Chapter 176: Black Mist Coliseum

Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Black Mist Coliseum

Right now, only a single word filled Seraphina Sinclair’s mind—exhausted!

She hadn’t opened the afternoon’s Supply Boxes, nor had she eaten dinner, though she’d lost her appetite anyway.

Seraphina Sinclair sighed and began to open the Supply Boxes one by one.

The F-level Supply Boxes contained the same old stuff: basic materials, mineral water, or else those horribly tasting compressed biscuits and bread.

Sometimes, they even contained junk.

Seraphina Sinclair stared silently at a small slip of paper on the floor for a moment before picking it up to have a look.

’It did come from a Supply Box, after all. I should at least take a look before deciding whether or not to throw it away.’

The moment she touched it, Seraphina Sinclair realized something was off.

’This texture... It feels so familiar.’

[Special Invitation Letter Fragment (F-level)]

[Description: ???]

Seraphina Sinclair was just as baffled: ’???’

’What on earth is this? Why is there an E-level version and an F-level one?’

Her curiosity was now thoroughly piqued. Seraphina Sinclair opened the regional channel and tentatively searched for "Invitation Letter."

To her surprise, she actually found something.

"What is this? Special Invitation Letter Fragment (F-level)."

"I got one too. The damn thing looked like a piece of trash lying on the floor, you couldn’t even tell what it was. It’s a good thing I picked it up to check, or I would’ve just tossed it."

"I got one too. Can any of the experts here tell us what this is?"

"No one’s ever seen this before. How come so many people are finding them today?"

[No Hustle Today]: We got one too. You can only see the item’s description after collecting five fragments. Furthermore, combining the F-level fragments results in an E-level Invitation Letter. I’ll post it here for you all to see. You could call it an opportunity, but you need the courage to accept the challenge. It’s an Invitation Letter to the Black Mist Coliseum (E-level).

All the messages were from after the second path had begun.

Today was the fourth day. Seraphina had spent the first day fishing and the next two earning Black Fog Coins. If she hadn’t found this in a Supply Box today, she would have missed this news entirely.

Seraphina Sinclair clicked on the details he’d attached and glanced at his ID.

When she saw who it was, a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.

’Him again?’

’This No Hustle Today guy was just so...’

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t know what to say.

’How many times has he shared information for free now?’

Seraphina Sinclair scrolled through the regional channel’s logs. Beneath No Hustle Today’s post, there were people thanking him, but also people insulting him.

And their words were incredibly nasty. No Hustle Today’s replies made it clear how angry he was, too.

’But the guy just couldn’t win an argument against them!’

Seraphina Sinclair felt a mix of complicated emotions.

’Even after all that, the guy was still willing to share information. The last time this happened, it ended unpleasantly, and so did the time before that.’

’Unsurprisingly, they were all fighting again this time, too.’

’Wouldn’t anyone who went through all that lose interest in sharing information for free?’

’But this guy...’

Of course, Seraphina didn’t think No Hustle Today was the one with the problem. He was completely blameless—he was even a noble person.

’The ones at fault were the snarky, passive-aggressive people, the ones hurling insults.’

’But as the one being attacked, shouldn’t No Hustle Today have some sort of response or countermeasure? Or was he really the type of person who just liked arguing with that scum on the regional channel?’

’Not only could he not win the arguments, but he was also giving his opponents free information.’

Just trying to put herself in his shoes was giving Seraphina a headache.

’To put it nicely, No Hustle Today was being magnanimous and incredibly forgiving. He didn’t like to make things difficult for others, only for himself, and would just bottle up his anger and let it pass.’

’To put it bluntly, wasn’t that just plain stupid?’

Although Seraphina Sinclair didn’t understand it, she wasn’t going to interfere.

It wasn’t her place to comment on how other people handled their affairs.

Especially in this precarious world, maybe maintaining one’s goodwill was a form of strength in itself, or... a survival strategy she just couldn’t understand yet.

She suppressed her complicated feelings and clicked on the detailed information shared by No Hustle Today.

[Invitation Letter to the Black Mist Coliseum (E-level)]

[Description: This is a basic Invitation Letter to the "Black Mist Coliseum." The holder may choose whether or not to accept the challenge.]

[Challenge Content: Enter a temporarily generated coliseum space and face wave after wave of monster attacks alone. You will be graded based on the number of waves you withstand and your performance, and you will receive corresponding rewards. Rewards may include Black Fog Coins, rare materials, special equipment, Skill Stone Tablets, Skill Books, etc.]

[Note: Injury or death during the first ten monster waves in The Coliseum is real! Please choose carefully! You cannot voluntarily forfeit the challenge until you have cleared the first five waves! Each Invitation Letter may only be used once.]

[Note: Courage and Strength are the cornerstones of survival in the mist. Do you dare to come?]

"The Black Mist Coliseum..." Seraphina Sinclair murmured to herself, a flicker of interest in her eyes.

Seraphina didn’t care about the other items, but she truly coveted the Skill Stone Tablets and Skill Books!

She propped her chin on her hand, thinking for a moment, and decided to try and buy some fragments on the regional channel.

But before that, she needed to see what the other survivors thought of this thing.

"The Coliseum? Sounds super dangerous! You can actually die in the first ten waves!"

"The rewards are great, though. Skill Books! If I could get a combat Skill from one, I’d be set!"

"Get real. With our level of Strength, we’d probably be wiped out in two or three waves. It’s just a suicide mission."

"Anyone want to team up and go together? There’s Strength in numbers!"

"Is the person above an idiot? The Description says you have to face it ’alone.’ It’s clearly a solo challenge."

"@No Hustle Today, expert, has anyone on your team tried it yet? How difficult is it?"

[No Hustle Today]: The strongest person on our team gave it a try with an E-level Invitation Letter. She made it to the sixth wave before coming out seriously injured. The reward was 800 Black Fog Coins and an E+ material. She said the difficulty is quite high—the monsters get stronger each wave, and the environment gives them a buff. I recommend not trying it unless you’re very confident.

This message cooled down the channel considerably.

If the strongest member of a team could only last until the sixth wave and had to withdraw with serious injuries, an ordinary survivor’s chances would be grim.

"Just 800 Black Fog Coins and a piece of material? That’s definitely not worth risking my life for!"

"Looks like this opportunity isn’t so easy to seize. Even their strongest member only reached the sixth wave."

"800 Black Fog Coins is enough to buy two E-level Healing Potions from a Traveling Merchant. From that perspective, it’s pure profit!"

Seraphina Sinclair stared at the words "the strongest person" in silence for a moment, but couldn’t make any sense of them. She didn’t know the true strength of these people, so of course she couldn’t analyze anything based on their performance record.