Ahmed had at some point in time woken up chugged down his nutritious solution and stared his clash against the combatants.
The first ten matches were pitifully easy, he could say with confidence that he bullied them to death.
The following ten matches were quite challenging as the weapon arts mastery of the said combatants matched and even surpassed his own.
In the third set of ten matches he was gravely wounded to the point where he used up his accumulated rest time.
During the fights, once Ahmed won, he had the option of resting or stocking up his rest time, he had nor rested in his first set of ten, and had hardly rested in his second, in his third however he was forced to use up all his accumulated time just to compose himself.
Ahmed was shocked to his core, he had thought that maybe he was strong, stronger than most, that maybe by learning a new weapon art, understanding his weapons he would have grown stronger while firmly consolidating his foundation.
He had sadly reached his limits and couldn't continue any longer lest he risks forfeiting his life...'will I die though? I remember the voice saying it will punish me for every loss and reward me for every win, how do you punish a dead person?
Should I ask? Will they answer though? Ugh, fine I'll devour the beast cores and drink the ichor.' He complained as he took out the small mountain of beast cores, most of them were one star beast cores, with very few being Pseudo-one star.
He begun to swallow the cores one after another until he finally devoured the whole mountain, he then without pause chugged ten vials of Ichor.
He skin turned red and his veins snaked up his arms, his chest heaved up down as blood trickled down his nose, his eyes were closed tightly shut and his breaths were laboured.
The out of understanding halted the next battle as it waited for Ahmed to do what he should have done long ago.
After hours of barely staying conscious Ahmed had finally absorbed the Beast cores and Ichor, he could feel himself having grown stronger, if her were to estimate he could beat his formee self with one hand.
He grinned as he willed Aldram to turn into a pair of Axes tied to a chain on his arms, he then chugged down a vial of Nutritious solution before finally returning to his paused battle.
The opponent was a man wielding a long sword, his posture seemed to be that of a knight.
The man charged at Ahmed slashing his sword downwards with focused accuracy.
Ahmed slid to the side as he swung his axe sideways aiming for the mans neck, the man seemingly prepared pulled back his hand and blocked using its handle.
'You can do that.' Ahmeds eyes sparkled as he pressed forward swinging his axes with controlled elegance when the man was close, and barbaric might when he was a far with the aid of his chains.
'This Kratos guy was really something else, how did he ever think of using chains to cover for the axes short reach, with these I can fight mid range and long range, though controlling the axe and chains gets hardee with distance.' He mused inwardly as he continued his exchange.
'This is getting boring, I should just switch to short swords or dual blades, maybe use a sword?' He grinned having already decided which weapon to use.
He firstly threw his left axe at the man before immediately closing in on him, he then threw his other axe leaving him unarmed the man who had nimbly dodged the two prior attacks took advantage of the opening and lunged towards him.
Ahmed grinned as he willed Aldram to turn into a long sword which he plunged through the man's heart, he stood before the mam with a triumphant stare before walking back to his safe space.
The next nine matches were the same with the combatants getting more and more skillful in their weapon arts, with every fight he could feel the barrier to small success loosening ever so slightly until it finally snapped in his final match of the set.
It waa a tough fight where Ahmed nearly lost and arm, had his abdomen pierced, tendons cut and internals rattled.
He had however barely made it, he was now sprawled on the ground huffing and puffing deep breaths of air as he grimly thought of the fifty more fights to come.
'Will I really make it?' He couldn't help but wonder.
He might have made it to the small success threshold but he was mearly at the start of it, his opponents were nearly half way through the said realm, if things proceeded as they were then by the time he finished the fifth set of tens then wouldn't his enemies be at the peak of small success? Wouldn't that mean that from his sixth set onwards he would be facing Large success enemies?
As of responding to his worries the voice the trial spoke,
[You hav reached the halfway point of your trial, difficulty increase will be adjusted from the majorly art increase and minor physical increase to the Minor Art mastery increase and. Major Physical attribute increase.
Art mastery is capped to the peak of small success.
Good luck, Ascender Ahmed.]
Ahmed nodded somberly as he took out another vial of nutritious solution, he was about to gulp it down when be paused and thought out loud, "haven't I been drinking this way too much?"
The voice which had seemingly been waiting for this moment replied finally letting it's discontent know.
[You have, you've been drinking it like water! Every now and then, whenever your hungry, whenever your thirsty, whenever your tired, it's like your growing them on trees!]
"Ehh, ah sorry. I just realized." Ahmed sheepishly scratched his cheek as he stored away his vial and begun to take out dry sticks, firestones and large stones to make a fire.
He then from his leather bag took out a small box, it was a gift from his sister before she had left home two years ago, she had apologized that she couldn't get him any large spatial artifacts but in exchange got him a portal kitchen.
Well it wasn't a full kitchen, it was a spatial device that could store spices, cutlery, plates, cups and other small kitchen appliances.
"I wish I carried more than just five kilos of rice, but aren't I too weird, my bag was filled with clothes and food whereas others carry weapons." He chuckled to himself, ", it's probably the influence of having an older sister and a worrying mother." He amiled warmly as he remembered the day before he left home.
"Ahmed make sure to pack as much food as possible, even if your injured make sure you eat alright." His mother commanded to which he could only nod.
"Don't forget your sisters kitchen box, such a thoughtful gift, also don't leave behind the pendant it's your brothers gift to you." She reminded seemingly more worried about awakening than him.
Ahmed reminisced as he gently rubbed the pendant on his neck, did you know it was an heirloom?
He shook his head as he begun cooking the rice and preparing the meat, it was about time he had normal food.