"I finally understand what 'expanded' means—it basically unlocked the hidden drop table in the gacha pool," Kael muttered, eyeing the new small porcelain bottles in his storage.
He had performed nearly three hundred pulls just to secure all eight of the new pill types.
As expected of "Hidden Items," the drop rate was abysmally low. Aside from the three class-restricted Rare pills, the rates for the rest were nearly as thin as the permanent stat-boosters. Kael was certain that pulling a Dragon-Ascension Pill had exhausted every ounce of luck he had saved up recently.
"However, among the Rare-grade pills, there don't seem to be any recovery types or temporary stat-boosters yet," Kael noted, reviewing his inventory.
So far, the Rare pills were exclusively for permanent attribute growth tailored to specific classes. The only one without a class restriction was the Dragon-Ascension Pill, and Kael currently only possessed a single one.
"It seems every tier of medicine follows its own internal logic," Kael mused, stroking his chin.
Looking at his storage again, Kael eventually gave up on pulling for new weapons or armor. There was simply no room left to display them. With the restocking complete, he filled the shelves and headed over to the Combat Strength Training Room to do some grinding of his own.
Upon entering, he found Shier staring at a crystal sphere, her expression heavy with grim determination.
Sensing his presence, Shier looked up at Kael. Her gaze was thick with a sense of grievance. "Manager..." she said, her voice trailing off.
Kael felt a slight shiver from the sheer gloom she was radiating. To maintain his dignity as the Boss, he kept his face expressionless. "What's wrong?"
Shier looked genuinely distressed. "Manager, I heard the others talking today... Is it true? Can you really defeat these opponents?"
Kael glanced at the crystal sphere in front of her. It seemed that while he was busy restocking, Shier had been losing—repeatedly.
As a member of the Moon Spirit Cat tribe, her combat instincts were being ruthlessly dismantled here. It made her want to cry. After all, Shier had relied on those very instincts to escape two Class-rank Wolf Hunters while she was only at the peak of the Hero-rank. That alone proved how potent her talent was.
But in the Arena, that talent felt pathetically inadequate.
Looking at her pouty, aggrieved face, Kael felt a bit like a bully. However, since she asked, he told the truth: "Yes. Actually, these opponents aren't that strong."
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
As he spoke, Kael recalled the "Terrestrial Immortal" from his previous Trial Space. Compared to that monster—if you ignored the fact that it couldn't move—the four guys in the Arena were practically amateurs.
"Manager..." Shier huffed, her cheeks puffing out as she stared at him gloomily again.
In the end, Kael didn't have the heart to crush Shier’s spirit any further.
After some thought, he decided it was time to complete the first half of his upgrade quest.
"System, open the Class-rank Trial Space for me," Kael said with a sigh, standing before the magic array.
Levels were never an obstacle for Kael. As long as he cleared the Class-rank Trial, the System would automatically boost his level to Level 50.
[System: Class-rank Trial Space activated. Upgrade Quest locked. Host, please enter the Trial Room immediately.]
Kael let out a long, weary sigh and stepped into the magic array, looking like a man heading toward his doom.
He was met with total darkness. Only in the far distance was there a faint speck of light. Kael focused his eyes on it, and in an instant, he was sucked into that brilliance.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in a vast, empty white void. In his hand was a magic staff of exceptionally poor quality.
"Here we go again," Kael sighed. He tried to stretch his limbs, only to realize his feet were stuck to the floor as if they had been glued. He couldn't move an inch.
"What... What is it this time?!" Kael gasped in shock.
Am I supposed to just stand here and get hit? Last time was about combat technique; is this time about durability? Kael looked miserable, praying the System wouldn't have the twisted sense of humor to target his handsome face.
[Will the Challenger please prepare. Stage One is about to begin.] [Once the trial starts, the Challenger can only cast 'Magic Barriers.' Each barrier can only block a single attack.] [The Challenger must use the barrier of the corresponding element to neutralize the incoming attacks.]
A cold, emotionless voice explained the rules. Before Kael could even process the information...
[Begin!]
At the edges of the white void, several fireballs materialized and began floating toward Kael at a leisurely pace.
"Oh, so that's the game."
Seeing the fireballs, Kael understood. He hurriedly waved his staff and cast a Fire Barrier around himself. The first fireball hit the shield and vanished instantly, taking the barrier with it.
Then, to Kael's horror, the remaining fireballs slammed into him. His consciousness faded instantly.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the white void.
"Okay, I know how to play now." Kael didn't care about dying once. After all, he had died tens of thousands of times at the hands of that "Immortal" before.
Without giving him a moment to rest, the voice rang out again: [Begin!]
The fireballs drifted toward him once more.
"Five of them." Kael scanned the field, confirming the count.
A barrier appeared. The moment the first fireball collided, Kael flicked his staff with frame-perfect precision, summoning a second barrier. He repeated this five times, neutralizing every threat.
Kael exhaled in relief.
"I see. Last time was a test of combat skill; this time is a test of Combat Rhythm."
He quickly grasped the essence of the trial: reaction speed and rhythmic timing. Since one barrier only blocked one projectile, he had to match the tempo of the incoming attacks perfectly.
And then...
Kael looked at the next wave. This time there were ten projectiles, and they consisted of both Fire and Water elements.
