A few hours before they defeated Raz Gulag…

Viktor sat alone in the middle of the forest, and he stared at the pile of weapons the recruits collected from the defeated Uruks in the last few weeks.

“Well, time to extract them all!”

Viktor took the stolen weapons one by one, and all of them melted away into metal essence, before they were all absorbed away. After absorbing around 10 weapons, a notification appeared in his mind.

120 mid-level metal essence extracted.

1% progress to stage six Anvil core

Core of Anvil Stage five : 1.1%

“What?!”

Viktor clicked his tongue with distaste. He was shocked at that result, as he was not absorbing just any metal. He was absorbing tier 2 weapons.

“So, in other words, weapons made of tier 2 metals have minimim effect on my core level now.”-.

If he needed 10 pieces of tier 2 weapons to reach one percent, then he would need at least 1000 weapons to reach the next tier, assuming he only absorbed tier 2 weapons.

He decided to continue extracting the weapons for now. After about one hour, all the weapons and armor taken from fallen Uruk soldiers were absorbed.

Core of Anvil Stage five : 53.4%

Viktor narrowed his eyes at the result. he had managed to defeat 2000 Uruk soldiers, yet he could not level up his core still.

“Oh well, there’s still the next pillar.”

…

After defeating Raz Gulag, the boss of the Uruk soldiers, the level 30 Challenge Quest was officially finished.

The notification for their reward appeared in each participant’s minds. Their didn’t earn a lot of spirit stone credits, but at least it was enough to buy some weapons and other necessities in the Pillar shop, and get ready to fight even stronger enemies.

Right before the notification disappeared, all participants were teleported back to the pillar.

As this was their first taste of battle and victory, many of the participants were still pumped, and they were sure they could finish the next stage. Their confidence was not unwarranted, as all the participants have increased their power. 100 of the recruits have also managed to reach Sky Realm.

Unfortunately, they would not finish level 31 today, as Viktor has another plan for them.

The recruits stared at him in confusion and bewilderment. They don’t understand why they have to repeat the same quest all over again. Viktor smiled confidently and explained.

“I can understand, you are all eager to go to level 31. But, I can see that some of you were still not strong enough. Before we go to the next level, I want most of us to be at similar strength.”

They all nodded in understanding. Now that they paid attention to their fellow recruits, they realized that more than half of them still haven’t reached Sky Realm. The higher a pillar’s level, the stronger the monsters would be, and it would be a betrayal if they force their weaker friends to contend against stronger enemies.

Viktor was relieved his explanation was enough to make them understand.

Along with 1000 recruits, Viktor decided to back to the camp to rest for one day before going to the next pillar. But they were in no rush, as they decided to spend their points in the Pillar shop first.

After one day of rest, they all set out for the second pillar that stood around 10 miles from their camp. After they arrived, they decided to head straight to the 30th level and accept the Challenge Quest.

Now, the recruits have had some experience fighting Uruks, so the challenge felt a bit easier. Viktor didn’t even bother to let the enemies go like their previous attempt. He, along with all the recruits, finished off any and all Uruks that decided to attack, and even chased those who tried to run away.

Within 4 days, they have exterminated almost 2000 orcs. Before deciding to kill the remaining orcs, Viktor decided to get everything done with by extracting metal essence from the enemies’ armor and weapons.

Just like before, he asked the recruits to collect all the spoils of war and place them in a predetermined location. Right now, Viktor was there, sitting in front of the pile with a massive grin on his face.

“Well, time to eat!” Viktor rubbed his hands and started to do the extraction.

10 mid-level metal essence extracted

20…

30…

40…

Without stopping, Viktor took one weapon after another and absorbed them into metal essence.

200…

300…

400…

After extracting more than 2000 weapons, Viktor felt a painful sensation assault his chest. It was the same feeling as when he was doing a lot of extractions at the same time. Despite that, he kept on powering through the pain and absorbed the metal essence.

Before he realized it, one hour have passed. A notification suddenly appeared in his mind,

3918 mid-level metal essence extracted.

Metal forged succesfully.

Core of Anvil has reached stage 6.

Viktor felt tired thanks to forcing himself to absorb a large quantity of metal at the same time, but his body now felt much lighter than before. Energy coursed throughout his body and made him feel powerful.

Your spirit force has increased by 20 points.

Spirit force : 110 (130)

As there were still some metal left, Viktor decided to extract them as well.

82 mid-level metal essence extracted.

0.09% progress to stage 7 Anvil core

Core of Anvil Stage six : 0.09%

Viktor narrowed his eyes. Before he reached stage 6, 10 tier 2 metal was enough to give him one percent, but now he earned less than one tenth of that. As it stands now, he could no longer reach the next stage using this method.

While Viktor was thinking, he heard footsteps from the direction of the makeshift base. It was Viez.

“Young Master, the others are waiting. Raz Gulag has arrived.”

Viktor nodded and smiled at Viez, “Well, looks like it’s time to hit the 31st level.”