Chapter 66: 066 Trigger Nightmare Mode

Translator: 549690339

No sooner had Dean McKenzie stepped into the Gate of Trials than the system’s prompt updated.

[You have successfully entered your Land of Trials. The trial will begin in 30 seconds!

After 30 seconds, you will activate a Taunt Aura with a radius of 10 meters!

ps: All monsters within this aura will attack you until they are killed!

pss: The aura will expand at a rate of one meter per minute!

psss: Please persist in the Land of Trials for at least 6 hours!]

[The trial has begun!]

By the time these two system prompts were updated, the 30 seconds had ended.

Dean McKenzie didn’t even have time to look at his surroundings before the power of the Taunt Aura took effect.

“I can feel it, power is welling up. Is that the Taunt Aura?

And wait, that isn’t it. It’s the power of [Meditation]. There’s water nearby!”

His eyes lit up at once.

He turned his focus to the environment around him.

Sure enough, there was a raging river not far from his left, and towards his right rose a rather sinister-looking mountain range.

The moment Dean McKenzie saw the river, his eyes practically popped out of his skull.

He was overjoyed, grinning like an idiot.

Especially when the Taunt Aura kicked in and bald, green-skinned creatures wearing conical hats emerged continuously from the river, his smile was even more splendid.

Name: Stunted Inferior Kappa

Level: 20

Template: Ordinary

Stats:

Strength: 3, Agility: 3, Physique: 3, Spirit: 9

Mana Attack: 9 (5)

Defense: 1.5 (3)

Skill: Water-spitting Attack (level 3), Water Ball (level 3)

Equipment: Kappa Hat, Kappa Magic Ball

Starting with a level 20 monster, the Difficult Level trial does seem somewhat challenging.

Not so much for McKenzie, though.

He didn’t even need to lift a finger himself; Doggy Two and his buddies took care of the monster for him.

His job was just to raise his hand and make a pull.

[You successfully used Extraction on the [Stunted Inferior Kappa], obtaining 0.1 Strength and 0.3 Spirit!]

Each little monster yielded 0.4 Attribute Points. After a round, that was four or five Attribute Points.

Though he couldn’t add them, he could use them to elevate his Talent proficiency!

Plus, with the river there, Dean McKenzie didn’t need to worry about exhausting his Mana.

In less than ten minutes, Dean McKenzie had cleared two or three rounds, and his Talent proficiency had shot up by one or two dozen points.

And, starting from the fourth round, among the monsters that emerged were no longer just Ordinary Templates. Elite Monsters started howling and charging towards him too.

An Elite Monster, in Dean McKenzie’s view, was equivalent to one proficiency point and a piece of Elite Template Fragment.

Before, Dean McKenzie had to scour the area to find them, but here they came running towards him of their own accord.

And all of them were level 20 monsters; they were basically exhibiting themselves.

This was less of a trial challenge…

And more of a trial boon!

“What? 6 hours? Tell Anthony, I’m not going back, I’m gonna max out the [Extraction] Talent on this map!”

The only thing that soured Dean McKenzie’s mood a little bit was…

Perhaps because this was a trial map, the monster drop-rating in here was significantly low. Despite having slain hundreds of them, only several glimmering drops emerged.

Whatever came out was quite poor in quality.

Dean McKenzie, who was initially quite ecstatic about increasing his Talent proficiency and Template Fragments, momentarily lost his cheeriness.

“Ah, if only the drop-rate was the same as outside, how wonderful would it be!

That way, I could earn more money, level [Bone Fang] up to 3, and turn [Bone Fang] and [Meditation] into a dual force, and [Summon Skeleton] into a strong force!

After the Talent levels up, I can then boost our attributes, including Doggy Two’s – wouldn’t we just become invincible then?”

Indeed, assuming it were as Dean McKenzie had said, they wouldn’t need to worry about becoming invincible; a massive surge in power was a guarantee. According to estimates, they would do just fine even against monsters of the Second or Third turn.

Regrettably, in the face of the so-called “Cash Cow” – the Promotion Temple, Dean McKenzie wasn’t able to pull off this stunt.

Not only had the drop-rate from monsters stooped to its lowest, but the monster spawn rate had also declined after Dean McKenzie had furiously slain them for two to three hours.

Meanwhile, Dean McKenzie received a system prompt from the Promotion Temple.

[Your excellent performance during the trial has triggered a condition, completing the Difficult Mode of the trial. Do you want to terminate the trial?]

This made McKenzie feel quite aggravated.

What’s the meaning of this?

Can not keep up?

Wasn’t it supposed to be six hours?

I’ve only been grinding for 3 hours and you’re calling it quits? Are you giving up already?

Mckenzie took a glance at his Talent proficiency.

Within these three hours, his Talent proficiency had soared to [732/1000].

His proficiency had increased by nearly 500 points, meaning that McKenzie had killed at least a thousand or two monsters.

In reality, Mckenzie hadn’t quite killed thousands of monsters, but he’d slain quite a few Elite Monsters. He currently had as many as 78 Elite Template Fragments.

Given such a prime location, how could Dean McKenzie be willing to give up just like that?

“The least I could do is level up my Talent before I leave!”

And so, Dean McKenzie completely ignored this system prompt and continued killing monsters.

If monsters didn’t approach him, he would approach the monsters.

He followed the river downstream, scouring and slashing at every monster he came across.

However, whether it was due to him being too brutal earlier or the monsters deliberately avoiding him…

As he progressed for half an hour, he was only able to kill around a hundred monsters.

This made McKenzie furrow his brows.

Just then, a new system prompt updated.

[Due to your exceptional performance, you have triggered the Hidden Mode of [Promotion Trial], Your trial difficulty will now increase from [Difficult Level] to [Nightmare Level]!]

During the same moment, outside the trial map in the Promotion Temple…

An ear-piercing alarm rang in Ennis Hawkins’s ears.

[Attention, please note, the trial taker who used your provided materials has had their trial difficulty raised to [Nightmare Level], You have insufficient materials, please make up for the required materials within 10 minutes.

Otherwise, this trial will be settled at the [Difficult Level]!]

Ennis Hawkins was taken aback by the abrupt alarm.

“What situation is this? What in the world did that kid do in there?”

While speaking, Ennis Hawkins opened up the list of materials that needed to be replenished.

[50 Gold, one piece of Silver-grade necromancy attribute material of the

One-turn level!]

Seeing the material inventory, Ennis Hawkins’s expression turned sour.

To give or not to give, that is the question.

After hesitating for roughly three seconds, Ennis Hawkins picked up a communicator and made a call to the branch president of the Spring City Professional Alliance.

The president’s kind voice came from the other end: “Ennis, what’s the matter?”

Cautiously, Ennis Hawkins said: “Uh, can I…can I get an advance payment of my salary?”

“No, get lost!”

The kind-hearted president of the Alliance suddenly exploded: “Your salary has already been advanced until 20 years from now!”