"I admit—that one is a bit tough, even for me." Alex panted for breath as the last ash hound finally died.
At first, there had only been two of them, so Alex had been confident enough to initiate the fight. However, after one of them howled, three more appeared.
Obviously, he would be at a disadvantage, so he hastily killed one of them. That way, he only had to fight four at once.
Still, he was outnumbered. As a solution, Alex ran toward a boulder and pressed his back against it. This meant that he no longer had to worry about an attack from behind, allowing him to focus on his front and sides.
He temporarily focused on defense, waiting for Dim Dim to hit two of them in the head with the brittle vials. After two of the four hounds were incapacitated, Alex finally shifted to the offensive stance and charged at the nearest enemy.
This was one of the hardest battles he had fought so far. Ash hounds were very agile, and when they came as a group, they were even harder to deal with.
Hearing Dim Dim’s warning, Alex raised his head, only to see two fire salamanders emerge from his four o’clock.
He had no idea if the two just happened to spawn very close to them, but that didn’t matter right now.
All he knew was that the two didn’t hesitate to bombard him with their Fire Bullets, which made him grin.
"Sorry, friends," Alex said as he ran toward the two fire salamanders. "Fire doesn’t work on me right now. Thank you for the experience points!"
For Alex, ash hounds were scarier than fire salamanders.
At least all he had to worry about the latter was their tail attacks. Even then, he had already picked up their mannerisms so he could tell whenever they were about to unleash this kind of attack against him.
With that knowledge, the young man slowly whittled the health of the two Rank 2 Monsters until they succumbed to his sword strikes.
Alex knelt on the ground and used his sword as support.
The back-to-back battles had exhausted him, and his stamina had also decreased drastically after using the skill, Slash, to end the fight faster.
After regaining his composure, the young man opened his status page to check whether he should add his stats to Strength or Agility.
’I think I’ll need more speed when I fight against the Boss Monster,’ Alex thought. ’But maybe I should add some points to Strength to increase my damage.’
Just as he was thinking about which parameter he should increase, the image of the red-striped zebra jumping spider appeared inside his head.
’That’s right. I should be adding stats for a build that can fight against that thing.’ Alex sighed.
After careful consideration, he added his three stat points to Agility.
He couldn’t possibly outspeed the Rank 2 Mutant Boss Monster, but being a little bit faster would at least improve his reaction time.
Available Stat Points: 0
Passive Skills: Improved Stone Throw, Head Shot.
[Difficulty Level: Hell Mode]
’Just eleven more stat points, and I’ll be a Ranker,’ Alex noted. ’I’ve finally come this far.’
Only those who had 151 combined stats and above were considered Rankers in the world of Arcana.
It meant that they were no longer ordinary humans but those who pursued the path of strength.
’Come to think of it. There’s a rumor saying that if you change job when you have become a Ranker, more job classes will be available to you at the temple,’ Alex mused. ’It’s just a rumor, though.’
"Sorry, I was spacing out. I’m going to pick the cores now."
The young man collected the cores and stored them inside his ring.
Truth be told, he was quite happy with his harvest. More cores meant more money, and he sure as hell needed money for his daily needs and travel expenses for his trip to Briarwood Village.
"Where is the direction of the temple again, Dim Dim?"
With the Dim Sum God as his navigator, Alex could finally see the outline of the temple in the distance.
But just as he was about to continue his travel, a patrolling golem appeared and looked in his direction.
Sensing the bracelet on the young man’s hand, the golem didn’t attack Alex and resumed its patrol.
Although the temple was still a kilometer away, there were many golems patrolling its surroundings, making sure that no monsters would respawn near it.
’Maybe if the temple on the second floor had golems, that Mutant Spider would have been defeated long ago,’ Alex thought. ’If only I can bring these guys to the second floor, I won’t have to worry about that Boss Monster anymore.’
While thinking about these thoughts, Alex made his way to the temple.
Honestly, he still couldn’t think of how they could triumph over the jumping spider even if he, Lavinia, and all the Catkins fought together.
They were simply outmatched in both speed and power.
All the spider needed to do was kill them one by one, and the morale of the group would drop drastically.
By then, everyone would just be waiting for their deaths, becoming the Boss Monster’s meal.
When the young man finally reached the gates of the temple, a refreshing breeze washed over him, healing his injuries and increasing the regeneration of his stamina.
Temples in the game usually boosted health, mana, and stamina regeneration once the player got near them.
Some players would often go to the temple to receive these buffs before going on an adventure.
Alex had often done the same in the past, but after joining a guild, he no longer had to worry about buffs since his guild members already had that covered.
The two guardian golems standing beside the gate of the temple opened it for Alex.
"Thanks," Alex said before walking inside.
The first thing he saw was the Statue of the Lovers, holding each other’s hands with smiles on their faces.
Usually, each temple was dedicated to one of the Deities who represented the Major Arcana of the Tarot Cards.
The Lovers symbolizes romantic love, deep emotional connections, union, and attraction. It’s about soul-level bonds, not just surface-level infatuation.
’If I remember correctly, the Hidden Prestige Classes under The Lovers are Twin Flame Duelists and the Twin Lotus Monk,’ Alex thought.
’The Twin Lotus Monk is in the top 9 of the Global Rankings, while the Twin Flame Duelists occupy the top 1 Rank in the Tag Team battles. That bald monk sure is scary, especially when he uses Aura.’
Alex once had the opportunity to fight the Twin Lotus Monk, but their battle ended in a draw.
It was one of the hardest battles against a fellow player that the young man had ever fought in, and he still remembered how insanely strong that monk had been.
After reminiscing about the past, Alex’s gaze landed on the floating orb in front of the Lovers’ statue.
It was the appraisal orb that allowed a player to change their Job Classes.
In ELO, players could change their Job Class as many times as they wanted.
The only downside was that their stats would be reset, meaning the player would have to start from scratch.
The only exception was if they chose a Job Class of the same branch.
For example, Rune Guard and Iron Wall Sentinel were both under the Shielder Job Class. So if a player shifted from a Rune Guard to an Iron Wall Sentinel, all the skills the player possessed would be carried over to their new Job Class.
In the Lore of Arcana, having multiple professions was highly encouraged because the creator of the world seemed to be good friends with the God of all Trades.
The young man put these thoughts aside for the time being as he placed his hand on the appraisal orb to see what kind of Job Classes were available to him.