Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 31 – Advance

—–CROW—– 

The Lizardman, whose neck was repeatedly pierced by critical hits, didn’t last long and collapsed.

I learned this relatively recently, but strong monsters don’t disappear for a while after they die.

Therefore, even with holes pierced in its neck like this, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that it was still alive.

Ah, of course, this guy is actually dead now.

There was a time when a Lizardman played dead and ambushed me, so I developed the habit of consistently confirming the kill.

And since I’ve done it so much, I can now roughly tell whether a Lizardman is dead or not without having to stab it.

[Quest Completed: Find the Treasure of the Ruins – Expedition Leader Windsor]

The quest was completed, and I received all the field boss clear messages and rewards.

Since the system interface wouldn’t lie, there’s no need to check whether it’s really dead or not.

[Quest Rewards: You have acquired ‘Experience’ and ‘Gold’.]

[Goal Achievement Reward: You have acquired ‘Lightning Charge Lv.1’.]

[You are the new Ruler of Lightning.]

The field boss rewards weren’t much, and the quest rewards, except for one skill, weren’t that great either.

I did acquire a new piece of equipment, but even considering the maximum enhancement value, it wasn’t much different from my original best equipment.

In the first place, the armor, weapons, and everything I’m wearing now are all just trash-item sets with high durability.

I am wearing good accessories with special options, but I’m not really attached to items anymore.

I might be tempted if it were a unique grade or higher item, but my current specs are already overkill.

Besides items, the only other gain is the reward for the newly achieved achievement.

[Achievement Achieved: Ruler of Lightning]

[Achievement Reward: You have acquired ‘Intelligence +5’.]

My Intelligence, which was the lowest among the four stats, increased by 5 at once.

Since I’m not a mage class, the Intelligence stat isn’t that important, but it doesn’t hurt to have it increased.

Even for the Warrior class, the total amount of MP consumed when using skills is affected by the Intelligence stat.

Anyway, it seems like the biggest gain this time will be the skill [Lightning Charge].

If it’s a charge skill, it’s probably that, right? Imbuing a weapon with an elemental effect.

I pulled out the dagger I had stuck in the Lizardman’s corpse and tried using the skill.

[Lightning Charge]

A blue spark seemed to flash briefly over the dagger, then quickly subsided.

What? Did I use it correctly?

Judging by the decrease in MP shown in the status window, it seems to have worked, but the effect is much less impressive than I thought.

Is it because it’s still level 1? Is electricity flowing through the dagger even though it’s not visible?

Hmm, if there were any small fry around, I could grab one and stab it to test it out.

I have no choice but to test this somewhere else.

I haven’t done this for a while since the growth of my Poison Resistance skill stopped.

– *Stab!*

So, I squatted down and started stabbing my thigh with the dagger.

**

I poured a potion on my wounded thigh to heal it and put the dagger back in my inventory.

“It’s trash.”

After spending about an hour diligently testing it on my body, I came to the conclusion that this skill is garbage.

First, the basic specification of the skill is a toggle-type buff skill that can be maintained until MP runs out.

As a continuous effect, it can make electricity flow through one equipped weapon.

But the power of the electricity is very poor. Even if it doesn’t have a paralysis effect, there is no additional damage at all.

Even if it’s level 1, I didn’t expect it to only feel like static electricity when taking off a thick sweater.

And even with that, its efficiency is terrible. Even though I turned it on and off intermittently, more than half of my MP was consumed.

An efficiency level where my MP is halved after using it on and off for an hour at my level…

An average 3rd-floor challenger wouldn’t be able to maintain it for long. Moreover, mana potions are expensive even among consumables.

It would be okay if I could use it to develop elemental resistance even if the power is poor, but it seems too weak to even generate resistance skills.

In a word, it’s completely useless.

It’s of no use right now, but since it’s one of the few active skills I have, I need to keep using it to level it up.

“Are other charge skills like this too?”

I muttered to myself as I stood up after confirming that my thigh was healed. I should check the community after a while.

Whether it’s a skill worth developing, whether it’s a skill that an ordinary warrior like me can use.

If it’s a skill that doesn’t suit the Warrior class, I should just give up on it. I can’t change my class now.

– Welcome to the Trial Tower Open Community!

The community, which I opened for information search, was for some reason burning fiercely.

[Official) 4th Festival Event Confirmed]

**

The post refresh rate of the open community is usually fast, but today was on a different level.

[Wow, the festival is really happening]

[Damn, 4th festival, hell yeah]

[Has the exact festival period been announced?]

[So, is Meteor Stone coming back? Will the price drop?]

[Are the festival dungeons the same as before?]

[Sharing information about the dungeons from the 2nd festival]

The atmosphere is similar to a game community where a major update announcement has been posted. The common keyword is “festival.”

I knew that the Tower of Trials had an event called the festival.

The festival is a server-wide event held roughly every three years and is one of the few opportunities for challengers from different towers to meet.

It’s a system where challengers who move to a common field can cooperate to clear dungeons and obtain rewards, and farm festival-limited equipment.

When I was stuck on the 1st floor, I thought this festival would be a chance to escape, so I had high expectations.

But soon after, I learned that the minimum requirement for participating in the event was clearing the 1st floor, and my mentality was shaken quite a bit.

It was the 10th anniversary of the Great Change when I entered the Tower of Trials, and about a year and a half has passed since then.

So, it’s about time.

[But is Jinhyuk coming to the festival?]

A post caught my eye while refreshing the endlessly updating page.

Why are these guys so interested in me?

When I opened the post, there were a bunch of comments from challengers with similar interests.

Huh, they’re treating me like a legendary Pokémon.

Since it’s a good opportunity for growth, I’ll definitely participate, but I need to be careful not to draw unnecessary attention.

Many challengers view me favorably, but there are definitely those who don’t.

It’s true that I’m overwhelmingly stronger than challengers on the same floor, but compared to high-floor challengers or rankers, I’m still lacking.

If some crazy guy with high specs dislikes me and picks a fight, I have no way to deal with it since I don’t belong to a guild or group.

No, there is one way.

I chuckled and closed the noisy community window.

If I’m worried about a crazy guy with high specs picking a fight, I just need to become strong enough to deal with anyone who challenges me.

My secluded training aimed at improving my skills is over. Now I just need to increase my specs by rapidly climbing floors and advancing.

“Shall we go?”

What I have to do hasn’t changed at all. I will keep moving forward without stopping.

Until I reach the top of this tower.

**

Multiple messages appeared as soon as I stepped into the boss room.

[Karamanta, a genius scholar who learned the language of different races, asked his Lizardman friend:]

[Why is the leader of the warrior race a shaman who presides over rituals?]

[The Lizardman replied, You don’t know what terrifying magic they can cast.]

Over there, a Shaman Lizardman, who had set up a flashy ritual table, was trembling and chanting a spell.

[BOSS – High Shaman Alkeman]

According to the latest strategy, which was established quite late, if you attack that guy as soon as you enter, you can stop the spell he’s casting.

If that happens, the number of ancient Lizardman warriors summoned decreases, making it a special gimmick that lowers the difficulty.

And with my Throwing skill, I should be able to successfully attack in one go and stop the spell.

But I stood still and waited for the spell to be completed.

– *Chirp! Chirp!*

And not long after, the staff in the Lizardman shaman’s hand glowed.

As the mysterious purple light surged, the bone fragments placed on the altar began to rise on their own and flesh began to form on them.

[BOSS – Greatest Axeman Gatunack]

[BOSS – Most Seasoned Spearman Ropegotan]

[BOSS – Sharpest Archer Haprak]

[BOSS – Most Steadfast Shieldman Itel]

Lizardman heroes with purple stripes on their shoulders, surpassing high-ranking warriors, gathered in one place.

And the shaman, who had summoned all the great heroes engraved in the tribe’s history, had a triumphant look on his face.

A look that firmly believed that with them, defeat was impossible.

“Are you done?”

But the conviction in my eyes, which he was looking at, must be several times clearer than his.

[Congratulations. You are the first to clear the 3rd floor of the Trial Tower.]

—–CROW—–