Chap 31

Through the haze of pain, he saw the sand lion stalk towards him, blood staining its maw. Fortunately, there was a pain limiter on the tower. Standing on his two feet would have been impossible otherwise, given how weak his body was.

Lukas knew he had only a few moments before the lion finished him off. Through the red fog of agony, he spotted a crumbling stone wall nearby. Summoning his fading strength, he began crawling desperately across the blood-soaked sand, dragging his ruined body over the rough ground.

The lion let out a bellow and gave chase, saliva flying from its jaws. Lukas grunted and pushed himself beyond his limits, feeling his torn flesh rip further with every movement. Just as the beast pounced, he dove behind the wall, scrabbling into a narrow gap between two fallen stones.

The lion crashed against the other side with an angry snarl, pawing to get at its prey. Lukas stifled a cry as the wall shuddered, threatening to give way. He pressed himself back into the cramped space, breathing ragged.

Seeing the lion couldn't reach him, as its paws were too short.

A glint appeared in his eyes as he slowly pointed the transformed pen towards the lion. As Earth essences formed, he was going all out.

The lion right away sensed danger. It tried to get away. But like hell, Lukas will lose this opportunity.

Lukas grit his teeth as the earth essences swirled around the pen, taking shape despite his fading strength. The lion snarled and scrabbled at the stones, sensing its doom.

As the final symbol clicked into place, the earth essences erupted into a raging whirlwind drill, even larger than before. With a cry of effort, Lukas launched his spell just as the wall collapsed inward.

The sand lion let out a roar of terror and tried to flee, but the narrow alley trapped it with no escape.

The spiraling drill shot forward, its golden edges blurred to invisibility by its sheer velocity. It caught the lion in its side with a bone-shattering impact, grinding effortlessly through fur and flesh. Chunks of gore flew as the drill bored deeper.

The lion thrashed and writhed, but there was no escaping the merciless drill. Lukas watched coldly as it was slowly torn apart, its howls fading to whimpers as life left its mangled form. Finally, with a wet crunch, the drill exploded from its other side, leaving behind a good sizeable hole in its body.

Lukas's arm shook from the strain of maintaining such a powerful spell for so long. But at last the drill dissipated, its work completed. He slumped back against the stone, drained both physically and in terms of Essences he has now.

The Jelfs Tower voice rang, and the blue hologram appeared.

[11th floor, passed. You have been rewarded 250 credit points.]

[Proceed to the next floor?]

Lukas couldn't help but shout out, "Like hell I would do it, for God's sake..."

Before he could finish, the surroundings changed.

[Trial will begin in three seconds] Lukas widened his eyes, realizing what he had just said. And he completely forgot that this wasn't like a usual person. The system took it as a yes!

The surroundings shifted, and soon enough he was back at the same spot. From the ruins, not two, not three, but four sand lions emerged and started rushing towards him.

His senses screamed at him to get away. He shouted, grabbing his torn shoulder.

"Quickly, I want to quit!"

[Quitting will result in a loss of 50 credit points.]

The lions closed in. Lukas didn't even have the time to become angry or curse before he quickly shouted.

"It's ok, it's ok. Take me out now!"

Lukas braced himself as the surroundings blurred, expecting to find himself faced with yet another deadly trial. However, when his vision returned, he found himself safely back in the tower's entrance hall instead of facing the lions.

He slumped against the wall in relief and pain. It seemed his desperate plea to quit had been accepted just in time. Though he was now 50 credits poorer, he could just imagine how those things would have torn him apart.

He sighed and gazed at his left hand, which was back to normal, along with his clothes. Only the exhaustion remained.

He was about to move from the entrance when he suddenly realized something as he watched the students going in and out of the tower. He was still holding his soul gear.

Right away, he put the pen in his pocket and quickly made it disappear. He left the place without any delay, thankful that no one saw him or was using their aura zones. If they had, he would have been doomed.

Just thinking about the possibility of the news leaking about him having a soul gear at the first circle scared him. He knew that if the news broke out, he would become nothing but a test subject.

As a magician, a soul gear was also very important. But not many could reach the 6th circle, where the soul gear forms. Thus, if mad scientists or dark organizations found out that he already had one, they would come rushing at him.

[To be continued...]