At the break of dawn, Rakna made his way to the restaurant from two days prior. When he entered, he was greeted by Evelyn sitting at a table.
"Good morning," she said with a smile and he sat down next to her.
"Good morning. You are the first here?"
"Yes. Since I technically don't need to sleep in the first place, it's hard for me to be late. The girls should be arriving soon since when I left the room we shared, they were waking up," she replied with a chuckle and proceeded to unwrap Sonata from around her neck. "Here; you said you were getting it back, right?"
Rakna nodded and grabbed it. He sensed the comfortable pulse of Eion energy going through its fibers and put it on with a sigh.
"I have to admit, it feels good to finally wear it again," he said and pulled out a winged spear from his storage. "This is the spear I promised. It's made of peak-grade steel and after hammering it for more than four hours straight with my mana, I managed to make it reach 160 in attack value."
Evelyn admired the spear with an opened mouth and he continued, "I also carved runes into it. It will allow you to call it back to your position whenever you want and when you throw it, you can activate a perk that will duplicate it. Though, the copies will be temporary and fragile. Other than that, it's rather tough against both normal attacks and magical ones. How is it?"
"You… made this?" She asked dazedly.
"Yes."
"And… you started learning about four days ago?"
"Pretty much."
The succubus was speechless. She had obviously taken a look at the description of the spear and it was exactly as he had explained to her. She recovered from her shock and shook her head, "It's a very good spear, thank you. It's a bit cold but it's fine."
"Ah, yes. It's because of my element. I can't help it. Though, the shaft isn't affected much compared to the blade. With a bit of luck, you might even be able to surprise your enemies with it. The feeling of something cold can make you jump up very easily, after all."
"I understand," she nodded and stored the weapon inside a low-tier spatial ring.
At the same time, the entrance's chime sounded and Flavia and Nyx walked in. Pronos jumped off from the former's shoulder while Tyran ran under their legs to get to Rakna. The little snake found his spot under Sonata with a grin and the small T. Rex jumped on his master's head, in between his wolf ears.
Flavia giggled. "They prefer you, after all."
Rakna grunted as he picked up Tyran from the neck and put him on his shoulder. "Stay here. You are nowhere near close to being light enough to be using my head as a bed," he deadpanned and the undead replied with a small assenting cry.
"Anyhow, Flavia, I already gave Evelyn hers; this is for you," he uttered and a large machete-like sword appeared in his hand. Once again, he grabbed it by the blade and extended the handle to the former teacher as if it wasn't any heavier than a feather.
"Thank you," she smiled and this time didn't make the mistake to apply an anti-gravity spell on it before trying to wield it.
"Just like Evelyn's, it's made of peak-grade steel. However, unlike hers, I carved a triple rune on it that can only do one thing; explode. You can call it a sort of buster. By activating the runes, your swing will be boosted in three different ways; speed, sharpness, and size. It will essentially expand when you swing it, get faster and sharper, and deal a maximum of damage in one strike. I believe this is the style you were looking for so I figured I would make an enchantment for it."
"Wow…" Just like Evelyn, Flavia was overwhelmed by the weapon.
"Where did you learn how to use runes?" Nyx asked.
"Higure taught me. She knows her stuff pretty well."
"{Obviously,}" the lioness boasted from his soul realm.
"By the way, where's Allan?"
Flavia shrugged. "I don't know. He probably overslept again."
"Really now?" A voice sounded as the door opened and the blond in question walked in with a yawn. "Badmouthing me first thing in the morning? That's mean."
"Well, it would be badmouthing if you could actually deny those accusations," Flavia retorted and stored the sword.
Allan sighed helplessly. "I swear you guys… whatever. So, Rak, you're ready to come with us?"
"Yes. But breakfast comes first right now. The satiety from the Drake's heart has finally faded away for good and my hunger has returned," Rakna responded while scrolling through the menu.
"…the satiety of what now?"
"It was a delicious meal," he continued coolly.
"Huh?"
"Sadly, I'm not a fan of frozen food."
"Seriously, what the hell are you talking about?!" Allan shouted and ultimately received no answer.
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"So, this is it, huh?" Rakna muttered as he looked at the massive glowing tree in front of him. After eating their breakfast, they had promptly left for the Fifth Plateau for him to go through the Trial.
"Yep. Just get close to it and the System will tell you what to do," Allan said and he nodded.
He jumped over the lake of mud that surrounded the tree and landed close to it on one of the many large roots that stuck out from the ground. A prompt appeared right after.
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You have reached a Trial Zone.
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Trial of the Fifth Plateau
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The tree in front of you is a magically reinforced plant with both a strong physical and magical resistance. It is a meter wide and forty meters tall.
Conditions to Pass: Cut down the tree within a minute after the signal. You are allowed to use everything in your arsenal to do so, whether it's skills, magic, or items.
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"Hm, I see. It's simple and straightforward. I like it," Rakna commented and patiently waited as a small countdown began to echo in his head.
"This'll be fun," Allan said from a distance.
"What do you mean?" Evelyn asked with a tilt of her head.
"I'm curious to see how Rak will do this. We all did it differently. Nyx used her shadow constructs to tear the trunk apart, Flavia cast her wood magic and made the tree deracinate itself, I opened a wormhole inside of it to remove a part of it before punching it, and you simply burned it down."
"True. I'm also interested to see how he will do it," Nyx added. "I've seen how destructive he can be with his magic while he was berserk. If he used one of those spells, he could easily pass."
"I guess we'll just have to see…" Allan stopped mid-sentence and blinked. "What is he doing?"
Rakna extended his hand toward the tree and pressured on his thumb with his middle finger. His pupils turned into crosses and he let the force he had built up in his finger go free. The second it hit the trunk, a loud crack was heard and the tree began to topple over.
Allan gawked as the large tree fell to the ground. "…did he just fucking flick that tree?!"
"I… think?" Evelyn was also confused.
"Focal point…" Nyx muttered and Flavia looked at her.
"Focal point? Is that what he used?"
"I believe so. He mentioned something of the sort when he explained to Tairen how had managed to get through his defense. If I had to guess, I would say it's something like a weak point that he is able to exploit."
Rakna's ears twitched and he snorted to himself as he heard them. 'Once again, she's hitting the nail right on the head,' he thought and the System notification popped up.
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Fifth Plateau: Resource Trial Completed!
You have gained the right to leave the Fifth Plateau.
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Do you wish to exercise it now? You have 26 158 hours to make your decision.
Yes/No
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Host's strength has been evaluated. You've met the minimum conditions for several other Plateaus. A skipping right has been granted. Please select:
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- Sixth Plateau
- Seventh Plateau
- Eight Plateau
- Ninth Plateau
- Tenth Plateau
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Before selecting his destination, he glanced at Evelyn and mused. 'Alexa, can I bring people along when I'm transported to a new Plateau?'
[It depends. There are specific rules in place. Shortly said, however, when it concerns new Plateaus, you cannot bring with you people that have already gone to the Plateau you're getting transported to. The only beings that may accompany you are ones that are bound to you. Pronos and Tyran fall into that category. By extension, as long as you have Sonata on you, Evelyn, who is bound to it, will be able to come with you as well but she has to have passed the Trial before it.]
'That might be a bit problematic… There's always the risk that we would get separated from each other and I can't just continue giving her Sonata whenever that happens…'
[You do not need to worry too much, Rakna. While it is true that Phantoms cannot exist without a medium, they can survive on their own for a certain amount of time. For now, I would say that Evelyn can act autonomously for about two to three hours. This duration will increase as she becomes stronger in the future.]
'All right,' Rakna responded and turned toward the group. "Evelyn, you're coming with me for the transfer then we'll all regroup on the Tenth Plateau."
"No problem," Allan nodded. "The System tells us the direction in which a friend is if we're on the same Plateau so we should be able to meet up quite fast."
"In that case, Evelyn, you're ready?"
The succubus nodded and flew to him as the other watched. Rakna then selected the Tenth Plateau on the system window and a new one replaced it.
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The selection has been confirmed.
Rakna Xiorra, Pronos, Tyrannos Mors, and Evelyn J. Malcanthet will now be transferred to the Tenth Plateau, The Golden Sea.
You will be automatically dropped at a random location in thirty seconds.
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Brace yourself for the spatial transfer.
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'Golden Sea, huh? What kind of place is that?'
Higure groaned. "{I hate that place.}"
'Hm? Why? Is it dangerous?'
"{No, nothing of the sort. The environment is just the complete opposite of what a Dusk Lion would like to dwell in. I visited that Plateau once and never returned.}"
'Why do you sound so ominous...?'
"Oh! Rak, you probably don't need me to tell you, but be careful of the worms!" Allan shouted a few seconds before the transfer was initiated.
"The what?" Rakna could only utter before he disappeared in a flash of light.
"Ah! Payback!" The blond fist-bumped and the girls shook their head.
"Let's go back to Black Steel. We need to go through the Pavilion to switch Plateaus," Flavia said as she walked away.
"Ah, right. I forgot about that. Maybe we should have let Rak go the Trial alone with Evelyn. We could already be on the Tenth by now," Allan remarked as he followed them.
"Well, I'm sure Rakna will do well on his own until we arrive," Nyx said.
Allan snickered. "You're sure about that? You already forgot what happened when he entered the Fifth? I wouldn't put it past him to stir up something again."
"…let's hurry up," Flavia said and flew off with Nyx while taking Allan along with her telekinesis.
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The first word Rakna thought of when the teleportation ended was: hot. A wave of heat overcame him in an instant and almost made him sweat within seconds if he hadn't mustered his aura.
"Uh…" He raised an eyebrow at the landscape. Glittery dunes of sand as far as the eye could see reflected the light of the glaring sun into an entrancing golden hue. He looked up and scrunched his eyebrows at how bright it was. All in all, it was a desert. One that seemed to have been made out of gold powder instead of actual sand.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Evelyn said beaming. "It's a nice contrast to the lower Plateaus."
"I agree but… where are we?"
"…I don't know."
"…"