20 - Rewards & The Final Challenge

"Man they just keep on coming, hey how long have we been doing this?" Michael said as he killed another Goblin while using it to practice his technique.

Victor was in a meditative state with his eyes closed as he controlled his Summons, trying to form a deeper connection while also deepening his understanding of them.

"This is the 15th wave, so we've obtained 25 points each wave so we have earned in total 375 points just from this." Victor answered not opening his eyes.

"Huh? So what do you think we'll get? no we should get a thousand points then we'll have to get something that is at least Legendary quality" Michael day dreamed as he got even more motivated.

But the 16th wave of expected Goblins never came....

"Hey why aren't there anymore?" Michael asked feeling a bit frustrated.

"Mm I guess they must've heard you." Victor answered as he stood up and walked over to the only living Goblin left.

"Gragrf aagtyg gggraagg." Full of despair the Goblin Shaman screeched and thrashed in it's rope as it felt death approaching.

"Guess there's no need for you anymore." Victor said as he gestured Michael for a dagger.

The Shaman's eye's were full of fear and despair as it had been forced to watch almost a hundred of the same race die without any hope or resistance and now it was it's turn.

Victor easily stabbed into the Goblin's throat as it struggled but it was for nothing as it too joined it's fallen comrades.

[ Goblin Shaman (Lvl 5) Killed + 150 Trial Point ]

[ Soul Absorbed + 1 ]

And with this it marked the end of the Challenge.

And just like last time a portal appeared in front of them leading to where they'll be rewarded for their efforts.

"Let's see what we got!" Michael excitedly dragged Victor through the portal not able to hold back.

On the otherside was the same rewards room in it full expensive glory with only different being that there was two floating stone slabs and resting on top of each was a ton of items.

Michael immediately ran over too the one with a sword and armor while Victor shook his head at Michael's excitement and went over to his.

There was a total of 35 items, a staff, 5 spell books, 5 Class Skill Books, 1 Special Skill Book, a robe, hat, 10 health & Mana potions and finally a ring.

Thinking it was the same as last time, with only being able to pick one item, Victor went for the most valuable thing to him at the current moment.

[Special Skill Book: Tier 0]

(Learn a random Tier 0 Rare or a low chance Unique and above Class Skill upon use)

This is by far his best choice as currently he doesn't have much versatility or combat ability, take the battle against the Goblin Shaman for an example.

If he had more spells he would have been able to fight the Shaman all by himself. More or better Summons then he wouldn't have to rely on Michael as largely as he currently does.

Especially with the entrance exam soon as he won't be able to have Michael's help then.

So getting a powerful Skill or Spell is the best course of action, while the other items outside of the skill books and Magic Books are currently useless as what's the point of having more stats as a Mage when you don't have the ability to use them properly without more spells

So Victor took the Special Skill Book and expected the rest to disappear but they didn't...

Looking at the items still in front of him Victor reached out and took a Skill Book and they still didn't disappear.

So he took another, then two more before grabbing all of the Skill books and Spell Books but skill the rest didn't disappear.

"Don't tell me I get everything?" Victor's face became slightly red in embarrassment at how stupid he must've looked.

Coughing into his fist Victor quickly hid his embarrassment and took the rest of the items.

Turning around he found Michael with a cheeky smile while he was holding a sword, armor, shield and different types of books awkwardly in a bear hug as he carried it.

"Ho it's rare to see you flustered and embarrassed." Michael teased Victor.

"Says the person who can't leave the house without not embarrassing himself." Victor shot back.

"Ha you just don't understand." Michael laughed happily knowing he had won this battle.

"I honestly don't know how you got such thick skin." Victor shook his head as all his new items disappeared into thin air.

"Hey your using that?" Michael asked as he looked down at himself and the way he was awkwardly carrying his new stuff and became embarrassed before those items too disappeared.

"Of course you know how expensive this stuff is, so I'm not going to risk it." Victor answered Michael's question and smirked when he saw Michael's embarrassed face getting back at him.

Right as they were about to rest a Portal opened up under their feet taking them through without any choice or warning.

Falling through the they both found themselves on a huge platform with all the other challengers.

And in the middle was two large stone pillars with writing on each of them and above this time was platinum words floating above where everyone could see and read them.

[ Hidden Trial - Battle of Comprehension ]

[ Amongst you there is a group that scored full points in the Challenge of Constant Battle and not only received great rewards but has also meet the conditions for this Hidden Trial unlocking and opening it too all ]

[ You all will have five (5) hours to at least get a understanding of these two Elemental Principles, The first one will receive a massive reward for them and their group ]

[ Additionally if someone does then everyone will be allowed to leave and you will be given a [Trial of Fire & Wind Challengers Token] that can can be used at a later date by the receiver to continue the Trial ]

[ However if no one completes the task in the given time then all participants will lose this chance and will only be allowed to leave at the first checkpoint after the 10th Trial or when someone clears the Trial ]

This new knowledge caused everyone to start talking either with excitement, nervousness or greed.

"Do you see that, great rewards!"

"Come on, we can get those rewards!"

"Wait, what if someone doesn't do it? Do we all die?"

"We get to leave!"

"Wait, how did a team get full points?"

"Yeah we barely even got through it, how did they do it?"

"Hey we didn't do any of the challenges, how hard were they?"

"Hey, I wonder what they got?"

"Yeah if we can find them, then maybe we can get their rewards."

Amongst the different groups they had different reactions to this information that they all had received.

But one thing that Victor noticed was that quite a few people had the idea of finding and robbing them.

Another piece of information he managed to learn was that everyone not only people who passed the last Challenge but even those who didn't even attempt the first or second appeared here as well.

But most of Victor's interest was taken by knowing that this Hidden Trial was about understanding Elemental Principles.

And his guess is that one will be about Fire and the other Wind Principals, which will allow Victor to test his talent and be his first actual chance to learn more about Principals.

Which will help increase his understanding of Magic, Mana and the world around him. Everyone of every class can benefit from this as it will open up more paths for them or help increase their current skills.

And anyone can gain understanding of the different Principles with enough hard work but there are things that increase the chances like talent, preexisting knowledge, luck or having a stable foundation.

Like wise there are also reason why people won't be able to learn certain Principles for example like fire users not being able to learn or understand Ice and Water Principals.

"There's so many people, there's even people talking about us and not in a good way." Michael whispered as he kept his eyes open for any sudden movement or threats.

"Come on let's see how much we can understand." Victor Said to Michael as he began to move forwards but something caught their and most of the people around them attention.

"Move out of the way! Chang Heng the heir to the Chang family and the White Swans Guild is coming through!" A Large man pushed people out of the way as a of group 14 people followed behind him.

"What the hell is he doing?" Michael asked with slight disbelief at how stupid he and his group was, but as he thought they couldn't do anything worse... They did.