[Dimensional Market will be available soon!]
[The path will open in 30 minutes!]
[Don't leave the area of the past Trial if you want to enter the Dimensional Market!]
Once again, a mechanical voice sounded in everyone's mind. It was no longer a surprise to anyone and was something natural, an integral part of the new world.
Everyone had a half-hour break, which was a real relief. In a situation like this, even thirty minutes seemed like an incredible reward worth fighting for.
"Ethan... Are you okay?" Alisa asked with a worried look, running up to him.
Ethan didn't answer anything, he just glanced at her. His eyes filled with darkness, and he moved away.
However, as soon as he took a few steps, the egg inside him reached its limit. It could no longer wait for Ethan to remember one of his most important missions.
Crackle.
The egg began to spin, causing Ethan to bleed from the corners of his mouth. He didn't notice it right away, but soon enough he spat out a mouthful of blood, with his eyes wide open.
"What the hell...?" Ethan muttered in confusion, then a gray egg came out of his chest, making everything in front of his eyes blur.
Everyone who was still alive and able to pass the First Trial had an egg, however, as soon as they saw this one, their faces became astonished.
"What the hell...?" Magnus stared at the strange egg, baffled, "Why does this egg look so...?"
Maris tilted her head as she thought, 'Hmm... Gray and with creepy growths, it's completely different from mine.'
Then, a white egg appeared in Maris's hand, with various patterns, emitting a slightly pleasant light.
'Moreover... It looks like it's not an illusion and his wound is real. Why was his egg in his chest? Couldn't he have put it in his pocket?' Maris pondered, watching the white egg and then the gray one.
Gradually the gray egg was approaching Zariel's corpse.
"Wow, maybe we shouldn't be in such a hurry?"
A shadow fell on the body as a voice came from a young man with short black hair and a confident smirk on his face. Like Magnus and Ethan, he also had dark veins clearly visible on his muscular arms.
"I don't know why you can move on your own, but it doesn't matter. I'll have the core of this Angel for myself!" The young man grinned, confidently reaching out to Zariel's back.
Whoooooooooooooosh.
Without hesitation, the gray egg began to spin at tremendous speed, lunging straight at the young man. In a heartbeat, the young man's chest was torn into bloody shards until the gray egg ripped a hole through his body, tearing his heart apart.
"What...?" The young man barely said, looking at his trembling hand while blood poured out of his mouth in a stream. Then, everything in front of his eyes went black and he fell to the ground with a blank stare.
He would never wake up again.
The young man's card shone brightly, shattering into golden particles.
The gray egg did the same to Zariel's chest, revealing a small white sphere, several of which could easily fit in the average palm.
The egg shuddered slightly, absorbed the core through the gap, and rushed back to Ethan. His wound hadn't healed like last time, he was still bleeding, his body gradually getting colder.
Then, Ethan opened his eye, coming to his senses.
"Agh...? Where am I?" Ethan turned around, looking around. To his surprise, he was not in the main square of the academy, but amidst the vast darkness that stretched endlessly ahead.
The first thing Ethan thought was that he was having hallucinations, but he felt that everything around him was more than real, even though there was only emptiness.
Whooooooooooosh.
Suddenly, a bright flash flashed in the center of the darkness, then an unusual white sphere appeared in that place. Parts of its sides were missing, as if two perfect semicircles had been removed.
Obviously, Ethan had no idea what the thing was called or what its purpose was.
But, he didn't need to look for answers to that. At least this time.
[Angel Core has been absorbed!]
[Warp has been created!]
[Your ??? has been released by 20%!]
"???" Ethan pondered, then his gaze lowered to his chest. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the last message had said.
Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.
Suddenly, there were cracks in the white sphere or Warp. They didn't spread far, and they weren't going to destroy it, it was more like an exit.
Then, white water rushed out of the Warp, spilling over the vast darkness. The water gradually turned into a stream, very thin and quite short as after a certain boundary, the water stopped flowing further, it just disappeared into the dark mist.
[Your River has been created!]
[You have reached the Corrupted Stage!]
[Your state is unstable!]
[Absorb any core in the next three days unless you want to destroy your Warp!]
If Ethan had the chance, he would have immediately asked many questions, in detail and seriously. However, he could only dream of it as he was immediately thrown out of this unusual space.
Ethan's fingers went into motion, slowly crumpling the ground beneath him as he struggled to get up. Holding his head, with a great frown, he looked around and met the shocked stares of the others.
The students stared puzzled at his eye, which was now amber, but, as Ethan blinked, his eye returned to its natural green color.
'Well... It was strange and in some ways even frightening, but it was also exciting. Especially considering this...' Ethan inwardly said, looking at his hands.
His veins had returned to normal, but he felt that now he was even stronger than before, and his vision was sharper, as were all of his other senses.
The rest of the time was mostly spent in silence.
As before, Alisa tried to stay close to Ethan, whether she wanted to or not, but after the Third Trial she had grown attached to him. However, he was in no mood for conversation and just stared wistfully into the void.
'What a pity she doesn't realize that he's not interested in her...' Maris muttered to herself, with cold eyes staring at Ethan and Alisa, 'I'm not sure if he can fall in love with someone, but even if he already had... He just buried his love right in this square...'
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
After thirty minutes, the space trembled, and with powerful wind currents, a bright flash appeared, blinding everyone for a moment.
Then, in the center of the main square, a huge golden gate as heavy as a whole mountain fell out of nowhere.