MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1592: Breaking Barriers: The First Trial (2)

Whoosh!

With Aeramis officially signaling the start of the trial, the man went ahead and began to control the energy he just released, moving most of it towards the fences lining the running tracks.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Utilizing a few hand gestures, the energy gradually took on the shape of two decently sized signboards, its contents containing the maximum speed and acceleration both Ataraxia and the opposing entity had.

Fwoosh!

Once that was done, Aeramis then redirected his attention towards the energy that was left over from the initial transformation.

Willing it to stop just a meter or so above the running tracks, the man swiftly transformed the remaining energy into yet another signboard.

However, unlike the first two, the signboard this time around kept track of the turns that remained before the start of the race.

’No time to prepare whatsoever, huh?’

Watching his first set of cards slowly manifest in front of him, Ataraxia could not help but wryly smile in response to the current situation, his gaze slowly shifting towards the signboard that contained his current stats.

Then, after being reminded of how pitiful his current maximum speed and acceleration speed were, he then proceeded to look at the stats of the first entity he would have to fight against.

“A maximum speed of 8 and an acceleration stat of 5,” murmured the young man to himself, only to then shift his attention towards the set of cards before him.

’Three of the first type and two of the third type.’

Looking through the various boosts the cards offered, Ataraxia quickly fell into pensive thought, computing which among them was the best choice as the gears in his mind began to turn.

Among the three flat boost cards, the first one offered a substantial boost to his acceleration, while the second one offered a minimal boost to his maximum speed.

As for the third and final card, it offered a boost to both his maximum speed and acceleration. Though, the stats it gave were pitiful compared to even the low boost the second card.

As for the two delayed boost cards, both of them were surprisingly focused on improving his maximum speed gains after spending a set amount of turns.

Then again, just like how the gains from the flat boost cards varied, the multipliers the two cards also varied, with the amount of turns he had to wait for the card’s effect to apply being key to whether he chose them instead of the simple boosts.

In the end, the young man chose to go with the card that boosted both of his stats for his turn, slowly inching his stats closer to where he could compete against the first entity in a race.

“Say…” Briefly watching the second set of cards manifest in front of him, the young man slowly turned to look at Aeramis as a question formed in his mind.

“Once the time to race the entity beside me comes, do I have to go all-out? Or is there some other sort of system in place?”

Considering that the true mechanics of the first trial subverted his expectations on what purpose the running tracks served, Ataraxia felt that he had to clarify this matter early on.

After all, Aeramis did mention in his explanation earlier that the running tracks were merely a backdrop to the trial. It didn’t serve anything truly important whatsoever.

Fortunately, his choice to ask the man more about it turned out to be correct.

“There is a different system in place, yes.” Aeramis nodded, his expression a mix of calm and anticipation towards the first race. “Once the time to race arrives, your body shall move automatically according to the stats you’ve obtained within the first ten turns.”

“So, all I really need to do is focus on choosing the best cards as much as possible?” asked the young man after that as clarification, finding Aeramis’ claims of the first trial testing his wit and acumen finally making sense.

“Precisely.” The man nodded once more, only to pause as a certain thought popped up in his mind. “Speaking of which, I’ve forgotten to tell you this earlier.”

“Hmm?”

“You only have a total of three attempts to reach the minimum threshold needed to move on to the second trial,” said Aeramis, causing Ataraxia to pause for a bit as he looked at the man in slight disbelief.

“…Too little?” Taking note of this disbelief, the man did not take long to get an idea of what was going on in the latter’s mind. “Unfortunately for you, I cannot increase the number of attempts you have.”

“Eh?” Pausing once more, the young man gave Aeramis one more look before understanding what was going on.

“You misunderstand,” said Ataraxia, letting out a chuckle.

“Misunderstand?” The man raised his eyebrow in curiosity at those words. “What do you mean?”

“You think giving me three attempts is too little, right?” asked the young man in response.

“I do admit it’s quite lacking, considering how difficult clearing the first trial is.” Aeramis faintly nodded in agreement.

“Well, I don’t think three attempts is too little,” said the young man after that, voicing out how he felt about the matter to the man.

“Instead…”

“I feel like giving me three attempts is even a bit too much.”

…

Whoosh!

After obtaining further clarification on how the first trial worked, it went without saying that Ataraxia focused all of his attention on the cards that appeared after that, start his attempt at clearing the first trial with a slightly safer strategy in mind.

Though, after calculating in his mind that his stats would still be lacking even if he expended the remaining five turns he had, the young man decided to take a riskier approach, making use of the second and third card type during turns that made the most of it.

Because of that choice, Ataraxia was successful in surpassing the first entity’s stats, even though the lead he had over the first entity was around a point or so at most.

Nevertheless, even though his lead over the first entity was minuscule, the young man was confident that he’d be able to surpass the second entity’s stats with much greater ease.

After all, with the riskier approach he took, it was only then did the relationship between the three card types click in his mind, finally allowing him to understand how to maximize the effects between each card.

And thus, with a mindset eager to defeat the tenth entity and surpass it, the young man went ahead and raced against the first entity.

Of course, with the slight lead he had in stats, it was no surprise that he ultimately won.