After feeling his body engulfed in mana, Alliong found himself in a rather strange place. It was void and dark, and oddly, he seemed to be walking on an invisible surface.
Ding! [Please choose your path! Attention, this choice is final and irreversible! Any failure will result in non-awakening!]
"My father warned me that anything could happen, but this... ahahah," Alliong chuckled nervously upon seeing what had just appeared before him. It was overwhelming visually.
Before him, a path made of white particles appeared in the void and divided into three.
The first path, leading to the right, led to a kind of small sun that didn't shine but emitted intense heat, visible by the distortion of space around it.
The second path, leading to the left, led to a small pale blue celestial body that emitted an inexplicable sensation of coldness.
Finally, the middle path... an immense door, at least a few kilometers high, divided in two. On one side, it was fiery, hot, and luminous, and on the other, it was icy, cold, and dark.
At the crossroads between these paths was a circle just before the start of the right and left paths. Curious, Alliong approached, but the moment he touched the circle on the left with his foot, as if his body was being tortured by hundreds of needles, every part of his body assaulted by the needles contracted, and Alliong, panicked, recoiled, and fell to the ground.
Looking at the blue circle on the ground, he broke into a cold sweat: "What was that, it hurts so much!"
He looked at the red circle on the right and swallowed nervously.
"If I understood correctly, I have to endure the pain until I reach either the two spheres or the door, but the question is which one to choose..." Alliong, having completely forgotten the pain that had disappeared extremely quickly, but in the middle of his reflections, he thought of a certain young man.
"As he said, reflection is not for me... If I'm indecisive, then let's get to the point. The door is the combination of the other two paths. Let's test the pain of the red circle before thinking further." He approached the red circle apprehensively.
The moment he touched the circle, he felt his blood boil and heat up. It wasn't a dry, external pain like the blue circle, but a continuous, internal pain that increased over time. Unfortunately, he had gone a little too far into this circle and had stayed slightly longer than in the blue circle, and as he was about to leave, he felt blood rise in his throat.
"AAHHHHHHHHH!" Alliong screamed as he fell to the ground in pain. He rolled on the ground, but miraculously, the pain evaporated in a fraction of a second, as if it had never existed.
After a good minute, he got up, his eyes filled with fear, towards the middle door.
He lowered his head, his face tight and his lips bitten almost to the blood: "Father..."
Alliong remembered the moment when he had been saved in his youth by the director of the Chamber of Commerce of the Silver Wings.
He had originally been sold as a slave, but as he was stubborn, he almost was beaten to death. But the person who was to become his father intervened and saved him, educating him as his son. He gave him everything he asked for without ever, ever asking anything of Alliong, even now that the Chamber of Commerce was in trouble.
Alliong stood up, his face firm, and advanced towards the door. Due to the lack of a circle on the ground here, he couldn't test the pain, but he decided to take the plunge.
With each step he took, bringing him closer to the start of the path, he felt his heart beat faster and his muscles contract on their own in anticipation of the imminent inhuman pain.
But as he crossed the border that separated the platform from the path, he felt nothing. He saw the other two paths and stars disappear then...
Ding! [The trial of fire abandoned!]
Ding! [The trial of Frost abandoned!]
Ding! [Congratulations on passing the courage trial! Reward: Star Baptism!]
Alliong, shocked, saw the door smile in a huge crash, and behind it, countless stars twinkled and a pure white powder poured out like a torrent and engulfed him.
In this white world, he saw a translucent window appear before him.
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Name: Alliong Silverstar
Stigma:
Name - Body of a Star
Type - Corporeal
Rank - White
- Star Blood (White) -
Allows temporary awakening of the star lineage to receive a general improvement in all physical abilities.
Statistics - lvl 1
Spiritual Strength: 1
Physical Strength: 5
Mana Exercise: -
[Bronze promotion condition: level 10 + ???]
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Million had been fighting for hours, but the enemies, who were rather weak, kept coming, no matter how many times he knocked them out.
He was on autopilot, not even moving to catch his breath, sending punches without stopping despite the obvious weight he felt in his arms due to fatigue. He no longer felt his body, his clothes were in tatters, and bruises covered his entire body.
The "enemies" were humans of the same size as him, but they were nothing more than featureless silhouettes. Every time he took a hit, they turned into smoke and disappeared, but at the same time, a new silhouette appeared behind the existing one and rushed towards Million.
Million was exhausted, but he was fighting for a very specific reason: as soon as he arrived, he received a message in his head.
[Ding! The warrior trial is about to begin. Several waves of enemies will be sent your way, and the longer you last, the better the rewards, with no upper limit!]
"Every enemy I knock out, every blow I manage to land before falling brings me closer to them!"
Million gritted his teeth, he couldn't take it anymore. He was at the end of his rope, but just as he decided to give up, he thought of the young woman who had explained the mana exercises to them. She was one of the six who envied him, but she was different...
"Damn it, I want to be called big brother too!" In a fit of rage, he viciously bit the being in front of him for lack of hitting it with his already hanging fists due to lack of strength.
The second after biting into the silhouette, everything disappeared, and he heard notifications in his mind.
Ding! [Candidate detected as having no more combat capabilities!]
Ding! [Warrior Trial Completed!]
Ding! [Number of waves exceeded initial estimates, calculation in progress...]
Ding! [Number of waves: 22! Reward granted! Stigma improvement!]
After seeing the window appear before him, he grinned savagely.
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Name: Million
Stigma:
Name - The Madman of Combat
Type - Corporeal
Rank - White
- Lover of Long Fight (White) -
The longer the battle lasts, the more physical strength increases, but the counterpart is a proportional loss of reason.
Statistics - lvl1
Spiritual Strength: 2
Physical Strength: 4
Mana Exercise: -
[Bronze promotion condition: level 10 + ???]
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