Good Luck

"Why were you just watching from behind? We were the only ones fighting!"

"Why should I fight? Where the hell is this place? What are those monsters, and how did they drag us here with some kind of magic?"

"I've never even held a sword. How am I supposed to fight monsters?"

"Who here has ever fought before?"

As Cyruz organizes himself, he heard the heated argument of the people who belatedly arrived in the waiting room after clearing the trial of the 2nd floor and survived.

Some says to fight and that we had to work together and combine our strengths to survive. However, the others were indifferent. They stubbornly refused, saying that they won't do it.

They couldn't accept reality since they were ordinary people. They had lived lives unrelated to the battlefield and mostly none of them had a profession related to combat.

"Should we step in?"

As the argument was becoming so loud, Raven meekly spoke towards Cyruz and Jin.

"I~I..."

Jin was taken aback. Although he wanted to intervene and reassure those arguing folks, he himself was agitated by the current situation so he thought he thinks that he was not in the right position to express what he wants.

"Leave them alone."

Cyruz calmly replied without looking. However his reply made both Jin and Raven look at him with hesitation.

'Right. Unlike me who experienced the hellish life in the tower, these two were just ordinary civilians from earth just a couple of hours ago.'

Cyruz remembered to consider their position. Unlike him who has changed his personality and mindset to adapt with the environment in the tower, these two were still filled with fear because the place called Tower of Trials were still unknown to them and their mindset still belong to the category of ordinary people.

"We're in this fight together, so we should support and console each other to become comrades. Is that what you wanted me to say?"

Cyruz spoke with a monotone voice. Raven nodded but his face is full of uncertainty. He— himself doesn't even have the courage to speak with those panicking and terrified players.

"I'm not saying to be heartless. I'm just saying that you better focus on yourself. If you don't want to die, that is."

Fighting doesn't always mean dying. However, in the Tower of Trials, worrying about other people's lives is nothing but luxury when you can't even guarantee yours. Yes, the risk of death in the tower is very high.

"Let's just wait and see Raven. They might turn out to be amazing people."

Jin patted Raven to reassure the young man. He can't disagree with the logic of Cyruz so he replied towards Raven with a smile.

Then, instead of listening to the arguments of the scared people, the trio made use of the time left until the trial for the next floor which leaves them more than 20 minutes of training.

The time is not too long so the three just did basic exercises like running or push-ups for 10 minutes. Once the basic exercises were done, weapon training began.

Well, calling it weapon training might be an overstatement. For Jin and Cyruz, it was just swinging a sword, and for Raven, it was familiarizing more to his dagger. But they didn't slack off.

While swinging, Cyruz could feel the distribution of strength and the correct posture gradually being grasped. He is still not used to his stats that reverted back from the start.

Although he has quite enough battle experience, just by looking at the skills that appeared in the status window, it was still beginner swordsmanship.

But even if he tried, Cyruz would still fall far behind a knight who had learned proper swordsmanship in the high floors of the tower since his physical abilities fell behind and couldn't reproduce the swordsmanship he was used to.

'I need at least 50 points in strength and stamina stats to utilize the swordsmanship I'm familiar without a burden in my body.'

With floor bonuses alone, he need to climb at Floor 20 for that. Since the swordsmanship that was engraved in his mind and habits are suited for a strong physical body, the sensation of being forcibly restrained by the backslash is still quite vivid.

Using swordsmanship that his body couldn't handle yet would only harm him and it might even be the cause of his death so Cyruz didn't rush.

There was still the feeling that he couldn't move his fingers or toes at all, and his arms and legs moved separately from what he wanted. Before he regressed, Cyruz had more than 250 strength and 200 agility. It was difficult to adapt after it decreased to 1 points respectively. It was like regressing from a healthy adult to a newborn baby.

He willingly learned from the basics again, to adjust to his body that is physically weaker than what he has in his strongest. What's fortunate for Jin and Raven was there's some kind of an expert to guide the two. With the remaining 10 minutes, sparring has probably given them some sense of it.

「 'Sword Mastery (Beginner)' skill proficiency has increased. 92, 95%…..100%. 」

「 Congratulations! You have reached the max proficiency of your 'Sword Mastery (Beginner)' skill. 」

「 You have gained a new understanding about your skill. A superior skill is being opened. 」

「 The skill 'Sword Mastery (Intermediate)' has been created. 」

A refreshing sensation surged through his entire body. It felt as if the sword had become a part of Cyruz, a strange sense of unity. If that's his first time, that is.

'I would have leveled up the skill earlier but... That's it for now.'

Cyruz didn't linger on it. Obtaining the hidden piece is much more beneficial than the reward of being the first to level up a skill so he has no regret over it.

「 You have arrived at Floor 3. 」

「 You have obtained 5 bonus stats. 」

The scenery was just the same plain like the lower floors. The only slight difference was that, there's now a couple of trees around but not too many.

「 Third floor trial: Slay 1,000 goblins to clear the floor! 」

Though it may seem impossible, there's undoubtedly a viable strategy. However, the difficulty level of this mission was remarkably high.

"Th~thousands of goblins? Are you sure it's not a mistake? How can the three of us…?"

The open plain is not an ideal defensive location. If the three stayed here, they would quickly be surrounded and annihilated.

"Let me share a few tips. Listen closely."

"Yes!"

"First, try to move the goblin corpses forward as much as possible. Create makeshift barriers with them. The narrower the space for the enemy to advance, the better. Got it?"

The three of them has to face thousands of enemies. The goal was to take advantage of the island terrain to hold out against the monsters that overwhelmed them in terms of quantity.

Thousands of goblins began to surge their way into the three humans.

"Don't panic. I'll be the vanguard so just prepare yourselves!"

Cyruz alarmed both Jin and Raven. Unlike the case in Floor 2, this floor is exclusive for them which means, Floor 3 separate other players in different dimensions but were still on the same floor and having the same trial to clear.

Jin firmed up his heart and wielded his sword. The low level sword flew at a very slow speed. It was a level that the goblins could avoid.

"Don't get flustered. Maintain formation," Cyruz advised.

"Yes!"

Both of them responded with unwavering determination.

Good, none of them are afflicted by the Fear status effect. Now, they weren't complete greenhorns when it came to real combat.

There's a combat style for the weaker ones.

It's called formation—a strategy that harnesses collective power rather than relying solely on individual prowess. However, there was no time to rest. A goblin started to realize that its attack was in vain and called its kin for a pincer attack.

"Hiyaaat!"

Jin and Raven initiated a counterattack after Cyruz parried the goblin's attack.

Jin swung his sword while skillfully shielding his vital points. His strike carried a considerable amount of force. Raven on the other hand, utilized well that the goblins weren't able to notice his presence and his blade deeply cut through a goblin.

In that fleeting moment, Jin's swift thrust found an opening. The goblin let out a shriek as the low quality sword pierced deep into its chest.

Jin and Raven steadfastly maintained their defense, prioritizing guarding and retaliating. Jin's thrusts and Raven's daggers exploited the enemies' vulnerabilities.

"We're getting the hang of this."

The core principles of formation were coming into play. At this level, they demonstrated combat effectiveness beyond their individual capabilities. The nearest goblins met their doom without mounting a proper counteroffensive.

'Allocate 10 points to luck.'

The special stat that he opened after his perfect performance in the 1st floor. In normal cases, unlocking a special stat is not simple unless one would perform something exceptional.

「 10 points have been invested into 'luck'. 」

「 Luck - 1 → Luck - 11 」

「 You has slightly attracted the good fortune around you. 」

At this point, Cyruz was confident that Luck stat is currently unique to him. Although that might not be the case sooner or later, investing his points to luck is not a bad move for him.

Currently, Cyruz's performance was higher than his stats. In no time, he had fully adapted to his strength and agility, and could freely manipulate his body to strike at the goblin with the sword in his hand.

He was one of the legends who killed several strong bosses in the upper floors. Goblins on this floor are not something that he couldn't handle.

Miss! Miss! Miss!

During combat, there is always a very small probability of not being able to hit the target. What made it good for Cyruz was that, the special stat, luck, increases the probability of the enemies' attacks to miss.

Naturally, since his luck stat isn't so high yet, it doesn't always work. But, its not a big problem for him to let a few attacks to reach him since his Hyper Cell doesn't let him down.

「 Lesser regeneration in the cells is activated. 」

「 Your health has slightly recovered. 」

Even if Cyruz received some damage, he didn't panic. It's not like the goblin could always wound him as his luck is a great help.

10!

With a critical strike, a red-colored number pops up above the head of the goblin. Luck doesn't just made the enemies attacks to miss but also increases the chance of dealing critical damage.

10!

Cyruz thrust his sword, piercing a goblin's neck. The goblin collapsed, blood flowing from its throat.

"Stack the bodies! Build the wall!"

He repeated the instructions so that his companions could hear.

"Understood!"

Then Cyruz heard Raven and Jin's distant shouts. With his experience as a guardian knight, Cyruz was able to block the goblins attack and swiftly counterattacked with minimal movements to preserve his stamina.

Miss! Miss!

「 Lesser regeneration of the cells has increased. 」

「 Health recovery speed has risen. 」

「 Lesser fatigue recovery has been added to the cells. 」

Cyruz added something to speed things up. If he wasn't able to infuse mana in his body before he take the trial, he might not be able to do this. Just then, bluish light surrounded his sword.

He imbued a small amount of his mana on the sword. Although its still incomplete since his body couldn't keep up, but it's more than enough for Cyruz.

「 Pain tolerance of the cells has increased. 」

「 Backslash tolerance of the cells has increased. 」

「 Lesser fatigue recovery of the cells has increased. 」

「 Stamina recovery speed has risen. 」

It's the same frequent pattern. Cyruz blocked and countered again and because of him excellently performing his role, Jin and Raven were able to focus on dealing damage to the goblins.

They were aware that these guys are weak. For Cyruz, they're like fledglings and wasn't that different from the goblins on the first floor. Their bodies are emaciated, and their strength is lacking despite being 50% stronger than the goblins in the 2nd floor.

However, their numbers are overwhelming. As the three of them were caught up in extreme exhaustion, notification windows flashed in front of Cyruz.

「 The constellation, 'Great Sage Heavens Equal' is interested in you. 」

「 100 gold coins have been sponsored. 」