Chapter 18: Solid
"How many batches have there been? Wait! She's already fighting Canzers at the 3rd stage Student difficulty when she's only at the 2nd stage?"
The swarm of monsters coming her way was designed only for those in the 3rd stage Student Realm. She wasn't supposed to be able to stand a chance against these!
A one-stage difference in the Canzer's difficulty was a chasm that almost none of the other Saviors could surpass.
Yet she was able to do it.
The fact that she was still able to survive was impressive enough, but the fact that she was still striving on without quitting meant that she was trying to go to the next batch.
She wanted to try and reach the 4th stage difficulty!
Unfortunately, the difference in the Canzer's hard shells and her thrusting prowess was too hard to overcome.
Not to mention the Canzers getting smarter as the other monsters learned from the deaths of their comrades, she was getting too overwhelmed.
Her graceful movements turned sloppy and forced as she tried to exert more power. This led to gaps in her sword stances that the Canzers were able to exploit.
The weaknesses in DPS were seen in her battle. She might be good at dealing tons of damage to one enemy, but she's vulnerable to a swarm of them coming her way.
She tried as hard as she could, but she still fell short of defeating the final batch of monsters that came her way. She wasn't able to even touch the feet of the 4th stage Student difficulty.
"I…lost…"
She knelt on the street, devastated at her lack of power.
But for the rest of the spectators and the competitors who knew how difficult the feat she showed, they all clapped at her with amazement.
She truly showed the difference in having an S class LifeSkill. She was able to defeat Canzers a whole stage above her strength!
But that wasn't enough for her.
As soon as she heard that there was another beginner who was able to beat Saviors two stages higher than his own, she vowed to break his record.
Unfortunately, she underestimated the difficulty in doing that.
"Why are you so down? You won!" Zoland went over to Yasmine and comforted her.
"But I didn't get to the 4th stage…" she muttered.
Zoland looked back at Atlan and realized that she was competing with him. He underestimated how competitive she was.
"Haaa," he sighed. "You kids are so impatient. Don't worry. You'll get your chance to outshine him some other time. You're an S class talent, you'll get better much faster and much further."
Meanwhile, Atlan looked at his Soul System and saw his new advancement.
[Atlan]
[Bloodline: Angelic Reaper of Souls]
[Genus]
—1x (3-star) Human
—1x (10-star) Grim Reaper
—1x (10-star) Angel
[Mutation]
— (10-star) Gluttonous Soul
— (10-star) Lightspeed Angel Wings
[LifeSkills]
Specialty: GLOBAL
—God: (SSS) Grim Reaper Physique
———1st stage Student Realm
————(1000 / 1000)
Specialty: Vanguard
—DPS: (SSS) Cherubic Retribution
———2nd stage Student Realm
————(0 / 2000)
[Available Experience: 12,131.2]
Atlan saw the planet in his Soul System that corresponded to his Cherubic Retribution LifeSkill.
The blue wisps that gathered at the very core of the planet were now completely solid. It had stabilized into a firm and well-grounded foundation for his LifeSkill.
In comparison, his Physique LifeSkill planet was still filled with vibrating wisps, with no sign of it ever congealing into one solid piece.
He also noticed that he could advance his Vanguard LifeSkill to the 3rd stage of the Student Realm immediately.
I have enough experience, so why not?
He gained a total of 4000 extra experience just from reaping the deaths of the Pseudo Canzers in the competition.
With just a thought, he was able to command 2000 wisps by the side of his Soul System and flood the second layer of the planet until it couldn't take any more wisps.
An invisible barrier prevented the wisps from overpopulating the second layer.
And as soon as the core filled up, another set of words popped up in front of him.
[You have successfully advanced through the 2nd Stage Student Realm of your SSS class LifeSkill Cherubic Retribution]
[Consolidation period: 47 hrs: 59 mins: 50secs]
Atlan only had to wait for 2 days until he fully consolidated his power to the 3rd stage Student Realm.
If anyone found out that he was advancing through the stages like this, they would lose their minds and curse the gods for their unfairness.
Atlan's way of getting experience by just reaping the souls of the dead was nothing more than an overpowered cheat.
As amazing as it sounded, Atlan didn't like that he had to see the death and suffering of a lot of living beings just to get stronger.
Just as he said that, he suddenly saw something out of the corner of his eye.
It was a little twitch, a very minute movement from one of the Pseudo Canzers that lay frozen on the streets. One of its thin cockroach legs moved by a quarter inch.
He didn't know if it was because of his enhanced physique or because of his attentiveness, but he saw it as clear as day.
"Okay, this week's competition is over and I think we saw two of the best performances ever. And it was done by two beginners at that! Let's give them a round of applause!"
Zoland faced all the Saviors in the Remedium and started clapping, and all of them followed in turn.
All of them were rejoicing for the recruits. They were more than happy to welcome these overwhelming transcendent talents in their midst, especially a capable Porter like Atlan.
CLAP CLAP CLAP
Atlan secretly turned towards Neumann and whispered to him.
"What happens to those monsters?"
When the contestants couldn't handle the monsters anymore, they quit the competition, and the monsters were forced to stay still through some sort of invisible mechanism.
"Oh, are you talking about the twitching? Those Canzers are still alive, but they are being forced by the Remedium itself to stay locked in place."
"What happens to them?"
"They stay there till they die. Don't worry about them. They won't be able to move again. They'll rot in place."
Atlan looked at the frozen Canzers and felt…pity. Those poor monsters were suffering.
He didn't like suffering. He didn't like blood. He was a pacifist.
I need to kill them, he thought.