Endless Leveling Done Right!
Chapter 119: Steel And Strength [Part 1]

Chapter 119: Steel And Strength [Part 1]

Finding a treasure chest once could be considered a stroke of luck.

Finding another in the span of fifteen minutes could still be attributed to luck.

Finding a third treasure chest half an hour later would make anyone think Alex had been born under a lucky star.

But finding a fourth and fifth was enough to make Rowan suspect that this was no mere coincidence.

Especially since the boy seemed to know where exactly the treasures were hidden.

"Who is that kid, Ramza?" Rowan asked. "How is he finding the treasure chests I painstakingly hid with so easily?"

"Him?" Ramza chuckled. "He’s the Oathkeeper of the Clawford Tribe."

"The Oathkeeper of your tribe?" Rowan frowned. "Surely, you jest. Your clan has never produced an Oathkeeper since your founder died of old age."

"Right." Ramza nodded. "But that’s no longer the case. He really is the Oathkeeper of our tribe, so please, take care of him when he becomes a student of your academy."

Rowan narrowed his eyes at the young man, who seemed to know exactly where his treasure chests were hidden.

"Are you sure," the Headmaster asked dryly, "that he’s the Oathkeeper, not a Treasure Seeker?"

"Why can’t he be both?" Ramza chuckled. "Well, I have high hopes for him. I hope he really passes this trial, so he can study with my granddaughter at your academy."

While the two old men were talking, Alex briefly stopped his treasure-hunting activities because Dim Dim warned him that someone was nearby.

The pair immediately hid behind a tree. Once they were safely concealed, Alex looked at where the Dim Sum God was pointing.

A minute later, a young man with short black hair appeared.

In this world, black hair wasn’t that uncommon. Even those with silver hair, like Alex, could be found here and there.

However, the young man’s body stiffened when he saw the black-haired guy because he recognized him right away.

’Renard?’ Alex thought. ’What is he doing here? I thought he got a special admission from the Headmaster to study in the academy?’

Before playing Charles Lambert’s story quest, one must first clear the route of one of the three main Heroes or three main Heroines first.

Renard Vale was one of the three Heroes of Endless Leveling Online, and Alex happened to have played this character in the past as well.

He was a commoner born in a village called Windhollow Reach.

It was a secluded village in the mountains located high in the Sylph Shade Highlands, known for its perpetual breezes and floating skybridges strung between cliffs.

One day, a Wyvern attacked their village and nearly wiped out half of its inhabitants.

Fortunately, an Adventurer was passing through and defeated the monster.

Seeing the battle, the boy who was only ten years old at that time, aspired to become someone strong like the savior of their village.

He would then study at Frieden Academy and become one of the future pillars of the Kingdom of Avalon.

’Wait, if he’s here, does that mean Nessia is also here?’ Alex wondered.

Nessia was one of the three main Heroines of the story. Many female gamers picked her for their first playthrough.

Just like Renard, she was a commoner, but her specialty was in magic.

In fact, Nessia would be known in the future as the Phoenix Tactician because, unlike other Mages, she liked to create magical formations that trapped and incapacitated her opponents.

’Now, what should I do?’ Alex mused. ’Should I approach him and ask that we form a team together?’

Alex was very tempted to do that because Renard was a Cheat Character.

He possessed the passive skill Heir of Titans [EX].

Heir of Titans [Passive Skill].

This skill was completely broken because it automatically adds +1 Strength every single time you invested a Stat Point into any stat parameter.

Put a point into Agility? +1 Strength.

Wanted to raise your Constitution? Still +1 Strength.

Even if you allocated a point to Intelligence, it didn’t matter because the Strength Stat went up anyway.

If you invested a point into Strength itself, then two points were added instead.

One from your allocation, and one from the passive effect.

In other words, every point put in Strength became two.

What did this mean?

It meant that Renard was a character designed to become an unstoppable juggernaut no matter how he built his stats.

He could specialize in agility or magic for versatility and still grow stronger than pure melee specialists.

It wasn’t just power.

It was inevitable.

He wasn’t just growing stronger.

He was evolving into a small Titan!

But Renard had a flaw.

He had trust issues.

If Alex were to approach him now and introduce himself, there was a chance that the teenage boy would attack him. After all, this was the goal of the second trial.

To eliminate each other until only twenty were left.

However, Alex was still torn. If he managed to befriend Renard now, wouldn’t he have an overpowered ally in the future?

After a brief internal battle, Alex decided to throw caution to the wind because the risk was worth it.

"Who’s there?!" Renard took a fighting stance when he sensed someone on his right side.

"Hi, my name is Alex," Alex said. "Alex Stratos. I swear I am not a suspicious person."

"... That’s what all suspicious people say," Renard pointed out.

"Um, this might sound strange, but the moment I saw you, I felt like I could trust you with my life."

"Please take your life back. I don’t want anything to do with it."

Alex did his best to keep the smile on his face from breaking as he continued to talk to the teenager, who was still in a fighting stance.

"Look, I know both of us are here to compete to become scholarship students," Alex said, switching his tone from friendly to serious. "But won’t it be better if we team up together? That way, I can watch your back, and you watch mine."

"I don’t trust you," Renard said calmly. "It will be best if we part ways here. I don’t trust anyone. And if you insist on messing with me, I’ll attack you. You have ten seconds to scram."

"Wait!" Alex pointed at his left arm, which was still in a cast. "As you can see, my arm is broken. Do I look threatening to you?"

"You must be faking it to lower my guard." Renard narrowed his eyes. "And even if your injury is real, that gives me more reason not to team up with you because you’ll just be a burden.

"Now, get out of my sight while I’m still being nice. I will count to ten. This is really the last time that I will show you mercy."

"One... two... three..."

Alex thought carefully about his next move. He didn’t know how strong Renard was at this point in time.

But when he had started playing this character in the game, his stats had just broken through to become a Rank 1 Berserker Juggernaut, which was a Legendary Job Class.

Alex was currently a Rank 2 Oathkeeper, so his stats weren’t too shabby. Even if the two of them fought right now, that didn’t mean that the young man would definitely lose to one of the main Heroes of ELO.

"Eight... Nine.. Ten." Renard clenched his fist and prepared to lunge at his enemy. "I gave you fair warning, now die!"

The teenage boy didn’t hesitate and attacked Alex even though the other party had a broken arm. The second trial was about eliminating competitors, so he didn’t feel guilty about doing what he needed to do.

A moment later, a resounding clanging sound spread through the surroundings as the fist of the Berserker Juggernaut met the shield of the Oathkeeper.