A Labyrinth

The newly appeared earth golem was taller than the soil wall surrounding Kenneth, which was probably five meters tall. In normal circumstances, facing a slow earth golem that only had the upper hand in terms of strength might not be difficult for Kenneth. However, when he had to fight it in a narrow passageway with no way out, the difficulty of defeating it immediately increased several times.

"Ah."

Kenneth immediately turned pale when he couldn't find the sword that usually hung on his waist. Kenneth clearly remembered he had brought his beloved sword with him on his journey. However, since he woke up in this strange place, Kenneth had been unable to find anything other than the fruits he had brought for his supplies with Fay.

BANG!

Kenneth quickly dodged as the golem raised its hand to attack Kenneth. Although Kenneth's movements were faster than the golem's, with the narrow passageway, Kenneth would still be affected by the powerful blow no matter which way he dodged. Kenneth clenched his fists tightly as he realized the golem's attack could destroy his body with a single blow. Kenneth stepped back to put some distance between them. He raised his hand and used magic to knock down the golem.

"Fireball!"

First, Kenneth tried to find the golem's core by shooting the golem right in the chest. But Kenneth didn't expect that the medium magic attack would only be able to scratch the golem's chest. Instead of immediately knocking it down, Kenneth ended up making the golem even angrier at him.

"Ugh. Fireball!"

But in a narrow place without any weapons that he could use, Kenneth could only continue to rely on his magic to fight the golem. Kenneth knew he shouldn't worry about others when he was in danger. But every time Kenneth imagined that Fay was somewhere and was forced to fight the golem alone, the prince unconsciously became more impatient to knock down the golem in front of him.

"Found it!"

Kenneth's gaze turned bright when he finally saw the red stone that was the core of the golem. The discovery made Kenneth even more enthusiastic to defeat the golem. After several times of dodging and attacking whenever Kenneth had the chance, he finally managed to defeat the golem by destroying its core.

After its core was destroyed, the golem that had a body as hard as steel finally returned to being a lump of ordinary soil. Kenneth let out a long breath while leaning on one side of the wall. He was only fighting one earthen golem. However, because Kenneth did not have his weapon with him, he had to be willing to lose more than half of his mana to defeat the golem.

"Sigh..."

Kenneth stared at the path that was no longer blocked by the golem, then started walking along it while calling out Fay's name. Even though his mana had not been refilled after his fight, Kenneth still chose not to rest and focused on finding Fay who was separated from him.

***

"Ah, he managed to defeat the golem!"

Gaia exclaimed when she saw Kenneth had managed to exceed her expectations. Thanks to the abilities that Kenneth showed in desperate situations, even Kegan began to be interested in Kenneth. Kenneth could only use mid-level fire magic. But the power of his attack was already comparable to high-class magic.

It was no secret that the golem created using Gaia's power was extremely tough. Even Kegan would need at least five high-level attacks to take down the golem. But Kenneth managed to defeat it with only mid-class magic. Kegan smiled involuntarily. Gaia was right. The human who had become a new member of their place was indeed a bit interesting.

"Uh... Is this really okay? We even had to take his beloved sword for this training."

Fay said that because she knew Kenneth always kept his sword close to him and used it like it was his most cherished item. Seeing Kenneth panic just to look for it was enough to make Fay feel even more worried. But besides that, Fay also had to be willing to see Kenneth get hurt because he didn't have his sword like usual.

"It's okay. Trust us, Fay."

Fay looked at Kenneth, who was still struggling in the maze created by Gaia, and then said nothing more. At a glance, Fay knew that although cruel, Gaia's method of testing Kenneth's abilities was the best. By fighting the golems using only magic, they were finally able to estimate which capacity Kenneth had. Trapping him in the maze was also useful to see how quickly Kenneth could observe the situation and how great his physical abilities were.

In addition, Fay was also aware that Gaia had calculated everything before bringing Kenneth to her place. Lelitia had told them not to hurt Kenneth, so Gaia couldn't possibly let Kenneth get hurt too badly. 

"That human. Is it just my feeling, or has he been able to read the movements of your golem, Gaia?"

Gaia smiled when she heard Aqua's question. "He did," she replied proudly. Gaia's gaze then shifted to Kegan, who had been focused on observing Kenneth since earlier. Gaia felt she had won her prize when she saw Kegan's gaze. In the hundreds of years that Gaia had known Kegan, that was probably the first time Gaia had seen Kegan show interest in a human.

"So, are you interested in training him after this?"

Kegan was silent for a moment, then ended up letting out a long sigh. The fire fairy already knew that Gaia already knew what kind of answer he would give, so the earth fairy had not stopped smiling broadly since earlier.

"Fay, do you also feel that humans are good individuals?"

Fay nodded her head confidently. "Of course! Even though Kenneth is a human, he has an aura that makes me feel comfortable when I'm around him. With that, Kenneth should be a good person, right?"

"Don't forget, he also saved me and Aqua in the fight a few days ago. To repay him for helping us protect Audoran Forest, teaching him a few things wouldn't be too much of a reward, right?"

Kegan took a deep breath, then finally agreed to Gaia's request. It wasn't like humans would live as long as they did. Kegan only needed to watch over Kenneth until the man died, and he could be sure that what he would teach him wouldn't turn back on them.

"Alright, I'll teach him what I know about fire magic. Are you satisfied now?"

"Very satisfied!" Gaia and Fay replied at the same time. The three of them had been too busy talking since earlier, so only Aqua realized that Kegan had managed to defeat the last golem and was almost at the finish line.

"E, everyone! There, that human has managed to reach the finish line!"

When the others heard Aqua's voice, their attention finally returned to Kenneth. The fairies were stunned when they saw Kenneth's condition. Even Fay, who usually spoke immediately, could only stare at Kenneth with a shocked expression mixed with emotion.

After fighting several golems on his journey, Kenneth no longer had a neat appearance like before. His hair was so dirty from the dust produced by the earth golems he fought, while his body was in an even worse condition. Not only was Kenneth's entire body covered in dust, but the prince couldn't avoid some wounds from his fight with the golems. Kenneth also had to let his clothes get torn in several places. Overall, Kenneth looked like someone who had just gone through a long ordeal.

However, what stunned the fairies was not Kenneth's appearance. Even though his mana was almost depleted, while his legs were almost giving out, Kenneth didn't stop looking worried and once again called out Fay's name. The worry that Kenneth showed when no one was looking was still as sincere as before. Although no one spoke when they saw Kenneth's attitude towards Fay, everyone finally agreed that Kenneth was someone they could trust.

Or, at least, the man was a good human being. Even when Kenneth was in a dangerous situation, the prince never forgot about his friend's safety.

Everyone had expressions of satisfaction mixed with relief when they saw Kenneth successfully pass their first test. For Gaia, since Kenneth had completed the game she had created with enthusiasm, then what she had to do after this was to give the prince a fitting reward for his efforts.

Gaia smiled, then glanced at her friends, who were also ready to go meet Kenneth.

"Come on, everyone! Let's congratulate the first human who can reach the finish line with an attitude that we should praise," she said before flying out of the special barrier that had prevented Kenneth from knowing their location all this time.