Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Aldrich opened his eyes and rubbed his face where he felt the sting, he found blood drops. It wasn't his blood and neither was it Gazeff's, it was that monster. The moment before it touched Gazeff, he swatted it off casually.

Aldrich didn't see what happened clearly but he could infer it. The monster vanished after being casually swatted by Gazeff, Aldrich looked around for its corps but he didn't have much hope to find it.

Because he wouldn't be surprised if that thing just turned into bloodmist.

Although he found the remains of the monster at last, he could hardly identify it or what it looked like five seconds ago. Now, it was a mangled blob of broken bones and flesh. Definitely not pleasant to look at.

Aldrich wanted to collect its body since Gazeff didn't seem to care but after he saw the state it was it in he decided against it. That thing was a grade zero level two monster like the direwolf or the armored husk he defeated yesterday, it was worth a pretty sum.

Gazeff was already some ways ahead, Aldrich followed behind quickly even as he felt his heart ache at the loss. Wait. Aldrich quickly turned back to the corps and absorbed four essence orbs successfully.

Aldrich then followed Gazeff again. He almost forgot that he could absorb essence orbs from any dead creature whether he personally killed it or not. Of course the condition being that he comes into physical contact with said creature after its death.

He might not be able to make money off of it but he still made valuable profits.

As for how Gazeff killed that creature so easily, naturally Gazeff is a Crestmaster when coming to the First ground he didn't need any weapons or armor to begin with.

Aldrich ran after Gazeff and thought of a devious plan. What if he provoked the monsters and attracted them to Gazeff? Wouldn't he make huge haul? By relying on Gazeff to kill the monsters he might get his hands on fifty or more orbs.

It was highly tempting, Aldrich salivated at the thought of it. Barely any effort and high returns. But, it was just an idea. All ideas are easy but to actually apply that idea was a different matter entirely.

Gazeff was a Crestmaster but he was probably only a grade one Crestmaster, he wasn't invincible. Any accident could happen here, and with enough numbers he will be overwhelmed and Aldrich was likely to die earlier than Gazeff in that situation.

This is the real world not the nightmare realm, if he died here, that was it, there were no second chances. At least he wasn't willing to test his resurrection in the real world.

Aldrich found Gazeff in a small clearing as he was taking out various equipment out of his huge backpack. Gazeff took out several iron stakes with bright red flags tied at the tip of each one.

"Wait here."

That was all Gazeff said before he walked off, he could see Gazeff because he didn't go too far. Gazeff was nailing the stakes in several trees that were not too far apart.

After he was done he returned and took out a huge bag out of his backpack. Aldrich reckoned that the bag took at least half the space in the backpack.

"Come here."

Aldrich did as he was ordered.

"Stay still."

Aldrich again complied. He watched as Gazeff took out various pitch black stones tied with strange looking ropes. And tied them around his limbs, his arms, his legs, his thigh, his back and his stomach.

The pitch black stones were carved neatly into triangles that fit together perfectly. However it was when Gazeff was done that Aldrich noticed the weight he was carrying. He still had his half-plat armor on and the combined weight was staggering.

Aldrich thought that with his advanced attributes he could brush off any training with ease. And yet now began to understand why even after Ayemon knew about his strength he still sent him to train with Gazeff.

Gazeff's movements came to a sudden halt as he ignored Aldrich and looked intensely far away into the depths of the Sunken Valley, Aldrich followed his look but was unable to discern what the instructor was looking at.

"what is it?"

"Nothing. Just focus on your training."

"What now?" Aldrich asked with a grimace.

"Did you see where I planted those flags? Those trees make a circle around this area you must finish seventy laps in an hour, go."

"Seventy? With this on?"

"Why else would I have you put it on? To look fancy? Ayemon told me about your superhuman strength so I optimized the training especially for you don't worry. Now, your time has already started."

Aldrich dragged himself under that weight and started jogging by following the marked tree line. In the beginning he made two laps easily but after that he slowed down as he started tiring out.

The distance and weight were no joking matter, his body felt so heavy that he recalled his days in the farm, before he has this power he now enjoyed. Back then he worked from daybreak to sundown and he was tired all the time.

Aldrich remembered that effort he put in to get something to eat for himself and his mother. Ever since he started upgrading his attributes he no longer felt truly exhausted except for that one time he was expelled from the nightmare realm forcefully.

Aldrich felt himself smiling as he made the fortieth lap, yes, this wasn't such a bad feeling. He decided to slow down, not because he was tired but to conserve his energy. He could run faster but Aldrich knew that he had enough time, there was little need to finish much earlier than that.

"That's enough." Declared Gazeff.

Aldrich plopped down in the center of the clearing he just ran around for seventy laps. He wanted to breath properly so he was about to take off his armor but he was stopped by Gazeff.

"Who told you to take it off? You can take a ten minute break but you can't take off the weights. Don't look at me like that, did you think it was over or something? We're just getting started."

"You can't be serious! I'm not a Crestmaster yet, you know?" Aldrich complained. He felt that his entire body was on fire but this guy was only giving him a ten-minute break? That's just insane.

"The fact that you can talk like that after completing the test I just gave you means that your talent is sufficient. I'm able to accurately gauge your limits, so I know what you can and can't do. Don't even bother arguing with me when it's about training."

"So that was a test? Damn, I think I should have lost on purpose then."

"I'm glad you still have a humorous spirit but don't even think about cheating. I know exactly what kids like are like, being born with a natural talent must've gotten into your head a long time ago."

"I don't think so..." Aldrich exclaimed, it's not like he could take that lie back and now he had to live the rest of his life with it.

"I said don't even think about it!" Gazeff sneered. "My job is to forge overconfident guys like you into true steel. You might not believe my words but your talent is not that special. This world is vast and you can die a thousand times over if you get arrogant."

Aldrich remained silent, he understood Gazeff's good intentions. Gazeff was kind of in the right, if Aldrich was born with his current power he would likely be very arrogant for having them. And he would have every right to be, after all, as things stood Aldrich qualified as a level three being if barely.

"Do you have to be an adventurer?" Gazeff suddenly broke the silence and asked.

"Yeah, I've always dreamed of being an adventurer." Aldrich was a little taken back by the question but he still answered.

"Why? Most Crestmasters can get easy jobs without any trouble. You can become a nobleman's advisor or a politician's bodyguard. If you don't like that kind of thing you can join a renown order or something. There are many options that pay nice enough and are much more prestigious."

Aldrich didn't answer immediately, he felt like he needed to think carefully before answering. He was at a loss on the exact meaning behind Gazeff's words so he could only answer within his means.

"It's not just a matter of me desiring honor or glory, I certainly want those things but right now if I want to achieve my goals and being an adventurer is the most suitable path available to me. Naturally if one day I can retire comfortably I would want to."

"An adventurer huh?" Gazeff sighed, "I was an adventurer once too."

"What happened?" Aldrich asked curiously.

"I was shot with an arrow to the knee is what happened."

"Aren't you a Crestmaster can't you just brush off that kind of thing?" Aldrich was not convinced.

"Sure if it was a normal arrow. That arrow was poisoned by the grand shaman of the toxicdweller goblin tribe. The fact that I survived and can walk at all is out of pure luck."