"Congratulations on passing Stage 15 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 16."
Mira heard this and was immediately transported to another location. Taking a look around, she noticed that the world she was thrown into was like a large grassland. Bright green grass, the occasional tree, some ponds, rivers, and caves. Just from the location, Mira wasn't able to even guess what stage this will be.
"Welcome to Stage 16. This is the Endless Battlefield Stage. In this stage, you will be faced with countless enemies for 1 year. To proceed to the next stage, survive for the next year. Begin!" The mechanical voice said and Mira felt like she misheard what it said.
"A year?! Isn't that a bit much even for this trial? I've probably only been in the trial for close to a year in the past 15 stages. I guess I can figure what this stage is trying to test though. I've gotten incomparably stronger since before I started the trial. This is probably something similar to a final test of strength, skills, and survivability during wartime. But if that's the case then what are the next 4 stages going to be?" Mira thought to herself as even she thought this was a bit too much. But if people can pass the previous stages, then they have to have at least some skill and resolve.
Mira soon saw an insane amount of beasts and shadow people. They seemed to be between Low-Stage Rank 1 to Low-Stage Rank 2. Or for the shadows, Strength Training Stage to Stage 1 Qi Condensation. It wasn't that they were that difficult individually, but killing all of them while conserving stamina for the next wave may prove difficult. There were thousands of them rushing towards her.
"I guess they are trying to simulate a true war. Send the cannon fodder first. Nobody sends out their strongest fighter first in a war. This must be what the rations in that ring were for. Ugh. I feel like this is going to be a very long year. I can only hope that the stronger enemies don't come in waves like this later on." Mira hoped as she ran off to try and create several hidden areas to rest. She wouldn't get a better chance. These beasts will never be able to reach her with her current speed.
She went around the area and mapped any hidden caves, tall trees to rest in, dig some holes in the ground to rest in, and tried to find any ponds that she could hide in as well.
After running around for a while, she finally finished creating hiding spots and charged towards the group of 'ants'.
Mira slaughtered them like chickens going to the chopping block. All she did was run at them with her normal scythe. She didn't even need to make it a double-bladed scythe to deal with these guys. Plus, she wanted to conserve her energy for later.
There was one thing that Mira noticed though. These enemies turned into Qi when they were killed and rushed into her meridians. Mira circulated her cultivation technique to condense the larger amount of Qi in her meridians. Killing these enemies was the same thing as cultivating with the only difference being that she doesn't actually have to do anything to gather the energy. All she has to do is circulate what is going into her meridians and condense it. Mira barely has to try to do this.
"This is convenient. I don't know the exact amount of time I've been in the trials, but it should be around a year. I have lost an entire year's worth of cultivating. I don't know what realm I would currently be at if I had spent the past year cultivating instead of doing the trial, but I certainly wouldn't be at Stage 2 Qi Condensation still. It was still worth it to spend the last year doing the trial though. I believe that the benefits that this trial has given me so far, drastically outweigh the loss of cultivating for a year… I wonder what stage I will be at by the end of this year." Mira released a faint smile as she was glad that she could fight and cultivate at the same time! Doing it this way also creates a stable foundation much quicker! That means that she advance quicker due to the constant battles! Her body is also crazy strong and can hold much more Qi in it now. She shouldn't have a problem progressing through multiple stages, maybe even getting to the later Stages of Qi Condensation!
Mira fought waves and waves of enemies throughout the next year. The enemies got progressively stronger with each wave. Well, they ended up being less like waves of enemies and more like a constant stream of them. There was never a moment when an enemy wasn't on the battlefield. Mira would use her hiding spots that she mapped out beforehand to break through to the next stage. It also got to the point that the only enemies that were coming out were Peak-Stage Rank 2 and Low-Stage Rank 3 magical beasts or Stage 5 and 6 Qi Condensation for the shadows. When she hit this point, she didn't know if the power of the enemies would rise again, as the stronger they were the more Qi they turned into. Mira never had a fight that resulted in major injuries or anything life-threatening, but she did receive countless cuts and gashes on her body, along with more than a couple of stab wounds.
Actually, there wasn't a day that went by that Mira wasn't covered in blood, fresh or dried. Her wounds would close up, but washing herself was close to impossible especially the longer this went on.
The last day of the year came and Mira had just finished off a beast that seemed similar to a final boss. She then heard similar words from a familiar voice.
"Congratulations on passing Stage 16 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 17."
***
"Congratulations on passing Stage 15 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 16."
Maria was thrown into a similar grassy plain. Maria looked around and was happily surprised by the location. All of the other places before this were like a hell world that was constantly trying to kill her, but this one was refreshing. Too refreshing… Something's fishy.
"Welcome to Stage 16. This is the Endless Battlefield Stage. In this stage, you will be faced with countless enemies for 1 year. To proceed to the next stage, survive for the next year. Begin!" The mechanical voice informed her that this was not going to be refreshing and was more like an endless hell rather than different types of hell.
"I see! Endless battle for a year! And in a location that looks like heaven compared to the rest of this trial!! Just what I wanted! There is no better place to be for a war maiden, such as myself! Who needs things like sleep or doing something relaxing? Those things are only for people that enjoy life and don't want to constantly be on the verge of life and death!! AHH!! Dammit! I just wanna go shopping and go to food stalls right now! I even have to spend a whole year in this stage?! It's probably only been a year since we started this trial! Mother! Father! I'm sorry! Hopefully, they aren't worrying over me too much, but they will have to wait a little longer before we see each other. Hopefully, they are okay!" Maria said sarcastically before she started to miss her parents.
After her rant, Maria started to see beasts and shadows. Lots of beasts and shadows. They were all weak to the current Maria, but still. Seeing thousands of enemies at once is nerve-wracking for anyone that hasn't experienced something like this before.
Maria gulped and prepared her sword. She didn't really want to fight right now, but seeing thousands of enemies storming in front of her clogged her mind just a bit. Through the constant battle from the trial and being around Mira, Maria just instinctively gripped her sword and then charged at the wave of enemies. The constant battles have definitely tempered her so much so that seeing enemies run at her like this only makes her want to run into the horde and kill them all. There was also no reason to fear these weak little ants.
The beasts and shadows that were in this wave were at the same realms of power as they were for Mira. And like Mira, Maria slaughtered these foes without even thinking too much about it.
The dead enemies started to disappear and turn into Qi then rushed into Maria's meridians.
"Eh? Killing enemies will actually cultivate for me? And all I have to do is circulate my cultivation technique to condense the Qi that enters my body? Finally, a stage that doesn't have benefits that cause waves of pain!! I may have to take back some of my opinions regarding this stage. Sorry Mom and Dad, but I do have to take priority over completing this stage rather than seeing you sooner. Hehe." Maria started to think a bit differently about this stage. Having a stronger body is cool and all, but the whole point of a cultivator is to cultivate. Right? Maria was sick of tempering her body as it's painful and the benefits from it are hard to see unless you fight someone at the same realm of power as you or higher.
Maria continued to slaughter her enemies, but the first trouble she ran into was actually not an enemy. It was that she had nowhere to break through to the next stage peacefully. It might not take that long for someone in the Qi Condensation Realm, but it still requires focus to breakthrough. Doing it in the middle of battle is generally not the smartest decision unless it's absolutely necessary. It was also getting harder to outrun the enemies that were swarming.
Maria just ended up dropping a large portion of rations somewhere, killed any stragglers, and created a deep hole inside a cave to breakthrough in. This would be her place to rest and breakthrough for the rest of the year.
Maria realized how naive she was. It became a huge pain in the ass to get to that spot whenever she needed to and sometimes a beast would be in there as well. The power of her enemies was also constantly increasing, so making new spots would take too long, and using that original spot of her was annoying as there was always something in that cave that she needed to kill first. Maria just got to the point where she would go near the cave when she was close to needing it and kill all of the enemies in and around it. She would do this until she needed a place to rest or breakthrough. When that time came, she would use a lot of her power to kill everything around the cave then rush back and immediately utilize it. Once she was done, she would go out and start slaughtering enemies then just repeat this process again.
Maria tried to fight as much as she possibly could to get the maximum benefit from this stage. Her process of killing and breaking through the realms of power wasn't as efficient as Mira and over the course of a year of endless battle, this makes a difference. Maria stopped keeping track of the realms of power of her enemies as they kept getting stronger and all she needed to do was battle. If she couldn't win, then she would run and try again later.
Maria also changed or washed her clothes during this year as well. She would often run through streams or take a quick swim in a pond when she got all bloody. It was these little actions that would feel like heaven to her in this stage.
She eventually killed the last beast in the area and heard the mechanical voice speak out again.
"Congratulations on passing Stage 16 of the Trial. Please proceed to start Stage 17."
***
While Mira and Maria were fighting an endless battle, a couple of people in the Zaria house were getting a little uneasy.
"How long has it been since Maria left with Mira to explore the forest? 2 years? Maybe more? I thought this would be a short journey. Something like a few months to a year at most! What if something bad has happened?! Maria is still young! She could only now be considered a young woman! We both know that Maria isn't the smartest person on her own? What if she and Mira got separated? I want to trust that Mira will take care of her and will make the correct decisions, but part of me finds it hard to trust that girl. Ahh! I just want to see her again." Erika, Maria's mother kept asking her husband, Cole as she worried for her daughter.
"I also didn't expect this journey to be this long. There is only so much to do in the forest. They have either gotten lucky and were fully utilizing whatever it is they found or are in trouble. At the same time, Maria hasn't used the talisman I gave her that is used to contact me if she is ever in danger. Regarding Mira, she seems like a very reliable person that can make smart decisions in the heat of the moment and she also seems to get along well with Maria. Even if I don't trust her to take care of Maria, I trust that she wouldn't do anything that will put herself in danger. You should know Mira's personality decently well too. She did spend a year here. She puts all of her effort into whatever she does, even when she was helping to train Maria. I don't believe that she would just kill off Maria as training her would've been a huge waste of time if she was only going to play as bait. I think she wants Maria to grow as much as her, if not more on this journey. I only hope that Maria doesn't come back broken…" Cole comforted his wife.
"That's true. I can't say that Mira is a good girl, but I do think she cares for Maria. I suppose that we have to let Maria experience the world at some point. I can only hope that Mira doesn't break Maria's mind or body, but knowing her she might just beat Maria until she doesn't have time to think about being broken. I just hope she is safe!" Erika looked in the distance as the two stood there in silence.
When Erika said this, Maria was currently hiding in a tiny hole in the ground in order to get some sleep and eat some of her rations. Magical beasts were constantly running around above her as well. She could not exactly describe this situation as safe.
***