Chapter 13 - Trial of Competition (2) (2/2)

I couldn’t train the resistance skills by harming myself, so those hadn’t increased.

And even if I could raise it myself, the activation condition was the problem.

Training that skill would essentially be torture.

Though maybe it was a good thing that I couldn’t self-harm my way into training the resistance skills.

Otherwise, I would have had to torture myself sooner or later.

Most skills didn’t have loopholes you could use to artificially increase proficiency like accelerated regeneration.

However, even healing a small wound took a lot of stamina, so I couldn’t raise it all that much.

If I overdid it, I could be in danger of passing out.

And the more injuries I had, the more likely that the skill wouldn’t activate.

I guess I could turn the auto-healing off if things got rough.

‘I don’t have the luxury of switching that on and off until I get more points.’

But there had been some pros to this.

My movements had become more efficient from tiring out, and it was easier to see the effects of the new skills.

For example, the effects of my new tenacity stat and the Hunter’s Daggermanship passive.

In the beginning, I almost lost a hand from the increased cutting force.

I still got chills thinking back to that.

But—

‘At least it was effective.’

Looking at the results, I would be at a loss if I didn’t keep training like this.

“…”

After a brief break, I turned the auto-healing back on.

My muscles loosened and my stamina was restored.

Now that all my hindrances were gone…

There was no reason to not accept the next trial.

Some people might think that I was rushing into it but—

‘If I hesitate, I may end up never going through with it.’

「 Do you accept the 4th floor trial? 」

「 Y/N 」

‘It’s now or never.’

「 Queueing the challengers… 」

「 Please wait until the matching is complete. 」

「 Current number of challengers – 18/30 」

I was wondering what the matching system was.

‘I kinda get it now.’

‘It’s simple.’

The Tower of Trials always gave its challengers an intuitive challenge.

Almost as if it was trying to show us the most direct path for growth.

And then it hit me.

‘Why is it doing this for us?’

It was only the 4th floor but I was already stronger than most low-level hunters.

If you included my equipment and skills, the difference was even more drastic.

The higher I went up the tower, the harder the trials got…

And the better the rewards the tower would provide.

“…”

This was just my gut but, I didn’t think the tower was giving these rewards for no reason.

Everything has a cost.

‘What would the tower even want from me?’

Probably something impossible for an individual, considering the number of people it pulled in.

Just as I was about to continue this train of thought—

Ting!

「 Current number of challengers – 30/30 」

「 Matching complete. 」

A portal opened as if to rush us out of our waiting areas.

I stopped my thoughts and walked to the portal.

‘I’ll think about this later. For now, I’ll focus on the trial.’

「 Entering Tower of Trials floor 4. 」

「 Difficulty – Hard 」

「 The following trial is a special trial where 30 challengers enter as a group. 」

「 The objective of the following trial is ‘competition.’ 」

「 We wish the challenger a satisfactory ending to their choice. 」

Voom!

The surroundings changed into something I might’ve seen in medieval novels.

Decorative paintings in a room surrounded by walls made of brick.

There wasn’t time to admire the view though.

「 Choosing the teams. 」

「 You are in a close relationship with your teammates. 」

「 Collaborate with them and complete the trial before any others. 」

Voom!

The portal I entered disappeared and 2 more appeared in front of me.

And—

「 The 4th floor trial is starting soon. 」

「 Remaining time – 1day 」

「 Trial success condition – Killing the goblin chief before the timer runs out 」

「 Trial fail condition – Challenger’s team’s death or time out 」

「 Trial success reward – All stats +4 」

「 Trial fail penalty – Death 」

It’s time.

____