My Own Skill Book - Chapter 71
Chapter 71
I read the description of the seed item.
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[Miniature Forest Guardian]
(3,500,000 RP)
If planted in the ground, a Forest Guardian (Immature) will emerge. Its abilities are somewhat inferior to the mature form. When its power is fully expended, it returns to a seed and obeys the owner's commands.
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'So I can use the Forest Guardian as an ally.'
I pondered for a moment before purchasing the seed. It was an item not usually sold at the RP Shop, so I had a feeling it would surely come in handy.
'Should I buy some stats with the remaining RP?'
Between the 5 million RP obtained from updating the scoreboard and the 10 million RP received for defeating the guardian, I had plenty of RP left even after buying the item.
'I just got Vitality +10 for free... Yeah. This should be enough.'
Excluding Magic Power, which had reached its growth limit, and Vitality, which had just increased, I evenly purchased the remaining stats.
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-Status-
I Hwajin
HP: 520/520 MP: 490/490
Vitality: 26 Strength: 30 Magic Power: 49 Mental Strength: 20 Sense: 20
Unique Skill: [Edit Lv.4]
Exp: 13,352,033
RP: 4,900,000
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Buying 10 each for Strength and Mental Strength, and 4 for Sense, cost 5.6 million RP.
Though I still had RP to spare, I decided to save some in case I came across new items again.
***
After everyone finished using the RP Shop, we headed to the second floor of the forest.
The second floor of the forest looked very similar to the first floor. Countless giant trees blocked our view.
I immediately tried using the crystal. The crystal hanging from its string spun round and round before pointing in a fixed direction.
We moved in the direction the crystal indicated and found the circle in twenty minutes.
"Now we won't have to suffer searching for circles anymore."
The middle-aged man said in a pleased voice.
From then on, it was simple work.
Using the crystal to find our way and occasionally beating down charging monsters, we reached the circle on the fourth floor of the forest, two floors further ahead.
[You have entered a Safety Field.]
[You may use the RP Shop.]
It was the third Safety Field.
I immediately checked the scoreboard.
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-Scoreboard-
Peter King (Party)
Highest Floor Reached: Desert 3F
Total Survival Time: 43 hours 14 minutes
In Progress
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The survival time had increased noticeably.
"It seems they haven't reached the next Safety Field yet."
O Seoyeon, standing beside me, said so.
"Or maybe they already reached the fourth Safety Field and moved on to the next floor."
I looked around at everyone.
"What should we do? Should we go out to the outside world and regroup tomorrow, or depart right now?"
"Let's go right now. We rested in the garden, and thanks to the crystals, we found the circles right away, so I'm still bursting with energy."
The middle-aged man said.
"I think it's better to depart immediately too. If we take a break, we'll fall behind the Exploration Coalition by that much."
"I agree with Ms. Hyeri as well."
Both Ms. Hyeri and the vice guild leader said to keep going. I looked at O Seoyeon.
"If you're going, I'll go too."
I nodded at O Seoyeon's words.
"Understood. Let's proceed."
We had crystals purchased from the garden. Using these, we would surely be able to surpass the Exploration Coalition.
'And I have to repay them for trapping us.'
I stepped onto the circle heading to the next floor.
[You have entered Desert Floor 1.]
The moment we entered, what we saw were giant sand dunes.
'Ugh.'
The tremendous heat made it difficult to breathe.
"Whew. Isn't this too hot even for a desert?"
The middle-aged man said, tugging at the collar of his outer garment.
I too was already breaking out in a sweat.
"Just being here is draining our stamina. My HP is decreasing."
The vice guild leader said while staring into empty space, perhaps looking at his status window.
"Everyone, gather around."
I cast [Triple Attribute Resistance] on everyone and on myself as well. Then I felt a bit cooler, and the HP decrease stopped.
"Now I feel like I might live. Thank you, Hwajin."
Ms. Hyeri said with a sigh.
"Then let's move out."
I took out the crystal.
As we progressed through the desert field, we encountered various monsters.
Scorpions with tails the size of a human face.
Groups of snakes with fangs reminiscent of a tiger's.
Cacti that fired thorns, snake humans with human upper bodies and serpent lower bodies, and so on.
The desert monsters all used poison-attribute attacks.
The poison they used was far stronger than the monsters' in the dungeon. Once poisoned, 50 HP drained per second by default.
However, right before coming here, we had defeated the Forest Guardian, and each of our HP had increased by 200.
Thanks to that, we could fight with a certain degree of leeway.
The one who performed the best in the desert battles was the vice guild leader.
"Kyah!"
Ms. Hyeri screamed. Snakes were rapidly slithering toward her feet.
"Hah!"
With a thud, the vice guild leader's shield slammed into the ground. The shockwave tore the snakes' bodies apart.
A few snakes attacked the vice guild leader, but their fangs couldn't pierce his full-body armor.
In addition to his Vitality increasing by 10 thanks to the Ruler of the Forest title, the vice guild leader had also purchased Vitality stats with saved-up RP.
As a result, the vice guild leader's Vitality stat had hit the growth limit of 49, and his HP exceeded one thousand with item effects included.
When the snakes died, scorpions rushed in.
"Haat!"
The vice guild leader batted away the scorpions' stingers with his shield. The scorpions violently whipped their tails, targeting the vice guild leader, but he didn't back down an inch.
Completely disregarding the fact that he was getting poisoned, he held his ground, protecting us from the poison. The sight of the vice guild leader was dependability itself.
Thanks to him, we could focus on attacking.
"Fireball."
I burned all the scorpions attacking the vice guild leader to ashes.
[You have acquired 13,000 RP.]
"Thanks to you, Vice Guild Leader, I can fight with peace of mind."
"I'm merely doing what a tank is supposed to do. Besides, I should be the one thanking you. I can focus entirely on defense because I have a dependable hunter like Hwajin at my side."
After a brief silence, we looked at each other and smiled.
The battles in the desert weren't difficult, but there were too many monsters. Because of that, even with the crystals, it took nearly an hour to reach the circle.
"Still, at this rate, won't we catch up to the Exploration Coalition soon? It took those guys over 40 hours just to reach the desert. We haven't taken even a quarter of that time."
At the middle-aged man's words, we all nodded.
[You have entered Desert Floor 2.]
"Uwaaak!?"
"Kyaak!"
The moment we entered the second floor, the middle-aged man and Ms. Hyeri screamed.
An enormous gust was blowing in the desert. It was a sandstorm.
"I can't see a... mmph."
O Seoyeon started to speak then covered her mouth. She was scrunching up her face as if sand had gotten into her mouth.
"Uwoah..."
The middle-aged man covered his face with both arms, looking flustered. The wind was so strong that it pushed our bodies backward.
In Ms. Hyeri's case, whose Strength was relatively low, her feet were lifting off the ground.
'Mana Barrier.'
Before anyone could be blown away, I erected a barrier around us.
"Phew. Now I can finally breathe."
"Ptoo, ptoo."
The middle-aged man let out a sigh, and O Seoyeon rinsed her mouth with water.
"How are we supposed to advance like this?"
Ms. Hyeri said with a worried face. Visibility was limited due to the swirling sand.
Moreover, the crystal couldn't properly indicate directions because it was being blown around by the wind.
'I can cover the crystal with a mana barrier, but if I cast a mana barrier large enough to protect all of us, we won't be able to move.'
The final destination of the Exploration Coalition that I saw on the scoreboard was here, Desert Floor 2.
'The fact that the Exploration Coalition isn't nearby means they somehow got through this storm and moved elsewhere.'
With over two hundred SS-rank hunters, it wouldn't be strange if they had one or two skills to escape this situation.
'Then should I devise a skill to escape this place too?'
I summoned the book and examined the Words I possessed.
'This won't do as it is.'
After creating a skill, I closed the book and looked back at my companions.
"Wait, everyone stay here for a moment."
Puzzlement appeared on everyone's faces.
"Where are you going?"
O Seoyeon asked sharply.
"I'm going to go have a talk with the wind."
"What?"
I exited the mana barrier empty-handed.
"Kuh."
Immediately, an enormous wind blew in. It was even stronger than before. My feet lifted off the ground, and soon my body floated upward.
"Hwajin!"
"Hwajin!"
I heard my companions shouting from below.
I created a mana barrier around my head. To others' eyes, I probably looked like I had an upside-down fishbowl over my head. I might look ridiculous, but this was the only way I could keep my eyes open.
"Don't worry!"
The dome of the mana barrier visible below was growing farther and farther away.
The sandstorm toyed with me, blowing me this way and that. The sensation of flying up, down, left, and right felt like I was riding a roller coaster.
"Damn it, this is enough already. Hurry up and come out!"
It was the moment I was cursing.
[Your body learns the flow of the atmosphere!]
[You have acquired a new Word
[You have acquired 35 EXP.]
'Got it!'
I couldn't use a bookmark against the sandstorm, so I had clashed against it with my body, just like before.
Having obtained the Word I wanted, I pulled a magic spear from my inventory and used the skill I had created before exiting the mana barrier.
"Metallization!"
Then my body hardened and turned gray. My body, which had been blowing in the wind, began to fall.
Thud!
A wave of sand caused by the impact was swept up by the wind.
Despite falling from a high place, there was no pain at all. This skill made using the Elemental Word
'But I can't do anything while it's active.'
I quietly waited for [Metallization] to wear off, and after about 10 seconds, my body returned to normal. Before I could be blown away by the wind again, I quickly wrapped myself in a mana barrier.
And I created a new skill. The main Word was the
"Wind Barrier!"
When I used the skill, white light flickered around my body and vanished.
I carefully stepped outside the mana barrier.
"Nice."
The ferocious sandstorm vanished around me.
Having confirmed the skill's effect, I quickly returned to my companions and cast the new skill on them.
"As expected, Hwajin is incredible."
The vice guild leader walked as if taking a stroll through the storm and said.
"What would we have done without Hwajin?"
"Without Hwajin, we probably would have been wiped out in the grassland field."
The middle-aged man and Ms. Hyeri added.
"Anyway, your unique skill is such a cheat."
I smirked at O Seoyeon's words.
"Jealous?"
When I asked, O Seoyeon turned away without answering.
About ten minutes after walking through the storm, following the crystal—
"Don't you see something over there?"
The middle-aged man pointed somewhere with his finger. I shifted my gaze in that direction.
Through the hazy vision caused by the flying sand, something truly began to appear.
'Those look like tents. Ah.'
Large-scale tents spread out across Desert Floor 2.
The answer to who their owners were came quickly.
'We've finally caught up. The Exploration Coalition.'