Fixing shortcomings

James had collected five nuclei from the nightmares he had defeated. He had absorbed the rarest one to gain the Zombie Virus Resistance passive. He was yet to absorb the other four.

James thought, "For the time being, saving nuclei isn't a good idea for me. My stats are higher than the base stats of an average Earthling, but compared to the players of other races as well as humans from planets other than Earth, they are just average. If I don't improve them, I will be forced to rely on my limited ammunition when I come across an Unfriendly."

Without further ado, he absorbed the four nuclei in his collection.

One increased his stamina by one point. 

Another increased his strength by one point, bringing it to the same level as his agility. 

The last two each increased his vitality by one point, bringing it to 8 points. Since vitality represented the health bar, he was now 1.6 times harder to kill than an average Earthling as the base vitality stat of an average Earthling was 5

"Status."

With a command, James opened his status screen.

Name: James

Age: Eighteen years and six months old

Class: Mage (Lv:1) (Condition to level up: 0/1 strengthening orb)

Strengthening Orbs: None

Passives: Zombie Virus Resistance (Lv:1) (Grants 5% resistance to the zombie virus)

Actives: Spell Haste (Lv: 1) (Effect: Doubles the user's Agility for 15 seconds) (Cooldown: 30 seconds)

Trial Points: 50

Vitality: 8

Strength: 8.5

Stamina: 11

Agility: 8.5

Mana Vessel: Lv 1

Mana: 70/100 units

Skill Points: 0

Stat Points: 0

The problem with unlocking an E-rank class was that it came with many shortcomings, and these shortcomings had to be fixed to make an E-rank class become truly effective. These shortcomings could be fixed through the acquisition of active and passive skills.

Like any other E-rank class, James's E-rank Mage class also came with its fair share of shortcomings.

The two biggest ones were the lack of mana recovery and the high cost of casting spells.

The first one meant he could not naturally regain mana over time.

The second one meant he would quickly deplete his available mana if he decided to rely on magic to win his battles. 

James decided to address the shortcomings of his class to make it effective.

James unlocked two passives to address the shortcomings of his class and make it more effective.

[Unlocked: Mana Regeneration]

Type: Passive

Effect: Allows you to recover 5 units of mana every second. The effect is halved when in battle.

[Unlocked: Spell Efficiency]

Type: Passive

Effect: Reduces the cost of using spells by 5%.

Unlocking an active skill of an E-rank class costs 50 trial points while unlocking a passive skill costs 25 points. These prices are fixed and do not fluctuate.

As James had unlocked two passives of his E-rank class, he had used up the last of his trial points. 

He was now left with 0 trial points.

Having zero trial points would fill a player with a sense of unease as trial points were the greatest tool a player had to overcome situations that seemed like an insurmountable wall, but James felt not an ounce of worry.

'My trial points will skyrocket when I complete this trial, and if I complete it before the conditions to clear it are issued to me, I will earn extra points.'

Generally, the clear conditions weren't issued to a player immediately after they arrived in a trial zone. Instead, it was issued randomly. If players were able to deduce what the clear conditions were and clear the trial before the clear conditions were officially issued, they would earn extra trial points for their efforts.

As for why this system existed, it was because of the will of the Creators of the Land of Trials. 

'This is how things operate in the Land of Trials. Capable players are rewarded, while incapable players are forced to struggle to survive or die. If I want to do more than just survive in this place, I need to stand out from the masses.' 

'Luckily, I know the clear conditions of many trials, especially the ones players face early on in the Land of Trials. 

'I can leverage my knowledge to my advantage and make the most of every trial I am forced to participate in,' James thought.

****

The trial got progressively harder the further down the corridor James went. He stopped encountering zombies and nightmares in pairs and individually. He only encountered them in groups of three to five.

With his stats that were well above the average base stats of Earthlings and sharp daggers, dealing with a group of slow-moving zombies was easy, but he had to rely on his Haste spell each time he encountered a group of nightmares to overcome them.

The loot he got from defeating the first three groups was enough to push all his stats above 10 points.

Zombie nuclei became utterly ineffective to increase his stats.

The nuclei he got from defeating groups of zombies were then put into his backpack as he had no use for them, but they weren't entirely useless. He could trade them with players who needed them to increase their stats to ten in exchange for items useful for him down the line. Of course, the prerequisite was that they understood him and were willing to trade with him.

As for the loot he received from defeating nightmares, he used them to increase his stats. The nuclei of mortal-grade nightmares could be used to increase stats up to 30 points. His stats were hovering around 15, so the nuclei of nightmares would be useful in increasing his stats for quite a while.

'I have been fighting for a few hours now. I should be quite close to finishing this trial,' James thought as he ran, coming closer and closer to the end of the lengthy corridor. 

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Next chapter, the 2nd trial will end, and more info will be shed on the world background. Look forward to it.