Utopian System

Chapter 440 System's Cheater

When Elio and Poison Stinger emerged into the alien world for their third attempt, something immediately caught their attention…

The goblin hadn't reset to its original position.

More importantly, the burn marks from their previous fireballs were still visible on both the creature and the strange green grass around it.

Poison Stinger clicked its pincers excitedly, pointing at the damaged areas. The implications were significant, either because they were entering as pure mana constructs, or because this particular divine challenge didn't reset like the book's trials, damage was persistent.

The goblin, noticing their return, seemed warier this time. The burns from their previous encounter still marred its green skin, and its movements suggested a newfound respect for their capabilities.

This time they coordinated better. Elio launched a series of fireballs while Poison Stinger created barriers at strategic points, limiting the goblin's movement options. The creature was still incredibly fast, but now they had a better understanding of its patterns.

Their enhanced magical damage, combined with the spiritual armor's protection, allowed them to press more aggressive attacks. Each successful hit added to the accumulated damage from before, the burns spreading across the goblin's form.

They managed to land five solid hits before a particularly nasty combination of thrown rocks and that infamous flying dagger caught them in a crossfire.

Darkness claimed them once again, but this time there was a sense of real progress.

Back in the chamber, Emberg greeted them with excited flames as it got its body back.

The salamander had discovered something during its research, a small collar designed to enhance magical damage output.

Poison Stinger examined the projection with interest, its tail mimicking the collar's shape as if trying to understand how it would fit.

The persistent damage was a game-changer.

Each attempt left lasting damage, each death taught them more about their opponent, and now they had found another tool to add to their arsenal.

Unlike the book's challenges where each attempt started fresh, here they could wear down their opponent over multiple attempts. It might not be the intended strategy, but then again, when had Elio ever done things the expected way?

Poison Stinger was already asking Elio to purchase the collar.

Looking at his mana reserves, Elio smiled.

They had plenty of resources, a growing understanding of their opponent, and now the knowledge that each attempt brought them closer to victory. The goblin might be fast, might be deadly, but it couldn't heal between attempts. Stay updated with empire

Victory was just a matter of persistence.

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Attempt after attempt, they refined their strategy.

Each death brought them closer to victory, the accumulated damage on the goblin growing with every encounter. Poison Stinger kept track by marking tallies with its tentacles after each successful hit, while Emberg waited in the chamber, checking the statue in Elio's body.

Their twentieth attempt finally brought success. The goblin, now covered in burns and wounds from many battles, couldn't maintain its incredible speed. One particularly well-coordinated assault, Poison Stinger herding it into a corner with boron barriers while Elio unleashed a massive fireball, proved too much.

The creature dissolved into mana, leaving behind something they hadn't seen before: a sphere that seemed to capture every color imaginable within its surface. It floated gently above the ground, pulsing with an inner light.

Thinking about it, Elio felt he could have beaten the small green monster easily in his main body…

But before they could celebrate or examine their prize, the world around them shifted. The damaged terrain repaired itself, the burn marks vanishing as if they'd never existed.

Elio had a moment to think that perhaps the god's warning about dying wasn't quite as exaggerated as he'd thought… If he could not leave the place until the end then it was indeed dangerous.

Then a new goblin appeared.

It was similar to the first, but larger, its features more refined. Where the first had been quick, this one seemed to flow like water. Their first barrage of attacks, the same combination that had finally felled its predecessor, merely grazed it.

The counterattack was devastating. Even with their enhanced defenses and carefully coordinated movements, they barely managed to land three hits before a series of attacks too fast for them ended their attempt.

Back in the chamber, they found the iridescent sphere had followed them, hovering innocently beside Emberg, who was poking it curiously with its tongue.

Poison Stinger clicked its pincers thoughtfully, recreating their successful strategy against the first goblin in miniature boron statues, then showing how the same approach had failed against the second. The scorpion was already planning modifications to their tactics.

Elio examined the sphere while calculating in his head. The first goblin had taken approximately 100,000 points of accumulated damage before falling. A significant number, but nowhere near the apocalyptic difficulty the god had suggested. Though, judging by their brief encounter with its successor, perhaps the danger was more about escalation than individual battles.

The salamander pointed excitedly at the mysterious sphere, clearly suggesting they should understand its purpose before rushing back into battle.

The sphere pulsed gently, its colors shifting in patterns that seemed almost meaningful, as if it were trying to communicate something. Whatever it was, they had earned it through persistence and coordination.

Poison Stinger was already at the statue, checking for any new items that might help against their new opponent. The scorpion's determined clicking suggested it wasn't about to let a slightly larger goblin end their progress, no matter how soundly it had just defeated them.

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In his private dimension, a space of endless white that somehow managed to be both infinite and cozy, Dionz floated cross-legged in what he liked to think of as his "thinking position."

Not that he needed to sit, being a god and all, but he found it helped him focus.

Plus, it looked appropriately divine.

A massive cube materialized before him, its surface smooth and pristine. With a gesture that was perhaps more theatrical than necessary (but hey, who was going to judge a god for being dramatic in his own space?), he touched its surface.

An enormous screen blazed to life, filling one entire face of the cube. Dionz immediately began navigating through what looked suspiciously like a divine operating system, complete with folders and icons that would have given any mortal programmer an existential crisis.

"Let's see... no, not 'Embarrassing Dancing Incidents'... definitely not opening that folder... ah! Here we go… 'Memories: Handle With Care (Seriously)'."