Tristan crouched behind a pillar, deep in thought.
The trial had started so suddenly, and the mysterious figure that appeared out of nowhere—who were they? They'd sent him here without saying a word. Why couldn't they have just talked a little more? Was that too much to ask?
As he pondered, Tristan noticed the lighting around him starting to shift. The flames split once more, forming two separate groups that began to encircle him from both sides.
This time, Tristan didn't rush to move from behind the pillar. He had tried that before, and the result wasn't pleasant. The attack frequency from the flames had doubled, and even with his Shadow Prism up, it couldn't withstand such a concentrated barrage.
Earlier, he had clearly seen more than ten fire arrows streaking toward him, their speed so high that even with over 700 points in agility, he couldn't dodge them. So, this trial wasn't about evading by sheer speed. At least not just that.
After thinking for a moment, Tristan gripped his Bone-Cutting Twin Daggers and activated his Frenzy Dash skill. He rushed out from behind the pillar, and immediately, the two flames adapted, dispersing into fiery projectiles.
"Blink!"
Without hesitation, he activated Blink, successfully moving to the next pillar. The fire arrows whooshed past him, grazing his hair, but Shadow Prism, unbeknownst to him, had lost three layers in the process.
But at least he had escaped the first pillar.
If the fire's speed slowed down a bit, he might be able to keep dodging with his Frenzy Dash and Blink.
However, as that thought crossed his mind, he felt the shadows around him shrinking. The shadows were contracting, and the cooldowns on both his Blink and Frenzy Dash were still in effect.
Without thinking further, Tristan rushed forward, only to curse inwardly.
The flames had split again.
Now, there were three groups of fire floating in the air.
But this time, one of the flames had stopped moving, while the other two circled around to flank him.
With a flash of light, Tristan found himself back at the original spot.
Shadow Prism had returned to five layers, and the fire above his head was back to a single flame.
Without a doubt, the trial had reset.
Tristan knew the rules of the trial now but still needed to figure out how to break through.
Simply relying on two teleportation skills wasn't enough to dodge the continuous attacks.
He glanced around, his eyes narrowing in thought.
The key was in the shadows.
The light, the shadows.
A sudden realization hit him.
He understood now.
As the shadows shrank and the two flames moved to flank him, Tristan didn't rush to use Frenzy Dash or Blink. Instead, he aimed at the nearby pillar, raised his hand, and threw his Shadow Dagger.
Boom.
The pillar was cleaved in half and collapsed to the ground, casting a new shadow.
As the two shadows overlapped, Tristan rolled to the side and hid behind the fallen pillar.
The fire didn't attack.
Or rather, it didn't hit him.
At that moment, Tristan was completely certain—if he moved through the shadows, the flames wouldn't hit him!
"Shadows... move..." he murmured, his eyes gleaming with understanding.
If he was right, passing this trial would grant him a new teleportation ability!
Thinking about it, the light shifted again.
The flames split once more, illuminating more areas.
Tristan took action again, striking another pillar.
The broken pillar fell to the ground, shifting the shadow, and he quickly moved forward.
As expected, another flame split off, but it stayed stationary, while the other flames continued to move.
With each move, he now understood the trial's pattern.
Every time he moved, a new flame split off. But only two of the flames moved; the rest stayed still.
However, this didn't mean the pressure was relieved. The more flames there were, the less room he had to hide. The shadow zones would keep shrinking until there were no safe places left.
Thinking quickly, Tristan struck the second pillar again, breaking it into pieces and creating a new shadow that would lead him to a new location.
A fifth flame appeared.
Although the third pillar wasn't too far away, even breaking it wouldn't give him a continuous flow of shadow zones. The distance between the shadows was too far, far exceeding Blink's limit.
With five flames, he knew they would instantly break all the layers of his Shadow Prism. He didn't have time to use both Frenzy Dash and Blink together.
At that point, Tristan made a decision. He stood up and began the trial again.
"Attack the pillars to create shadows, then use the shadows to move. Once I've passed all the pillars, the trial should end," he mused.
If his hypothesis was correct, then he needed to be strategic with his attacks. He needed to predict the landing points of the broken pillars.
He would also have to adjust his strike's force and angle based on where the new flames appeared, ensuring the shadows continued.
"Twelve pillars—at least twenty-four movements to get back to the original pillar," Tristan calculated.
"Every movement generates a new flame. By the end, there should be at least twenty-five flames. Even though only two flames will move, the others will keep shrinking the shadow area."
He'd already figured out that the maximum time the shadow could remain was 5 seconds, which meant he could use Blink up to three times.
One at the beginning, one in the middle, and the last would be a Frenzy Dash.
"When I used Frenzy Dash and Blink together earlier, only one flame split. That means Blink doesn't trigger the flame-splitting mechanism," Tristan concluded.
As he thought faster and faster, his gaze grew calmer.
As long as the trial rules didn't change drastically, he had a chance of completing it. It was just a matter of figuring out the best route.
...
After a hundred attempts, Tristan finally reached the seventh pillar.
"Fifty percent progress, and no new rules have appeared. I doubt anything else will change from here," he thought.
This temple, despite being a trial, clearly wasn't one of the toughest. After all, this was the first version of ExoGenesis. They wouldn't want to make it too torturous for players.
But no new rules didn't mean the trial was easy.
Having reached the seventh pillar, Tristan calmly stepped forward, allowing the flames to bring him back.
He hadn't executed his strike perfectly this time, and the shadow broke.
Blink still had a ten-second cooldown, and Frenzy Dash wasn't effective here due to its predictable trajectory.
Outside, the flames were now numerous—more than ten. A single misstep would shatter all his Shadow Prism layers.
Whoosh.
Tristan returned to his starting point.
But inside, he could already see the light at the end of the tunnel.