The air hung thick with the metallic scent of sweat and fear, a palpable tension stretching across the vast plain, and with the sound of a loud horn, the war began.
A soldier in red-brown armor was riding a giant black wolf and tearing through the green-armored soldiers. This soldier would occasionally cast low-level magic spells like fireball and a strange spell that heals injuries.
This person was none other than Ray.
Now that his stats increased, he found it much easier to slay his enemies. He felt stronger and faster, and yet he was unable to prevent injuries.
Not all injuries were easily curable with minor heal skills; he held on.
"Both the side quests are done. Now it's time for the main quest…the sun will set in about 10 minutes? No, it's probably 15".
Ray calculated in his mind, and then it appeared the explosion
Ray looked up and saw many giant fireballs floating in the sky, waiting to fall down and explode, and many new ones were also being formed.
"As expected, the Archmage is here!"
Ray didn't panic; he knew what he had to do.
Ray and Aries went deeper into the enemy territory. He was surrounded by green-armored soldiers, but it was alright because, from what Ray observed from last time, even though this archmage doesn't care much about his allies, they still avoided the area mostly occupied by the green-armored soldiers.
But that doesn't mean it's safe, because right now Ray was facing attacks from all sides. He activated the stoneskin skill and cast minor heal, but his mana was unable to keep up with the constant attacks.
A soldier took his great sword in his hand and rushed towards Ray.
Ray knew he couldn't dodge, so he squeezed out his remaining mana and launched a fireball at him, but unexpectedly this soldier wasn't aiming for Ray; he dodged the fireball and slashed his sword towards Aries.
"Calm down! Aries is not truly dead; she could be summoned again once I exited the quest."
Ray tried to calm himself down as he tried to fall back, but his way was blocked by enemy soldiers activating a strength boost, which increases his physical strength by 10%.
"This was a bad idea," Ray sighed, and then he smiled.
Ray rushed towards a soldier and decapitated him with a single strike.
This was the 6th time Ray was attempting this level; that's how he knows Aries is fine and how his swordsmanship improved to an unrecognizable level.
The sun is almost set now, and suddenly Ray noticed a man in a blue robe with white star patterns on it floating in the sky.
Not just Ray but almost all soldiers on the battlefield looked at this man with various emotions.
The green-armored soldiers cheered, and the red-brown-armored soldier despaired.
And as an incomparably larger gain fireball appeared behind the man, Ray understood why the quest is to survive, not win the war.
As the 'sun' fell down, Ray began to run.
"Shit! This isn't fair!"
He found a few dead bodies and covered himself with them. Yes, he felt nauseous; in fact, this battlefield had made him sick many times already. This was different from killing monsters; taking human life had a deep psychological reaction, making him wonder how some people sleep at night.
As the 'sun' touched the ground, a shock wave swept throughoutthe battlefield, followed by the intense heat of the explosion.
The dead bodies Ray used for cover began to burn, and even though Ray activated stoneskin, he was still affected.
His skin peeled in the intense heat, and as a wave of hot air burned his body, he screamed in pain.
He was someone who had experienced pain all his life, but this was unbearable; his whole body was burning.
Fortunately this pain didn't last long, and Ray found himself in a white room.
This was level 3, the white room.
It was much bigger than the level 2 white room, and now the wooden chair looked more fancy, and the glass table was nowhere to be found.
Ray was confused, "Where is my Tower Market?"
He had seen the various items in the store; he felt a sense of loss when he didn't see the glass table anymore.
When Ray sat down on the chair, a system window opened up in front of him, which made him giggle.
No, this wasn't the reward; he just found that the tower market is now accessible by sitting on the chair.
Now he has 133 points, so he could buy a rank E familiar, but he decided to save up.
Ray closed the store window and opened the status window.
Name: Raymond Castro
Age: 19
Sex: male
Strength: 7
Wisdom 8
Agility: 7 + 3
Senses: 6
Mana: 10
Store Points: 133
Innate skills:
Inverted Tower of Manas (???)
Acquired skills:
Summon Shadow Wolf (E+), Wind Blade (E), Minor Heal (F), Stoneskin (F), Night Vision (F), Strength Boost (F)
Ray activated Wind Blade, and a transparent crescent with a hint of green flew out of his hand and smashed into the white wall.
"..."
The white wall was too strong, so nothing happened!
Ray sighed and exited the tower.
He was currently in his room, which cost him 4 silver coins per day.
Ray had 3 silver coins with him originally, and then Henry gave him 100 silver coins, which are worth 1 gold coin.
After spending 3 days in sector A, Ray now has about 43 silver coins remaining, and he needs a weapon, ideally a sword.
He could've sold the mana stones, but that was something he needed the most right now because his cheat skill could not increase his stats.
"Wait! This is?"
Ray noticed that in his system was something he completely forgot about.
Rejuvenation pills!
He took the strange pills in his hand; they were the size of his fingernail and had a polished, blood-red-colored surface, and there were 10 of them.
The system classified them as supplements, so Ray didn't feel they were dangerous.
He swallowed all ten of them at the same time.
He didn't feel anything different immediately; a few minutes later he began feeling a throbbing headache, and his body began to heat up. He was sweating a lot; he took off his clothes and tried to lay down in bed, but his vision began to blur, and he fell down on the floor before he even reached his bed.
Ray doesn't know how much time passed, but when he woke up, he felt refreshed. This wasn't like his normal sleep, where his consciousness would appear inside the tower of Manas.
He noticed that his body is now more refined, his hair has grown a bit, he is a little taller than before, and his vision is extremely clear; he could see many more colors now.
He looked like dirt, a black mass sticking to his skin, which had a foul odor.
He cleaned himself with water, and then he opened the system panel again.
There weren't any changes to his skills, but his stats?
Strength: 14, Wisdom: 15, Agility: 14+3, Senses: 13, Mana: 40
"The hell!?"
Ray couldn't believe his eyes; he had a guess that these pills might increase his stats, but this is beyond what he could imagine.
His stats were similar to a D-ranker; if his mana were a little higher, then he could be a true D-ranker like his Aunt Fernanda.
Ray knew that the F-rank dungeons in Sector A could no longer increase his stats, so he decided to leave Trancosco, but before that, he had a debt to settle.
.
One side of Trancoso was the sea and the other a forest; be it the sea or the forest, it was filled with monsters, but that didn't stop people from traveling through them.
Feburary 23, 2226
4:31 pm
Trancosco-Almanara Road
A bunch of merchant carts pulled by horses were going through the brick road that connects Trancoso and Almanara.
The leader of this merchant group was Sila De Stefan, the heir to the Stefan merchant group.
The Stefan merchant group leader Pedro De Stefan and Alonso merchant group leader Mathias Alonso have always been good friends.
That's why they arranged the marriage between Sila and Davi.
The purpose of Sila's journey to Trancoso wasn't just to sell goods but also to meet her fiancé, Davi Alonso.
Sila was on the cart in the middle, so she was confused why they suddenly stopped.
"What's going on? Why are we stopping?"
Sila asked her guard and maid, Clara.
Like Davi, Sila was also someone who failed to awaken, so her father gave her an awakened as a maid to protect her.
Clara, the E-ranked maid, went out to check, but she immediately came back and said
"Young lady, don't come out! We are under attack."
A few hours ago,
Ray sighed; he was unable to find the target of his revenge. Davi, who seemed to have mysteriously disappeared along with Mendes,
"Something's going on…" Ray knew with Davi's personality he was up to something.
Even though he wanted to get revenge, he wasn't obsessed with it, so he decided to forget about it and packed up his things and headed towards Almanara, the city of trade.
"That lucky bastard!" Ray muttered to himself as he rode Aries through the brick road.
On his way he saw a peculiar scene: a bunch of merchants were fighting a pack of bearwolves. There were a few F- and E-ranked hunters, but no D-ranked ones, so obviously they were being slaughtered by the wolves, and Ray noticed the eagle symbol on the cart.
"Stefan Group!" He knew that the Stefan Group and the Alonso Group were trading partners, so he thought, "Maybe I can figure out where he is hiding from them."
Ray took out a gleaming, golden, one-handed sword with a glowing cross-guard. This was Twilight, Ray's new sword. He spent 110 points in Tower Market for this.
Twilight easily cut through the D-ranked beasts; the wounds inflicted by Twilight were burning, and smoke was coming out of them.
After Ray killed a few bearwolves, the rest fled. This was the reason why bearwolves became so successful as a species: they were not only strong but also cunning.
Ray noticed that a lot of people had already died to the wolves.
"Bearwolves are coming out more frequently now... Could it be that the tide is going to happen earlier than expected?"
Ray was feeling gloomy after all; both his parents and his aunt died in a monster tide.
"E-Excuse me! Thank you for saving us! May I know your name?"
A young woman with black hair and green eyes wearing a cream-colored robe spoke politely.
"Raymond"
Ray was lost in thought, and when he replied, it came out a bit cold, which made the young woman shiver.
"I am Sila de Stefan of Stefan Group. If you don't mind, I would like to hire you.? She said with eyes full of expectation,
"Sila de Stefan? That name sounds familiar." Ray didn't remember where he had heard that name before.
"How much will you pay me?" Ray asked directly.
Yes, he needed money; after all, the tower doesn't provide him with food and water.
"2 gold coins for 2 days"
Sila showed two fingers and said proudly,
Ray was dumbfounded. "Was I this expensive?" But he didn't show anything on his face and only nodded.
And like that, Ray joined Sila on her way to Trancoso. Of course,Ray had other plans, but even if it didn't go his way, 2 gold coins were not a bad deal.
Ray was currently in the same carriage as Sila, and it was a bit awkward, as Ray was lost in thought and Sila and Clara, who now had a cloth wrapped around her abdomen to prevent bleeding, didn't speak much.
Clara seemed weary of Ray, and Sila was feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the silence.
"So, sir, Raymond wh…"
"Just Raymond," Ray interrupted her.
"Okay, Raymond! What do you think of working for me? We could give you…"
"No!" Ray interrupted her again.
The corner of Sila's mouth was twitching; she was obviously cursing Ray in her mind. How dare he interrupt her not once but twice? Such a thing had never happened to her before.
She sighed lightly. She knew that she was the one that needed Ray's strength, not the other way around.
She was spoiled for sure, but she wasn't stupid.
And like that, Ray and Sila reached the Alonso estate.
"Why are we here?" Ray asked Sila, who replied, "Here to see my fiancé…what? Are you curious?" A sly grin appeared on her face, but Ray didn't reply, making her frown.
Little did she know that Ray was cursing inside his mind. He knew that there were genuine D ranks and C ranks working here. If things went wrong, he could get into trouble.
"I helped this little bitch, and she threw me into hell? What the fuck!"
When he got out of the carriage, he noticed how various guards came forward and greeted Sila.
Now that Ray's senses were much higher, he could tell that these people were awakened. Most of them were F-ranked, some were E, but Ray spotted some who should be much stronger than them.
Ray didn't want to accompany Sila, but she made it clear that she wanted him to accompany her like Clara.
"What is she thinking? Is she trying to show off?"
Ray was unable to guess what was going on inside Sila's head.
"Whatever!" Ray decided to follow through.
It's now 6:22pm.
Ray was in a shared room with two other men; they were both Sila's guards, and from them Ray understood a few things.
First of all, Sila was indeed engaged to Davi, and she was also unable to awaken.
But what fascinated him the most was how even the guards thought highly of Davi; they were obviously envious of Davi and said that he wasn't worthy of marrying their lady Sila, but they all agreed that Davi was a good man, which made Ray almost speechless.
He remembered how Davi greeted him with a gentle smile before trying to kill him and felt goosebumps all over his body.
"He is dangerous." Ray, who was now almost a D-ranked hunter, felt that an unawakened human was dangerous.