“Finally!” Lucas yelled.

“Yes bitch! Let’s go!” Jack yelled.

“System, I love you baby,” Brian said.

They had no idea why, but the system finally gave them a challenge they could accomplish.

“Maybe it’s because we got this Mexican with us?” Brian said.

“I dunno. Or finally the system decided to just not be a douchebag,” Jack said.

“Who cares. Let’s get it!” Lucas celebrated. “Finally getting my fingers back,” Lucas said.

“We don’t actually know if it’ll give you your fingers back you know?” Jack said.

“Shut up.”

The hispanic started making noises, trying to tell them that he also got the challenge notification. They ignored him.

“Okay, let’s go kill some monsters,” Brian said.

“What about him?” Lucas said, pointing to the hostage.

“I dunno. Maybe we just tie him to the siege machine? Give him a machete. Make him fight the first monster. It’ll give us the benefit of learning about our enemy before having to face it,” Jack said.

And so they tied him to the siege tower. And then they got inside it while making him walk in front of it.

“Whoa, this is way heavier than before,” Brian said.

“Yeah, after that whole anaconda head breaking through and giving me nightmares, I decided to reinforce all the walls. I also crisscrossed the spears more so it’s harder to get through. Even though it’s heavier it should be fine now that we have Lucas with us. By the way Lucas, the way we lift this is…” Jack said and explained the rhythm and chanting for lifting.

Jack slit a machete through one of the eye slits and dropped it to the hostage.

“Good luck! Andale! Andale!” Jack said.

“What does andale mean?” Brian said.

“I dunno.”

They started chanting while lifting the siege tower.

The hostage was in front hyperventilating with the gag in his mouth and clinching the machete in his hands.

They had been marching for a while and still no monster had attacked them. They decided to take a break.

“You know, walking is way easier now. I didn’t know I was supposed to hit the ground with the entire surface area of my feet to absorb the impact. I used to walk on the balls of my feet,” Lucas said.

“Now I kinda want a walking skill. Eugene had a running skill right?” Brian said.

“Yeah. That sounds more useful than walking,” Jack said.

Their talk was interrupted by the first monster flying in from the horizon.

It was a giant dragonfly. About two meters big. Its thin helicopter-like wings looked like they were made of metal, and as sharp as knives. The monster looked hideous.

Lucas pointed his hand towards the insect and tried channeling some environmental mana with his mana manipulation skill, and yelled: “Insect movement control rank 1!”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Nothing happened.

Jack and Brian laughed at him.

The hispanic hostage got his machete in front of him and was ready to strike the giant dragonfly monster. He was very scared.

“Good luck! You can do it!” Lucas yelled, from inside the safety of the siege tower.

None of the three boys believed he could do it and readied their pistols and pointed them out of the eye slits.

The dragonfly flew up high, then did a slanted dive towards the hispanic.

He swung his machete, but the dragonfly flew slightly to the side of him and the machete only hit one of the metal wings. The metal wing was dented by this hit

Right after getting hit by the machete, the dragonfly twisted its body and cut off the hispanic’s head.

“That’s gross,” Lucas said.

Brian started shooting and Jack and Lucas followed after him.

Brian’s first shot managed to land in its stomach and it dropped to the ground. They shot it a few times more and then paused to see if it was moving.

Jack and Lucas didn’t get any notification. Brian got this notification:

Challenge: Kill 100 monsters in the inland border zone to the Grasshopper Monster zone.

Progress: 1/100

…

After the first few dragonflies, grinding got boring.

Challenge: Kill 100 monsters in the inland border zone to the Grasshopper Monster zone.

Progress: 23/100

They would slowly march forward. Sweat a lot. Take breaks. Eat inside the siege tower. Sometimes shoot the dragonflies. And keep going.

Grinding became easier when Brian’s Enemy Pattern Recognition: Rank 1 started kicking in and helped him aim better. To him, the random way the dragonfly would fly had a pattern to it.

So the routine turned into Brian shooting it in a non-lethal place. It dropped to the ground. And Jack or Lucas took the kill on a rotation so all three of them filled up their challenge bars at the same time.

Challenge: Kill 100 monsters in the inland border zone to the Grasshopper Monster zone.

Progress: 68/100

“Oh, it worked,” Jack said.

“What?” Brian said.

“My Enemy Weakness Identification: Rank 1 skill just gave me this piece of information. The giant dragonfly has barely any stamina. So after attacking 3 or 4 times, it has to land on the ground and rest,” Jack said.

“Well, that’s pretty useless knowledge. Only takes 3 attacks for all of us to die,” Lucas said.

“Why you skill hating?” Jack said.

…

Challenge: Kill 100 monsters in the inland border zone to the Grasshopper Monster zone.

Progress: 77/100

The only excitement came when they were farther inland and they met an especially fast giant dragonfly. It died midair but its forward momentum made it hit the siege tower and it managed to crush a few spears. Luckily, Jack’s design held up to the test, and they were unharmed.

Challenge: Kill 100 monsters in the inland border zone to the Grasshopper Monster zone.

Progress: 100/100

Challenge complete. You have unlocked one unfixed skill point.

////////

Jack:

Knife Fighting: Rank 1

Knife Fighting: Rank 2

Python (programming language): Rank 1

Mana Generation: Rank 1

Sand to Glass Conversion Mana Blueprint: Rank 1

Healing Mana Blueprint: Rank 1

Origami: Rank 1

Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1

Speed Counting: Rank 1

Enemy Weakness Identification: Rank 1

Poetry: Rank 2

Blueprint visualizer: Rank 1

Mana Sense: Rank 1

Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1

Pool: Rank 1

Brian:

Shield Defending: Rank 1

Marksmanship (pistol): Rank 1

Right Arm Increased Strength: Rank 1

Mana manipulation: Rank 1

Mana Sense: Rank 1

Enhanced Propriosense in Toes: Rank 1

Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1

Flame Shield Dispel: Rank 1

Cryptography: Rank 1

Enemy Pattern Recognition: Rank 1

Airplane Pilot: Rank 1

Mana Generation: Rank 1

Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1

Finnish: Rank 1

Lucas:

Insect Movement Control: Rank 1

Enlarged Penis: Rank 1

Mana sense: Rank 1

Mana Manipulation: Rank 1

Surfing: Rank 1

Arithmetic: Rank 1

Chess: Rank 1

Human Interpersonal Non-verbal Bodily Social Behaviors Enhanced Perception: Rank 1

Blunt Force Resistance: Rank 1

Changing car tires: Rank 1

Water Mana Affinity: Rank 1

Walking: Rank 1