Two days swiftly flew by, and Eric reached 50 in all his stats.
He was currently inside his Space Tent, brewing a unique Tier 2 health potion while waiting for Riya's diagnosis to complete.
The space tents that Eric, Lyria, and Livy had created together looked like a moderate-sized tent from outside, but inside, it was a massive-sized room.
Inside their tents was a single 'giant'-sized bed, a small bathroom attached, and a miniature living room with sofas, tea tables, and so on. Other things such as wardrobes, cupboards, tables, and so on were also present. Overall, it was like an emperor's bedroom with some extras.
Eric's tent also had a miniature alchemy section.
Eric originally planned to reach the peak of training breakthrough after they were close to Batley City, but after understanding Riya's condition, he decided otherwise. He also wanted to see just how he would be dying this time—if he managed to pass, that was.
Even if he didn't want to give up on the trial, he also couldn't keep Riya hanging forever with her current condition. Thus, he might have to give up if it was a time-consuming trial.
Riya had also informed him that if he decided to break through to late-stage Rank 1, the extra stats would be saved, but he also wouldn't be able to break through on this trial unless the requirement was as such. This was slightly different from what she had mentioned in the past.
Eric didn't understand why it was so. He could also see that Riya was not in any state to explain further, so he decided he would ask her after she recovered.
Leaving that aside, if he did manage to pass any of the stats trials, he probably would be in some sort of life-threatening situation due to his premonition, and for this reason, he wanted to prepare as much as possible.
The unique alchemy potion recipe that he was currently brewing was a Tier 2 health potion, created by Riya long ago; she took into account using only the few Tier 3 ingredients that Lysandra had mistakenly left behind.
Normally, it should be an absolutely terrible idea to take any Tier 3 ingredients, as that would increase the cost of increasing training stats 'through drugs' when he reached Rank 2, but he didn't want to put all his hopes on Tier 1 or the original Tier 2 health potions.
Although a Tier 2 health potion could heal half-injured organs of a Rank 1, it couldn't regenerate completely damaged or destroyed ones. So, he wanted to create something that could heal his vital organs, even if it was done slowly—as long as there was some possibility, it was worth it.
If his brain was destroyed or his spine completely gone, even a complete Tier 3 alchemy product wouldn't be able to cure him.
Normally, a Tier 2 or 3 wouldn't have such an amazing effect on a Rank 2 or 3 mana wielder, but due to him still being at Rank 1, this possibility opened up, including the chance of him just ending up dead due to Tier 3 being a deadly poison for his current rank. But that wasn't a challenge for them, as their constitution was that high.
Currently, what he was doing by making this unique potion was taking as many precautions as he could for the upcoming trial—and that was all he could do.
"I figured it out..." Riya muttered at this moment, her voice sounding quite different as she was using Mind Space to talk. "It is both simple and a pain. Sigh... All four stats can only be done with one single trial."
"You either need to accumulate 100 kills of Adult Rank 1 mana beasts alone, or 50 Newborn Rank 2 mana beasts in a group of fewer than five Apprentice Rank companions, or 20 Adult Rank 2 mana beasts with a group of ten Apprentice Rank companions or fewer, or kill a single Elder Rank 2 mana beast with a team of thirty or fewer Apprentice Rank companions. You can even try to kill a Newborn Rank 3 mana beast with a Rank 4 as a companion. I can deduce more, but it is pointless to talk more, as it will become even more impossible and life-threatening."
Eric froze in his place with a dumbfounded expression.
What kind of bullshit trial was this?!
He helplessly fell onto the floor as if he had lost all his strength.
He wanted to scream, but his true nature of being evil held back on making such heroic yells.
Normally, killing 100 Adult Rank 1 mana beasts was a piece of cake for him as long as it was one vs. one, but where would he find that many? Perhaps he needed to go to a more mana beast-populated area in the world where there were plenty of them, but he lacked geographical knowledge for this—not to mention, it would take him a long time to reach wherever that place was. Just to reach Batley City, it might take them a month or more, perhaps.
Although all three of them had gotten stronger, he still didn't think that just three of them could take on an Elder Rank 2, much less Rank 3. Even if they could hold on for a while in a battle, just receiving a single hit from a Rank 3 or even Elder Rank 2 could send them to the afterlife. Also, except for Spirit type, all other types of beasts had a very high constitution—in other words, they were not easy to kill at all, even Spirit types were often too tricky to kill.
"Hold on... Riya, does this 'accumulation' to breakthrough even work?" Eric found it weird. Was there an accountant keeping track of his progress?
Riya laughed, then started coughing.
After a while, she answered using Mind Space.
"You are probably thinking that all trials will be something related to the physical body, but it is not so. I can elaborate, but in essence, as I said long ago, it has something to do with your challenge to yourself and to the entire existence—so it can be all sorts of things and not necessarily fighting or killing yourself with workouts. As for account keeping, your own Physical, Mana, and Soul body will keep track. You cannot fool them, as these are not really 'numbers' on papers."
Eric acknowledged that calmly. He was no longer a mortal; various things could be all over the place—he could understand that much. Either way, he wouldn't doubt Riya's calculation. Maybe he would need to kill fewer numbers if certain unknown conditions were fulfilled—though for now, there was nothing to muse on that topic...
"Hang on... Riya, what of each trial's requirements?"
If he could break through one or two stats trials together, maybe the difficulty should come down?
"This b-..." Riya started coughing, then suddenly paused for a long time. After a while, she continued, "This Breakthrough trial cannot be done separately as... I don't want to explain so much... Just know that you can only pass this bracket while breaking all of them together..." She wanted to explain more, but just thinking too deeply was making her lose consciousness, so she wanted to avoid any explanation if possible.
Eric didn't ask anything more about stats breakthrough. He still asked something with a concerned tone, "Riya, how long can you hold?"
He could understand that Riya wasn't even speaking by herself but using Mind Space to talk. Even though he hadn't seen her in over two months, he could guess how terrible her current state was.
"...One month." She didn't think even a week was possible, as her 'body' had even started to disintegrate. However, she no longer needed to focus on increasing Eric's stats further, and this would reduce her burden a lot. As long as she was still alive and awake, she didn't want to give up. Yet stretching one month might really end her...
Eric sighed helplessly, "I guess this trial will end up as a failure."
All three of them had reached the peak of mid-stage and could break through—in fact, Lyria and Livy had reached it a few days earlier than him but held back on breaking through as they were waiting for him.
Both girls were so fast because they did their Mana-culminating training each night while Eric lazed around and left it to his over-buffed Constitution. He was also intentionally going easy this time, as he was waiting for his training stats to come close to their peak.
"Mm... I guess you guys can break through after reaching Everwood Village, and by then... you can also think through what you want to do..."
"I-I am sorry... for being so useless..."
Riya was extremely disappointed in herself. If only she could hold on for at least half a year, then this trial would have been a success—as it wasn't that impossible.
Without hesitation, Eric agreed wholeheartedly and answered while stroking his chin, "If only you could wear a cheerleader's dress and cheer us when we fight, or if you could sing songs or play some instrument, then that would have also worked. Sadly, you are too useless." He sarcastically commented while shaking his head in disappointment at the useless Riya.
Riya was dumbstruck. Her self-blame mood suddenly evaporated, and she ended up chuckling. She felt this was actually not a bad idea—though currently, it wasn't possible.
Eric stood up and stretched.
If this breakthrough wasn't possible, then so be it. His previous death intuition could only cry on missing him once again—oh, it should be his death mistress who would cry. Either way, with his excess 50 stats, he was now confident in protecting himself from Lyria and Livy in case they decided to assault him in bed.
He put away the unique health potion bottles inside his ring and walked out. He wanted to do an experiment with both girls that he had been anticipating for a long time.
After coming out of his tent, he noticed the sun was about to rise, and both girls weren't out of their tent yet.
He turned and covered his tent entirely with his Mana, then pulled it inside his pocket watch.
Lyria and Livy were sharing only one tent, so currently, only two tents were being used up by all three of them.
No matter how both girls argued with each other every single day, they still slept by hugging each other.
Eric wondered if both these girls actually belonged to the LGBTQ Association.
He was originally planning to invite them into his top-secret Fruitarian Association, but now he was deeply hesitating.
He sat on a log and enjoyed the serenity of dawn while watching the beautiful lake some dozen meters away from him. There were a few alligators inside, but since they appeared last evening, they had all disappeared into the depths, never to appear again.
He sighed with loneliness. This was the price of becoming powerful—even cute aggressive predators now feared them.
They had never bothered guarding or setting up any traps during nights. Why would they? They were already desperate for some wild mana beast to ambush them—so how could they set up some scary alarm or trap to scare those cuties away?
Yet no matter how careless they appeared, no pretty or ugly mana beast even turned to take a glance at them.
Eric genuinely felt that he was no longer as handsome as he used to be. Maybe he should fatten up more and not be all muscular—perhaps that would entice the mana beasts?
After half an hour or so, Lyria and Livy walked out of their tents fully prepared for the day.