Back into the Mana.

Rising... or maybe sinking?

It was difficult to know.

Each Floor, it felt like the Mana was getting denser.

That was all I knew for certain.

Each new breath I took gave me more.

At least, more when compared to last time I'd been here.

Breathing in... breathing out...

Safe and sound...

I knew I should stop and reflect.

Because holy crap.

There was no way people could be expected to survive this.

And mentally, I was a bit shaken.

Or, as shaken as I could be while floating without a body.

This [Trial]?

Complete bullshit.

I no longer had any doubt.

The 4th Floor... that was entirely unreasonable.

So, I had to ask the obvious:

Why was the surviving count still so high?

Last I has checked, the number was holding around 50%...

How?

If the [Trial] was going to be this difficult... Honestly, how?

Was I just getting unlucky?

Did the [Trial] just hate me, specifically?

Did everyone just take the better perks and ride them to victory?

I had no idea.

I pondered this, as I drifted in the void.

Was it because I'd rolled the dice on Ambitous?

And lived?

Did the [Trial] think I could handle things?

From what I could expect, I knew the tenth and twentieth Floors had people.

But maybe there were other Floors people stayed?

Were survivors just hanging out on Easy Floors?

Like, did they throw in the towel?

"I live on the this Floor now and I'm never leaving."

Something like that?

Living on the 3rd Floor might have been fun for awhile...

1st Floor would have driven me insane, though.

[Floor Progression: 4/100]

Ug...

Too much. That had been way too much.

The "by the skin of my teeth" thing was not sustainable.

The problem was I didn't really have a way around that.

My ideas were terrible.

Just spam Strength and nothing else?

Probably a bad idea...

Obviously, there were a few holes in it.

Maybe, I could smash my way through enemies with overwhelming force...

Just claw my way through...

I figured it would work for awhile.

Then again, the moment I ran into something Strength couldn't help with...

Yeah.

I knew I would be screwed.

"Ping"

Selected Name: John

Username: [Locked]

Global Chat Access ->

[Restricted]

Full Menu Access: ->

[Restricted]

Total Days in Trial:

[118 Days]

Floors Completed: [4]

Current Floor: [5]

Unspent Attribute Points: [3]

118 days...

It moved me into the next day, floating here.

This space between Floors seems to treat the passing of time a bit funny.

I wondered about that.

Another Floor bites the dust...

At least I survived.

Not a terrible haul in points, either. Considering I almost died.

No hidden conditions were earned, though...

I'd missed them, somehow.

What the hell could those have been?

Maybe keeping everyone alive? Or, maybe killing the Drake myself?

Those seemed reasonable.

Maybe escaping, somehow?

I had no clue how that would have been possible...

Then again, I'd walked right into the arena.

I guess I could have hidden under the bench or something.

Huh.

Far from a perfect clear. Still, the Points added up.

Couple here, couple there.

I'd missed out on a point or two.

So what?

Better to survive another day. Might as well be a motto for me.

Survive. One way or another, just survive.

Getting greedy for points was stupid if you died because of them.

Still, that had been a grim floor.

Very grim.

People watching life and death for entertainment...

In all honesty, the concept wasn't all that different from Earth.

In the olden days, we'd done those sort of things.

Modern times, not so much.

We were still big on entertaining, though.

Violence, and things of that nature.

It was in our blood.

On Earth, we just generally made it okay with special effects.

Movies generally didn't involve real deaths.

But, people have always had an interest in that sort of thing.

Maybe the battles... it was like that?

Only, no movies or games. Just real people, getting murdered.

... Yikes.

Not a world that sounded great to be stuck in.

"Ping"

Floor 5 - Minimum Clear Condition: Survive the Night

Ah... I finally felt a little familiar.

My addiction to late-night horror movies...

I felt this might finally come in handy.

Imagination running ahead...

A cabin in the woods scenario, maybe?

Chainsaw arm with a double-barrel shotgun?

I didn't want to fight a horror-movie monster with a sword. Or at all.

But I felt that a chainsaw might make up for it.

Which, actually made me question the [Trial]'s logic a bit.

How the hell did it decide what I get to keep?

Not having control over what came to the next Floor...

That was the real problem.

I needed to have my gear.

I kept randomly landing in the middle of the danger-zone without anything.

But... There had been a Perk that mentioned weapons.

Having weapons come with me every Floor... That would be huge.

More than huge. If I had my bow every single Floor, I knew I'd be in much better shape.

At the same time, the [Trial] did seem to be giving me some basics.

Some of the time...

When it felt like it...

Maybe this was the [Trial]'s version of "Training-Wheels?"

I knew there had to be a way to change how that worked.

The last Broadcast had mentioned a "Store."

I wasn't sure how to buy things without money, but I was interested.

Maybe there was a perk to be purchased, or something like that.

Maybe though, in the meantime... I could just find a cheap solution?

If all I needed was a pointy stick, I'd have a spear.

Spears were useful.

Too many Goblins was a flaw they had trouble with, but still.

I'd done OK with a spear, and anywhere with a forest... I felt I should be able to find a stick.

How hard could that be? Just find a tree branch and boom.

Weapon ready.

Sharpen it a bit, and it would be perfect.

Should I shift my bow training and focus on a spear?

I had to wonder if I'd been over-complicating things.

The system handed out weapon skills, from what I could see.

Enough practice, and I might get one, and it was hard to think of a simpler weapon.

Maybe a rock? Or a brick?

I guess I could just pick those up and hit things with them.

Overhand-clunker. Use it like a hammer.

No, I backtracked. That sounded stupid.

The spear would go on the "learn when I have time to spare" list.

But I would rather not go back to cave-man rock-throwing.

Still...

I realized I had been floating for an awful long time.

My mana was creeping up.

Was it because the Floor had been so short?

Was this to even things out?

Huh.

"Survive the Night" it said...

Another rushed scenario was all that came to mind.

I had to imagine I might have just dropped off the cliff on the Floors I could take my time on...

Not a pleasant thought, but I knew I had to prepare for the chance it was true.

It removed some of my health concerns, at least.

Hard to die from my body being stupid, if I didn't have time.

Of course, it replaced that whole bucket of concerns with different worries.

Rapid-movement through multiple Floors in a short period of time...

That did not sound fun.

Explained how some people have made it to the 40th Floor and beyond.

Still sounded unpleasant.

I should have known that not every Floor would be a time-sink.

But with just Free Points earned on Floor 4, that's not great news.

Taking my time had been a much better deal.

Even with my health being a slow-moving train-wreck, grinding was better.

As long as I was careful, I felt that taking my time was worth it.

Grinding out Attributes for days on end was boring, but it added up.

Plus, the risk seemed more spread out on those Floors.

The longer the Floor, the less that could come at me all at once.

I could divide the danger into bits and pieces. Or just avoid it.

[Status]

Name: John

Attributes

Class: Disciple – Skills: 4/7

Titles:

Perks:

Strength:

18

-

Dexterity:

16

Archery 16

Constitution:

23

Resist Poison 23

Intelligence:

10

-

Wisdom:

16 [+2]

Meditation 13

Lesser Heal 12 - (Miracle)

Wise man of the Mountains

Charisma:

12 [+0]

-

Ambitious [INACTIVE]

Adventurer's Spirit

Free

3

- - -

I let out a long breath.

I'd have called it a sigh, but there was no noise, and I didn't seem to have a body.

There had been no unnoticed improvements.

Not enough time on the 4th Floor.

That had been a bust.

I was not exactly super-hero stuff.

Chipping away at it. Heck of a lot stronger than I used to be.

Still not all that impressive.

[Task… Pending]

Oh Menu.

Don't even bother.

I will not be taking your offer.

Title “Ambitious” - [Recognized]

Query: [Apply Title to Floor 5?]

[Yes]

[No]

Nope.

[No]

I'd like to live, thank you very much.

"Ping"

[Title Not Activated – Difficulty Reduced]

[Floor 5 – Task to complete: Survive The Night]

Huh...

I had to stop and marvel.

That ping sounded a little depressed, for some reason.

[Floor 5 – Secondary Conditions:]

[Reach the Town before Dawn]

[Keep the Passengers Alive]

Uh...

It was suddenly safe to rule out a "cabin in the woods" scenario.

I felt that was probably a good thing, but...

Passengers meant some sort of vehicle. If we're going to be moving...

Was I going to be protecting people, while on the move?

This was starting to sound really tough.

People... Charisma might help a bit...

Maybe I could get some useful information out of them?

The arena hadn't really been much for conversation.

I was busy trying not to die for most of it.

Would I get a bow, this time?

Can you hear me, [Trial]?

I'd like a bow.

And a bunch of arrows.

If anyone's listening.

Ah...

I felt like there was no harm in asking.

"Ping"

[Floor 5 – Start]