Mizar got down on the Colosseum. Sulong, The man who dropped him here before came to pick him up. Previous;y, Mizar didn't want to reveal much about himself, so he let the man carry him to the Colosseum, but now that it was revealed, he declined the man and flew on his own.
The Man's attitude also seemed different. Previously, he wasn't willing to carry Mizar, but due to the Old Man's order, he had to do it. So he caught him by his arm and carried Mizar all the way to the Colosseum, which was few tens of kilometres away from the Main Area.
Before, to him, Mizar was nothing but a lucky brat who managed to get Death Body and Black Thorn Token. He was very salty and jealous of Mizar, despite working for nearly two decades, he had only managed to get one thorn grey token, and this brat on his first day was able to get three thorn black token. Once the colour of the token was upgraded, it becomes ten times harder to add thorns to it, and a hundred times harder to upgrade the token.
But after seeing Mizar fight such a tough opponent, and even manage to hurt it and come out alive, the disdain towards Mizar in his heart was gone, replaced by reverence. He understood that Mizar deserved the Black Token, and he was ready to fight anyone that disagreed.
He felt a bit bitter in his heart as he realized that he shouldn't have looked down upon Mizar. He followed behind Mizar with an ashen face.
Mizar didn't go inside the Hallway again, he instead went back to where they came from. Inside his head, he thought that he had failed the test. He didn't know that he didn't even get to participate in the test. The Vine already killed most of the beasts inside the Hallway.
Inside he thought that he should've rejected the test in the first place.
'I wish I had known the content of the test beforehand. If I had, I wouldn't be in such a situation right now. I could've cleared the test. Or maybe not, how could I defeat such a thing. Only due to the sacrifice of my Summons did I manage to hurt it a little. From now on, I have to be careful about what I do. How could I forget the Valley incident? I should be careful from now on. I have to remember that my actions could create severe consequences. Maybe I am a jinx, everyone I am associated with always dies. The Rung Clan, the spirit inside the Valley, the Summons, all died.'
'Hahaha... What am I thinking? My only focus is to become an Immortal Mage. Then I can bring anyone back with my powers.'
This was Mizar's weakness. He couldn't embrace his feelings. He always suppressed them within him. Ever since the death of his father, his only goal was to become powerful, grow, become an Immortal Mage, and bring his father back to life. He once read in a book; Immortal Mages could do anything they wanted. Fly in the sky using nothing, reverse the flow of time, control life and death, anything they could think of.
In his life, he didn't have many people that cared for him. His father was the only one who cared for him, and he died. His mother married the killer of his father and didn't care for him at all. His mother had an affair with another man, and together they made a plan to kill him. Mizar was spared because he was too weak to pose any threat to him.
They then, alongside all other enemies of Mizar's father got together to kill him. Mizar didn't know at first, but after he investigated for some time, he found out that his mother had a big hand in all of that. After knowing that, he felt betrayed. At first, he believed in his mother. He thought that the Man forced his Mother to marry him. His mother never came out or met him, leading him to believe his thought.
After he found out the fact, he didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to react, so he did what he thought was right. He suppressed his feeling deep down within him, believing the book, resolved to make it all right. When he occasionally saw his Mother walking with the Man, holding hands, kissing, he felt a crack inside his heart, but he suppressed it and smiled as nothing had happened.
When their child was born, the whole Clan celebrated the arrival of the young master of the clan, his heart cracked again, but he still celebrated with others. He simply thought to himself,
'It will be better after I become an Immortal Mage.'
Even though he suppressed his feelings and lived on, clutching small opportunities to get stronger. He had one more thing that he had promised his deceased father to do. That was avenging him. He couldn't get himself to kill his mother, so he slowly devised a plan to kill the Man.
But before he could see the dead body of the Man, he died too, bringing him to this unfamiliar place but a familiar situation. A lonely, weak boy surrounded by cold peoples all around the Clan with no one to care for him. But this time, it looked like heaven gave him a chance, and that chance was the system.
Even though the system screwed him one time, he still needed it to aid him in future. All the achievements he got were from the grace of the system, so although he might scold or hate system at some time, ultimately it was his life changer. He viewed the System as his parent, even though they may scold you, embarrass you, they still help you. It helped him to realize that he needed to be prepared at all times.
He was flying while thinking all of this that he didn't realize he was already at his destination. He woke up from his inner world after hearing the noise of the crowd. He flew down and landed in front of the Old Man as he flicked the Black Token at him and said before the Old Man could say anything.
"I can't finish the test, so I don't need this. I will climb from the start."
Hearing this, the Old Man laughed as he said "Haha... It seems you have misunderstood. That wasn't the real test; there was an accident. One of the Vines that we were breeding managed to escape, and we didn't know it was hiding there. Most importantly, even I wouldn't be able to escape from the Vine once I was captured by it, and you did the impossible."
Saying that he applied some sort of spell at the token. The token started to grow another vine, and after one vine grew another one grew to make it a five thorn Black Token. He then threw the token back to Mizar and said.
"In addition to that, you will be given a reward as an apology for giving you such a dangerous test. The reward will later be delivered in your residence."
After that, he ordered one of his Man to show him his residence, but before the man could step forward, Sulong stepped in.
"Do not worry about him, Vice-Captain, he is like my brother. I will take him to his residence."
The Old Man looked towards Mizar, and Mizar nodded his head. He would rather go with someone he knew instead of someone unknown. After Mizar left, the crowd dispersed, and everyone went their own way.
...
"Shi shi shi shi... This is the new boy. Looks interesting, but why is his level so low." A half-naked man with 3 swords on his side said while eating grapes. Suddenly he threw the grapes and shouted.
"THATCH!! Why is there a sweet grape here? Don't you know I only like sour grapes?" Thatch was a servant assigned to this man. Trembling, Thach joined his hand, asking for forgiveness, but before he could finish pleading, the Man cut his neck.
"Hmph. You don't receive forgiveness after you've ruined my mood. I don't like sweet things, and you fed it to me. May your soul cross the river of the afterlife."
After he said that, he ate something in the air. Looking closely, you could see a faint image of Thatch.
"Shi Shi shi shi... Much better" the man said as he swallowed the soul of Thatch.