Second World

Dormuʼs mouth was wide open as he witnessed the scene. The other two NPCs who were still heatedly in battles against the wooden dummies were also similarly shocked. One of them even ended up getting knocked out of the lane due to the temporary lapse in concentration.

Jack walked back to where Dormu and Gruff were at. ”That should mean I pass, doesnʼt it?” He asked.

Dormu was still frozen.

”Be careful or a fly might fly in there,” Gruff told him. He finally snapped himself back and closed his mouth.

”You… Is that… Did you max out your Power Strike skill?” Dormu finally got himself to speak.

It was highly unlikely for someone with a level 21 to max out a basic skill. Though it was possible, it would be like putting the cart before the horse. All the skill points would be wasted on that one basic skill while the other skills especially the advanced ones would be inadequately upgraded.

The examiner would not have expected that Jack had done that only because of the Container of Souls. His max-out Power Strike did not only increase his damage output, but it also increased the knock-back force of the skill. Combining with his exceptional strength stat boosted by the Life Burning Art. The dummy, which was at its weakest attributes due to it was still within the first five-meter limit, stood no chance to endure the skill.

”It is,” Jack did not cover the fact.

”That is very unwise, to waste all that skill points of yours to level up that first basic skill,” Dormu commented. ”Such an act had shown that you are a short-sighted Warrior. I cannot see your future to be anything but a tragedy. You will only bring shame to our faction.”

”Are you going back on your words?” Gruff asked. He was displeased by this examinerʼs stubbornness. ”I still give you face as you are a dedicated worker with a disciplined personality, but donʼt think I cannot use my position to give you a hard time if I choose to.”

”Hmph, I will never go back on my words. I simply state the precariousness if he is to enter our faction.”

”I am the one who uses my executive recommendation on him, so you just let me worry about that.”

”Fine! Here, take this token of approval. Gruff here will help to fill you up on the process. Now I have to get back to my work.”

Dormu strode off once he gave Jack the token, and went towards the two other recruits. One had failed due to being knocked out of the lane, while the other was still struggling. He yelled at the failed one and chased him out as he vented his frustration on that poor NPC.

”Hard-headed punk!” Gruff cursed out before gesturing for Jack to follow him.

Jack followed him around as he completed the process of becoming a member of the League of Champions. He was given another badge to be added to his collection. He had expected the badge. Both neutral factions which he had joined and the kingdom faction gave out badges as a sign of their members, so it made sense that the league factions would do the same as well.

He inspected the badge and found it to be naturally called League of Champions Badge: Principales. There were two points indicated beside the badgeʼs description, challenge points and glory points, both were at 0 points at the moment.

This was different, he thought. The Themisphere kingdom faction, the Adventurers Association, and the Hunters Association basically used a similar system. All three used only one type of point system to determine the rank within that faction and for exchange on services or items. This one here had two kinds of points.

”Principales?” He asked Gruff about the word that accompanied the badge.

”Thatʼs your rank within this faction. It is the lowest rank. Every new recruit is a Principales.”

He then asked Gruff about the two different types of points, to which the burly guy gesture for him to follow again.

Gruff took him to a large open courtyard that housed an enormous stele at its center. They approached the stele. On its surface were carved ten lines with intricate letterings.

Increase a level = 1 challenge point

Level up a skill from Warrior class or its branches 5 times = 1 challenge point

Obtain 1 star for skills from Warrior class or its branches = 1 challenge point

Defeat 100 Elite monsters/NPCs of the same level or above = 1 challenge point

Defeat 10 Special Elite monsters/NPCs of the same level or above = 1 challenge point

Defeat 1 Rare Elite monsters/NPCs of the same level or above = 1 challenge point

Defeat 1 Mythical monsters/NPCs of the same level or above = 10 challenge points

Defeat 1 Eternal monsters/NPCs of the same level or above = 100 challenge points

Execute skills from Warrior class and its branches against hostile monster/NPC 500 times = 1 challenge point

Receive a total of 1000 points of damage from hostile monster/NPC in a single combat = 1 challenge point

Jack read all the lines before turning to Gruff and asked, ”so no quest to get points?”

”There is, but it will be rare,” Gruff replied. ”Also, only an executive like me can issue such a quest. We never do it if it is unnecessary, it was only done under special circumstances. Your main source for challenge points will be the tasks detailed here.”

”What are these challenge points for?”

”To challenge, of course,” Gruff said as if it was the most obvious thing.

”Yes, I can deduce its function from its name, but what am I challenging here?”

Gruff grinned and again took him to another hall.

Damn, this place was vast! Jack exclaimed in his mind.

Gruff brought him to an even larger open courtyard with a circular layout. Looking at the setting, he felt like he had come into the colosseum stage from his real life, with the floor still intact of course. Along the circular wall were large roman numerals. He made a sweep and discovered there were one hundred of these numbers, from one until one hundred.

There were some NPCs near the wall, one of them did something in front of these numbers. A layer of light soon enveloped and they disappeared.

”Are they…?”

”They had gone to attempt a challenge,” Gruff explained. ”You paid with challenge points to attempt a challenge. Just now the guys stood in front of the number five, so he was sent to a level 5 challenge stage. There were one hundred of these stages. The lowest one at number one, while the highest and the hardest naturally is at number one hundred. You need the same number of challenge points to attempt the challenge. 1 challenge point for stage one, and 100 challenge points for stage one hundred.”

”So that guy just now used 5 challenge points for the challenge,” Jack said.

”Ainʼt you a genius,” Gruff replied.

Jack ignored the sarcasm. ”What is inside the challenge stage?”

”Battle!” Gruff exclaimed with zeal. ”Random monsters, but the difficulty always corresponds to the stage level you enter. The higher the number, the more difficult the fight will be.”

”What if we die inside?” Jack asked.

”You will be teleported out here. No harm will come to you, you will only lose the challenge points,” Gruff answered.

”Do we get something for winning?”

”You get glory points.”

Oh, so thatʼs where the second type of points came in.

”Whatʼs the glory points for?”

”For exchanging with items and skills,” Gruff replied.

So it still ended up as exchanging points for goods, Jack thought. Well, but in this way, he didnʼt need to spare his time especially to pursue the points here. He could just do other things while slowly amassing the challenge points. From the ten lines on the stele, those acts would be regularly performed even as he did other quests. He just needed to come back here once he had enough points to attempt the challenge. However, looking at the actions needed, it would take a long time to amass the points.

He made a quick calculation on his mind. If he were to challenge every stage, even if he never lost, he would still need a whooping 5050 challenge points! How long would it take for him to collect those points? He would need to defeat 50 eternal monsters for that! Heck, by his estimation, he could still only cope with a special elite monster of the same level at this time. Never mind that, he could only take things slowly.

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