Lucian slowly opened his eyes, the white tall ceiling welcoming his vision as he slowly he sat up from his lying position. He felt headache pounding in his head as if if his brain has been overload but he ignored it as he looked around him.
He was now back at the halls where the statue were present. There was no difference to how it was before, except, one statue was now broken. It was the statue of the man he met before.
A monotone voice rang out in the next second
"Congratulations, you have now become a true Infernal Apprentice.
The rune of the Devil's Gate has been imprinted on you. You will be summoned into the Devil's Gate for the other trials after you're deemed strong enough."
A small rune in shape of a gate appeared in the air before drilling into Lucian's body.
"You will now be teleported away from the devil's gate.
A world and a pocket world is being calculated, where will you like to be teleported."
Two images suddenly appeared in front of Lucian as he stared at the image.
One of them was the forest which was where he and Mia tried to escaped, while the other was a world completely covered in snow which was the dark forest.
Lucian felt joy blooming in his heart, as this save him a lot of time from trying to get back from that snowy place.
His hand immediately reached for the forest as both images disappeared before the same black gate appeared in front of him.
Lucian took a deep breath as he slowly moved towards the Gate. The journey had been hard from the last time he had entered and he knew he had changed a lot. He had killed, had to become ruthless, scheming and some other changes he himself didn't know.
He slowly turned away his gaze from the statues present around the hall, especially at the broken remnants of the man's statue before entering into the Gate, his figure disappearing within.
The dark gate also disappeared after that plunging the hall in silence once again.
-- -- --
Stepping out from the dark gate, the refreshing air of the forest slammed against Lucian's face, as if hugging him back to the real world.
Lucian took an incredibly deep breath in, as a smile appeared on his face, it was probably the first time ever smiled so hard from breathing. The air at the trial always contain some kind of dirty and bloody stench in it, but this air was completely different. It was familiar and he somehow missed it.
Looking around the place, the tall trees with their wide spread branches, the golden rays from the sun piercing through the thick foliage and illuminating the place. The chirping of small birds around the place.
He was back at the forest. He was back home!
Lucian suddenly began walking, which soon turned into a jog before he became a blur in the forest.
His heart pounded in his chest as he moved with incredible speed through the forest.
Lucian himself was surprised at the speed at which he was moving, but although he was moving very fast, he didn't run into anything as he could already sense the tree before he even got close.
For the first time since, he felt free once again. No pressure, no burden. Any thoughts of anything was thrown away by him as he focused on just running, just feeling his heart powerfully beat in his chest.
He didn't know when he arrived outside the first as he saw the old inn once again.
Entering into the place, he saw the dead body of the old man which had his entire body sliced into two half's causing Lucian to clench his teeth hard as he remembered the events of that night.
He knew he was only alive now due to the card the Innkeeper gave him, but he himself couldn't escape death. The murderous look in his eyes slowly faded away as he buried it deep in his eyes were none would ever notice as he got prepared for work.
-- -- --
3 hours later
A young man stood in front of a tombstone as Lucian placed the rose in his hand on the tomb.
"I don't know who you are or where you're from. But you saved me and my sister's life. I'll forever be grateful for that. Thank you."
Lucian said as he stood up from his kneeling position.
Giving one last look at the tombstone which written on it was, "The Kind Innkeeper"he headed back into the Inn.
The room was just as he could remember it, none of his things were missing as all was just how he left it. He looked around the place which was very dusty showing all though the trial looked like it happened instantly, it was actually really a long time here.
His hands trailed on every structure in the room, reminiscing about the day as he unconsciously arrived before Mia's bed.
Looking at the place, Lucian's hand suddenly grabbed a long white hair which was on the bed as he tightly held it in his hand.
"Don't worry Mia, I won't make you wait too long. As for those who tried to assassinate us, I'll make them burn." Lucian whispered as he grabbed ahold of a small ring which belonged to Mia on the side of the bed and gently wove the white hair around it before placing it on his neck.
His eyes focused back as a murderous glint flashed in his eyes. He might have doubted who could want to assassinate him before but now he was 90% sure it was the BurningBlue clan. But if he head back into clan right now, then he'll probably be killed before he could even raise a hand.
His revenge will come but not now, now was the time to identify his goals and set up plans for his cultivation.
He immediately sat down on the floor as he concentrated hard on his head when suddenly a dark coloured book appeared on Lucian's hand.
Lucian stared at the book as he looked at the front page which written on it was:
Hegemonic Asura Physique Cultivation Technique.