Beatitudes

Episode 85.

“Poor wolf…” Isaac whispered to himself as pity for the gruesome death surfaced slightly within him, but that was all he could say and do before a screen abruptly popped up, blood red in color, it appeared in three places to each of the challengers present on the third floor. The familiar sight similarly carried familiar words that were only slightly different from before,

// Trial objectives:

1st Objective- Eliminate all tainted beasts (62/110)

2nd Objective- Clear all floors (3/5)

You have cleared the first three floors of the Tainted mountain (Tier one) and completed an additional two subtasks of the trial.

You may choose to step into the safe zone to recuperate and get prepared, or you may directly head on to the next floor of the tainted mountain to continue the trial of challenging the mountain. //

It was all they needed to see to know that they had truly cleared the third floor clean of all the beasts. Then again, they could see clearly every corner of the floor, if there was one such beast that had managed to hide itself despite that, then there was probably little they could do to it anyways.

 Nothing changed after the blood red screen appeared as the trio moved as if they were undergoing a daily routine. This level of battle was still not up to being able to tire them out.

Although there had been some issues, most of which happened to Isaac, he had still been able to quickly take care of it. This wasn’t some display of immense strength or might, rather it was a level of skills that was approaching the level of impressive battle sense and awareness that many ached to reach. Even Isaac hadn’t reached the true level of seamless battle analysis and reaction, but the level he displayed made it seem like he had been fighting against the odds for a good number of years. Naturally, there were those who could pick up things like the aforementioned really very easily. They were seen in a different light sometimes as sponges that were easily able to absorb large amounts of liquid, the liquid being the skills and techniques and the other different things related to battle although the size of the sponges still differed at that, but regardless of that, those who could be put into that category were those who people called geniuses. But anyone looking at Isaac would find it hard to believe that he was similarly a genius, even with his appearance was of a high standard. The reason why was because said guy was one who always wore an expression reminiscent of a lazy slouch, that would be hard pressed to care about anything other than sleep and what to eat even if he was forced to care.

Little did he himself know or even realize about it. And if you asked him to say his thoughts on this, he would just explain it as something he didn’t really understand. Perhaps only Adam knew that Isaac’s case was that of an instinctive response, something almost exactly like muscle memory. Wherever and whenever he had gotten these things though remained unknown.

But no mention was made of it and Isaac was made to believe that this was the standard of the world fighters at large, a thought that would make those who heard it want to commit murder.

But one surprising thing that somewhat masked his achievements somewhat was that his genius status was also being shared by the other two around him. Both of them so far had been showing impressive levels of battle awareness, which allowed them to keep up with Isaac at a steady pace.

It came as a slight surprise even to Adam but he had easily gotten used to it, geniuses were not many, but they were also not hard to come by.

It all boiled down to certain factors and criteria, one being the level of acute compatibility one had with his or her chosen class from the options giving when selecting a class from the origin tower, another factor being resources used in training, one other factor also being the environment one was in, and so on and so forth. Hence, the reason for the distribution of these special people being as they were.

Be that as it may, the current trio of geniuses were naturally heading towards the fourth floor right after clearing the third. This was nothing at this point, as they had still managed to come out on top of the third floor relatively quickly saving both the energy and the time.

And even though they had encountered a little bit of stress that was a bit troublesome, though that could only actually be said for Isaac, they had managed to take care of it quickly without much energy lost.

So now they would once again challenge the next floor of the mountain. Isaac couldn’t deny that he was actually curious as to how the higher floors would look like, as to whether there would be anything different. This was his first ever mountain trial after all, he definitely didn’t know much about things, it was all the more reason for his curiosity.

The three of them travelled through the passage way that was the same as the others with nothing different about it. Adam had mentioned the fact that there was really no two identical zones, this was first of all due to the diverse number of tainted beasts that could appear, most of these beasts usually had different places where they stayed, so each environment in every tainted mountain was somewhat like a reflection of the types or species of beasts populating the mountain, most mountains usually held no more than two to three similar types of beasts after all. Those were the factors influencing the diversity of each mountain, caused by the inhabitants, but the other major reason was not due to the beasts, instead it was due to the myriad dangers present from the mountain.

The three of them travelled through the passage way that was the same as the others with nothing being different about it. Adam had mentioned the fact that there were really no two identical tainted mountains, this was first of all due to the diverse number of tainted beasts that could appear, most of these beasts usually had different places where they stayed, so each environment in every tainted mountain was also somewhat like a reflection of the types or species of beasts populating the mountain, most mountains usually held no more than two to three similar types of beasts after all. Those were the factors influencing the diversity of each mountain, caused by the inhabitants, but the other major reason was not due to the beasts, instead it was due to the myriad dangers present from the mountain.

Right now, although there was still no one who truly understood much about the so called ‘tainted mountains’, neither their origin nor their purpose, it still remained a place where fighters would definitely go ahead to challenge it. Hence after a certain amount of years had gone by, with the cooperation of those taking on the mountain trials, braving the many dangers that existed within it and surviving through them and the researchers of the alliance and other organizations back in the untainted zone that gathered all the many details and information and then compounded them all, they had been able to draft out the general ways in which the mountains would have differ in both the environment and the objectives and situation, it was still too little to truly understand the essence of the many tainted mountains, but it was enough to have a basic understanding that helped to be prepared and avoid many dangers.