Chapter 3: Speed run

It was an exhausting journey from the basement back to the room he appeared in, he checked his status to see that he only had 4/16 stamina after the fight.

He decided to take time to recover, he took a bottle of water out to take while he checked the community messages.

First, he went through the messages in the world channel only one was of any importance to him.

Hassan - 'Guys I took 4 right and did not end up in the same room, how is that possible?'

After which it was messages about speculation about how that was possible, but Amun was surprised about that as earlier the rules had said you could never go to a room after exiting it so he wasn't surprised they were precautions against it.

He went to the regional channel next and it was way more crowded with messages barely any useful ones. He also noticed that people were currently active due to the fact that the counter beside the tab for the regional channel had been reduced by 4.

After which, all the messages after the counter went down were about the dead candidates and what could have possibly killed them.

Some people were lucky to have never lucky to have not come across any monster and some were able to kill any monster they have come across while some only got injured.

Most people in his region had completed 4 to 5 rooms by now while very few had not left the first room, so he was slow compared to his pairs.

'I have to pick up the pace.' he thought while exiting the community tab and opening the market tab.

Not a lot was on sale and almost all exchanges were asking for medicine and water. Which wasn't a surprise to him as if everyone received the same package as him in the beginning they'd have enough food for a day or 2 based on rationing.

He left the market to check if his stamina was any better now.

ST: 7/16

'Just 3, I have been resting for about 30 mins.'

"So slow," he said frustrated

He opened his inventory and took out a bottle of water and a piece of bread. He split the piece of bread into 2 returning half to his inventory while snacking on the other, after which he took 2 mouthfuls of water from the bottle.

He suddenly felt refreshed, so he check his stats to see that his stamina had increased.

ST: 11/16

He took the bottle again a did the same thing again and his stamina increased again by 4, 2 for each mouthful.

ST: 15/16

He returned the half-filled bottle back into his inventory.

'I have to speed up, so I don't get left behind.' he thought as he walked to the centre of the room to scan the doors. The first door had a white glow, the second an orange glow and the last one had a blue glow.

[Entrance to ownerless room]- white glow

[An empty dungeon where nothing but blight bats exist, currently home to 6 blight bats.]

[Danger Rating: E]

[Reward: none]

[Entrance to blight caven]- Orange glow

[A cave that is home to hundreds of blight bats, the room is filled with mostly eroded materials. Travelling to this room is a suicide mission for you.]

[Danger Rating: B]

[Reward: Rusted iron chest]

[Entrance to ownerless room]- Blue glow

[An ownerless room, no danger present.]

[Danger Rating: -]

{Reward: Lifestyle enriching reward.}

{Chest type: wooden}

{Chest grade: 2-star}

He was surprised to see that no danger was present in the blue room while the white room possessed more dangerous encounters than the blue room, which was weird if he would go by what he had assumed the glowing colours met.

If his assumption was correct the colour codes would go like this, White glow - no danger, Green glow - little danger, Blue room - not a life-threatening danger, red glow - life-threatening danger, black room - Death awaits.

But his skill was currently telling him otherwise. He decided to try to figure out the reason behind each colour later as he was currently supposed to be playing catch up with the other candidates.

He walked toward the blue door as that was the most obvious choice as both choices were dumb, not only was the reward better but they were no danger to his life.

He used 12 stamina to fight 2 bats he wasn't looking to attack more especially as there was no reward in the white room and the other room was a death sentence.

He appeared in a room smaller and square-shaped, there was nothing in the room except a chest on a platform in the middle of the room and 3 doors leading out.

It didn't even take him up to 6 steps to reach the centre, he then scanned the box with his skill.

[2 Star Box (Wooden)]

{Rewards: wood, soil, stone}

He noticed that the updated version of the skill had removed potential reward and only reward information popped up.

[2 Star Box (Wooden)]

{Open} {Ignore}

{Acquired: Wood x6, Soil x3, Stone x2}

He stored them all in his inventory before dismantling the box and moving on to the next room.

{Wood x4}

[Ownerless room]- blue

[There is no chest here only materials can be found if you search well enough you can find them, be careful of traps.]

[Danger Rating: E]

{Reward: None}

[Ownerless room]- red

[The room has a significant amount of Lissan C flower but a fledgling Lissan H flower has grown somewhere in the room so be careful not to inhale too much of the gas produced by the flower. There are 3 treasure chests in the room, one contains treasure and poses no danger to the host while the others pose a significant danger.]

[Danger Rating: C]

{Reward: Power enhancement reward.}

{Chest type: Wooden}

{Chest grade: 5-star}

[Ownerless room]- Green

[An empty room filled with poisonous air from a Lissan H flower. The poison effect is not negligible even with the beginner's protection, it has only reduced the effect of the poison even with that only a fool will walk into it.]

[Danger Rating: A]

{Reward: Lifestyle enriching reward.}

{Chest type: Iron}

{Chest grade: 4-star}

The notification on each door confirmed the fact that the glowing colours had nothing to do with the danger level of the room.

He walked towards the red glowing door as he could use his skill to determine which box was dangerous and where the plant was, so off he was into room number 4 for the day.

The room was small but not too small, A wall of flowers was in every corner of the room, there was a platform in the middle of the room with a chest and the other 2 chests were by place in the room on the floor.

To be honest if not for the fact that his skill had told him the flower in the room was a different variant he would have thought that the flower was the same Lissan A flower.

They looked so alike that he would have not noticed without his skill.

[Lissan C flower]

[Makes you high if consumed when unprepared and evolves into a Lissan H flower when left for a long time. The effect can be cured using the Lissan A Potion, but the question is will you be able to recognize the potion in your delirious state so not advisable to consume when alone.]

That was the detail on the flower everywhere on the wall, he scanned all the plants on the wall looking for the Lissan H flower but came up short.

He decided to scan, open the chest and leave this place as soon as possible as this place was giving him the creeps, it was as if someone was watching and monitoring him.

It was as if he was being monitored at every corner, once he turned his back to any corner it was like the gaze moved there. That was weird cause there was no one but him in the room and a wall full of flowers.

He turned his gaze to the chest on the platform as that was most likely the real box but to his surprise he was wrong.

[Ungraded poison box]

[Not an advisable endeavour. A box filled and coated with poison]

He turned to the chest on his right. At first sight, the box was mesmerizing and very enchanting. It had a beautiful flower on the top, it had a red petal and a beautiful fruit right in the middle.

He had unknowingly moved towards the flower when a notification popped on in front of him.

[Metal attack detected.....]

[Metal attack resisted.....]

[Resistant is weak, please step away from the source.....]

[180 sec till resistance fails]

'What the hell?' he said as he instantly stepped back and scanned the chest.

[3-star Iron monster box]

[A iron box that has a Lissan H flower growing on it. It is advisable to stay away from this box as a creature lurks within waiting for the unfortunate candidate to open it or for the enchanting effect of the Lissan H flower to bring the candidate to it.]

{Reward: Iron lich}

'Wow, that must have been where the gaze came from.' He walked away from the chest entirely and walked towards the last one as he wanted to leave this room as fast as possible.

[5-Star wooden box]

[Reward: Stat potion, Skill ticket, Iron ore.]

He opened the chest {acquired: uncommon strength potion x1, uncommon agility potion x1, skill ticket x1, iron ore x6}

He instantly stored everything in his inventory without checking their information as he didn't want to stay here and be food for whatever the iron lich is as the countdown was still visible even after he stepped away from the vicinity.

He couldn't find any information on it in the database which means it's not a basic monster and he has to trigger the trap to see the stats and he doesn't have a death wish.

He disassembles the boxer before scanning the doors.

{Wood x12}

[Entrance to ownerless room]- White glow

[A room filled with traps.]

[Danger Rating: E]

[Reward: none]

[Entrance to ownerless room]- White glow

[An empty room]

[Danger Rating: -]

[Reward: None]

[Entrance to ownerless room]- Green glow

[An ownerless room, no danger present.]

[Danger Rating: -]

{Reward: Life-enriching reward.}

{Chest type: wooden}

{Chest grade: 2-star}

The moment he was about to touch the door, a notification popped up

[Mental attack intensity increased]

[25 sec till resistance fails]

He instantly opened the door and walked in and walked in through the threshold.

The moment he entered the room the mental attack stopped.

He then walked to the platform and opened the box

[2 Star Box (Wooden)]

{Rewards: Bread, cumber, water}

[2 Star Box (Wooden)]

{Open} {Ignore}

{Acquired: Bread x3, cucumber x2, Water x1L}

He stored them all in his inventory before dismantling the box,

{Wood x4}

Since the water did not come in a bottle.

[Desginate place for storage of water 1L]

{Bucket 0/10L}

{Bottle 400ml/1L}

He selected the bucket.

He then opened his inventory to scan his reward from the previous room. The first items were a bottle of foggy liquid solution that didn't look edible.

[Uncommon strength potion x1]

[Description: A potion used to increase the strength stat. Increases the stats by 2 cannot be used once the stat reaches 30, to be consumed manually.]

[Uncommon agility potion x1]

[Description: A potion used to increase the agility stat. Increases the stats by 2 cannot be used once the stat reaches 30, to be consumed manually.]

He frown before taking both potions, they tasted just as horrible as there looked.

+2 strength

+2 Agility

[Skill ticket x1]

[Description: A ticket used to randomly generate skills for players.]

{Use}

{Yes}{No}

[Skill gained: Power shot]

[Accurate Power Shot (Rare)]

[Description: Increases the accuracy and damage done when using a ranged weapon by 25% and 50% respectively.]

[Cost: 2MP per shot]

'Nice skill' he said excitedly before moving on to the next room.

[Entrance to ownerless room]- White glow

[An empty room]

[Danger Rating: -]

[Reward: none]

[Entrance to ownerless room]- Blue glow

[An ownerless room, no danger present]

[Danger Rating: -]

[Reward: Lifestyle enhancing rewards]

{Chest type: Copper}

{Chest grade: 5-star}

[Entrance to ownerless room]- Green glow

[An ownerless room, no danger present.]

[Danger Rating: -]

{Reward: Life-enriching reward.}

{Chest type: wooden}

{Chest grade: 3-star}

All the rooms had no danger present and only 2 had rewards, he selected the room with the blue glow and he progressed to his 6th room for the day.

[5 Star Box (Copper)]

{Rewards: blueprint, material pack x2, uncommon speed up token x2}

[5 Star Box (Copper)]

{Open} {Ignore}

{Acquired: uncommon Atmospheric water generator blueprint x1, common material pack x1, rare material pack x1, uncommon speed-up token x2.}

[Rare Atmospheric Water Generator Blueprint (complete) x1]

[Description: A device used to generate water from the atmosphere]

{Learn}

{Yes}{No}

He selected yes and then went to the workshop to check it out and the materials need to build it.

[Rare Atmospheric Water Generator Blueprint.]

[Requirement: Wood 30/30, Iron block 4/4, Stone block 6/6, Fire stone 0/2, Water stone 0/4, Air stone 0/2, light orb 0/1.]

{Construct}

{Yes}{No}

The requirements were high if not impossible, he had never seen any of the stone or the orb and he doubt if anybody has seen them.

[Common material pack x1]

[Description: A pack filled with the necessary materials. When opened randomly generates common materials necessary for designing and building.]

{Contents: Wood, fibre and Copper}

[Rare material pack x1]

[Description: A pack filled with the necessary materials. When opened randomly generates common materials necessary for designing and building.]

{Contents: Elemental stones, Elemental orbs and Iron ore}

He opened the Rare material pack while saving the common material pack in his inventory with the previous one as he currently had enough common material to build the AWG.

{Acquired: Water stone x2, Fire stone x1, Air stone x1, Water Orb x2 and Iron Ore x4}

They were not enough to meet the requirement for the building of the device but it was a good start.

[Uncommon speed-up token x2]

[Description: A token used to speed up processes. It can speed up process time for 4 hours.]

He stored everything and dismantled the box before moving on to the next room.

{+12 wood}

[Entrance to ownerless room]- Blue

[A room currently inhabited by a horde of drogols, they are currently asleep but walking into the room is still a death wish.]

[Danger Rating: B]

[Reward: Lifestyle enhancing rewards]

{Chest type: Copper}

{Chest grade: 3-star}

[Ownerless dungeon]- Blue

[A room currently being inhabited by a drogol, separated from its horde, it is currently sleeping and susceptible to a sneak attack. A ranged attack is recommended as the closer you get to the more chances of waking the beast up.]

[Danger Rating: D-F]

[Reward: Lifestyle enhancing rewards]

{Chest type: Iron}

{Chest grade: 3-star}

[Unammed dungeon]- Black

[A currently empty dungeon, this is the destination of a horde of drogols and Withes, so entry is not advisable and if you venture into the room try not to leave a trace of your presence as they will track you by smell.]

[Danger Rating: B]

[Reward: Lifestyle enhancing rewards]

{Chest type: Iron}

{Chest grade: 5-star}

He selected the blue door in the centre before moving on to the next room. Room 7.