A new type of monstrosity slithered onto the field, heralding the eighth wave of the Beast Surge.
[Treehusk Fiend]
[Level: 6]
[Skills: 1. Web Snare; 2. Ensnare]
They resembled grotesque stalagmites of flesh, their bodies glistening with a sticky, viscous fluid. When they attacked, coiling tendrils burst from their base, lashing out to ensnare their prey. Once caught, a victim would be dragged inexorably closer to a maw filled with razor-sharp teeth.
Like the Piercers already on the field, the Treehusk Fiends shared a critical flaw: they were slow and their defenses were paper-thin. It was a recurring theme in the Novice Trial—the creatures were all glass cannons or lumbering tanks, their strengths and weaknesses amplified to an extreme degree. For any Divinely Gifted who could identify the gimmick, they were easy kills.
The problem wasn't the individual monsters; it was the sheer, overwhelming number and variety. Most players were paralyzed, with no idea how to handle the chaotic onslaught.
But Calder was not most players.
His four Chain Scourges operated with the same cold efficiency as before, a macabre ballet of death and acquisition. Two whips danced through the horde, shredding monsters apart, while the other two scoured the battlefield, plunging into fresh corpses.
`[Time +20min]`
`[Time +25min]`
`[Time +20min]...`
`[Upper Right Limb Blight Index: +0.1]`
`[Upper Right Limb Blight Index: +0.1]`
`[Upper Right Limb Blight Index: +0.1]...`
After a long period of dormancy, his Blight Index began to climb once more. In a matter of minutes, the index for his upper limbs surged past 30 points.
"Aberrant Shift," Calder muttered.
From each of his arms, another blood-slicked Chain Scourge burst forth, writhing in the air. Now wielding six whips, his clearing speed skyrocketed.
When a Piercer lunged at him, he met it head-on, forgoing any attempt to dodge. The Chain Scourges hissed through the air—shhhk, shhhk, shhhk—and impaled the corpulent worms, stringing them up like grotesque shish kebabs. Even the high-defense Rustmaws proved no obstacle. Their supposedly tough Carapaces, backed by a mere handful of defense points, might as well have been parchment against the 30-plus points of Strength backing each of Calder's strikes. The chains punched through them with contemptuous ease.
Afternoon bled into evening, and evening into the dead of night. The distant shouts of other players faded, replaced first by screams, and then by an unnerving silence. Soon, the only sounds left on The Surge Grounds were the horrific shrieks of the beasts and the relentless crack of Calder’s whips.
His slaughter, however, was far from over.
The few players lucky enough to find shelter in nearby buildings watched the spectacle unfold, trembling in their hiding spots while the Regional Chat exploded with activity.
"This is insane. Calder is a fcking monster. What wave is this even?"
"Eighteen? Nineteen? I lost count. A lot."
"It's so tilting. We're all Divinely Gifted, so why is he soloing the entire damn apocalypse while I can barely handle one mob?"
"Lmao, if you're so mad, why don't you go out there and help?"
"No thanks. I saw the guys from the leaderboards get wiped. I'm just a scrub, I'm staying right here."
"Man... I wonder how many of us are even left in Novice Zone 911. A hundred? Maybe?"
"Don't be so gloomy. At least we're still alive. A bunch of other Novice Zones have already become The Unclaimed Wastes. Total wipeouts. Now that's tragic."
"You're right. GO CALDER! Keep it up! I'm cheering for you from the gym storage room!"
"omg I love him so much"
"Calder, baby, I've got a bed warmed up for you in the girls' dorm, room 1501. Come rest when you're tired ;) "
"Get lost, you shameless harlot! Don't you dare try to distract him! Calder belongs to all of Novice Zone 911!"
"Yeah, beat it, thot."
In a room within the men's dormitory, a group of players lay scattered across the floor and beds, groaning in pain. They were the tattered remnants who had just escaped The Surge Grounds, all of them wounded.
"Three hundred," Caden whispered, his eyes webbed with broken blood vessels, his voice thick with regret. "We started with three hundred people. Now there's less than twenty of us left." He glared at Vance. "I never should have listened to you, chasing some stupid leaderboard rank!"
Ray, lying nearby, let out a cold, cynical laugh. "Cut the crap, Caden. You were the one who abandoned Serena to die, not me. Who are you putting this act on for?"
"What did you just say?" Caden snarled, his eyes blazing with fury.
"Am I wrong?" Ray shot back, pushing himself to his feet to face him.
"Enough! Both of you, shut up!" Vance's roar cut through the tension, and he shoved himself between them. "Haven't enough people died? Do you want to tear each other apart, too?"
The accusation hit home. The fire in their eyes dimmed, and after one last venomous glare, they both sat back down.
"I'm stuck at Level 8," Vance said, his voice heavy. "I might have had a shot at Level 10. I'm probably still number one on the leaderboard for now."
Ray scoffed. "Don't make me laugh. Do you have any idea how many monsters that guy has killed by now? He just hasn't bothered to level up yet. You really think you're still number one?"
Vance sighed, the fight draining out of him. He couldn't argue. The gap in their power was just too vast, a chasm of despair. The Beast Surge that had broken their entire force was little more than a mild inconvenience to Calder. The image of those chains dancing across the battlefield had shattered their naive dreams of glory.
"Is his Divine Gift A-Tier? Or something even higher?" Caden asked quietly.
Ray shook his head, his tone uncharacteristically somber for the first time. "I don't know. But whether it's A-Tier or above, he's not someone we can afford to provoke." He paused. "We should be thinking about how to apologize to him."
Vance laughed, a hollow, self-deprecating sound. "Apologize? You think he wants our apology?"
Their gazes drifted towards the distant, chaotic battlefield. They had screamed for Calder's help during the slaughter. They had begged. He had ignored every single one of them, watching impassively as their army of three hundred was whittled down to a handful of broken survivors. They were all wounded, some severely. They were out of the fight for the foreseeable future. Any advantage they had built up at the start of the game was gone.
"A loss is a loss," Ray said, slumping back with a defeated air. "There's no shame in admitting it. What's the worst that can happen? He kills us? Fine."
His nihilism cast a pall over the room, and the others looked on with faces full of despair.
Just then, someone spoke up. "Hey, look. I think... I think it's getting quiet out there."
Everyone scrambled to the window. Sure enough, the constant, hellish roar from The Surge Grounds was finally fading into silence. With Cliff, their scout, long dead, they couldn't see anything clearly in the pitch-black night.
A moment later, someone else gasped. "The leaderboard! Look at the leaderboard! Calder's leveling up!"
They all instinctively pulled up the rankings interface. Calder's name, which had sat at Level 5, shot to Level 6, then 7, then 8... In the span of a few seconds, it rocketed straight to Level 10.
The last flicker of hope in Vance's heart died. He collapsed onto the floor, utterly defeated.
Then, a series of system announcements echoed in the minds of every survivor in Novice Zone 911.
`[Ding! Congratulations to Player Calder for slaying the Greater Shade. Reward: Silver Cache x1.]`
`[Announcement: Congratulations to Player Calder for clearing all twenty waves of the Beast Surge and successfully completing all Novice Trials. Reward: Chrono x1.]`
`[Ding! All trial missions for Zone 911 are now complete. Rewards will be distributed according to final leaderboard rankings. The final rankings are as follows:]`
1st Place: Calder, Level 10
2nd Place: Vance, Level 8
3rd Place: Caden, Level 8
4th Place: Ray, Level 7
5th Place: Flint, Level 7
...
100th Place: Reid, Level 2
`[Ding! Ranking display complete. Rewards have been sent. Please check your inventory.]`
As the system messages concluded, Vance and the others found Silver Caches deposited into their inventories.
"Well... at least we get a treasure chest," someone in the room murmured.
Aside from Calder, their group had dominated the top twenty spots. In fact, everyone currently in the room had placed in the top ten, securing the Silver Cache rewards.
"I guess that's a silver lining," Vance sighed.
A few faint smiles appeared on the faces of those who received the reward, as if their ordeal had been worth it after all.
Suddenly, Ray shot to his feet. "Holy sht! Calder just private messaged me!"
The room fell silent. Everyone stared at him.
"What did he say?" Vance asked, his voice strained.
Ray's expression was stiff, almost wooden, as he turned to face them. "He... he said to hand over all our Silver Caches. Or... or else we die."
The room plunged into a dead, chilling silence.
Though the battlefield was now clear of living monsters, Calder's six Chain Scourges did not rest. They continued to writhe and probe, plunging into one corpse after another.
`[Ding! Absorbed Level 8 BOSS Emberlisk corpse. Lung Blight Index: +1.]`
`[Ding! Absorbed Level 9 BOSS...]`
`[...]`
Once the Blight Index for his four limbs reached 69, they could no longer absorb anything from the low-level monsters. The blight energy now had to be channeled into his internal organs, strengthening his Constitution. Before long, he had picked The Surge Grounds clean.
"Still not enough monsters," he murmured, frowning at his Lung Blight Index, which had stalled around 40. It couldn't be helped. After Vance's army was wiped out, the remaining ten waves had been scaled for a single challenger, drastically reducing the number of spawns.
Even so, the gains were substantial.
[Blight Index: Strength: 69]
[Blight Index: Agility: 69]
[Constitution Blighting Average: 39]
He had gained nearly 70 points in both Strength and Agility, and almost 40 points in Constitution. In terms of raw stats, he was untouchable in this Novice Zone.
Calder glanced at the Gold Cache in his inventory—his reward for taking first place—and opened it without hesitation.
`[Ding! You have obtained Tier 1 Chrono Seed x10.]`
`[Ding! You have gained +10 to all attributes.]`
`[Ding! You have obtained Refined Dirk +1.]`
He immediately used the Chrono Seeds.
`[Ding! Chrono +10!]`
Amidst the endless stream of 0.01 Chrono gains, this large deposit was a welcome sight. With his level capped at 10 pending a class change, he couldn't get any stronger that way for now.
His attention fell to the final reward: the [Refined Dirk]. He opened its item panel.
[Refined Dirk +1]
[Quality: Excellent (Light Armor)]
[Level Requirement: 10]
[Attack: 45]
[Speed: 55]
[Defense: 20]
[Enchantment: Arcane Rebound (Returns 20% of magic damage taken to the caster)]
"An enchantment?" Calder's eyes flickered with surprise. The base stats were mediocre for an Excellent-quality weapon, but the enchantment elevated its value significantly. A few years down the line, a weapon like this could sell for one or two hundred Chrono, making it even more valuable than a Tier 1 Chrono Seed. But this early in the game, with Chrono being so scarce, he'd be lucky to get more than a coin or two for it.
Besides, the weapon was useless to him. His Aberrant Shift arms could morph into a variety of superior weapons, and the Blight Index itself functioned as a raw stat boost. As it continued to increase, every part of his body would become a lethal weapon. He was a living arsenal.
Calder shook his head. He wouldn't sell it for pennies. Better to let it gather dust in his inventory until the market matured.
"Calder."
As he was stashing the weapon, a voice called out. He turned to see Vance and his ragged group approaching, their eyes filled with a new level of awe and fear as they took in the mountains of corpses surrounding him.
When Calder's gaze swept over them, Ray quickly held up his Silver Cache. "We're here to pay the protection fee."
The other players awkwardly followed suit, raising their own chests.
Calder gave the boxes a passing glance. "Just the Silver Caches. You can keep the Bronze ones."
There was no threat in his tone, but no one dared to disobey. The field of bodies around them was a stark reminder of the consequences. The players outside the top ten breathed a sigh of relief, surprised they were allowed to keep their rewards. The top-ranking players, however, could only grit their teeth and obediently hand over their nine Silver Caches.
Calder accepted them without ceremony and, right in front of them, opened them all at once.
`[Ding! You have obtained Tier 1 Chrono Seed x9.]`
`[Ding! You have gained +2 to all attributes.]`
`[Ding! You have gained +2 to all attributes.]`
`[Ding! ...]`
`[Notice: You have reached the maximum attribute increase from Tier 1 Silver Caches.]`
He managed to absorb the stats from eight of the nine chests before hitting the cap. After applying all the points, his character sheet was a sight to behold.
[Calder]
[Level: 10 (Class Change Required)]
[Chrono: 29.3]
[Strength: 69.6 + 69]
[Speed: 69.7 + 69]
[Constitution: 69.5 + 39]
[Spirit: 70.1]
His Strength, Speed, and Constitution were all well over 100. At this point, he could kill any of the bosses from the Beast Surge with a single, artless blow.
He gave his stats a nod of satisfaction, then turned and walked away from The Surge Grounds. The other players scrambled to clear a path for him, collectively exhaling in relief as he departed.
Left behind, Vance's eyes darted back and forth before he broke into a run, chasing after Calder's receding figure. He finally caught up to him in the corridor beneath the spectator stands.
Calder's brow twitched. He was about to act when Vance suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud.
"Calder! I— It was crowded back there. I was wrong. I was a fcking idiot before. Please, I'm sorry," Vance begged, smashing his forehead against the concrete floor twice. He looked up, a bloody scrape on his brow, and pressed on, "We were classmates, right? Please, just give me a chance. Let me follow you. I'll do anything you say. I'll never—"
CRACK.
His plea was cut short as Calder's hand shot out and clamped around his throat. He lifted the 150-pound man into the air with one arm as if he weighed nothing.
Vance's face turned a deep shade of crimson. He thrashed and kicked, but his struggles were utterly useless against a Strength stat that dwarfed his own. He never even had a chance to use his Divine Gift, [Stormfire].
"I'm genuinely curious," Calder said, his voice calm as he studied the struggling man. "Who gave you the courage to come before me? Or did you think I have the memory of a goldfish and had already forgotten you tried to blast me this afternoon?"
"Ghhk—! Nnngh—!" Vance choked, unable to form a single word.
Calder wasn't waiting for an answer. With a subtle flex of his hand, the tips of his five fingers sharpened into razor-like claws and plunged deep into the soft flesh of Vance's neck. Blood trickled down Calder's arm. Within seconds, the struggling stopped. The body went limp, rapidly desiccating into a withered husk.
`[Lung Blight Index: +0.5]`
As the notification faded, Calder tossed the corpse aside like a piece of trash. If the fool hadn't gone out of his way to put on this pathetic show, Calder wouldn't have even bothered seeking revenge on a mere B-Tier scrub.
Without a second glance, he continued on his way. He didn't go far, slipping into an empty classroom to check the final notification from the system.
`[Ding! You have reached Level 10 and meet the attribute requirements for a Class Change. Do you wish to enter The Ascension Shrine?]`
Calder didn't hesitate. He selected [Yes].
A brilliant golden light flashed, enveloping him completely. When the light of the teleportation faded, he was gone.