Another goblin came rushing in fast, it lunged at Aren, but he blocked with the guard, shattering the rusted sword of the goblin and knocking it back. Fang then lunged in and finished it off.

[You have gained 10 soul fragments]

'So far so good,' Aren thought as he scanned the battlefield with his eyes. More great hounds were spawning, and they were coming in viciously.

Another came from behind, but Fang handled it, while Aren focused on the one coming from the front. He let out a claw strike that ripped into the head of the goblin, spilling its brains outside on the floor.

[You have gained 10 soul fragments]

[You have gained 10 soul fragments]

The number of soul fragments he gained might have been small, but they were gathering. Seeing this, he became eager to raise more goblins, and good for him, there was a large supply.

Three goblins headed his way, rushing at top speed. Fang attacked first, taking one down, while Aren used Claw Strike to kill one. The last one made it through, but as it leaped at him, Aren threw a large hook punch that landed on its massive head and shattered a part of its skull.

[You have gained 10 soul fragments]

[You have gained 10 soul fragments]

[You have gained 10 soul fragments]

After those three, the goblins suddenly stopped coming, their bodies littered the floor. Everyone had survived the first wave. It started giving them some hope—maybe they would be able to get through it all—but if Aren had learned anything from this trial, it was that it wanted to break them so desperately.

He didn't allow his guard to drop for even a moment; no one knew what would happen.

He looked at the bodies of goblins. They hadn't disappeared or anything, so he began having thoughts of using Consume on them. He didn't know if his skill had some sort of limit, but if it had, he would find out. As for now, he needed as many bodies as he could have to help him fight.

He stretched out his hands and touched the first one which lay on the ground on a white tile, being very careful not to touch the tile.

"Consume," he muttered, and immediately a shadow spread from his hands and wrapped around the body, consuming it all.

Immediately, he could feel a connection to the goblin. It wasn't as strong as Fang, but it was still something. He went on to consume all six that he had killed, giving him six extra summons. After that, he unsummoned Fang and sat down cross-legged on the floor. Before the next wave came, he wanted to ensure he rested as much as possible.

While in that pose, he opened the system screen to see his growth.

[Name: Aren Raze]

[Class: ###]

[Type: Shadow]

[Tier: ####]

[Level: 3]

[Soul Fragments: 120/300]

[Soul Energy: 1110]

[Strength: 14]

[Speed: 12]

[Defense: 8]

[Constitution: 10]

[Intelligence: 15]

[4 free stat points]

[Skills: Consume, Summon]

'There is actually some decent growth. My shadow energy seems to grow for every level I climb, and my stats are higher. There are also the stats I have yet to assign.'

He looked at the four stat points for a few seconds and then decided to place some in Defense. So far he was relying on the wolf guard for defense, but his body's own defense was low.

When it came to stats, a few things tied together from what he had read online. Constitution was the overall state of the body as a whole, and it tied best to Defense, which meant for having a better body, the two had to be close.

So with that thought process, he added two into Defense, pushing it up to ten like Constitution, and then finally two more to Speed.

[Strength: 14]

[Speed: 14]

[Defense: 10]

[Constitution: 10]

[Intelligence: 15]

With that, he was done. He could focus on resting—​or so he thought.

[Second wave beginning]

'Already?'

Aren leaped to his feet and looked up. Much like everyone, they expected a step up from the first monsters, something probably stronger, but not by a whole lot. But what they saw next stunned them.

Massive black wolves began forming on the platform, wolves from the same race as Fang. When Aren saw them, his eyes widened. They had leaped from point A to point Z so fast that none of them expected it.

Sure, he knew that the trial was out to get them, but to this extent? That was completely ridiculous. Still, they had no choice but to fight or die.

The wolves wasted no time. Growling as soon as they appeared, they lunged at the awakened, and the true battles began. A wolf rushed at Aren, locked on him. Aren instantly summoned Fang, who rushed forward to attack the wolf.

The both clashed. Fang came down with a powerful slash, knocking right into the side of the wolf's head. The wolf recovered and lunged at Fang, teeth sinking into Fang's limbs. Luckily, Fang was a shadow, and it didn't hurt.

While the two were having their own bout, two more came for Aren. He quickly summoned all six goblins and sent them off to their deaths—three goblins to one wolf.

And much like Aren expected, the wolves ripped through the goblins, but like Fang, they were shadows, and as long as Aren had soul energy, they would be capable of fighting forever. This factor enabled them to hold the wolves back for a bit, while Aren unleashed two Claw Strikes that landed perfectly, digging deep wounds into the wolves.

Sadly, the distance didn't allow it to be effective, so he leaped over to the next block, and then to the next. Seeing their target so close, the wolves forced themselves through the goblins and lunged at Aren. He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and when they entered the right range, he unleashed another. It slashed into both their bodies, deeper than the last, and in too much pain to ignore, their bodies collapsed to the side, convulsing in pain.

Aren's heart pounded in his chest. If he had not landed that attack, he would have died for certain. Unknown to Aren, a wolf had gotten behind him. It lunged at him, teeth wide open, going for the neck of the unsuspecting Aren.

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