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〈System Alert: Your total points have been increased by 125. [Total Points: 2,898].〉
〈System Alert: Your selection rank has changed from 501 to 503.〉
'My rank actually lowered. It's becoming difficult to increase my ranking. It seems my luck this time around is not that good. To think I haven't run into a single participant in this region.'
By the time Izroth finished off Vansouden and the other participants, he gained a total of 1,802 points! This increased Izroth's total amount of points to 2,147. Of course, since the selection had just started, some of the participants he eliminated only had the basic 100 points. Some of them had a bit more, but overall, it was not much considering the number of participants he eliminated.
Back when Izroth was first forcibly relocated, he was transported to the blazing region of endless flames known as the Scorching Lands. Just as its name would lead one to believe, it was a place of scorching flames with no signs of plant life anywhere to be found. However, it was nowhere near as bad as the Blazing Tempris Domain where one would practically be incinerated if they were not in a full party.
After Izroth was transported to the Scorching Lands, he immediately ran into one of the monsters that roamed the area and had to fight the moment he arrived. Although he received some damage due to an area of effect ability the monster possessed, he was able to easily sustain himself with his lifesteal.
The time for the second forced relocation was just around the corner, however, Izroth's luck had taken a strong dive during his time in the Scorching Lands. In total, he only gained 751 points. That was less than half of what he earned back in the Living Forest. This was due to the fact that he had not come across a single participant during his time in the Scorching Lands!
Although the monsters also gave points, he was only able to find so many of them around and the others he did find provided him with less than 250 points each. What resulted at the end of it was a mediocre amount of points. However, Izroth was not too worried about this temporary setback. There were still three hours left in the selection which meant that he would be randomly relocated another five times. What were the chances his luck would continue to be this bad?
'I wonder how many others are left in the selection. Since my rank is currently 503, even if I'm in dead last then that still means that there are more than 500 participants remaining. The numbers are falling a lot slower than I expected.'
Of course, Izroth did not truly believe that he was in last place. Therefore, although he was being reserved with his estimate, he figured that there were still around 600 to 650 participants roaming around in the selection. The one thing that concerned him the most was having to deal with the potential lack of participants in each region as the number of participants dwindled. After all, the four regions were by no means a small amount of ground to cover.
'I wanted to save as much Essence as possible in case I run into one of those eight individuals, however, I may have to use Energy Vision Sense at its maximum range in certain intervals to locate other participants.'
Using Energy Vision Sense for just one second at max range would cost Izroth more than 16 points of Essence and the longer he maintained it the faster his Essence would be drained. Therefore, he did not want to use it for simply locating other participants unless it was absolutely necessary.
A few moments later, a system alert appeared that warned Izroth of the forced relocation. Not too long after, the same strange magic that transported him out of the Living Forest and into the Scorching Lands had once again affected him. In an instant, Izroth was teleported to a new region. This region was filled with a boundless sea for as far as the eyes could see.
'This is the one region I had hoped to avoid.'
〈System Alert: You have entered the region «Bottomless Sea»!〉
At the moment, Izroth was on a small piece of land that was only around twenty meters in diameter. No matter which direction he looked in all he could see was nothing but water. He turned to look down and tried to peer into the sea, however, it appeared bottomless to him even with his monstrous sense of perception.
'Now, how are we supposed to move around in this place?'
During his time in the dungeon Sea Palace Graveyard, there was a special item provided to players that allowed them to breathe underwater for an extended period of time. However, there did not seem to be any such item located anywhere on the small piece of land he was currently on. He could try swimming to another location, but what guarantee was there that he would come across another piece of land? He may just spend the entire thirty minutes taking on a fruitless endeavor. Therefore, he had a different idea.
Izroth jumped up as he kicked off the air as though it were solid. He decided to use Sky Step to get a better view of things from a higher altitude. He stopped at the max height range of forty meters. Since he was not in combat, he could stay in the air for up to twenty seconds using Sky Step.
As Izroth swept his gaze across the Boundless Sea, he saw multiple small pieces of land that resembled the one he had been transported to not too long ago. There were participants who just sat there and there were others who looked around aimlessly. There were even a few who jumped directly into the Boundless Sea itself!
But, what came as the biggest surprise to Izroth was that some of these lands were definitely close enough for him to view even if he was on the ground. There were also strange bubbles that seemed to raise up from within the Bottomless Sea at specific intervals. These bubbles would slowly float into the air and pop once they reached a height of around twenty meters above sea level.
'Strange, is there something in this region that limits how far out one can see from the ground? Or is it something else? Also, those bubbles are...'
Since there were no other clues, Izroth knew that dwelling on the matter would bring about no new results. He made his way back towards the small piece of land before the time for his Sky Step ran out. After he landed, he walked over towards the right side of the island.
'It should be right around here.'
Bloop! Bloop!
Just as that thought crossed Izroth's mind, the water in front of him began to boil as if it were being heated to high temperatures. But, it was nothing so dangerous as scorching hot water. Instead, a few seconds later, the same bubble that Izroth observed in the air had slowly formed and rose up from out of the water. The size of the bubble was nearly two meters in diameter.
Izroth reached out to touch the bubble as it was ready to drift away into the air and it immediately stopped floating away. He pushed forward and exerted some strength to check the durability level of the bubble. The bubble itself was like elastic and no matter how far Izroth pushed forward it would not pop.
'It seems sturdy. Can I use it?'
Izroth jumped on top of the bubble and took a seat. The moment he did so, the bubble went around ten meters into the air before it started to drift northward. It did not simply float into the air and pop as Izroth had witnessed earlier. Instead, it was headed straight towards one of the nearby islands! Although he could only see the sea that was in front of him, Izroth knew that he was headed in the same direction as one of the islands.
'This must be the main way for participants to move around in this region. Though it seems I'm unable to control which direction it travels in. It's possible that their destination is already predetermined.'
Around thirty seconds later, Izroth had arrived over the nearby small island and he could finally see it clearly. The moment he reached his destination, the bubble lowered itself to within five meters of the land before it popped without warning.
Izroth kept his balance as he landed on his feet without any issue as he scanned the island. However, the instant his foot came into contact with the ground, he heard alarm bells go off in his mind. It was his Soul Sense ability warning him of nearby danger! Without hesitating, Izroth immediately kicked off his left foot and moved off to the side.
Bang!
Less than a fraction of a second after Izroth made his move, a hole formed in the ground where he had just stood. At the same time, two large and thick stone tablets that were around four meters tall crashed into one another. If Izroth had stood in that spot for even a second longer then he would have been squashed right in between those two stone tablets!
"Oh? You actually dodged that? You must have some skill. That's good, I was just getting bored." A voice suddenly sounded from the nearby distance.
'I didn't see them from the air earlier. Did they arrive just before me?'
Izroth unsheathed his Sword of The Storm as a powerful gust of wind spread out from his location.
"A man of few words I see. Well, not that I mind. You should know though, I'm pretty strong." The person who appeared before Izroth spoke in a tone filled with confidence as he held up his hand showing the back of his palm. It was a male with short silver hair wearing a gray and white taoist robe. There was a powerful and robust energy being emitted from his body as if the ground beneath his feet were crying from being crushed. Though what really caught Izroth eyes were two things.
The first thing was that on the back of that person's palm was a frightening number! One had to know that the number on the back of one's palm revealed just how many points a participant had collected throughout their time in the selection. So what was the number on the back of that person's palm? 14,052! He had collected more than 14,000 points in one hour!
The second thing that stood out to Izroth was the strange marking on that person's forehead. He remembered the warning Lances had given him before they were randomly relocated. According to Lances, there were five participants with strange markings on their forehead that was closest to being on the same level of Zushuatri's eight students! He was told that he if ever came across any of those monsters he should not fight them no matter what. In fact, his only thought was supposed to be to escape with his life!
However, when was Izroth ever the type to run away from a challenge? More than anything, he saw this as a huge chance. This was not only an opportunity to gain a massive number of points, but also a chance for him to experience something he had never truly faced before within RML; a true life or death battle!
Izroth had a deathly calm expression on his face. He knew that although the person before him appeared careless and full of openings, there was not a single weak point in his defenses to exploit. There was also this constant and pressing weight that felt similar to a Gravity Pocket that descended down upon Izroth.
'I can see why Lances said I should avoid them. This one can definitely be considered a monster.'
NPC Name: Roudin, The Indomitable Mountain(Epic)
NPC Level: ???
NPC HP: ??? (100%)