Kael moved through the battlefield with smooth efficiency.
Swing. Slash. Stab.
Every movement flowed naturally into the next as goblins continued dropping around him one after another. His blade carved through flesh and bone cleanly without hesitation, each strike carrying enough force to guarantee death instantly.
There was no wasted movement.
No unnecessary flourish.
Every attack was precise and lethal.
Kael remained fully aware of the trial condition the entire time. He had a strong feeling that the quality of his kills would heavily affect his final rating, which meant he could not afford mistakes.
Every strike needed to kill in one hit.
Anything less would only heal the target instead.
Fortunately, things were going far smoother than he expected.
Honestly, even Kael himself felt slightly surprised.
Although he had been confident in his offensive ability, he seemed to have underestimated himself a little.
But thinking about it carefully, it made sense.
It had only been a single day since his awakening.
And yet he was already Level 8.
That alone was ridiculous.
Not only that, but his class granted an absurdly high stat increase per level. His physical abilities had already risen to a point where even he was struggling to mentally adjust to the changes properly.
Only now, in the middle of actual combat, was he beginning to truly understand how much stronger he had become.
A goblin rushed toward him screaming.
Kael stepped forward instead of retreating.
His sword flashed.
The goblin’s head separated cleanly from its shoulders.
Another one lunged from the side.
Kael twisted slightly and drove his blade directly through its eye socket before ripping the weapon free in one fluid motion.
Blood splattered across the crater floor.
Then suddenly—
A sharp sense of danger surged through him.
Without hesitation, Kael bent his body downward instantly.
The next moment, an arrow whizzed past the space where his head had been moments earlier.
Kael frowned.
Archers.
His eyes immediately locked onto the backline where three goblin archers stood among the ruins with crude bows raised.
Annoying.
Reaching them directly would require cutting through the remaining goblins first.
But why would he bother doing that?
He had prepared for situations like this already.
Without slowing down, Kael shifted his sword into his left hand.
At the same time, his right hand reached into his inventory.
A metallic glint flashed.
The next moment, a short throwing spear appeared in his grip.
Kael threw it instantly with everything he had.
The spear exploded forward with terrifying speed.
One of the goblin archers barely had time to widen its eyes before the weapon pierced straight through its chest and pinned it violently against the ruined stone behind it.
Instant death.
But Kael did not relax.
The brief moment he used to eliminate the archer had already allowed several goblins to close the distance.
One came at him swinging wildly.
Kael sidestepped and cut horizontally.
The goblin’s upper body separated instantly.
Another rushed him from behind while screaming.
Kael spun and drove the sword downward through its skull.
Dead.
An arrow suddenly shot toward him again.
Kael tilted his head slightly just enough for it to miss before immediately charging another goblin and cutting it down with a diagonal slash.
The slaughter continued.
Several minutes passed in a blur of blood and steel.
Kael continued fighting while carefully avoiding the remaining archers’ attacks. Then, the moment another opening appeared, he immediately pulled another throwing spear from his inventory and launched it.
The second archer died instantly.
Not long afterward, the third followed.
By the time the final archer collapsed, only four goblins remained alive within the crater.
Kael exhaled slowly while tightening his grip on the sword.
Then he moved.
Four attacks.
Four clean kills.
The final goblin collapsed lifelessly onto the ruined ground.
The battlefield fell silent.
A notification screen immediately appeared before him.
[TRIAL COMPLETE]
[Performance: All targets eliminated.]
[Non-lethal hits landed: 0]
[One-shot kills: 50]
[Rating: S+]
[Rewards:]
[+1,200 Tower Coins]
[+1,680 EXP]
[Item Drop: F-Rank Goblin Commander’s Seal]
Then another screen appeared almost instantly afterward.
[Infinite Reward Multiplier — Activated!]
[Multiplier: x87]
[Rewards adjusted:]
[+104,400 Tower Coins]
[+146,160 EXP]
[Item upgraded: F-Rank Goblin Commander’s Seal → D-Rank Seal of Reversal]
[You’ve leveled up x18]
The moment the final notification appeared, Kael suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of power explode throughout his body.
His knees instantly buckled.
Kael crashed onto the ground violently as unbearable pain tore through him.
"GHK—!"
His body spasmed uncontrollably.
It felt as though something was shredding him apart from the inside.
Unlike the previous level-ups that had only brought warm waves of strengthening energy, this one was completely different.
Eighteen levels at once.
The increase in strength was simply too massive.
The violent energy flooding through his body felt like it was tearing apart his muscles, bones, nerves, and organs before rebuilding them all over again.
Pain surged endlessly through him.
Time itself seemed to lose meaning.
All Kael could feel was agony.
Pure overwhelming agony.
It felt like his entire body was being ripped apart piece by piece.
Slowly though...
The pain began easing.
The violent energy gradually softened, turning warmer and gentler as it spread throughout his body. The sensation slowly shifted from destruction to restoration.
Kael could feel his body recovering.
Healing.
Becoming stronger.
Little by little, the pain faded away completely.
Then finally—
Kael slowly opened his eyes.
His body still ached intensely, but he immediately realized he was no longer inside the crater.
He had already been returned to the start room.
Kael let out a slow breath before forcing himself upright.
Then he froze.
"...What the hell?"
His eyes slowly scanned the room around him.
Was this even still the same start room?
When he told Aiona to decorate the place however she liked, he admittedly had not expected much.
But this...
This was something else entirely.
The entire room practically screamed girly aesthetics.
Not subtly either.
Aggressively.
The once dull gray walls had been repainted bright pink and decorated with various cute patterns. The harsh artificial lighting was gone, replaced by soft glowing mana lamps shaped like flowers.
At the corner of the room sat a pink bed overflowing with cushions.
Everything was pink.
Painfully pink.
Kael stared silently at the room for several long seconds.
Then his eyes landed on what looked like a tiny birdhouse sitting nearby.
Except it was slightly larger than a normal birdhouse and looked more like a miniature mansion.
Just then, the tiny door suddenly swung open.
Aiona flew out from inside cheerfully.
"You’re finally awake!"
Kael slowly turned his gaze away from the horrifying decoration choices and focused on the more important issue instead.
"How long was I out?"
Aiona floated closer before answering.
"You appeared here around fifteen minutes ago."
Her expression became slightly more serious.
"You looked like you were going through some kind of painful evolution process, so I decided not to disturb you."
Kael blinked slightly.
"...That was thoughtful of you."
But internally, his thoughts had already become heavy.
Fifteen minutes.
That was dangerous.
Extremely dangerous.
Never in his life had Kael imagined he would someday consider leveling up a dangerous thing.
It was not that he regretted growing stronger.
Far from it.
Even after experiencing that horrifying pain, he still wanted more strength.
But the problem was the timing.
What if something like this happened in the middle of combat?
The implications were terrifying.
Imagine becoming completely incapacitated during a life-and-death battle.
Even a few seconds could get someone killed.
But fifteen whole minutes?
That was practically suicide.
Thankfully, inside the Tower, all rewards and experience were distributed only after the trial ended.
But outside?
Kael suddenly felt a headache coming on.
What if he was inside a Rift fighting monsters when this happened?
What if he suddenly gained a massive amount of EXP mid-battle and collapsed helplessly while surrounded by beasts?
His expression became increasingly complicated.
Especially after remembering something important.
He had already agreed to team up with Zoey and Adam for a Rift exploration.
Kael sighed softly.
He did not want to cancel on them.
Breaking promises left a bad taste in his mouth.
But at the same time, the problem in front of him was not something he could casually ignore either.
After thinking about it for a while, Kael eventually shook his head.
There was no point worrying about it right now.
He would deal with that issue later.
For now...
It was time to see just how much stronger he had become.