Chapter 111: Test of comprehension

The Green Dragon continued, “Quite early on in the grand campaign, I grew tired of fighting… of endless bloodshed. I pleaded with the war council to change their stance. But the old fogies there turned on me, forcing me to fight for their benefit to prove my loyalty.

“The things I hate most are being maneuvered against my will and being ignored. My pleas for restraint were repeatedly dismissed, my loyalty questioned, and my life threatened despite everything I had done for the demonic creatures. I knew it was a bad choice to allow the creation of the war council. Everything went downhill from there. It was no longer a place where I had a choice, so I left the Sea of Domains without looking back.”

The homelands of the demonic creatures was called the Sea of Domains, Ray realized as the Green Dragon kept voicing the interesting events of the past in the background.

“I abandoned everything, my home, my kin, my pride, to start fresh, to begin a new life. They didn’t like it, so they tried to make an example out of me. They wanted to kill me to teach others what happens to deserters. I believe you can guess what happened next.”

“The tower intervened?” Ray said in a somewhat uncertain tone.

The Green Dragon nodded. “If they hadn’t, I would have died. Being targeted by an Overlord is a death sentence unless another Overlord comes to your aid.”

“Are Overlords that scary?” Ray asked.

“They are gods in their own right,” the Green Dragon replied.

Believing an explanation was due, it said,

“When you reach the Black Gold rank, your will can influence reality. You can imbue your will with various characteristics. Make it as heavy and crushing as a mountain, as soft as a breeze, or as destructive and swift as a bolt of lightning.

“At the Lord rank, you forge a realm that you can materialize into reality at any time; lords are almost invincible inside their realms.

“Overlords are a step above them. They possess mature domains with absolute laws, and they can make those laws overlap with reality for far longer than lords. The size of their domains is also tens to hundreds of times larger than a lord’s realm. Inside their domains, everyone is like an ant to them. For example, if an Overlord had comprehended a law pertaining to spatial compression and imbued their domain with it, they could make it so you receive the full force of an attack capable of leveling a city even while they strike at empty air, the only prerequisite being that you are within their domain.”

Ray’s throat felt dry. He finally realized how terrifying Overlords were.

The Green Dragon continued from where it left earlier before it got sidetracked to make the horror of Overlords clearer to Ray, “I was invited to the Tower in exchange for a partnership. I accepted because I resent the elders of the war council deeply. They forced me to abandon the skies I was born under and turn my back on the people I grew up with just to survive. I want them to suffer. War breeds enemies, and one day I hope to see their cruelty devour them whole. This act of generosity I have shown you is just a nudge in that direction.”

Ray’s conviction trembled upon seeing reality from the point of view of a demonic creature.

’I was mistaken,’ he thought to himself.

He had always believed every demonic creature deserved death, that they were all born of destruction and cruelty, but now it seemed that wasn’t entirely true. Even among demonic creatures, there were those who possessed reason and rejected senseless slaughter. They simply lacked the power to defy their masters, trapped in a vicious cycle they could not break, for if they tried to resist they would be mercilessly killed and made an example of by their superiors. It was clear they, too, needed saving.

But Ray had no confidence he could bear such a burden.

As a human, he should strive to ensure the survival and prosperity of his race before worrying about anyone else. To that end, he would stop at nothing to drive the invaders from Earth so that humanity could reclaim it.

“I won’t disappoint,” Ray replied to the Green Dragon firmly.

He was dead set on making things right. Warmongers didn’t deserve mercy. Since the demonic creatures dared invade Earth and kill billions of humans, he would see to it that they paid an appropriate price for their savagery.

“Can I drink it here?” Ray asked about the Moon Witch Elixir.

“Do as you like,” the Green Dragon replied.

At its words, Ray uncorked the vial and brought it to his lips, letting the Moon Witch Elixir slide down his throat without hesitation.

♦️ You have consumed a Top-Tier Rank 7 Elixir.

♦️ Your soul quality has improved to 50.

♦️ The strengthening of your soul has greatly affected your Niwan Palace, almost doubling its size. You have gained an additional +2300 units to your maximum magic power capacity.

♦️ Your magic power recovery has increased from 15 units per second to 30 units per second.

“Nice,” Ray smiled in satisfaction. The boost brought by the Moon Witch Elixir was beyond his expectations. It was truly worthy of being a Top-Tier Rank 7 elixir. It nearly doubled his power level!

Now he could summon ten Level 2 Fireballs instead of only five before running out of magic power. Because his recovery rate had doubled, he could regain enough magic power to use his Fire Dragon skill effectively in less than fifteen seconds, and fully recover his MP in under two minutes!!!

Two minutes might seem like a lot of time, but with his agility rivaling that of a peak Bronze Ranker specializing in speed, combined with his Sixth Sense trait, he could easily survive that long, unless, of course, he was faced with truly impossible odds such as being targeted by an Overlord who had comphreneded the laws of space. It would mean an insta death.

He might survive if his destiny swap skill could fool the senses of an Overlord, but he seriously doubted that.

After all, Overlords were god-loke creatures. Could they not see through the tricks of a little nobody like him?

It was worth mentioning that his magic power capacity was now only about a thousand units short of that of an average peak-stage Bronze Ranker.

Breaking through to the Bronze Rank would triple it.

Every minor breakthrough after that, until he reached the Silver Rank, would have the same effect, meaning his magic power would exceed that of an initial-stage Silver Ranker once he reached the intermediate stage of the Bronze Rank.

At that point, he believed he would develop another characteristic unique to Silver Rankers.

“I can’t wait for it to happen,” Ray brimmed with excitement and anticipation for the future.

The Green Dragon clawed at the air again, opening a rift for Ray to leave. Returning to the familiar chamber with the four challenge doors, the first thing he did was check the list.

Evermore was still stuck on the third challenge, and a few others had caught up to her. The rest were still struggling with the second challenge. Ray had left many contestants in his dust.

Ray’s eyes narrowed in delight.

“If I can speed through the next two challenges, I might end up winning the first spot in this trial,” he muttered under his breath before flashing through the next challenge door.

He appeared in an average-sized room with several stone altars lining the walls. Atop each altar rested a book. Candles with small white wings floated gently around the room.

“What am I supposed to do here? Read the books?” Ray wondered before a puff of silver smoke appeared before him.

From within it emerged a tiny fairy, no taller than his palm. She had shoulder-length emerald hair tied with a silver ribbon, sparkling amber eyes, and translucent wings.

She wore a short white dress made of what looked like petals, simple but elegant.

With a cheerful smile, the fairy twirled midair and greeted him.

“Hello! I’m Trixie. I’ll be acting as your guide for this challenge.”

Ray raised an eyebrow. “Guide, huh? So what exactly am I supposed to do to pass this challenge?”

“The rules are simple,” Trixie said, crossing her tiny arms over her chest that was flat like a barren land. “Every book in this room represents the opportunity to learn a unique technique. You must choose one, master it, and demonstrate that you can use it practically to pass this challenge. You have three weeks. If you fail to learn or demonstrate mastery within that time, you will fail the challenge.”

“Is there any penalty for failing?” Ray asked. Failiythe first two challenges of the fifth sector would’ve resulted in his death, so he was curious if this challenge had the same issue.

The fairy shook her head. “None. You’ll simply be ejected from the trial. But I wouldn’t recommend wasting this chance. It’s a good one.”

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