Elliott felt strong.
Stronger than he had ever felt in his entire life.
It wasn't because of the new spells Otto had given him to learn and use.
It wasn't due to his attributes increasing after his physical training.
It wasn't even because of the experience with combat that Rasthes had instilled in him.
No.
It was because he had picked up a coin.
Unlike the regular coins he ca across which shone in a dim golden color, the coin Elliott had picked up was vivid gold, almost glaring.
It was as if it had wanted to be found.
And Elliott had found it first.
The reason he felt so strong all of a sudden was that this coin was one of the five coins scattered throughout the entire forest ring that was worth 100,000 points.
Elliott's physical attributes had imdiately skyrocketed upon finding it, to the point that he hadn't even fallen unconscious after (ab)using his innate trait.
His stamina was almost gone now, but this was no problem.
Since he could still drink a few sips of Otto's specially made stamina potions and pop a few of those pills to restore it to full.
Elliott grinned with barely suppressed glee.
This should help him pass the preliminary round, right?
Plus, he had a feeling.
Even if he was only using his physical body to fight, most of the Throskarts in the forest would no longer be a match for him.
Elliott's experience on the first floor was a bit different than the other three mbers of the team.
Imdiately upon arriving to the floor, Elliott had purposely used his innate trait to guide him.
In the virtual world, he had experinted a bit with it and for the most part had discovered how to turn it on and off.
Though it would still automatically activate if his life was under threat.
He also discovered that his innate trait was even more useful than he thought.
Even though his stamina had constantly depleted over the journey, Otto had specifically prepared an additional giant bottle of pills and another high volu container of stamina potion for exactly this scenario.
Elliott had only been ambushed four tis over the course of the entire day.
Each ti, his ambushers weren't a match for him and were unable to face his spells or take more than a few blows from his staff.
Better was that just as he was worrying a bit about not having enough points from killing these folks, he had 'coincidentally' run into this glowing coin and turned it into points.
So far, it could be said that Elliott's ti on the first floor had been very easy.
…Sadly, it seed that his good days were about to co to an end.
It was now night ti in the forest ring.
But to Elliott's horror, his innate trait suddenly stopped working.
He was no longer able to glean a direction of travel, now matter how many tis he tried to exert his trait.
It felt like a car engine that had slowly sputtered out with no gas to pour in.
Elliott felt a little alard and subconsciously checked his status screen for his innate trait.
His bad feeling was confird.
[Innate Trait]
Survivor's Intuition
[Survivor's Intuition]
Currently unusable. Requires 1 week for recharge.
...What the heck was recharge?
Didn't it only use stamina?
He had plenty of stamina!
Elliott suddenly felt a little vulnerable.
Now what was he supposed to do?
Coincidentally, he was watching his status when he suddenly noticed a new line of words written under his health bar.
[Poisoned (-0.0002 health/minute)]
When was he poisoned!?
Elliott's brain spun as he tried to figure it out.
He had only been eating [Tower] approved nutritional cubes from his pack.
His drink was magically condensed water he had also brought with him.
By rights, nothing from this forest had entered his body.
It wasn't long before he realized.
'The poison is in the air.'
He was probably still breathing it in right now.
Elliott didn't know why there was poison in the air, but he doubted it was an ambush targeted at him.
Because it was his trait that had led him to this place.
His trait had never hurt him before.
He looked through his pack to see if there was a purifying potion or detoxifying pill.
Sadly, he couldn't find anything of the sort even after a few minutes of rummaging.
Otto also couldn't be prepared for every eventuality.
Elliott also firmly believed that he needed to try harder and do his best to stand on his own two feet.
He gritted his teeth and opened the 'shop' nu, filtering the items to only display the 'magical'.
Elliott did not hesitate to buy the expensive 'Perfect Air Purifier.'
Though it would weaken his body a bit to spend so many points, it was better to avoid the poison completely if it was possible rather than be subject to unknown effects.
He imdiately used the air purifier, then strode confidently away from the clearing.
Since his intuition was not usable, he would just face the hardships on his own.
He didn't believe he would fail on the first floor.
****************************************************************
Otto glanced disbelievingly at Jackal.
"You want to trust an unknown audience mber."
Jackal flushed slightly, but nodded.
"A mber of the sa audience that has never let go of an opportunity to harm through any ans whatsoever."
Jackal avoided Otto's eyes and spoke again.
"This guy isn't the sa! He's helped a lot, and doesn't hate humans!"
Otto's eyes bored into Jackal's skull.
His lips moved, and a surprising answer erged.
"Okay."
Jackal's expression brightened.
Of course, Otto wouldn't actually be blindly believing in this unknown audience mber.
He wouldn't easily trust others, especially not a Throskart who were universally understood to be enemies of humans.
Otto agreed for a different reason.
Since he had seen a rather cheap magical object in the ga's shop.
[Lie Detector- Textual Version]
18 points
Can determine the veracity of a statent in textual form.
5 Uses
Though it was slightly more expensive than the 'Lucky Arrow,' Otto thought it was worth trying.
If Jackal was right, and the person who helped him could indeed point out the fastest direction to escape the poison, this detector would prove it.
They would be able to escape quickly.
If he was lying, well…at least Jackal would be more careful in the future.
Otto bought this item without hesitation and waited for Jackal to get a response.
In the anti, he once again cast a light [Purify] on the two of them before checking the comnts of his own audience.
Otto noticed that his own audience had grown significantly ever since the massacre.
Thousands of comnts were refreshed on his screen.
[!!! The human set a trap!]
[whoaaaa]
[vomit]
[vomit vomit]
[vomit vomit vomit]
[omg omg! so many people dead!]
[ahh I can't watch anymore…]
[ 1]
[ 2]
[hehe am I the only one who thinks it's exciting??]
[…you're a disgusting person]
[I jumped onto the human's screen after the guy from the channel I was watching died.]
[wow that fireball spread so fast!]
[didn't he kill everyone already? don't watch this channel it'll be boring]
[don't support the human!!]
[but ... won't anyone who attacks him just get killed?]
[at least then it'll be interesting!]
[but isn't that just giving him points?]
[did you guys see? he's rank 6 now!]
Otto rolled his eyes and felt like he was getting so brain holes from these idiots.
The comnts were normally nonsensical, but now that his viewers had increased, it was almost unbearable.
Weren't Throskarts supposed to be smart with the help of all this technology?
Luckily, it only took a minute before Jackal received a reply.
They both knew, despite their current lack of urgency, that their current situation wasn't great.
No matter what, they needed to get out of the poisoned area.
Jackal read the comnts from his helper aloud.
[Hello, new human. You may think of as a benevolent audience mber. I am simply a Throskart who sympathizes with the humans who were forced into this ga.]
[I coincidentally found Jackal soon after he appeared on the show.]
[I have no intention to harm him.]
[The zone you are currently in is a 'red zone' which contains poison that will kill you if you don't escape. You need to find the nearest green zone to detoxify.]
[The quickest route to escape this red zone is to travel north-northwest (your stone house is facing due south) for around 485 kiloters. There is no poison there.]
Otto covertly activated his lie detector on the last ssage.
His expression lightened a good bit when he found that it was 100% true.
Travelling north-northwest for 485 kiloters was indeed the fastest route to exiting the poison zone.
He didn't tell Jackal about his test.
It would be better for the coherence of the team if Jackal believed his idea was trusted.
Otto's brows knitted with a faint hint of suspicion, though.
It simply didn't make sense that an audience mber would provide humans with help despite being of an enemy race.
One had to know that this was no light enmity.
Otto didn't know where it ca from, but simply witnessing the ferocious hostility of the other Throskarts as soon as they crossed paths was enough to understand the depth of hatred they had for humans.
On a whim, he decided to activate the lie detector on the remaining four ssages, too.
The results were not surprising.
[Hello, new human. You may think of as a benevolent audience mber. I am simply a Throskart who sympathizes with the humans who were forced into this ga.]
False. Completely false.
The lie detector couldn't analyze the statent beginning with 'you may think of as' because no matter what the statent was, it was true that Otto could think whatever he wanted.
But it was certain that this Throskart was not rely sympathizing with the humans forced into the ga.
In other words, he had an agenda.
But this didn't bother Otto.
Everyone had an agenda, for better or for worse.
Otto didn't expect this person to help them for no reason.
For now, he didn't care what it was.
[I coincidentally found Jackal soon after he appeared on the show.]
Also false.
Since 'soon' was vague and couldn't be analyzed, the lie must be within the word 'coincidence.'
This audience mber had searched for Jackal for a reason.
But why?
Otto's brows were slightly furrowed, but his expression was neutral.
It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Soon, he lifted his head and read through the next ssage.
[I have no intention to harm him.]
[The zone you are currently in is a 'red zone' which contains poison that will kill you if you don't escape. You need to find the nearest green zone to detoxify.]
Otto's frown relaxed a little as he confird that both of these ssages were true.
At least this spectator wasn't directly pitting the two of them.
With its last usage, the lie detector crumbled in Otto's hands, turning to dust.
He casually swept a hand out to scatter it in the air, perfectly erasing the evidence of its existence.
Then, he placed a hand on Jackal's shoulder.
"It's ti to leave."
****************************************************************
Two teenagers ran through the dark forest filled with poison.
Their figures flashed by the trees as they ran.
One of them, the one with black hair and bright blue eyes, looked calm and unruffled, as if their current speed wasn't even worth ntioning.
The other had brown hair, short and ssy, and dark eyes.
His face was covered with sweat and he breathed roughly.
However, he gritted his teeth as he continued to run.
Even if Jackal's physique had been slightly been enhanced by the ager few points he had earned, running 485 kiloters straight was no easy feat.
Especially as the poison steadily grew in strength within his body.
Jackal knew that the poison could also affect his emotions, but he couldn't help but feel irritation, exhaustion, and frustration regardless.
He stopped running for half a second.
Though it was only half a second, Otto still noticed. He glanced over and carefully analyzed Jackal's condition.
After a breath, he sighed and eventually took pity on him.
He cast two of his rarely used spells, [Lesser Rejuvenate] and [Lesser Energize] on Jackal before casting an expensive [Purify] and a [Lesser Heal] for good asure.
[Lesser Rejuvenate]
Light Elent
Level 10
Enhance health and stamina recovery of a single target by a factor of 20.
Mana Cost: 200
Duration: 10 minutes
Cast Ti: Instant
No Cooldown
[Lesser Energize: Unlimited]
Light Elent
Level 11
Restore target's stamina by 110 additional points per second.
Mana Cost (channeled): 85/second
Cast Ti: Instant
No Cooldown
The duo had already been running for three full hours.
Otto didn't let Jackal stop or take a rest at all.
He himself also wasn't tired. His newly enhanced body saw to that.
But as they went on, Otto's fears started to materialize.
The poison kept eating at Jackal faster and faster.
Of course, it was eating at Otto as well, but Otto was stronger and wasn't to the point yet where he would be burdened by it.
The bigger problem would be that Otto's [Purify] now cost 1,600 mana if cast every ten or so minutes, and this number was also slowly rising.
His regeneration could still keep up for the mont, so it wasn't as if he was rapidly losing mana.
Still, the duo had traveled only 180 kiloters so far, and the journey would only get harder as they continued on.
If they were back on Earth, this was obviously an incredible speed.
They were moving as fast as cars drove!
But even with Otto's normal, un-enhanced body, he could run faster than this.
Let alone adding all the points he'd earned.
So Otto bit the bullet and decided to carry the deadweight Jackal the rest of the way.
Irritation bubbled up in his chest at the thought of having to bring along a person who wasn't contributing.
But Otto ignored it, thought for a second, then imdiately cast [Purify] on himself.
The irritation faded into the background once more.
It was important to ntion that the poison didn't create emotions on its own.
It was like drinking alcohol.
Alcohol lowered inhibitions, but it didn't create desires that weren't originally there.
If soone didn't want attention, they wouldn't go dancing on a table just because they were drunk.
The poison was no different.
Otto's irritation was real.
The poison simply heightened its intensity.
Otto also reminded himself that Jackal was not strictly a non-contributor.
In any case, it was he who solicited the anonymous spectator who pointed them in the right direction, wasn't it?
Otto then declared to Jackal with a sigh,
"I'm going to have to carry you the rest of the way. Do you want to knock you out, or would you prefer to be conscious? It won't be fun- I'm quite fast."
Jackal hesitated at Otto's words.
He clenched his fist with a look of anxiety and said,
"Go ahead and knock out."
Otto almost laughed at Jackal's face that blatantly carried an expression that he was sending himself to die.
But he refrained for the sake of Jackal's pride.
Then, he professionally chopped Jackal on the back of the head and lifted him into his usual fireman's carry.
As soon as he didn't have to match Jackal's pace, Otto's running speed skyrocketed.
Even with an 75kg man on his back, Otto easily moved faster than a car on the autobahn.
Trees flashed past in front of him and to his sides as Otto careened through the narrowest gaps in vegetation.
If Jackal were awake, he would have fainted at this scene all on his own.
But Otto felt the wind in blast through his hair and let out the widest grin he could make.
One wrong step and he would probably be seriously injured.
Even with his strong body, this kind of impact force was nothing to sneeze at.
Moreover, it was the dead of night.
Disregarding the problem of the poison, it was rather hard to see.
But, damn, running like this was so exhilarating!
Otto finally felt the full benefits of his agility as he ran.
Every obstacle in his path was preternaturally sensed and avoided before it could even co close to being a problem.
He himself wasn't sure if it was his sight, hearing, touch, so combination of the three of them, or a kind of intuition powerful senses granted him.
Occasionally, he played around a bit and twisted his body and Jackal's on his shoulders such that he avoided trees and sturdy plants by less than a centiter.
It was freeing to move so quickly.
In his past life, he could certainly achieve such a speed.
But he wouldn't use it lightly.
And he definitely wouldn't use it in a forest full of obstacles.
With his 'agility', though, anything was possible!
Otto also cast 'Night Vision' on himself to experience its effects while he ran.
[Night Vision]
Dark Elent
Level 10
Grants the caster the ability to see in pure darkness.
Mana Cost: 55
Duration: 30 minutes
Cast Ti: Instant
No Cooldown
The world around him suddenly brightened.
Otto looked around at the colors of the trees.
Night Vision didn't emulate sothing like heat vision or cast the world in gray-scale or anything like that.
It literally allowed him to see in the dark as if it were light.
The colors were the sa- the forest looked the sa as it did during the day.
But Otto also made an astonishing discovery as he flitted through the forest.
A vague, thin looking mist perated the surroundings.
The mist wasn't visible in the dayti.
Or, Otto had a suspicion, it wasn't-- present --in the dayti.
He could actually see the poison!
Perhaps he could make use of this... Otto's eyes began to glow.
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