Grinding (1)

My eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.

What? Where did she go?

There was no trace or sign of where or how she disappeared. I quickly sprinted up to the summit, and as I reached the peak,

[Congratulations for finding the hidden exit! If the hidden exit is used, you will return to earth]

[Do you want to use the hidden exit?]

[Yes] or [No]

"So something like this existed". 

Now it makes sense why Park Jihye disappeared; she must have used the hidden exit.

But how did she know that it was up here? Could her skills really show something like that?

Well, it doesn't matter now. The important thing is: do I use the hidden exit?

I don't even know why I am asking that question. I could already guess what was going to happen.

I clicked on [no].

You have chosen not to use the hidden exit.

[The hidden exit will be closed for the rest of the floor.]

Why was I going to use the hidden exit when I already knew that my skill would probably activate again?

And even if there was a little possibility that I would return to earth, I would still not press the [Yes] button.

It would make me lose the opportunity to get all these rewards that I am missing.

Strength was needed to climb this tower, and therefore I need to get all the rewards possible.

But 'The hidden exit will be closed for the rest of the floor' was worrying me a little. I probably prevented people from using the hidden exit in this regression.

Park Jihye was probably the only one who used the hidden exit anyway.

As I stood at the mountain's peak, the world below me seemed so vast and incredibly small at the same time.

I looked at the horizon, but only the grassy field surrounded by the forest and some straw houses were visible.

The field, which looked like a small circle surrounded by trees, had people in it looking like small specks.

As I looked at the beautiful sunrise, I noticed that I had solved one of my questions.

Park Jihye used the hidden exit, and that's why she was gone.

Now I could move on to the other problems.

It was not important how she knew it, as it was probably because of her skill. I could just ask her later.

I climbed down the mountain, and a few elite goblins were standing at the foot of the mountain.

"How nice of you to wait for me".

I easily killed them and continued to walk forward to the field.

While at the same time killing as many monsters as I could.

I wanted the wolf to spawn so I could kill it again.

*****

[Clear condition]

- Kill 1000 monsters [492/1000]

I waited for the wolf to spawn. I didn't ask people to leave the field; there was no point.

When they saw the portal appear, they would naturally try to run.

Even if they didn't, the wolf was no match for me anymore.

[Announcement: 500 monsters have been killed!]

[Announcement: A special monster will spawn in the field!]

[Announcement: Monsters will not appear until the special monster has been defeated!]

Ripple! 

The wolf stepped out of the portal, and I used my skill to appear in front of it.

After a few exchanges, it was already severely injured. As I finished it off, the reward page appeared again.

[Announcement: The special monster has been killed; new enemies will spawn.]

[Announcement: You have killed the special monster as the biggest contributor; please choose a reward.]

[Elixir of Endurance]

[Elixir of Agility]

[Elixir of Strength]

[Skill 'Wolf steps[C]']

[Skill 'Regeneration[C]'].

This time I clicked on 'Elixir of Strength' and the same box appeared again. But the color of the potion was red instead. After I drank it, I looked at my stats.

[Name::Taeho Kim] [Level: 13]

[Age: 21]

[Stats]

Endurance: 40.6 (29)

Agility: 54.6 (39)

Strength: 54.6 (39)

Magic: 0 +

Mana: 25 +

[Stat points: 12]

It was the same increase of 10 as the agility potion. After killing the wolf, I ignored everyone and entered the forest again.

'It was time to get an answer to my other question'.

I still didn't know what monsters were in the elite forest after the wolf died.

Therefore, I ran over to the elite forest, and after I entered the elite forest,

Shockingly, nothing was different. It was still the same elite goblins, and I was starting to get confused.

'Nothing changed at all?'

I couldn't believe it, but I had no choice but to accept it.

Maybe something changed on the mountain?

Climbing up the mountain was much faster this time, as I didn't have to stalk a girl.

As I reached the summit, no announcement appeared. Instead, it was the same view as before.

Sigh.

"Nothing changed here either".

Instead, I had a feeling of hopelessness.

"How do I even perfectly clear this floor?"

Is everyone supposed to survive? Is that how my skills work?

But would that even make sense, as 'Perfect Clear' is my skill and not the other players'? Does a perfect clear have to include that every single player survives?

Saving everyone seemed almost impossible, or at least it would take a very long time.

Or is the perfect clear meant for me to get every single reward possible?

I still haven't gotten all the rewards from this floor, and therefore it could be a reasonable possibility.

I was missing some of the wolf's reward, and I still haven't placed first.

Placing first would definitely give a reward; there was no doubt in my mind that it would. At the same time, I also haven't defeated the optional boss.

And who knows if there was another reward like the mana potion hidden away somewhere?

I took a deep breath to relax. There was no reason to get worked up, because with time, I would get all the rewards.

As I moved to the center of the peak, something caught my eye. Among all the rocks, there was a small hole on the ground that was no larger than a pebble.

This was weird because, when I knelt down for a closer look, I noticed that it was perfectly round.

As if it had been deliberately crafted rather than a random creation of nature.

'Is it a keyhole?'

This felt way more deliberate than a random coincidence. The thing you insert is probably a key.

But the question was, how would I ever be able to find this key?

It looked so small, and if I had to find it on this floor, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

But at the same time, I felt like the wolf had something to do with it.

I shook my head and slapped myself.

"Focus Taeho; that is not the problem right now." 

For now, trying to defeat the knight is the number one priority.

I went on a killing spree, killing every elite goblin in sight. It was very exhausting to kill the same monsters again and again.

But I knew that I didn't have to kill any more monsters because the same announcement appeared again.

[Floor Cleared!]

[Optional Boss Challenge]

[Yes] or [No]

I was curious about what was going to happen if I pressed [no], but I didn't want to let all the time I used go to waste.

So I clicked on [yes].

[You have chosen to challenge the optional boss.]

- Teleporting to a location.