Cindy stayed close to Father Brandt’s group. They’d survived a tsunami, well, some of them had. After that came the trek through the forest, the fight against the humanoid creatures guarding the bracelet, and finally the dive into a river that led into a massive cavern where they had to search for a Blue Bracelet.

Not everyone succeeded. Cindy hadn’t gotten one either, not for lack of trying, but because diving into dark water and searching blind wasn’t something she was willing to attempt.

“We need to regroup,” Brad told the others. “Find a safe spot. Chests will start falling soon, and we’ll need the gear.”

“Form a line. Anyone with even a minor wound, come to us,” Amanda instructed.

They had acquired two new healers in the last few days, which meant Cindy was no longer the only one capable of helping the wounded.

“It’s a shame our original healers weren’t sent to the island with us,” Amanda said quietly. She had been with Father Brandt’s group for years.

Cindy glanced at the notification hovering in her vision.

Second Zone!

You have reached the Second Zone, where the penultimate challenge will take place. After the intensity of the last two trials, faced in quick succession, you have been granted a brief pause before the next week-long test.

During this week, you may rest, hunt, or prepare for what is to come. The Orange Bracelet stage will require readiness. This is also the ideal moment to recover missed opportunities. If you failed to obtain any bracelets from previous trials, now is your chance.

Chests will begin to appear in this zone soon, offering new possibilities. You may also acquire up to two new skills from these chests, an opportunity that should not be wasted. For those who prefer not to remain idle and already possess four bracelets, a special mission is available.

She had three bracelets. Not everyone even had that many. They pooled their results until one member of the group collected four bracelets just to see the special notification that only appeared for those who reached that count.

“Are we sending someone on the mission?” she asked Brad.

“Father thinks we should. We’ve earned a few days of rest, but there’s still work to do. Having a team out there unlocking two more skills could be useful.”

Father Brandt stood among them, deep in thought. “My children, first we rest for a day. After that, we plan. The giants of the scoreboard will go after the reward, no doubt. We will focus on the chests within our reach. We do not want another incident like the one caused by that evil man.”

The “evil man” was what Father Brandt called the attacker, the one with one black eye and one blue.

“He killed some of us. He deserves a painful death,” Brad muttered.

“If he survived,” Father added, “the moment we see him, we will return to him the harm he inflicted.”

***

Luke sprinted through the forest. This part of the Second Zone felt different from the first, greener somehow, the colors sharper, the ground damp beneath his feet. Chests were falling from the sky again, and he wasn’t the only one running toward them. He crouched behind a tree when he spotted a group.

“There’s one this way, I saw it.”

“No, it was the other direction.”

“You idiots saw two different ones.”

The trio wore full armor. A fourth member approached from the trees, dressed in a mage’s robe and a pointed witch hat, a heavy tome in his hands. “We follow the one farther away. Let the others fight over the closer drop.”

They nodded and moved out. Luke had no weapons. No shirt. Just a pair of pants.

Perfect. A wonderful new beginning.

He plucked a fruit from a branch and bit into it. Sweet. Like mango.

Second Zone means two more skills unlocked. If I’m lucky, I’ll get something actually useful for fighting.

He perched atop a tree overlooking the path to one of the chests. A lone man approached, muttering to himself as he passed beneath the branch. Luke dropped soundlessly to the ground and stalked him from behind.

“It was this way, I’m sure of it,” the man murmured.

Luke pulled him back and took him down in a single blur of motion.

[You have slain a Human…] *335,129 IP earned*

He stripped the man’s boots and shirt.

Please have a knife.

After searching him thoroughly… nothing. But the man did have a belt with a sword, so Luke took that and strapped it on.

“A sword. I barely ever use these.”

He took off running toward the chest. By now the fights had already started, and he wasn’t trying to be first. If ten people arrived and nine died, he only needed to kill the last one standing and loot the rest.

***

He cracked open the chest beside four bodies, two he’d killed, two that had finished each other off.

“Great. Every single one of you had swords. I wanted a knife.”

Inside the chest:

[Steel Dagger (Uncommon)]: A blade forged from resilient metal. Highly durable and razor sharp. Capable of piercing armor and cutting through bone with ease.

“At least something good.”

He collected the swords from the corpses, then carried them off and dropped all four into a hollow trunk. If he wasn’t going to use them, he wasn’t about to leave them lying around for someone else. For hours he wandered deeper into the forest, farther from the First Zone. Because he had all four bracelets, he’d earned the right to attempt a special mission during the weeklong “break.” But he’d need more gear first.

If I don’t find anything by nightfall, I start anyway.

Then he looked up. Ten chests streaked across the sky trailing blue smoke.

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Skill chests.

He rose instantly, dagger in hand.

I’m not losing this chance.

The entire forest burst into motion. A real sprint for the rewards. Luke was close to one of the landing sites. He raced toward it, hearing clashes before the chest even hit the ground. Pressing himself against a tree, he counted ten people already in the clearing.

“I need the skill!” someone shouted.

“I’m a healer,” another yelled. “If you let me have it, I swear I’ll heal all of you!”

Luke spotted a body on the ground. The face was too damaged to recognize, but the knife beside it was intact. Above them, a chest drifted downward at an agonizingly slow pace.

If any of these idiots touches that chest, even for two seconds, they’ll get the skill.

Silence spread as everyone watched it descend.

Well… screw them.

Luke sprinted forward, snatching the knife. Now he had two. He hurled one into a tree just as someone peeked out.

[You have slain a Human…] *612,888 IP earned*

He moved again; the others were already rushing ahead. A woman walked beneath a shimmering protective dome. Luke gathered stamina in his legs and burst forward. A man with a shield stepped into his path, Luke sidestepped, sliced through the man’s arm, and drove the blade into his throat.

He grabbed the man’s sword on the way and closed the distance to another opponent, striking from behind. Bolts of fire streaked toward him. Luke vaulted onto a branch, climbed, and swung upward, barely dodging the blasts. He caught himself on a vine with one hand, knife in the other.

[You have slain a Human…] *714,315 IP earned*

The fire mage dropped. Using the vine for momentum, Luke flung himself toward the next target.

“Mercy!” the man cried.

Too late.

[You have slain a Human…] *277,049 IP earned*

Luke landed hard. A loose knife flicked upward from the impact, he kicked it midair, sending it into the chest of a hidden crossbowman.

[You have slain a Human…] *412,185 IP earned*

The crossbowman fell as white energy spheres tore across the clearing. Luke seized the man’s fallen crossbow, fired, and clipped a mage in the leg. Then he threw his remaining knife.

[You have slain a Human…] *300,129 IP earned*

He was momentarily unarmed when a large man wearing gauntlets charged him. Luke dodged, caught the man’s arm, and used his own momentum to slam him against a tree. A beam of yellow light surged toward Luke, he ducked aside. The blast hit the gauntleted man instead, dropping him with a scream.

Luke retreated into the trees. The woman with the staff unleashed another beam, scorching the forest as she searched for him.

“Come out!” she shouted. “Fight me!”

Trees toppled under the force of her spells.

“And here I am,” Luke said behind her, driving a blade into her back, then another into the side of her neck.

She staggered. He tore the staff from her grip and snapped it before finishing her with a single, precise strike.

[You have slain a Human…] *903,017 IP earned*

Luke turned toward the descending chest and opened it.

[Skill Chest found!]

[Three skills will be randomly selected from your skill history. You may choose one of the options shown.]

“You’re the last one hiding,” Luke said without looking back.

A faint rustling answered him.

“You’re David, George, or Elijah?” he asked.

He recognized the face, just not the name.

“Elijah,” the man replied from behind cover.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Luke said.

The notification floated before him.

[Skills selected! You may only hold two skills during this island zone. Choose wisely!]

[Three skills available. Choose one.]

“Your friend Zoe is alive,” Luke said.

“Alive?” Elijah stepped out from behind cover.

“And the others? Did they survive?”

Elijah hesitated, eyes shifting.

“Fine, you don’t have to answer,” Luke added. “Doesn’t look like you believe me anyway. But she mentioned a theory… that we were sent here because we killed someone innocent.”

“So you really found her! Where is she? What did you do to her?”

Luke unbuckled the belt at his waist and tossed it toward him, the sword still attached.

“Take that to her. She lost her gear. Grab whatever clothes and armor are on the bodies here and bring those too. And move fast. More people will show up soon.”

He gave quick instructions on where Zoe was hiding.

“If the Orange Bracelet trial allows teamwork, I’ll show up at the hideout. Tell her that,” Luke said.

“Thank you.”

Elijah ran. Luke checked his skill notifications.

Of course. I could’ve gotten Shadow Mana Explosion, Acid Blood Arrow, or Demonic Predator Hands. Literally any of those would have been perfect. But no. Naturally, the system gives me these three.

[Seed Conversion (Rare)]: Using alchemical magic, the botanist transmutes a mature plant into a pure seed of its own type. This process preserves rare specimens or allows collected plants to be adapted for future cultivation in the garden.

[Witch’s Gaze (Uncommon)]: The Witch channels mana into her eyes, sharpening her vision and attuning it to the energies around her. While the skill is active, she can perceive objects infused with mana, allowing her to identify magical items, hidden traps, concealed mechanisms, and disguised passages. When focusing on thin surfaces, the mana concentrated in her eyes can reveal faint outlines and shapes on the other side, though only partially. A Witch must always be observant and cunning; this ability reflects her innate curiosity and her talent for seeing beyond what is obvious.

[Advanced Stealth (Rare)]: You’ve refined your natural stealth instincts, tuning your movement, breath, and posture until they operate on instinct alone. Your steps adapt to the terrain, your presence fades into the background, and your body instinctively avoids making noise, emitting scent, or producing detectable signals. Blending into your surroundings becomes second nature, allowing you to observe or approach targets with greater consistency and control.

Fantastic.

[You have unlocked the skill: Advanced Stealth]

My enemies throw fire clouds and lightning. And me? I get to be stealthier.

Luke started running, putting distance between himself and the clearing.

At least now I can run without making a sound.

***

A full day had passed. Luke followed a narrow stream, hunting beasts. His stealth skill was proving invaluable; he no longer had to worry about breathing too loud, revealing his presence, or stepping on the wrong leaf. He moved in complete silence now, no crouching required.

“I found a damn crab on my hunt, Ben!” a man shouted as he approached, dragging something through the water.

Luke watched from the trees as the man hauled in a river crab nearly as tall as he was.

“Kill that thing and let’s see what notification you get,” he told the others as he pulled it toward a small camp.

There were five of them.

“The system said I just need to kill a hundred to learn where the reward is. This better be worth it. I wanted to rest this week,” the man complained, hefting an axe.

Luke burst from the treeline. He hit the man first, swift and silent.

[You have slain a Human…] *301,555 IP earned*

“Ben!” someone shouted from a hammock, only to collapse moments later as Luke’s blade struck him down.

[You have slain a Human…] *514,014 IP earned*

Another man stumbled out of a tent. He didn’t get far. Something yanked him back out of sight.

[You have slain a Human…] *217,894 IP earned*

Luke charged the remaining two.

“Crap, crap! I knew we shouldn’t have stayed here!” one yelled, fumbling for a crossbow. He didn’t lift it in time.

[You have slain a Human…] *275,174 IP earned*

The last one raised both hands. “I surrender—”

He didn’t finish.

[You have slain a Human…] *199,741 IP earned*

When the clearing fell silent, Luke gathered anything useful from their makeshift camp. The crab, now missing a leg, was slowly limping back into the stream.

“I should’ve asked where the idiot found it. Might’ve been more of them.”

Because he had four bracelets, Luke earned the right to a special mission.

Side Mission: Treasure Guardian

Congratulations on obtaining four bracelets during this stage of the island challenge! You have earned the right to undertake a special mission. Hidden somewhere within this zone is a powerful beast guarding a treasure that will be extremely valuable for Stage 2 of the Event. If you kill 100 River Crabs, the creature’s location will be revealed. Search for the crabs scattered throughout the zone, and good luck retrieving the treasure. Remember, other participants are also hunting for it. Only the bold, and the lucky, will enter the Guardian’s territory and leave alive.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep