Chapter 10- Round 1
Zen stared at the eerie notifications silently. ’This floor’s na is ’The Ga of Fate’? Well, that isn’t very informative. I don’t like the sound of it either.’ He thought to himself as he frowned. ’Well, it says the difficulty is 1/10, which is good at least. But, I still don’t know what this tower deems as ’easy’ yet.’
But, Zen didn’t ignore the most important part. The three lives he had. ’Hmmm, does that an I can die three tis before I actually... die?’
The idea sent a chill down his spine. Whatever this test was, it certainly wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, and those three lives are a big sign of that.
It could be sothing Zen can’t handle, and that wouldn’t be that shocking. In any case, he was now inside the tower, and he had to face whatever this trial was.
As he stood in the darkness, trying to assess his situation, suddenly, light flickered in the distance. It was a torch that was seemingly hanging from a wall. Then, one a few inches away from it lit up, then the one after.
In a few seconds, torches lit up all around him, illuminating the dark chamber. Zen looked all around him, examining the environnt.
He was in what seed to be a stone room several hundred ters in width. It was completely flat with nothing in it worth ntioning. It was the perfect place for fighting, and Zen could imdiately tell that.
’Well, thanks for the very open space.’ Zen rolled his eyes as he looked around him. "Now what?"
[Round 1 is starting in 30 seconds.]
[00:30... 00:29]
Reading the notification, Zen instantly took a fighting stance. He didn’t know what to expect, but he was certain it would appear before him soon. The ti ticked down slowly until it finally hit zero and disappeared.
’What am I going to face?’ Zen frowned. He had seen all kinds of abominations in his life, so he expected anything terrifying to appear before him.
A second later, he saw the ground light up a dozen ters away from him. It looked like a summoning circle made out of magical runes. Inside it, one singular creature manifested, and it was...
"... A rabbit?" Zen frowned when he saw the monster. It was a white rabbit with red eyes. It looked so small and harmless that for a second, Zen was too stunned to speak.
The rabbit locked its eyes on him before it started hopping in his direction.
"That’s... underwhelming," Zen muttered under his breath as he watched the rabbit approaching him. ’That’s a killer rabbit if I’m not wrong. They’re carnivorous rabbits who feast on human flesh. But, they’re miserably weak... One can’t do anything on its own. Their strength is in their numbers.’
These rabbits lived in every environnt and every continent, making them a very easy target for Hunters to practice on and use for food.
"Well..." Zen sighed as he watched the rabbit leap in the air and open its mouth wide, showing a sharp set of teeth. So, the boy casually swung his sword. The blade swiftly cut through the rabbit’s body, slicing it in half as blood exploded everywhere.
The monster fell to the ground dead.
[You have killed an E-Rank Killer Rabbit.]
[You have gained 1 Soul Point.]
[You have gained 1 Soul Point from ’Soul Harvester.]
[You have gained 1 gold coin that you could use in the shop after each round.]
"Ok, that is actually very good," Zen muttered. "So I got double the reward. But, hmmm, a coin and a shop, huh? I guess that ans I can get more stuff before each round to prepare myself? That sounds really useful."
Zen was already starting to understand how this trial works, and he found it quite good. It not only helped him train and get stronger, but also provided him with a lot of resources. He just had to earn them through fighting.
[Round 1 is over.]
[You have 2 minutes before the next round starts.]
"Before I check the shop. I can’t forget sothing." Zen approached the dead rabbit and put his hand over its dead body. At the sa ti, he activated Bloodmancy. Imdiately, the blood in the monster’s body reacted to the red light in his hand as it started rising from the ground and clustering into a sphere before his hand sucked it up swiftly.
[You have absorbed the blood of your target.]
[You have gained 1 Soul point.]
Each point Zen absorbed made him feel subtly stronger. His physical body was boosted, and so was his Soul Essence, and he could tell.
’Ok, good. I missed this feeling. Anyway, I need to check this shop before the next round starts.’
Standing up, Zen thought of the word ’shop,’ and imdiately, sothing appeared before his eyes. It was a rather simple yet straightforward shopping interface that reminded him of those online shopping sites. Except, instead of selling clothes or other normal goods, this one sold weapons, potions, armor, and even runes.
Zen scrolled through the long, endless list of items with an amazed look on his face. "There is literally everything here... Even considerably rare stuff. High-level potions and weapons are extrely expensive in the real world, and they seem to be expensive here."
There were certain weapons that cost tens of thousands of coins, or even hundreds of thousands.
"Well, that will definitely need far more than just a few Killer rabbits to buy. I can’t buy anything with one coin except for an extrely cheap healing potion. I don’t need that currently, and it’s better to save for better things." He muttered.
Zen was certain he would need every coin he would gather, so it was better to be wise about it rather than imdiately spend it and end up regretting that later.
"I’m ready now."
Watching the ti tick down to zero, Zen took a fighting stance. Then, several summoning circles appeared before him... Five to be exact.
From each one, one killer rabbit appeared.
"Five this ti? You’re really disrespecting ." Zen rolled his eyes. ’Let’s not jinx it, Zen. I’m sure I will regret mocking this very, very soon.’
With that, Zen dashed forward. Cutting the distance down, he slashed with his sword. While his speed was average, his technique was imnsely perfect. It was the result of decades of honing and relentless practice. For the naked eye, it appeared as if Zen’s sword flashed, when in reality, it moved at a rather slow speed.
Cutting the monster’s head, he quickly turned around and sliced the second one before it could attack. Then, he dashed to the side, dodging the third one as he kicked it with his leg and then swiftly ended its life.
His precision was like that of a robot. No effort or movents were wasted. He was a true master of his craft.
The other two fell swiftly after with no problem whatsoever.
[You have killed 5 E-Rank Killer Rabbits.]
[You have gained 5 Soul Points.]
[You have gained 3 Soul Points from your ’Soul Harvester’ rune.]
[You have gained 5 coins.]
"Nice." Zen smiled coldly as he read the notifications with a satisfied look on his face. The power he gained seeped through his body. Zen felt that he got faster, stronger, and his reaction speed was sharper. His senses were also improving in real ti.
Everything about him was seemingly growing at a very rapid pace. The true Hunter was slowly being reborn.
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