The Elemental Relics

Ali and Kamis hoped to make more progress but they finally met their match when they encountered three cyclops. Regardless of who they focused on, they simply couldn’t inflict enough damage on the cyclops to prevent the defeat of both Tian and Kamis. Without the frontline, Ali realized how weak he was. Four hits was all he took before he was defeated. When he regained consciousness, he found himself back at the starting point.

“Sorry for being so weak,” said Ali.

The teenager meant what he was saying. He realized that, by focusing his stat points on MP and MP regen, he put himself in a situation where he didn’t do enough damage nor take enough hits to survive long enough.

Finding a balance is hard…

To make himself useful, he had to put some stat points into his strength. At the same time, neglecting his HP would make him easier prey to strong hitting foes. There wasn’t a good option so he had to do the best he could.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Kamis. “With you, I reached the furthest I ever did in the third stage. Once we get Svenne and Umaru up to the needed level, we should be ready to reach stage four.”

Kamis then led the way until they found Svenne and Umaru stocking up a chest. They gently placed the goods they gathered and didn’t even see the duo approaching.

“That’s good for now,” said Kamis. “We both got somewhere in the third stage before we were defeated. We can now comfortably help you two grind up your abilities!”

Both Svenne and Umaru leaped over the chest. They stared at Kamis before letting out a sigh.

“With you two as guides,” said Svenne, “us two can catch up in levels in no time!”

The big goofy smile on Svenne’s face made Ali smile too. He couldn’t imagine himself alone on the hell grind. Now, they were a team and they would grow stronger together. Yet, Ali wasn’t ready for how weak Svenne and Umaru were. He thought they would be ready for the second stage but they struggled on the first stage with the golems. Luckily for them, both Kamis and Tian could serve as the frontline while they trained up their skills.

I’m glad even Tian’s defense is sufficient in nullifying the golem’s damage. Those two can train without worrying about the frontline collapsing before them.

Watching their fights, Ali realized why Svenne and Umaru were so weak. Their abilities were simply a poor match for both the combat gym and the hell grind. Svenne’s traps only worked if he could predict the enemy movement. Even then, he often couldn’t survive long enough for the traps to finish their target due to their limited damage output. In addition, the teenager learned from Svenne that trap abilities were much harder to level up than standard abilities. Instead of gaining XP from damage dealt or kills, trap abilities must reach certain thresholds before a single XP could be gained, greatly slowing down the leveling up progress.

“Fear my lightning, you stupid golems!”

Ali sighed as he watched Umaru cast his lightning abilities. These elemental abilities, while flashy, had three major downsides. First, they did very little damage despite how impressive the abilities appeared. They were comparable to his level one air slash ability. Secondly, the abilities had extremely high MP cost so, after a brief moment, Umaru would be helpless, especially due to his very low MP regen. It wasn't uncommon for him to sit on the ground as he waited patiently. Thirdly, the abilities had a chance to stun but, against enemies of the same or lower level, those odds were so low that one couldn’t rely on them.

“Tian,” shouted Ali. “Please go seek out a single golem for Svenne to kill. We’ll wait for Umaru to regain enough MP to finish the golems Kamis is holding off.”

The air serpent would later prove to be much smarter in the matter. It found three golems and baited them while staying out of their attack range. In the meantime, Svenne setup many traps that were obvious so Tian could lure the golems over them. After enough time passed, the three golems were all defeated without Tian needing to land or take a single hit.

Svenne defeated those three golems in the same amount of time for Umaru to regenerate enough MP for the finish blow…

The group did some training in the second stage before they were all teleported to the start at midnight. Despite his curiosity to see what the fourth stage held, Ali was more content seeing both Svenne and Umaru become stronger. For the next grind, they might get through the third stage.

“For the groups that completed all the stages, please see the receptionist. The rest of you, you are dismissed and may return to your rooms.”

Ali waited until they were in their rooms before inquiring about why the groups met with the receptionist. He listened intently as Svenne spoke of the point system that all the groups functioned under. Completing tasks granted points and, once a group reached an unknown threshold and completed the hell grind, the groups would be selected for promotion.

“What does a promotion entail?” asked Ali.

“You are basically being promoted from a trainee to a regular soldier of the liberation army. Last I heard, there are actual battles that give you more combat experience and further chances to rise to the top.”

A chance to get even stronger? I hope to get there soon.

While the other three teenagers were all snoring, Ali stared up at the mattress above his, wondering about what the next day would bring. He also thought about his stat distribution from now on, knowing that a good balance was key.

I wonder how we defeated that member of the powerful group in the combat gym. Was he not very strong or….were traps his weakness?

Taking into account their total damage in the combat gym, Ali wondered what actually happened that gave him so much experience knowing that he and Kamis couldn’t have reached this far without it.