Chapter 7: Ch 07 - D rank (revised)
"I see you haven't confirmed to continue the test. Do you have any doubts, sir?"
The lady Klaus had met earlier, Ria, spoke into a microphone inside the monitoring room of the capsule. Seeing that Klaus was lost in thought, staring intently at the dissolving goblin, she decided to remind him.
Klaus was momentarily surprised upon hearing the familiar voice, breaking his intense mental calculations.
"Um, what should I call you, Miss?" Klaus asked, feigning a slight awkwardness by keeping a hand behind his neck and showing an innocent, boyish smile. He needed to subtly gather information.
"You can call me Ria," she replied, her voice maintaining a professional tone, although in reality, a faint blush had appeared on her cheeks. Klaus's charm was having a subtle effect.
"Okay, Ria. I was just curious about this VR world. Can you tell me what will happen to this monster corpse I killed?" Klaus asked, his tone genuinely curious as he pointed vaguely at the pixelating remains of the goblin. He knew the answer, but he needed to confirm the details.
"This corpse will simply disappear when you confirm to move to the next stage," Ria replied, her voice clear and concise.
Getting to know this confirmed fact, Klaus quickly planned his next actions accordingly in his mind. "So, I need to absorb before moving ahead, he thought. I was worried about the corpse disappearing too quickly from the absorption, but it turns out I can just time the confirmation and absorption simultaneously to avoid any suspicion. It's a perfect window."
Klaus nodded his head, confirming his understanding to Ria, and further asked, "Miss Ria, I like the VR world quite a lot. I feel like I can really practice my battle skills on this platform.
Would you please tell me how I can get access to this technology for regular training?" He made sure to sound genuinely enthusiastic about the training aspect.
"Sure, sir. Currently, there are only two authorities with access to this advanced technology," Ria explained patiently.
"One is the Hunter Association itself, and the other is the Guardian Academy. Only the academy, however, freely allows its students to regularly access the VR world for training. Even the association does not allow its general employees such benefits, as the operation of these VR capsules is extremely costly."
As she finished speaking, Klaus nodded, showing a look of thoughtful understanding. He then pressed on, "Pardon my rudeness, but could you answer one last question for me?"
"Go ahead," Ria encouraged, her tone softening slightly.
"How can I join the Guardian Academy?" Klaus asked directly, cutting to the chase.
"Well, you either need to pass the qualifying entrance exam and then the ranking battle to get admitted," Ria elaborated.
"Or, if you achieve an S-rank evaluation or more from the association here, you can skip the entrance exam and proceed directly to the ranking battle."
Klaus nodded his head, trying to show his attentiveness and appreciation for her clear explanation. He then told her that he would talk to her after the evaluation was complete and also sincerely thanked her for her help, which made Ria smile genuinely.
He decided firmly in his mind that he had to join the Guardian Academy. The VR world presented an unprecedented, risk-free environment for him to safely progress and hone his skills through absorption. This was the ultimate safe haven for growth.
Klaus then proceeded to look intently at the dissipating goblin, taking a deep breath. He simultaneously uttered "Yes" out loud,
confirming his desire to proceed to the next stage in the VR test, and also mentally confirmed the prompt from his Origin Absorption panel. He willed for it to absorb the F-rank Slash skill from the goblin.
The goblin corpse disappeared from the ground in a shimmer of pixels, but to any external observer, it looked like nothing more than the VR world resetting itself for the next round. The absorption was seamless and undetectable.
The Slash skill he had absorbed provided him with a 1% chance of inflicting permanent bleeding while using a bladed weapon. A small, but useful, passive effect. A numerical upgrade counter appeared next to it on his panel, indicating that on ten more absorptions of the same skill, it would upgrade. This meant continuous small gains were possible.
He looked towards the virtual forest with his newly enhanced Superior Vision skill. He could distinctly see a group of ten goblins emerging from the forest this time, their crude weapons glinting faintly in the simulated light.
This time, Klaus initiated the attack first, his Natural Hunter trait guiding his actions. He threw one of his daggers at the lead goblin.
The dagger, propelled by his enhanced strength and guided by his Trajectory Intercept ability, was too fast for the lumbering goblin.
The creature didn't even have a chance to react or evade before the blade pierced its head, killing it on the spot. Klaus immediately dashed towards the dissipating corpse, a swift blur of motion, and picked up his dagger, which was designed to reappear after each kill.
Meanwhile, another goblin, attempting a sneak attack while Klaus's back was turned as he retrieved his dagger, lunged. But Klaus's Hunter's Reflexes kicked in.
Without even consciously thinking, he raised his leg instinctively while still in a bending position, and the goblin's head collided with his upward-thrust knee with a sickening crunch. The goblin's neck snapped, and its body crumpled.
In this way, two of the ten goblins were already dead, dealt with in mere seconds. Tracking the rest of the goblins was too easy with his Natural Hunter trait; their movements, even subtle ones, were plainly visible to him. Like this, the remaining eight goblins fell one by one under his precise dagger strikes.
Although his actual dagger skills were still crude, lacking refinement and advanced techniques, his dramatically improved reflexes, vision, and physical strength more than made up for them. He moved with an almost primal efficiency, his movements becoming more fluid with each kill.
After he was done with these goblins, he upgraded his slash skillthen Klaus decided to meditate for a few minutes in the virtual world to take a brief rest and recover his focus.
After he opened his eyes a few minutes later, feeling refreshed, he confirmed "yes" to the VR system's prompt, and the process repeated itself.
The virtual environment reset, and another wave of goblins appeared. Klaus continued this cycle until his SLASH (F) skill upgraded to SLASH (D).
The effect of permanent bleeding increased from 1% to 5%. This was a significant boost to its utility.
Klaus had now definitively decided he wanted to enter the Guardian Academy at all costs, specifically to gain unlimited access to the VR world for his unique training method.
To achieve this, he had to try to get an S-rank evaluation from the association, as that was the fastest route.
"Congratulations! You have reached the level of an E-rank hunter. All the best for ahead!" Ria's voice rang in his ears, bright and encouraging, making him smile and nod in acknowledgment.
As the next stage started, this time the monster was D-ranked. It was a dire wolf, a formidable virtual beast with great speed which, even with his enhanced physique, outmatched Klaus's raw movement speed.
Thanks to Klaus's Natural Hunter trait, particularly Superior Vision and Hunter's Reflexes, he was able to fluidly evade the sharp claws and snapping jaws of the dire wolf, dodging its lunges by mere inches.
The level of difficulty had significantly increased; the goblins earlier were scrawny and weak, easily overpowered by his current strength. This dire wolf was a different challenge entirely, requiring constant movement and precise evasions.
"If this goes on, reaching S-rank will only be a pipe dream," Klaus thought, a flicker of frustration passing through him. "I should have prepared more. I don't have any impactful offensive skill that can pierce this thing's hide."
He acknowledged how unprepared he had come for such a demanding evaluation, having initially only planned to receive a basic identification so that he could live normally, not aim for the very top.
But now, since he had decisively committed to joining the Guardian Academy, he knew he would work on acquiring those impactful offensive skills. Thinking in this way greatly improved his mood, and he refocused intently on the fight, dismissing the self-reproach.
Klaus gritted his teeth. He was finding it increasingly difficult to land effective attacks on the dire wolf, whose movements were swift and unpredictable.
Even if he managed to get a few hits in with his daggers, he failed to penetrate the thick, coarse hide of the wolf, leaving only superficial scratches.
Finally, Klaus decided to let go of saving stamina and focus all his strength into one decisive, impactful attack.
Their clash continued, a rapid dance of dodges and frustrated strikes. The wolf suddenly leaped, a powerful, arcing pounce.
From his Trajectory Intercept skill, Klaus knew it was about to attack from approximately 120 degrees east to where he was currently positioned. Klaus finally found an opening.
He twisted his body, his agility pushed to its limit, and suddenly closed the gap, moving into the wolf's blind spot. He let go of one of his daggers, freeing a hand, and held the other one with both hands.
Then, with a grunt of exertion, he used the full, combined strength of his body, boosted by Herculean Strength, to drive the dagger through the left eye of the startled dire wolf.
The monster's body twitched violently for a few seconds, letting out a pained, digital growl, before going still and dissolving into pixels.
Klaus was panting heavily, almost utterly exhausted from the intense effort, his virtual muscles screaming.
In the background of his vision, a system screen from his Origin Absorption had already appeared, detailing the newly defeated dire wolf's potential gains. But before he could even process it, another voice sounded from the external microphone, Ria's voice.
"Congratulations, Mr. Klaus, for passing the D-rank evaluation! From the next stage, monsters proficient in magic will also appear." Her voice was clearly impressed.
"Thanks, Miss Ria," Klaus replied, still catching his breath.
Klaus was now thinking furiously about how to proceed. He knew that no matter what, he was going to be completely outmatched in the next round by magically proficient monsters.
He lacked any magical defense or offensive capabilities. He was seriously having thoughts of discontinuing the evaluation; there was no need to confirm the obvious, he was not a fool to waste his time on a guaranteed loss.
"Miss Ria," he asked, making a decision. "When can I apply for a re-evaluation if I decide to withdraw right now?"
"If you withdraw right now, you can apply for re-evaluation in a month, sir," Ria's sound advice rang in his ears.
"I would advise you to do that. I am not looking down on you, but as a hunter myself, I can tell you the monster ahead will definitely outmatch you. There's no shame in strategic retreat."
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Auth note - if you think that the Main character is not getting overpowered. I would request you to be patient, he has not even entered a gate and already come quite far with the help of mere insects.
Hope you spare some power stones to motivate me