Sprint reached level 9.
Sprint reached maximum level.
"♪ That was incredible! Just as expected, unique class isn't just for show." dryad finally recovered, and her voice could be heard all over the place. In the meantime, I was working hard to fix my bones as fast as possible.
Regeneration reached level 4.
Regeneration reached level 5.
This was even worse than that stunt in my old world. Now my strength surpasses average human by fourteen times and if I break limits on top of that .. Yep, it's a good thing I used though acceleration, this might have ended very badly.
"♪ Next participant is Cloud Riseldor!" shouted the dryad and a human mage stood up from the seats.
After finishing touches with regeneration, I started walking back to our seats. Somehow I made it in time and spared myself embarrassment from limping back.
I used everything I have to do it fast. Regeneration, body manipulation, and even Space Time Magic to summon nutrients directly where they were needed, the speed of recovery was unbelievable. I would never be able to do something like that in my old world. Especially not with the bones.
How nice would it be to have something like an adamantium skeleton. *sigh* A girl can always dream. *gasp* I am such an idiot! I had means to obtain sturdy bones but I just had to waste it.
Why haven't I grabbed a piece of Formida when I killed her in the dungeon. Back then my body manipulation was already at level five. The exoskeleton of that monster was the highest class, I dare to say it's hardness could rival a diamond. If I could analyze her DNA and remake my bones to have the same structure, I wouldn't need to dream about the adamantium skeleton.
Uhh, back then my obsession with money must have clouded my judgment. I don't even need that expensive exoskeleton (especially when it cost so much gold), just a bit of her flesh would be enough. It would take some time, days maybe, but I could find how that carcass is grown from DNA. Of course, I would be very careful and take my time, after all, I don't want anything 'extra' from that monster, but it should be possible to make my skeleton unbreakable .. well, almost unbreakable.
Just you wait, I don't care how rare you are, even if I have to kill every single monster in the dungeon, I will definitely find you ..
"Mhhmhm?!" suddenly Phoenix brought me back from my thoughts by assaulting me with a kiss.
I quickly melted in his embrace and closed my eyes to fully enjoy the feeling. The kiss was rougher than usual, and his tongue explored every part of my mouth with a lot of force. It felt as if he was fighting for dominance. Heh. Bring it on!
"What was that?" I finally asked when he released me.
"Nothing. Just marking what is mine." smiled Phoenix.
"Huh?" I looked at him confused, then I put two and two together and quickly looked around us.
While majority looked at me as if I was some monster. It was quite the opposite with adventurers. I could almost see stars in their eyes. It was a bit disturbing sight and when I noticed orcs among them a shiver ran over my spine. I don't know why Phoenix got jealous though, they looked like fans who want an autograph, I doubt any of them had thoughts of 'stealing' me.
Well, it works for me, that kiss just now was wonderful, I think I like when Phoenix is possessive of me. I hugged his hand and we got back to our seats. On the way, I overheard Red complaining to someone from guild staff.
"Whats the problem? Her participation in the test is a fucking problem! Didn't you saw her fight? No, there is no way that could be called a fight, it was one sided slaughter. Those were crawlers! How should I arrange group battle now? This should test how they work without putting others in danger as a team. If she is in a group, then she alone can slaughter everyone while rest just pick their nose.."
Hmm, it seems I left quite an impression. I wonder what would be his reaction if he knew I was practically a cripple at the end.
"Fine! Eighty silvers! He doesn't look as someone who could stay calm in the face of danger." my attention was drawn to a group of adventurers making bets.
"Eighty silvers it is! Ha! This will be easy money. That fellow is cunning I tell you." said a dwarf while placing coins on an empty seat. They used it as a table.
"Yeah right, and that girl was fragile. I bet he fails." laughed orc and tossed some coins after a quick glance at me.
As the dwarf heard it, he turned red and didn't dare to look in my direction. Fragile huh? I squinted my eyes while looking at the dwarf.
"You didn't waste this chance, right?" I quickly turned my gaze to Phoenix.
"Of course not!" smiled Reveon, and as a purse with coins appeared in his hand, I smiled as well.
Too bad they didn't think to make bets sooner ..
"The mage will win!" elf tossed a purse with coins.
"If someone else wants to join, hurry up, the battle is about to start!" shouted beast tamer. I recognized him from the first fight in Arena.
More adventurers got close, looked at the Arena and then back at the 'table' with a pile of coins.
I looked at the Arena as well. Hmm, it's hard to judge strength of a mage by appearance. Since he has a staff, he shouldn't be a wizard. A sorcerer or a warlock maybe? His robes were black so probably a noble or at least very rich. Eight out of ten people you see wearing black colors are usually nobles.
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When I dyed our clothes black, it had nothing to do with my hope of being attacked by some bandits. I looked at my pouch with pebbles and sighed. A thief doesn't count, It should be a gang of thugs blocking our road with some unreasonable demands, just asking for a beating. Why in the movies they pop up on every corner, but when we walk through shady areas for days, no one bothers to even look at us?
"Earth Wall!" my attention returned to Arena when the mage summoned three meters tall wall of hardened earth. Uhh, I missed my chance to make a bet.
The wall was five meters long and almost one meter thick. It wasn't fully rectangular, and at the edges it was losing its shape as if eroded by time. The mage was standing on top of it and three lizards like monsters were growling at him, but had no way of reaching.
"Hey, this is cheating!" shouted one of the adventurers, he probably bet that the mage will fail.
"Earth Claws!" with a magic circle under his feet complete, the mage activated his spell.
Three, half meter thick and few meters long, spikes of hardened earth surfaced from the ground and stabbed one of the lizards. The lizard convulsed a bit and shortly after died.
"Earth Claws!" shouted the mage again, but two remaining lizards now were wary and the targeted lizard dodged to the side when the ground under him started to shake.
The mage tried few more times but stopped when monsters managed to dodge every time. He looked at monsters while scratching his chin, then a new magic circle started forming under his feet.
"Mist!" little by little a part of Arena was covered in fog. But with enhanced sight, It was still not a problem for me to see.
"Detect!" shouted the mage again, but I couldn't see any changes, judging from the name, the spell probably allows him to detect the presence of monsters inside this fog. After all, he is a human and does not have our sight.
"Water Blade!" attacked mage again, and a stream of water in a crescent moon shape flew at the lizard. With obscured vision, the lizard didn't see it coming and received a direct hit, his armor was thick though and all the spell managed to do was to slightly wound it.
The battle continued for a while. From time to time the mage would change his attack pattern from 'water blade' to 'earth claws' and if monsters could still dodge, returned to injuring them with water blades. Even if their vision was obscured, monsters still could feel vibration caused by 'earth claws' spell. But it was only a matter of time before they are unable to dodge because of accumulated wounds.
By the time all of the lizards were dead, earth spikes were sticking from the ground all over the place. Heavily panting mage indicated that all those spells had a heavy toll on him.
"Crumble!" said the mage and as his earth wall turned into sand, slid to the bottom.
*
Next to fight was an elf, and I really hate him. It's my first bet and I can already see my gold coin slipping away. There is no way he will loose with 'this'.
My guess was that he can summon some animals to fight for him, but I never thought that he himself will turn into a monster. As they were a bit rare, even Phoenix knew nothing about summoners.
Only from Cloud (a human mage who used earth magic), we learned that this magic was ability to summon something like an avatar of monster. The summoning was done with a large magical sphere glowing around him, and after bright burst of light, we could see only a monster in his place. The real body of summoner is swapped with the body of avatar in another plane.
In case the avatar is killed, summoner would appear in its place without a single scratch on his body. Deceased avatar would need at least week to be restored, but there is nothing preventing from summoning a different avatar. I doubt anyone would allow them doing that, but with 'quick cast' at maximum level .. summoner could be almost like immortal. At least as long as there are more avatars to choose from.
"There is no way he could kill arachne on his own. Probably hired some high-level adventurers. I wonder how long it took for him to create this summon?" said Cloud while looking at the elf.
To create a summon (avatar of a monster), you have to slay a large number of said creatures and absorb something called 'essence'. This 'essence' is absorbed by killing creatures, but just killing them isn't enough. You have to do that while a special marking spell is still active, as it has a limited time and can be cast only a few times a day, there is a chance nothing will be gained from the kill if timing was bad. The number varies from summon to summon, but to create one avatar, you usually need 'essence' of at least ten creatures of the same species. And that's just a bare minimum.
The upper part body of 'the elf' looked the same as his real (only without clothes). The lower part was a large spider and thanks to that, 'the elf' was over two meters tall. Right after summoning his Arachne avatar, the elf made it look almost invisible, leaving only a silhouette similar to heat haze. It was the same camouflage as that assassin used when 'shadowstepped' into our room. While I had no problems to spot his summon, it was different for his opponents.
"Behind you!" I shouted, but to my horror, a lifeless body quickly fell to the ground.
"Stupid direwolf, if can't see through this, at least use your damn nose!" I grunted frustrated.
"They can't, Arachne can fully control their scent during the hunt." said Red while looking ahead.
Another direwolf charged at now visible arachne, but his jaws were stopped with a thick thread produced between arms. With fast movements of hands and few legs, the direwolf quickly became a cocoon. While normally spiders produce their thread only from a butt, it seems that arachne can do that from their every limb.
After the last direwolf fell, I bit my lips and looked with tears as my gold coin became a possession of dwarf. I will never bet again!
*
"Two gold for Tia's victory!" I shouted with excitement.
I was sitting on the lap of Phoenix while looking at the coins on 'table'. Reveon calmly looked ahead while caressing my ears, and wild movements of my tail showed just how much I enjoyed it.
Tia was that wolf girl with minotaur. While on the surface she looked like a timid girl, I could tell she was an expert. There is no way she will lose. I already made a bit of profit and this was the last fight. Others already had their turn, one orc and two cats of beastkin race failed the test. With female orc and fox beastkin failing at the test with criminals, then one dwarf losing a bit later, it makes six in total.
"♪ ..as shadow blade, she will fight against crawler!" echoed a voice of dryad.
When gates opened, Tia started slowly walking to the crawler, both swords in her hands. They were one edged swords, similar in design to the one I have.
With every step, her pace increased and soon changed into a sprint. As soon as she reached his attack range, the crawler used one whip as a spear, few others attacked at her sides in case she wanted to dodge, and the last swept over her legs.
With a lean of her body, wolf girl avoided spear like attack, and at the same time cut off a whip aimed at her legs.
Whips from the sides quickly changed direction and tried sweep at her, while the one that missed to stab, started coil around her body.
Wolf girl responded to this by vanishing in a cloud of black smoke and appeared behind crawler. With whips still extended to fight her in her old position, they were vulnerable and after a quick slash of her blades, fell to the ground.
This was 'shadowstep'! I thought only assassins know this skill. Well, considering the name of her class, I guess it makes sense.
With crawler 'disarmed', Tia started playing with him, or at least that's how it looked. Monster simply had no weak spots that would quickly end his life with a stab, and chitin armor made hard to do even that. Eventually, she found a spot where it was possible to pierce his armor and made him bleed to death.
"♪ And with this beautiful battle, we end our first stage. If it's not the first ranking test you are watching, then you should know this isn't the end. After a half hour break, we will watch how our brave adventurers fare in a group battle!" announced dryad.