Back in the void space, after dealing with the aftermath of the battle, Ram and his companions completed the cleanup of the scorched battlefield as much as they could, following the directives of the Mechanical soldiers.
However, after what happened there was not much left except for a few pieces of Tier 2 and 3 spiritual ores, condensed from the intense heat.
All the other facilities, the stone palace, and the shattered treasures that the Half Drows had gathered over the years were completely destroyed.
Even the source seed that they all came for was taken away by the Half-Drow Leader, making Mai and others sigh with disappointment.
After clearing out the mess the Bio-Mechanical soldiers, who were overseeing the area, gave the group some space as they returned to the cavemen's tribe.
It wasn't long before they spotted Su Mu and the others waiting anxiously at the edge of the tribe's camp.
There were some traces of battle around the ritual altar, however nothing dangerous happened.
Su Mu stood with her arms crossed, her expression unreadable, but there was a flicker of relief in her eyes as she saw them approaching without any major injuries.
"Took you long enough," he called out, his voice gruff, yet the undertone of concern was unmistakable.
They all sensed the intense fluctuations, even from their distance, and even the Evil Spirit was baffled by such powerful disturbances in a C-rank Void Space.
Ram chuckled, shaking his head as he met Su Mu's gaze. "Haha... Yeah, it was a bit of a mess," he said as he smiled. "Glad we made it through in one piece."
With the group gathered, Ram filled Su Mu and the others in on what had happened.
As he spoke, the atmosphere grew heavier, everyone realizing how close they had come to disaster.
Once the explanations were over and others left to do their own things, Ram took a seat near the ritual altar, waiting for Korrin's return.
The Nyra and other Half-Drow cavemen lingered nearby, their eyes occasionally glancing at the blood-stained ground.
Time passed slowly. Ram found himself pacing back and forth for more than half an hour, and then, without warning, the air around the altar shifted.
The dried-up spiritual runes that had gone dark hours ago began to glow faintly, a soft hum rising from the ground. The blood altar pulsed with new energy, the glow intensifying as the atmosphere thickened with spiritual pressure.
Ram stopped pacing, his gaze snapping to the altar.
One by one, figures began to appear—cavemen, emerging from the glowing runes. They stumbled, some collapsing to the ground, completely exhausted or with large wounds, but they were alive.
"Korrin...??" Ram muttered, his eyes scanning around for any sign of the Korrin, eager to know about the trial's results.
Inside the trial space, Korrin's breath came in ragged gasps, his body drenched in blood, both his and the Tier 4 Murloc.
His body was a mess, dripping with blood from the countless wounds that covered his torso, arms, and legs, but the sight of the glowing progress bar reaching its target made his suffering bearable.
Even when fighting all-out with his life on the line he didn't forget to keep a look on the current progress.
[ Current Progress: 43,004/ 43,000]
He stood amidst the chaos, his vision blurry as he stared at the now-frozen Murlocs, including the massive Tier 4 one that had nearly killed him.
"It's finally done," Korrin muttered hoarsely, his voice filled with a mix of exhaustion and triumph.
[ Rewards granted based on total kills....]
[ Number of Kills: 43,004
- Tier 4: 0
- Tier 3: 6,373
- Tier 2: 16,631
- Tier 1: 20,000]
[ Trial Reward: Bronze Territory Token X1, Blood Qi Stones X1200, Source Crystal X1]
[ Special Reward: Flame-born Heart. Infuse with your fire essence to enhance spell potency permanently by 12% and unlock the Spirit Fire Art.]
Korrin's eyes widened as a second item materialized before him—a crystalline orb with a burning flame suspended inside.
He could feel the raw power emanating from it, something that could drastically increase his fire magic abilities, but most of his thoughts were still attracted to the territory token in his hand.
He could feel a special attraction from it, but he held back and didn't dare to absorb it, he clearly knew that this token could do more things in the hands of his master than just improve his quality if he rashly absorbed it.
He also knew how easy it was for his master to improve his quality, so he stopped thinking about it and waited for other remaining rewards, yet there was nothing after that, there were no Blood Qi stones or the Source Crystal he was expecting.
Just as he was confused, another prompt appeared.
[ Trial Notice: Next phase available. Will you continue?]
[ Yes/ No]
"Continue? Hehe no," He decisively chose 'No', without even looking at what the next phase was about. He looked around, by now most of the cavemen had already disappeared from the trial space.
Then before leaving, he moved slowly towards a broken Tier 3 mutated predatory plant, it was also thanks to this plant that he was able to survive so long under the crazy Tier 4 Murloc.
He knelt beside the broken plant, his fingers brushing against its blood-red tendrils.
They were still warm, and as he touched them, he felt a strange pulse, like the plant was trying to communicate—or perhaps, to absorb him.
Korrin pulled his hand back quickly but seeing that it couldn't do much he grabbed its upper body and chose to exit the trial space.
Korrin staggered as the oppressive weight of the trial lifted, he felt the trial space shift, the darkened sky above him peeling away, replaced by the familiar surroundings of the blood altar.
Soon, Korrin found himself back at the ritual site, where Ram, Nyra, and the others stood waiting.
"He's back!" Ram called out, rushing toward him.
Korrin looked up, meeting Ram's eyes. "Master... we did it, the trial... it's over," he rasped, as he took out a bronze token and offered it.
"Haha, well done," Ram quickly approached and hugged him, expressing his appreciation for Korrin, "At last, the territory token is in my hands."
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