The Over-Break System

| Time Remaining in the Floor 22 Challenge, 01:53.|

Taking a deep breath and channeling his newly acquired Ice Mana into his legs, Benny thought back to the visions he had seen after using the Advancement Book.

He had witnessed generations of what appeared to be Humans training their Water and Ice Affinities.

As a result, he knew just about everything there was to know about his new Elemental Affinity, what each of his skills, and all the skills he would learn up to Tier-3, could do when utilized fully.

Feeling the chilly sensation of his Ice Mana flowing through his body, Benny activated his first skill, [Chill].

A thin layer of frost spread around him, coating the stone ground as he walked forward. With each step, the ice spread out and froze each demon he passed, turning them into popsicles.

With a soft crunch under his feet, Benny continued walking forward until every one of the demons had been thoroughly affected by the (Frozen) status effect.

Benny knocked the nearest frozen demon twice, once to test its solidity and then to test how stable it was; after the second knock, several spiderweb cracks appeared on the creature’s skin, so Benny withdrew his hand.

Half a second later, the creature shattered like broken glass, triggering a notification.

-You have significantly impacted a being under the Status Effect (Frozen) and triggered the 1% chance of instant death.-

|You have successfully Killed a Level 20, Peak Tier-1 Virtual  Tiz’gog Demonoid.|

|You have received 5 Obelisk Kill Points.|

|Total KCP =  101 points.|

|You have received one KCP (Kill Counter Point).|_.

|You have received one 1000 Essence, XP Crystals.|

|You have received 3 Merit Points.|

Benny frowned when he opened the description of [Chill], which he had used in the first place.

-Tier-0 Ice Affinity Skill [Chill]-

-Category: Active Crowd Control Skill.-

-The User rapidly plummets the temperature in a 1.5-meter by 2-meter radius, freezing the ground and coating it with a layer of frost.-

-This skill has a 35% chance of inflicting the status effect (Frozen) on any opponents within the area of effect.-

-Frozen: Unless the being afflicted with this status effect has a method to get out, it will stay in effect until the cold temperature rises, melting the ice entombing the being, or the one who caused the effect withdraws their Mana.-

-There is a 1% chance of triggering an instant kill on beings under the (Frozen) status effect.-

-Activation Cost: 500 MP-

-Sustain Cost: 500 MP per minute active.-

-Cooldown: 10 minutes-

In the visions he had seen during the enlightenment from the book, he witnessed humanoid beings creating massive fields of ice, instantly freezing hundreds or thousands of enemies.

Yet, when he used the skill, the effect was vastly different. Benny knew that his skill was still new and hadn’t had time to pump it up with Skill points, but the contrasting difference was mind-blowing.

Heaving a loud sigh, Benny smashed two more of the demons, leaving one alive, and looked over to Selene, who had a single frozen Begraz demon on the ground in front of her.

“Selene, how are you looking on resource stats?” Benny asked in an attempt to stop the girl from using the demon frozen in a block of ice as a footrest.

“Eh, I’m okay for now. My Stamina is still above 70 percent, and with the addition of these earrings, my MP is restoring quickly, so it should be back up above 60 percent soon.” Selene replied as she pulled back her leg and propped her spear on her shoulder.

Taking a moment to nod in understanding, Benny said that his MP had been restored during the evolution of his Water Affinity. Next, he stated that his Stamina was in the high 50% range, but after a couple of potions, it was soon back up to 100%.

Five minutes later, a wave of 30 demons was spawned, and the two returned to combat.

Continuing their pattern of taking turns drawing away the boss monsters, Selene and Benny worked through wave after wave of demons, never stopping to rest and killing off the two remaining creatures early to speed up the Timer and earn more kills.

With only 49 minutes remaining on the clock, Selene and Benny received the notification they had been waiting for, for over 5 hours.

|You have Successfully completed the Challenge by eliminating 150 Virtual Creatures.|

|Your Teammate Selene Nilsson has Successfully completed the Challenge by eliminating 150 Virtual Creatures.|

|The Timer has been Paused.|

|Since there are still 49 minutes and 31 seconds remaining in the Challenge, you are both allowed to choose between continuing until the Timer elapses, earning more rewards in the process, or Conclude the Challenge.|

“What do you think, Sel? Still, got another 49 minutes in you?” Wiping the sweat from his face with his sleeve, Benny asked and rolled his neck around to loosen it up.

“Fuck it; we already came this far; why not. Plus, if the others discover that we stopped early and gave up the opportunity to earn more rewards, won’t we have hell to pay?” Shooting Benny a toothy grin, Selene responded while facing the center of the room, where a large particle storm was growing silently near the ceiling.

“True that. Teacher Yennifer, we would like to finish out the time.” Following Selene’s gaze toward the center of the room, Benny spoke in a clear tone, triggering a reply in the form of more notifications.

|Both challengers have accepted to continue; a new trial has been triggered.|

|You will participate in a Free For All Mode battle. During this event, each time you kill one of the Virtual Creatures, two more will spawn 45 seconds later. There is no limit to how many Creatures can be generated.|

|The opponents in the Free For All Mode are a mixture of  Peak Tier-1 and Early Tier-2 Virtual Creatures.|

|For every Virtual Creature killed, you will earn double rewards.|

|During Free For All Mode, every time a Virtual Creature dies, you will increase the completion rate of the Challenge by 0.25%.|

|To complete this part of the Final Challenge, you must receive a score of at least 50% before the Timer runs out.|

|The completion rate is shared between both members of the team.|

|Current Completion Rate = 2.25%.|

|New Opponents have been chosen.|

|All opponents will be of the same Race but from different regional areas of Vinestra. There will be a wide variety of different cultures, Affinity users, and Classes on showcase, and they will be randomly chosen.|

|Now spawning the Two Starting opponents, Chosen Race: Goblin.|

|Timer will be restarted the moment the creatures fully spawn.|

Gripping the hilt of his Estoc tight enough to cause his knuckles to pop, Benny grinned as the two short and ugly green-skinned creatures spawned, and the Timer began ticking down again.

“[Ice Spear],” Benny said calmly as he raised his shield arm, and a glassy shard of ice manifested over his left shoulder.

“We reserve our strength until the final push, Sel; let’s get those milestone rewards and get the hell out of here.” Speaking calmly and launching the shard of ice at the stubby goblin wearing cobbled-together mismatched armor, Benny’s eyes flicked to Selene just as she too threw her spear like a javelin, instantly killing the Goblin.

“Gotcha. 45-second double spawns per kill, things are definitely going to get out of hand, but at least we don’t have to worry about not being hit; this should be fun.” Giggling as her spear exploded the head of her opponent, Selene used a teather of Dark Mana to retrieve her weapon before spinning it and grinning at Benny.

As described, 45 seconds later, four Goblins, wearing different armor sets, using various weapons, and in different shapes and sizes, spawned, spurring Selene and Benny into battle.

It only took them a little over a minute to wipe out the creatures, and for the next 44 minutes, things were under control for the most part. Since the goblins had small statures and terrible weapons, Selene and Benny didn’t worry about them until more than 200 appeared.

At that point, neither of them was counting any longer and only had their eyes on the two golden packages they had thrown into their inventories after reaching the 250-kill milestone.

“FINAL PUSH SELENE! FIVE MINUTES LEFT, ALL RESTRAINTS ARE OFF; USE EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT! LET’S PUSH FOR THE 500 KILL REWARD!” Benny screamed over the rowdy, and loud war chants of the goblin army amassed before them.

“GOTCHA, THESE LITTLE FUCKERS KEEP TRYING TO COP A FEEL; I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS! RAHHHHH!” Holding nothing back, Selene activated something she had never shown anyone, not even her boyfriend, her Controlled Berserkr Form.

-Tier-2.5 Passive/Active Skill: Berserkr.- (Evolved form of Outrage)

– Active Trigger: Using your focused breathing technique, you can turn on a muted version of this skill, allowing you to stay in control of your rationale to an extent. However, your temperament will become highly aggressive.

-In this state, Your body burns off all excess fat and Stamina to increase your physical prowess for a short time; if there is no source of physical energy to burn, your Mana will become the active source. Unlike in the passive state, your body will not bulk up but instead trim down. All stats will increase by 150%, Mana Consumption will decrease by 50%, and Stamina Consumption will decrease by 50%. Damage taken will be reduced to 35% of the actual amount. The rate of regeneration will double.-

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ -The more damage you take and the longer you stay in this state, the more significant the increases in your Stats and power will become, along with an increase in the side effects.-

-Side Effects: Prolonged use of this state can result in tendon and muscle damage; the heavy strain on Codex and Mana Circuits can cause temporary damage to both, resulting in a Crippled status for some time.

Howling as she activated the skill, Selene instantly grew half a meter taller and leaned out into a trim, more athletic build instead of her formerly curvy and sexy body. Her skin turned inky black as Dark Mana fused with her body, and her hair spiked up while glowing in an eerie black light.

Next, Selene activated three of her Class skills, [Allharðr Læknir] (Violent Healing), [Vœttfang Fljótliga]- (Battlefield Speed), and [Fastr Rás Drepa]- (Continuous Running Strike), before exploding forward at speed almost too much for Benny’s eyes to register.

A quarter of a second later, the sounds of battle erupted as the glowing Selene crashed through the army of Goblins like a bulldozer, obliterating every creature in her path.

Not wanting to be left behind, Benny, who was utterly stunned seeing Selene using her full power for the first time, kicked off the ground while activating his Tier-2 Hoplite-Vanguard Skill: [Myriad Flowing Strikes].

For five full minutes, the chorus of screams, explosions, and fighting took over the room as more and more enemies fell before respawning double, less than a minute later.

During the fight, the insane cackles of a madwoman resounded louder than the bloody cries until suddenly, everything stopped, and the once overly crowded room fell silent with a shower of particles.

|The Timer has elapsed, and the Final Challenge has reached its conclusion.|

|Final KCP Tally, Selene Nilsson: 822 points, Benjamin Sanford: 646 points.|

|Final Completion rate = 292%|