The Ascension : A New Beginning (Solo Leveling x Tower of God) [ON A HIATUS]

Chapter 3 : The Meeting

Amid the ongoing chaos on the test floor, two figures were now sizing each other up from a distance.

The first one, a black-haired young man carrying a sword.

The second one, a humanoid alligator wielding a long spear.

And the same thought was crossing each of their minds at this point:

'This guy/turtle...he's strong.' 

Jinwoo readied his sword as the alligator seemed to be preparing his spear. A battle seemed to be inevitable.

Suddenly the alligator looked in another direction as if someone or something caught his eye. He glanced back at Jinwoo once more before leaping away in the other direction.

'That was...unexpected. Although I guess it's better this way. That alligator seemed strong.'

Jinwoo sighed and kept walking randomly. None of the regulars he had met till now seemed to be a threat for him, other than that alligator. Occasionally one or two regulars tried jumping on him. But they were too weak that despite killing them he didn't even level up once.

Eventually, he reached a clearing in the grass field. At the same time, he saw another person entering the field. A guy with dark skin and very long blonde hair. But his most distinguishable feature was a single red horn protruding from the right side of his head.

As soon as they noticed each other, the loud sound of a horn caught their attention. A voice followed.

"Attention regulars! Stay where you are! The first test is now over! Any regulars fighting from now will be eliminated! To the two hundred regulars remaining, congratulations to all of you!"

"Finally..." Jinwoo heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing the good news. But the announcement was not finished.

"Now, the next test will begin shortly. For the next test, you have to form a team of three. The time limit for this test will be 5 minutes. To be considered a team, you have to be in contact with some part of your teammate's body when the time is up. Ready? Begin!"

Jinwoo clicked his tongue on hearing the requirements. But the appearance of a familiar screen in front of him caught his attention.

[Main Quest: Survive
Status: Cleared

Rewards: 1 x Stat Overload Potion, 1 x Stamina Recovery Potion, 100 Gold, 1 x Runestone: Sprint]

While it was obvious what the stamina recovery potion was for, it was the other potion and runestone that caught his attention.

'Accept Reward.'

Sending the stamina recovery potion to his inventory, he checked out the runestone and the other potion.

[Item: Stat Overload Potion

-Temporarily doubles the player's stats for a duration of one hour
-During this period, fatigue buildup rate is also doubled.
-Item can only be used if the player level is below 9]

'I see... So it can be a double edged sword if I'm not careful with it. Still, if I have enough stamina recovery potions, I should easily be able to mitigate its side effect.' He calculated. 'Now then, let's see what the rune stone has in store for me.'

[Runestone: Sprint

Break the runestone to obtain the skill 'Sprint'. ]

Without a second thought, he broke the runestone.

[Skill obtained: Sprint]

[Active Skill: Sprint
Mana Cost: 5(+1 per minute)

-Increases the speed of the user by 30%]

'Looks like it'll be quite useful.' Jinwoo smiled.  

What he failed to notice was that the second figure that was near him was watching the entire thing with a confused look. Although he couldn't see the screens that were floating in front of Jinwoo, he did see a piece of rock appearing in his hand out of nowhere and him breaking it.