Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Spendthrift Necromancer (66)

Trial Grounds (3)

Stats fixed at 100.‘Then title effects probably won't apply either.’He looked at Idrick.[‘Law of Victory’ activates!][All stats increase by 30%.][All damage increases by 30%!]‘About a 300-level difference.’Meaning Idrick was at least in the Level 400 range.

He looked at his Status.

As expected.

Even though the stat-increase message had appeared, every stat remained fixed at 100.‘Three minutes.’Not impossible.

Hadn't he fought enemies with an even more absurd stat gap before?

Mutakta, whom he'd faced at Level 1.

That bastard had been a real monster.

And Minwoo had still survived.

His current stats were higher than they had been back then.‘Doable.’Then.

Idrick began approaching.[Time Remaining: 03:00][Curse of Fatigue is applied!][Curse of Endurance is applied!]

That disgusting itch spread throughout his body.

And that wasn't the only bad news.

His vision blurred as though he'd come down with a vicious flu.

The sword felt far heavier in his hand.

Black energy wrapped around Idrick's blade.

An antique-looking sword at a glance.

Compared to that, Minwoo had the starter sword handed to rookies.‘Can't clash head-on.’Strength and speed.

Even the quality of their weapons.

He had to redirect every blow and disperse its force.

Otherwise, his sword would shatter before he even managed a proper exchange.

Idrick closed the distance in an instant and thrust at Minwoo's face.

He tilted his neck aside.

The sword immediately slashed high.

Minwoo ducked deeply.

A vertical downward strike followed.

He rolled across the ground.

By the time he finished rolling, Idrick's blade was already right in front of his nose.‘Can't dodge this one.’Normally he could have.

The curses on his body were the problem.

They slowed his responses.

The difference was razor-thin, but once enough of those tiny delays accumulated, moments came when he couldn't evade even after predicting the enemy's move.

Like now.

He twisted his sword face and redirected Idrick's blade.

Clang!

One clash, and the sword already made a dangerously brittle sound. The skin of his palm split and blood ran down his hand.‘Ten times?’He calculated instinctively.

Even if he redirected every blow perfectly, the sword would probably shatter after around ten clashes.

That was why he'd kept dodging.‘Can't be helped.’There was no answer if he only defended.

He rotated his wrist and slashed low.

Idrick chose to trade attacks.

His blade flew toward Minwoo's head.

Superior stats meant control of the initiative.

Idrick was confident he'd cut him first.‘Knew it.’Minwoo bent sharply backward.

The dark blade swept over his head.

Then came crashing straight down like lightning.

Still bent backward.

Minwoo planted strength into his heel and spun like a top.

Slash!

Blood sprayed from Idrick's waist.

Grabbing his side, Idrick retreated two steps.

The eyes behind his mask narrowed in incomprehension.‘At least there's that.’Black Knight.

High level, high stats, plenty of skills and everything else.‘But his actual technique is lacking.’At best, he was around the level of a reasonably successful city knight.

If he'd possessed the skill of a knight commander, Minwoo would've had to sacrifice at least one body part in that exchange.‘And he's inexperienced too.’Apparently this was Idrick's first time having his stats doubled, because his mind couldn't keep pace with his body's performance.

That made things easier.

Minwoo had been prepared, in the worst case, to lose all four limbs and put on a pathetic last-ditch show with Indomitable Soul.

But this exchange gave him a rough estimate.‘Two arms should be enough.’His sword would break eventually.

There would inevitably be moments when he had no choice but to redirect a strike.

Once the sword broke, his arms weren't particularly useful for surviving anyway.

Time remaining: 2 minutes 45 seconds.

Idrick froze for about two seconds, then charged again with a vicious expression.[01:45]

Cracks began spreading across the sword.[01:00]

It looked like it could withstand about three more clashes.[00:30]

Minwoo gave up his left arm.

In exchange, he protected his neck.

An incredible bargain.[0:15]

The sword shattered into pieces.[0:02]

While dodging, he gave up his other arm.

Originally, he'd planned to lose it at one second, but that damned curse was the problem.[0:01]

Idrick tried to cut his throat. Minwoo dodged, and the sword redirected toward his heart. He twisted his side slightly to avoid instant death.

The moment the blade pierced him.[The ‘Beginner

- Murderous’ difficulty Trial ends.][Your entire body is restored!][Beginning evaluation.]

Time stopped.[Challenge Difficulty: Murderous][Achievement Grade: Highest][You have acquired the title, ‘Monster Among Beginners’!][You have passed the Beginner Trial!][Your level is insufficient! You cannot challenge the Trainee Trial! (Minimum Required Level: 300)][You have acquired a Heavenly City Travel Pass.][A new entry is added to Beginning of a Legend

– Part One!][This was ‘Murderous’ difficulty. You receive a special reward.][You have acquired an ‘Achievement Vending Machine’.]

“……?”

Achievement Vending Machine?

A tiny object resembling a toy vending machine had appeared in his newly restored hand.

He checked its information.[Achievement Vending Machine][Rank: Special][An adorable vending machine.][Effect: Whenever you gain Achievement Points, doubles the amount received.]

“……?”

He rubbed his eyes.

Then looked again.‘It doubles Achievement Points?’What could Achievement Points be used for?

Raising his level cap, buying Skill Books, buying equipment, and countless other things.

A resource hundreds of times more valuable than money.

And this item duplicated it?

It wasn't even consumable.‘That's insane.’Kim Minwoo slipped the adorable vending machine into his inventory, then took out the Heavenly City Travel Pass and examined it.[Heavenly City Travel Pass][Rank: Special][An item granted to those who pass the Beginner Trial. Allows travel to a Heavenly City to take Trials. Can be activated once every six months.][Effect 1. Upon use, transports you to a Heavenly City.][Effect 2. Each visit grants one month of activity time.]‘A Heavenly City…….’He thought of Ziphael.

Was it a city where angels like her lived?* * *Seo Yerim.

She was undergoing a Trial of her own.

When Popo snapped his fingers, a bow appeared in her hand.―We will now begin the Reassessment. There is only one subject. ‘Balloon Shooting.’

“Where are the balloons?”

The instant she asked.

Like bubbles forming in boiling water, balloons began filling the pure-white space.

Tens of thousands, at a glance, floated in every direction.―Do you see the balloons ahead?

“Yes.”

Seo Yerim narrowed her eyes.

Red balloons were the most numerous, followed by orange, then green, yellow, blue…….‘A rainbow?’The color arrangement reminded her of a rainbow.―Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. There are only five violet balloons. Two hundred indigo. One thousand blue. And so on. Naturally, red is the most common.

“So?”―You have five arrows. Hit the balloons. Preferably the rarest color.[Reassessment, ‘Rainbow Balloons’ begins!][Your average stats are fixed at 10!][Skills cannot be used!][You cannot move beyond a 10m radius!]

Whoooosh……!

Along with the messages, a violent wind blew hard enough to whip her hair wildly. Countless balloons constantly shifted and tangled together.[Rules will now be explained.][You begin with 100 points.][You must use all five arrows to pop balloons.][Popping any balloon other than violet deducts points.][The lower the balloon's tier, the greater the point deduction.][If an arrow misses and pops no balloon, a very large number of points will be deducted!]

Seo Yerim narrowed her eyes as she read the messages, then nodded.

She roughly understood the test.

“So if I cleanly pop only the five violet balloons with five arrows, that's a perfect score?”―Correct. However, it is not easy. In the thousand years I have observed this test, not a single Archer has ever earned a perfect score.

One glance made that believable.

Finding five violet balloons among tens of thousands was difficult enough.

Even after finding them, the wind constantly caused balloons to overlap and shift position.

Even if she aimed at a violet balloon and hit it, another balloon along the arrow's path could easily burst as well.‘And I need to calculate the wind…….’An extremely demanding test.

“Then what's the highest score anyone has gotten?”―99 points. Unfortunately, they popped an indigo balloon together with a violet one. That cost them 1 point.

“What was their Achievement rank?”―SS-rank, if I remember correctly.

“……

There are ranks above S?”―The world is vast, and ranks are many. SS, SSS…… I've even heard there are ranks beyond those.

“……

Beyond that too?”―Yes. I've never seen one myself…… but Senior Ziphael said so, so it must be true.‘……

I was a frog in a well.’She had suspected there might be ranks beyond S.

After all, Kim Minwoo's strength inside the previous Gate had exceeded anything she'd imagined.

But she hadn't been certain.

Now she'd received confirmation.

There was an entire world beyond that.

Perhaps not only she, but every Awakened on Earth had been a frog at the bottom of a well.

None of them had ever imagined Achievements beyond S.‘This isn't just some ordinary otherworld. It's on a completely different scale…….’How had Kim Minwoo formed a connection to a place like this?

He really was like an onion.

“Mr. Popo.”―Yes.

“If I pop all five perfectly, could I receive something above SSS?”―I was told that to reach beyond that, one must achieve something capable of changing the world itself. Even the Trial Grounds cannot construct a stage for that.

Popo was a doll proud of his position.

If even he said it was impossible, then it probably truly was.

She was disappointed, but there was nothing to be done.

She nodded and looked at the balloons.

“There isn't a time limit, right?”―Correct.

Seo Yerim observed them.‘……

So that's why the indigo balloon got hit too.’The structure was vicious.

The red balloons were large.

The violet balloons, on the other hand, were extremely small.

About the size of a tangerine.

And indigo balloons were stuck around those violet balloons like tumors.

There was only the tiniest gap.

The arrow had to pass through that opening to hit the violet balloon.

After locating all five violet balloons, she closed her eyes and exhaled.

“Whew.”

Her stats were fixed at 10.

She couldn't use skills.

All she could trust was her own talent.‘I can do it.’A realm she'd never been able to reach with a sword.

With a bow…….

Fwish!

One arrow flew.

It threaded through countless balloons.

Pop!

A single balloon burst.

Without even breathing, she fired three more arrows.

Three balloons popped.‘One left.’The balloon with the most indigo balloons clustered around it.―From what I can tell, you're destined to make it big with a bow.

She suddenly remembered the words they'd exchanged in the hospital room.‘Right. I…….’I'm destined to make it big with a bow.

The final arrow flew.

Pop!

Again, only one balloon burst.

Popo, who had been watching while swallowing nervously, clapped like a seal.―W-Wow! One hundred points! Congratulations![Evaluation complete.][Your score is 100 points.][You are awarded an SSS-rank Archer Skill Book!]‘SSS-rank…….’Seo Yerim clenched her fist.

Kim Minwoo had been right.

She truly had been born to wield a bow.