Chapter 25 - Trial Tower's Key
3 AM in the night, At the Park.
"Fireball!"
An orb of flame suddenly materialized in front of her hand before it was sent flying toward the sky and explode in the air. The sight when the fireball is exploding was truly beautiful, like that of the art of fireworks. Too bad that the only person here was her, or rather she would be in deep trouble if someone else were to be here. She wouldn't know how to explain, after all.
Since it was 3 AM in the night, she's sure that no one would be in the park. She took advantage of the Trial Tower's time different than reality; She had already sleep inside at the First Floor. Apparently, the Trial Tower is like in a game where there would be a safe zone for the player to rest. That was why whenever she entered, no monster launches an attack at her.
Is she not afraid of the ghost when she was all alone in the midnight of the park? If it appears right in front her, she will fire the fireball spell right in its face. How can a ghost be scary than a goblin? If it were an evil spirit, she would run away already. But then again, why would there be an evil spirit in the park? She never heard any haunting case happens in the park, after all.
When she cast fireball, she doesn't actually need to chant or anything the likes. All she had to do was to give a thought, and the fireball would manifest in front of her. But who cares about that. Doesn't it seem cool when you chant, a fireball materialize out of nowhere and ready to be fire at your command? Do you ever dream of becoming a sorcerer or wizard?
I am a wizard.
Joke aside, Sheila coming here to the park in the night was actually because she wanted to test out what's going to happen when the mana is all spent. She also had the other experiment plan to test; it was not only one.
She tried to summon two and more fireball, but since nothing happened and her mana didn't decrease, she guesses that it doesn't work. It was likely because she doesn't have the skill for it.
"Fireball!"
A second fireball manifest in front of her and she throw it in the sky just like the previous one. Suddenly a thought appears in her mind, Am I now a human firework or what? She shook her head at the thought before continue firing the spell to the sky.
The last fireball flew into the dark sky before exploding into a glittering star scattered to the surrounding. All of a sudden, Sheila feel like her strength disappearing entirely from her body, which makes her feel extremely weak. Without any power left, Sheila falls on her butt to the ground. And then sudden dizziness runs through her mind like a typhoon in the desert.
It was the worst feeling she had ever felt; thankfully, she didn't lose consciousness. She gritted her teeth hard and managed to pull out the phone from her pocket before clicking on the leveling system. Even with the massive dizziness and the loss of strength, Sheila was able to move one of her hand with her strong will and opened the inventory. She immediately clicks on the blue potion icon on the screen, and the mana potion appears above the phone.
Sheila grabbed onto the potion before pulling the caps off and drink it altogether. The loss of strength and dizziness immediately disappeared when she finished her drink.
"Ah~ seriously, I won't ever do that again. It sucks."
If not for the mana potion, she would likely wait for her mana to regenerate bit by bits. But she would not be such an idiot, which was why she only does it when she got the mana potion in the inventory. She got the mana potion from one of the results of her lottery.
The ten draws could be considered as lucky since she gained something good from it, the first few that is. The later were all trash— I mean, I get nothing! It stopped at the blank category, after all! At least give me some gold! This is so unfair! I'm reporting the system.
The first few prizes she got from the lottery was genuinely dazzling, which brought a smile on her face. She doesn't need to explain the aftermath.
『 Trial Tower's Key 』
『 Grade: A
With this key, one could enter the Trial Tower. 』
『 Disguise Skill Book 』
『 Grade: A
By touching the book, one could learn the said skill. 』
These two were the only thing that caught her surprised. The others were merely mana potion and trash(literally nothing). First of all, why did she get the key to the Trial Tower? She doesn't need it since she could enter it on her phone. She had tried using it once when she got it(put the key in the air as if unlocking an invisible door) and noticed a few things different than how she normally entered.
The first thing she noticed was the card that she found in the pocket like the first time she entered didn't disappear. When she pulled it out, she could see her status appearing on the card instead of in the air like some sort of game window. She could only see her status and the skill she had; there was no inventory option anywhere.
Another thing was something vague. Unlike how she normally enter, with the key, she feels like if she dies in the Trial tower, she will die for real. That was what her sixth sense that has gotten sharp told her.
She also tried to find if there were any quest she could do, but nothing was found on the card. But the quest option exists if she clicked on the 'Q' icon at the upper corner of the card. The message shown was, [ No quest currently available. ].
But what comes next shocked her to the core.
『 Do you wish to give a quest for the key's player? 』
『 Yes/No 』
A notification window appeared in front of her face when she had the crazy thought. Could I give a quest? Such crazy thought suddenly passed through her mind before the system window pops up in front of her. It took her a while for her thought to reorganize into one before she calmly thought that she was clicking on the 'yes'.
『 Quest System [Host] 』
『 Quest available:
—First Floor
Kill the Slime ( Insert the amount )
Kill the Slime King ( Level 10 requirement )
—Second Floor
Kill the Goblin ( insert the amount ) 』
It seems that she could only create two quests for the one who entered using the key(her). The second-floor quest appears to be locked. After she was done and sent out the quest, she immediately checks on the card.
『 Slime Killer I 』
『 Kill the Slime (0/10)
Reward: 10 EXP 』
The minimum amount of reward she could give was ten experience, while as for the highest, it could only go until 100. But the more she increased the reward, the more slime she has to kill. Why is there no penalty?! I mean it's understandable that they would die for real if they just let the slime hurt them but who would be such an idiot? And it appears that only level 1-5 could only accept the quest, which means she couldn't abuse it.
As for the Slime King, the player has to be level 10 in order to accept the quest. She said by using the player term is to make it easier for her to understand. And yes, the most important thing is, after the player accepts the quest, they need to complete it if they want to leave the Trial Tower. But they could come and go if they didn't take any quest and they could browse and walk all around the grassland without worries of any slime launching an attack on them. The monster only appears when they accepted the quest, after all.
She couldn't accept the low-level quest, which was why she tried on Killing the Slime King. It doesn't take much longer before the Slime King turned into regular water which splattered to the ground. She only managed to get ten experience, though.
Of course, she tried sending out the same quest again, and it appears she could only accept three quests for a day. When she exited the Trial Tower, the key will return to her hand.
Alright, I guess it's time for me to face the truth. All of that seems nice, but why did she not feel happy at all? In fact, she feels terrible. Her current expression was like that of someone who accidentally swallowed a bitter bug. She somehow knows what the key was for when she got it.
What else could it be other than meaning someone else could enter the Trial Tower?! Before it was the goblin but now a key. Her sixth sense could feel a bad omen near in the future. Ah~ all I wanted was to level up in peace! This is not what I asked for!
The question is, who should be the owner of the key?