Reincarnated Jester: Taming Players-Chapter 97: Challenge

The first kill of the day was just the beginning.

Both of them tasted blood, and their drive to repeat the process skyrocketed.

It wasn’t like the Tier VI monster posed any real challenge.

Yet the new environment, combined with the limited time, supplemented their motivation.

Rotating on his front leg to deliver a sweeping blow, Jung hacked at the opponent and beheaded it in an immaculate motion.

Not one of his movements carried any unnecessary power.

He was precise.

Not even a slight manoeuvre was wasted.

<Shifting Cloud Stage: 1/5

Progress: 91%

He was already fairly close to advancing his main Arc after slaughtering and devouring countless players.

However, they weren’t enough, and he had a lot to kill.

Monsters were superior farming material, as they provided much better progress.

Shifting Cloud wasn’t the sole counter that went up.

[Truth Lantern] Tier I

Progress: 482/1000

One of the most important progress bars finally moved, meaning he was getting closer to finding Elara’s whereabouts.

[You need to be quick,] Vex warned. [You are standing in their territory, and the longer you stay, the more of them will show up.]

Hearing her warnings, there was only one reaction between the cat and the man.

Of course, they snickered.

Especially Jung, who was nearing his evolution, and there was no way he could hold himself back.

There were variables if he stayed and took the risk, but it wasn’t enough for him to leave this gold mine and wait for the players to recover.

Nero shared a somewhat different intent.

She was lazy, yes, but when she was thrilled, it wasn’t easy for her to calm down.

The fight she couldn’t finish still haunted her mind.

Thus, those two lunatics, with different objectives in mind, didn’t cease their bloodshed as they cut down or smacked around Nightmare creatures.

"Are you having fun, sweetheart?" Jung asked.

Nero’s paws created shadowy balls.

They were covered in void elements, and she threw them.

As soon as the balls touched the ground, they exploded, butchering nearby monsters.

"Yep, it’s good," she answered. "But I feel like it’s going to get boring soon. When will your stupid Arc rank up?"

"Soon," Jung said, breathing in and out.

After an hour of relentless slaughter, he was only 2% away.

Each kill helped his progress, boosting his vision.

Now that he was going to evolve one of his other senses, he anticipated it eagerly.

"It’s gonna be an auditory ability," he predicted.

After the vision, hearing was the most strengthened sense, and he felt like it would blossom even further.

Another five minutes was enough for him to achieve it.

With a rapid series of altering strikes, Jung created a perfect harmony between the dagger and axe, cleaving their body parts.

He preferred the equipment he created but also enjoyed the heaviness of the actual weapons.

Moving in a confusing and almost non-existent pattern, Jung butchered the enemy.

<Shifting Cloud Stage: 2/5

Progress: 0%

As soon as he devoured its contents, the status screen showed his advancement.

First, he saw it, and then he felt it.

The terrifying pain assaulted Jung, lowering his knees to the ground.

Nero immediately guessed his condition and took a defensive stance in front of him.

As for him, his intense suffering began from his brain.

It then waved through his entire body.

He wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

This unending torment ended in ten seconds, and relief washed over him.

As his head was on the brink of exploding, he could think and bear the pain.

Jung’s eyes gained clarity.

It felt like he had manual lenses he could use to zoom in and zoom out, but his eyes paled compared to his ears.

Not only did they become more sensitive, but they also enabled him to perceive space in another dimension of his mind.

He couldn’t pinpoint how things worked.

But there were two ways for him to observe the world.

Those two senses united to create completely new and full images in his head.

Even with his eyes closed, Jung felt snowflakes on the ground.

The slightest deviation or vibration was enough for him to catch on and even identify their location.

Now not only his eyes but also his ears almost stopped time.

As if they obeyed his commands, and the entire two-meter radius was his domain.

It was only the beginning, and his perceived territory would increase just as his eyesight improved.

Yet the headache never left him.

"My brain juices!" Jung exclaimed.

He blamed it on his newfound power but was confident he would improve.

"I am mutating. I am perfecting. I am shifting and evolving," he said.

At least the changes were only external, and his eyes and ears didn’t actually mutate.

"Here I was, waiting for you to become even uglier," Nero said dejectedly.

"Dream on!"

Jung spat, squeezing his ears.

He let more sounds in, and studying his surroundings, his fighting spirit expanded.

"Leave them to me," he pleaded to the cat.

Nero snorted but agreed, leaving the battlefield.

They both had slain at least 60 Nightmares each.

However, he was alone against hundreds of them, but there was no hesitation or fear on his face.

"Let’s see what I can do." Jung roared.

His senses weren’t the only thing that flourished.

The core power of the Shifting Cloud matured.

Every fibre of his muscles and bones surpassed human capabilities long ago, and he was becoming more and more monstrous.

The flesh he devoured and the blood he absorbed made him rather distinct from humans. fгeewebnovёl.com

"It still hurts like hell," Jung said as he sped up.

His intense pang of transforming still lingered.

It was a side effect that would never go away, but the outcome was worth it.

The momentum he reached after two seconds was something he could never achieve, and the lightness and firmness he experienced made him feel like he was no longer human.

Just as he reached his first opponent with his new stage, the system’s voice rang in his head.

She didn’t "Ding" him this time.

[I am giving you five minutes to slay 241 Nightmares and return to the players. If you can do that, I will give you an Arc.]

There was no quest notification.

No robotic message.

She said it herself, handing him a challenge he wouldn’t refuse.