Chapter 18: Practice
Max was currently in one of many big trees.
Those were popular in the mountain range, stretching out toward the peak. Some of them held the stone statues within themselves, naturally part of the challenge.
An army of various butt-colored monkeys had encircled the tree. In this tree, Max patiently assessed his situation.
'It's a good idea to practice handy skills,' Max whispered inwardly.
He said those words because he thought about creating another skill out of nowhere. This time, he had an idea about a minimap hack that would expose all monkey locations.
However, he quickly gave up on that idea.
There was a chance Max would meet an enemy whose pressure would stop him from creating new skills. A much stronger enemy also could render all Max's skills useless, for he lacked experience in those.
Thus, Max inferred it would be a good idea to calm down and focus on skills that had always had been on his side.
[Mana Read(SSS)]
[Mana Conversion(SSS)]
Max probably would never stop using these skills. The first one helped him significantly by reading the world around him. Max believed he had been reading just standard information from mana around him and that mana hid more secrets!
Mana Conversion should always be active. Max mostly used it when exercising without caring for his mana points. But as long as he wouldn't use any defensive skill, Max's MP would probably stay pretty high.
That was why he wanted to learn how to use it every occasion so he wouldn't waste his mana points. And those regenerated pretty fast, so Max believed he could try this idea out.
"Let's see…" Max fetched a small stone.
After imbuing [Mana Read] into the object, Max threw it outside. All monkeys' stares fell onto the flying thing, trailing it for a few seconds. In this short time, Max's brain recorded all information.
It was easy notably because he used [Mana Read] two times.
First, the stone held this peculiar skill. And secondly, Max's eyes shimmered in this highly productive skill. He felt the stares on the rock as if he was flying in the person, which felt quite odd yet practical.
Max smiled, "I must act before they make a move."
Rushing out of the tree, Max quickly drew the attention of the monkey's army. His hands burst with his peculiar mana. He locked all monsters with his [Mana Read] again, swirling as he started spitting out mana lightning bolts.
Max had an idea as to why it was after the lightning element.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The forest once again shook!
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While Max and the twins had been wreaking havoc on the mountain's feet, slowly reaching areas that no player had stepped until now, a man from three families was casually taking a nap on the mountain's peak.
The self-proclaimed monkey king was not too far away from his napping self. This creature was beaten from top to bottom, silently regenerating his health points without daring to make a sound.
The man's name was Albert Omu.
He wasn't a direct descendant from one of the three families. He was one of their real players, and in a much easier term, he was like their subordinate. His boss was the head of the Muller Household, but Albert considered Lucas his real boss.
Because of the young prodigy's orders, Albert was here.
He seized the mountain's top without notifying the system. His job was to wait for the destined player to arrive at the top, asses his potential, then either recruit him to Lucas' side or offer a real mana skill.
And then, his job probably would be to follow the guy or keep an eye on him. It would be easy as this game belonged to the three families.
"What's the noise?" Albert faintly opened his eye, glancing at the self-proclaimed monkey king.
This level twenty monster was silently recuperating, so it was not him. However, the monkey was also worried that more monsters would soon come to his spot, laugh at him and shame his achievement.
He really thought that he was a strong existence before meeting Albert and getting pummeled by him.
Albert didn't pay more attention to this fake monster. He lifted himself off his rough and quite uncomfortable bed, locking his senses around the mountain.
'I feel three sources of real mana… The density and feeling of this mana are beyond what I've ever felt… What is happening? These couldn't be three heads coming here, could be?' Albert rattled off what his senses conveyed to him.
Getting quite agitated, Albert looked over his clothes. He made sure that he didn't look unsightly or at least not pleasant to an eye. Regardless of who was coming here, Albert believed he had to show the best decorum.
But he was still unsure what was going on. For now, he decided to hide behind a big stone and wait for the real deals.
A few breaths later, a man in the beginner clothes appeared. He took the first step on the mountain's peak, drawing the self-proclaimed monkey king and Albert's gaze.
A moment later, the twins landed next to him.
They wore odd masks and beginner clothes, yet their techniques and mana were of the highest quality. The combination left Albert perplexed while the monkey didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Feeling Max's mana and presence, the monkey king lost all will to fight him and his companions.
Albert hadn't revealed himself yet, for he believed he would've gone against his boss' plan.
For now, he kept his eyes locked on the three challengers, naively thinking they hadn't noticed him.
"I was first," Max glanced at Alice, whose body sparkled in sweat. Her cheeks were red from running around. She breathed roughly while trying to keep a straight back as she didn't want to show her weak self.
But as her twin sister breathed heavily, Alice allowed herself to show a little weakness, "You were first!"
She agreed with the human, whose clothes and voice seemed normal. Not even a sweat trickled down Max's chin, and his tone sounded casual.
Max chuckled, "You have your strength sealed, so it was quite unfair competition. But as you have exercised and fought between yourselves, you've ramped up your skills. It must've felt good to let them all out, right?"
Alice wiped off her sweat, "Right!" before replying with a new portion of energy.
Zamira also nodded.
And then, Max pointed at the monkey, "Look at this little one. Who has beaten him so badly?"
Hearing those words, Albert's body trembled, cold sweat running down his back. His eyes expanded, shaking as he felt he had been marked from the start.
Yet, he hadn't noticed anything.
And he was a real player!
Thus, the existences before him were the same, if not better…
Albert slowly revealed himself, waving a white flag.
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