Val fell backwards and landed on her butt as she felt her mana hit dangerously low. Even though she wasn’t running around or attacking physically like Kenny was doing, she still felt exhausted. She breathed heavily as she placed both hands out behind her to keep her from falling completely on her back.

She stared up at the darkening sky that looked back down on them. A smile slowly grew on her face as she replayed the entire ending of the fight. She had taken a gamble on whether she was able to stack her new awakened ability, a gamble she was more than happy to come out on top of.

She hadn’t even thought about trying that out. However, when Kenny had suddenly leaped in front of the Goblin Witch Doctor’s attack all of sudden and had taken that hit for her, something she wasn’t expecting at all, and splashed whatever that liquid was across the goblin’s face, she felt she needed to take the opportunity given to her and take the chance.

Val turned her head down a bit to look at Kenny who was sprawled out on the ground in front of the Goblin Witch Doctor. He looked like the Pain ability was starting to wear off as he started groaning while slowly moving to his feet.

He turned back and gave her a toothy grin that she was unsure how to feel about. It wasn’t the type that held any malice, not that he had any reason to have any, or was it filled with insincerity. It was just one of pure joy and happiness. After all the insincere or forced smiles she had seen in her last group this was a welcomed difference, one she was trying to get used to.

“Nice going on that finishing combo,” Kenny stated as he reached out a hand to help Val up. “That new ability of yours did quite the damage from what I was hearing.”

Val dusted off the dirt that had covered her clothes as she replied with a slight chuckle, “Yeah, well I figured I’d give that ugly bastard some payback for all the pain it gave you.”

Kenny let out a wheezed chuckle as he tried to calm his raw and sore nerves. “Not going to lie. That ability freaking hurts. It did more damage than anything I’ve come across so far.”

“That’s probably because your magical defenses aren’t as high as your physical,” Val stated.

“Oh yeah? Which one is linked to magical defenses?” Kenny asked with a smirk. “I might have to start investing into it right away if we are going to face many other bosses like that.”

Val shook her head as she thought about it. “Not entirely sure. I know it’s one of the ones I’ve invested in since I came out of it before you and shrugged most of the damage off. So, it has be either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Perception.”

Kenny hummed as he tried to think about which of the three it could be. He didn’t have enough information on the three stats to accurately guess, but if he had to narrow it down to two he believed that it would be either Perception or Wisdom.

His reasoning for thinking that Intelligence wasn’t it was because he believed it was a stat that increased the power behind spells or magical abilities. It would be weird if a stat that increased the power of spells would also increase the defense against them.

Wisdom and Perception were more mysterious to him. Wisdom did increase his mana pool he noticed, but besides that he wasn’t sure what else it did. It wouldn’t be strange if the stat that increased his mana pool also helped increased the defense against spells or magical abilities since it helped a person grow with magical power.

However, he felt like he couldn’t rule Perception out either. That stat helped increase sight and awareness so it wouldn’t be strange if it helped a person be more aware of spells or magical abilities being used on them thus help increase a defense against them, right?

As Kenny shrugged the thoughts away a few screens popped in front of him turning his attention towards it. A grin slowly formed on his face as he read them.

[Congratulations! You have defeated the 3rd Area Boss of the Trial Grounds, Goblin Witch Doctor. Exp earned. Tower Credits earned.]

[Calculating results.]

[Fighting the Area Boss with less than four people has been taken into account.]

[Calculations completed. Appropriate loot suitable for performance and involvement has been determined.]

[You have been awarded +5 Free Stat Points for defeating an Area Boss!]

[Congratulations! You have been awarded an extra 3 Free Stat Points for fighting and defeating an Area Boss with less than four people!]

[Congratulations! You have received the Uncommon Title: Who Needs Numbers 1!]

[Title: Who Needs Numbers 1. Fight and Defeat three or more Area Boss or Mid Area Boss monsters with less than four people. Uncommon Title: Who Needs Numbers 1 awards +5% to Stat Endurance, +5% to Stat Vitality.]

[Congratulations! You have received the Title: No Pain No Gain!]

[Title: No Pain No Gain. Get hit by a fully charged Pain Hex ability and survive. Either struggle against it for a certain amount of time or turn it into an opportunity. Title: No Pain No Gain awards +5% to Stat Wisdom, +5% to Stat Perception.]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up! You have reached level 8! 5 Free Stat Points are available. 5 free Skill Points are available!]

While Kenny was a little bummed out that he didn’t get the same amount of bonus Free Stat Points like he did when fighting the first and second Area Bosses solo, he was still happy to see that he received at least three. He now knew where the cut-off line was for that.

What he wasn’t expecting was that Title for fighting at least three Area and Mid-Area Bosses with under four people. It looked like he was going to get that anyways, but to find out it was only at one too! That meant it could grow if he and Val continued to fight Area Bosses with just the two of them or if they had one other person.

That last title he received though, the No Pain No Gain one was interesting. If his working theory from earlier was right then one of those two did give him some defense to magical attacks. Why the title gave him both though…he wasn’t sure. Just another thing to add to the list of questions he needed answers to. For now though…it was time to celebrate.

Kenny heard Val squeal with delight as he looked at her. She was already turning to look at him as she said with barely contained excitement, “I got another Title! It’s No Pain No Gain.”

Kenny nodded as he said, “I got that one too. Along with one called Who Needs Numbers One.”

Val frowned as she said, “Ugh you got two? What the hell why didn’t I get that one too?”

“It says I got it for fighting three or more Area and Mid-Area Bosses with a group of less than four people,” Kenny explained. “You’ll probably get it too if we keep at it like we are.”

Val smirked at that before shaking her head, “Probably not while in the Trial Grounds.”

Kenny’s smile disappeared as he asked, “What do you mean?”

“While these Area Bosses and the Mid-Area Bosses are slightly manageable right now for us, that last one though…the one we’ll need to defeat at the end of the Trial Grounds is considered a Raid Boss,” Val stated. When she saw the confused look on Kenny’s face she continued, “It means it’s too tough for just the two of us to handle. We’ll need more than four people, at least a couple parties full of people, just to fight and hopefully win against it.”

Kenny grimaced at the thought of trying to find parties to team up with just to fight the last boss. If they needed to form up with groups then that just meant they didn’t have the time to dilly dally around. They needed to get to the end before the last of the parties took on this raid boss of the Trial Grounds.

Kenny’s grimace deepened even more after he realized not only did they need to hurry to get there before the last people fought it, but he also still needed to get his last two Skill Trees awakened. Finding out about this just made his stress rise even more.

Val saw the grimace on Kenny’s face and understood what he was thinking. Deciding to help lessen the worries that were probably forming she said, “No need to worry. We have time to make it as long as we get there with two hours left of the Trial Grounds.”

Kenny looked at her with a puzzled look. Before he could ask the obvious question, Val swiftly answered, “The Tower puts a hold on the last possible attempt to take on the last Area Boss to give any stranglers time to make it. Since the longest known time to take down the final boss was two hours the Tower gives any stranglers a chance to make it there before the two hour mark arrives. If people don’t make it there by then, then the last parties waiting are allowed to take on the final boss.”

Kenny nodded after hearing that. He had to admit that hearing it did lessen some of his stress, but it didn’t take it all away. No matter what, they still needed to find his last two Skill Tree triggers and Val’s last one. As if on cue, the sound of two boxes hitting the ground filled the air as three portals appeared not too far from them.

Before Kenny looked at the boxes he felt a pull coming from one of the portals. It was still there, that hope of being led to his trigger was still calling for him. He snapped out of that strange trance and frowned as he looked back towards the path they used to come here.

He was pulled to this area like he was being pulled to go through that portal, but he didn’t find anything that would awaken any of his two Skill Trees. He wondered why that was.

His thought dispersed as he saw Val staring at a Portal. The look in her eyes told him she had a pull towards one as well. He turned to see which one it was and was surprised to see it was the same portal he was staring at moments ago. She snapped out of her daze and looked at Kenny. She had a slight hunger in her eyes, but it was pushed down by concern.

“Did you feel anything?” Val asked, trying to temper her voice.

Kenny smirked as he stared at her. “I did.”

A look of joy appeared on her face that quickly disappeared as she asked, “Which one feels like it is calling you?”

Deciding to tease her a bit, Kenny point to the one on the right and said, “That one.”

Val’s chest fell as she slumped a bit. “Oh okay. So, I guess we’ll go through that one then?”

Kenny felt bad after hearing her say that. He was actually surprised she didn’t try to convince him to go through the one she felt her final pull from. He was also touched that she was willing to go through a different one to help him out.

Kenny let out a sigh as he said while pointing at the portal on the left, “Nah, we’ll go through that one instead.”

Val’s brows furrowed. She wasn’t sure why he had said that they would go through a different portal than the one he had originally pointed at. Before she could ask, Kenny scratched his chin and said, “I was kidding about which portal I felt a trigger pulling me towards. That right one isn’t the one I felt it. It’s the left one. The same one as you.”

Val stared at him with confusion. After a few seconds passed her eyes narrowed and she asked with a dangerous undertone, “Are you telling me you lied to me just to do some bad joke?”

Kenny’s face dropped as he realized something. Maybe making bad jokes like this probably wasn’t the best idea, especially when the person who the joke was played on could cause a lot of pain with just a single word.

“No, not at all,” Kenny swiftly said as he raised both of his hands up in complete surrender.

Val brought her wand up and pointed it at him. Sparks of red flashed around her eyes as she calmly said, “Don’t lie to me Kenneth. If you tell me the truth now, I promise I won’t hurt you…too badly.”

Flashbacks of the magical ability Pain replayed in Kenny’s mind as he stared at the dangerous woman in front of him. With a gulp he said, “Fine. I saw you were staring at the same portal I was before you snapped out of it and when I saw the look in your eyes like there was a chance I had one too in a different area I couldn’t help myself. I know it was a bad joke and I won’t do it again.”

Val’s expression remained unchanged as she took a step forward. Kenny waved his hands around trying to stop her from getting any closer, but she didn’t stop. As soon as she got within point blank range he tensed his body resigning himself to his fate.

The red sparks suddenly disappeared as a smirk formed on her face and the hand holding the wand dropped to her side. “You fold too easily.”

“Huh?” Kenny questioned as he slowly dropped his hands as well.

“However, I owe you this for that bad joke,” Val said as she punched his arm as hard as she could. However, that was a mistake on her part. As soon as her fist hit Kenny’s arm a sharp pain ran up her hand and most of her own arm. She let out a gasp of pain as she grabbed her hurt wrist with her other hand and waved it around.

Kenny was confused for a brief moment before he realized what had happened. His Endurance Stat was much higher than her Strength Stat making her feel like she had just punched a wall instead of an arm.

“Jesus Christ man. Are you made of stone or something?” Val complained as she glared at him.

Kenny placed both hands on his hips as he stated, “Maybe. They don’t call me the stone wall for nothing.”

“Who the hell calls you that?” Val questioned with an unamused look.

“No one,” Kenny grinned.

The scowl that was starting to form switched to a wicked smile as Val replied back, “And no one ever will. Instead, I’ll start call you my Pain and Stress Reliever.” She then whipped her wand back up and shouted, “Pain!”

Kenny jumped away in time to dodge the incoming ball of muddy grey light and then started running around the goblin hut. He laughed as he heard Val laughing while yelling at him to hold still.

 

---

 

“Did you know?” Estrella suddenly said as she glared right at Lisandra.

Everyone turned to look at Estrella and then at Lisandra. They all had a confused look on their faces, especially Lisandra. Something that was made clear to all when she asked, “Know what?”

“That she would gain an ability that paired well with that Stacking ability of hers? And I’m not talking about that awful Slow Debuff so don’t play dumb,” Estrella questioned.

Lisandra’s brows furrowed as she answered, “No. You know as well as I do that no one will know what type of Focuses or abilities a person will get upon awakening.”

“That’s true, but there are always speculations made on what they could get based on personality and behaviors,” Estrella pressed.

Lisandra gave her a what the hell kind of look as she responded, “You know as well as I do that those types of guesses are highly inaccurate…”

“But there have been cases where they have been right,” Mimi chimed in.

Lisandra turned to look at the woman. “Those guesses have more data and factors involved like parents or blood related family members who are ascenders and what their classes were. I do not know who her parents are or if they were ascenders or if anyone in her family are or were ascenders. There is a study still on going on this topic.”

Estrella scoffed. “I know about the study, but I thought after so long there would have been some progress on it. Fine. I won’t press the issue, but what about the other thing that happened?”

“What other thing?” Lisandra questioned as she tried to think back on what happened during the fight they had just watched.

“Are you referring to when the boy coated his hand in some sort of sludge and flung it into the goblin’s face?” Gunnar asked. A chuckle slowly threatened to escape his mouth as he replayed the image in his mind. “I have to admit that it was ingenious of him to do that. Him struggling after taking that Pain attack point blank range and the wicked smile of defiance right before doing that and succumbing to the pain was a true show of grit.”

“Right,” Estrella said with some disgust in her tone of voice. “I don’t care about that crude display of struggling, but what I want to know is if he had awakened a Skill Tree as well. There weren’t any signs showing that he did.” Estrella turned to look at Ayla. “Can you dispel the confusion I am having?”

Ayla stared at Estrella for a long moment before sighing and finally saying, “What he did wasn’t from a new ability awakened through a Skill Tree. He still only has the one.”

Murmurs started up in the room as Estrella’s brow knitted together trying to figure out what she had meant. After thinking about she asked, “If this wasn’t from a new ability then where did he create that liquid from? He doesn’t have any skill related to creating any form of liquid.”

Ayla shook her head with some disappointment. She then turned to Vesely and requested, “Vessie, would you please explain what that liquid was to everyone who either didn’t fully hear the explanation of his ability or just weren’t paying attention.”

Vessie nodded as she looked at everyone with a clam expression and answered, “That liquid we all saw coating his hand was a mixture of poison and toxins.”

Everyone stared at Vesely with a blank expression. She and Ayla could see the confusion still on their faces even after the bit of time Vesely gave them to try and process. Mimi’s question further drove the point Ayla made about them not really paying attention to his ability when she explained it.

“I’m not doubting what you are saying, but…where did he get the poison and toxins from?” Mimi asked. “I thought he had the ability to absorb it, not use it.”

Vesely shook her head before explaining, “What he did wasn’t him properly using the poisons and toxins he had absorbed from the toads and other creatures they had fought previously. It’s like Estrella mentioned earlier, he doesn’t have the ability to create any poisons. Instead, he absorbed it and then expunged it from his body.”

Everyone in the room had mixed reactions. Some had widened their eyes to the news, some had a disgusted expression, a few looked impressed, and a single person laughed. Vesely hid the smile that was threatening to form on her face and noticed Ayla was doing the same.

Estrella, one of the few who looked disgusted, asked, “Are you saying he pushed out all that poison from his body like it was some sort of waste and threw it at the goblin? Like a monkey that throws poop?”

Vesely grimaced at the example the annoying woman had given and explained, “Heavens no. It’s not something disgusting like that at all. His ability absorbs any type of poison used against him and is stored within his body until it reaches full capacity. During the process of absorbing poison until its full, he is immune to all types of poisons that are around the level of the monsters within the Trial Grounds. After reaching full capacity he will be vulnerable to the poisons being thrown at him. For him to become immune to the poisons once again he needs to expunge all the poison from his body.”

“Question,” Gunnar started as he raised a hand. “I know poisons are more your expertise and I don’t have anywhere near the knowledge on the topic other than poisons can be bad, but…Can’t he just circulate the poison through his body instead of needing to expunge it?”

Vesely shook her head. “If he had an ability to be able to circulate poisons, toxins, and venoms then yes, but he doesn’t. However, if he tried to even attempt it without the proper skill set then it could seep into his blood stream and do some pretty bad damage that could, at best case, make him blind, mute, or have an immobilized limbs that healing with either have a tough time fixing or cant heal or worse…death.”

Gunnar nodded his head as he muttered, “Ah, then expunging the poison from his body is the wisest choice for him then.” A thought suddenly popped into his mind as he replayed another fight that left everyone baffled. With a grin he asked, “Seeing the reaction from that Goblin Witch Doctor after the expunge poison had landed in its eyes, is it possible he could have expunged poison inside the Stone Guardian Hound’s mouth during that fight?”

Vesely was taken back a bit by the question. This time the smile the she was holding back slipped slightly. “That is a possibility. I can not confirm nor deny it though since we could not see what was going on inside that creature’s mouth when his hand was in it.”

“Wait,” Mimi suddenly interjected. “If that’s the theory we are going off of when we saw the creature acting strangely then when did he collect poison? I don’t remember any of the creatures in the first area having any poisonous attacks or the like.”

“I think…,” Christian jumped in as he thought about it. “The poison came from the rats. If memory serves me right, those rats had a very weak poison they carry within themselves. Fighting a few wouldn’t be enough for the poison to take any effects, but a swarm of them… Also, I think if they scratched you it wouldn’t leave any hints of it, but their bites could.”

“But when did he…,” Mimi started to say until it dawned on her. “The rat nest.”

Both Christian and Gunnar nodded in unison. Clarity appeared on the rest of the people’s faces in the room a few seconds later as they understood what Mimi meant. Christian then added, “My guess is that during his fight with those rats, when they swarmed him, the small amount of poison they held within them was enough to become an issue and he was able to store some.”

Vesely nodded. “I think your guess is correct.”

The strict young man raised a brow as he repeated, “You guess?”

Vesely smiled. “Yes. I guess, Christian. Grey Haired Rats aren’t a specialty of mine since their poisons aren’t very…useable I guess I could call it.”

Christian nodded while tilting his head. “Understood.”

“I’ve got a question,” Gunnar started up as he looked at Vesely. “Now, I don’t claim to know all the specifics when it comes to things that come to poison type abilities, especially since its more of your clan’s specialty, but…being able to absorb then expunge or release, whatever you want to call it, wouldn’t he get the Poisoner’s High like you all seem to get after having so much poison circulating in you? I’ve noticed he’s shown symptoms close to that, but at the same time it feels, or rather looks different than that.”

Poisoner’s High, something any Poisoner type Ascender had to be wary of due to the fact it could and would creep up on you without warning if you weren’t aware of the symptoms. Only through proper guidance and training could one pick up on and understand how to suppress or even negate the trance-like effects. After all, Poisoner’s High was not a Debuff one would get from skills or abilities but rather through a specific bloodline.

Vesely gave him a smile as she stated, “I understand your concerns, but as it stands right now he is not at risk of having the same…predicament as we in the Toxo clan. Now I won’t go into the full details, but it basically comes down to he is not a Poisoner. At least, not that we know of. His ability to absorb and expunge poison means he cleanses himself from the poison and their effects. What you’ve noticed from the faint smile he’s been getting during his recent fights and the way he looks like he’s having fun is more akin to what you are more familiar with…”

Gunnar’s eyes slightly widened before he schooled himself once more and nodded as he took in what she explained. He knew and understood there was more to it than what she had said when explaining why the boy wouldn’t have to worry about getting a Poisoner’s High.

It was enough for everyone in the room to understand that his ability was not a Poisoner ability and was much different than how the Poisoners dealt with Poisons. But pointing out that the boy was having something more like a Combatant Elation or possibly…Fighter’s Euphoria…That was something he was more familiar with. Something he also needed to confirm if the boy had the potential of receiving.

Combatant Elation and Fighter’s Euphoria, like a Poisoner’s High, are something very specific people could ever enter. Those types of people were related to one of the four Fighter Clans. One of those clans was the one he led, House of Beserk. A clan well known for their prowess and fighting capabilities as well as a strong producer of Berserker type fighters.

If someone from the lower world, specifically Earth, had to relate their kind to something they could compare and make it easier to understand, they would be similar to the Norse Fighters known as Vikings. Another clan from the Fighters was also compared to the Greek Spartans, Clan Spartanics. The clan Christian was from.

Now that he thought more on it, the way the boy fought, his adaptiveness, his ruthless ways of using his enemies as a weapon reminded him of how the young in his clan fought when they grew desperate while learning how to fight.

He wasn’t sure if he liked that. That meant the boy either belonged to someone from his clan or someone from his clan went down to the lower world and taught him and possibly others their style of fighting. This was something he was going to need to look into more later.

“Do we know who the boy’s parents are?” Estrella suddenly asked, bringing everyone’s attention to them. “I know he was found outside the tower so we can’t call him a Tower Baby. However, if there is a possibility he carries the risk of entering a Combatant Elation then that means he belongs to a clan here in the Tower?” Estrella turned her gaze on Vessie and questioned, “Vesely? You were the one who was tasked to find him. Did you see his parents?”

“I believe I told you everything I saw when I found him a couple days ago,” Vesley suddenly said with a calm and collected tone of voice. “He has a stepmother, a pair of siblings, and a father. The stepmother has never stepped foot in the tower and as for the father…He is a man who spends all his time working an Earth job. If he were someone from the Tower or had ever been inside the Tower I think he would use any wealth he had gained from it instead of wasting time working.”

Estrella stared at Vessie for a long moment. Everyone did as they remained silent. After a few seconds had passed Estrella nodded, “You’re right. No smart person would waste time working a mundane job if they had wealth gained from Ascending.”

Her gaze moved between Vesely and Ayla a couple of times before looking back at the sphere and watched Kenny and Val stop running around the goblin’s hut and finally open their loot chests. Her gaze slightly shift towards Mimi who was staring at her before raising a brow and jerking her head at Vesely.

Estrella understood the silent comment she made. She is lying about something. Estrella nodded her head before shaking. It was her way of saying she knows but not to press the issue. She didn’t need to press the issue. She would get her answers sooner or later on the boy.

For now, she would have to wait and see if he could pass the Trial Grounds first. She didn’t think he was special or anything, not from what she had seen so far. It was Vesely’s and Ayla’s silent words and the, what she and Mimi had felt, lie that made her curious.

She could smell a cover up or some hidden agenda but she wasn’t sure what it was. She was above things like this, but when it came to Vesely…that was a whole different matter. She didn’t like the woman especially after she had gotten a certain Pillar Fragment she had her eyes on for a while. The one she had completed wasn’t bad at all, but it wasn’t the one she wanted.

When she found out that this upstart had obtained the Pillar Fragment she had originally wanted, what she felt was more suited for her, she had decided she hated the woman and would get in her business. She would have tried to sabotage her personally, but since she belonged to the Toxo Clan things wouldn’t be so easy.

However, if there was something about this boy that made her want to personally take him under her wing, something that was uncommon unless he belonged to her clan or was a Tower Titan Potential, then she would figure out a way to make use of that against her.

However, since Ayla seemed to be involved, that meant something else was going on and her chances to ruin or sabotage whatever Vessie had planned had lowered. She would need to be careful. However, lowered didn’t mean nonexistent. She had ways she could still do it. It would involve her getting her own Tower Titan Potential under her wing though.

Estrella looked down at the orb she had in her hand and smiled at the one she had an eye on. She had a feeling he would become one and her feelings on something like this were never wrong. And with his help, Victor would take care of this problem for her. She just needed to be patient.