Chapter 413 - First Phase

Cecil looked around and found himself in an unfamiliar place.

He had been inside the ruins earlier, but he was now on a vast plain. It wasn't only him here. Cecil could see that there were many people here, besides him, on this vast plain.

He spread his Mana Sense out until he hit the thick fog that was surrounding the area and found that his senses couldn't penetrate through the fog. From his observation, Cecil was sure that the plains continued far past the fog. After he retracted his senses, Cecil couldn't help but frown after he counted the innumerable amount of humans on the plains.

Cecil looked around and noticed that the people around him were starting to get up one by one. He quickly pulled out a cloak and dr.a.p.ed it over himself, hiding his face and gunblade away from everyone else's observation.

Even if someone did have a similar technique to his Mana Sense which could scan him, the cloak would inhibit such a technique.

"Ugh, where am I?"

"Did we pass the test?"

"Are we in the next trial grounds? Hey, you guys are..."

As the humans began waking up, it naturally became rowdier and rowdier as people who recognized one another began grouping and discussing amongst themselves.

Cecil was rather confused, but after eavesdropping on the surrounding people's conversation, he quickly found out that he was in some sort of trial.

'...What in the hell...this feels like the World Tree's Trial... am I in another one of those deity trials again?'

Cecil frowned when he thought this. He had made a promise with Lucia and Serilla that he would be back as soon as he completed his mission, but now that he was stuck in these trials, there was no way he would be able to finish his rescue mission.

"Damn, I knew I should have gone down instead of up..." Cecil quietly cursed.

"Hey, you there!"

"..."

"You, with the cloak! Quit acting all mysterious and just show us your face! Which faction or family are you from?!"

Cecil felt that the question was directed at him so he turned to look at the person who had called out to him before he quickly turned away in annoyance.

The person who had called out was a rather pompous looking fellow, the type that Cecil was extremely repulsed by.

Seeing as he was ignored, the pompous fellow stomped over next to Cecil and yelled, "Hey! Don't ignore me!"

A few other people came along with him. Cecil couldn't understand why this fool was pestering him so he just continued to ignore him while he spread out his Mana Sense to see if he could find someone he was familiar with.

"Hey! I asked you a question—"

"Shut up and scram..." Cecil growled before releasing a minute amount of his killing intent.

Just the small amount he directed at the pompous fellow was enough to immediately silence him. Cecil began walking away and continued to try searching. After walking away, the group of people he had left behind all let out a relieved sigh and some even collapsed onto the ground.

A few others in the surroundings took notice of the exchange and began eyeing the cloaked Cecil with interest. Just before another person could approach him, a loud sonorous gong began echoing throughout the plains.

"W-what now?"

"...Agh, my ears!"

After the sound rang through the plains for about another 10 seconds, it stopped and a palm-sized black crystal immediately materialized just above each person's head.

It was the same for Cecil and in the next moment, the black crystal began acting a little strange. Its shape started changing and he felt the crystal scanning him with mana.

Cecil already had his Mana Eyes activated and he began to keenly observe the small crystal. He noticed that after it had suddenly started acting weirdly, it wasn't only trying to scan him, but it was also trying to establish a mana connection with him.

He was guarded at first, but when he saw the other humans in the tower not sensing or even noticing this, he let the small crystal establish its connection with him since there didn't seem to be any negative effects.

It was only after the mana connection was established that Cecil felt something being directly transmitted into his head.

"Welcome, Chosen One, to the Myriad Tower of Strife!"

"...F.u.c.k..."

Once Cecil heard that he immediately cut off the sound transmission the black crystal was trying to send to him and began trying to look for a way out of the trials. He didn't want to go through with it since he wanted to go back home.

"I might be giving up on finding a way to boost my cultivation if I quit, but I'd rather fail this stupid trial than get Lulu and Seri angry at me..."

While everyone around him was preoccupied with listening to whatever the black crystal was transmitting to them, Cecil continued scanning the place with his Mana Sense.

"Damn... other than these stupid crystals, I can't find anything in this place that has a runic array..."

The complex runic arrays of the crystals were indecipherable for Cecil. He was rather surprised to see something so complex but that was the least of his worries right now because he couldn't find a way out of this place.

After a few moments later, the people around him began moving. They had already received instructions from the crystals and began moving towards the large mountain in the distance which had suddenly appeared after the thick fog around them was lifted.

Cecil sighed and decided to let the crystal re-establish its transmission to him.

[Welcome, Chosen One, to the Myriad Tower of Strife.]

"Yeah, yeah, get on with it already."

[In a few minutes the fog around this place will be lifted and you will be able to proceed to the next stage of the trials.]

"..."

[Your objective is to make it to the top of the mountain. The monsters on the way will test your combat ability and survivability. Once you've arrived at the top of the mountain, you will be able to proceed to the tower's next level.]

"...There's no time limit or even any sort of punishment for not making it up the mountain..."

Cecil clicked his tongue right after. The conditions of the trials stated that all you have to do is make it up the mountain. There were no consequences for not being able to make it to the next level so he assumed that the only way to fail is to die...

"The only way is forward I guess... I'll just have to get on my knees and beg for their forgiveness after I get back I guess," Cecil grumbled to himself.

He noticed that there were still some people who hadn't made a move yet. They seemed to be gathering others so that they could move together in a group.

It was a smart strategy since the passing condition stated by the crystal was to just make it up the mountain. Being in a group was much better than moving individually.

"The bigger the group...the higher chances of survival?" Cecil mumbled. "Well, that's if they don't decide to betray or use each other if the going gets tough that is..."

Cecil shook his head and began walking towards the direction of the mountain. He didn't pay any attention to the people who were trying to recruit others to their group. He didn't forget to keep his Mana Sense activated and scanned everyone he passed by.

'My brother, sister, and disciple might have already been dragged into these trials ahead of me... hopefully, they're in here and not back in the ruins...'

After systematically scanning everyone he passed by Cecil shook his head when he didn't find them. He did however find a few familiar faces.

Matheus's girlfriend, Celestina, and her sister, Cecilia, were here. They were already together in a group and Cecil was surprised to see that Rowan's annoying little sister, Karen, was with them. From the looks of things, she was leading a group of her own people and decided to join forces with Celestina's group.

Cecil also found the girl who had sold him Zephyr here as well. He forgot her name, but he remembered that it started with a 'B' or something. She wasn't together with Celestina's group but was leading another group with a few other youngsters.

Cecil was quite surprised to see Celestina here since from what he remembered before coming to the ruins and being dragged into these trials, the girl was supposed to be together with his brother in their kingdom.

Since she was his brother's woman, Cecil felt that he was obligated to help her to some degree. At the very least, he had to ensure that she survived through this place. He quietly passed by Celestina and by using his mana he discreetly passed her an item.

"Eh?" Celestina looked around in puzzlement when she felt something being placed in her hand.

She looked down and saw that it was a MID before quickly looking around to see who had passed this to her. She then saw the cloaked figure that had just passed by her earlier and whether it was coincidence or not, the wind blew past Cecil and it lifted his cloak a little. Celestina was able to catch a glimpse of his unique gunblade.

"Is that—"

Before she could give chase, the MID in her hand began vibrating. She knew what it meant for the object to vibrate so she immediately answered the call.

"H-Hello?"

"Sister Celestina, I see that you're in this place as well..."

Celestina didn't recognize Cecil's voice so she immediately asked, "Is this Matheus's brother?"

"Yes..."

"You're going to proceed with the trials on your own? Why not join us?"

"I'm not in a rush to complete the trials. I'm instead trying to look for something. You should just go together with your group and if you're ever in need of help, just call me through this MID," Cecil replied.

He was indeed not in a rush to complete the trial. Cecil hadn't given up from his initial notion of escaping the trials so he wanted to scour through the entire area and see if he could find a way out or not.

"O-okay... but, isn't it dangerous to go by yourself?"

"Don't worry about me. Just stay safe and protect yourself. I don't know how or why you joined this trial, but I don't want my brother's only love to suddenly die on him..."

"I-I was staying at our apartment in the city earlier but when I woke up, I was suddenly here! I was lucky to find my sister but to think I was dragged into this place..."

"..."

"Oh yeah, there are also some other humans from the city here!"

"What?"

"Even your disciple, Ren, is here!"

"Hm?"

Cecil immediately spread his senses to Celestina's group and found someone donned in a cloak similar to his. When he saw this, he immediately knew that it was Ren. The cloak was something that he and Ren had crafted during their journey and it became their adventurer party's symbol.

"I'll leave my disciple in your hands for now then. I'll come to pick him up after I've scoured through this place."

"P-please be careful," Celestina quickly added.

"Mhm."

Cecil ended the call and began walking towards the large mountain in the distance.