*Tick!*
'You must refrain from doing anything rash,' Nala chanted to herself. 'He's provoking you on purpose; you know this. Calm down; don't let him get to you.'
For some keen reason, when Yennefer and Cela heard the way the anonymous hooded man was speaking to Nala, they felt it to be very familiar. Although the tones of voice were nothing alike, could it be possible that they were the same person?
Realizing that his cover would be blown if he kept up with his Attribute Farming, Knox snatched away the dropped Attribute Orbs before shifting his gaze toward the Eye. He could feel several people boring holes into his back—some greedy, some threatening—but he conveniently ignored them.
Lucidador and the Softshore twins,
—more than the others—were staring very intently at him. The former wanted to fight him or something, whereas the latter wanted to… don't know… eat him or something?
"Those girls are eerily creepy," Knox softly muttered to himself. "What were their names again? I recall people talking about them like some kind of bigshot geniuses… Luturd and Solanus, I believe they were?"
Luna and Solaris. Those were the actual names of the twin prodigy daughters of Duke Softshore. Both were 71 years old, possessing identical cultivation of the Peak Nascent Soul Realm.
Just like a ton of others, they underwent breakthroughs during the 1st Trial. Going from the Late to Peak Nascent Soul Realm, their progress could be considered superb.
However, it was still nowhere as good as the truly fortunate ones like Cela and Yennefer. A couple of monstrous geniuses who entered the Secret Realm in the early stages of the Golden Core Realm and ended the 1st Trial well into the Early Nascent Soul Realm.
Such absurd advancement speed was unheard of!
To go from the early stages of the Golden Core Realm to the Early Nascent Soul Realm within a meager half a year—who in the Elemental Nations would believe something like that??
'I found myself somehow linked to a couple of heavenly daughters of Providence,' Knox thought to himself. 'Every time I see them, they've obtained another fortuitous opportunity or increase in talent and power. It's almost as if I'm watching two protagonists claw their way up from the bottom by doing whatever's necessary.'
He'd be lying if he said he wasn't the smallest bit jealous. But it wasn't like he hadn't received Fortuitous Opportunities of his own—such as the |Supreme Devourer| and |Dragon Lord's Heavenly Requiem|, both of which were given to him by the World Serpent. Though, outside his lootings, Cela and Yennefer had far more lucky, lucrative encounters.
They were like treasure magnets!
'My luck is supposed to have heavily increased as a result of my two Active Titles,' Knox mused. 'But I still feel as if I'm nowhere near as lucky as these two crazies are. 'Tis a damn shame, but it is what it is.'
Regardless of his inner musings, the Six-Winged Seraphim's Eye started to speak again:
[All Trial Takers have received their rewards for completing the 1st Trial. The 2nd Trial will now begin. 3… 2…..]
"Damn, that quickly!?" many blurted out, their attention having been taken away from the mysterious hooded man. "Can you not at least give us a bit more of a breather—"
Cutting him and dozens of others off was the simultaneous flashing of light pillars that expertly targeted every single contestant at once. Within an instant, they were all transported to the playing grounds of the next Trial.
The 2nd Devilstar Trial, otherwise known as the Kingdom-building Game.
Everyone's objective for this Trial would be to build up a Kingdom and have said Kingdom fight for supremacy at the end of a five-month-long period. At first, this might appear to be an impossible task, for making a powerful Kingdom within such a short time frame shouldn't be possible. However, this secret, isolated part of Pandora was unlike the rest of the world—holding special qualities that made it the best place to accomplish what the 2nd Trial demanded.
As for what these special qualities were; for one, the progression speed of every living being in the massive hundred-million-mile-wide area was sped up by 1000. This meant that buildings could be built at one thousand times the speed and native living beings could cultivate one thousand times faster. Yet, this was also to say that they'd die one thousand times quicker.
Then there was the second major special quality of the area known as The King's Grounds.
Every native living being of the isolated space was basically a Non-Playable Character—an NPC. Otherworlders could come in and force them to be their slaves, hire them to construct their infrastructure or manage their territories' politics, or even create sweatshops and breeding farms.
The possibilities were endless. And in a way, The King's Grounds were like one big idling mobile game—one where time could be sped up even more than a thousandfold if one acquired a lot of the 'in-game currency' of the world.
Kingdom Coins.
They could be obtained through many different methods, such as cultivating a strong military force, subduing all usurper nobles, or even creating the best brothel franchise the world had ever seen. The bottom line was non-existent; even evil deeds that contributed toward developing your Kingdom gave Kingdom Coins.
That brought up another matter—one that pertained to what kind of Ruler an Otherworlder could become. Whether objectively evil or righteous, it mattered not; one could build the greatest Kingdom going either route.
As for which way Knox chose to go…
"Now, listen up, b*tches!" he roared while facing thousands of powerful native cultivators. "This country, this land, and everything you own now belongs to me! Even your wives and mothers are mine if I so wish for them!"
"You devil!" shouted the current King of Sandoon, his Early Soul Formation Realm aura reaching beyond the clouds. "I'll smite you down right here and now!!!"
SHING!
"How could thi—"
"You were saying?" Knox questioned while cupping a hand to an ear. "What's that?? Speak up!"
*Gurgle, Gurgle!*