Chapter Four: Wanting Candy

The mention of an ancient evil god, of a severed limb incarnate, should not have been enough to unsettle him so deeply.

A bad feeling rose at once in Ember’s heart. He clenched the candy in his palm and left the equipment enhancement room, heading for the second-floor materials vault.

Every floor of the Newcomer Training Base was connected by a spiral staircase. Ember leaned on the railing and looked down, seeing only darkness below. Only then did he realize the stairwell itself was filled with a thick, murky gloom. Sensing that something was amiss, he proceeded with caution. Sure enough, just as he was about to reach the second floor, something unexpected happened.

The already oppressive air suddenly turned damp and cold, and a bone-deep chill welled up from nowhere.

[Hint: You have been subjected to an "authority pressure" from "???". To resist the high-tier "immobilization" state, forty-eight points of Will are required.]

[Hint: Determination in progress... Determination failed! Your Will is only four points. For the next minute, you will be unable to move.]

This unusual situation made Ember’s heart stir. He chose not to trigger the Sun Emblem, and instead waited patiently for what would come next.

Stranded motionless, he watched the black gloom in his vision gradually shift toward gray-white. The air also filled with more drifting flecks, and a voice that seemed to come from ancient ages floated over from an unknown place.

"Need candy..."

Then Ember saw the candy in his hand fly out on its own, dropping into the depths of the staircase. The instant it left his grasp, his body loosened and freedom returned.

[Hint: You have lost "Candy" and escaped the high-tier "immobilization" state.]

[Hint: "???" is delighted after eating the "Candy" and will not ask you for candy again for a certain period of time.]

"So that candy really wasn't meant for people to eat! Which leaves the real question: how am I supposed to get the Captain's approval seal? His little thing is not to be trifled with."

Ember rubbed his chin, puzzled. Then he turned and headed for the second-floor gate, guessing that obtaining the Captain's seal was likely the hardest task of all. There was no need to rush a solution yet.

The bridge will straighten when it reaches the river.

He found that saying quite reasonable, so he took out the guidance map, which could still serve as a pass, and held it up to the scanner beside the door.

[Hint: You possess access clearance to the material plane "Tortoise-Rabbit Beach." Use it?]

"Yes!"

[Hint: You have entered the material plane "Tortoise-Rabbit Beach." Duration: twenty minutes.]

The moment the prompt appeared, Ember found himself teleported to a sunlit beach. Along the shore where tides came and went, many turtles as large as washbasins lay sprawled in the sand, while in the deeper woods inland, rabbits hid in and out of sight.

"So that's what this materials vault is..."

Ember suddenly understood. He immediately strode toward the sea, put on the Dire Wolf Fist Guards, and landed a punch squarely on the head of a hawksbill turtle that was still basking in the sun.

[Hint: You dealt thirteen damage to a "juvenile hawksbill turtle." The equipment effect of "Enhanced Dire Wolf Fist Guards" - "Mighty Blow" - has been triggered.]

[Hint: Determination in progress... Determination successful! The target's Strength level is three, not higher than your Strength level + 1. The equipment effect has triggered successfully, dealing double damage.]

[Hint: You dealt twenty-six damage to a "juvenile hawksbill turtle."]

[Hint: You killed a "juvenile hawksbill turtle" and gained a certain amount of contribution points.]

A one-hit kill!

A crisp, decisive one-hit kill!

The juvenile hawksbill turtle, with a maximum health of only twenty, could not withstand the might of the Dire Wolf Fist Guards at all.

It was not that the monster was too weak, but that Ember was too strong.

At present, the vast majority of players were still hovering between levels five and seven, nowhere near Ember, who was about to reach level nine. This happened to fit the design range of the solo challenge perfectly. Aside from special targets, ordinary mobs were all level five; elite monsters were level six; boss-tier creatures could reach levels seven or eight. And the chief expression of the trial’s difficulty lay in how much health and attack power the elites and above could gain.

Taking normal difficulty as the baseline, easy mode was weakened downward, while hard, nightmare, and hell increased exponentially in turn. Thus the juvenile hawksbill turtle was actually slightly weaker than the ordinary walking corpses in the Life Forbidden Zone, and was basically evenly matched against the enhanced juvenile shadow-devouring worms in the Dark Veil Forest.

As for the Life Forbidden Zone, it had design elements that far exceeded the players’ present level in the first place. Not to mention that its difficulty was close to nightmare; every time a boss tier rose, its combat power would surge drastically. Only by relying on the Blood Vine Accessory, which could itself evolve and grow stronger, could players be assured even the possibility of clearing it.

In short, for Ember, whose true combat power had already surpassed level ten, killing a mere level-five juvenile hawksbill turtle with no additional enhancements was entirely unsurprising.

"After all, arithmetic with two-digit numbers is what truly soothes the body and soul!"

Ember sighed with feeling. The murderous dangers of the Life Forbidden Zone had kept him from ever fighting at full ease; now, facing a game difficulty that had returned to normal, he felt an unmistakable lightness. And, unexpectedly, the juvenile hawksbill turtle had even dropped something.

...

[Hawksbill Shell] (Basic)

Type: Enhancement Material

Function: Adds fifty percent to a piece of armor's defense value

Description: As the name suggests, the shell of a hawksbill turtle.

[Hint: The bucktoothed rabbit loves to grind its teeth on turtle shells.]

[Hint: This item cannot be taken out of this trial space.]

...

The final prompt drew Ember's attention. Looking up, he saw that all the juvenile hawksbill turtles disturbed by his attack had shrunk back into their shells. As for his mission target, the enhanced juvenile hawksbill turtle, there was not even a shadow of it on the beach. Instead, out on the water floated an enormous turtle, its beady eyes peering above the surface, staring at Ember with utmost vigilance.

"So this task can't be cleared by brute strength alone."

Realization dawned on Ember. He immediately left the beach, cupping the hawksbill shell he had just obtained, and made straight for the bucktoothed rabbits' hiding place in the woods.

The flock of gray wild rabbits with conspicuous front teeth, when they first saw Ember rushing over, all leaped into the undergrowth in alarm. But after they spotted the hawksbill shell, their ears twitched and they stirred with restless excitement. A few of the bolder ones overcame their fear and approached Ember, only to be flattened by a single punch, which also yielded the [Bucktoothed Rabbit Tooth] he needed.

...

[Bucktoothed Rabbit Tooth] (Basic)

Type: Inlaid Component

Function: Adds one point of base damage to a weapon

Description: As the name suggests, a tooth from a bucktoothed rabbit.

[Hint: Hawksbill turtles love to grind their shells on rabbit teeth.]

[Hint: This item cannot be taken out of this trial space.]

...

"Got it!"

After taking the item, Ember turned and left, abandoning a heap of frightened juvenile bucktoothed rabbits.

To his surprise, however, the enhanced juvenile hawksbill turtle refused to take the bait. It swam a little closer to shore, but those shrewd beady eyes still stared at Ember with utter caution, letting a flock of ordinary juvenile hawksbill turtles, unable to resist instinct, vie for the bucktoothed rabbit teeth that should have belonged to it.

"Hah! I refuse to believe this."

Seeing the lure fail, Ember’s temper rose. After swiftly dealing with a pile of hawksbill turtles, he carried a great many shells into the woods, intending to repeat the trick and get some rabbit teeth. But then a huge creature suddenly sprang out, trying to snatch the shells by force without a word. Its two enormous front teeth slashed down like blades, straight toward Ember’s arm.

[Hint: "Enhanced Juvenile Bucktoothed Rabbit" has used "Incisor Slash" on you. You took three damage.] (10*2.5-18*1.2)

Hey now!

You red-eyed rabbit—are you trying to force my hand?

Ember cast an appraisal eye on the suddenly appeared elite mini-boss, then quickly switched to the enhanced Dire Wolf Fist Guards, no longer bearing the slowing bonus. He had noticed that the large, fanged rabbit before him actually possessed an evasion skill.

...

Name: [Enhanced Juvenile Bucktoothed Rabbit] (Elite)

Health: 60/60

Attack Level: Weak (10)

Defense Level: Weak (8)

Attack Speed: Fast

Alert Range: Far

Skills: Enhanced Evasion, Incisor Slash

Description: An elite among juvenile bucktoothed rabbits, skilled at fighting with its front teeth. Hot-tempered, irritable, and warlike.

...

Seeing Ember scatter the turtle shells across the ground, the enhanced juvenile bucktoothed rabbit chose to keep attacking. However, "Incisor Slash" was still on cooldown, so no matter how it hopped and darted about, it could no longer deal damage. Instead, Ember seized the chance and smashed it on the head with his staff.

[Hint: You have activated the weapon "Enhanced Charged Telescoping Staff" special effect "Energy Infusion," increasing the next three attacks by one attack tier.] (25-32)

[Hint: You have used the active skill "Staff Technique - Head Smash," reducing the target's head defense by one level.] (8/2.5)

[Hint: You dealt twenty-seven damage to "Enhanced Juvenile Bucktoothed Rabbit."]

[Hint: The agility level of "Enhanced Juvenile Bucktoothed Rabbit" is below five points, so it cannot ignore the "Normal"-tier "Sluggish" status. For the next five seconds, both attack speed and movement speed are reduced by twenty-five percent.]

[Hint: The agility level of "Enhanced Juvenile Bucktoothed Rabbit" is three points, so it ignores the "Weak"-tier paralysis status.]

Twenty-seven damage knocked nearly half the enhanced juvenile bucktoothed rabbit's health away at once. Realizing it had kicked a steel plate, it tried to slip away. But with its speed reduced by a quarter, it could not bring its evasion into play at all, and was instead beaten down by three blows from Ember.

[Hint: You killed elite creature "Enhanced Juvenile Bucktoothed Rabbit" and gained a certain amount of contribution points.]

The elite contribution brought Ember one step closer to leveling up. He grabbed the giant incisor that had fallen to the ground, sprinted back to the shore, and fixed his gaze on the now-unsettled enhanced juvenile hawksbill turtle as it desperately paddled its limbs and swam toward the beach.

Ember calmly put on the enhanced Dire Wolf Fist Guards and waited for the other to come begging for punishment.

Little one.

What, I can't handle you?