"What are you talking about? How are non-combat floors any better than combat floors?" Madan sighed as he felt a headache coming. In every single non-combat floor so far like the one with the succubi, it was him who had suffered the most. If this one was simply another variation of that with higher difficulty, he was pretty much screwed.
As everyone looked around, wondering what was going to pop out when, Liam walked over to the center to analyze the object or rather the anomaly. At first, he thought that it was an object or some sort of item buried inside but it turned out that he was wrong.
It was nothing. The center of the giant crater alone was somewhat sluggish and muddy as opposed to the barren land all around, like some sort of clay. Maybe magic clay that can retain water? If one could even call that a treasure?
And it was not like he had his spatial artifact to store this clay for future use so ultimately Liam decided to ignore it and focussed on sensing through his soul minions to see if he could find anything else.
Time quickly started slipping by and minutes became hours. Yet there seemed to be nothing. Absolutely nothing in the whole damn place. Everyone had already started meditating and trying to recover from the after effects of the previous floors leaving the matter of figuring out this floor to Liam. Even Eldrin who scoffed at this behavior found himself helpless after a while unable to figure out heads or tails of the situation.
Finally, the small azure serpent who was playing in the muddy waters cracked the floor. The little guy who was casually murking about in the mud all of a sudden got a +1 boost to his strength out of nowhere.
The little azure serpent, seemingly oblivious to the significance of its discovery, continued to frolic in the mud, its body glowing faintly with a newfound vigor.
"Did that little snake just get stronger by playing in the mud?" Liam, intrigued, approached the center of the crater again, this time focusing his attention on the seemingly mundane mud. This was definitely not some ordinary mud.
He then thought of something frightening. What if this mud had sucked all of the lifeforce and vitality from this entire region making everything else completely barren and empty? That would mean that this mess contained incredible properties, perhaps even capable of giving them benefits. Maybe the purpose of this trial was something related to this?
"Rey. Come here." Liam called the guy, breaking him from his meditation. "Apply this thing on your body."
Rey was puzzled about Liam's sudden request and his gaze fell on the small azure serpent, still gleefully immersing itself in the mud, its scales shimmering with a bright glow.
He did not know why Liam was asking him to do this but he did not care. "I got it, bro."
He immediately scooped up a handful of the mud, its texture surprisingly smooth and cool to the touch. With a deep breath, he smeared the mud across his arms, feeling a slight tingling sensation as he did so. The effect was immediate and profound.
Rey's eyes widened in astonishment as he felt a surge of vitality coursing through him, akin to a stream of pure energy revitalizing his very essence. The fatigue and weariness from the previous trials began to dissipate, replaced by a rejuvenating warmth that seemed to invigorate his muscles and bones.
"This... This feels amazing," Rey exclaimed, elated by the undeniable boost in his strength and vitality.
Encouraged by Rey's reaction, the rest of the group eagerly followed suit. They applied the mud to their skin, each member experiencing the same remarkable rejuvenation.
And it was not just strength and vitality, their agility was also getting a boost. It was as if the physical structure of their body was getting a huge upgrade.
From the looks of it, it was not just the human beings who were experiencing this change. Eldrin was grinning from ear to ear as he started to slather himself with more and more clay. "Praise the benevolent heaves! Praise the benevolent heavens! The heavens are indeed just!" The elf loudly laughed.
"My Lord, since we went through a slaughter trial so early in the climb, the Spire is now trying to balance out by giving us this glorious reward!" The elf happily continued applying more and more clay, not holding back at all.
"After everything that we have been through, finally something nice and easy."
The others gave an even stare at the elf, wondering what exactly he had to go through. Among everyone the elf had it the easiest. However, everyone was too busy to care and they continued slapping wads of clay on their body.
The amount of clay was not the issue. There was more than enough for everyone including their beast companions. Liam as well started applying though he did not feel like it would have much effect on him. He had already consumed several attribute boosting treasures and moreover, from his status screen he had a feeling that he was already at his limit cap.
This was something that he still needed to figure out. He had to essentially upgrade his body. Otherwise, he might continue losing out more stats. In fact, this was currently a big problem for him since he was at the cusp of going to the next rank.
However, he was inside the Spire and Liam had long since decided not to fuss too much about achieving everything perfectly. Sure, this was feasible back in the tutorial when he had prior knowledge about everything but still hanging onto it now would only be foolishness.
Just as Liam was thinking about this issue, suddenly a shrill cry emerged. "What the heck is that smell?" It was Eldrin and his face had become completely unsightly.
Liam could also smell it. There was a waft of something horrendous brewing near them.
At the same time, a notification also popped up in front of him.
[Ding! You have gained +1 Strength]