Chapter 967 - SUPER HOSTILE APOCALYPSE

Each day of training felt like an eternity, yet when the year was over, Sofia, who had long lost track of time, was shocked, feeling like it had only been six months.

Nolla was a woman of few words but after spending a full year exchanging blows, Sofia felt like she knew her better than some of her friends. She was simply a very calm, talented and disciplined person capable of guiding and training someone for an entire year straight without ever being distracted by anything else. It was easy to understand how someone like her had become an Ascended, through pure focused and consistent hard work at an intensity that would break the vast majority of people.

As the system warned both trainer and trainee that the time was up, Nolla simply stopped mid spar, giving Sofia an approving nod. “You have progressed a lot.”

Sofia almost froze in place, this was high praise coming from someone whose approval usually stopped at a curt nod or a ‘not bad’ at best. Bending over in a ninety degree bow, Sofia expressed her utmost thanks. “Thank you for your teachings, master!”

“T- Teacher is fine…” Nolla muttered, looking in another direction. “I have one last test for you, now.”

“Yes?!”

Nolla tapped a few buttons on an invisible system panel, and a second Sofia appeared next to her.

“This is an imprint of you from one year ago,” Nolla explained before jumping away.

Sofia understood the implications.

The imprint did not speak, it did not wait, it immediately took its demon form, and summoned a piercing bolt over its staff.

It was like Sofia stood in Nolla’s place at the moment she had first tested her, obliterating all of her spells with her wooden sword. Under the fake Sofia’s full assault, she stood calmly in place, avoiding piercing bolts with minimal movements, [Heat Death]ing away the shots of [Lightsoul curse], and overpowering past her’s aura control to destroy the skull choir with almost no effort.

When the fake arrived in close combat, its fate was already sealed. Sofia deflected its piercing bolt blade with a precise staff strike, and in the same movement, obliterated the fake’s lower body with a kick.

The fake tried to [Regret] away, but it was already too late, Sofia was gone, teleported behind it with [Lock-step]. The area mana lock prevented [Regret] from working and Sofia shoved her scepter into the imprint’s helmet from below, before channeling an explosive bolt directly into the helmet.

‘You have murdered [Sofia Aphenoreth - Saintomancer lv. 349EX]’

Imprint Sofia died in one move without even grazing the real one.

Sofia stood there in a daze for a few seconds. The system notification was a bit strange to see, but that was not the really shocking part.

That easy?!

It did not have any false immortality rune up, but still…

Sofia turned around, her gaze meeting Nolla’s. The dark-skinned woman’s stoic face showed a faint smile.

[Time is up - You are now being sent to the Hostile Tower Trial lobby.]

Before Sofia could say goodbye, she was alone in a small waiting room with a few chairs, a mana lamp, and nothing else.

[Please wait.]

Sofia sat down, a few seconds later, Bookie and Pestle appeared in the same spot she did earlier.

“Sofia!” Bookie immediately ran and threw himself in her arms. “I missed youuuuuuu…”

Of course Sofia returned the hug. “I missed you too, Bookie. How are you? Was your teacher nice? How was the training? Do you need anything?”

“I’m fine!” Bookie answered, looking up at Sofia while not letting go at all, “Big sister Florencia was suuuuper nice! She taught me lots and lots! I’m a super strong army commander admiral general now!”

“Oh, Florencia? Richard’s daughter? You were in good hands then, I cannot wait to see your super strong commander skills. I’m sure they’re great. What about her, though?” Sofia asked, throwing a glance at Pestle who was lying unmoving on the ground, staring at the ceiling.

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“W-Well, Pestle is… She called big sis Florencia a Klepra so she was locked up in a cage with a Zombie Kleptran drone for most of the year…”

Sofia had to mobilize all the willpower in her body not to chuckle. Perhaps that would teach Pestle to watch her tongue, and spending a year fighting, or at least trying to survive against a Kleptran drone was certain to be an invaluable experience too.

“Are you alright, Pestle?” Sofia still asked, a bit concerned to see the fairy look so defeated.

Pestle weakly raised a skeletal hand, before letting it fall back down.

“Pesle am dead. Am become Klepra leg,” she mourned, lying flat on the ground.

Letting Bookie down after a long hug and a few headpats, Sofia silently rummaged through the things in her eyes, before pulling out an expensive pastry she had bought from the level 400 cook working part-time at Kokola’s bathhouse. “Does anyone want a snack?”

With a loud bang, Pestle moved so fast that it looked like she had teleported, and the pastry disappeared from Sofia’s hand.

Sofia smiled, watching Pestle ravenously devour the pastry in a corner. Now this is more like it. She took out another two for herself and Bookie, and they had a little chat sharing their experiences over the past year while waiting for Pareth’s arrival.

He showed up a few minutes later, looking the same as usual. Of course, he could not say anything even if he wanted to, but he seemed in a rather good mood, at least. Sofia took the initiative to give him a hug, as she knew he would never initiate that himself, then Bookie followed suit, staying perched up on Pareth’s arm until the system started issuing notifications about the trial that was about to finally begin.

[Welcome to the special trial - Super Hostile Apocalypse - preparation phase]

[Main quest: Save the world before humanity becomes extinct.]

[You may now pick a starting setup, followed by a care package, please choose carefully]

‘Please note: if starting far away from each other, teleportations and all ways to magically regroup will be restricted until the entire party is reunited by other means.’

‘The available starting setups are as follow:

[Abrupt Isekai]: You appear all together in a random uninhabited location.

You will not receive any special perks.

Start Difficulty Rating: Medium

[ECA Agents]: You appear all separated in different cities with the identity of low clearance ECA Agents.

You may obtain a decent amount of information related to the main quest.

SDR: High

[The Shackled]: You appear separated into two groups. One of the optional quests becomes ‘Rescue Bookie and Pestle’.

You may obtain some information related to the main quest, a Specialization point, and one Mythical skeleton (permanent).

SDR: Extreme

[The Lost]: You appear all separated, in different corners of a strange location.

You may each pick one additional starting care package.

You may obtain a huge amount of information related to the main quest, five skill fusion tickets, five skill specialization alter tokens, and three Old Stones.

SDR: Extreme

[The Late]: You appear all together, much later than you would have otherwise.

You may pick one additional starting care package.

You may obtain a Legendary shield, and a set of Ascended-tier crafting materials.

SDR: Extreme’

Everyone carefully read the instructions. The main quest was quite something, it said a lot and not much all at the same time. But it was clear it would not be an easy task.

“We pretty much have to pick one of the Extreme options,” Sofia said right away, which everyone nodded in approval to.

The question now is which one…

Saving the world before humanity is extinct means we are inherently on a timer, and that factor alone is enough to turn the Medium difficulty scenario into an Extreme one. Considering this, and how vague the main quest is, it is no wonder that information about the main quest is considered important enough to mention alongside the rewards…

And less time in the trial means a higher chance of failing the process of leveling through the filter itself, regardless of the main quest.

The Ascended-tier crafting materials must be highly valued, but they would still require more processing to do anything with. I think we skip this one.

“It’s between The Shackled and The Lost.”

Bookie looked up at the others. “The rewards for the Shackled are better!”

“I agree purely on the grounds of wanting the ‘Mythical’ skeleton,” Sofia answered, “but I think in actual value they might be about equal. The specialization alter tokens in particular, they’re the same ones that Alith got back before the academy to upgrade an old skill to fit one of your specializations. One of them would already be huge, let alone five. And three old stones is a huge fortune as well. As for the mythical skeleton, the thing is, you and Pestle are clearly the ones getting shackled in this scenario. Are you really fine with that?”

“I can do it!” Bookie proudly declared.

“Pesle is want see mythical skelton!” Pestle added, sitting on his skull.

Sofia turned to Pareth, who seemed uncertain. He looked at Pestle and Bookie for a while, before giving Sofia a nod.

“Alright. This would get you your third specialization as well, which will be huge. [The Shackled] it is!”