Leiu Stamina was almost depleted, only 2 points left. His arms and legs were trembling, barely able to move. Nevertheless, he persevered for as long as he could, unwilling get killed and fail before completing even one of the three Trials.
Still, he truly had reached his limits, no matter how strong his will was, he would eventually succumb to exhaustion. This was a game, not real life, and once his Stamina hit '0', he would lose. Worse, it took him 4 to 5 strikes to deal with beasts now, and even more, his two remaining potions were gone and his health decreased to 6. His gloves were the next to be shredded, as for his body, it was riddled with wounds inflicted by the claws.
As he was about to fall on the ground, the howling and footsteps of the beasts disappeared, giving rise to a deafening silence. The darkness was gone, replaced by lights emitting from dozens upon dozens of torches.
Green fire illuminated the place around him, finally giving an end to the insufferably long fight he was put through.
Leiu, with half-opened eyes, gazed at his surroundings; He was inside a grand and spacious manor, luxurious yet not overly-decorated. Torches hang on the walls with green fire burning inside of them, but what was more noticeable was an overbearing gloomy aura that seemed to fill every corner of the place.
To the left and right, Leiu saw closed doors, as for the front, there was a particularly wide staircase that led to the upper floor.
The beasts he had slain were gone, and the stone-ground was clean and cold.
The manor had a weird feeling to it, cold, silent and a bit creepy. Leiu didn't roam around, he just sat on the ground to rest. He didn't know what would happen if he recklessly checked the other rooms before recovering. Another Trial might be triggered automatically.
Con
gratulations! You have passed the first Trial. Reward : +3 to all stats, special item 'Sinister Hood'
Sinister Hood (Rare) : +5 Agility / +3 Dexterity / +5% damage if you attack an enemy from behind.
The second Trials will begin in 58 minutes 42 seconds. If you want to immediately begin, please proceed to the second floor.
A dark hood that covered most of his head appeared, the stats given by the hood were really generous, but that was to be expected as it was a Rare Item.
Level: 14 CLASS: None TITLE(S): Invincible -- STATS -- STRENGTH : 29 HEALTH: 6/27 INTELLIGENCE: 26 MANA: 29 WISDOM: 25 STAMINA: 2/330 AGILITY: 34 -- DEXTERITY: 28 -- VITALITY: 27 --
While Leiu was resting, he opened the message log to see what he got apart from that level up.
Sword Mastery [Basic] Leveled up : Lv4 => Lv7 : When wielding a sword: deal 8% more damage
Through the consecutive battles, you managed to create a skill(Rare) : You can slash a second time with a fast speed unseen to the eye: The second strike will deal 120% more damage.
Cost : 3 Mana
Cooldown : 15 seconds
Please name the skill.
'Name it 'Invisible Strike' '
The skill has been named: Invisible Strike.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Would you like to confirm the name Y/N?
'Yes'
Invisible Strike(Rare) : You can slash a second time with a fast speed naked to the eye, an invisible attack : the attack would deal 120% the damage of the first slash.
Cost : 3 Mana / Cooldown : 15 seconds
Leiu was overjoyed as he gazed at the message, a skill! It would surely help him a lot, the cost was not that much and the cooldown wasn't high either. Maybe when he used it earlier, it wasn't the actual skill but just an imitation, since no mana was used.
...
30 minutes or so passed, Leiu's Health and Stamina fully recovered. He equipped the old beginner's armor, which was totally useless, but at least it wasn't totally destroyed like the newly bought one.
After taking a breath of fresh yet cold air, Leiu got up and headed upstairs. There is really no use staying here as he tried roaming the manor and inspecting the other rooms but couldn't step in them, as if an invisible force was not letting him pass.
With one last look around the place, he climbed the stairs, wary of his surroundings.
As he climbed all the stairs and reached the second floor; he saw many doors, all of them were also closed. The atmosphere on the second floor seemed completely different. If the first floor felt gloomy, this one felt creepy and extremely cold.
After spending 10 minutes walking around until he found a room that didn't have door. The Darkness inside seemed to be beckoning him.
As his foot stepped inside the room, a message popped up.
You have entered the second Trial's ground, the test will begin in 30 seconds, please prepare yourself.
'!!'
Although he somehow expected it, he never imagined it will only give him only 30 seconds, furthermore, it didn't even give him an explanation about the trial, again!
Leiu could only grit his teeth and unsheathe his sword, while tightly holding it, he looked around, inspecting the room.
It was an ordinary room, not unlike an office of a medieval aristocrat.
Apart from that, there was nothing else that caught his attention, until his eyes landed on a painting that took a large portion of the wall.
The painting was truly an eye-catching piece of art. It was wide and detailed, almost too realistic. Leiu felt completely drawn to it, unable to tear his eyes away.
The painting depicted A man with black hair and an unusually jet-black greatsword on his back. The man was on his knees while holding a red-haired woman on his arms.
A sunset was also drawn, the picture looked so realistic and filled with life, yet at the same time, it exuded sorrow, anger, and grief.
30 seconds passed in the blink of an eye, Leiu's attention was so drawn toward the painting that he didn't notice that the time was up.
Nothing happened for a second, however, all of a sudden, his surroundings changed, and he now was in another dark space, much like the first trial, though this one didn't completely lack illumination. There was light coming from the ceiling, barely enough to show some of the surroundings.
Leiu saw an empty, unremarkable room, but the lack of any hostile entities made him feel uneasy.
After five seconds of eerie silence, there was a change. A momentary white light then the appearance of a humanoid figure across from Leiu.
A wooden puppet, the height of a normal person: It had no features, no nose or ears, neither did it have a mouth or eyes.
It took a weird stance, like a martial artist, and faced Leiu, who was momentarily startled by its appearance.
But that shock only remained for a second before he held his sword and charged. At least, this trial was better, presenting him an enemy and urging him to fight it and win.
With fast speed, he rushed at the wooden puppet and slashed with his Steel Sword. The enemy was not able to react in time as the sword easily penetrated the wooden pupped and cut it in half.
Maybe it was just a weak opponent, at least that's what Leiu thought.
As he got rid of the enemy, he looked around to see if there was any other, but there was none, fortunately.
He stood there for some time, waiting, and after half a minute, two puppets appeared.
Wooden Puppet Fighter Lv11
As he gazed at their health bar and Level, Leiu felt a bit relieved. They were not that strong, compared to him, that is, and like the previous one, those two took a fighting stance, but before they could launch their attacks, Leiu was already next to them, with clean and precise sword strikes, he defeated them. They were even easier to kill than the black beasts.
As for the amount of experience they gave, it wasn't that much, only 2% or less, and he couldn't even loot them, so it was a bit disappointing.
30 more seconds passed and 4 wooden puppets appeared, all of them were fighters too, as he gazed at the enemies, a crazy yet logical thought struck his mind.
'Please don't tell me it's what I think it is, please....'
He read far too many stories that had things like this, the enemy would duplicate when you kill them. it was the most annoying and hard trials one could face and here he was, probably doing it.
If it were10 or 20 similar wooden puppets, he could deal with that amount, but what if there were hundreds? He would be overwhelmed in an instant.