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nIn another barren space.

n“How much more do I have to fight?” With ragged breaths, Loreina stared at the sight before her with an expression of slight despair. Though she had summoned a great number of summons in preparation for what was to come, she now only had one standing among them, the fallen strewn about with the aberrations she had just killed.

nThen again, the remaining summon seemed to be teetering on the edge of death as well, with only the core of its torso being the only part that seem to have been unscathed from the relentless strikes of the aberrations. Perhaps, if a couple of aberrations still remained standing at this moment, then all of her summons would have been down, forcing her to defend against them on her own.

nLetting out a low sigh, Loreina dispelled the barrier of vines she had summoned around her as she downed a couple of mana potions to top up her reserves. Then, sending out a few mental commands to the summon that remained, she watched as the summon trudged its way back to her, its gait lopsided due to the injuries it had accrued from the fight. 𝑂𝗏𝒍xt.𝗇𝓔t

n“Why does the Gates of Enlightenment want me to fight?” muttered the young woman to herself, gazing at the sky for a bit as she infused the summon with her mana to mend its injuries. “Is it because they want to see the extent of my abilities aside from what I specialize in?”

nBeing the first one among the five to enter the Gates of Enlightenment’s trial grounds, Loreina had already finished her first trial out of the three the disembodied voice had mentioned her to complete. Unlike the current trial she was taking, the first trial focused on her tailoring skills, giving her patterns and clothing arrangements that gradually got harder and harder with every subsequent round.

nNevertheless, with her class, skills, and experience helping her out, such a trial was only slightly difficult to her, with the last few patterns she had encountered from the trial giving her ideas on a new pattern that might bring her craft to another level. However, before she could ponder over her newfound discoveries for too long, the disembodied voice had thrown her into her second trial.

nThe Trial of Thousand Aberrations.

nThough she did not excel that much in combat compared to Hal or Valyr, Loreina was confident that she could her ground, especially with the fact that she could go all out since she was alone. Utilizing her superb combat prowess, she was able to mow down through the first hundred aberrations she faced against, the last 10 being a group of Legendary Elite tier aberrations at the peak of Rank 4.

nAfter finding out that the tiers of the monsters increased rather than their level after surpassing 100 kills, Loreina took in a deep breath as she steeled her mind for what was to come. Pushing her abilities to the limits, she was able to fight against the Mythic Elite tier aberrations without much problem, going through the first 5 groups of the aberrations with her summons standing strong.

nUnfortunately, after fighting for such a long time, far longer than her fights usually lasted, the tailor was brought to the reality that her combat style had an incredibly large weakness, which caused her to feel a hint of despair as she dealt with the remaining groups.

nHer mana pool could not keep up with the consumption rate of her summons.

n“I really hope the name of the trial is just a lie…” Loreina lamented to herself, summoning yet another series of creatures that would fight for her in her stead. Though, just as she had arranged her creatures in a way that made them an organized force, the aberrations had finally returned to life, with their strengths reaching yet another level.

nThis time, she had to face against Ancient Elite tier aberrations.

n…

n‘You have successfully concocted a vial of Heaven Soaring Elixir of Standard quality. You shall been given a time of ten minutes to rest before moving onto the next concoction.’ Hearing the disembodied voice that announced his trial resound throughout the area, Faulus let out a loud sigh of relief as he grabbed a stamina and mana potion from his spatial bracelet, chugging down their contents in mere seconds.

n“This concoction makes it the 8th for this trial.” Muttering a few words to himself as he organized his thoughts, the alchemist thought back to the beginning of the trial as he allowed his body to rest, a slight smirk creeping up onto his face as he remembered a large cauldron falling down from the sky.

nWhilst he was bewildered as to why a cauldron had appeared out of nowhere, the disembodied voice soon told Faulus what he needed to do, which was to survive a total of three trials before becoming eligible to access the Gates of Enlightenment’s knowledge. So far, he was still stuck on the first trial the Gates of Enlightenment had given him, which was the Trial of the Heavenly Cauldron.

nListening to the name and the mechanics of the trial, the man thought to himself that he would have a considerably easy time going through the various stages of the trial, priding himself upon the experience and skills he had built thus far. After all, he wasn’t called the Lord of Medicine for nothing.

nThough, at the very moment the trial began, Faulus instantly realized that his skills could barely aid him at best, with the trial throwing him a series of concoction recipes that he had barely heard of in the outside world. Committing the recipe and the concoction’s effects to memory, the alchemist pushed his craft to its very limits, even feeling like he had broken through some sort of bottleneck by the time he had finished the fourth concoction.

nFor a brief moment, it felt like the world had begun to talk to him directly, giving him information on the secrets of alchemy that many would yearn to possess for themselves. Sadly, such a sensation was pretty much short-lived, causing Faulus to feel a hint of grief.

nHowever, with a notification sound resounding in his mind after that brief sensation, Faulus’ grief had also become short-lived as it was replaced with excitement. Surprisingly, amidst the gradually mounting difficulty of the trial, he had awakened the Intent Seed of Alchemy, becoming the second among the group to have comprehended an Intent Seed.

n‘If the others hadn’t already comprehended their Intent Seeds, that is,’ thought the alchemist to himself inwardly, standing up once more as he felt like ten minutes had passed. Feeling that some of the stress had disappeared while he was daydreaming of the past, Faulus intently listened to the voice that signaled the start of his 9th concoction, only to briefly chuckle not long after.

n‘Even if I don’t pass the remaining two trials, I wouldn’t regret being kicked out of the inheritance.’

n‘After all, who else would have the chance to concoct something like the Pill of Ascension?’

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