 4th floor trial? 」

Gasping for air, I stared at the message.

"Pant, pant."

Damn, training was much harder without auto-healing.

'I didn't know having it off would make this much difference…'

I had hit my physical limit swinging my sword and rolling on the ground.

Every fiber of my muscles ached, and the pain pierced through my bones.

「 The skill 'Accelerated Regeneration' is activating. 」

I had been repetitively leaving cuts on my arms to activate Accelerated Regeneration.

The self-harm was also doing a number on my mental stability.

But the results were astounding.

「 Skill – Accelerated Regeneration (E+) 」

「 Proficiency – 27% 」

「 Effect – Able to recover quickly from non-life-threatening injuries. 」

The proficiency had been going up as I constantly gave myself small cuts.

I couldn't train the resistance skills by harming myself, so those hadn't increased.

And even if I could raise it myself, the activation condition was the problem.

Training that skill would essentially be torture.

Though maybe it was a good thing that I couldn't self-harm my way into training the resistance skills.

Otherwise, I would have had to torture myself sooner or later.

Most skills didn't have loopholes you could use to artificially increase proficiency like accelerated regeneration.

However, even healing a small wound took a lot of stamina, so I couldn't raise it all that much.

If I overdid it, I could be in danger of passing out.

And the more injuries I had, the more likely that the skill wouldn't activate.

I guess I could turn the auto-healing off if things got rough.

'I don't have the luxury of switching that on and off until I get more points.'

But there had been some pros to this.

My movements had become more efficient from tiring out, and it was easier to see the effects of the new skills.

For example, the effects of my new tenacity stat and the Hunter's Daggermanship passive.

In the beginning, I almost lost a hand from the increased cutting force.

I still got chills thinking back to that.

But—

'At least it was effective.'

Looking at the results, I would be at a loss if I didn't keep training like this.

"…"

After a brief break, I turned the auto-healing back on.

My muscles loosened and my stamina was restored.

Now that all my hindrances were gone…

There was no reason to not accept the next trial.

Some people might think that I was rushing into it but—

'If I hesitate, I may end up never going through with it.'

「 Do you accept the 4th floor trial? 」

「 Y/N 」

'It's now or never.'

「 Queueing the challengers… 」

「 Please wait until the matching is complete. 」

「 Current number of challengers – 18/30 」

I was wondering what the matching system was.

'I kinda get it now.'

'It's simple.'

The Tower of Trials always gave its challengers an intuitive challenge.

Almost as if it was trying to show us the most direct path for growth.

And then it hit me.

'Why is it doing this for us?'

It was only the 4th floor but I was already stronger than most low-level hunters.

If you included my equipment and skills, the difference was even more drastic.

The higher I went up the tower, the harder the trials got…

And the better the rewards the tower would provide.

"…"

This was just my gut but, I didn't think the tower was giving these rewards for no reason.

Everything has a cost.

'What would the tower even want from me?'

Probably something impossible for an individual, considering the number of people it pulled in.

Just as I was about to continue this train of thought—

Ting!

「 Current number of challengers – 30/30 」

「 Matching complete. 」

A portal opened as if to rush us out of our waiting areas.

I stopped my thoughts and walked to the portal.

'I'll think about this later. For now, I'll focus on the trial.'

「 Entering Tower of Trials floor 4. 」

「 Difficulty – Hard 」

「 The following trial is a special trial where 30 challengers enter as a group. 」

「 The objective of the following trial is 'competition.' 」

「 We wish the challenger a satisfactory ending to their choice. 」

Voom!

The surroundings changed into something I might've seen in medieval novels.

Decorative paintings in a room surrounded by walls made of brick.

There wasn't time to admire the view though.

「 Choosing the teams. 」

「 You are in a close relationship with your teammates. 」

「 Collaborate with them and complete the trial before any others. 」

Voom!

The portal I entered disappeared and 2 more appeared in front of me.

And—

「 The 4th floor trial is starting soon. 」

「 Remaining time – 1day 」

「 Trial success condition – Killing the goblin chief before the timer runs out 」

「 Trial fail condition – Challenger's team's death or time out 」

「 Trial success reward – All stats +4 」

「 Trial fail penalty – Death 」

It's time.

____