LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter: 86: First Trial
My eyes stayed fixed on the floating interface in front of me displaying the shop section as I looked through the long list of items labelled and shown. Many of them were of quite good quality if I had to say.
I tapped over the smooth surface of the window and bought a few potions just in case and placed them with my stock in the inventory.
I had accumulated quite a bit of point in my stash—after the quests I had cleared, and rewards I received—just in case if I ever needed to use them in a serious situation or emergency. But still the prices for the items were no joke. Even a single mid-ranked skill was in the four digits, depending on its workability as well as how much useful it was.
And the higher the rank and quality of an item as well as the power and usability it granted, determined just how expensive it was.
Same case with the other items which had many uses.
But I caught sight from the corner of the eyes of another window floating beside the one present. It had the information about the trial presented to me just a few minutes ago mentioned. For some reason whenever I looked at it I felt irked.
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【Dungeon Trial】
[Quest]: Hunt the Chief of the Cephtalurians
[Failure]: Instant Death / Failure to clear the trial or to reach the clear condition imminently will result in Instant death
[Reward]: 〔X10〕Level Increase; 〔x1000〕Points; ???; ???.
[???]: 〔???〕
____
It was quite simple actually—the trial. I just needed to hunt down the Cephtalurian chief and that would give me the qualification to ascend to the next trial.
But every time I looked at the window from the corner of my eye, I would frown without realising as my brows will knit.
Like it could be as easy as it seemed? I thought with my eyes glaring at the window.
But did the had system were give me an easy quest so far? I thought with my brows creased, my face full of skepticism as the more I looked at the description.
There had to be a catch somehow. I thought with my arms crossed as my lips bobbing up and down to form some kind of theory inside my head to appease myself of this skepticism, which maybe true or might entirely be false, as of me just being paranoid. I released a sigh as I rested my arm over my knee. I just had this ominous feeling. I guess it was just me being paranoid to some extent, considering the crap that had happened to me in the past.
It’s unlike the system to provide me with a quest, or this time a trial as easy as to just go find the prey in question and hunt it, no questions asked. Or I guess it was just off-setting me—my mind—that the system had given me such an easy task to complete.
Considering what had happened to me in the past! First in the devil’s whisper dungeon, then it happened yet again in the Basilisk trial.
Both times the quests were ranked below their actual difficulty and threat, which they posed, and deep down I knew this time also, the system would do something absurd.
Somehow! But I didn’t know how.
Releasing another sigh, I nonchalantly waved both of the windows away, like some irritating flies, as they disappeared into thin air. I allowed my mind to relax from the torrent of these several thoughts.
Well even if the trial went to the dumps later, I would still have to clear it like the previous ones, or unless I don’t, I won’t be able to go to the next one, despite the difficulty or absurdity it presented to me.
The amount of irk I felt from just thinking about the system and it’s bullshit shenanigans’ left me frowning and snorting. It brought me quite a few advantages, but also many disadvantages as well. Truth be told, I was stuck with this stupid piece of crap, to deal with whatever it threw my way.
But considering each time that did happen, the system presented me with a quest in the scope of my ability to clear it. The system made that judgment by providing me with quests on an equal level to my capabilities, based on my current strength and the control I had access to. Even if most of the time I had to push myself beyond my limits.
No! That happens more often than I can think.
I let another sigh deliberately leave me, as I slowly blinked my eyes, making an effort to dislodge the cobwebs worth of thoughts to relax my mind for a moment and think of my next course of action.
“Have you finished with your preparations?” I heard Uito’s voice inside the hut as I bobbed my head to look up at him. A friendly smile was etched across his old mer-face as he looked back. He stood at the edge of the hut with his back facing the large leaves working as the doors.
I pushed my body up from the floor and with a more resolute expression holding his tranquil gaze as I walked closer to the doors of the hut.
“All set!” I said with a smile as he looked at me with his wisdomous eyes, as we both exited the hut side-by-side.
I waved the leaves working as the doors of the hut away with my arm as I felt the mysterious light coming from below glimmering and illuminating my surroundings in a shade of teal which looked mesmerising, along with the shiny amethyst flower petals and vines lolling down with a kind of beauty to them, touching the base of the wide lake.
With a fast stride, carefully matching my steps over the wooden surface I made way down the gargantuan branches, and landed on to a downright dead root which was prodding out of the ground like a jutted nail, as my soles touched the damped soil staining my boots with mud as I made it down, Uito beside me matching my pace already having reached the ground.
Without so much of a word to each other we both covered step after step as we reached the border of the village after a short walk for a minute or two, where it was being protected by the mysterious barrier. I focused mana into my eyes as my gaze sharpened and I peered forward and saw a few thalassalithions standing near the opening of the barrier.
And among the ones present there were faces I was familiar with.
“Oh my!” Uito said with a surprised gasp, unexpected of his companions arrival. “It looks like there are some children gathered to bid you farewell.” I saw a wide smile making it's way across Uito’s face as we both arrived close to the small group gathered in place.
Among them stood Runda, Imeru, a few of their other companions whom I remembered from a few days ago, but my brows slightly knitted when I saw that the petit mer-creature—whom I had fought when first arriving here—was also present among the group at the rear end .
He was leaning against the trunk of a wide tree with his arms crossed and a sharp sneer spread across his small face. His eyes shiny with a predatory gleam to them even now. He looked like an angry pup, no less, with the way he was standing there alone.
I almost giggled out loud looking at him, as I tore my gaze away and saw Imeru approaching in my direction.
“Jiwoo...leave...already.” Imeru asked, somewhat looking sad as her eyes followed from me to Uito with a tinge of uncertainty.
“Yeah, I need to.” I replied back taking a glance at the others who were looking at me with a mixture of different expressions.
Runda who was still glaring daggers in my direction snorted as she stood silent in her position, but kept me in check.
Then from the corner I saw the petit thalassalithion approach. He carried himself with grace, each step welled with pride and confidence. I stood in my spot with a nonchalant expression and demeanour looking at him with my eyes calm, but nonetheless sharp.
Just a few days ago I had battles them and defeated them. Causing a scene of humiliation for them
But what he did next caught me completely off guard.
His right hand placed over his chest and his other one behind his back, taking a step forward he took a respectful bow in front of me, as deep as he could go.
Confusion bled from my face for a moment, then I turned to look at Uito, as if to ask him what was going on here.
He gave me a playful smile as he explained this sudden scenario. “Young Rito is showing his respect for you. Jiwoo...”—he looked at Rito directing a careful eye in his direction looking at his bent body, then at the others who seemed just as much shaken up as I was by the thalassalithion's sudden act of bowing—"we thalassalithions have this tradition since long created by our forefathers, that we bow to that one person that we think is stronger and more capable than us, and to show them our deepest respect we bow in front with the outmost admiration for them to show our fore-right honesty and politeness.”
"Huh? Really?"
I said with a slightly surprised expression. But didn’t show it outright. But on the farther end, I saw Runda making a complicated expression, laced with disbelief, as her sneer widened making her look more uglier as her nose kept of wrinkling with eyes full of annoyance.
“So uhh....what am I supposed to do anyway?” I caught Uito’s gaze, his dark eyes met mine as he gave me another playful, yet mischievous smile. “Am I supposed to do something in this situation to like uhh, acknowledge his...respect? Or so?” I felt more awkward than anything right now. Just a few days ago I had beaten the crap out of this guy and now he was...
“You don’t have to do anything in return. It’s more of a one-sided display of one’s respect and admiration. Just think of it his way of him showing his remorse and pardon for attacking you a few days prior, without knowing any well.”
“Oh, alright!” I replied.
Afterwards, he slowly unbent and I looked down at Rito as his gaze met mine. The dark sapphires which were his eyes caught mine, the sneer over his face vanished as he looked to have an expression similar to that of revere.
“Ri—to...wek...”
He said with a breath. His words rolling out like a child first beginning to learn to speak.
“You...strong...Rito weak...Rito...undersand...” His vocabulary was broken, words barely forming and matching his tone with a slight grim and hardened expression as the tattered words sounded like some rehearsed script practiced for several hours at end, and his could be considered even worse than Imeru but I think I understood what little what he trying to convey to me to some extent as I nodded my acknowledgement with a solemn face.
He pulled back, his eyes showing an acceptable gleam as if he looked prideful at this particular moment, his eyes then loomed between me and Uito as he gave the old thalassalithion a respectful bow and then pulled a step back making may for me to walk to the barrier—the exit.
“Fare..well!”
The petit one said, looking at me from the side as he ushered me forward, putting whatever respect he could convey in those lost words.
After that I walked closer to the barrier, it’s presence was strongly felt despite how unusually stable it might have looked or felt, disguising itself with the ambient mana in the atmosphere to not allow it to be seen out of place in anyway possible.
Without having to use Mind’s Eye to see each and every individual particle present around—hovering all around me—I was perfectly able to sense and feel the shimmering pure mana being pulled towards the surface of the barrier, there was a very slight and subtle shift and pull in the ambient mana’s movement near the barrier’s surface, a very, very small shift which was barely perceivable and noticeable if one didn’t concentrate their mind and senses enough to understand how the barrier so naturally hid itself by pulling and expelling the mana to an fro, as the particles did so naturally themselves, moving in a constant and purposeful act to do something.
To either fuel a spell or fill the empty spaces lingering with their dominion that of their nature.
I traced a finger against it's invisible surface as the space in front of it distorted, like ripples forming on the surface of a pond. I felt it’s presence more strongly than my first time when Uito had made me acknowledge that there was even a barrier here in the first place.
Just as my finger and the barrier came to contact, I clearly saw small ripples sent across it’s shiny surface, further distorting the space, causing clustering mote like lights to glitter the dim space before me, disappearing faster than they came when the mana went back to sustain the barrier’s shape. But my harmless action caused the mana to lose it’s shape for a second, as sparks of electricity danced wildly across my fingers and up to my wrist, jolting a kind of ticklish sensation to run across my palm making the hair on my arm to stand.
I turned around one last time, looking at the pack of thalassalithions here to greet me off.
“I hope you achieve what you sought out to, Jiwoo.” Uito said with a kind of saddened, yet friendly smile over his face.
This caused my lips to pull and a thin smile to make it’s way up my face. Extending my arm at him, I waited, as he without an ounce of hesitation in his eyes took it and shook it vigorously. His grip firm yet gentle around my hand.
“And you’ll take care of yourself. Thanks for everything you have done for me in the last few days. Especially you, Uito.”
I spoke in a grateful tone as I caught Uito’s gaze as I moved on from him to the others.
I had indeed learned a lot since arriving here.
I clenched my fist as a resolute expression full of determination appeared on my face.
This was merely the beginning of my new journey now. I knew I could do so much more, I held the power and now I needed to understand just how to use it in the most efficient way possible to allow me to grow stronger. No, I needed to make leaps this time around with the way things were going. It was always a race against time for me. But, I needed to take the most efficient paths in order to grow stronger.
I was already close to reaching the rank—a rank and power which had taken me almost eight years to achieve in my past life—, I could feel it throughout my body, my mana channels, a fact that I was so very close to reaching that mesmerising power yet again, but now in this new body. My body was prepared, but it was still lacking somewhat. But the rate at which I was growing stronger each passing day was almost extraordinary; abnormal—a rate which even I was unable to gauge completely. I was able to regain my lost strength in just a matter of a few months which would have taken me at best years to achieve back if not for the system’s help, playing a very big hand in all this.
“Be careful of the Cephtalurian chief.” Uito warned as I careful acknowledged and heeded his warning. “That one is a cunny and merciless wretch. They kill one another regardless if they are their own kin or some outsider.” His tone grew dark and grim as his face grimaced, as if remembering about some ancient memory which resurfaced like the opening of an old wound. “Those cephtalurians are to be careful of. Jiwoo is strong, I know, but cautious is needed when dealing with enemies.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
As I finished, I spun and came face to face with the barrier once again. Without further ado, I walked right into the space which worked as a gate between the outside and the inside of the village.
I felt a strong tucking force envelope me as I was pushed forward like last time as the mana rippled and contorted like the scrambling of colours running wildly along a canvas, making way for me to move through it.
After a second, I was spat out of the barrier, taking a slow and steady breath as I looked at the dull and dark forest in front of me with thick mist enveloping everything within it causing my ability to see to be hampered considerably as I peered forward.
But with my ability to observe the motes of mana, that was not a problem for me. I could perfectly navigate myself by reading the flow of the mana and how it moved to fill the empty spaces where the mist was the swallowed or the thickest with the mana moving in a constant fluid motion in the atmosphere.
Bright light shimmered from behind me as I sensed silent foot steps approach in my direction.
With an unexpected expression, I placidly gazed at the residing light which dimmed with each passing second, I saw Runda exiting through the opening in the barrier, Uito right behind in her wake, wearing an awkward and apologetic expression as he drifting closer to me.
With a dry chuckle, taking a moment to compose his face, the thalassalithion acted in an attitude similar to what reminded me of the youth Derek back in my world. His awkwardness was a plain reflection of his, which made me slightly break a smirk with a playful expression.
“I forgot to tell Jiwoo because of the heat and emotionality of the moment,” he said with an awkward smile, his sharp teeth showing as his long braid of blue rested over his wide shoulder. “What I wanted to say back then was that Runda would show you the way to where you can find the cephtalurians’ territory.”
“What?” I exchanged worried glances with Uito as he tried to assure me with his gaze albeit looking skeptical himself of the sudden proclamation and turn of events. I looked at him with my brows creased, not trying to hide my surprise or prudence to his words even one bit as I looked at Runda from the corner of my eye.
Her arms were crossed and back facing us both, standing just a few feet away from us, but still was clearly felt her harsh sneer and her confident aura which she exuded like a seasoned warrior.
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” I whispered close to Uito’s fin like ear, directing a shocked and worried glance in Runda’s direction as I saw her looking back
Her eyes glaring at me with such an intensity which could send shivers down anyone’s spine.
“If you do,” I continued, a wry smile catching up to my lips, “then I must say, you have finally gone senile from age, Old Uito,” I said placidly giving him a gentle tap over his shoulder with a petting glint in my eyes.
Uito looked at me with an unexpected expression.
“And doesn’t she hold some kind of animosity toward me? It’s hard to believe that Runda would agree to guide me to the territory where the cephtalurians are even if you had persuaded somehow.” I finished with a thoughtful raise of my brow.
Uito made a complicated expression then spoke. “She is indeed someone difficult to deal with from time to time, but she is quite caring. And she is most suited to go with you.”
My brows knitted into a thoughtful frown.
“Will she be alright?” I asked, exchanging a glance between the two. “I mean considering your kinds’ animosity against the Cephtalurians, that is?” I asked after a second passed.
Runda had started keeping tabs on our conversation as her head was turned in our direction, but her gaze was just as nonchalant as ever.
“She'll be fine! Considering that she is the strongest among our tribe. Her strength is something which far surpasses mine in the prospect of technique and control. She was personally taught by father and nurtured. And she was only second-best to my late brother.” Uito assured with a confident tone, without holding any semblance of hesitation in his words or his expression, as if taking pride in it himself.
I sighed, shrugging my shoulders and rubbing the back of my head in annoyance for some reason. But I calmed myself and peered across the thick mist which curtained the gargantuan forest.
“Fine. I wouldn’t mind having her show me the way as long as she doesn’t get in the way of my goal.” I jabbed, looking at Uito with purposeful eyes.
He nodded slightly with an understanding face, tearing his eyes from me to Runda.
“Runda be aware and careful!” He ordered with authority laced in his words, his eyes looking as serene as Runda nodded back.
“Then it is farewell now, Jiwoo!”
I nodded at him and stepped forward, Runda following along beside me, covering each step gracefully and as quietly as she could.
I looked back one last time seeing the old thalassalithion waving a hand, his expression was a little distorted as the mist thickened and swallowed us as we disappeared into the mist surrounding us.
It was still just as hard to walk and navigate through it and make head to tail about where to go if you weren’t accustomed to this location and environment.
But on the other hand Runda wasn’t having any trouble as she made a run for, leaving me walking in her wake.
I picked up my slow pace and followed after her. She leapt from the ground with unimaginable speed, becoming airborne for a moment as her feet struck over the thick roots coiling above the ground and landing on a suspended branch of a nearby tree.
She looked down at me, her eyes glowing brightly through the mist as her face remained expressionless.
I followed right after and climbed the tree without a second wasted. Runda didn’t even wait and went ahead and leapt from one branch to another, her body silently moving through the mist not generating a single sound when her feet landed over the branches, which were intervening with each other to create a colony on their own, like a path albeit in a strange and uneven pattern.
I ignited Mind’s Eye as the bright motes of mana shimmered bare to my eyes, illuminating and burning with power and purpose. The particles were moving to fill the empty spaces around them as the deviant form of mana was in clear display around me, holding the mist.
I saw Runda’s mana signature burning just a few meters ahead of me. I circulated the mana inside my body and dashed forward, my feet covering each step with a speed faster than before.
In only a few seconds I was running right beside Runda.
She grimaced as if I had hurt her somehow. She increased her speed and twisted her body, aligning herself with how the bracnhes were intervening beside us.
Mana erupted out of her, as her fingers dug into the branch, working like claws created through the manipulation of wind mana, moving as athletically possible, using her body like a spider, but with only her hands. It only took her a mere minute and she quickly reached the other side.
Her mana was coalesced around her body in a protective layer also helping her move her body better. I was yet again in awe by the efficiency of their control over their small reserves of mana.
But I froze in my spot, as I swear I saw her face cracking into a wide condescending grin.
The gap between the two branches was quite wide and high—almost fifty meters—and just jumping wouldn't be enough to cover the distance alone. Below was a pond of contaminated murky black water.
I grinned as I activated Leap. I felt the paths all around me, the wormholes held by the tapestry and web of information. I looked through them and brandished my intent toward them, looking and sensing for the most immediate routes which were available to me as the information was sent to my mind and body, working like an anchor. After I found the path I needed go take without hesitation, I willed myself to that wormhole working like a gateway to transport me.
Slowly my body melted away into the web leaving a flash of lightning in my wake, as I disappeared and reappeared on the other side.
I found my feet touch against the branch’s surface, as lightning crackled around me like tiny sparks as I felt Runda's gaze over me with clear astound on her face.
Her dumbfounded face caused me to smirk widely as I gestured for her to follow, which caused her to frown deeply, causing me to grin even more vigorously.
She quickly caught up to me, trying to match my pace.
Our petty competition of out running each other went on for an hour like some kind of battle which neither of us could concede on, as we ran through the forest, Runda still showing me the way forward. On our way we took a path and I saw the location of where my battle against the thalassalithion children had happened a few days ago. The scars of our battle still visible and fresh in the vicinity.
It was still night time in this place even after several hours had passed or I guess there was no concept of daytime here in the first place. I thought looking around me and then at the empty sky which only held two bright moons hanging with a gracefulness of one of a kind.
One teal and the other gold, enveloping everything in their egnamtic light.
With Mind’s Eye active, I was able to see the way the mana manoeuvred itself and worked around me. Where it was the swallowed or available the most in numbers.
After running for another hour and a half, Runda slowed down on her steps and came to stop near a colony of trees which looked to be quite run down or almost dead.
I caught my breath as my chest heaved and heart beat slowly relaxing.
There canopies were lolling down several broken branches of trees, making this location look ghastly and haunting to the eyes.
Wait, this place is—! I had a sudden thought with my brows frowning.
Broken huts, an uneven, almost alien ground, only destruction left everywhere my eyes went to and no life in the vicinity.
I walked closer to get a better look at the village where the thalassalithions used to reside before they were attacked and slaughtered by the Cephtalurians one day and had to migrate to where their new village was situated now.
The images of the battle against the cephtalurians vividly played inside my mind, the screams, pleas for help, gore filled battles where not even the children were spared, a horror inducing memory which Uito had shared to me through his mind.
I barely caught a glace of Runda’s expression, which was a complicated and hardened frown, mixed with several different emotions which were hard to read as her eyes blazed with a glint for revenge and vengeance as she peered across the ruins of her old home.
Her fists were trembling by her sides, as she bit her lips.
Sensing a slight tremble and fluctuation in the ambient mana’s movement I steadied my body and took a cautious stance.
I quickly withdrew my sword out of the inventory, startling Runda beside me, as I brandished it to my left as I struck something slimy and yet as hard as metal leaving some murky substance to splash against my forearm, sending a wave of pain toward me.
My skin burned and melted. I felt like I had been stung over and over by a horde of drilling bees without any moment of rest.
I tore my gaze away from my forearm which was already being healed—skin and muscles stitching themselves—and at the tentacle which was lying below me.
It convulsed like a fish out of water and then stopped moving, dead still.
Runda dashed with incredible speed from beside me not even giving me a chance to spat a word out, and struck a humanoid octopus-like creature standing a few meters away from us with it’s purple tongue lolling out like a dog, and it’s amethyst eyes shiny dangerously and predatorily.
It wailed as it tumbled backwards but took a hold of itself with its tentacle like arms which exuded a black murky substance from them which drooped over the wood and melted it away like acid.
Caution laced each action I took.
Mana began to swell inside me working as a protective barrier around my body, making thin light to cover my body in a kind of layer to protect it. My feet buckled as I put pressure over my calves and dashed forward, taking a sharp and strong swing at a tentacle ready to strike Runda in her side.
I cut the tip of the tentacle off, as I heard a painful shriek coming from a branch below. I quickly dodged another tentacle lurched in my direction and evaded the cephtalurian’s attack and shot in it’s companion's direction, mana supporting and surging through my body.
It didn’t take me any trouble dealing with it. I coalesced mana around the bleak surface of my blade as it shimmered with power and cried out, taking a sharp swing and decapitating it’s head as some murky black substance burst out from the cephtalurian's body which I barley avoided. It feel on the wooden surface and melted the entire area away.
I heard a loud roar coming from above, I quickly climbed on top of the branch and saw Runda striking the cephtalurian with vicious force, causing it to scream uncontrollably. A few more of it’s companions had arrived to backed it up, as they’ll surrounded Runda.
But the thalassalithion didn’t waver once. Not one bit of hesitation visible in any of her actions. Her shiny eyes blazed intently and menacingly looking at the cephtalurians with a violent vindictive frown, which looked far worse than any of the expressions I had seen so far on her face.
Her arms coalesced with mana hissed and tore apart the air and into the cephtalurian’s body, causing it to screech in agony.
She pivoted and struck the one on her left, who went crashing down from the branch on to the ground which was forty metres high.
Runda steadied her body and her figure blurred for a moment as she almost disappeared from my gaze—but I was able to observe and follow her thanks to Mind’s Eye’s intervention—and appeared right in front of the cephtalurian standing to her right.
With a single merciless blow, her fist went through the cephtalurian’s body, as it gave a last final screech of agony, and she threw the cephtalurian’s body down the branch as it crashed into the ground below causing a crater to form on the impact.
She then turned to the last one lying on the floor.
One after another Runda’s fist struck the cephtalurian mercilessly, her fist coated with it’s spilled murky black blood which melted off the skin on her arms, but she kept going not caring about the pain or damage which was dealt to herself.
'So the poison they produced inside their body is their own blood.' I acknowledged walking closer to Runda who was beating the beast to it’s death.
But doing a last desperate ditch action before it’s death, it shrieked out loudly, it’s voice echoing like the clapping of thunder throughout the forest, showcasing it’s sharp teeth hidden beneath it’s squid like head as it bit on to Runda's shoulder.
I moved realising what the creature was intending to do. But it had already dug it’s teeth into her left shoulder as I cut it’s head off.
I took Runda into my arm and struck the cephtalurian with my foot, causing it’s body to lurch backward, and sent it’s head rolling over the floor.
I looked through the vicinity to search for any other presences and climbed on top a branch high enough to not be found out, then laid Runda down against the side of a tree’s trunk keeping an eye out for any sudden attacks from the cephtalurians.