"Conqueror"s Trial" was a Stage-0 Dungeon anyone above Iota-rank can enter and, depending on their capabilities, possibly clear.
Leon was the second person to clear this dungeon. As a reward, he got 2 special skills for this Dungeon.
One skill was purely power-focused while the other was utility based. Both of them becomes a part of his core skill set.
But I wasn"t here for Leon"s skill.
What I was wanted was the skill taken by the first clearer of this dungeon.
That skill was going to become my absolute defense.
To fight, offensive ability is necessary.
But my goal was to survive. For me, the defense is just as, if not more, important as the offense.
Anyway, this skill was going to belong to Tristan. Someone who will be later known as the center of the Business world and the sc.u.mmiest villain.
For me, though, he was the character responsible for Lilith"s suicide and, if everything went as planned, my future slav-comrade.
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"Urgh.."
I groaned, remembering I have to think of some excuses as to how I was able to deactivate the Golem and knew about Leon"s art.
"Are you okay? Does it hurt?"
Besides me, Leon asked like the nanny he was.
Tired of him, I only nodded my head.
Also, was he crazy? Of course, it hurts.
Rather, it hurt like h.e.l.l.
Just because I have had my arms explode for a decade doesn"t mean it no longer hurts.
The pain is still the same as it was during the first time.
The thing that changed was me, or to be specific, how I saw things.
Those years that I spent in blackouts were challenging.
It was where…
…my only warmth was my own flesh that melted from the corruption of Nether.
…the only thing that destroyed the silence was the sound of my own arms exploding.
It was then that I quickly realized.
No matter how many of my bones shatter, my flesh melts, and no matter how much I cry or beg to let me out, there will never be an answer.
I was all alone in this world.
The only thing I had to depend on was myself.
And, finally… Finally, I achieved nirvana. The ultimate truth.
"If you can"t fight it, then enjoy it."
And so my daily sessions of Kaboom began.
It was truly the time I enjoyed. Those blood-pumping explosions were exhilarating and…..wait, do I sound like a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t?
We digressed.
Anyway, what I was trying to say was having my arms continuously explode for years, and I got bored.
Reacting, crying, or shouting from pain got dull and monotonous after doing it for years.
As I was drowning in my inner monologues, Leon shook my shoulder.
He was staring at my face, as if checking me up, with a pained expression.
"Why is your expression like that? Does it hurt that much? I should go out to bring the Healing Elixir while you take the rewards, I don"t need them."
I could only stare at his face, stupidly.
Does he realize that even if he goes out to bring the elixir, I still have to go out to take the Elixir from him?
If I did as he says, I won"t have to go from the door of the boss room to the Healing Elixir Pool. He will bring it directly to the door of the boss" room.
But that was only a few minutes saved at most.
He was ready to give up his reward to reduce my suffering even if only by a few minutes.
This guy…
"Haaa…"
He"s hopeless.
-Whack!
I kicked him to let my frustrations out. It was this att.i.tude of his that always annoyed me the most.
"Why did you kick me?"
Was this guy stupid? His reward skill was going to be one of the major help for him during the war.
Does he even know that this Dungeon"s boss room can only be challenged once? If he refuses his reward, he can never get it again.
"I don"t need sympathy from a guy whose future is even darker than a black hole."
"What did you say?"
"I said it was a high-five."
Leon came closer and checked my temperature. Then he spoke in the most regretful tone he could muster.
"It looks like your fever has made you stupid. We do high-five with hands, not kicks."
My lips twitched. I can let someone call me stupid, but not this guy. Not the stupidest person ever to exist!
I lifted my hands.
"My hands are broken. So I can only do a high-five with my legs."
Leon"s mouth opened and closed several times. It seems he couldn"t decide if I was wrong or right.
With a smug expression, I walked ahead.
"Welcome back."
I froze at Leon"s words.
"What do yo-"
Leon cut me in between and spoke while scratching his right cheek.
"With you acting like before. I felt I had to say it."
"…."
"Say something! It"s embarra.s.sing if you don"t answer after what I just said!"
"Your smile disgusts me."
"Why you-!?"
***
[Congratulations. You have cleared Stage-0 Dungeon "Conqueror"s Trial]
A giant system screen that all three of us could see popped in front of us.
All three of us had our hands placed on the crystal ball in the center of the Reward room.
[Calculating Rewards….]
[Rewards calculated]
[Leon Barns, Susan Warner, and Nathan Hunt are awarded a total of 50,000 Exp based on their contribution.]
[Leon Barns: 8,007 Exp
Susan Warner: 18,789 Exp
Nathan Hunt: 23,134 Exp]
I was responsible for disabling Golem and I was the one to deliver the final blow. It was natural for me to have the highest contribution.
Leon and Susan also understood this.
Besides, the main thing was coming up.
[Congratulations, awakeners. You have cleared the trial and achieved the conqueror"s approval. Please choose one of the skills as your reward:
-> [Golden Turtle [Unique]]
-> [??? [Legacy]]
-> [Ugly Squid [Legendary]]
You have 60 seconds to make your choice. If you haven"t chosen any skill during that time, your reward will be nullified.]
[00:01:00]
[00:00:59]
The countdown started as it was told in the novel.
Before making my choice, I checked the skill list for one last second.
"I don"t remember that skill."
[Golden Turtle [Unique]] was supposed to go to Tristan while [??? [Legacy]] was for Leon. Till here it was the same as in the novel.
But I don"t remember reading anything about the third skill in the novel.
It was happening again. There were things different from the novel.
First was the "Mephistopheles Earrings" now [Ugly Squid [Legendary]].
[00:00:45]
I realized I didn"t have enough time to ponder over this matter.
Leon and Susan were giving me the first choice for saving them back there. I had to choose quickly.
[00:00:35]
Thinking about the future of my vision, I chose my skill.
[Nathan Hunt has chosen [Golden Turtle [Unique]]]
[Susan Warner and Leon Barns. Please make your choice from the remaining skills.]
My goal was never World Domination or becoming the strongest. I only want to survive.
I don"t want anything like a life where a random asteroid almost destroys my planet. And no, I am not joking. This is will happen in the future.
I"d rather take the skill I knew about and let it become my absolute defense. Rather than betting on a skill that might be a dud.
There was a reason Greed was one of the seven sins. Unnecessary greed will drown me sooner or later.
If I think about it, it"s for the better that there is a third skill.
I can use the excuse that I took the weakest skill and increase my shares for the First clear reward.
I don"t know what the First clear reward is but it should be useful.
Even pioneers will fight over the First clear rewards of a Stage-0 Dungeon.
It will be valuable no matter what it was going to be.
"Leon, you should take the Legacy-grade skill and let Susan take the Legendary-grade one."
"Why?"
"Since Legacy-grade only means that it is from the Dark ages, Legacy-grade objects can be a pa.s.s or a dud."
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Susan showing interest in our conversation. Leon was also dumbly nodding.
I continued.
[00:00:25]
"Without Susan, we would have been defeated within a few minutes. I don"t think we should let her take the fall by giving her something possibly useless."
Like the dumb idiot he was, he agreed to take the Legacy skill as if it was a failure and let Susan have the "better" skill.
I succeeded in reeling the fish!
"Wait. It"s a reward from the dungeon, so it shouldn"t be a dud. Let me have the Legacy skill if you want to thank me."
Leon was about to choose when Susan suddenly spoke.
Okay so…
What! The! h.e.l.l!
Why can"t she shut her brain off like this guy and act as she was told?
Alright, that Legacy skill was powerful.
But even I won"t take that skill if I was given the chance to choose again. It was that important for Leon!
Susan, without minding my inner turmoil, moved to choose the skill.
"Wait!"
[00:00:15]
Susan stopped, but the time was almost up. I had to do something quickly.
[00:00:10]
Time continued to tick, but nothing came to my mind. Susan finally lost her patience.
Dammit. I didn"t want to do this.
"I"ll let you have my First clear reward. In exchange, let Leon take the Legacy skill."
There were many things Caim told me. For obvious reasons, it included the power distribution of the universe.
The Seven Major Races were currently working together. But that was only on the surface.
Once the Hero of Prophecy is found, eminent wars will break out, with the Hero as the prize.
"And currently, I am that Hero."
I wanted to cry but had no tears.
But I steeled my will. I won"t get involved in cosmic wars, no matter what!
I need Leon to be strong enough to cause mayhem in the universe.
For that, he needs this legacy skill. Without it, he might die during the war on Earth.
He has to be so strong that the major races have no time to look for the Hero!
The fake hero, me, has to use the real hero, Leon, as bait. So that the fake hero, me, is not targeted after being mistaken as the real hero.
What has the world come to?
Susan chose her reward, and Leon shortly followed.
[Susan Warner has chosen [Ugly Squid [Legendary]]]
[Leon Barns has chosen [???[Legacy]]]
[Congratulation on choosing your reward]
[First Clear Reward is being calculated….]
[First Clear Reward:
3-star Lesser Golem Core
->Traits: [Anti-Magic Field], [Regeneration], [Evolver]
->Activation Conditions: ???]
The first clear reward was the Golem we defeated. Only that it was a lower rank than the one we fought.
"I don"t need the First Clear reward of the dungeon. In the grand scheme of things, this was only a small sacrifice."
Besides, as I had said, Greed is a sin.
Leon nudged me and whispered.
"Nathan you are drooling. Do you want it that much?"
"…No. I don"t want it."
The Golem will have 3 traits at Meta-rank. If I could rank it up then it will have 4 traits, then 5 traits, and…
No, I don"t want it. Greed is a sin!
"You can take it."
Susan was giving a victorious grin as she spoke.
"I only needed to see if your information network was as good as you claimed it to be. The way you tried to give Leon that skill means that you know about it. So you pa.s.s."
Her words made me realize something.
"She was fine with any skill. She hampered Leon because she saw me giving him that skill"
She was targeting me since the beginning.
"I don"t need the Golem core. You can keep it. In exchange, don"t forget our deal."
I blankly nodded.
I got the core so...Yay?
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