“Congratulations, Blood Soldier N 06 08499, for passing the first level of the Initial Stage Mystery Trial…”
“You have cleared the Trial perfectly.”
“Time taken to inscribing the Glyph: 35 seconds.”
“Materials used to inscribe the Glyph: 3.”
“Estimated time for sustained use of the Glyph(passive): 9 days.”
“Records broken: 1.”
“Perfect clearance of Trials: 1.”
“Blood Soldier N 06 08499, you have been rewarded with 20 Blood Coins and 1 Low Grade Glyph Medal.”
“Do you wish to continue with the Trials, or do you wish to leave the Trial Space?”
“Reminder: Regardless of how many Trials you challenge, you will have to pay 10 Blood Coins every time you enter the Initial Stage Mystery Trial Space.”
“…That went better than expected,” Alnea said, tearing his eyes away from the blood red curtain floating in front of him. Or was it called panel?
“Indeed,” Yuri said, conforming with his thoughts.
“Was this really a Mystery Trial though? I swear it felt more like Glyph Trials.”
“That’s because you made it more difficult by using Intermediate Stage Glyphs to inscribe an Initial Stage Glyph Array. If you would have used an Initial Stage Glyph, you would have understood why the Trial is called as Mystery Trial, and not Glyph Trial. Still, once the Trials progress, you should be able to notice the difference between the Trials.”
“…Is it because of the connection with Mysteries that the instructions warned in the beginning?”
“What else can it be?” Yuri said, as Alnea imagined her shrugging her shoulders. “From what I have observed, the Mystery Trials are designed to test our command over the Mysteries that we have comprehended. If this was Mystery Trial of the Arcanist Hall, then maybe there would have been other ways. In Scholar Hall though, the only way to test our mastery over our Mysteries is by interfering with our connection to our Mysteries. The higher the difficulty of the Mystery Trials, the more the Trial Space will interfere with our connection to the Origin Sea.
“You did not feel much interference, because the Mysteries that you summoned, even if they acted like Initial Stage Mysteries, were in essence, Intermediate Stage Mysteries, while the Trial itself was of the Initial Stage difficulty. You can even say that you passed the Trials easily because you summoned higher Stage Mysteries, manipulating them to act like lower Stage Mysteries, which conforms to the logic of the Mystery Trials testing your command over the Mysteries you have comprehended.”
“…Still, I think that the Trials of the Scholar Hall are considerably more difficult than the Trials of the Warrior Hall.”
“Only for those who are not focussing on the path of Scholars. Just as how the Trials of the Warrior Hall will be considerably more difficult for those who are not good at fighting. For those who know Initial Stage Glyphs, this Trial could not have been any easier.”
“…I guess you can say that,” Alnea said, reluctantly accepting Yuri’s explanation, before breaking out in a smile. “But that could not stop me from breaking a record.”
“…Which one?”
“I used only three materials to inscribe the Glyph Array.”
“…Was it a city wide record?”
“I did get a Glyph Medal.”
“…The Trial should have deliberately made it more difficult for you to choose the materials by ensuring that none of them corresponded to the lineage you chose.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“It did make things a little difficult for me, but don’t forget who I am.”
“…Sometimes I wonder how big sis Nyssa trained a monster like you.”
“That’s because I am a genius who is going to become the greatest Wanderer.”
“Alright, my greatest Wanderer. Shall we proceed with the Trials now? Do not forget that Cecilia is still waiting for us outside.”
“…Right. Let’s get this done with as soon as possible.”
They did not. At least not Alnea. Unlike Yuri, who was passing the Trials in a more orthodox way, he was using his own way of getting through the Trials, earning some Glyph Medals while he was at it. Even with the increased difficulty of the Trials, since their contents basically remained the same, they did not pose too many problems for him. Though there was a limit to how much he could fool around in the Trials.
It was fine until the fourth Trial, but from the fifth Trial, things began to take a different turn. The Mysteries, which had been dancing at his command, began to show a little disobedience, almost making him fail in Trial. The only good news was that their disobedience finally woke him up. From the sixth Trial onwards, he became a little more restrained, and cautious, while straining even more effort to control the Mysteries.
However, the increased interference of the Trial Space with his connection to the Mysteries, coupled with their unrestrained nature, made it difficult for the Mysteries to truly follow his commands. Especially since the Mysteries were not summoned in their complete capacity, further weaking his control over them. In the end, Alnea had no choice but to ask Yuri for some hints on how to better control the Mysteries.
“Try changing the ratio of the materials you are using,” Yuri said. “If you cannot control the Mysteries on your own, then use some external help. That’s probably how everyone passed this Trial.”
“…No wonder the record for the number of materials kept changing as the Trials increased in difficulty.”
“Yet you still kept using the same materials to pass the Trials. As a Wanderer, you should not hesitate in using the resources available to you.”
“…How would I have known that I need to change the ratio of the materials?”
“By feeling the increased difficulty in controlling your Mysteries… There is a reason why Scholars use materials conforming to the properties of the Glyphs they are inscribing to help them stabilise their Glyphs.”
“…I will keep it mind. Let’s focus on completing the Trials first,” Alnea said, diverting the topic away from himself, before plunging right into the Trials. In the seventh level, he added in a couple of more ingredients to make the ink flowing in the grooves carved in the stone slab more active, while still remaining stable enough to not explode with the Mysteries of Destruction being infused in the Glyph
Even that was not enough to let him gain complete control of the Mysteries though. So, in the eighth level, he simply gave up using Twin Tailed Colourful Snake’s blood as the base for the ink. Instead, he chose to combine Fire Eating Mole’s bladder, Thorned Vine’ sap, Water Dousing Ants, and Wind Worm’s blood to create a whole new ink base. A combination that he spent nearly a tenth of an hour thinking over.
Fortunately, his efforts were not in vain. The materials that he had chosen were more or less in conflict with each other, barely maintaining a semblance of balance. All he had to do was to add in a Mystery sensitive catalyst and a conditional stabiliser to complete the ink. And thus, he broke another record in the eighth level, using only six materials instead of nine to complete the Trial. It was just that the combination did not prove too effective in the ninth level, almost making him fail the Trial once again. Once again though, that was not enough to make him stop in his tracks. All he had to do adjust some measurements, and add a couple of more ingredients…
“Congratulations, Blood Soldier N 06 08499, for passing the tenth level of the Initial Stage Mystery Trial…”
“You have cleared the Trial perfectly.”
“Time taken to inscribing the Glyph: 13 minutes, 38 seconds.”
“Materials used to inscribe the Glyph: 8.”
“Estimated time for sustained use of the Glyph(passive): 5 days.”
“Records broken: 1.”
“Perfect clearance of Trials: 10.”
“Blood Soldier N 06 08499, you have been rewarded with 700 Blood Coins, and 2 Low Grade Glyph Medals.”
“Do you wish to continue with the Trials, or do you wish to leave the Trial Space?”
“Reminder: You have completed all the Initial Stage Trials. If you wish to challenge Trials of a higher difficulty, you must exit the Initial Stage Trial Space and get the permission to challenge the Intermediate Stage Trials, before you can continue with the Trials.”
Alnea let out a satisfied smile as he looked at the ‘panel’, before heaving a sigh of relief. The Mystery Trials may have taken less time to complete than any of the Trials in the Warrior Hall, but they surely felt much more exhausting. Inscribing Glyph Arrays was not easy. Deliberately lowering the Rank of the Array was even harder. And doing all that, while his connection to the Origin Sea was being intercepted…
Only Alnea knew how he had fared through the Trials. Doing countless calculations in his head, simulating the countless probabilities of all the different materials reacting with each other, trying to find the best possible combination to induce traces of Destruction from materials that had no relation to Perdia’s lineage… Fortunately, the Trials were finally over. There was no need to be so tense anymore. Neither was there any need to flood his mind with complicated calculations. He could finally sit back and relax in peace. After leaving the Trials Space, that is. The Trial Space’s urging aside, there was still someone waiting for him outside.
