The Testing Room
[A Certain Evil is slightly curious about how high you will be able to climb.]
"What's the rank of the Skeleton?" Adam asked out loud.
[The Skeleton is one of the weakest monsters. Its rank is [F-]. It is extremely rare to find a weaker monster.]
'The Dungeon's rank is [F], but even its description says that I shouldn't let that misguide me. A stronger monster will keep appearing, but I can quit at any moment. The fact that leaving is allowed must be the reason why its rank is [F], in addition to this Dungeon not being exclusively linked to the Gate I went in from.' Adam thought while he walked back towards his corner.
[ 10 Seconds left.]
"What will it be now?"
Adam decided that for now, he didn't need armor that made him slower.
He unequipped his Great Snake's Vest and raised both weapons.
[ 5 Seconds left.]
A light appeared.
He did not rush to it.
Attacking an enemy before it noticed him was a big part of how Adam was used to fight, but he deemed rushing towards an unknown enemy foolish.
A monster appeared.
It was a lot smaller than the Skeleton, but it was made of muscle and skin, green skin.
Adam knew that monster well.
It was a Goblin.
The one that stood in the middle of the room was unarmed.
The Goblin was confused and looked around it as it couldn't find its enemy.
Adam quickly sprinted towards it and cut its head off using his Sword.
'This does feel better than a greatsword or a dagger.'
Adam quickly stepped back.
Green blood flowed, but none fell on him.
He walked back to his corner, awaiting his next contender.
[The Hero Who Wears Lion Skin says that an unarmed opponent should be fought unarmed.]
'Did you get that lion skin by fighting it unarmed? I doubt it. Anyways, this minute leaves plenty of time to heal or recover my Mana Points by drinking Potions. Good. I'll keep going.'
"The Goblin is [F] rank, right?"
[Correct.]
[ 10 Seconds left.]
"It's stronger than a Skeleton, huh? Who would have thought?"
[The One Who Sits on The Golden Throne laughs at your words.]
[A Certain Evil says that you are not strong enough to be arrogant.]
[ 5 Seconds left.]
[A Weak Demon is impressed by your potential.]
'Oh. Thank you! The other guy only insults my potential and talent.' Adam thought as he took a fighting stance.
A white light appeared once again.
A four-legged monster appeared.
One that Adam had never seen before.
It was a gazelle.
Its pelt was extraordinarily beautiful.
The monster stood taller than Adam.
He lowered his weapons.
"Do I really have to?" He said out loud.
Python, still on Adam's shoulder, sneered at the monster.
'Oh. You're here.' Adam had completely forgotten about the Fire Salamander.
"It's too beautiful for me to attack..." Adam added.
It turned around after hearing sounds coming from its side.
While it looked like a regular gazelle, it had a 1-meter long sharp horn on its head.
It lowered its head, and ran towards Adam with all its strength.
The monster planned to pierce Adam's body with its sharp horn.
Adam was surprised at its speed.
It was very fast. Maybe as fast as Salma.
Which wasn't that fast, but it was a big jump from the Skeleton's or the Goblin's speed.
Adam didn't bother dodging and instead, raised his right arm up.
Once the monster's horn was about a meter away from Adam, he lowered his Sword on it.
Half the horn went flying and the gazelle's sprint was stopped.
As it raised its head, Adam's and the monster's gazes connected.
He could sense its fear. Still, he slashed its head off with a sorry expression.
[ You have defeated a One-Horned Gazelle.]
[Congratulations! You have passed Test Number 3.]
Adam was getting pissed off as he saw the monster's body slowly disappear.
"[F+] ?" He asked.
[The One-Horned Gazelle is an [F] Rank monster.]
"Is that so? It is a lot stronger than a Goblin though. I guess Goblins can use Weapons though." He muttered.
Since he hadn't moved, he was still standing at the corner.
He started walking a bit while staying far from the center.
There was no reason for him to be afraid of these monsters.
For now.
[ 10 Seconds left.]
He stopped moving and stared at the center of the room.
[ 5 Seconds left.]
A white light appeared.
Once again, a four-legged monster appeared.
Adam's eyes widened.
It was a wolf. Its pelt was grey.
Once it appeared, it only took it 5 seconds to turn in Adam's direction.
'High Agility and High Sense, I bet.' Adam thought.
The monster showed its teeth and growled loudly.
Python trembled lightly on Adam's shoulder.
But the latter was completely calm.
'Let's see its speed first. Oh... How didn't I think about it before...'
"Can I use my Taming Mark Skill on monsters in this Dungeon?"
[That is not possible. Monsters inside The Testing Room cannot be tamed. They cannot become Familiars either.]
"Alright." He said.
'Tsk. Having a Hobgoblin or a big wolf with me would have been a lot more reassuring than this little Fire Salamander.'
The wolf, seeing that Adam was not intimidated by its growl, hesitated and did not step towards its opponent.
It still showed its fierce fangs though.
"Python. Get down. From now on, you stay behind and shoot Fire Balls at the monsters from far away. Alright?"
The Fire Salamander nodded and climbed down Adam's body.
As soon as it hit the ground, Python fired at the unmoving wolf.
The wolf surprised by the sudden flames incoming jumped sideways.
When it turned its head back towards the attackers, Adam had already crossed half the distance between them.
The wolf knew that letting the opponent move first was an error. So it ran energetically towards the incoming attacker.
Once the distance was closed, the wolf jumped towards Adam. Its fangs were destined to pierce Adam's neck.
But, Adam was a lot faster. He hit the monster's nose with the hilt of his Dagger.
The wolf felt a sharp pain and its body was pushed on the ground.
Adam stepped sideways and the wolf immediately got up.
The two of them were facing one another.
Both were unmoving, waiting for the other one to move and create an opening.
But the wolf had forgotten one thing.
It had forgotten that it was facing two opponents, not one.
Fortunately for the wolf, or maybe, unfortunately, it felt something coming from its left.
The wolf turned its head to the left to see what was coming towards it.
It was a second Fire Ball.
Adam did not miss that opening. He swung his Black Widow's Sword with all his strength towards the monster's head.
Once the wolf felt Adam's incoming attack, the Sword was only an inch away from its skull.
The Sword cut the monster's head in two.
The wolf had made a fatal mistake, and it was aware of it.
Dodging was impossible due to the difference in speed.
It instinctively understood that it was facing a being on a different scale.
[ You have defeated one Gray Wolf]
[Congratulations! You have passed Test Number 4.]
"Reminds me of that Hobgoblin, somehow..." Adam muttered.
He turned towards Python and petted its head.
"Good boy! That was perfect. From now on, we'll fight this way."
Adam had taken it easy against the Gray Wolf to make sure that Python understood how he wanted him to act.
He had an overwhelming advantage in every stat.
"Rank?"
[The rank of a Gray Wolf is [F+].]
'Not bad. Same rank as Poisonous Spiders. They're the same rank, but the wolf was not only faster, it also had better senses. The spiders could use poison though. Their powers are balanced that way I guess.'
"Do monsters from the same rank have approximately the same amount of total stat points?" Adam asked.
[Correct. But the higher the rank, the bigger the difference in stats between monsters of the same rank.]
"Right. That makes sense."
[A Certain Evil wants this to go faster.]
[The Laziest of God's Archangels says that slow and steady does it.]
[The One That Pushes The Boulder says that one should happily and steadily continue his pursuit.]
[The One That Gambles Against All Odds wants to gamble about how far Incarnation Adam will go.]
[A Weak Demon is interested in making some Gold Coins.]
[A Poor Angel wants to gamble, even though it is a Sin.]
[The Old Wolf bets X Gold Coins that Incarnation Adam will make it past Test Number 8.]
[The One That Gambles Against All Odds bets X Gold Coins that Incarnation Adam will not.]
[A Weak Demon is intimidated by the amount of Gold Coins used to gamble.]
[A Poor Angel runs away from such humongous bets.]
'They're making this a party...' Adam thought.
[A Certain Evil bets XX that Incarnation Adam will stop after clearing Test number 10.]
[The One That Gambles Against All Odds laughs out loud at A Certain Evil's bet.]
[The One That Gambles Against All Odds bets against A Certain Evil.]
[The One That Gambles Against All Odds says that he hates to gamble when the odds are in his favor.]
[ 10 Seconds left.]
[The Old Wolf is surprised by such a huge amount of Gold Coins gambled by a random evil.]
'He's everything but a rando..' Adam thought as he took a fighting stance.
[The Old Wolf bets against A Certain Evil.]
Adam received a private message.
[A Certain Evil is looking at you.]
[ 5 Seconds left.]
Adam chuckled.
'Are you asking me to rig the game for your benefit?'
A white light appeared once more at the center of the room.
Adam was standing between a corner and the center of the room.
In that corner lied Python, ready to shoot his Fire Balls at the appearing monster.
Adam was surprised for a moment, but he did not let his guard down.
The monster was a black wolf. It was 1.5 times bigger than a Gray Wolf and was about the same size as a tiger.
It turned towards Adam.
'Even though it's much bigger, its senses are just as sharp. Might just be because am standing closer.' Adam thought.
The black wolf's eyes turned red once they fell on Adam.
The monster showed its teeth before growling much louder than the Gray Wolf had.
The growl sent shivers to Adam's body.
He could feel cold sweat on his back.
'What the hell? What's this sense of...'
The wolf started running towards Adam before he could finish his thought.
But the huge incoming wolf only made him more curious.
'What's this sense of...intimidation?'