After taking his first step inside the glowing gate at the bottom of the ocean, Dean found himself in a corridor covered in thorny vines and lined with stone statues. Then, upon getting a good look at his surroundings, Dean couldn't help but gasp.
" Isn't this supposed to be some kind of reception to sign myself in as a diver? What the hell is this place!"
Dean was even flabbergasted as he looked at the runes engraved on the walls.
Not only did these runes look way more abnormal than the ones found back on earth inside of the old historic tombs or famous ancient sites, but they also radiated some form of energy that every time Dean spent time standing in this place, he felt that his strength was slowly leaving his body.
Even though he wasn't a mage who practiced with mana nor a warrior who strengthened his body with it, Dean still had the training of the real owner of his body.
It should be known that the original owner of the body was a monster talent that even terrified his father, the head of the assassin clan himself that was feared by countless mages and organizations across the continent to the point where he had to erase his memories to limit his growth.
Yet, even though such a monster with great training of his physique simply stood here without using a fiber of his muscles to move, nor strength to take any actions. Dean still felt like he was getting weaker by the second.
Not to mention, the real issue here isn't the mere loss of his body strength.
Its instead the fact that there were 100-plus Stone Statues that lined the sides of the corridor. At first glance, they might look like inanimate statues, but closer inspection would show that they were actually bone fide divers who were specifically here to test him.
How did Dean know that much from just inspecting the area around him?
It is all thanks to the existence of a tablet held by a stone arm in front of him.
" Is this supposed to be a joke or what?" Dean bitterly smiled as he finished reading the content of the writing, a hint of unease even appeared on his face.
The tablet content was as simple as this," New Chosen Diver, you will only be allowed to enter the chaos world and officially become a diver after defeating these small four-stone statues that hold the power of divers lined up on each side. However, since the New Chosen Diver is armed by one of the sacred relics of the primordial eras, the test difficulty will be adjusted to match such information. Good Luck."
" Good luck? Hehe, isn't this literally like telling me to never become a diver and directly give up on my goal?" Dean thought while scratching his head in great annoyance," And why would the stone status increase from 4 to 100, isn't that a bit unreasonable for someone of my strength!"
Dean got so greatly disturbed by this information that he absent-mindedly kept scratching his head.
If none knew what exactly made him get to such a state, they would without a second thought deem him as a crazy person who shouldn't be associated with.
Unlike Kerin, Lexi and the rest of the group think of Dean's insanely powerful card he possesses and how threatening he is to even the likes of Blank. They in reality had no idea how helpless he was.
As a matter of fact, if Dean didn't get his quest and was prepared for what was gonna happen with Blank and the rest from the very start, which initially led him to use the Supreme Master to plant a curse on them before he vanished as a last request. Dean wouldn't be in this test at this moment.
Even though that was the case, Dean was confident in dealing with four statues using the Lag card he looted from Blank. Alas, a 100 diver stone statue was unfortunately something he couldn't hope to deal with.
Unlike ordinary humans and mages plus warriors, Divers were beings that used cards to summon powerful attacks or tools to deal with their enemies.
To put it more into description, mages and warriors are way more predictable and could also run out of mana or get exhausted.
However, something as a diver will be insanely mysterious and you will never know what kind of attack or effect the cards he using will generate, which is the main issue here.
" Hm? I'm not getting weaker anymore, is this the limit of those runes on my body or just part of the test?" Dean thought as he formed a fist with his right hand and punched in front of him, the strength of his punch slightly generating a shockwave at the end of his fist...
" This is still acceptable to be honest, it appears like I have greatly underestimated the power of my body this whole time." He rejoiced as he felt the power behind his punches and the strength of his body still vastly stronger than what he could ever imagine.
"We are actually quite lucky. We got teleported to the Exhibition Area instead of the Curse Area," a young man's voice suddenly popped out of nowhere, sighing in relief when he saw the Stone Statues lining the corridor.
The moment Dean heard the voice, he instinctively took several steps back.
His assassin senses were all notifying him that the person who just suddenly emerged next to him was beyond dangerous. His mind and body got so alarmed that Dean's chest was tightening up at a fast pace, making it incredibly difficult for him to breathe.
' I need to get out of here! This isn't something I can hope to deal with!' Dean for the first time in his whole life, felt the need to flee with his life.
His mind was so alarmed that the only thought he had right now was on how to flee this place and get out of the presence of this young man.
Not even the 100-stone statues lined up on each side of the corridor made him feel this threatened. Yes it made him feel quite helpless, but Dean was confident he could more or less deal with them if he could take them on one by one and slowly finish this test.
The young man who appeared in front of him however gave him no such lucrative options.
The only thing Dean thought of at the juncture he heard the voice was to stay as far away as possible from this person.
Hell, Dean didn't even feel his presence till the young man finally decided to speak up.