In a pitch-black space, there’s clearly no light, yet it doesn’t feel dark.
Five bodies of different races stand in a circle, eyes tightly shut, breathing calmly and faintly, as if in a deep sleep.
Suddenly, one human male’s eyelids flicker slightly.
It seems to trigger a chain reaction.
The eyelids of the other four bodies begin to flicker; they seem to be waking up simultaneously.
Kane opens his eyes, looking around at the pitch-black space, the very place they stayed when entering the space.
He then turns his head to the side.
Kreya also turns her head at this moment, and they exchange glances.
Relieved Kreya is fine, Kane lets out a sigh of relief.
He then begins to examine his body, feeling all over with his hands.
The bullet holes that should be on his chest and abdomen are gone, leaving no scars; his condition is as perfect as when he first entered the Trial Space.
It seems they had never experienced anything at all.
Not just Kane, his teammates are doing the same because just moments ago, they seemed near death.
The wounds covering their bodies numbed them to pain, with their consciousness blurred, thoughts almost drifting into the sky.
The weakness and fading of life felt so real.
Even though they never experienced death, they knew clearly they were about to die.
Yet now, everything truthfully tells them.
Everything before was like a dream, an illusion, nothing but a mirage.
[The Book of Adventure]
Kane directly summoned the Book of Adventure.
An ancient, thick, wide book appears in his hand.
He flipped through it casually to make sure there were no issues.
It seemed the previous trial was indeed a kind of illusion or a dream-like experience they went through.
But the experience felt unbelievably real; he genuinely thought he had died.
Luckily, he and Kreya had decided to make one last stand before sunset.
Just to vent, taking down a few more.
At that moment, the familiar voice resounded from the dark space.
"Congratulations, Trial Takers, you have successfully passed the first trial I set. Your performance greatly exceeded my expectations, and I am very satisfied. Now, how about coming out for a rest?"
Aiklonen’s voice was warm and appreciative.
"Let’s go out," Kane decisively made the decision for his teammates, believing they wouldn’t want to stay there a second longer.
The pitch-black space shattered like fragments, and when their surroundings became visible, they found themselves standing where Aiklonen had previously positioned them.
Breathing the air above the clouds, on the towering platform.
This indeed felt real.
It was at the moment the space shattered that he felt truly awake.
Aiklonen’s words interrupted his thoughts.
"Congratulations on passing the trial; do you have anything you’d like to say?"
Aiklonen’s phantom stood before them, kindly like an elder, much different from the calm detachment Kane felt entering the dungeon.
"Tsk," Kane couldn’t help but click his tongue at his demeanor.
Not just Kane, everyone behind him wore the same discontented expression towards Aiklonen’s phantom.
After all, the signs of human interference in the trial were far too evident, without the slightest disguise.
"Haha," of course, Aiklonen understood what their expressions meant, waving it off dismissively.
"Your strength really exceeded my expectations, so I had to increase the difficulty a bit. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a trial, would it?"
Then, he joked half-seriously, "Hopefully next time, my interference might be more discreet, so you might find it a bit easier."
Kane and his group weren’t the first Trial Takers, so Aiklonen naturally assumed they were on par with those who had come before.
Misjudging their strength.
Originally, the Trial Space wasn’t populated with numerous pursuers setting up roadblocks or such absurd tracking abilities. Updates are released by 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⟡𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⟡𝘯𝘦𝘵
The nighttime blizzard was expected to start after ten days, and the pursuers were supposed to appear after twenty days.
For regular Trial Takers, their teams would generally suffer setbacks from the villagers first, then find patterns using their original strength and smoothly pass the first ten days.
Following that would be the limitations of nighttime blizzards. The nighttime blizzard would show signs before the first ten days, giving Trial Takers time to prepare.
The final ten days of pursuers would also offer omens to give cautious Trial Takers an opportunity to escape.
This was the entire process of the first trial.
However, Kane and his group completely defied his expectations.
Kane and his group were unnaturally strong as ordinary people, bold yet meticulous.
Within two days, they found patterns and began moving easily, with even Kreya going so far as to wipe out entire villages.
Compelling him to increase the difficulty, bringing the blizzards prematurely with no warning.
Thus Kane and his team regrouped early, strolling villagers like dogs during the day.
Out of options, he had to personally intervene, advancing various pursuers and setting up an utterly bizarre tracking system.
In the end, he had to multiply the pursuers tenfold to push them to the brink.
Of course, excluding someone like Liru, a Race with extraordinarily weak ordinary form.
However, blame it on Aiklonen’s ignorance of such Races.
Unaware that Little Fairies outside are born with immense Magic Power and various special abilities.
Yet entering the Trial Space, all innate abilities were stripped away, even weaker than in the womb.
Nonetheless, Aiklonan was highly satisfied with their strength, superior to any Trial Taker seen before.
Having heard Aiklonen, Kane didn’t argue much, acknowledging the dungeon’s mastership.
"So do we proceed to the next trial right away?"
Hearing Kane, Aikron shook his head, "No rush, I believe your spirits must be weary after those 30 days in the Trial Space. If I put you into the next trial now, it won’t achieve the effect I want. Rest well first; you’ll be satisfied."
With that, he waved a hand.
And Kane and his group vanished from the spot.