Chapter 194: The Last Dungeon Trial

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I grabbed the Vitality Heart Crystal and absorbed it right away. It was a red jewel with the shape of a heart. It was… quite the reference to a certain game franchise where you get more lives by finding these crystals around the world.

[You have absorbed the [Vitality Heart Crystal (A+ Rank)]!]

[Your Health and Vitality have increased by +500 each.]

The crystal dissipated into small particles of red light that were imbued into my body. I felt slightly… stronger? No, more like tougher. Also, it was like I could breathe much more easily. This sensation is definitely when my Health increases. You just feel healthier.

And about the Jester's item… I think I know why he gave that to me. And it is an amazing item in the right hands at the right moment. Thank you so much for sponsoring me!

"I think it's ready." Said Baihe, taking out the skewers with juicy roasted Martial Beast meat. "Let me add some soy sauce and sweet sauce." She seasoned them generously as I took out a big bottle of cola to share with everyone.

"Hmm, it looks sho good!" Annabelle was already drooling as she grabbed the skewer and gave the meat a good bite. "Hmm! It's more tender than I imagined! And it so flavorful and juicy! Oooh, nom, nom, nom, nom!" She wolfed down the entire skewer in just a couple of seconds. "More please!"

"You eat way too fast, Annabelle! You have to eat slowly and enjoy the flavors." Kevin reprimanded her. "Hm?! Oh, this shit's good! Nom, nom, nom!" He ended up eating it really fast.

"Enjoy the flavors you say?" I laughed.

I tasted the meat myself, and yeah. This was good meat. As tender was wagyu, with an even stronger meaty flavor. The flames gave it a really nice grilled aftertaste, and the soy sauce and sweet sauce made everything even more amazing. After eating half of the meat chunks, I drank some cola.

"Phew! This is good! I never imagined we could just chill inside a dungeon like this~" I giggled.

"Yeah, it's amazingly tasty. But above all, I'm impressed you were able to give us such a clean chunk of their meat without the blood and all." Baihe said.

"Ah, that's my Gathering Skill! I can dismantle corpses I gather." I explained. "I was able to dismantle the corpse from the meat, innards, bones, and blood! All neatly separated."

"That's such a useful Skill…" Kevin sighed. "I wish I had it! Is there a monster core that can give you such a Skill?"

"I doubt it. Gathering seems like a Skill you can only get when you Awaken or are gifted by a Constellation…" Baihe said. "Monster Skills are usually all offensive or passive buffs for the body. It's very rare to find something that has so much utility like that. Healing Skills, Buffing Skills, and Protection Skills are also very rare amongst what you can get from monsters."

"Yeah, I mean…" I said. "I could teach the skill to you guys, I do have something called [Jack of All Trades], but it'll take a while. And it will be a much weaker version of it."

The Gathering Skill I taught the demons didn't have the Rank Up Bonus for gathered materials, and the Inventory was much smaller, only having five slots per level instead of the hundred slots per level that mine has. But that's also good, so I can keep my own unique ability while they get something that can be useful in its own right.

"Wait, you can do that?!" Kevin gasped. "P-Please Anna, teach it to me! It would be so useful to gather materials, dismantle them, and then have an inventory! My bag is already full of stuff; it barely has space for anything else."

"Sure, I'll teach it to you guys… For a price. Getting a skill as useful as that one costs money, you know?" I smiled.

"Y-You… seriously?" Kevin sighed. "Fine, I'll pay…"

"I'll also pay! I got my own savings." Annabelle nodded.

"I… Well, I've also been accumulating a small sum of money selling monster materials." Baihe said. "I'll gladly pay you if you could teach me that useful Skill, Anna. I think its so useful it could be considered priceless."

Gathering is a Skill that felt kind of lame when I got it because of what it could do, but it ended up becoming incredibly useful for Dungeon Delving. Indeed, experienced hunters will easily recognize its immense value.

"Alright, alright, we'll do that once we're done here." I said. "Now let's enjoy the rest of the meat, it's really tasty."

We spent the next ten minutes feasting on the roasted meat. We ended up eating almost an entire Golden Bull and Golden Turtle; both were three-meter-big monsters, mind you. So yeah, Hunter's body metabolism is really fast, and he can easily digest food and convert it into energy.

[You and your party have defeated [Various Martial Beasts (B Rank)] x26]

[You earned 260.000 EXP]

[EXP has been saved until your next Rank Up.]

[You have collected [Various Martial Beasts Corpses (B Rank)] x26]

[Lucky! All gathered Items Ranks have increased to A Rank!]

As I checked the EXP accumulating and wished I could Rank Up right away without doing a Trial for it, I decided it was about time to continue this walk in the park of a dungeon.

"Now let's go."

We walked to the end of the labyrinth, stepping into a mosaic over the floor depicting an old cultivator with long white hair holding a golden sword. The voice of the Golden Sun Venerable reverberated across the entire hall, he was furious.

"Huh?! What did you do to the labyrinth?! I was busy preparing for the last challenge, and you… You fucking destroyed everything?! What is WRONG with you? Why are you like this?! You were supposed to get lost, get hurt, and die so I could—ah, I mean, you were supposed to be challenged!"

"Well, I had the power to break the walls, so that's what we did. Why should we follow these rules? Don't you guys in the Murim World always say that "might makes right"? So I used my might to make it right. How about it? Are you going to complain over me using your own philosophy?" I asked.

"That's… Ha… Hahaha… You're right. Yes… You're so right. You're so smart, aren't you? You think you know everything and can do whatever you want, isn't it, young girl? You have not even walked through all of earth, and you already talk like you've explored heaven? I shouldn't have expected anything less from the brainless fools of that powerless world." Sighed the Golden Sun Venerable's Will.

"What did you say?!" Kevin roared furiously. "You fucking asshole, say that again! I'm going to fuck you up!"

"Calm down; it's fine." I patted Kevin's shoulders. "So, are you done talking? Did we complete the challenge or not? If you're sooo angry, you can just kick us out!"

"No! I can't do that! I need you to… To complete the inheritance, yes." The voice was growing more and more suspicious. "Now, go on to the fifth challenge… It will be your last."

"Of course it's the last; it's the fifth challenge, duh." Annabelle mocked him.

"Shut up and do as I say, you filthy, pathetic mortals!" The Golden Sun Venerable's Will was showing his true colors. He went into silence after saying that.

"Yikes, and this guy is from the Orthodox Faction; I can't imagine what the Demonic Faction is like." I laughed. I saw the challenge completion notifications appear in big golden letters in front of us all.

[You and your Party have completed the Fourth Challenge of the {Golden Sun Venerable's Trial}!]

[You and your Party received the following Rewards]: [Ki Enhancing Pill (B Rank)] x15 [Golden Ki Pearl (B Rank)] x10 [Random Martial Arts Scroll (B Rank)] x2]

[You have consumed [Ki Enhancing Pill (B Rank)] x15!]

[Your Maximum Ki has increased by +375!]

[You have absorbed the [Random Martial Arts Scroll (B Rank)] x2!]

[The Information and Movements of the {Golden Dragon Roar: Tier 1} and {Cloud Step: Tier 1} Martial Art has been imprinted into your Body and Soul.]

Oh, nice! I got the Golden Dragon Technique! And it's the Roar, no less! And I even got the Cloud Step Technique too. I have wings, so I can fly, but that also costs some energy. If I use Cloud Step, I can also give sudden turns in midair much more easily by stepping into empty air by using short bursts of Ki. A really useful movement-related martial art.

"Ooh, I got something interesting." Baihe said, her hands suddenly gaining frost dragon scales and long claws. "Frost Dragon's Claws… It's a good Martial Art Technique! I also got Ice Bat's Bite!"

"Amazing, it is compatible with your Physique and Element!" I celebrated.

"I got something called… Eyes of the Viper? It seems to be some sort of intimidation technique." Said Kevin. "Kind of lame… Well, there's also the Praying Mantis Stance, which is even weirder."

"Maybe you won't be looked down on by people as much with that, though." I said.

"You're… not wrong there! I wish it could work on you though!" Kevin complained.

"I got something called Crow's Snatching Talons, it is… Weird, it seems to be specifically made to snatch stuff from people." Said Annabelle. "The other one's called Monkey Steals The Peaches… Huh, this one's a bit… Eh?! It can only be used against males… But why? Oh, that's why!" Annabelle approached Kevin.

"Huh? What? What are you- Agh! No, get away!" Kevin escaped Annabelle before things were to get worse.

"It would be better to save that technique, Annabelle…" I laughed out loud. I couldn't help it! "A-Anyways, shall we go?"

We stepped into our next, and hopefully last, challenge. Still with the ominous words of the Golden Sun Venerable's Will reverberating inside of my mind. I was already kind of guessing what this bastard was intending this entire time, and it is not pretty. I can tell why he was so frustrated too, not just because I was doing whatever I wanted.

But it's quite obvious he has ulterior motives for the people that enter the dungeon. The rewards, the promise of a great inheritance— is a different type of dungeon, but a dungeon at the end. it's all a bait. It is a different type of dungeon, but a dungeon at the end. And a dungeon's only purpose is to incite people to enter and then kill them.

Why? Well, Dungeons are only fragments of worlds but possess somewhat of a "will" when they're made. The dungeon boss is deeply connected to this will. A Dungeon's purpose is to reform and regrow back to its former world.

How can they do that? By invading another world and filling it with their monsters, they slowly terraform the world as they kill the original inhabitants while draining away their life force and mana to feed themselves and grow larger.

Luring unsuspecting challengers inside and telling them this is all a great trial to inherit a big shot's powers is all part of the show! Of course, it is a special dungeon even then, as it is being managed by a Constellation.

But Constellation or not, I bet he benefits from it as well; after all, he'll gain power from all the fools that enter and die inside. The very reason why the Will is so angry is because it wanted us to die already so it could feed off our Life Force, Ki, and even the Mana it sealed away from us.

But we were not playing along with their stupid "rules" anyway.

"Huh? This is a small room." Kevin looked around.

"It's an elevator, actually." I looked up; the ceiling was incredibly high, leading to a blue sky.

"Wait, what?" My friends had all the same reaction as the elevator rumbled, quickly beginning to move upwards.

In a few seconds, we found ourselves standing above the ceiling of Murim's Abandoned Temple. There was a beautiful blue sky, white clouds, and mountains in the surroundings. A calm and cold breeze washed over our faces, and the sunlight was warm and comfortable.

"T-This is insane! A Dungeon can be this big?!" Kevin asked.

"It is sure impressive, but yes, they're very big, Kevin; don't you remember the dungeons we've entered before?" Baihe sighed.

"I mean… I thought it was a Labyrinth-type dungeon that has closed spaces, usually not as big as the others…" Said Kevin. "But I guess it makes sense…"

"Dungeons are fragments of worlds, isn't it?" Annabelle wondered. "So I guess it makes sense that they're so big! But we were being trapped down there, so we were unable to see all the beautiful views here!"

"Yeah…" I nodded. I looked in front of us; there was our challenge right there.

A hundred golden statues resembling Chinese terracotta soldiers were facing us with their empty eyes, all of them wielding big shields and long spears. And behind them, there was a golden throne, where a cultivator sat down, also made of gold. He had long hair, sharp eyes, and a colorful crown.

The moment we took a single step forward, the soldiers started moving. Their bodies were overflowing with Auras full of Ki. They were definitely some sort of golem that had Martial Souls inside.

"So you've reached the last challenge! Good. Welcome, warriors from another world. Your lives will become the nourishment for this Dungeon." The man sitting above the throne laughed. "I thank you deeply for your sacrifice."

[The Fifth Challenge: {Challenge of War}, will now begin.]

[You've reached the last challenge; you stand in front of an army of a hundred soldiers of Murim, led by their Golden Emperor! You must now defeat them all using only Ki and the Martial Arts you've learned along the way.]

[The Golden Emperor is an arrogant and powerful Cultivator; he will send all his troops before he fights himself. Make sure to save your Ki to confront him at the end!]

[Or maybe risk going through his one hundred soldiers to behead him first? It's all up to you, challenger!]

[Good luck!]

[Dungeon Restrictions: Mana and Magic are sealed. Fighting and Offensive-type Skills cannot be used. Sense-type Skills cannot be used.]

[Dungeon Effects: None.]

The Dungeon Effects were gone, and the restrictions became even worse than before.

This Golden Sun bastard really loves his restrictions, huh?

Well, sadly for him, there was nothing saying that Cosmic Energy was not allowed, right?

"{Cosmic Transcendent Arts}: {Constellation's Aura}"

FLASH!

It's time to break the fifth challenge too.