NOVEL WEB Chapter 10: Bloodspine spear
“You sure we can eat this?” Lauren asked while pointing at the snake.
“Yup. Trust me, it’ll be good”
“Well… if you say so.” Lauren gave Zyrus a skeptical look and started cleaning
The trio had replenished their supplies after making a deal with Hajin. He gave them weapons, armor, and some ration in exchange for additional snake heads.
‘Does he even know how to use them?’ Zyrus wondered as he practiced with his new spear.
They only had 4 days left before the first phase of the tutorial ended. Zyrus had already made a plan in order to collect all the necessary materials.
‘I should check out the new skill first.’
Status:
[Name: Zyrus Wymar]
[Race: Human]
[Class: None]
[Level: 5]
Exp: 57/7594
[Title: None]
[Achievement: First Blood in tutorial, Goblin Slayer, First step of the Spearman, Killer of Keliodus, Boss Buster(I), Forged in combat, Shattered in Victory, Gaze of the Predator…]
[Talent: None]
[Strength: 13]
[Agility: 11]
[Vitality: 10]
[Intelligence: 16]
[SP: 24]
HP: 100
Crit rate: 10%
Crit damage: 100%
[Basics of Sojutsu], [Eye of Annihilation]
[Basic Spear]
ATK: 30
[Basic Armor]
DEF: 50
Currency: 76C
[Goblin’s Blood essence x1]
[Keliodus serpent’s poisonous essence x13]
[Basic Spear x 4]
Even after increasing his intelligence, his SP had doubled compared to before the fight. Zyrus clicked on the skill description and was once again intrigued by what he saw.
[Eye of Annihilation (B): Bring forth the oblivion as your gaze births ruin. This is a simplified version of a very high ranking skill. You cannot unleash its full power as you have yet to fulfill the necessary requirements.]
[Note: You can figure out the opponent’s absolute weakness by using the skill]
Effects: Crit rate +10%, Intelligence +5, Enhances the eyesight
CD: 90 sec
‘This skill is even better than the ones I had in my previous life!’
A very high ranked skill meant that it could be evolved to at least an S rank. With every upgrade its effect would be boosted on another level.
‘Great, now I have two skills that give me Crit rate.’ Zyrus clenched his fists with a wide grin on his face.
“Did you get something good? Anyway look at this head, I can’t put it in the inventory.” Lauren called Zyrus over who was standing like a fool.
“Re-really?”
“Is it something special?” Kyle observed the head after he saw Zyrus staring at it like an owl.
“Gimme that! Quick!”
Kyle was speechless as he handed the head over to Zyrus.
“Hehehe.. I knew I wasn’t unlucky! My luck must have been used up on this one.”
Lauren wanted to retort by saying she was the one who had found whatever the hack was that, but after looking at Zyrus who acted like a kid who had found a box of chocolates, she didn’t have the heart to do so.
Zyrus picked up his spear and cut the head in the middle. There, he saw a bead the size of a ping-pong ball.
“Is that a poisonous essence?” Kyle asked as he looked over
“Yes and no. The poisonous essence is like trash compared to it.”
Zyrus showed them the rainbow colored bead and explained,
“Do you know why all the snakes here are called Keliodus serpents? They all get their poison from a plant which is at the bottom of the lake”
“I see, is this a highly concentrated version of it?” asked Lauren as he looked at the bead
“It’s even better, the Seven headed Keliodus serpent is fundamentally different from the others, it can create its own poison using this thing.”
“Is it safe to use?”
Kyle asked as he handed the bead over
“Well, that depends…” Zyrus replied with a bittersweet expression.
Would they be willing to give up their humanity for power? He didn’t need to ask.
“Anyway, take these and give me all the currency you guys have,” Zyrus spoke as he gave 10 poisonous essences to Lauren.
“What do I need these for?”
“You can use them to refine your knives. It’ll get a poison attribute.”
“Really!? That’s awesome. Would the currency we have be enough for exchange?” Lauren was happy and nervous at the same time.
“Nope. You guys will have to do an errand for me.”
“Are we going separate ways then?” Kyle asked after he transferred his coins.
“Yeah. We'll meet the day after tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’ll show you a rough map.” Zyrus replied to Kyle who was looking at him with a solemn gaze.
“Aww! Are you sad?”
“Cut it out-”
While Lauren was busy teasing Kyle, Zyrus started drawing a map by using a stick.
“Tch.. get a room already”
“Is there one to begin with?”
“Whatever, look at the map now will you.”
“Map? How old are you? 5?” Lauren asked with genuine concern as she looked at the doodle on the ground.
“Come on now, get serious already. This concerns our survival.”
“I saw it coming. I’m no longer your favorite, am I?”
Kyle gave up after that and memorized the map. He asked about all the details of Zyrus’s plan and its location.
“I’ll give you guys two more days to consider.” Zyrus looked at them deep in the eyes and continued,
“Decide whether you want to follow me from now on or not. Keep in mind that there’s no turning back after that.”
“How disappointing... I thought we were friends already.”
‘Friends huh,’ Zyrus sighed after looking at their eyes which were filled with trust.
“Did you forget about our first conversation? We’ve become closer after that but I hope you remember that till the end.”
Kyle nodded seriously while Lauren grumbled about him being a killjoy.
Zyrus once again reminded them of their task before he vanished into the dark forest.
“We're going to follow him right?” Lauren asked Kyle who was still looking at the map.
“I want to, but… it won’t be easy.”
“He seems like a good person.”
‘That’s why I said it won’t be easy,’ Kyle thought as he tapped on her forehead. He understood how Zyrus felt.
‘The last sentence wasn’t meant for us.’
…
The morning wind blew across his face as Zyrus made his way atop the Cod Mountain. It was quite a climb as the peak was above 800 feet from ground level. He had killed some monsters on the way, pushing him halfway towards the sixth level.
There was a special event that triggered when one arrived at the top of the mountain. To get the final prize which was the “Bloodspine spear”, one had to kill the flying monsters called levifin.
‘Last time I failed to get anything from here. ’
It was the last day of the tutorial and almost everyone who was worth something was out in the forest. By that time it was no longer a struggle for survival. Humans are quite scary when it comes to adaptability.
Zyrus was with a team of newbies not surprisingly, he failed to kill the monsters in a limited time.
‘Fortunately, players should be busy with their safe area at this time.’
After another hour of hard climb, he finally arrived at the mountaintop.
“Whew… you there Aurora?” Zyrus asked while panting for breadth.
“Come on now, I just want to ask about our second deal.” he spoke again after not hearing anything for a while.
“Mayyybee~”
‘Tch…she’s not going to answer before the final day is she...’
Zyrus kicked the pebbles in frustration and dragged his feet towards the event area. He took out all the spears from his inventory as he waited for the event to start. Now that he knew how this event worked, he would be the biggest moron in history if he left any good rewards for others.
[Ding! You have discovered an event area!]
[Starting time: 00:05:00]
[Kill the different types of levifin to earn points]
[Different rewards will be given based on the number of points. The Player with the highest points will receive a special prize!]
[Each kill will give you 100P!]
[Click below to view the exchange list]
[Rank 1 Reward: Bloodspine spear]
[1. Level up card = 5000P (One time purchase only)]
[2. Silver Longsword = 3000P]
[3. Ration x 10 = 2500P]
[4. Blackwood Bow = 3500P]
[5. Vitality recovery potion(+50 HP) = 1000P]
.
.
‘Nice, that spear's as good as mine.’
Zyrus felt a bit guilty about not telling his teammates about this place. It was the easiest place to get rich if you can monopolize the hunting area.
‘I guess they needed some alone time as well..’
Zyrus readied himself before the timer reached 0. As if on cue, groups of levifins started to fly around in the sky.
They were reddish-pink in color and they looked just like a fish. They flew around in beautiful patterns, making the bland sky vivid with colors.
‘Now that I think about it, the cooldown for the eye of annihilation is just perfect for this.’
The most difficult part about the quest was to hit an airborne levifin. The chance of success was abysmally low, so the only way one could earn some points was by killing the monsters that came down.
Out of a hundred, only a dozen of them would land on the mountain, and that too for a very short period of time.
It wasn’t difficult to imagine the bloodbath it would cause to kill them. An entire team was wiped out the last time Zyrus was here.
‘But they’re all mine now.’ Zyrus grinned as he looked at the golden levifin with greedy eyes. They were twice as big and naturally, they gave out a lot more points.
Generally speaking, it’s almost impossible to hunt them as they never came down. However, it was a piece of cake for Zyrus.
‘Here comes the money!’ Zyrus held his spear with a steady grip and rushed towards the diving Levifin.