Chapter 168 – Elemental Trial – Metal Fores (1/2)

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In the vast forest of swords, each sword was several meters high with their tips pointing straight, and resonating clanging sounds. Countless silver lights flickered, coldly piercing Fatty’s eyes. The sky, the ground, the entire space gave off a silver gleam.

“First stage of the Elemental Trial, Metal Forest. Starting now.”

With the command from the timeworn voice, the sword forest began to operate. Endless strings of clanging rang out by Fatty’s ears. All of a sudden, a sword light shot up high, then abruptly dived at him like a streak of lightning.

Puff. Without any time to react, the sword pierced through Fatty’s heart and insta-killed him.

Whoosh! A white light flashed. Fatty didn’t reincarnate at the respawn point, but at the spot where he’d first entered the Elemental Mystery Realm.

“Dead. 49 lives left. Preparing to re-enter the trial.”

The same old voice echoed around Fatty.

“Wait, wait!” Fatty hastily shouted. “The trial fails when reaching 50 deaths at one stage or all five stages put together? What’s the standard for passing?”

“Dying over 50 times at one of any stages is deemed failure. The count resets when entering the next stage. As for the standard for passing, no comment. The player is expected to figure it out on their own.”

The voice was ever emotionless before sending Fatty back into the Metal Forest.

“Trial starting now.”

Whoosh. Another sword light shot out from the forest.

Fatty was prepared this time. The instant the sword emerged, he bent his knees and jumped to the side.

Zooom. The sword light flew right past Fatty's body, sweat falling down his forehead as he flew to the side.

After dodging the first one, Fatty didn’t even get to catch his breath before two more hurled themselves toward him.

“Damn it!” Fatty only had enough time for a short curse before rolling down on the ground, barely managing to dodge the two sword lights.

“This can’t be?” Fatty groaned as he saw four more swords rise to confront him right after the previous two disappeared.

Does the number multiply after each attack? Just as the question appeared in his heart, another eight swords emerged from the forest.

Gravely evading the sword lights with his life on the line, Fatty hastily stormed his brain. What kind of result can be considered as making the standard? Is it holding on for a specific time, or dodging a certain number of swords?

Whichever it is, however, it’s still over the top to make a level 0 character go through this.

Bang! While Fatty was contemplating, a sword light knocked on his chest. Dumbstruck, Fatty mentally prepared to respawn, only to discover that he was still standing there completely fine.

“Why is this?” Fatty remained there dumbly for a bit, then saw another white light coming at him. He was dead and respawned the instant it struck.

“Dead. 48 lives left. Trial starts in 5 minutes. Please prepare.”

The timeworn, emotionless voice timely rang out, rendering Fatty a little helpless. However, Fatty heaved a sigh of relief, knowing he had five minutes to prepare.

“Trial, trial,” Fatty repeated over and over. If it’s a trial, then it definitely won’t keep on slaughtering the challenger without giving them any chance to pass. Then, where is the opportunity?

All of a sudden, Fatty thought of something, and he quickly opened his skill bar.

Indeed, all skills in his skillset had turned gray, except for the Metalwalk skill.

“Metalwalk, Metalwalk. Could it be this trial is all about testing the Movement Art skills?”

Five minutes passed in a blink. This time, Fatty was entirely focused. The instant a sword light about to pierce his body, he activated Metalwalk.

Whoosh. Fatty vanished on the spot. When he appeared again, he was standing one-leg on the tail of the sword light, as if moving on a flying sword.

“Haha, I get it now.” Fatty was overjoyed. So this is the meaning of this trial.

After the first sword passed, two more quickly flew over. Fatty nimbly jumped from the previous sword to a new one. Therefore, the two new swords didn’t damage Fatty in the slightest.

Perhaps due to the trial, there was no limit to using the Metalwalk, letting Fatty utilize the skill as he pleased.

This time, Fatty held on for over twenty minutes until the voice echoed.

“Metal Forest trial is halted temporarily. The player can rest for 28 minutes.

Fatty was teleported back to the entrance of the Mystery Realm, where he panted while catching his breath. To continually make decisions at such a high tempo for almost half an hour, even an iron man would be exhausted.

As far as Fatty was concerned, continuing to evade like this wasn’t a plausible solution either. The Metalwalk skill only helped raise the chance of surviving in the Metal Forest. To pass the trial, there were still more challenges to overcome.

What did I miss? Fatty’s eyes suddenly shone when he recalled the particular sword light that knocked on his chest but didn’t kill him.