Chapter Fifteen: The Key to Victory

The face of the hardened warrior was covered with unabashed mockery. Ember smiled, appearing to be in good temper, which only made the warrior look down on him even more. Turning away, he signaled confidently to his companions. Meanwhile, Ember discreetly glanced at his attribute panel, spending the critical points he'd just earned. His mind raced, reaffirming his belief that he had glimpsed the path to victory. If his deductions held, everything was possible; the supporting data was already complete.

The ten seconds of preparation quickly slipped by.

Seeing the gray-skinned werewolf raise its claw to give the command, Ember immediately held his breath and focused, ready to act at a moment’s notice. Compared to him, the hardened warrior remained utterly relaxed, still toying with his dagger with a haughty air, as if Ember was beneath his notice.

“Oh, what a long ten seconds! Are you ready to welcome your nightmare? Let me be clear: this isn’t just one person’s nightmare—it’s everyone’s. After all… I’ll find a way to devour you all!” The gray-skinned werewolf swept its eerie green gaze over the crowd, then dropped its claw and shouted—

“Begin!”

[Prompt: You have used the Nightmare Invitation, initiating the Nightmare Challenge. Please strictly follow the challenge rules in the game.]
[Prompt: If you succeed, you will receive a reward. If you fail, you will immediately lose your qualification for assessment.]
[Prompt: If you wish to abandon the challenge, you may use a ‘Match’ to burn the nightmare, but you will not receive any reward.]

A string of prompts could not disturb Ember’s calm. As soon as the gray-skinned werewolf finished speaking, Ember swung his Direwolf Gauntlet, slapping the hardened warrior beside him. At the same time, the latter shed his contempt and, with fierce determination, thrust his dagger at Ember’s chest.

One side delivered a slap; the other, a dagger.

The two displayed utterly different tactical choices and combat mindsets.

Ember intended to exploit the Nightmare Challenge’s rules to kill with borrowed hands, triumphing over the strong with the weak. The hardened warrior from the Giant Tree Research Institute, however, sought to solve the matter conventionally—not because he underestimated Ember, but because he trusted in the damage he could inflict.

Within this eight-man squad, there were two types of identities: official soldiers directly under the Giant Tree Institute, and mercenaries only marginally stronger than wasteland fighters. In the strictly hierarchical wasteland, status signified strength; it was not the mercenaries—little more than cannon fodder—who stood by Ember, but the confident Giant Tree warrior, whose style favored close combat and who had chosen to enhance his damage with a Bloodvine artifact.

Moreover, his Bloodvine artifact had reached maturity! Though its damage boost was far inferior to the Bloodvine Ring “A Cup Grows Stronger,” since he lacked the Gardener’s bloodline, the combination of fine equipment and powerful skills still prompted this damage notification for Ember.

[Prompt: You have suffered ‘Dagger: Pierce’ from ‘Giant Tree Warrior,’ taking forty-eight points of life damage.]

[Prompt: Because your life level is only four, insufficient to fully resist ‘Dagger: Pierce’ and the resulting ‘Bleeding (Normal)’ status, you will suffer ‘Weak’ grade bleeding for the next five seconds, losing five HP per second.]

Forty-eight direct damage, plus a total of twenty-five from bleeding, was enough to drop Ember below half health—precisely the source of the Giant Tree warrior’s confidence. This single dagger strike inflicted more damage than A Cup Grows Stronger’s critical arrow, and the warrior also possessed a Gardener-like “Overdraw” skill, allowing another dagger strike at the cost of HP.

If not for Ember’s Bloodvine Bracelet raising his maximum HP by a hundred, he would have stood no chance. Even as his palm landed on the warrior’s face, he received a pitiful damage prompt.

[Prompt: You dealt two points of damage to ‘Giant Tree Warrior.’ ‘Direwolf Gauntlet’ special effect ‘Savage Strike’ activated.]

[Prompt: Judging… Success! Target’s strength level is five, not higher than your strength +1. Special effect activated, dealing double damage.]

[Prompt: You dealt four points of damage to ‘Giant Tree Warrior.’]

[Prompt: Giant Tree Warrior’s agility is less than five, cannot ignore ‘Normal’ grade ‘Slow’ status. For the next five seconds, attack and move speed reduced by twenty-five percent.]

By comparison, Ember’s lack of damage became even more apparent. Such paltry damage prompts begged the question: what drove him to initiate the attack? For the Giant Tree warrior, boasting a massive one hundred fifty HP, five seconds of slow was barely a nuisance—especially as he was not fighting alone. The well-trained Giant Tree Institute members were already forming a slanted formation, aiming to wipe out Ember and his allies.

Ember, equipped with the Eye of Insight, was well aware of this outcome. Even knowing full well what would happen, he did not regret choosing the [Basic Evolution Reagent] over the [Basic Berserk Potion], pouring all his focus and strength into his right arm, intent on delivering a firm slap.

The Giant Tree warrior had anticipated Ember’s desperate gamble, tensing his neck to counter it. He wasn’t worried about dying suddenly, having judged Ember’s strength at only four after their earlier shoulder collision—barely qualifying as a strength specialist, while he himself, with five points in strength, was a true power specialist!

But what he didn’t realize was that Ember had even greater confidence in his own strength.

Strength!

Strength was Ember’s key to victory! What he relied on now was not Savage Strike nor Slow, but his own five points of strength, and the strength shard embedded in his Direwolf Gauntlet.

His character had reached level seven, and with the extra boost from the evolution reagent, he’d invested five precious points into strength. The shard’s bonus meant that when attacking with the gauntlet, Ember effectively wielded six points of strength.

What does six points of strength imply?

Within the life-restricted zone, outsiders’ character levels were capped at ten. As the Giant Tree warrior himself recognized, five points of strength made one a power specialist; almost no one reached six. The reason was simple—A Cup Grows Stronger had complained about it: Bloodvine accessories required three points of perception to equip. Combined, that’s nine points; the remaining one could be given to agility, but it was still insufficient to use high-burst melee skills.

Thus, Ember, at only level seven, became a rare specialist when wielding the Direwolf Gauntlet.

This outcome was no accident. When he first heard Little Bob explain the strengths of Paradise World, Ember gradually awakened to a truth: even though the current assessment exceeded difficult level, all outsiders entering the life-restricted zone must abide by its basic rules. Anyone with a character level over ten, reaching life transformation, would be barred from entry.

Therefore, the designers couldn’t create a bunch of rule-breaking game characters to obstruct players. Their main method of differentiation was adjusting enemy HP, numbers, damage levels, or time constraints.

When Ember realized most enemies’ attribute caps were ten, he understood his advantage. To confirm his theory, before activating the Nightmare Invitation, he’d asked Little Bob about his own attributes—receiving the answer: six perception, three agility, and one strength. A peculiar answer, perhaps, but it fully validated Ember’s view: even such a unique character had to follow the life-restricted zone’s rules. Ordinary outsiders could hardly be exceptions.

Want to boost base damage? Strength is essential.
Want melee burst? Agility can't be lacking.
Want high HP? Without enough perception, you can’t resonate with accessories, and non-accessory HP-boosting gear is rarer than abnormal equipment.

Understanding this, the rest was simple: just a basic arithmetic problem based on available information.

Also, it’s worth remembering: the people Ember faced were not the core of the wasteland group. So, when the top melee Giant Tree warrior had five strength, two agility, and three perception, Ember’s slap was bound to leave his opponent reeling!

The Giant Tree warrior could never have guessed that Ember’s confidence in his own strength surpassed his own. As the wolf paw landed with a slap, his head spun like a rattle drum. Not yet realizing the gravity of the situation, he followed his plan, activating [Overdraw: Dagger Pierce] to strike Ember fatally. But suddenly, his enemy’s visage shifted into the toothless gray-skinned werewolf. He watched in confusion as the werewolf whistled with a leaky mouth and called to Ember, “I like your style, kid! Before your own nightmare arrives, spread nightmares as far as you can!”

“As for you… turn your head and you die!”

The werewolf’s dark green eyes widened the Giant Tree warrior’s own. The searing pain from his face to his mind made him finally realize how terrifying Ember’s strength was. Then, his pupils reflected an even more horrifying scene: the tranquil forest shattered like a mirror, countless bloodvines surged out, wrapping the Giant Tree warrior and dragging him into the breach. In an instant, the mirror was repaired, leaving no trace, but the warrior’s figure had vanished from before Ember.

“Haha! Delicious! Kid, keep going—don’t waste this golden opportunity!” With the corner of his eye, Ember glimpsed the excited gray-skinned werewolf licking its lips with a black tongue. Ember’s attention snapped back to the battlefield. Defeating one strong enemy was far from the end; there were still six foes before him…

No, at this moment, only five remained!