Lucien felt that this exploration had become dangerous, a champion and multiple wardens had died here.
Whatever had killed them would have no problem offing both of them.
He looked at his balance.
[Wealth: 140 Gold Coins]
[Wealth Threshold Reached: Debt Recovered]
[Wealth: 40 Gold Coins]
Lucien jumped and stomped angrily, "Fuck you system. Right now? Seriously " His outburst scared Selene, who jumped and looked at him worriedly, much as one would look at a mental patient.
Lucien calmed down and smiled apologetically at her. "Family secrets is all."
His face burned once again. He had completely thrown his face away before Selene. She was looking at him as if he had lost. He remembered the source of his troubles and scowled again.
That damn system was too money grubbing. Other systems gave their hosts daily sign ins and beginner gift packs, while his actually gave him a debt, what kind of system was that?
He was roused from his fuming by the glow of coins on the ground. He forgot his anger and bent to pick them up. He had noticed that these soldiers didn't seem to have much money. Even the wardens had only tens of gold coins.
They were the ones who had filled up his 140 gold coins. He wondered how much the champion might have.
He picked up the three coins curiously. They were different from gold, more shiny and hard. He tried to will them into the system.
[Platinum Coin Discovered. Analyzing.]
[Wealth: 340]
His eyes widened; Those were actual platinum coins. They were a system of coin from ancient times, he had learned about them from his father. They had actually been discontinued by the empire.
He looked at his balance excitedly; this was the richest he had ever been since he transmigrated. Which had been yesterday, he realized that so much had actually occurred in such a tiny timeframe.
He heard Selene call out to him anxiously. He turned to look where she was pointing.
They had reached the end of the hall. The champion's skeleton had been near it. The torch's light finally reached the end of the hall and one more thing; a soldier in a suit of armor had been standing at the end of the hall, his form completely inert and still.
The moment the torchlight reached him, the knight suddenly moved. Glowing embers lit up where the eyes were supposed to be, eerily watching Lucien and Selene.
The knight then made for them menacingly. Lucien reacted immediately, he kept Selene behind him and reached down for the sword on the ground. It seemed to have been the dead champion's sword.
He was surprised to see that the charging knight's speed was not fast, it was slow and robotic.
He risked an appraise, for which the system asked for 30 gold coins. He gladly obliged, feeling rich and overbearing.
[Name: Despair Knight]
[Level: Champion (incomplete and unawakened)]
[Strength: 60]
[Speed: 43]
[Stamina: ∞]
[Vitality: 30]
[Intelligence: -]
[Skills]
[Sword Mastery: Lv 6]
[Slash: lv 10]
[Silver slash: lv 5]
[Dash: lv 5]
[cross slash: lv 4]
[….]
Lucien almost gave up hope when he saw the knight's level. However the hope came back when he saw that the soldier was somehow incomplete and unawakened.
He needed an upgrade to fight him. This time he didn't buy a strength boost, he decided to strengthen himself.
He directly spent 40 gold coins to heal himself completely. His wounds from all his encounters all disappeared. His painless state made him feel a euphotic sense of release, which he didn't have time to enjoy.
He then raised his strength to 100, his speed to 60 and his stamina to 50. He finally raised his vitality to 70. He didn't touch any of the other attributes. He looked at his balance;
[Wealth: 100]
That was a nice figure to prepare for any emergencies. With that out of the way, he charged at the knight. They met in a brutal clash of swords, which Lucien lost.
Lucien felt like his sword had encountered an immovable mountain which then collapsed on him. His body was sent flying to the wall.
Selene rushed to him worriedly and the knight followed in its jerky robotic step. Lucien pushed himself up, shaking his head to clear the stars.
He had been crushed, utterly and completely, and he knew the reason. The difference in skill level between him and the knight was too massive.
The knight had used his own strength against him. This was the first time he had experienced the importance of skill level. Facing the knight, his advantage in strength had been turned against him
He gave Selene a strained smile then rushed to block the knight again. This time he didn't foolishly meet the knight head on, that was just asking for a beating. He tried to use his advantage in speed, he ducked around and slashed at the knight at a dead angle.
The knight's body angled robotically and his sword rose to meet Lucien's, the sword slid along the knight's and then bounced away, leaving Lucien wide for the attack.
Lucien decisively let go of the sword and dropped to the ground, a cold sweat rolled down his brow as he felt the sword pass a few inches above his scalp, missing his head by a beat.
He rolled away from the follow up attack he knew was coming and leapt to make some distance. He looked at the robotic knight with some fear in his eyes. He had almost died just then, only surviving by the skin of his teeth.
He was aware that if the knight had used aura he would already be a dead man. Those skills and their levels looked wicked. The knight didn't let Lucien breath, it made for him robotically.
Lucien used his advantage in speed to keep his distance and fetched his sword. He was aware that he couldn't beat the knight as he was. The attribute advantage couldn't beat the knight's skill advantage. His own sword mastery was level 3, tried to increase his skill level.
[Sword Mastery Lv 4: 500 Gold Coins]
He directly gave up that path. There was only one thing left, go back to old tactics.
He directly activated knight rank strength boost and surge. His attributes surged to almost 500 in an instant.
The knight didn't stand a chance. Before absolute strength the knight couldn't even react, Lucien disappeared and reappeared in front of the knight, his sword clashing against the knight's neck