Chapter 285

Trial of the Alchemist (I)

//Name: Cain Gregory Age: 39 Race: Human

Class: Spellweaving Elementalist

Level: 59

Strength: 49 Vitality: 61 Agility: 142 Stamina: 69

Intelligence: 1356 Wisdom: 755 Health: 700 Mana: 36067

Dignity: 0(165)

Traits: Labourer(C), Quick-witted(A+), Tenacious(B+), Leadership(SSS-), Analysis(A), Awareness(B), Keen(B-), Charismatic(S+), Decisive(B+), Heroic(C+), Primordial(?)

Skills: Spell Creation(?), Dragon’s Forbearance (SSS+)

Passive: Creation(SSS), Fire(B), Body(B), Mind(B), Space(B), Starlight(B), Ruin--Desolation(B+)

Created Skills: Coiling Storm(B), Infernal Starlight(B+), Void Annihilation(C), Searing Mind(D+), Ascendance(C-), Mindbend(C+), Flamewoven(B), Shattered Dimensions(B-), Corporeal Chains(B), Unbending Storm(C+), Cosmic Mirrors(D-)...

Talents: Perception(Mythic), Hero(quasi-Divine), Primordial(?)

Items: Feathered Belt(C-), Everluminiscent Pearl(S-), Ring of Promise(?), Dimensional Talisman(?), Evermoon, the Crown of Foreborn Syra the Effervescent(Spirit), Core of Desolation(Heroic), Regal Cape(?), Regal Blade(?), Regal Robe(?), Ring of Dissolution(Heroic)...

Titles: The First Elementalist, Bandit Slayer, Direwolf Slayer, Monster Slayer, Maverick, Spell Creator, The Herald, The One Who Survived Death, Reborn Elementalist, Void Slayer, Slayer of the Nightmares, Blade Mountain Conqueror, The One Who Impressed Spirits, The Master, Usher of the Kingdom, Grandmaster Elementalist, Throne Chaser, Herald of Divinity, Will Divine, Elemental Child, Mankind’s Beacon, The One, Slayer of the Kings, Spellweaver, Beset for Ascension, Master of Elemental Sundering, The One Who Forged a Path, Ahead of the Pack, Asundered, The One Who Lived Everything, Primordial...

Achievements: 51//

Cain glossed over his stats window, a thing he hadn’t actually done in a while, and sighed. The numbers were simply ridiculous, especially when compared to his previous numbers when he hit the Ninth Floor. If there ever was a drawback to their exponential rise it was the fact that he had to constantly adjust his plans. In fact, he’d scrapped over a dozen of them, especially those involving visiting other Towers, because he’d constantly leapfrog the items’ benefits and move past their scale.

Right now, the only item he could think of that could be useful for the current him existed in the Germany’s Tower, on the Fifth Floor. However, it was just that: useful. It wouldn’t make him all that much stronger or allow him to take on challenges he previously couldn’t. As such, he was constantly on the fence over whether he should go and get it or just do nothing.

With the current momentum on the Ninth Floor, he was close to scrapping the idea; after all, the rewards he’d gotten so far were beyond ridiculous themselves and even if the remaining ones were quarter as useful, they’d still be more useful than the one in Germany.

He was currently taking a rest, having just cleared a Trial. It wasn’t all that difficult—all he had to do was defend a choke point for a while—and the reward reflected the difficulty since he gained a cheap-looking ring that he immediately tossed into his inventory without looking back. His speed at taking the Trials, however, was turtle-like when compared to the rest.

After they left the ‘Dragon World’ as they called it, the rest of the party began a crazed chase of the Trials, including Emma and Senna. On the other hand, Cain took nearly a three-day break just bumming around and doing nothing before walking into the Trial he’d just cleared. And now, he was taking another break… and he wasn’t even tired.

The problem was relatively simple, actually: of all the Trials whose rewards he knew… none of them were either upgrades for him or compatible with him. As such, the best he could do was just avoid them and plunge in blindly and just hope for the best.

“Yaaaawn,” a familiar, yet by now a distinctly forgotten voice jolted Cain from his mindless haze, causing him to glance down at his lap where, at some point, a black-haired kitten appeared and was lazily stretching, belly-up, at the moment. “Hmm? Where are we, human?”

“… mornin’, sunshine,” Cain said. “Man, when you sleep… you sleep.”

“Humph!” Te’gha scoffed. “You are stupid! Te’gha not sleep! Te’gha train!”

“I wish I could train like you do.”

“He he he, dream on, human! Te’gha super talented and great and amazing! That why Te’gha can train in sleep! He he he~~” the cat’s mischievous tone pulled a smile on Cain’s face as he suddenly got a bright idea.

“Now that you’re awake, I gravely require your assistance, o’ the Great Tiger!”

“E-eh?” seemingly shocked at the sudden treatment—which pointedly he believed he deserved from the start—Te’gha took a moment to recollect. “O-of course! Great Te’gha will provide you some assistance, since you are so pitiful!”

“Grand!” Cain grinned widely, causing Te’gha to shudder and realize he’d just fallen into a trap. “I need you to use that greed-infused nose of yours and find me Trials that have the best rewards on this floor. I’m talking world-breaking, life-ending, penis-enlarging rewards that will cause the heavenly ladies to run to me and heavenly warriors to run away from me!”

“…” Te’gha wanted to cry but held back. At least, he mused, this time around the human asked him and not order him. It was a step in the right direction. “Fine…” as such, Te’gha used its ‘greed-infused nose’ which was neither greed-infused nor was it a nose, in fact, since he used faint traces of Mana to track potential treasures, and looked around. Most of the gates actually shone of treasures, but he understood that human wasn’t interested in the run-of-the-mill items so he sought very unique Mana stamps until he found one. “Found one!” he exclaimed proudly.

“Oh? Really? Take me there, then!” Cain immediately order, jumping up and putting the cat on his shoulder.

“Go straight and then…”

Under Te’gha’s directions, Cain arrived at a suspiciously normal-looking gate. It was the height of two grown men and the width of three, with a color-codded arch shining carved runes in a low, dim light. The only thing that made it stand out from the rest was the fact that the gate wasn’t at the edge of the main platform but rather that it had its own, unique, extended platform atop of which it sat.

“Are you sure? I don’t wanna waste time on nonsense…” Cain was still uncertain since it, indeed, looked far too ordinary.

“Of course I’m sure! Who do you think Great Te’gha is?! Humph, lousy human! Filthy human! Cheating human!”

“Fine, fine, fine,” wanting to quickly appease the cat, Cain gave in and stepped toward the gates. “If you’re wrong, I’m gonna feed you rotten fish for a week.”

“I’m gonna feed you rotten fish, you damned human!”

Cain stepped through the gates and, after a blinding flash of light, landed in front of a tall spire dyed entirely in black. That, however, wasn’t the eeriest part of what had just happened: surrounding him were over a thousand people, all of whom immediately knelt on the ground and screamed:

“SAVIOR IS HERE!” Cain cringed and shuddered and became visibly nauseous, but still didn’t know how to react. Luckily, he had taken along a proper, down-to-Tower narcissist with him.

“Yes!” Te’gha exclaimed as he perched himself atop of Cain’s head, pointing his own toward the sky. “Your Savior is here! You shall be saved! Hehe—hey, you, why did you look up, huh?! You think you’re---” before the cat could run its mouth some more, Cain quickly took him down and covered his mouth, much to Te’gha’s dismay and anger.

“Get up, get up, for the love of God, just get up,” in contrast to Te’gha’s performance, Cain’s was awkward and jittery. However, at the very least, he did manage to get people up. Right after, one of them—a woman seemingly in her sixties draped in tattered and filthy robes—walked up to him, cautiously glancing between him and the cat. “What’s the issue?”

“Our men!” the woman exclaimed. “Our men have been taken, my lord!” it was only then that Cain noticed that all the people around were actually… women. And some children, here and there.

“Taken?”

“Yes, they have been taken by an evil witch, my lord! Please, please save our men!”

[Trial of the Alchemist has been initiated]

[Difficulty: Cosmic]

[Time Limit: 336 hours]

Content: rescue Yarl Village’s men from the evil witch that had kidnapped them. The more men you rescue, the greater the reward.

Men rescued: 0/443

Men alive: 443/443

Reward: +5-15% to an Attribute of your choice, ???, ???

Note: the Witch is an exceptionally strong foe. It is best to take her on in a group.

In a group, you say? Cain sighed inwardly. This was actually a good opportunity; whereas fighting a Dragon was just an overkill and it was impossible to gauge how strong he was, facing someone who was considered as an ‘exceptionally strong foe’ by the Tower might be more in line with a challenge he could actually beat. Furthermore, the issue was that the Trial was already started—he could leave it and go get the others, but depending on how much time he spent either looking for them or waiting for them to finish their trials, he might waste a good chunk of the two weeks he was given.

The time limit was never arbitrary—it was always there for a reason. If it was just a matter of fighting a witch, either the time limit wouldn’t exist, or it would be far, far shorter. As such, there was likely more to the Trial than just beating the Witch and saving the men. Nonetheless, seeing how excited Te’gha is, there was no way he could stall. Whatever the case may be, the cat did promise exponential rewards, and just the visible one—percentile increase in a stat of his choice—was already insane, and who knows what lay beneath those question marks? Well, he would know eventually, he hoped.