Sunan withdrew his hand, a relaxed smile on his face.
The first trial posed little challenge for him, with only the spell learning requiring some extra time.
[Commencing the second trial, Skill Assessment.]
[Please choose the skill type you wish to be assessed on from the following four options.]
[Potion Making, Biological Modification, Magic Item Crafting, Puppet Refining.]
"A skill assessment, is it?"
Sunan barely hesitated before choosing Puppet Refining.
Not only was his [Puppet Refining] skill at the highest level, but he also possessed the most high-level puppet designs.
If he chose Potion Making or Magic Item Crafting, he might be asked to create high-level potions or craft twilight-grade magic items, which would stump him.
So far, he had only obtained high-level potions and twilight-grade magic items through synthesis, without any corresponding formulas or designs.
In contrast, with puppets, from clay golems, stone golems, and iron golems to adamantine golems and secret puppets, he had designs covering knight level to fourth-circle legendary level. No matter what level of puppet the assessment required him to refine, he could handle it more comfortably.
As soon as Sunan chose Puppet Refining, a door in the wall to his right opened, and a team of clay golems emerged, carrying things out.
They brought various metals, gems, and soul crystals.
Sunan even saw high-grade gems and small soul crystals among them.
Once they set down the materials, the clay golems returned behind the door, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps. A tall figure emerged from the doorway.
It was a giant puppet!
Standing about seven to eight meters tall, it was made entirely of large bones, with pupils emitting a sinister dark red glow and a stench of evil emanating from its whole body.
It held a sharp bone battle axe in its hand.
A Bone Golem!
Sunan immediately recognized the puppet before him.
A type of golem crafted primarily from biological bones, frequently used by wizards (apprentices) specializing in necromancy.
"Could the creator of the Starlight Tower have been a necromancy specialist?"
Sunan pondered silently.
[You have 87 days, 22 hours, and 18 minutes remaining for the challenge. Within the allotted time, you must refine a puppet capable of destroying the Bone Golem. The number of puppets is not fixed. If you exceed the time limit or exhaust all materials without destroying the Bone Golem, you will be deemed to have failed.]
Sunan felt relieved; this challenge was considerably easier.
The combat strength of a Bone Golem was comparable to that of an Iron Golem.
One Iron Golem might not be enough to destroy a Bone Golem, but two would certainly suffice.
To date, Sunan had refined hundreds of Iron Golems. The refining process was second nature to him, and crafting two Iron Golems could be done in less than a day.
As expected, in less than a day, two Iron Golems were freshly produced.
Then came the battle.
As Sunan anticipated, the two Iron Golems easily overpowered the Bone Golem, dismantling it into a pile of bones in less than ten minutes.
[Passed!]
A beam of light suddenly shot out from nowhere, disassembling one of the Iron Golems into a heap of metal fragments.
Another beam followed, shattering the second Iron Golem.
Rumble.
The clay golems emerged from the doorway, carrying the materials back, while the bone and metal fragments were cleaned up.
[Commencing the third trial, Combat Assessment!]
As the voice concluded, the wall in front of Sunan rumbled open, revealing a vast darkness.
A massive gray hand suddenly emerged from the darkness, followed by an arm, head, torso, and lower body.
A gigantic creature soon appeared before Sunan.
It was an enormous giant, with skin a deep gray tinged with green, covered in dark and light mottles. Its neck, shoulders, and arms were adorned with pebble-like hard lumps made of bone and skin.
Its face lacked eyebrows, with prominent brow ridges and a broad jaw, and its head was also dotted with lumps.
Its entire body was hairless, with a bald head.
"Goliath!"
Sunan raised an eyebrow, recognizing the creature.
Goliaths are a type of giant, immensely powerful and naturally capable of manipulating airflow.
These extradimensional beings possess near-fourth-circle legendary strength upon reaching adulthood, making them formidable creatures and natural-born warriors.
After crawling out from behind the door, the Goliath stood upright, reaching a height of fifteen to sixteen meters. Its massive, robust gray-green body exuded a mountainous oppressive presence.
[Defeat the trial creature to pass!]
Sunan recalled the disassembled Iron Golems and couldn't help but smirk.
This trial left no room for loopholes.
"Roar!"
The Goliath bellowed, raising its massive spiked club, charging at Sunan like a rampaging tank. The violent gust of wind from its charge sent Sunan's robe billowing.
Maintaining his composure, Sunan focused and unleashed a torrent of silver metallic liquid from his body, forming a metal storm that engulfed the Goliath!
Slicing sounds of blades cutting through flesh echoed continuously in the hall, drowning out the creature's agonized wails.
After four or five breaths, the metal storm receded, vanishing back into Sunan's body.
The Goliath was gone, leaving only a pool of blood to mark its existence.
Under the full power of the level 5 magic core, the Goliath, with near-fourth-circle legendary strength, couldn't withstand a single blow and was instantly annihilated.
[Cleared.]
The familiar mechanical voice emanated from the mouths on the fleshy orb not far away.
[Congratulations on successfully passing the trial, receiving an A+ rating, and earning the inheritance reward!]
Crack!
In the center of the hall, three fissures suddenly opened in the floor, each raising a rectangular stone pillar about a meter high before stopping.
Atop the rightmost pillar sat a potion.
Within the transparent potion bottle, a light purple liquid shimmered seductively under the luminescent pearls.
On the central pillar rested a book.
Atop the leftmost pillar was a silver orb, about the size of an egg.
[Construction Potion, 'Bone' Intermediate Talent Crystal Model, Psychic Pearl.]
[These are your inheritance rewards!]
Construction Potion!
Sunan's heart leaped with joy.
The name alone indicated it was a potion specifically designed to accelerate the construction of talent crystal models, significantly boosting construction speed.
A single Construction Potion could enable a wizard apprentice to successfully construct a lower-level talent crystal model within a month.
The effect was undeniably powerful!
Whether in the wizarding golden age a thousand years ago or in the future wizarding renaissance, Construction Potions were extremely rare, typically monopolized by wizarding factions and never seen by independent wizard apprentices.
That the creator of the Starlight Tower would offer a Construction Potion as a reward, even for an A+ rating, genuinely surprised Sunan.
The 'Bone' Intermediate Talent Crystal Model was also a decent reward, though Sunan no longer saw much value in it.
As for the Psychic Pearl, as the name suggests, it was a crystalized form of highly condensed mental energy, used for rapid mental energy recovery.
However, only formal wizards could craft it, and doing so permanently reduced their mental energy.
Only wizards nearing the end of their lifespan would typically make such sacrifices, making the Psychic Pearl extremely valuable.
The 'Bone' Talent Crystal Model aside, the Construction Potion and Psychic Pearl were clearly intended for the second and third steps of constructing a model.
Sunan surmised that in the Starlight Tower's trial estimation, those achieving an A+ rating were wizard apprentices on the verge of or in the process of constructing a talent crystal model, hence the inheritance rewards.
He had to admit, the creator of the Starlight Tower was quite generous.
With that thought, Sunan reached for the Construction Potion, but before he could touch it, an invisible force field blocked him.
"? ?"
Sunan paused, puzzled.
Then, the fleshy orb spoke again.
[Wizard apprentice, according to the rules of the Starlight Tower, to claim the inheritance reward, you must first sign an oath contract.]
An oath contract?
Sunan frowned slightly and asked, "What is the content of the contract?"
Words appeared in the air before him, line by line.
After reading the text, Sunan's expression darkened.
The oath contract required him to become a member of the wizarding organization [Dark Throne] and never defy its commands or act against its interests.
In essence, signing this oath contract would make him a subservient slave to [Dark Throne].
Though called an oath contract, its strictness was hardly less than a soul contract.
Sunan would never willingly sign such a contract unless he had completely lost his mind.
Moreover, while others might not know, he was very familiar with the situation.
In the multiverse, only a handful of wizarding factions were renowned and well-established, totaling around ten, with [Dark Throne] being one of them.
This wizarding faction consisted mostly of necromancy specialists and was notorious for its extreme behavior.
If that were all, it might be tolerable, but the [Dark Throne]'s organizational structure bore strong feudal overtones.
High-ranking wizards held most of the resources and privileges.
Low-ranking members were the exploited class, bound by oath contracts and forced to laboriously gather and create resources for the high-ranking members.
Though called wizards, they were essentially slaves.
The use of an oath contract instead of a soul contract was merely to reduce resistance from signatories.
Due to this, [Dark Throne] had a terrible reputation in the wizarding world, despised by many wizards.
"No wonder the Starlight Continent would have a wizard's legacy."
Sunan finally understood.
He had always been puzzled.
Wizards as a group were hardly known for their sense of responsibility.
After venturing into the multiverse, it seemed improbable that a wizard would leave a legacy on the Starlight Continent, offering a glimmer of hope for future wizards to ascend—something didn't add up.
Sunan initially thought it might be an anomaly within the wizard community, a unique individual willing to give selflessly, but now it was clear the truth was vastly different from his assumption.
The Starlight Tower was essentially a recruitment facility established on the Starlight Continent by [Dark Throne] to develop its members.
Given its poor reputation, few in the multiverse were willing to join [Dark Throne].
To recruit members, [Dark Throne] often resorted to less-than-honorable tactics.
The Starlight Tower was clearly one such tactic.
Without knowing the true nature of [Dark Throne], faced with generous inheritance rewards and the hope of becoming wizards, few would resist the temptation to sign an oath contract.
Once signed, when the elements revived and wizards returned, those who realized the true nature of [Dark Throne] would find it too late to regret their decision.
"Typical [Dark Throne] shamelessness."
Sunan sneered in disdain.
He knew better than to expect something for nothing.
The so-called wizard's legacy was, in fact, a ruse.
Given this, the equally renowned Black Forest and Falling Star City likely had their own issues.
Even if they weren't as disastrous as the Starlight Tower, it was unlikely they offered knowledge and resources without any cost.
"Forget it. I'll worry about Black Forest and Falling Star City later. For now, let's deal with the situation at hand."
Signing the oath contract was out of the question; Sunan wouldn't willingly walk into a trap.
But knowing [Dark Throne]'s usual tactics, even if he refused the reward and didn't sign the oath contract, they likely wouldn't allow it.
Sunan glanced at the fleshy orb and declared, "I refuse to sign the oath contract and forfeit the inheritance reward."
After a few seconds, the fleshy orb spoke again.
[Challengers refusing to sign the contract must compensate for the resources and energy consumed during the trial, totaling thirty upper-grade magic stones. Please pay!]
[Failure to pay will result in elimination!]
As expected!
Sunan chuckled coldly.
In today's Starlight Continent, which wizard apprentice could afford thirty upper-grade magic stones?
Even Sunan, with plenty of magic stones in his spatial ring, didn't have enough to synthesize thirty upper-grade stones.
If he was in such a position, it was even less likely for others.
This rule of the Starlight Tower left challengers with no real choice.
Sign the oath contract or die!
There was no third option!
[Please make your choice, challenger!]
[Pay the fee or sign the oath contract!]
The fleshy orb's numerous mouths opened and closed, emitting a cold, mechanical voice.
Sunan could sense something in the hall was targeting him, ready to attack if he refused.
A chilling pressure enveloped him instantly!
Seemingly unaffected, Sunan's face showed a cold smile.
"Screw your choice!"
He suddenly reached for the Construction Potion, unleashing a torrent of silver metal liquid that formed a metal storm, crashing fiercely against the invisible force field!
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