Awesome chapter incoming~ Why? Cause I really enjoyed writing it~ Well I hope you guys feel the same without further ado here you go~
Until next time Ciao cubs~
“…What is this place?”
As Hydra spoke out, two messages appeared in front of him. However, the second message was a different message than he had ever seen before and the colour was also different and this time it was Orange!
Ding!
You are the first to Discover the Sacred land, [Trials of Aspa]! +500 Fame! +5 to luck! You have entered an ancient existence. One of power, one of wisdom, a greatness that not even the gods can look down upon. However such an existence is tranquil, elegant, and remains neutral to all worldly issues other than pertaining to its kin. The [White Winged Tree] is one of the few existences that are as old as the world itself. Only these unknown entities know the truths of this world.Ding!
Welcome to the [Trials Of Aspa]. I, Aspa, the [White Winged Tree] declare that any who shall pass a trial set by me will be awarded depending on the difficulty of the trial they pass! While this is a trial set for my kin as a way to reward them and protect their line, I am not one to decline any other race and I shall test everyone equally! Allow yourself to climb young ones. Test your agility, your strength, your heart. Only then will you be able to acquire the rewards in which you seek! This is what I, Aspa, declare that not even the gods may change, for I am the god of my own world!“This Tree means business.”
As Hydra was now holding onto Pan in a cutesy manner, who starred with his head cocked back looking with him with his dark pearly eyes. After breaking eye contact with Pan, he stated at the doors behind him that had already closed, he stared at the view in front of him. What he expected to see was the inside of the trunk, or at the very least a carved out pathway for him to walk up on. Instead what was ahead of Hydra was a forest! Not just any forest either, it was a forest made up of branches sticking out from the inside of the tree, and instead of a pathway were a set up branches that looked like spilt up stairways. On these branches were leaves, these leaves were much like the ones Hydra had seen all the Elves used as armor! Now he finally realized that he Elves would climb these stairs to see how far they could reach before having to retreat downwards again.
When he eyes followed the pathway he realized that a ceiling where the branches led into a separate floor! Hydra could only ponder to himself.
‘Do the floors represent which colour of leaves one is able to acquire?’
Although the leaves would change with floors, on that floor there were no differences between the leaves and neither was there any size difference. Thus Hydra could imagine that it meant regardless if you climbed to the last branch without passing the next floor the colour would remain the same!
“Okay Pan… Ready?”
“Aroo!”
With the confirmation of Pan, Hydra set out climbing the branches. A task like this was no easy feat but at the same time Hydra after training under the Old man he was able to utilize his body to the limits. During this time he had no real reason to use [Shadow Walk] although if he needed to it would be no problem to utilize that as a cheating method! The best part about utilising it was when out of combat [Mana] and [Health] would recover at a constant rate! Of course the rate wasn’t anything ridiculous and depended on the character however it was still enough that one would recover all their stats within an hour.
As Hydra had already been told that the [Coming Of Age Ceremony] would not end until one gave up, time was not of importance! Thus he could use all the time he wanted. In the case of Irina’s ceremony it didn’t require for it to be the time of the year as the moment she was ready she could walk in and the [White Winged Tree] would acknowledge her presence. This was something only the direct bloodline could do and this was part of the reason they wait for Hydra to take his time. After all succeeding was the most important part, and time to the elves meant nothing more than a leaf in a forest.
It took awhile, but no more than 30 minutes for Hydra to climb the branches to the first trial. After poking his head out cautiously, he remembered that he once before, maybe in fact many times before rushed nearly to his death by not carefully looking over things. But instead of a hidden attack or a monster for that matter, what stood in front of him was a tree! A tree on top of the white wooden floor of the [White Winged Tree]. The difference was this was a regular looking tree similar to the ones in the [Forest of Origins]. When Hydra finally stepped onto the platform he let down Pan to walk himself, as another orange message appeared in front of him.
Ding!
First trial: [Trial of Agility] Rules: 5 seconds after clicking start on the tree numerous petals will fall from the tree. The pass condition is not allowing a single petal to touch the ground. Start!“Well it seems simple enough. Pan stay here and don’t move around too much okay?”
“Aro!”
As Hydra nodded towards Pan, he clicked the start button on the window. Just then he counted from 5 within his head.
5….4….3….2…
‘Let’s do this!’
1…0!
Just as Hydra reached zero within his mind, the giant tree suddenly shuddered as the petals of the fell. However the moment Hydra saw the number of petals fall, he was immediately dumbfounded!
‘Thousands?!’
He couldn’t believe there were so many and without hesitation as the distance from the floor and the top was already only so much he called out his skills left and right!
“[Shadow Walk]!”
He scaled the shadow that appeared underneath his feet, the most important part was instead of making a pathway with it, he utilized it simply by taking steps on the air. Hydra had already been practicing his new abilities ever since he got them and thus it was not surprised after getting used to the feeling of [Shadow Walk] that he would use it efficiently like this!
Thus with both hands Hydra caught the leaves and the enter 1 meter area he was around was void of any leaves! However in the storm of falling petals it was nothing! The entire tree itself was already 5 meters thick and the overhang alone was over 50! Thus in a matter of seconds he managed to clear 1/50th! this was by no means a lot as the distance between the ground and him was just barely over 30 meters! If this was the Hydra before he would have immediately failed this mission as he would not be able to utilize his abilities to effectively gather them all.
Buy now? Hydra wasn’t 100% certain however his face was still showed his confidence as he raised his left arm and yelled out!
“[Shadow Arm]!”
Woosh!
The arm extended out 20 meters! Grabbing all the leaves in that it came in contact with. All the while Hydra was already moving along as if dancing in the sky grabbing the leaves. To Pan it could only see his master flying through the sky elegantly catching the leaves left and right
After a few seconds, expending his mana without hesitation to run across the air to reach the leaves, it was when Hydra had cleared half the leaves that he suddenly noticed a problem!
‘Some are falling faster than others!’
He screamed within his heart and he realized that a few of the leaves were already only a few feet from the floor! With a face full of worry Hydra couldn’t help but regret that he failed to notice such a crucial part of the trial! Of course not all leaves were identical and it was only natural for some to fall faster than others! Thus bigger leaves might fall slower than smaller ones!
Hydra created a small black spot behind him just above his head. Then he jumped forward as he started to let himself fall with gravity but just at the last second his legs exploded outwards onto that black spot and launched himself to the ground!
His speed at this moment was no joke and while it was clearly not as fast as an arrow anyone noticing Hydra was think of him as crazy to launch himself to the ground like this! But on Hydra’s mind was only one thing!
“I promised not to lose! I refuse to be someone who can’t even keep his promises!”
He roared as the he saw a few leaves nearly touching the ground, his hands extended outwards as if grabbing his own life! Hydra within moments grabbed the leaves, but the moment he did he had no chance to recover his position and rammed straight into the ground, sliding on the hard floor he was unable to stop the numbing feeling that covered his body.
“Urgh!”
He groaned as his body clearly felt it was no longer his, but with determination from built within his soul, he raised his body and called out towards the last few remaining leaves! But it was at this moment that he realized they were too spread out for his [Shadow Arm] to grab them all! It was clearly too late to chase after them. It looked like all hope was lost, and that Hydra would fail his attempt at the first trial! However there were two things that Hydra didn’t realize about the trials. First of all the trials could be taken as many times as they user wished! So long as they had the determination to keep fighting Aspa would allow them to test themselves! It was an important factor for honing their abilities! Although a trial it was something to increase their abilities otherwise how else would the Elves be so strong?!
The second was that although Aspa had claimed that all would be tested equally, Aspa was no longer its normal self and was infected! Thus all the tests were significantly harder! Otherwise how would be it possible for Hydra to fail the very first test!? It was just then, that when all hope had ceased to exist, that shimmer of hope flashed within Hydra’s heart. He was staring with all the entire concentration on the leaves, and only because he was staring so deeply at them as if to grab them with his mind that he noticed the shadows that existed underneath them! At this Hydra could only roar out his very last attempt at passing the test!
“[Shadow Piercing]!”
-Zing!
Just then multiple tiny blades erupted from the shadows the leaves! They pierced the leaves, and because the leaves had no armour qualities to them they hung there in the air as the HYdra rushed to grab them before the shadow disappeared!
—————–
Ding!
Congrats! You have passed the First Trial.“Phew!”
“Arooo!”
After a few more moments of collecting the last remaining leaves that were even though just under half were all high enough for Hydra to breath calmly while he grabbed them. The remainder of the test was no problem and just when he finished a message appeared proving his success. He breathed out a sigh of relief and Pan, as if to congratulate him cried out happily as he rushed to his master’s side nudging at his leg.
“Well Pan. Shall we go?”
“AROO!”
“Haha! Let’s do this!”
Hydar then picked up Pan and started to make his way to the new branches that appeared. The only difference was these leaves were clearly a darker green than before much like the ones the escorts that Hydra had come here with.