Chapter 32
Toad Master, Master of Toads!
Weapons returned to Inventory
New Evolution Class E?v?o?l?u?t?i?o?n? C???l???a???s???s??? E???v????o?????l????u????t????i????o?????n??? C??????l???????a???????s????s??????? … Unlocked!
Evolution Unlocked:
Goblin Warlord: C
Having proven your Strength by slaying an entire Goblin war party, you have earned the Evolution: Goblin Warlord. This Evolution is specialised in leading Goblin war parties to bloody victory, or they will die trying.
New Class Trait Unlocked!
New Class Trait unlocked:
Warlord’s Presence: C
Troops under your command obey orders immediately and without question. +15% damage to the attacks of members of your war party.
You have reached Level 1 in G?o?b?l?i?n? ?W?a?r?l?o?r?d?!?
+2 Strength
+2 Endurance
+1 Wisdom
New Threshold Met!
You have reached 10 in Wisdom! This would be the cap for Race: Elijah, but the System allows you to push beyond your limits! Having reached the first Threshold, you are less likely to repeat mistakes and are more likely to learn from them. Wisdom can no longer drop below 10.
Tier I Race Unlocked!
You have reached the first Threshold in all levelable Attributes! Your race has increased from Tier 0 to Tier I!
New Race Trait Unlocked!
Tier I Elijah: F
All stats are 10% more effective. You’re one step closer to perfection!
The darkness of the void was broken by a light, glowing from inside him. It pulsed a bright white, then disappeared. Afterwards, his muscles were a tenth of a millimetre bigger and slightly more toned.
He didn’t feel any different, but that didn’t mean much; he couldn’t feel anything in the endless blackness that embraced him.
The increase to Wisdom didn’t seem to have a noticeable effect like Intelligence had; then again, it relied on experience, and he was still lacking in that department. He still didn’t really know how to fight; he was relying on brute force, and it was tiring!
Perhaps the Attribute’s attributes would become clear in time.
A new world came into being. The sky was aquamarine. No, wait, there was no sky. Instead of the view of a colourful troposphere Elijah was growing used to, he found this scene to be surrounded by glowing water.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about drowning for the rest of eternity as a bubble of air appeared, surrounding him; it had a radius of sixty feet or so.
The pocketed plateau was at the peak of an underwater mountain. The bubble marked the circumference of an arena. The ground was made of carefully raked sand that formed a spiral pattern. The teen spawned at the edge, at the start of the swirl, and his opponent sat cross-legged in its centre.
The teen couldn’t get a good look at the figure as they sat, facing away and hunched over. All he could tell was that they wore black.
Waiting for the Trial to finish forming, Elijah looked over the edge of the submarine peak and saw the most colourful forest he had ever seen.
In place of trees, there was a rainbow array of coral, all of them having far outgrown your usual wooden plant. Some of the furthest ones looked as tall as skyscrapers and nearly rivalled the mountain he was atop. They added a scenic skyline.
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The Trial of Evolution 1: Toadkin
You have reached Lv 25 as a Toadkin! Welcome to The Trial of Evolution: Impress the Evolved Master Toad to prove your right to undergo the first Evolution. A better performance in this trial will lead to a more powerful Evolution with stronger monster Skills and Traits.
Toadkin, huh? Elijah thought, wondering what such a creature looked like.
He didn’t have to wonder for long. As soon as the Trial began and the teen dropped down onto the sand, ruining the carefully raked surface, the monster rose and turned to face him.
It stood on two legs, like a human, but that was where the similarities ended. Its arms and legs were stick-thin, but its abdomen bulged out, tapering as it moved towards the chest and head, giving the toad person the body of a pear.
It was dressed in a tightly swaddled gi, beneath which was a polo-necked dicky, all of it black, contrasting with its white, wart-covered skin.
The albino Toadkin didn’t waste any time. As soon as it saw Elijah, it darted towards him, its white beard and eyebrows trailing behind it as a column of sand exploded upwards.
He, for he truly looked the part of some old master from a kung fu movie, raised a sword in his left hand that looked to be made from the nose of a swordfish, ready to strike.
There was a calm serenity in the toad man’s red eyes, despite the blistering speed with which he devoured the arena, and Elijah was lulled into a false sense of security. He was barely able to react in time to defend himself against the telegraphed attack.
If not for the recent enhancement to the effectiveness of his stats, Elijah didn’t think he would have had the Perception to notice the slash, the Agility to move away in time, or the Dexterity to bend over backwards to avoid the arc of the swing.
His recently reequipped bloody yellow tunic fluttered in the wind that was created by the Toad Master’s attack, an attack that passed through the bubble barrier and caused great vortexes that spiralled out into waves as it sliced through the very water itself.
Elijah was afforded a slight nod before the next assault came.
With the teen bent over backwards, it was simple for his opponent to lightly punch him in the stomach with the webbed hand that wasn’t holding a weapon.
Oof. Thud.
Elijah “Oof”ed as the air was driven from him, before collapsing back onto the coarse grey sand with a thud, unable to maintain his extended position. Just because he had fallen, however, didn’t mean he was safe.
Despite the toad man’s calm features, he did not cease his attacks. His face spoke of gentle calmness, but his actions spoke of death.
Without stopping its arc, the sword swept down, plunging gracefully into the earth and raising another pillar of sand in the process. Had the teen not rolled away the second he struck the ground, it would have impaled him straight through the heart.
Still winded and unable to breathe, Elijah forced himself to spring back to his feet. A part of him wanted this fight: a chance to expel the ever-growing anger he harboured at a situation he didn’t understand and couldn’t control.
The last Trial, he thought, had been the right opportunity, and although some of his frustration was burnt away by the intense fighting, more fuel was piled onto that fire when his body had been usurped as a result of his failure to win.
He wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
Elijah didn’t wait for his opponent to make the first move this time. With the weapon embedded in the ground, he had time to act.
When the last Trial ended, the System had seen the weapons he was using as his and stored them in his Inventory. The teen didn’t really understand the mechanics of it, but he wasn’t complaining.
His arm swung down towards the Toad Master, mace materialising mid-motion. The monster leaned back only slightly, but it was just enough to avoid the strike.
Copying his opponent, Elijah went for a follow-up when the toad man was off balance. Pixels shimmered around his left hand as his shoddily made iron spearhead appeared. The teen used it to slash at the whiskered master.
Even before the motion was complete, the Toad Master had his hand positioned, ready to calmly and efficiently deflect the strike. His eyes lit up with a mix of surprise and delight as the phantom form of a Cerberus’ giant paw appeared behind the attack, claws out.
Just as Elijah thought he had trapped the old toad and was about to land an attack, something unexpected happened. The master spun around, fast enough to create a mini tornado of sand, then jumped into the air.
Making his body horizontal, he was able to spin in-between two of the slashing claws, yanking the sword free of the sand in the process and using the momentum of his movement to launch a vertical slash.
Elijah was unable to react in time, and he lost the tip of his ear along with some hairs as the pressure of the attack continued onwards, carving a line in the sand.
What kind of Capoeira bullshit was that? Elijah thought, his body frozen as he stared at the physics-defying toad.
The monster man, who had been smiling, frowned when he saw that the raven-haired lad wasn’t continuing the rally.
“Don’t get distracted,” the Toad Master chided in a chuffing ribbit.
Elijah was double-stunned. He was barely able to brace himself for the kick that sent him tumbling several feet away.
“You can talk?” the teen asked dumbly. “Wait, that wasn’t English,” he added, continuing to state the obvious.
Elijah jumped back to his feet as the Toad Master walked towards him, giving him time to recompose himself.
“I know not this Angle-ishe; we are speaking toad tongue,” the toad man answered with a curious cock of his head.
The teen didn’t understand; he recalled his words; they were indeed spoken in the same croaking language as the sword master. Maybe it was something the System was doing, or maybe the alterations the blood had made to his brain were more extensive than he thought?
It didn’t really matter.
What threw him for a loop was the very fact that it could talk. He never wanted to attack anything sentient; it was against his nature. He had forgotten that when fighting the Goblins, because their actions were so evil.
Now that he knew that this creature was in fact the kindly old man he appeared to be, Elijah dismissed his weapons and bowed to him.
“I’m sorry for attacking you,” he apologised, his hands shaking, his mind a mix of emotions.
His head, supplicated at ninety degrees, was slammed into the sand by an uncaring webbed hand, much to his pain and surprise. The teen was forced to snort out rough particles of rock to keep from suffocating.
“Stupid boy,” the toad ribbited gently, “I attacked you, and you should never let down your guard in a fight.” The Toad Master proceeded to sit on Elijah, trapping him with his surprising weight.
The teen tried to splutter a reply through the sand, but it was garbled, and he didn’t honestly have a retort. His morals were warring with reality.
He should respect his elders, but this elder was using him as a chair, and he couldn’t get up! Was there supposed to be a lesson in this unwarranted humiliation?
“There is a fire burning inside you; you should really let it out before it consumes all that you are,” the toad man advised, idly fingering the razor-sharp tip of his weapon.
Should he? Could he?
Elijah didn’t want to hurt the toad now that he saw him as a man; it was a cognitive switch that couldn’t be unflipped.
As for the fire he spoke of… The teen was angry; that he couldn’t deny. He hadn’t felt this way since his father chose to leave and never came back. Though he hated the man when he was around, he hated him more for leaving, for giving up.
He had repressed the feelings and just got on with his life. Why couldn’t he do that anymore? Why was it that he felt this growing beast bubbling just beneath the surface, waiting to snap at any that roused its ire, fed by anger and hopelessness?
A part of him knew that he would never escape these Trials. Despite his determination, he didn’t truly believe he would get home.
The Toad Master grew tired of waiting for the teen to act and decided to take matters into his own hands.
“If you’re not willing to show it to me, then I’m just going to have to force it out,” he croaked wearily.
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