Chapter 17: The first Test (2)
Deryn only had 22 seconds left on his wind walker ability. Yet he couldn't help but waste 2 more seconds at Archer 1's performance.
The battlefield was silent before Deryn burst forwards dodging arrows from the remaining kobolds.
Windblade in hand he threw it towards the Kobold elite who raised its spear in time horizontally in front of it, dissipating the wind blade.
Deryn was slightly surprised that the kobold elite could block it.
The same couldn't be said for its weapon, however. A nasty scar was left upon the section used to block the wind blade.
Archer 1 and Kev hadn't let up and in this brief time shot 2 more archer kobolds with terrifying precision, reaping their lives.
Deryn was a bit dumbfounded at their performance. The archer kobolds he went against were slightly lacklustre if he was honest.
Yet here was Archer 1, completely exceeding his expectations and playing a pivotal role in this battle.
As this thought flashed his mind Deryn finally was grazed by an arrow. A narrow gash appeared on his arm but he paid no mind to it.
Focusing himself once more he flew behind the kobolds before throwing a fireball into the ground.
The kobolds looked at each other confused that he had missed before the unexpected happened. In a few metres surrounding a group of 4 melee kobolds and 1 archer, the ground erupted in flames, instantly jumping at their bodies, as molten earth from the gasoline-soaked ground exploded around them.
The kobolds attacking froze at this in shock. Deryn finding a small chance to save his mana, dived down from the air to strike 2 melee kobolds in the head with his spear, instantly penetrating their skulls and skewering their brains.
15 seconds left on the wind walker ability, Deryn thought to himself as he landed heavily on an archer kobold before thrusting his spear forward in the brain of another. As he pushed off of the kobold beneath him, the spear which had just been pulled back was thrust outwards in a sweeping arc mutilating the face of another melee kobold.
As Deryn left the unconscious body of the kobold beneath him a prickling sensation filled his mind. Without hesitation, Deryn used 10 mana to form a mana shield.
*Thwack*
*CRASH*
The elite kobold had pierced toward aiming to take his head. Thanks to the mana shield he was instead flung backwards from the force of the attack and had crashed into the ground due to the shield popping.
Deryn coughed heavily, slightly winded, staring in the direction of the kobold elite. The resulting mana blast had knocked the creature a few feet backwards and a wound had formed on its right hand. It seemed to be broken.
An arrow flew towards the Elite and it spun around, protecting its vitals. Still, the arrow pierced into its thigh.
Deryn mentally giving a thumbs up to Archer 1 had an idea. He flew once more to the unconscious body of the archer kobold flinging it over his shoulder.
Fireball in the other hand flung it towards two archer kobolds who still stood slightly too close together.
Deryn watched as the fireball blasted one into pieces whilst the other was flung forwards where an arrow waited to pierce its head.
Archer 1 had claimed that kill.
Deryn now had a single second remaining on his Windwalker ability. He landed heavily on the wall where Kev and Archer 1 were. They both looked at him in slight confusion before Archer 1 barked at Kev who handed it another arrow.
Deryn paid no mind to this and had already started enslaving the unconscious kobold archer beneath him.
After a few moments, a familiar scene took place. A small soul appeared out of the body of the kobold before getting chained and dragged into the book. The soul then went back into the body which had sat up bowing before Deryn.
Paying no mind of this Deryn gave it the name Archer 2 and had it join Archer 1 shooting arrows at its once pack mates.
The battlefield was messy in front of Deryn. In front of him were 24 Kobolds. A single remaining archer kobold and elite kobold; and 22 remaining melee kobolds. The role of the wind walker ability usage was almost perfectly used.
With only one more ranged kobold on the enemy's side the battle was basically won Deryn thought.
Scratch that.
The archer kobold had just been pierced by an arrow from the two archers on Deryn's side. It had hidden behind a melee kobold which took the first arrow and as the corpse hit the ground another arrow pierced into its head, instantly killing it.
Deryn grinned despite the battle around him, he could sit back now and wait for his archers to do the work.
This wasn't his style though and he wanted to clear the test as fast as possible to get the best rewards.
As he began casting a wind blade the kobold elite looked at Deryn before grinning sadistically.
It turned to the smaller kobold next to it before grabbing the spear out of its hand. In one smooth motion, its body spun around before the spear hurtled towards Deryn with pinpoint accuracy.
In a panic, Deryn cast a mana shield using another ten points of mana. The wind blade in his hand was thrown towards the elite kobold right as the spear hit the shield.
It once more popped, the resulting force knocking Deryn clean of the stone wall and into the valley where his shelter was.
The wind knocked out of his lungs, Deryn felt his vision spinning as he coughed, trying to get whatever oxygen into his lungs as he could.
He was a sputtering mess. There was no way he could have known the elite kobold had the ability to throw a spear, not only that strong but also with just a single working hand.
Thanks to his vitality, Deryn recovered from being winded less than a minute later. He quickly rose and went back up to the wall to continue battling.
Upon getting on top of the stone wall Deryn noticed a corpse of a melee kobold next to Kev, who continued to hand arrows to the two archers.
Surveying the situation Deryn noticed more corpses than were there just a minute ago.
There were multiple corpses in the pitfall spike traps and many more with arrows in their bodies from Archer 1 and 2.
Deryn took note and found there were only 15 Kobolds left.
Looking at the kobold elite Deryn realised it had an extra arrow in the same thigh it received one earlier and its hand that he had presumed broken was missing completely as it dripped blood on the ground beneath it.
This didn't stop the elite kobold from carrying out its plan though. It grabbed another melee kobold before chucking it towards the wall.
Deryn finally understood how Kev had killed one now.
Deryn waiting for the kobold to land went forward and pierced it simply in the neck before kicking its body back of the wall along with the other corpse to make space.
He looked towards the elite before grinning coldly. In response the elite merely grunted before gathering the kobolds around it, seemingly planning to group together to rush the gate.
Smiling wildly Deryn cast a fireball. He laughed aloud as he tossed it towards the now grouped up kobolds.
The elite picked up a kobold next to it in preparation to throw it at the fireball.
Deryn's plan was now in motion and his two subordinate archers shot at the elite, causing it to block the arrows using the kobold it held.
After blocking it attempted to throw the kobold still into the path of the fireball. Alas, it was missed completely.
The floor beneath the group burst into flames. Limbs flew from the fireball explosion and the remaining pack members were seen rolling on the floor trying to put out the flames.
It was a shame that all that did was leave them defenceless to the archers on the wall who took them down one by one with ease.
The elite kobold was on its last legs at this point. It had lost an arm and both legs in the explosion. It was impossible for it to defend itself at this point.
Deryn jumped off the wall as he approached the few remaining still alive kobolds in decent condition. He knocked them out with fast movements on the way as he eventually stood in front of the elite kobold.
Without hesitation at the plight of the creature, he jabbed his spear and pulled it back in a quick motion.
A single hole had appeared on the elite's forehead robbing it of its life.
< DING >
< WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: A SURVIVOR HAS COMPLETED THE FIRST TEST WITH A TIME OF 5 MINUTES 34 SECONDS >
< DING >
< YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE TEST IN 5 MINUTES AND 34 SECONDS. YOU HAVE RECEIVED A BEYOND PERFECT RATING. CALCULATING REWARDS NOW. >
"Thank god it didn't include my name," Deryn thought. He didn't want a huge target painted on his back.
Deryn opened the gate and ordered the kobolds to grab the unconscious melee kobold and tie it up as he went to harvest the bodies of the kobolds whilst waiting for his rewards.
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< RECEIVED >
Kobold souls x226 (64 from elite)
Raw meat x612
Cooked meat x248
Arrows x132
...
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< KOBOLD SLAVE CONTRACT LEVEL 3 (UPGRADABLE) >
DESCRIPTION: Use this on a defeated kobold to make it your slave. Slave kobolds will listen to the orders of whoever owns this scroll. This scroll is upgradable and to upgrade the scroll the user has to kill kobolds to gather their souls.
Kobold souls gathered for upgrade: 72/500
Kobold slaves: 2/5
RARITY: Rare (Light blue)
NOTE: Can now own 5 kobolds.
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Deryn smiled in satisfaction. He had calculated it perfectly with two more melee kobolds knocked out. With those two and the mummy mage he had in the shelter, it made for the perfect amount of 5.
As he was about to get the buggy to travel to the elite encampment, the rewards notification finally went off in his mind.
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< REWARDS HAVE BEEN CALCULATED. PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THREE OF THE FIVE OPTIONS LISTED >
1) Gold chest
2) Kobold souls x100
3) Mysterious Key
4) Kobold bloodline enhancement potion (basic) x1
5) Random pet egg
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Deryn sat in thought for a few moments before making his decision. It was an easy choice in his mind.
"Options 1, 4 and 5 please!" Deryn thought whilst a smirk plastered his face.
< CONGRATULATION ONCE AGAIN FOR GETTING A BEYOND PERFECT RATING ON THE FIRST TRIAL. AN EXISTENCE OUTSIDE OF THE DOOMSDAY ADVENT TRAINING WORLD HAS NOTICED YOUR PERFORMANCE >
Deryn fell to the floor.
He was dumbfounded. The announcement from the world had just confirmed any doubts in his mind that this was the training world. He knew now it was 100% true.
Yet not only that. An existence outside of the training world had noticed him. He wasn't sure yet what to make of this. It could be a good or bad thing.
< CONGRATULATION HOST. SYSTEM SUGGESTS CHECKING REWARDS FROM WORLDS FIRST NOW >
Deryn numbly opened the page and was once again shocked. He held his hand over his heart as it beat wildly, threatening to jump out of his chest.
He had three new notifications.
WORLDS FIRST TEST 1 CLEAR
WORLDS FIRST BEYOND PERFECT RATING
*ALL WORLDS* FIRST FASTEST TEST CLEAR TIME
The third notification was highlighted in gold. The idea that this wasn't the only training world had already appeared in Deryn's mind before and this slightly confirmed that conjecture.
What shocked him was the reward for the third notification. Whilst the other two rewarded him with a gold chest and an area conquest stone, the third reward gave him his first occupational skill.
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< OCCUPATIONAL SKILL: INSPECT LEVEL 1 >
DESCRIPTION: A skill that allows the user to gather information from a target. Inspect works on everything. Skill has limitations only based on level. Costs no mana to use and can be levelled up.
Rarity: Unknown (Rainbow)
Note: Due to the influence of an existence outside of the training world, you have been given the opportunity to have this skill. Should your performance decline the existence has the ability to take this skill away.
System Note: Information is power.
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Saying Deryn was ecstatic would be putting it lightly. He was literally jumping for joy. This skill could finally help with one of his biggest frustrations. Not only this but it would also allow for him to make full use of the system and make better decisions for choosing rewards in the future.
Speaking of rewards Deryn rushed back into the house and tamed the three kobolds, successfully raising the slave contracts level now allowing him to tame the rare mage.
Ordering them to protect the base Deryn drove the buggy in a rush to the final encampment he could see on the map.
Upon arriving 15 odd minutes later Deryn started dismantling the empty encampment before trying to find the kobold chest.
In an area where the large tent stood, three times bigger than the others in a noticeably better condition... before he dismantled it, Deryn found the chest. This tent belonged to the elite.
Upon seeing the chest Deryn was slightly confused and as he picked it up he used the inspect skill on it.
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< ELITE KOBOLD CHEST >
DESCRIPTION: A chest gained for defeating an elite encampment of kobolds. Due to the user having kobold slaves, the chest will have a high chance to give items related to the contracted creatures.
Rarity: Very Rare (Blue)
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Deryn smiled and got back into his buggy before driving back to his shelter.
The journey was uneventful and upon arriving he noticed the two archer kobolds on the wall patrolling it.
They barked excitedly upon seeing him and Deryn nodded at them before he parked up the car. He was in desperate need of a shower due to the dirt and blood from the battle.
In the shower, he made a mental note of all the loot he would open and look at shortly.
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Elite Kobold chest x2
Gold chest x4
Kobold bloodline enhancement potion (basic) x2
Random pet egg
Area conquest stone x2
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The one thing he noticed was there were no chests dropped from the kobolds he killed during the test. It was a strange occurrence which he hadn't noticed earlier but it made him slightly annoyed now.
Shaking his head he finished off in the shower before having a quick bite to eat, not forgetting to feed his squad of kobolds.
Not able to wait any longer he ran into the training room with Kev in tow.
It was time for his rewards!