"Quite the treacherous trials you set up huh?" I said.
The man laughed, "Of course, after all, I can't have no fool be my heir. I set them up to test them to see whether they had what it takes to be my successor."
"Also, there was the special mechanism you know? It abled those who partake in the trial to have a fair chance of winning — as slim as they may be. Though I do admit that it would still be very difficult, but still, you passed them didn't you? It just proves that you had the qualities I was looking for." The man grinned mischievously.
However, a moment later, his eyes became serious.
Sighing, he said, "Unfortunately for me, your element isn't compatible to be my heir. It is very unfortunate, seeing as how you have such high potential."
I already expected this. The ancient tree had said this beforehand. Still, I should get some good rewards, right?
"The reward..." I hissed, reminding him.
His eyes lit up, "Ohh yes, the rewards."
It seems like the rewards would get picked by the spirit himself.
"Even though I do not know what went through your fourth trial, I can guarantee that the last trial is something that is not easily passable, you could die on that trial no matter how much power you have. So, worry not, I am not a cheapskate. After all, you did pass all the trials with great performance."
He snapped his fingers, and a ring appeared mid-air. He willed the object to fly towards me, I catched and inspected it closely.
The ring was silver with beautiful lining as designs, it didn't look all too catching or even powerful. It looked bland — nothing too special.
"This ring holds a separate space, where you can store items and even enter it yourself!" It took a second for me to see all the possibilities I could do with this item.
A separate space where a living being can enter at will?
He could use it as a base, as a means of escape, and even storage.
Many use could be found within this ring!
"The ring holds around 20 meter radius of space, it might not be too big right now, but there is a way to improve it. You can feed spatial items to it and it's interior will grow to great extents. Inside is a grassland, it contains mana inside as I have planted a high-level mana shard that serves as a supply to the surroundings. You can plant anything you want there, even though there is no sun, the mana present can be a substitute. The ring has many special mechanism that you will uncover in time."
"Important thing, even though this space can be a means of escape, the spatial distortions can be sensed by powerful mages or warrior, and even those who have high affinity and is sensitive to space."
Thoughts so...
I somewhat expected this, but it was still a great item which holds many uses.
I was more than satisfied.
I wore the ring on my finger, my mind shook as a sort of connection was built, a glimpse of the inner interior of the space within the ring passed my mind.
"Anyway, onto the next reward I'm gonna bestow you."
I was pleasantly surprised that the man was willing to offer more. I wasn't gonna deny, clearly.
With a snap of his finger, a rough rock the size of a melon manifested and flew towards me.
"What is this?" I asked with a raised brow.
"Insert your mana inside and you will see." The man spoke with a slight tinge of smugness in his voice.
I was skeptical, but my intuition was saying that there was nothing wrong from doing so. I deactivated my Lightning Blade and let my palm rest on the rock.
I did as the man told me so and inserted a little bit of mana inside. I was curious as to what would happen, no doubt.
Out of nowhere, I felt a jolt in my mind. Some sort of connection was formed with the rock.
I took a step back and saw the rock enlarge, slowly taking the form of a humanoid shape.
Moments later, what stood before me was like the stone golems I faced in the first trial.
"This is a personal creation of mine — just like the coat you are wearing, or the ring I just gave to you, it is all my creation. Anyway, it is a golem which can grow stronger as long as sufficient resources are fed to it. Even though it cannot use magic, it has great physical qualities, embued with great defenses and solid fists, it can prove to be a great asset." The man spoke with pride, clearly proud of his work.
As if I could not get shocked enough, this bomb-shell of an item dropped on my head.