"This has to be a joke right?" Standing in the white space, Eldric's eyes were still filled with the last scene.
"How is anyone supposed to pass such a trial?" Thinking about how, unlike the previous trials where enemies were already determined, this trial analyzed his performance and profession before assigning an opponent.
But how could he, someone with a normal profession go against someone with this many skills? Even if he had increased agility, it is almost impossible to dodge an area attack at such a close range.
Talking about increased agility, Eldirc looked at the circular red diagram on his chest which was beginning to slow down before slowly disappearing.
"Just perfect, just when..."
Before he could even finish the sentence, he felt an intense pain overtaking his entire body. It was as if someone was inserting piping red hot iron nails into his body from everywhere.
"UUUuughhhhh..." Almost letting out a painful cry, Eldric gritted his teeth. Now he understood why the girl told him to get used to the pain and death. It seemed she had already thought about him asking her for help.
Eldric kept his mouth shut while bearing the inhumane pain.
It took almost an hour before the pain slowly disappeared, leaving Eldric exhausted on the ground. If it weren't for his previous experience of dying and enduring pain, he didn't know what would have become of him.
"You said you were going to help." Looking at the girl floating beside him in silence, Eldric gritted his teeth. It wasn't the pain that angered him, but the lie that the girl told him.
"I didn't say when." She just kept on looking at Eldric with a leisurely expression. "Besides, the time for the rune was almost over. It would have been impossible for me to take any action then."
"Then how about now?" Ignoring what she spoke, Eldric sat up with some difficulties while looking at her with bright eyes. He was almost done. It was just one more step and he would be able to complete the trial in nightmare difficulty. Not to mention the points he would get, just one hundred tokens were enough to fill him with excitement. After all, with those points, he can finally evolve his skill to the next level.
The more Eldric thought about it, the more he couldn't keep calm. If not for the fact that he couldn't defeat the opponent by himself, he would have rushed there as soon as possible.
But now... The only thing he could do was to put his hopes into this mysterious girl.
"Not now." But her reply was like a cold basin of water poured on his head. "Your mental and physical state is not good. Take some rest for a few days."
Eldric opened his mouth to speak, but no word came out. He just looked at her for a long time and seeing her stern face, he knew he had no other choice. Helplessly, he could only nod his head.
.
.
.
Waking up the next morning, Eldric was still feeling tired. Perhaps it was the aftermath of using the rune, but he still felt a tingling sensation in his body.
Stretching his body, he prepared breakfast and lunch for himself and Aria before heading towards the shop. No matter how unwilling he was, he still needed to head for the work.
As soon as Eldric arrived there, the old man glanced at him once before shaking his head. Eldric didn't seem to notice it as he kept on yawning from time to time and started his daily work.
It wasn't until it was noon and there were no customers there that the old man started the conversation.
"How long are you going to stay at the trial?" Placed the book down on the table in front of him, there was a frown on his face while looking at Eldric. Even though he had no complaints about Eldric and his work, he was still somewhat dissatisfied with how this brat had still not gone through evolution. If not for the fact that he knew his parents, he wouldn't have even bothered to talk to him.
"Soon." With an awkward smile, Eldric just nodded his head. It wasn't that he didn't want to complete the trail as soon as possible. But, without the girl's help, he couldn't do it, unless he was able to evolve his skills even further. But to evolve the skill, he needed tokens, and he could only earn them after completing the trial and going through evolution. Thus, trapping him in a vicious cycle.
"Forget it." Seeing how Eldric was taking this lightly, the old man shook his head in disappointment. He wanted to give him a few pointers, but looking at his laid-back and lazy appearance, he threw out the idea. For people like these, no matter how much effort you put in, they will never be able to do something significant in their lives.
"Tomorrow is the last day for me in this shop. After that, you will take care of everything." Picking up the book once again, he slowly spoke.
"You have already learned everything from me. There is nothing more to teach you." With a brief pause, the old man just looked at the shop with a complex expression. "Take care of it."
Thinking about how he took care of this shop for over fifty years, the old man's face was filled with complex expressions. Even though he was promoted and was going to a bigger place, his heart was still filled with sadness.
Now he could only hope that the young boy in front of him would take care of this shop as well as he did.
"Umm..." Eldric who was already dead tired just hummed in response, completely disregarding everything the old man just said. Once he goes through evolution who is to say that he can't do anything else?
"Forget it." Looking at dazed Eldric, the old man just shook his head with a sigh.
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After reaching home in the evening, Eldric repeated the same process of preparing dinner and doing the dishes.
Lying on the bed, he slowly drifted into deep sleep. Just as the girl said, he was still mentally and physically tired after using the rune and completing the 'Hell' difficulty trial. It was still going to take a few more days before he returned back to his peak state.
.
.
Days passed in the blink of an eye. Just like the old man said, two days later, he handed over the shop to Eldric before taking his leave.
Eldric who was now in charge of the small shop wasn't overwhelmed. He just followed what he had learned. Every day, there would be less than ten customers who brought items from him.
The times in the shop weren't something special. These were the powdered mixture of various animal bones and herbs which were used for various purposes. There were even a few beast materials that were sold as medicine.
With the old man now gone, every evening there would be a middle-aged man who would come there to check the daily transactions as well as materials. If any material is running low on stock, then he would bring them the next day in the morning.
Slowly, Eldric was getting used to this life. Although it wasn't anything extraordinary, it was filled with peace. Something, that he loved to have.
If there was one thing he was dissatisfied with, then it would be his wife, Aria. At first, Eldric thought that she would perhaps help with house chores, but after a few days, he realized that he thought too much. Not to mention helping with chores, she didn't even come out of her room after the marriage.
Helplessly, he could only do everything by himself.
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.
It wasn't until a few more days passed that Eldric finally heard the voice of the girl that he was dying to hear.
"Okay... We can complete the trial today."
It was a short sentence, but it was enough to fill him with excitement. Eldric had been dreaming of this for a long time. And now that it was finally here, he just couldn't control himself. With a giant grin on his face, he just kept on looking at the girl.
"Don't be too happy." Gritting her teeth, her eyes were cold. "This is the first and the last time that I am going to do something like this.
Do not expect it from me ever again."
"Sure." Eldric immediately nodded. He just needed her help once to complete the trial. Once he can earn tokens by himself, he won't need her help anymore.
"Hmph!" Seeing how Eldric just disregarded her warning, the girl snorted coldly.
"Let's go." Not willing to waste another second, Eldric chose to enter the trial before disappearing from his room completely.
[Please select your difficulty]
[Ordinary] [Hard] [Hell] [Nightmare]
Looking at the familiar screen, he didn't immediately enter the trial but looked at the girl.
"Do I need to buy the blood?" Even if he wanted to save those tokens for future use, he wouldn't hesitate to use them if it benefited him.
"No." It was a short but direct response.
"When inside the trial, do not resist. You will feel that you are slowly losing control of your body, which is completely normal."
"No matter what you see or hear, do not make any unnecessary move."
Listening to her, Eldric just kept on nodding. Especially when he heard the last line which she spoke with a grave expression.
Taking a deep breath, Eldric looked at the option to choose the difficult before suppressing the restless feeling in his heart and choosing the 'Nightmare' difficulty.
Unlike the previous time when there was a long window in front of Eldric calculating his previous performance, this time, there was already a human figure standing there silently, as if it were waiting for him.
"Get ready." As soon as Eldric heard the girl's voice, his vision began to blur as if something was trying to take over his body. He could feel it clearly, it was an extremely unpleasant sensation that was making him uncomfortable. Yet, he didn't dare to resist it. This was perhaps his one and only chance to pass the trial in this difficulty. He didn't want to mess it up.
As for the matter of the Girl seizing his body, and not giving him back the control, he thought about that too, but it was a bet he was willing to make. After living with her for so many days, he had enough trust in her.
If she wanted to, she could have done so earlier, instead of waiting till now.
Soon, Eldric's vision went dark. It was like sleeping, yet at the same time something completely different.
He didn't know what was happening outside. At the moment, the only thing he could see was the receding darkness which was beginning to slowly dissipate. As the darkness began to die out, Eldric finally saw the world around him.
"What the..." The moment everything around him became clear, Eldric almost cursed out in fright.
"Gulp." Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, he looked around him, only to see innumerable corpses lying on the ground.
"Where... where am I?" The more Eldric looked, the greater the fear he felt.
Not only was the ground littered with corpses, but there were even mountains of corpses in front of him.
Just as Eldric was looking silently, ready to run away at any moment, he finally saw a scene that almost stopped his breathing.
On top of one of the mountains of corpses was the figure of a girl sitting there silently in a daze, as if lost. She was wearing the same pink princess dress with a butterfly hairpin. She seemed to be unaware of Eldric's presence as she just kept on looking at the hellish scenery in front of her.
It was at this moment that the world suddenly changed color.
Before Eldric could even react, he felt an incomparable terror in his heart. It was as if there was something truly evil looking in his direction.
Before he could do or say anything, the girl sitting at top of the mountain of corpses stood up as blood slowly dripped from her eyes, as if she was crying tears of blood.
She looked in the direction of Eldric.
"Grrrr..."
An inhumane growl sounded from Eldric's back as if the evil behind him was trying to speak.
Narrowing his eyes, Eldric focused on the sound, trying to hear.
And the next moment, he finally heard a shout. A voice filled with so much resentment and anger that it made the entire world tremble as the ground below him was filled with long cracks.
As Eldric began to lose consciousness, the echo of the voice kept on playing in his ears, constantly saying a name with a voice full of hate and anger.
"LUNA."
"LUNA."
"LUNA."