New Members

Soon after Sorath returned to the inn, his teammates gave him a questioning look. However, it wasn't really directed at him. But to the suspicious people who stood behind him.

One was a blond-haired boy who observed the room and looked at the three - Atri, Enri, and Fred - curiously. His green eyes seemed like an emerald, attempting to capture the three's images to remember.

The other was a dark-haired girl whose eyes were as dark as a space void. A nothingness. There was no light left, as though she was already dead inside. Her gaze was straight, not looking at anything in particular. She was in her own world.

"You're late, and... who are they?" Enri asked.

Earlier, after he encountered Julian's group, Sorath changed his destination from returning to the inn directly to looking for the suspicious people group members or the Syndicate members.

Supposedly, they were starting to move out and join the other group from the sixth trial onward, making it easy to find them. However, Sorath was looking for two particulars of their members.

The blonde boy and the lifeless girl.

Sorath found the boy in a desert shop. Meanwhile, for the girl, he had to ask the residents and search the nooks and crannies of the city, looking for an empty, quiet place.

After 30 minutes of searching, he found the lifeless girl at the cemetery outside the city, on the closest hilltop. She appeared in peace while sleeping under the oak tree in the middle of the cemetery.

Although there was a moment of doubt after she reunited with the blonde boy in the city, she quickly diminished the thought, appearing uninterested.

Sorath cleared his throat.

"Our newest members for the sixth trial."

Then he sidestepped and looked at the two.

"Guys, introduce yourself."

The blonde guy snapped out of his focus. Looking at the group, he introduced himself.

"Oh! I am Brandon!! Nice to meet you. I like sweets so much I can eat them without getting bored!"

Still with her faraway gaze, the girl also introduced herself. Her voice and energy were in stark contrast to Brandon's.

"I'm called Nihila... though it's not matter... you can call me anything."

The group glanced at each other at the way Nihila introduced herself. She sounded like she was done with this world, waiting for the reaper to pick her up. Moreover, her blank expression with void eyes only reinforced her uncanny aura, making the twins shiver.

Clapping his hand, Sorath attracted everyone's attention.

"Now that our new members are done with their introduction, why don't you guys do the same?"

With that, the three introduced themselves briefly, with Enri lied about her identity. Well, that was a useless attempt because once they stepped through the gate, the Tower would reveal their names to each other.

After introducing herself, Enri glared at Sorath.

Catching her glare, Sorath nodded and gestured for her to not worry.

Looking at the bag worn by Atri, Sorath said:

"We have prepared everything, right? And what about your shopping? Did you all get what you want with 50G?"

The three nodded simultaneously.

Satisfied, Sorath smiled.

"Good."

He looked at the sword he held. Knowing that Atri already had a weapon of her choice, he wondered whether he should use it himself. But then he noticed Brandon's and Nihila's weapons were worn out.

"You two, use this."

Sorath gave the dagger he stole from the blacksmith to Brandon and the katana to Nihila.

Brandon's finger was bleeding as he traced his finger on the dagger's blade, but he took it as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Nihila gave the sword a long look.

"Can you use a katana?"

Nihila closed her eyes as she attached the weapon to her belt.

"It's not a problem... I can use everything as a means to kill my opponent... because they're all the same."

Sorath smiled, unbothered by her detached demeanor, unlike his group members.

"Well, that's good," he said. "Let's depart right away then."

...

[Identifying candidate... Sorath Shedever.]

[Checking registered group members... Sorath Shedever, Atri Aquila, Enri Aquila, Luke Shader, Brandon Sprink, and Nihila.]

[Verification completed. Welcome to the sixth trial! You can upgrade your starting Trace to the next rank or choose a new Trace of Intermediate rank.]

[Choose wisely! Because you can't replace or upgrade your Trace in the seventh trial.]

Sorath chose to replace his Trace with a new one. Soon after, three spheres materialized, just like back then. 

[Command Voice], [Mind Decay], [Heal Wound].

Those were the new Traces he got this time. Obviously, he only could choose one.

Unlike back then, these Traces were all useful.

With [Command Voice], Sorath could give an absolute order to someone, objects, mindless creatures, monsters, and many more. But the downside of this Trace was its expensive mana cost. 

With his unawakened trait, he could only use it once a day. Moreover, it was useless against monsters, which needed much more mana than using it against a human or an object.

[Mind Decay]'s downside was almost similar to [Command Voice]. That was using a lot of mana to use and ordering someone.

Rather than ordering, it was more like controlling. [Mind Decay] allowed Sorath to control someone's - a living being - mind after physical contact. In his current situation, he could only use it for 10 seconds.

'It is good for the long-term and if I awakened, but not for now.'

In the end, he chose [Heal Wound]. It was useful for supporting and sustaining the group's condition.

'Not only that. With this, I can also run my plans.'

...

After the Trace selection, Sorath and his group were, luckily, teleported to a more advantageous location than when they did the fifth trial. At least, that was what Sorath believed.

In front of him stood a broken, burned gate. Even further from that, a view of a burning village was palpable in their eyes. Black smoke billowed in the sky, creating a sense of ominous feeling.

Enri, who had better eyesight than the others, growled as she found a big and tall dark silhouette crawling in the village. It was surrounded by flames.

After some time, Enri jolted and threw her gaze away from the village after she felt that the large silhouette was gazing back at her.

"Do you see something, Enri?" Atri asked while comforting her.

Gulping, Enri glanced at the village again for a while and then looked at her teammate's faces.

"I saw something big in that village. It was crawling, with many legs."

Hearing her description of what she saw, Sorath's ears twitched.