abcnovels
Chapter 244: The Third Zone: Reaper's Garden
Chapter 244: The Third Zone: Reaper's Garden
"I… Die…" the boss said as it dropped its head, and suddenly its entire began to vanish, probably since it was getting exorcised.
"Adios," Stark smiled as he kept observing the ghost's body, and after a few minutes, it completely vanished, leaving nothing other than a black smoke that was upward, toward the ceiling, "At least that's done with."
And of course, this could only mean one thing…
[You have slain 'Darkness Ghost lv130', gained 3,500,000EXP!]
~DING, DING~
[Your level has increased to level 64, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]
[Your level has increased to level 65, granting you three skill points and a boost in stats]
[Experience: 587224/2700000]
[Skill Points: 15 Available!]
Stark didn't even need for a single second to know what he was upgrading.
[You have upgraded 'Crimson Purification' to level 15!]
Was there even any doubt in his decision? He was in an undead rift, plus soon enough he would be able to enter the [Devil's Abyss] which contained three apostles, and by the name it was also filled with demons and devils, who were weak to [Exorcist].
But as he awaited for his new perks… something else occurred
Something that had never happened before.
[You now have a choice, Host.]
"Huh?" instead of getting his perks, a panel appeared.
[Since you have reached silver-tier, you can now access more features, and in this case…]
[You can choose to merge the perks!]
"What?"
[As I said, you have a choice: either you can choose to get three NORMAL perks like usual since you passed three thresholds, or… you can choose a LEGENDARY perk instead, it's only one, but it merges the three others and is way better (choose that)]
"…" Stark felt like that thing wasn't really giving him a choice, specifically putting the emphasis on the fact that merging the perks was a much better idea, "Oh well," and it wasn't like Stark hated it, didn't his system always reveal itself to be of help after all?
[So, which do you choose?]
And below it appeared two panels.
[Three perks (lame)] or [One LEGENDARY Perk (Wow!)]
"Sigh…" he clicked on the legendary perk, his curiosity getting the better of him, and as soon as he clicked on that panel…
[Amazing choice!]
…
[Skill: Crimson Purification lv15]
[New Perk: Holy Concentration (LEGENDARY)]
[Description: Instead of sending out your holy aura around you to kill all enemies surrounding you, you can instead choose to transform ALL of this aura into a giant energy ball that you can send toward a group of enemies, resulting in more damage!]
[Note: this perk can actually hurt normal enemies as well, though it will not deal as much damage as normal skills!]
…
"Amazing," Stark's eyes widened, he couldn't deny that this perk was the real deal.
[Good choice, the other perks were "less cooldown", "more holy aura" and "holy presence"!]
"Knew you wouldn't lie to me, panel," Stark gave the panel a thumbs up, but it just disappeared as it wasn't sentient, just telling him the info he needed.
"Alright, and now the new skill!" he had reached another threshold since he was now level 65, so he waited for the three cards to appear.
And so he waited, and waited.
And… waited…?
"Huh?" no cards were appearing, although it had been 3 minutes, and he even checked all his panels to make sure he didn't minimize it, "What?"
[Here is some info if you are confused!]
"…?"
[Remember how skills when they reach level 20 are now only able to unlock perks every 10 level?]
"Yeah…?"
[Well, it's the same for skills, wahoo! Meaning that the moment you reached level 60, you could only get a skill every 10 levels, meaning that the next one is at level 70!]
[Note: the gap between each skill will increase more and more as you upgrade your rank!]
[Have fun…!]
"Dude…" I guess he got his answer as to how so many people could keep up with all their skills: they couldn't, it's just that as they upgraded their ranks, they got less and less until it became too difficult to even get one since all their skills would be from the highest ranked category, "I guess that's fair," but even he couldn't deny that having too many skills would mean him forgetting about some of them at some point.
He enjoyed his current balance as he basically used all his skills during battles, and he wouldn't want to change it.
"Alright," he muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. "Time to move on."
He took a deep breath, refocusing.
He was still currently in the cabin with the infinite hallway, though the ghost had disappeared, meaning that he was truly alone.
But right as he finished all the things he needed to do…
~FWISH~
His surroundings began to distort, and it wasn't his vision, it was literally the hallways of the cabin that were now moving like waves, and the ground wasn't normal either.
The air thickened, vibrating with an invisible force that actually hurt Stark's mind.
He steadied himself against the wall, awaiting the end of whatever this was.
And…
Just as suddenly as it began, the distortion ceased.
Stark opened his eyes again, and… the cabin returned to its former state, it was extremely small as you would expect from such a cabin, only enhanced by the [Raging Loop] skill of the 'Darkness Ghost'.
But now that it had died, the skill obviously deactivated.
Stark blinked, shaking off the remnants of dizziness.
Before him stood a door, it was actually pretty damn average-looking as it was completely made out of the wood, but beside it, there was nothing else in that cabin since the door he entered from had disappeared as well.
"Alright, let's see what you've got," Stark muttered, steeling himself for the unknown. He reached for the doorknob, the cold wood biting into his palm.
And with a firm twist, he pulled it open.
But after these two zones, he expected something horrible straight out of a horror movie.
And yet… all he saw… was a garden.
[Third Zone: Reaper's Garden]
The air shifted as Stark stepped into the Reaper's Garden, and the scent of flowers was overwhelming.
He was currently standing on yet another stone path that went in a straight line toward a massive fountain he could see in the distance, probably in the middle of the zone, which meant that it wasn't that big.
Then Stark decided to scan the surroundings: rows upon rows of flowers were present everywhere, their petals moving to the wind, and statues of grim figures loomed, placed , faces carved with eerie expressions that watched him intently.
"Just a garden?" he murmured, incredulous. "No monsters, no traps?"
There were no tombstones this time, and he could see almost the entirety of the zone thanks to [Focus], or at least up until the fountain that was around three kilometers ahead.
But there wasn't a zone that didn't have a single monster, so he knew something was up, much like with the first one.
Would the monsters be waiting for him right before he reached the end? Or maybe an elite would appear the moment he reached the middle point of the garden, which was the fountain.
Or maybe…
Stark looked at the statues, their eyes almost looking like they were following him, as he took a few steps toward the fountain.
"…Yeah, no."
And so Stark immediately punched one of the statues, not wanting to risk it.