Over the next few days, Aren spent his time with the butler, never even getting to know his name. He ate, toured the castle, asked questions, and more.
He hadn’t learned anything concerning the trial, or so he thought, but he had managed to come to several important conclusions.
One was the fact that nearly every being, maid, chef, cleaner, and more that walked this castle was strong, terrifyingly so, to say the least.
He also realized that in every tour he made with the butler, he never spoke of a way to leave the castle, nor did he take him close to any window that could show him outside. It was as if the butler was regulating where Aren could go.
Slowly, time trickled by and finally, all the groups had arrived. For those that arrived late, they didn’t get the time to explore like the others had, and that put them in a heavy disadvantage.
[...]
Aren and the butler walked through another hallway together, side by side, looking at the paintings on the wall.
[Trial begins in ten minutes]
The system notification came suddenly and Aren paused, looking at it.
The butler smiled knowingly. "It’s time, I guess," he said.
Aren nodded. "It is," he said, and then looked at the butler, wanting to thank him for everything. "Thank—"
But before he could, the butler raised a finger to tell him to keep quiet. "Don’t appreciate me, it makes things harder for me," the butler said.
"Harder for you? What’s that?" Aren asked.
"Sigh, young awakened, don’t worry about things like that," he said. "You should go, but before you do, I want to give something to you." The butler said as he pulled out a coin and handed it to him. It was a golden coin. On one side was a deep cut mark, and on the other was plain.
"Keep this safe, you’ll need it. When in doubt, follow the gap," he said.
Aren took the coin. He didn’t understand what the butler meant, but he was used to that by now, because the butler was a really mysterious person.
"Now head on straight. If you keep walking straight, you’ll arrive at the throne room," he said, and then took a step back, placing one hand on his chest. "It has been great spending time with you."
Aren did the same, placing his hand on his chest and bowing. Then he looked up. "Will I see you again?" he asked.
"Hmm, it is possible," the butler said. Hearing that, Aren smiled and turned to walk away. For the first time in a very long while, he actually enjoyed the presence of someone extremely well. He prayed he would see the butler one day.
As Aren vanished into the distance, the butler’s soft smile shifted into a sad frown. "Sadly, if we do, it won’t be for talks," he said before turning away as well, his footsteps echoing in the hallway, lonely, empty.
[.....]
When Aren finally arrived at the doors to the throne room, he saw others walking in at the same time as well. He entered, and to his surprise, the people that were here were more than a thousand now.
He quietly walked to one of the pillars and leaned his back against it.
Elton sat on her throne with her eyes shut, but everyone could easily feel her watchful gaze over them. It made them tense.
"Hey, Aren."
Aren heard Leon’s voice call out to him. He turned his head to see Leon and Aiden walking toward him.
"Hey," Aren greeted in response.
"Bro, you vanished for days," Leon said.
"Yeah, I was touring the castle," Aren replied flatly. He turned to face them and leaned his back against the pillar.
"What did you two do?" he asked.
"We got into a fight with a golem that chased us for days. We had to hide each time we tried to fight back. For some reason, no matter how we destroyed it, it kept getting rebuilt.
That was until a maid we met destroyed it in one strike and went on her day," Aiden said.
"Damn, that sounds like you had a fun time," Aren said.
"Tsk, this castle is a really scary place. Thankfully, we get out after this stage," Leon said.
Aren’s expression shifted after that. "I’m not too sure about that, but this castle, it might have something to do with the next stage," he said, but before Leon and Aiden could react, Elton rose to her feet and the doors of the throne room shut closed.
Everyone’s attention shifted to her, not wanting to miss a single word she was about to say.
"Your next stage of the trial is about to begin, but before I tell you what it is, all those that landed the final blow on the crystal of their last stage, step out," she said.
Aren pushed himself off the wall and walked toward her. They stepped out in front of everyone, four people.
A young man with dark brown hair, he was at least twenty. He wore full black armor and had a sword on his back.
A young woman with jet black hair and eyes. She had on some sort of mage garment that left too much to be seen, and there were a few rings on her fingers with gems embedded in them.
And finally, there was a girl, at most fifteen. She had an innocent face and was dressed in casual clothes. Her brown hair was tied into a ponytail.
The four of them stood tall, looking at Elton.
"The four of you took your teams into victory, and for that, you all deserve a reward, and as per the trial laws, you’ll all receive a revive totem and an attack totem."
As she said that, she showed her hands, and two items appeared, one in the shape of a golden cross and the other in the shape of a golden sword.
"The revive totem is an undroppable item. It activates on your death and brings you back to life once, wherever you are inside the God’s trial ground.
But the attack totem is a droppable item, which means if you die, you’ll leave it behind at the point where you died. The attack totem is a one use item containing divine energy and can unleash an attack with the strength of an angel’s full attack.
Both items are divine rewards, and you have earned them," she said, and immediately, both items appeared inside the inventory of all four of them.
When everyone heard the type of rewards they had gotten, frowns formed on their faces. Being able to revive from death and also attack with such power was simply insane. She was making them overpowered.
Elton saw the looks on their faces, and that was exactly what she wanted.