Solo Trial Clear (1)

18 hours had passed since the start of the second trial. It was now around 6 PM on the third floor: Velniz Temple.

Just like how the first floor had its unique trait [Everlasting Daylight], where the night wouldn't appear, the third floor also had a phenomenon where the night was longer than the day.

The sky began to darken at 3 PM, and after two hours, it would completely succumb to the darkness. So, 6 PM on the third floor would look like 9 PM in Havenlock, the tenth floor. Meanwhile, the midnight peaked at 10 PM and lasted for 150 minutes.

During that period, the temple's patrols would awaken from their slumber and roam around, looking for any problem or intruder stepping their feet inside the temple without permission.

The candidates had been told about this information by their seniors. However, it was up to them whether to listen to their seniors' advice or not.

By this time, 70% of the candidates had entered the Velniz Temple. Moreover, now that they could meet the other candidates inside, they had grouped up with each other to reach the highest floor.

Was this allowed? Of course! As long as they got the mission item by themselves, without any help from the other candidates. If someone ever got their job done with the intervention of others, both parties would get disqualified.

Grouping up and reaching the highest floor while also looking for each other's back wouldn't violate any rules for the second trial of the Solo.

Among 579 candidates who took the trial, 405 were already inside the Velniz Temple. Meanwhile, the rest were still looking for the items required for completing the third floor.

The 405 candidates were mostly on the second and third floor of the temple, leaving only two small groups camping on the first floor. One of the two was settling on the area near the large tree where Sorath spawned the previous night.

Julian, who appeared to be less ragged than the first time, was trying to spark a fire like a primitive by rubbing two rocks against each other. After a few attempts, he managed to make a campfire for his group.

"Hoho! I really did have the talent to seek talented people!" said Michael proudly after Julian finished making a campfire.

Michelle, who overheard her twin brother make such a claim, smacked his head lightly.

"Talent my ass! Instead of talking nonsense, why don't you do something like Rajja and Ilya, who take a midnight watch?" Michelle scolded, pointing at two people she mentioned.

Michael stared at Michelle in disbelief, as she was just like him. She didn't contribute anything to the group except ordering him around like he was her property.

"I can say the same to you, Michelle. What are you doing in this group other than ordering me to do this and that?"

Michelle sneered. 

"My job is to supervise this group so it can run properly." She shook her head slowly. "But it's inevitable that someone like you, who doesn't do anything, is in my group."

White Lotus Ilya rolled her eyes at the unfolding scene caused by the children of the Seven Houses. She had expected them to be more mature and reliable since they had the best resources in their hands. Alas, they were nothing but a spoiled brat.

She turned her attention to the rusty shortsword in her hand, staring at the high-quality cloth wrapped around the hilt. After that, she sighed.

'At least there's one with a functioning brain.'

Ilya untied the cloth and wrapped it onto her wrist. Then she sheathed the rusty blade on her sheath belt, capable of storing up to four shortswords at once.

Finally, she let herself loose, sitting on the high wall with her legs dangling in the air back and forth. As she stared at the large tree, she recalled the objective of her first mission, although it was hurting her pride as it wasn't an assassination job.

Ilya was given the two objectives. First, the primary task was to observe Julian and gain his trust. And the secondary task was to kill Julian if his client was disqualified from the Awakening Phase, without having the target notice she was the killer, which she found strange. Why would that matter when her mark died anyway?

However, since the client and her brother insisted, she had no choice but to obey.

'Sorath Shedever... At first, he commissioned my brother to hunt an unknown kid from the outside world. But then he suddenly retracted the commission while still paying my brother double the amount of the original fee. And now he commissioned me to spy on the kid instead?' Ilya thought. 'I don't understand him at all.'

Putting the useless thoughts away from her mind, she stretched and yawned cutely.

'Well, at least I get paid.'

Rumble! Rumble!

As he enjoyed her free time on the fortress-like wall, she could feel the place she sat on shaking faintly. When she was about to think it was because of the weakened wall foundation, a shout from below yelled at her if she felt the tremor.

Knowing that her group also felt the faint tremor, Ilya climbed down the wall and gathered with the rest around the campfire.

"Did you guys feel the quake just now?" Julian asked, his eyes staring at each of his group members solemnly. 

They all nodded simultaneously.

"Yeah, that surprised me. I thought someone was ground-pounding Mother Earth," Michael, even in this situation, still cracked a joke. Unfortunately, no one gave a fuck.

"I was on my all fours position trying to do a bit of yoga until I felt the tremor beneath the ground. Is there an underground in this temple?" Michelle, different from her twin, was observant of her surroundings even though she was a bit weird. Why would someone want to do yoga in that place?

"It seems like the ground has a great quake compared to the high wall," Ilya concluded.

As for Rajja, he didn't say anything after nodding his head to answer Julian's question.

Julain rested his finger under his chin, trying to recall something from his memories. After a while, he had that puzzled look instilled on his face as he didn't remember any event related to a tremor originating from the underground temple.

'What's actually happening?'

...

At the same time, in the underground temple...

Sorath whistled after he witnessed the energy ball made of Arcane obliterating everything except the pillars because they were out of range. He felt glad that his attack only damaged the floors, not the structure's foundations. If that was to happen, he would have been buried alive.

"Yeah, that's great and all. But the pain I must endure every time the tattoo absorbs and releases the Arcane are..."

Sorath shook his head, throwing the cowardly thoughts from his mind. Sighing, he continued.

"I just forget how the pain feels like after 15 years of losing my sense of pain."

He gritted his teeth as the tattoo injected the Arcane into his veins. After a couple of minutes, his expression freshened up.

"Anyway, what time is it now?"

He checked the time using the command system. Shortly after, a window interface popped up in his vision, showing him the current time on the Tower.

"6:20 PM... I guess I'll sleep in this room filled with Arcane tonight."

Sorath took a step back and turned around, looking for a comfortable spot to rest his body. After minutes of searching, he leaned on the wall with the triangle hole.

He closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep and drift to the dreamland, but to no avail. Opening his eyes again, Sorath decided to make himself tired by exercising and moving around.

'This is ridiculous...'

In the end, he ended up exercising his body. But thanks to that, he was able to drift into deep sleep quickly.

...

The next morning...

Sorath felt refreshed after sleeping for 10 hours straight. He was full of vigor and energy. Not to mention, the Arcane Tattoo had a sudden rise in its pool storage due to it being exposed to the energy for a long time.

Before, it was like he could only attempt two energy ball attacks. But with the increased Arcane storage, he could perform 4 additional strikes. That was a substantial increase!

Stretching his body, he took 30 minutes to exercise while his body was feeling fresh and full of stamina. After he was done, he strode toward the grand door.

Waiting for it to open by itself when someone was near, he stared at his right hand with a smile and a bit of concern.

"This is too catchy. I need something that can cover my right hand."

Since he couldn't find anything, even bandages, in the underground. That meant he should find it on the surface later.

Pulling out a map from his coat, Sorath started navigating through the underground layout to reach the magic formation in the center.