“Here comes the final wave.” Taking in deep yet constant breaths as he gazed at the field of aberration corpses before him, Valyr firmly gripped his spear as his expression remained solemn, keeping an eye for every possible change in his current situation. Amidst his intent-filled gaze, the corpses began to glow gold for what would be the final time, rising from the ground once more as they mounted their final offensive.

Feeling their auras reach the same level of strength the previous group had, the young man went ahead and used Greater Analysis on one of the aberrations, keeping an eye on the screen as he sensed their auras gradually grow stronger. “According to the voice, these aberrations would surpass the bottleneck and make progress into Rank 5.”

“The question is… how far into Rank 5 would they be?” Looking back and forth between the screen he had opened and the aberrations’ steadily growing auras, the slight frown on Valyr’s face grew deeper and deeper as the aberrations’ strengths increased by a further level. Though, once the level on the screen stopped at Level 80, the young man let out a faint sigh of relief.

“That’s still beatable,” muttered Valyr to himself, psyching himself as he began to empower himself with all of the buffing skills in his arsenal. After that, he began to distance himself from the aberrations that had finished increasing their strengths, knowing that it wouldn’t take long for them to catch up to him.

“Grrrrwaaaggghhh!!!” With the aberrations letting out bestial roars the very moment they tracked down his figure, Valyr let out a slight chuckle as he thought about how he would go about ending the Trial of Myriad Aberrations once and for all, briefly thinking about the final skill his armor set had that he had yet to activate.

‘I’ll save that for another time.’ Pushing the urge of using his armor set’s final skill to the side, the young man flared his Intent Seed of Shadow Energy to the fullest, allowing his comprehension of the concept to form a connection with the world. Not long after, he summoned all of the Shadow Energy lingering within his body towards his spear, swiftly coating it in a layer of pure darkness.

“Shadow Serpent Combat Style…” Then, as if he had eyes behind his back, Valyr ducked, barely dodging a strike from one of the aberrations that neared him. Inwardly letting out a brief sigh of relief in response, he then used the momentum he had generated from the duck to swiftly turn around, sweeping out his spear towards the aberrations in the process.

“Lightless Ultimatum.”

Whoosh!

Similar to before, the aberrations all remained rooted to their spots as the layer of darkness coating the spear had vanished all of a sudden. Infusing more and more of his Shadow Energy into the spear, Valyr watched as the shadows generated by the aberrations’ bodies gradually grew in size as they slowly took on the same level of darkness his spear was coated in earlier.

Eventually, by the time the entire ground seemed to have been replaced with pure darkness, the shadows soon burst in action, enveloping all 400 aberrations in dark cocoons that seemed to gradually siphon all of the energy from the beings that dwelt within.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

At some point, the dark cocoons dissipated on their own, causing the 400 aberrations to fall to the ground with a dull thud as their bodies were rendered utterly lifeless. Staring at the emaciated and grayed visages of the fallen aberrations, Valyr widened his eyes in surprise once the aberration corpses began to turn into dust, only to dissipate into thin air not long after.

“…” Though he already knew the meaning behind the aberrations disappearing, the young man continued to look down at the ground as the thoughts of him going through the various stages of the Trial of Myriad Aberrations flashed through his mind once more. 𝗈𝑽𝐞𝐥xt.𝗇𝓔t

Letting out a faint sigh, he felt weakness creeping into his body. In response, he used his spear as a crutch as he took out a vial of rousing from his spatial bracelet before downing it in one gulp, making sure that he would be fully alert for the next part.

After all, he would now be reaping the greatest fruits of his labor.

‘Congratulations on completing the Trial of Myriad Aberrations. By completing this trial, you have shown the Gates of Enlightenment that you are more than worthy of obtaining the Gates of Enlightenment’s knowledge. With the strength and willpower that you have shown, the Gates of Enlightenment has no doubt that any piece of knowledge you gain shall be used to great effect, allowing your name to resound for generations to come.’

Hearing the voice go through its usual spiel of praises, Valyr let out a faint chuckle as he thought about how this would be the last time he would be hearing it. In a way, he found the thought somewhat saddening, though that sadness soon disappeared as the voice continued onto talking about his rewards from completing the trial.

‘For your exemplary display of strength and unyielding spirit during the Trial of Myriad Aberrations, the Gates of Enlightenment has deemed your performance to be of the highest grade, allowing you to access the remaining two floors of the knowledge repository you have chosen through your token,’ said the voice.

‘Since that’s the case, what does the reward mean when it said I’d have an increased level of authority within the Gates of Enlightenment?’ Listening to the voice’s words, Valyr wondered whether his interpretation of one of his quest’s rewards was right or not. ‘Is there a secret 4th floor to the Blacksmith Knowledge Repository or would I be able to access something else besides that?’

Sadly, with him limiting the question to his mind, the voice had no reason to respond to his queries, continuing through the remaining rewards Valyr had earned from completing the trial. ‘Aside from that, the Gates of Enlightenment has no doubts that you would be successful in inheriting the path of the being known as the First Forger. Once more, whether or not you gain something from the opportunity is solely dependent on your aptitude.’

‘Lastly, as you have completed the Trial of Myriad Aberrations, the Gates of Enlightenment shall now give you a far greater portion of the power you would come to obtain in the future in advance. Make sure to it wisely.’ At these words, the young man heard a notification sound resound in his mind, prompting him to take a look at what it was. However, before he could even command the system to bring up a screen…

His vision was already engulfed by pure darkness.