Chapter 18: The Second Trial (2)
To think that the Coming-of-Age Ceremony felt familiar.
Even I thought it was a ridiculous notion.
It was my first time participating in this ritual, and when I played as Adjak, there was no such thing as the Adjak Autonomous Region.
Naturally, there was no system like the Coming-of-Age Ceremony either.
Yet, ever since the first trial, where I broke the crystal with mana, I felt a strange sense of familiarity.
The trial itself was new, but it felt as though I had experienced it somewhere before.
It wasn’t just the first trial that felt familiar.
I knew all too well where Chilgong Fortress was, and even where a 300-year-old Carnot lurked in a certain pit.
Where did this déjà vu come from?
That question was answered when I discovered a small cave beside the Carnot’s corpse.
It was because of a quest that Adjak had completed in the game.
A chained quest called “The Dragon’s Trial.”
Adjak, being half-human, half-dragon, was not recognized by the dragonkin, except for Hike, and this was a quest given to him by the dragons.
“Ugh, they said I had to clear every stage of the trial to be acknowledged as one of the dragonkin… That was such a grind back then.”
I recalled the details of the Dragon’s Trial.
The first stage was breaking the crystal, the second was retrieving an elixir from Chilgong Fortress, and the third was…
When I compared the Dragon’s Trial to the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, the specifics differed slightly, but the basic structure was the same.
It seemed that, in the 300 years since Adjak’s disappearance, the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, a symbolic event, had been modeled after Adjak’s trials.
It was likely that someone who knew about Adjak’s Dragon’s Trial had influenced the design of this Coming-of-Age Ceremony.
If that was the case, the second task of the Coming-of-Age Ceremony must be a variation of one of the Dragon’s Trial tasks: “retrieving an elixir.”
That elixir was undoubtedly growing in abundance in a cave located next to the Carnot’s corpse in Pit 4.
I squeezed my body into the small cave.
As I emerged from the tunnel and raised my head, a brightly glowing cave came into view, radiating light without even needing to channel mana.
The sight left me speechless, my jaw dropping.
“Wow…”
There was no sensory suppression here.
Thanks to that, I could hear my own voice for the first time in a while and take in the dazzling display of purple flowers.
“…Three hundred years ago, there was only one of these. They’ve formed a whole colony since then.”
The elixir Adjak had retrieved was a plant called Rahsorn.
Adjak had been tasked with retrieving any elixir from within Chilgong Fortress.
Initially, Adjak intended to offer the heart of a Carnot, which was known for its potent properties.
However, Adjak at the time didn’t have the strength to kill a Carnot.
In the end, after futilely pounding on the Carnot’s shell, Adjak gave up and, wondering if there was something else he could find, broke through a wall near the Carnot, discovering this cave.
I looked at the Rahsorn.
Some flowers had a faint blue glow.
Those were surely markers left by the supervisors.
“So, the supervisors came down here, left markers, and went back?”
Impressive bunch.
It made sense.
If the person who designed this trial knew about Adjak’s journey, they would have ensured markers were placed on the Rahsorn.
I approached the Rahsorn more closely.
In the center of the purple petals, yellow stamens and pistils clustered together.
“Since I’ve come this far, I should follow Adjak’s example.”
I carefully uprooted a single Rahsorn with a blue marker on its stem, then turned the flower upside down.
The yellow seeds attached to the flower scattered across the room.
“I’ll clear the trial in a way that mirrors the Dragon’s Trial Adjak underwent.”
I focused on that fact as I moved.
The reason I took only one flower out of so many was the same.
Since I had decided to follow Adjak’s trial, I wanted to show that I knew Adjak well.
In a family that revered Adjak, demonstrating my knowledge of him could elevate my standing within the clan.
Just then, the restoration of [Intangible Armor] was complete.
As expected of a Tune, I instinctively knew the restoration was finished.
The restoration took about an hour.
As [Intangible Armor] developed, both its defensive threshold and restoration time would decrease.
I carefully wrapped the uprooted Rahsorn in [Intangible Armor].
I took out the provided watch.
“About an hour left.”
It was hard to call that plenty of time.
I had descended into a deep pit with no sense of how far down I’d gone.
The darkness obscured my vision, and countless beasts could be lurking within.
“Can I make it back up in time?”
But I quickly shook my head.
I had to.
What choice did I have?
I began climbing the pit.
* * *
“Why isn’t Polarin back yet?”
Siriel asked, her voice filled with worry, unusually subdued for her.
“…He’ll come.”
Kiyot reassured Siriel, but he, too, kept glancing at his watch.
[00:01:03]
Just over a minute remained.
Those capable of passing the trial had already returned long ago.
Most participants who had completed the task struggled to climb back out of the pit.
—Aaahhh!
A long, piercing scream echoed from within the pit.
Perhaps because the sensory suppression inside Chilgong had been lifted, the scream felt sharper and more chilling.
Even those who had escaped the pit weren’t in great shape.
Many lay scattered, bearing severe wounds from battles with beasts.
“Quickly transport those who need treatment.”
The trial supervisor, Diana, ordered soldiers to assist with the treatment of the Coming-of-Age Ceremony participants while frequently glancing at her watch, preparing to declare the trial’s end.
Though neither Kiyot nor Siriel voiced it, both were beginning to think that, at this rate, they might need to pray for Polarin’s safe return rather than his trial success.
[00:00:04]
[00:00:03]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:01]
Beeeep!
The buzzer signaling the trial’s end sounded, and at the same moment, a hand emerged from the pit with a thud.
“Ugh…”
Gripping the edge with effort, a figure barely pulled themselves out of the pit.
It was Polarin, covered in dirt and scratches.
“…That guy passed too. The trial is over.”
The second trial supervisor, Diana, glanced down at Polarin before announcing the trial’s conclusion.
* * *
“Woo! I thought you weren’t going to make it!”
“…I knew you’d come.”
Unintentionally, I drew a lot of attention.
Many eyes turned to me—or, more precisely, to the Rahsorn wrapped in [Intangible Armor] at my waist.
Siriel, unable to contain her curiosity, asked me.
“Wow! There were flowers down there? I didn’t see any.”
“Haha, yeah. I got lucky.”
Siriel had brought back a rabbit-like beast, while Kiyot had captured a massive mountain goat.
I glanced around subtly.
My eyes met Blaze’s.
He flinched, startled, then quickly lowered his head.
I didn’t care much about what others had brought back.
No matter what they had, it couldn’t compare to the Rahsorn—not in terms of acquisition difficulty or its connection to Adjak.
“Now, submit your task items. Submission is in the order of arrival.”
One by one, participants submitted the “living creatures” they had retrieved to Diana.
Some had escaped the pit but failed to bring back a task item.
Others had captured a marked creature but were in no condition to continue the trials and withdrew from the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.
Finally, it was my turn, the last.
I carefully removed the Rahsorn from [Intangible Armor] and handed it to Diana.
As Diana reached out to touch the flower carelessly, I spoke up.
“Uh, Supervisor, sorry, but please handle it gently.”
Diana looked puzzled but nodded briefly, then carefully moved the Rahsorn’s stem with just her thumb and forefinger.
“She must not be well-versed in Adjak’s history. Then who… Hike, perhaps?”
“It’ll take some time for the judging, so everyone rest in the plaza.”
Diana spoke coldly, her voice almost icy, before turning away.
But she hadn’t taken more than a few steps when she stopped abruptly.
She began muttering something into the air, as if receiving a message from somewhere.
I watched her curiously, wondering what she was saying, when she suddenly turned and called out to me.
“Polarin Adjak.”
“Yes?”
“You, come with me.”
Her tone was sharp, for some reason.
* * *
I followed Diana silently.
She walked toward Chilgong Fortress, levitating the task items brought by the Coming-of-Age Ceremony participants in midair.
Whether it was telekinetic magic or a Tune ability, it seemed highly versatile.
We climbed the stairs of Chilgong Fortress, ascending higher and higher until we reached the entrance to the spire.
Only then did Diana turn to me sharply and ask.
“What’s your connection to the Elders?”
“I have no connection to them.”
“And the reason Lord Tayon gave you a Special Recommendation—also unrelated to the Elders?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… I’m curious.”
With that, Diana gestured for me to enter the door.
Then, with the levitating items and corpses, she descended the stairs again.
“The Elders of the Adjak family.”
They were the ones who decided all administrative matters of the Adjak family, including the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.
Little was known about their numbers or identities.
Yet, they held the highest authority, steering the entire clan.
I needed to see who they were, starting with their faces.
* * *
At the moment Polarin opened the tightly shut door to the spire to face the Elders,
Blaze felt his heart pounding.
Having fought beasts in Myeolji his whole life, he thought he’d completely overcome his fear of death.
“I always believed I was prepared for death, but was that all a delusion?”
Blaze reflected on himself.
The deaths of his father, mother, comrades, and friends who had roamed with him were no longer unfamiliar to him.
But witnessing others’ deaths and facing death himself seemed entirely different.
Blaze admitted that his thoughts about death had been a misconception.
He recalled Polarin’s demonic face at the bottom of Pit 4.
The image of him shattering the shell of a Carnot several times his size, gnawing on a heart larger than his head.
The blood dripping between his teeth, the piercing golden eyes that seemed to bore through him.
“It was the first time I’d seen something like that. Polarin—is that guy really human?”
The initial impression of him as a delicate greenhouse flower had vanished.
To Blaze, Polarin Adjak was no different from a demon devouring the hearts of living creatures.
“I can’t confront that guy. No, I shouldn’t even get involved with him!”