Chapter 245: Ugly Work At Best

Reinera POV

She screamed out as she sent out one last blast of light at the remaining golem, making sure her Concept was infused with it.

Thankfully, she managed to take it out with that last attack and fell back onto her butt as she was exhausted.

Tenth Wave completed… Congratulations, you have completed the Challenge with high marks. Please wait as your reward is generated…

She smiled as she read the message. She had done well, especially considering the conditions of the rift.

A wave-type Challenge Rift was one of the more notoriously difficult ones. They often had the highest mortality rates and this one had a dangerous personalized aspect if one chose the hard difficulty like she did.

It used the first several waves as a measure to see how powerful she was and give her an appropriate challenge.

It quickly learned that she relied on her mana and her light-based attacks. That was why she was presented with monsters who had a good chance to counter her. She had to use many of her trump cards in order to survive and save as much mana as she could.

However, that last wave was really dangerous. One wrong step and she could have died.

The rift had sent a total of five really strong Tier 3s who all had powerful Concepts of their own. Not only that, but they were metal golems, monsters that were notoriously difficult to break through their defenses, especially if people had a light affinity like her.

Thankfully, she managed to come out on top. Barely.

She had a few crumbs of mana left and her willpower felt drained as she had to fight against the combined willpower of the golems. Fortunately, golems didn’t have the strongest willpower and she was able to outlast theirs.

She was more grateful than ever for Rebecca’s willpower training. It was harsh and borderline sadistic, but it had prepared her for this Challenge Rift and would allow her to get an even better reward out of it.

She was confident of that. She had done a good job, even if it had been more difficult than expected.

She was back in the same room that she was first brought to, patiently waiting for the reward to be generated.

And after some time, she eventually got notified of her rewards.

Evaluating difficultly…

Hard difficultly selected.

Challenge Rift reward generating… Successful.

You may select one of the options…

• Staff of Brilliant Luminosity (Growth-Type)
• Superior Rare Skill (Light Affinity-Based)
• Concept Manual

She looked at her options and almost gasped in surprise. She had been hoping for good rewards, but honestly, she had mentally prepared herself for something a little underwhelming.

However, getting an option for a growth-type weapon was something that she was hoping was offered.

Even though her family was in no short supply of amazing items or weapons, having a growth-type weapon that was custom-made for her by a rift was not something even her family could give to her.

Rift items were always of the highest quality.

Honestly, if it was a spear or sword, she would have no interest, but having a staff offered to her was extremely tempting.

Especially now that she had been learning to fight up close and personal lately. Having a magical conduit would not only help her improve her already amazing mana control, but she could use the staff to protect herself in the event of her long-range attacks not being able to keep enemies at bay.

Something that the rift had just proven to be a very real possibility.

The superior rare skill, while amazing, wasn’t something she was as interested in. The odds were high that it would be a superior skill that used her current Light Concept and not a new one.

Sure, she had just managed to gain another open skill slot after her advancement, but she didn’t know if she needed another light skill. Most of her skills revolved around her affinity, and Rebecca had recently brought up the idea of having her get a skill that could help her protect herself a little better.

Something that could save her if she needed to get away quickly. Something along the lines of Julius’s [Flash Step] but one more tailored for mages.

She might even be able to get the skill [Blink] with Rebecca’s help, considering the older woman had gotten the skill when she was younger.

Reinera’s tutors had tried to get her a spatial skill, but spatial skills along with time skills were notoriously difficult to learn, especially at Tier 2.

However, now that she has advanced, she might be able to more easily.

As for the Concept Manual… well, she had heard stories about them. Sometimes they worked and sometimes they gave you a Concept you didn’t have any real connection with. Concepts were deeply personal anyway and she was taught that it was better to get a Concept on her own.

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That was why she dismissed it pretty easily. If she wanted another Concept, she wanted to do so on her own. Or at least with a treasure that would help her own natural process. Not something that would artificially give her one.

The only exception was for people who were literally stuck at Tier 3 and needed a Concept no matter the way they got it. Some people were just unable to learn a Concept no matter how hard they tried. Thankfully, she wasn’t one of those people.

Still, the options were pretty clear and that was the reason why she decisively chose the staff.

The moment she chose it, she felt a surge of mana and a heavy weight drop into her open palms.

She brought the staff to her eyes and eagerly examined it. The staff was honestly quite simple. It was a single piece of metal about three to four feet long and a couple of inches thick. However, what stood out was the iridescent shimmer of the metal along with the intricate carving along the length of it.

She hefted it in both hands and was shocked at how comfortable it felt. The thickness of the shaft was perfect and the length was as well.

The carving along the length acted as a perfect texture to help her keep a nice solid grip. The surface of the metal itself also wasn’t slippery like she had been expecting either, it was somehow a little bit tacky.

She gave the staff a twirl around and began to funnel mana into it. Her eyes widened in amazement as the staff sucked the mana up so fast and was already in the process of manipulating it to her intent.