Waving his hand in the air, Cynrik began scrolling through all of the notifications, and the more he read, the harder his brow creased.
-You have located a Unique Grade Affinity Gem Piece. (Chaos)-
-By collecting all five pieces, you will create a Fair Chaos Affinity Gem, which can be used to attain the Unique Grade Affinity.-
-WARNING, WARNING, WARNING.-
-YOU HAVE COME IN CONTACT WITH AN UNSTABLE ELEMENTAL PARTICLE!-
-Due to being broken into five pieces, the Pure Chaos Mana Particles stored within the Gem are Attacking the closest being.-
-Radiation levels around the Host have Spiked to dangerous levels. Vacate the area as soon as possible to avoid permanent bodily injury.-
-You have been inflicted with the Status Effect: Mana Poisoned. You will lose 4 HP due to Poison Damage every Second until the status effect is cleared.-
-To Clear the Status Effect, you must first remove the source of the Radiation.-
-The Mana particles stored within your Codex are being corrupted.-
-WARNING WARNING, ALL STORED MANA HAS BEEN AFFECTED AND IS GOING OUT OF CONTROL.-
-The inner barrier protecting your Codex is being eroded due to the conflicting interaction occurring between your Dark, Fire, and Wind Mana.-
-WARNING YOUR CODEX IS REACHING PHASE ONE CRITICAL FAILURE; AT PHASE FIVE, YOUR CODEX WILL BE UNABLE TO CONTAIN THE PRESENT RESERVES OF MANA AND WILL EXPLODE.-
The longer Cynrik read, the more he could feel the sweat pooling on the bottom of his spine. He knew he was fucked, but not THAT fucked. If he hadn’t acted as quickly as he did, there was only one possible outcome, death.
As he scrolled through the seemingly endless list of notifications, it got worse as the time passed, but eventually, his effort paid off. The negative messages became more positive until the very end.
-You have successfully taken control of the pooled Mana particles within your Codex and replaced the corrupted ones with fresh Pure Mana.-
-Rejuvenating your Codex has increased its strength to Tier-2.5, Stage 4.-
-Your Mastery over Fire Mana Particles has increased to Expert.-
-Your Mastery over Wind Mana Particles has increased to Adept.-
-Your Dark Affinity has Grown to Tier-2.5-
-Your Fire Affinity has Grown to Tier-2.5-
-Your Wind Affinity has Grown to Tier-2.5-
-Your Will Power stat has increased by 25.-
-Your Luck stat has increased by 15.
-You have survived a Life-Threatening situation that less than a thousand Beings in existence have before you. As such, you have been Rewarded further.
-You have received 25 Points in all basic Stats.-
-You have received 25 Free Allocation Stat points.-
-You have received 100 Skill Points.-
-You have been Awarded the Title, Mana Heart.-
-Mana Heart: Increases MP regeneration by 30%.-
Exhaling shakily as he felt an increase in his stats wash over his body, Cynrik was astonished by how lucrative it was to come within a hair of death before recovering.
[Brancie…I think I just got a legit Zenkai boost.] Cynrik mumbled cautiously into the mind link, unsure of how his brother would react.
[Huh? What the hell are you spouting off about now? Zenkai Boost, do you think you’re a Saiyan?] Brance replied as he dodged a claw strike from one of the GustWolves he was fighting.
[Im dead serious, check this shit out. These are the rewards I just got from nearly dying because of the Chaos Affinity Gem piece. I got from my random drop.] Waving his hand and sending over notifications about his achievements, Cynrik dusted his butt and moved on to the Eighteenth Floor.
The sudden influx of information caused Brance to stumble, but he quickly caught himself and finished off the last of the GustWolves on floor Seventeen and moved to the next batch on floor Eighteen like his brother.
[Holy shit, you actually did get a Zenkai boost. As usual, I thought you were full of shit, but it seems I was wrong. However, unlike you, I don’t plan on putting myself in a situation where I am spewing blood out my head and experiencing so much pain that my whole body starts shutting down.] Rolling his eyes as he spoke, Brance began to the countdown for floor Eighteen.
Meanwhile, Cynrik had already begun fighting the nine ScorchWolves and trying to get a feel for his new control over Fire Mana simultaneously.
Just like when he used his Dark Affinity, now the simple act of channeling Fire Mana, and manipulating with slight movements, was enthralling. Before he even realized it, all of the enemies had been completely destroyed, leaving Cynrik wanting more. If he had to put words to what he felt, it would be “simply addicting.”
Although he didn’t have complete control and couldn’t say, use his mind to activate skills wordlessly, or without hand signs or gestures, there was no longer a level of resistance against him when he used a skill.
When he first learned about Affinities, Cynrik had difficulty overcoming the handicap of Tobs’ assistance in casting skills or even collecting the particles. Still, after stepping into the Expert Stage, that resistance was wholly gone.
“Whew, now all that’s left is to push my Wind up to Expert and get working on maxing out Fire so it can Evolve.” He tilted his head to the left and released a loud pop that bounced off the stone walls before teleporting to the Nineteenth Floor.
—
Exhaling slowly, Brance watched the time reach zero and the particle cloud overhead descending to the ground before breaking off into nine clusters and forming into just as many GustWolves.
Although the battle wasn’t difficult, if he didn’t pay attention, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that one of the virtual creatures could slip by and nick his body with their sharp Wind Mana-clad claws. Thus it took a significant amount of mental power and attention to stay on the move and dodge every single attack.
Just as he was about to kick off the ground and flit backward, a new notification came into his view.
|You have received a message from Obelisk administrator Yennifer. Would you like to open it? (Y/N)|
Shooting a quick glance at the window, Brance reached out with his right hand and pressed the yes option while unleashing several [Stone Bullets] at the Wolves, most of which were dodged, all except one, which struck a wolf in its back leg, causing the appendage to explode into a mist of particles.
|Hello, young LightBringer; I figured I’d give you a heads up since you were previously occupied during your climbs of some of the floors. You received a matching pair of Tier-1 weapons on floor Fifteen. Your brother may have chosen not to use his weapons, but I suspect you are not of the same mindset. That is all for now, see you on the Twenty-second Floor. ~Yennifer.|
Frowning as he dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding a wolf that soared over his head, Brance opened up his inventory and navigated to the temporary tab that could only be accessed within a Trial Obelisk. This new tab was titled “Obelisk Inventory,” and he opened it while rolling back to his feet and launching another volley of [Stone Bullets] to keep the wolves at bay.
Like Yenni had said in her message, stored within was a Tier-1 Bronze Kiteshield and a Greatsword, so without hesitating, he dragged them over and added the two weapons to his Training Gear Loadout.
The moment he saved his progress, the sword and shield appeared on his back in thin leather holsters, and he smiled at the eight wolves who had encircled him. The ninth was limping a bit further away but still looking for an opportunity to jump back into the fight.
Gripping the greatsword’s hilt with his right hand, Brance quickly unsheathed it, shrugged the shield off its back mount, kicked it up into the air with his left foot, and expertly caught it. Smirking at the cautious wolves, Brance slammed the broadside of his new greatsword against the shield, making a loud clang and causing the wolves to all flinch.
“Cmon, puppies, you guys are fucked now,” dashing forward, Brance targeted the wounded wolf first and, with a single slash, split the virtual creature into two halves and moved towards the closest able-bodied enemy.
|You have successfully Killed a Level 17, Tier-1 Virtual GustWolf.|
|You have received 5 Obelisk Kill Points.|
|You have received a 1000 Essence, XP Crystal.|
|You have received 3 Merit Points.|
The second unlucky GustWolf didn’t even know what hit it as Brance tucked his shoulder into his shield and rammed through it, shattering it into particles.
|You have successfully Killed a Level 17, Tier-1 Virtual GustWolf.|
|You have received 5 Obelisk Kill Points.|
|You have received a 1000 Essence, XP Crystal.|
|You have received 3 Merit Points.|
Without slowing down, Brance dashed from opponent to opponent and, with either a single slash or a bash of his shield, eliminated each GustWolf until none remained, and he received the Floor Clear notification.
Exhaling calmly, Brance triggered his teleportation to the Nineteenth floor and readied himself for the next wave of Wolves.
But contrary to what he believed, no wolves spawned this time, and instead, ten short, pot-bellied, big-nosed, ugly green goblins were in their place. Or at least that’s what Brance recognized them as.
Raising his eyebrows and shield, Brance observed the creatures barely reaching his hip with cautious eyes and spoke in the mind link.
[Hey, Cyn, on floor Nineteen, did your creatures change?]
[Sure did; after floor Eleven I was up against ScorchWolves, but that changed on Nineteen. Now I am up against a group of Nagas.] Cynrik replied as he bent his back so far that his head nearly touched the stone ground, all to avoid a swift tail swipe.
[Eh? Nagas, like that LC we fought? With the top half being humanoid and the bottom half a snake?] Brance asked as he watched the group of Goblins form up in three lines.
In the first line were three goblins holding poorly crafted spears; the second row had four goblins with rusty and shoddy swords, while the third consisted of two mages and a healer.
[Yeah, and all ten have classes as well. It’s a pain in the ass to deal with, so be careful. It seems like they have some basic thought process other than instinct, so be advised that they can use formations and even complex skills. I just had to dodge a shit ton of coagulated balls of poison. What did you get?] Cynrik answered and activated his [Shadow Sewing] to pin down three of the creatures who stood twice as tall as him.
[Goblins, and they’re ugly little fuckers. Based on their weapons, there are warriors and mages, and if my eyes don’t deceive me, the little green shits even have a healer.] Narrowing his eyes and examining the Goblin in the center of the last line, Brance noticed its wooden staff was slightly different than the two standing on either side of it.
-This series is exclusively published on WebNovel if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg-