Chapter 369: The Practice Trial... Part-1.
Chapter 369: The Practice Trial... Part-1.
Inside the prototype, Floor 6.
When Rio opened his eyes, he found himself standing inside a closed room; the lighting in the place was rather dim.
'There are no artificial lights here... It looks like the material of the wall is glowing by itself and providing this dim lighting...'
Rio spread out his mana detection and found that no one was present beside him in this small room.
'Ugh, it's this cliché thing again... Whenever something wrong is about to happen, we always end up getting teleported randomly; it was the same during the Dungeon of Maya too...' The material used on these walls can easily block the mana detection of even SS-rankers; thus, Rio could only sense the area inside the room, and his mana detection was being blocked by the walls.
Thus, he couldn't sense what was located outside of the room.
'Sigh, there isn't even a single door or opening in this room; how are normal people supposed to get out of this place?'
While Rio was still contemplating the solutions in his mind, the wall suddenly glowed in certain parts, and a text appeared on the wall.
[The trial of the prototype 'S16ir112' has been initiated... Please make your way to the lowest floor to complete this 'Practice Trial'...]
[As it is a 'Practice Trial' the 'S16ir112' will not give any punishments to the participants...]
[The 'Practice Trial' has no time limits! The 'Law of Mana' wishes you luck...]
The more Rio read those few lines, the more confused he felt.
'What does this 'S16ir112' mean? And what is the point of this so-called 'Practice Trial'?'
'And if this one is just a 'Practice Trial', then what about the real 'Trail'? Also, why is the 'Law of Mana' getting involved in this matter?'
Rio had all these questions in his mind, but there was nothing that could give him any
answers.
The involvement of a 'Law' of the world in something is a very big matter.
Whenever a 'Law' of the world gets involved in something, which would mean that the things that happen in that place are related to the whole world.
The reason why the legendary skills are so exceptional and strong is that the power of the 'Laws' of the world is involved with them.
And the Law of Mana is one of the strongest and most powerful laws in the world; if it gets involved in something, then it's no small matter.
This line, which states that the 'Law of Mana wishes you luck,' is purposely shown to make the candidate understand that there are many higher powers involved in this trial.
'I have a strange feeling about all this...'
There was no mention in the novel about such a weird place as this, and there were barely any places that were being influenced by the power of the laws of the world.
'Ah, the text disappeared.'
Once Rio was done reading, the text automatically faded away, and everything in the room became normal again.
'I need to leave this place first...'
Rio embedded his mana into the ring in his left hand's index finger. He immediately covered himself in the shadowrobe and tried to pass through the walls.
However, even with the shadow robe, it was useless.
The shadow robe itself is an 'S++' level equipment, and these walls are made from SS rank materials; moreover, a powerful magic is strengthening them.
'Er, I think this trial might actually be for peak SS-rankers... After all, only they can break through something as strong as this by force...'
Unless Rio has 'Perfect' Sword Intent, Rio can't cut this wall at his current level; he would need to be an SS-ranker to do that.
'Uh... will I have to wait for the others to come and rescue me?'
Rio imagined a scenario where Lia and others will come with the SS-rankers to rescue him, and then Link and Liam will be laughing at him for needing rescue.
'Sigh, never thought that a day will come when even I will have to sit in wait like a princess that needs to be rescued... This feels so awkward...'
'Let's give it a try at least...'
[Sword Intent!]
[Elemental Sword Art: Moon Type: Setting Moon!]
Rio raised his sword above his shoulder and swung it downward while covering it with condensed sword intent and using the precise curved slicing technique of the 'moon type'.
*Clung!*
The sword hit the wall and bounced back after producing a loud voice of metal hitting another metal.
'As I thought, it had no effect...'
Not a single scratch had appeared on the wall even after using such a strong attack.
'If I am guessing it correct, then the materials used to create these walls are mithril and adamantine... Such legendary metals won't even decay or get rusty...'
'Thus, even if I use my 'time-type' attacks on them, there won't be any effects...'
[Elemental Sword Art: Space Type: Spatial Diversion!]
*Clung!*
The result was the same as before; the sword hit the wall and bounced back after producing a few sparks and no results.
'Even space-type attacks are useless, it seems... ugh, I didn't want to do this, but I have no
other choice left, it seems...'
Rio donned the shadow robe again.
[Sword Intent: Max Output!]
[Elemental Sword Art: Miasma Type: Miasmic Skin!]
Rio used sword intent to control the miasma and covered his whole shadowrobe with miasma along with his sword.
The shadow robe itself is very closely related to miasma as it uses the power of darkness, and once Rio enhanced its powers with miasma and sword intent, its abilities rose up to the level
of a peak SS-rank item.
By covering his whole body with miasma and the shadow robe, Rio seemed more like a demon than a human at that point.
If someone was nearby, they would have taken a few steps back in shock and would have become suspicious of Rio by now.
After all, only someone who has gone through demonification can use this much miasma, and such people are already partial demons even in the initial stages.
No one will trust such beings, as they are always the first to betray you.
Rio stretched out his hand, and it went right through the wall without any problems.
Seeing that he had succeeded, Rio bypassed the wall and walked out of the room without
hesitation.
What appeared in front of him was a long corridor.
'This place seems like a maze...'
Rio spread out his mana detection... No, it can't even be called mana detection now; it's
miasmic detection.
He was using miasma to detect things in his surroundings.
'Hmm, there doesn't seem to be any enemies in the vicinity...'
Although the place was a trial, Rio was worried that there might be some golems or other
types of enemies in this place.
And if he encounters a peak S-rank golem or even an SS-rank golem, then he will not be able
to make it out of this place without losing a limb or two.
*Clank*
While walking through the corridor, Rio steeped on a random tile of the floor, and it sank
down and triggered a trap.
A massive spear came flying from above and directly pierced right through his shoulder and
got stuck in the ground.
Fortunately, Rio was wearing the shadow robe and was covered in miasma from head to toe, or this spear would have instantly crushed his organs and killed him on the spot.
Looking at this spear, Rio was extremely shocked.
'T-this force... It's as if an SS ranker threw this spear...'
Indeed, Rio was not able to dodge the spear on time despite having the base stats of an early
SS ranker because the speed of this spear was really too fast for even him.
It was so fast that even Rio, who has always been training his own reaction time, was not able
to react to it.
If not for the shadow robe, he would have died here right now.
'This trial is definitely not for people below rank SS... Even a normal trap is already so lethal...'
To negate the effects of this spear attack, Rio ended up losing nearly one-fifth of his total
mana.
Which means he only has four more chances left; more than that, and he's dead.
'Neo is really a daring man; he dared to come in such a dangerous place, and there must be a
big reason behind
this...'
Rio wasn't worried about the rest of his group.
Lia has Kai, who can easily help her detect these traps, and she's completely safe. Riya is literally protected by the 'World' itself; the 'World' won't let her die.
And even though Liam has the support of Ellie, as a shadow dragon, she can definitely figure
out a way for Liam.
'I guess the person who is most in danger right now is Link...'
Even Rio has the shadow robe to defend himself. Link is the only one who doesn't have any
dragons or something helping him in the dark.
'If Fade has really sucked up all his luck, then Link is only as lucky as an average person, which means the chances of him getting killed in this place are the highest...'
For the first time in a while, a look of worry appeared on Rio's face for someone other than
Lia.
'Although he's an idiot... it would be too much of a shame if something happened to him
here...'
Rio brought out a mana recovery potion from his space ring and drank it on the spot.
It's been ages since he last used a mana recovery potion, and there are hundreds of them lying
around in his space ring.
'At least this can help me stay safe for the time being...'
...
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
Question of the day.
Whose safety would you be the most worried about in such a situation?
(Tell me in the comments)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones!!