Raj cast an Identify(Common) on the monsters, relief apparent on his face as he read the information in front of him.
[Fleshling Abomination - lvl 5].
A shudder passed through his body. The names are… appropriate, to say the least. The creatures stood at just around 5 feet tall, but the normalities ended there. Their figures seemed to be made of a lot of different patches of skin all twisted together, before being decayed and rotted beyond recognition. A foul smell exuded off of them as well, a weapon in of itself. Its long hanging arms and short legs were tipped by long, razor-like claws, yellow in color.
Suspicion made its way onto his face, the low level of the monster putting him on high alert. He scanned the other monsters, all of them perfect clones of the first one. Must be a wave defence of increasing level. It’ll probably come to a head on the very last day.
“Lucky for you, this is manageable for now. It’s gonna get harder to deal with later, though,” Raj called back to Trixie. He turned back to the creatures upon seeing her nod, and drew his sword, starting to carve his way through the creatures in record time.
*****
Arjun dutifully followed behind the man in front of him, dragging a screaming Ernest behind him. They had been ambushed by this larger camp, and Thatcher had been killed trying to defend Ernest, who had been hit in the first few seconds of the fight. Arjun had no such loyalties, however, and he immediately surrendered. He had been happy, in fact, as he had seen all of the people in the attacking camp freely using magic.
Now that he could practice magic, his progress and growth had been great. He pulled up his status sheet, a hint of his old childish curiosity sparking up from within.
Status
Name: Arjun Sharma
Race: Human(H)
Class: Mage[(Common-H) lvl 8]
Profession: None
Titles: None
HP: 150/150
MP: 210/210
SP: 150/150
Stats
Strength: 15
Agility: 18
Vitality: 15
Endurance: 15
Intelligence: 21
Wisdom: 21
Free Points: 0
Class Skills: Mana Bolt(Common)
Profession Skills: None
General Skills: Identify(Common)
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He was tantalizingly close to what people were starting to call the First Threshold, or level 10. Soon, he would be powerful enough. He would be valuable.
He was wrenched out of his thoughts by someone grabbing his shoulder. He looked up to see the boss’s right-hand man taking Ernest from him into the main tent. Arjun did not know his name, nor did he know the boss’s name. He let go of Ernest and turned around, his gaze unflinching even as he heard a shrill scream coming from the tent.
*****
Trixie shivered at the sight of Raj. He stood still amidst a plethora of dead bodies, blood and gore everywhere, sword in hand. It looked exactly like something out of the action movies she had seen from her bond’s memories. An inexplicable fear resonated from within her as she saw him.
She watched him wipe his sword on a torn-up rag from his spatial ring before putting it away. Plastering a smile on her face as he turned around to face her, she waved away the dark thoughts from before.
*****
“Alright Trixie,” Raj said, dusting his hands off. “We got through this wave easy enough. But do you have any idea how much ti-” He was cut off by a prompt flashing across his vision. He focused on it, and read the information in front of him.
Congratulations!
You have succeeded against the First Wave.
You have 1 hour and 34 minutes to prepare.
Countdown: 1:34:32
“Well, that answers that question, I guess,” Raj muttered. Then, he had a thought. “Say, Trixie, if we want to really do well in this challenge…”
“Yeaahh?” She drawled in response.
“Well, you see… I didn’t bring any extra food. Nor did I bring water, but I have an almost empty canteen.”
The ensuing profanity that spilled from the fairy’s mouth would make even the worst criminal’s ears turn red in shame.
*****
“Oh thank god!” Raj elatedly said. The source of his happiness was the fully stocked fridge in front of him, with good food and bottles of water everywhere.”The system really helped us out this time, huh?”
“Yes, it certainly did!” Trixie said through a mouthful of food.
He grabbed a chicken wing, absentmindedly looking through his status. In the process, however, he ended up finding a peculiarity.
Status
Name: Rajeev Narayanan
Race: Human(H)
Class: Swordsman[(Common-G) lvl 16]
Profession: None
Titles: Giant Slayer, Vitality I, Strength I, Enlightened One(G), Agility I, Endurance I, Intelligence I, Wisdom I, Dao Disciple, Tutorial Challenge: Level 1(Pending)
HP: 730/730
MP: 510/510
SP: 550/550
Stats
Strength:75(72)
Agility: 91(82)(+5)
Vitality: 73(70)
Endurance: 55(53)
Intelligence: 51(49)
Wisdom: 43(41)
Free Points: 0
Dao: Fragment of Reality
Class Skills: Mana Slash(Common), Dash(Uncommon)
Profession Skills: None
General Skills: Identify(Common)
While none of his stats changed, a new title had made its way onto his status. He focused on it
Tutorial Challenge: Level 1(Pending) - Defeat the first stage of the Tutorial Challenge. Rewards unknown.
Huh, Raj thought. The ‘Level 1’ part probably represented the number of waves he completed. A lot of information was absent, though it was most likely because the challenge wasn’t over yet. That would also explain the ‘Pending’ part of the title.
He sat down on the bed, sighing in exhaustion. Pulling up the countdown timer, he came to a decision.
Countdown: 1:19:54
“Trixie, can you see the timer until the next wave as well?” He asked his companion.
“Yes, I can,” She responded. “It’s visible through our bond.”
“Alright, can you wake me up 10 minutes before the wave starts? I wanna take a nap,” he said, covering up a yawn.
“Sure, I’ll do that,” she said, flitting up and down the fridge to find her next snack.
Raj simply flashed her a thumbs up, and let his head hit the surprisingly soft pillow, dreams already waiting to take over his racing mind.
