Chapter 19: Arriving at the B block test
[You have successfully passed block C. Solitary.]
[You have achieved an achievement that is not easy to accomplish. Additional points will be given].
[You have acquired 3000 points.]
[You have acquired 2000 additional points.]
[Your health and mana will be restored].
[All status effects will be removed.]
[You have successfully completed your first outdoor raid. Additional points will be given]
[You have acquired 1000 additional points.]
[You have entered the room in block B].
Elliott pushed his hair back with his hands. A cool breeze and fresh wine blew toward him. It felt extremely refreshing.
"It was getting sweltering being in that forest!"
"I'm a little sad to leave. It was a place to rest."
Val stretched and Rachel rubbed her sleepy eyes.
The tutorial could be roughly categorized into two areas. The 'Inner' and the 'Outer'.
The Inner Area referred to the first areas ranging from F-block to E-block, which were designed to help new climbers realize their skill level and train for what they lacked. The Outer Area referred to the later areas ranging from D-block through G-block, which tested the skills climbers had worked on in the Inner Area and had them attest to their qualifications.
Usually, climbers accumulated stress easily because the tests in the Inner Area were conducted in cramped caves and passageways that were poorly lit, poorly ventilated, and full of traps. But there was none of that in the Outer Area.
Seeing the outside world after such a long time, Elliott also felt the stuffiness disappear. But he could not relax because he knew that the Outer Area would be even more dangerous than the Inner Area.
"Up until block E, the space was limited by walls and other things, so I only had to watch within a certain range. From E-block on, there's none of that.
Being in an open area also meant exposing yourself to the enemy.
Different messages began to appear while Elliott was deep in thought.
[Will begin a test of block B.]
At that moment, Elliott saw a flash of light in the palm of his hand.
A small coin the size of half a finger appeared where the light had just shone.
[You have been given a token. There are several tokens hidden in the block, regardless of the method. Collect 99 tokens to determine your scores]
Elliott fiddled with the token.
Beside him, Val watched him with a disgusted look on her face.
"Pisses me off every time I see that."
Elliott looked at the Signal in silence.
Block B was more like a death match. There were tokens hidden all over the area, but it was much easier to steal from someone else what you had picked up than to pick it up for yourself.
So the B-block climbers often went crazy. They also didn't know when something would happen to them, but they did know if the teammates they had unexpectedly been laughing with until then would stab them in the back.
The most disgusting thing is that.....
Elliott focused on the message "regardless of the method." This meant that it was possible to threaten or even kill others to take their tokens.
Finding tokens hidden throughout the area was a difficult task. Instead, it was easier to stay hidden and ambush other climbers and kill them to steal their tokens.
It was as clear as day which option the climbers would choose.
"This tower is crazier than I thought."
Elliott looked at the two standing next to him.
To his relief, Val and Rachel only looked at Elliott's token and didn't seem interested in taking it. It looked like they had collected enough tokens before heading back to E block.
'Or they could have already collected the 99 tokens.'
Elliott then put his token in his jacket.
"I finished reading the messages, so let's move on. You said you were looking for an artifact in B block, correct? Then let's do it now. I have to go look for Tokens later."
Val nodded.
"Yes, but it's quite a distance from here. It'll take us a while until we get there."
"Then we'll gather the tokens on our way."
"Fine by me."
Val took the lead and set off.
Elliott and Rachel followed.
***
Block B has a much larger and wider area than the previous four blocks combined.
Because of this, each area has its own geographical feature within a different environment, forming a unique ecosystem.
A huge desert extends to the south, a vast forest covers the northern region, and at the end of the forest is a swamp. Rocky mountains line up behind an arid desert along the eastern side, and a river flowing through a meadow extends to the west.
And each area is also inhabited by a variety of monsters.
Small monsters like Goblins and Kobolds form villages around the forest, but larger monsters like Trolls, Ogres, and Orcs live deep in the forest or in the wilderness. Lizardmen, Sandworms, and Orc settlements were seen in the northern swamp, eastern desert, and western prairie.
The ordeal consists of finding Tokens while dealing with the monsters and protecting your tokens against climbers that can be even more dangerous than these monsters. Both are important.
And now,
Elliott's group headed out into the eastern desert.
As darkness fell, Elliott's group made preparations to camp outside.
When he was in the Inner Area, Elliott only took short naps now and then because he couldn't tell night from day. But now that he could, he no longer had to.
More importantly, Val had suggested the idea to stabilize himself in top form.
"The monsters we'll be dealing with are pretty tough. We need to be fully prepared."
Elliott nodded in agreement.
Val and Rachel, perhaps because they had so much experience sleeping outdoors, quickly set up camp.
Rachel, in particular, showed Elliott a very fascinating sight when she uses magic to light the lit the campfire with a blue fire.
"Awesome."
Rachel smiled shyly in response to Elliott's brief exclamation.
As the campfire burned brightly, they settled into their respective sleeping bags. After deciding to take turns keeping watch for the night, they fell asleep one by one.
***
Elliott was the first to keep the night watch. There was no particular reason for this. It was just because he had won at rock, paper, scissors.
*crackle*
Elliott looked calmly at the burning wood and opened one of his hands. Five golden coins lay on his palm. They were Tokens.
'Along with the one I had originally, I now have six.'
Elliott didn't just walk during the trip to the desert. He had been looking for the hidden Tokens scattered all along the way. In a crevice in the rock, by a stream, high up in a tree, in a bird's nest, etc.
But they weren't too hard to find.
"I would never have imagined that my strengthened senses could even capture the position of the chips."
The chips were something special. It was as if they contained some kind of special power, the sensation of feeling them was different from other objects around.
'I need to collect as many tokens as possible. As you increase the amount of Tokens you collect, you will also exclude the points you earn. Especially from the 100th Token onwards, there will be a drastic increase, so I need to stay focused.'
Of course, his search for Tokens was conducted in secret. There was no need for Val and Rachel to know.
The two even showed signs of remorse, saying that Elliott couldn't find any tokens because he was busy helping them with their raid.
Rachel went much further and even brought up the idea of asking for tokens in compensation.
Whether they meant it or not, Elliott thought they would probably be very good people, considering the fact that they were in a place where selfishness prevailed.
'By the way...'
Elliott tossed the five chips into his jacket and lifted his head to look up at the moon.
Proving that this place was different from Earth, a large blue moon and a small red moon hung high in the night sky.
'Have I survived this far already? Time is passing quickly.'
He felt a little uneasy about being able to enjoy the night breeze at ease. Elliott wondered if it was because he had been going through the blocks without a break.
For him, having these kinds of peaceful moments was like a square peg in a round hole. He hadn't had a good rest since he'd been reincarnated. He'd been rolling around on the ground, hacking up monsters and running all over the place. The only sleep he'd had were simple quick naps to recover from fatigue.
But when he lay back and looked back, he realized how intensely he had kept himself going so far without freaking out. He felt as if he had entered the tutorial yesterday and now that he was relaxed, he felt a little tired. Although he wasn't tired, the mental fatigue seemed to build up considerably.
However, try not to let your guard down. His senses relentlessly scanned the area in great detail. He dismissed all distracting thoughts from his head.
*Crunch*.
He watched the serene night sky and enjoyed the night breeze. This alone seemed to ease his mental fatigue and the pressure that had been building up so far.
'This reminds me of when I was in the orphanage.'
Elliott remembered her classmates from the orphanage, watching the night sky with the caretaker. He felt a little sad when he thought of the caregiver who had cared for him as if she were his real mother.
"Mother would have loved this kind of quiet environment."
Then Elliott averted his gaze to Val and Rachel. Apparently, they were so tired that they fell asleep as soon as they laid their heads down.
'What an interesting sibling duo.'
It seemed to Elliott that Val and Rachel were very different from other people he had met. Their faces were always beaming with joy. At the same time, they carried themselves in a confident manner.
These two seemed to have the posture of a climber not unlike him. They faced these situations as if they were already overly reinforced with them.
'Where the hell did you guys come from?'
On the way to the desert, Elliott finally got to check his skills. Val occasionally revealed a glimpse of his excellent swordplay. It was powerful, sharp, and fierce. He seemed to strike a balance between magnificence and practicality. That level of swordplay could never be achieved in just a few days. Elliott was sure he must have gone through a lot of experiences and training. Even if he was outwardly talkative and dumb, he must not have had an ordinary childhood.
...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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