Afterlife Dream

I had one potion that I looted from the Love Dungeon which I had not managed to sell so far. I refused to sell below the average price because I knew that it was an important potion that could decide everything in a critical situation. In the end, I was grateful it didn't sell. Who would have thought that the Third Job Advancement Test would be so difficult?

I drank the Unseen Potion in one gulp. The potion granted me access to a rogue's precious skill, Invisibility. One could remain invisible for five whole minutes. The five precious minutes were all I had to beat the Evil Mantis Lord.

Drinking the Unseen Potion felt like drinking liquid ice. The cold sensation spread slowly from my oral cavity to my throat and my stomach. From there, it spread without inhibition throughout every part of my body. I could feel it at my fingertips. The effect took place in the shortest time possible. When I finished the whole bottle, I saw the empty bottle hovering in the air. My hand had disappeared. My feet, my arms... all of them disappeared. The Evil Mantis Lord stopped attacking. It eyed the empty bottle that hovered in the air in confusion. I quickly snapped back from my daze and threw the bottle in the opposite direction.

The Evil Mantis Lord screeched angrily and stabbed at the bottle, cracking it into thousands of pieces mid-air. It had its back turned at me, perfect for me to attack. I stuck to its back and kept hitting it with spells. I could sense that the Evil Mantis Lord was utterly confused. It could not see me, but it kept getting attacked. It kept turning around to try and catch me by blindly attacking with its dangerous forearms, but it was useless. I was one step ahead of him every time.

Emboldened by the security that the Unseen Potion gave me, I too became more and more brazen in my attacks. I was able to attack more because I did not need to avoid the majority of its attacks or anticipated his counter-attacks.

Four minutes thirty seconds, 70% more HP to go.

The Unseen Potion granted me a huge advantage. Thanks to it, I was able to get to the Evil Mantis Lord's back without it noticing me. There was only one attack that I could not avoid wherever I was, and it was the AoE skill. The attack hit everyone within a circular range, and I was not fast enough to escape. Not even with Teleport. I reckoned that DragonTalon came to the same conclusion when he faced the Evil Mantis Lord, so he did not bother to dodge or run away.

Chocolate Cake was the only way to survive the AoE attack, for mages at least. The key was to take the Chocolate Cake at the right moment. The five seconds had to be able to absorb the majority, if not the whole damage that one AoE skill could cause.

Not gonna lie, I wished Betty Hayes were my ally. I could have used her steroid injection to defeat the final boss.

Four minutes, 60% more HP.

Three minutes, 45% more HP.

Two minutes, 28% more HP.

One minute, 12% more HP.

I already ate four Chocolate Cakes to survive four AoEs. When only seven seconds were left, I ate my last and cast Spiritual Meteor. The Evil Mantis Lord was in front of me, roaring into the sky while the ground cracked in all directions from where it was standing. I was suspended in the air with my arms spread wide. Baseball-sized meteors broke through the blue sky and hit the Evil Mantis Lord incessantly.

Three seconds...

Two seconds...

One second...

The Evil Mantis Lord let out one last screech before it slumped to the ground in front of me with a loud thud. Unseen Potion lost its effect right in time, and my body slowly re-appeared.

I waited with my heart pounding hard against my chest.

Did I succeed?
The Evil Mantis Lord did die, didn't it? Or would the game assume that I did not kill it within the allotted time?

It took a while for the mechanical voice to emerge, but it eventually did. My knees turned weak as soon as I heard what it had to say.

"System is scanning the island for threats."

"System does not detect further threats."

"Paradise Island has been saved."

A BGM started playing to celebrate the victorious occasion.

I was close to tears. Happy tears. I was on all fours, staring at the dead Evil Mantis Lord in front of me full of gratitude.


Thank you, thank you.

Thank you for not making me go through the test again.

I did not think that I could survive another.

A squawking sound above my head drew my attention. I squinted in the direction of the sound and waited.

As expected, the giant pelican appeared in the sky. It was scanning the objects underneath it as it flew. When it saw me, it let out another squawking sound and swooped down in my direction. I was so exhausted that I did not bother to avoid it. I knew what it was going to do, anyway.

The test was over.

The pelican grabbed my shoulders like it did when it brought me to the test location. My feet left the ground and I obediently let it carry me away. A warm breeze blew at my face as it carried me back to the hut on the secluded island. After the test was over, the adrenaline level in my blood quickly subsided and I became rather drowsy. The roof that was covered in thick mold opened up almost mechanically when we drew near. The pelican dropped me as gently as it could on the floor, but I still ended up stumbling forward a few steps and fell to the floor. I grimaced in pain and started rubbing my knees.

In front of me, the NPC in charge of my third job advancement broke into a smile.

"Congratulations, Adventurer. You have successfully passed the test. You are herewith granted one level as a reward. All the third job skills as [High Priest] have been unlocked for your usage."

I looked down at myself.

I was now level 72. I checked my skill tree and started allocating the remaining points that I had. After reaching the High Priest level, it was necessary to add more to the offense skills.

1 point into Magical Ball.

1 point into Teleport.

20 points into Heal.

1 point into Prayer.

1 point into Spiritual Meteor.

10 points into Heavenly Blessing.

10 points into Divine Guard.

10 points into Mana Guard.

1 point into Purification.

1 point into Dispel.

5 points into Holy Arrow.

10 points into Holy Wings.

1 point into Resurrection.

I took a deep breath.

I now had Holy Arrow and Holy Wings to attack. These were the two offense skills that I had to maximize to finally stop being dependent on attackers. There were 48 more points to go until I hit 120. 25 points were needed for Holy Arrow and Holy Wings to reach 20. The 23 more points might or might not have to be invested into Divine Guard and Mana Guard...

Absent-mindedly, I walked out of the hut. I was just in time to see the huge banner across the sky again.

[Antares has successfully completed the Third Job Advancement. Please send him your congratulations!!!]

I smiled to myself. Finally. I made it.

My friends started to spam congratulatory messages. My screen could not stop dinging, and I could not wipe the silly grin off my face as I slowly walked back to the shore to take the boat back to the main island.

As soon as the boat hit the other shore, I headed toward the party quest area right away to level up to 75. Just as I expected, DragonTalon was there to complete his Native Islander set.

"Hey, High Priest," he called out to me. "How did it go?"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"God, that was hell. I owe you, man. Thank you for the Chocolate Cakes."

DragonTalon grinned at me. "Don't think you don't have to repay me."

I laughed. I was so happy. Nothing could ruin my mood. Not even the fact that I owed DragonTalon five Chocolate Cakes.

We did a few more party quests to level to 73, and then we stopped and took the train to Lava County. Both DragonTalon and I had yet to do the Fire Orb quest to get access to the level 50 raid. After what felt like forever, we each held the Fire Orb inside our palms. Then we said good night to each other and went inside our respective homes.

The next morning at 9 AM, DragonTalon and I replenished our potions and headed toward the Fire Golem Lair entrance cave. By the time we arrived, the remaining members of the squad were already waiting for us.