Another Test

I spend the rest of the day talking with the others. I talk with Asami about plans for the rest of the land near our Guild Hall. I talk with Verona and Gaia about my magic, mostly answering Verona's questions. I talk with Ramia about Alchemy. I learn about a few monsters during our talk. I try talking with Luna and Innu but end up sparing with them. I beat them twice and lose once. Afterward, Asami calls us for dinner. We eat and I go to bed immediately after. Asami joins me and we fall asleep together. I wake up in a pool of water.

"Welcome back Eric." Prisma says as I stand up.

"Hey Prisma. Is this about the test?" I ask and he nods.

"Yes, I want you to give it another go. First though, you should spend your Skill Points. You have a nasty habit of hoarding them." He says and I chuckle.

"I know I do. It just slips my mind and I don't notice until I open my Character Sheet." I say while spending some skill points. I see I have 126 and add 40 to my Strength and Intelligence. I add 20 to my Agility and the last 26 go to my Wisdom. These seem like the most useful stats. They raise my damage and speed. Since I focus on dodging I don't worry too much about my Endrance this time.

"Good, are you ready then?" Prisma asks while reaching out. My mother appears from the water and I swap to my armor. I take out my Horns, Boots, Claws, and cast Ancient Beastial Strength. I nod and he raises his hand like a race flag again.

"Remember, all you need to do to pass is land one attack on her." He says before bringing his hand down. I immediately cast Lightning Step as I activate Ancient Thought Acceleration. I can see her doing the same and moving as a blur. I cast Hydra and aim the heads at us. I make the charge a Pure Elemental Shot. I try to cut her with my Katana but she dodges. I cast Lightning Step again and dodge. I make the heads fire, blowing us both up. I cast Blink twice and get above the explosion to avoid getting hit. I land and see her standing under a red bubble. It's see-through and has waves flowing like water. She rushes me again and I have to keep using Lightning Step to dodge. I keep trying to cut her or hit her with any spells I can think of. Nothing I try works and I run out of mana. As soon as I do she sinks into the water. I feel the water run over me and recharge my mana. "Do you want to go again?" Prisma asks and I nod with a sigh. I try again and fail. I try two more times and fail. I keep trying to land an attack on her for what feels like hours. After failing for my hundredth time Prisma stops. "That's enough for today Eric." He says and I fall on my ass.

"Good. I feel exhausted. Are you sure this test was designed to be passable?" I ask and he chuckles.

"Yes, besides you're improving aren't you?"

"It doesn't feel like it." I say and he laughs.

"Well, you are. Remember how you kept having to use Lightning Step to dodge her at the beginning? Well, after your forty-fourth attempt, you were able to dodge her without it. After your seventy-first attempt, you started attacking more often. On your ninety-first attempt, you made her use her shield Spell for each fight. You might be able to pass by your two hundredth attempt!" Prisma says enthusiastically. I let out a laugh hearing this and he smiles. "Well, I'll let you get back to sleep. Good night Eric, see you tomorrow." He says and I nod. I sink into the water and everything goes dark. I wake up to someone roughly shaking me. I jump up and look around startled.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." Liz says and I sigh before laying back down.

"What is it, Liz?" I ask and she pouts.

"This isn't time for games Liz." I hear Hino say. I sit up and see Hino and Myla wearing their armor. Luna and Innu are behind them wearing their armor. I see Liz is wearing hers too and I didn't notice before.

"What's going on?" I ask and Liz stands up.

"We found the Litch King and the Kator Guild Master. They were **** for corpses since they no longer have the Devils and stepped into our trap. We need to go and get ready to fight." Liz says and I jump up. I swap to my armor and turn to them.

"Let's go." I say and they nod. We walk out to the main room and I see Eimbis and Barai. They're both taller now, going up to my shoulders. I quickly Observe them and see Eimbis is level 58, and Barai is 57. They roar and step forward.

"I think they want to come." Myla says and I nod. I add them to my party before storing them in my Marks and Liz jumps on my back. She leaves my Domain and takes me with her. I see we're inside the same tent that was used when we last fought the Litch King.

"Good, you made it. And you're awake this time." My gramps says. I turn and see him, Kallen, Kagiyama, and Sugano at a table. We walk over and I see a small device at the center. It's shaped like a pyramid and has a blue crystal on top. The crystal projects an image onto the air above it.

"What's going on?" I ask and Kallen points to the image. I see we're back in the desert. I don't know if it's the same one we fought the Litch in last time or not. In the image is a mountain of sand. The sand is glowing blue under the surface. It shows a large room with a pile of monster corpses.

"Recently we put up a bunch of monster corpses on the Black Market. We didn't give any info about who the seller was. The Katorg Guild snatched them up quickly and this is where they went. We've been watching it for a while and saw the Litch King enter thirty minutes ago. He hasn't come out yet. We know he has a bunch of monster corpses and that he's been experimenting with monster corpses. So we assume he'll turn them into undead." Kallen explains.