"Man, look at this luxury! Imagine living in a palace like this every day," Arthur exclaimed as the three walked through the wide corridors of the palace. So far, they hadn't encountered any monsters, traps, or anything unusual, just clean, empty hallways.
"Living in a palace like this won't make you rich. In the end, you'll still be poor, man. I bet a single brick from this palace, if sold, would cover your food and drink expenses since the day you were born, and there might even be some money left over, who knows," Damian retorted, crushing Arthur's dreams.
While the two bickered as usual, Aurora wasn't particularly interested in the palace. Where she came from, she lived in places many times larger than this. She was more curious about the duo's background, wondering why she hadn't separated from them after entering the palace instead of just walking along. From their conversation, it seems these two aren't from a powerful family. It was hard to tell for sure because she came from a very powerful family and had broken through to the Advanced stage a few days ago, not to mention these two whose backgrounds she knew nothing about.
The three continued walking until they reached a large circular hall. As soon as they entered, the corridor they came from closed off with a mana barrier. Then the three heard an automated voice echoing in the hall: "The trial begins."
Immediately, the three adopted a combat stance, ready for whatever was coming.
"Whoosh!" Three spatial gates appeared in the center of the hall, and numerous hordes of monsters began pouring out of them. Damian drew his katana, Arthur his spear, while Aurora seemingly pulled a scythe from nowhere, indicating she possessed a storage skill or something similar.
Damian created a Dark Flame merged with Fire Flame and Wind Flame, then shaped it into a car-sized ball of fire and threw it towards the monsters. Meanwhile, Arthur inscribed numerous runes in the air, from which various attacks launched, such as Earth Spears, Wind Blades, Water Blasts, and Fireballs. Aurora, on the other hand, sent a strange wave towards the monsters that affected their mental state. Some began attacking their fellow monsters, some had empty eyes and stopped moving, and others moved in random directions, obstructing the movement of other monsters.
The three didn't just watch. Aurora drew her scythe and advanced forward, while the duo didn't use their weapons, as they were useless against these monsters. But that didn't stop them at all, as they had many tricks up their sleeves. The three charged towards the monsters, creating a massacre in their path. Damian not only used his bloodline but also the skills he had purchased from the Primeval Shop in the previous days, such as [Acceleration], which increased his speed, and [Iron Hand] and [Mana Shield]. He also formed his bloodline flames into spears and launched them, and sometimes formed a sword of flame and fought with it. Damian was getting used to shaping his bloodline flames into different forms over time, but it wasn't that easy, so there was still much to learn about his bloodline flames.
The battle continued for an hour, during which hundreds of monsters were killed. The three noticed a decrease in the number of monsters emerging from the spatial gates, and after about another half hour, no more monsters came from the gates. In the center of the circular hall lay hundreds of corpses of various Advanced-stage monsters, and amidst these corpses, the three were breathing heavily. This trial forced the three to use everything they had.
Suddenly, the monster corpses began to dissolve into mana particles. The hall became filled with mana particles, which then rushed into the bodies of the trio. "Whoosh!" The three broke through many levels until they reached Level 9 of the Advanced stage.
Then, three weapons suddenly appeared in the air, each floating towards its future owner. Damian saw a katana floating in the air before him, with a white hilt and a transparent, glass-like blade. The moment Damian touched the katana, he felt a bond forming between him and the katana. After that bond formed, he felt information transferring to his mind. The katana in his hand was a life weapon; it evolved with its wielder's development. The katana was highly compatible with Damian's abilities, especially his bloodline.
"I can feel the sword's consciousness."
Damian looked around and saw that Arthur had a black spear with golden engravings, while Aurora received a scythe that matched her hair and eye color.
"Whoosh!" A spatial gate opened in the middle of the hall. The three looked at the gate, then Arthur said, "Is this the exit gate from this world, or from the palace?" Damian replied, "We won't know without entering. Let's go." Then Damian entered the gate, followed by Arthur and Aurora.