Atri, whose nose was bleeding, collapsed after saying that due to overuse and exhaustion of mana. Her twin immediately ran to her side and caught her.
Staring at the twins, Sorath could only sigh and then smile.
He approached Fred, who was surprised after seeing Atri's mana control and how she utilized her newly acquired Trace as though she was born with it.
Sorath studied his expression for a while; Fred was drooling.
"She's full of potential. Don't you think so, Fred?"
Squinting his eyes at Sorath, Fred replied.
"Yeah, her control is on par with the Awakened."
Sorath placed his hand on Fred's shoulder.
"Right? Anyway, she's mine. So wipe those drools of yours, and don't ever think about drinking her blood, Viscount."
Fred brushed his sleeve on his mouth, wiping the drool off. Then he glanced at Sorath cautiously.
"Viscount? What do you mean? We're not in a kingdom hierarchy."
Smiling, Sorath patted Fred's shoulder and walked away.
"Haha, sorry, it's a habit."
Fred was sweating as he looked at Sorath's back. His vertical, cat-like pupil changed to a round, normal-looking pupil of an ordinary human when he massaged them.
'What an interesting couple.'
...
After defeating the Earth Tortoise, the Tower notified them about how they could stay and explore the sixth floor freely since they were the first group who cleared the trial.
This news wasn't something that Sorath knew of since he was never the first group to finish in his past life, and the novels didn't mention anything about it either.
The old book had, in fact, narrated the story where Julian took the trial, but he wasn't the first to finish. The same also happened in the remake novel, just because he moved alone and looked for the hidden treasure first before clearing the trial after his teammates - obviously not the Pandoras, the Assassin, and the Fortress - all failed.
At that moment, Sorath realized that any small changes occurring in the Awakening Phase would create a massive butterfly effect. This would make the future he knew take a significant turn from a complete, colored picture into unfinished, broken gray pieces.
Why? It was because of the nature of a random given Trace.
Although, there was a little chance the Tower would bestow a Trace that had some relation with the candidate's true potential - for example, someone who had been training in swordsmanship for years had a chance to receive a Trace related to swordsmanship, either a profession-type or a skill-type.
But most of the time, the eligible candidates would receive a random Trace.
With the random bestowal, even a small alteration - like the success of one candidate who was supposed to fail the solo trial in the past, could lead to a change in some candidates' gifted Trace.
However, up to this time, due to Sorath's and Julian's actions, a massive change had taken a turn in this timeline's Awakening Phase.
'The future will become gray. The book I commissioned for free won't help me too much. The information I got from the novels and past life, too...'
'Huu... I don't know why the butterfly effect didn't happen in the novel. But logically, it should have happened. And this is a different timeline. Who knows that it might be the possibility.'
Putting the thoughts aside, Sorath seized the opportunity to explore the forest to collect materials to sell in the fifth floor's city.
Since there was no time limit in the group trials, they spent a week collecting them before returning to the fifth floor, selling them, and buying more proper equipment and supplies for the sixth trial on the seventh floor.
That meant the privilege of the first group to clear the trial was kind of bland since they could decide to collect and gather first before defeating their objective.
However, being able to explore freely without worrying about the monsters getting stronger each day was better than trying to defeat the objective's monster in its peak form. If they couldn't slay it, the early gathering and collecting would be useless.
...
Back on the fifth floor, inside the Merchant Guild...
The Guild Receptionist fainted as soon he saw a mountain of materials before him. Replacing the incompetent guy, the stern and serious one immediately served Sorath's group professionally.
They were guided into a VIP room while waiting for the employees to finish sorting the materials they wanted to exchange.
Sorath glanced at the employee who guided his group there before he left the room.
'Hmm... looks like my assumption was right. The fifth floor, this city of the Awakening Phase was not real. It's a simulation.'
Since the first time he arrived in this city, or to be more precise, when he was shopping for the fifth trial, Sorath had, in fact, felt that the place in the Awakening Phase was a replica of the real one.
The people here were acting like NPC with how they treated the candidates with so much effort, except for the ones that had made a problem.
It was like a "Reputation System" in RPG, where people or NPC in the city would treat you kindly if your reputation was good and would treat you harshly if your reputation was bad.
'Well, not like I care. As long as it can help me push until the last trial.'
40 minutes later, the Merchant Guild finally finished with their appraisal of the materials.
Sorath's group received 234G from the exchange. Added to their previous saving, their budget was around 250G.
With that much money, they could order the highest quality the best blacksmith in the city could produce and still left with some money to buy supplies.
Each member got 50G to look and buy the weapon they wanted, while the rest would be for supplies.
With 50G in his pocket, Sorath navigated through the city alley and stopped in front of a rundown smithy in the corner.
After knocking on the door, he heard noises coming from the building. It was chaotic, full of metal clanging at each other and dropping to the floor.
A moment later, the door was opened, revealing a short, dwarf-like human with goggles around his head.
"Who are you?"