1118 Trial begins



Liam sneered inwardly at the several elves who were all staring daggers at him. They were unable to digest the fact that he had somehow wormed his way in here. He could see the bloodthirst in their eyes, already plotting to kill him once they were able to leave this space.

However, what they did not know was that Liam had only stepped into this place after ample preparations.

When he had first connected with the soul blood beasts, he could barely understand anything. However, after repeatedly connecting with them and attempting to control them, he was finally able to decipher a few things apart from their crazed roars.

Unlike Liam or the elves, these beasts had roamed about this world for years and years, spanning centuries. They knew several places in these ruins. For instance, even the inheritance site he was standing on, the shrine, was well known to the soul-blood beasts.

The elven ancestor's soul which Liam had packed away into a white marble had actually not given him the right location. It was these soul-blood beasts who had given him the correct location.

They were also the ones who told him about the elven ancestor soul fragment that was managing this particular inheritance site. What elves. What humans. The elven ancestor had even allowed these soul-blood beasts to attempt the test!

Suffering from acute boredom and no one to talk to, the soul fragment was not picky at all. If the ancestor had wanted, he could have straight away blocked Liam from entering the trial site which is what he had done for these soul-blood beasts in the beginning.

But as years went by slowly he started letting everyone in including the numerous other beasts that roamed about here.

Liam had a stinking suspicion that the drake who had attacked him with the strong mental attack, making him feel hopelessness and despair, coming this close to defeating him without even lifting a finger, had actually visited one of these inheritance sites and gained that strong mental attack.

However, he did not want to touch that soul just yet. Instead he had spent hours communicating with these soul-blood beasts and learning more about this hidden world. Thanks to that, he was able to learn many key aspects about this world, the first being...

The elves had direct access to this world because this world had originally belonged to their world and tore apart from that as a result of the intense battle between these supreme figures.

However, that was not the only entrance and exit to this world. This space was apparently fractured in many places and he could potentially escape to the elven B-Ranked world Tirnanog using any one of these fractures.

The soul-blood beasts even had the information of where exactly one such fracture was.

This gave Liam a lot of ideas. He now basically had a means to escape from here, not coming into contact with the dangerous beasts or the elves who were all around him.

But he was not planning on leaving just yet.

Liam also did not plan on looting all the inheritances. That would be greedy and ultimately result in his demise. Instead, he settled on something in between. He wanted to try and obtain just one other inheritance before leaving this place for now.

That was when he had obtained another crucial piece of information from the soul-blood beasts. Apart from giving him the location of the nearest inheritance site, they also informed Liam about another place that he could use, a training center.

Or more specifically, a training temple.

Liam cautiously checked the place out and indeed the information the soul-blood beasts provided was correct. Inside the building there was a time dilation training array that allowed him to train fifty times more efficiently.

For every hour, he was able to train for fifty hours. This was an immense advantage that Liam couldn't afford to pass up. He needed time more than anything now and he used this chance to do what was needed.

He commanded the soul-blood beasts to enter the training array with him and then he started. Thanks to his soul healing a decent amount for the time being, he began experimenting with the soul-blood beasts.

Using his own soul army as comparison, he was able to glean multiple insights by studying both of them together. His understanding of soul fragments and soul energy that had stagnated for quite a while, now improved by leaps and bounds.

Combined with the time dilation array, he ended up making remarkable progress. He was first able to steadily control and command a single soul-blood beast. Then he was able to control two and then three and finally he was able to hold about thirty five beasts under his control.

This number might be much smaller than his soul army but every one of these beasts were Level 500 and above which made them a much bigger threat.

After several attempts his control over the army increased to such an extent that he was actually able to summon them and dismiss them just like his soul army.

Liam then attempted to defeat a few beasts that lumbered about near their location. The first two attempts were successful, giving him and his soul army a generous boost in experience points. 

However, the third attempt became dangerous when the beast in question ignored all the soul minions and came directly for him.

Liam immediately understood that he was gravely underestimating the beasts in the realm. They were just as dangerous as the elves. He decided to stop pushing his luck and take just one swing at the inheritance before fleeing to safer grounds.

However, to his disappointment, the inheritance site was not opening up for him. To make matters worse, several elves had surrounded him. It was then that he hatched a new plan and when everything was in motion, he acted as if he was completely unaware of the elves.

Now he was waiting for a disturbance to make his move when the first chubby elf he had met unexpectedly returned and created this disturbance.

Everything worked out perfectly and they were all currently inside the inheritance space which was where the main trial took place.

Liam calmly settled himself and steadied his mind. Unfortunately, the soul-blood beasts could help him only until here. They had no memory of anything that happened inside the inheritance site.

The elven ancestor probably never intended to hand over his inheritance to any of these beasts in the first place. Just like how he would never give Liam this inheritance. That was why Liam's main goal in coming here was not to attain whatever was here but to grab the soul itself!

As for the elves who were ready to decimate him once this space ceased to exist, he had another plan for them.

While Liam continued to observe the surroundings and probe to see how strong this particular elder's soul was, the elder's voice once again boomed loudly.

"Prepare yourself. The trial begins now."

The next second a huge monolith descended in the midst of the space. The monolith had glowing symbols etched on its surface which gave off a profound feeling.

Liam frowned. This was bad. He did not understand the language of the elves which would immediately put him at a disadvantage.

However, that did not seem to be the case. When he stared at the symbols, a strange feeling began to grip him and he started seeing or rather feeling an image.

It was the image of a young elf who was bullied and beaten up. This elf was a commoner with no backing or wealth. He also did not have a strong elemental affinity and physique. He was not blessed like the other elves.

However, he had a strong spirit. He had a fire within him that burned brightly. As years passed, the elf slowly chiseled himself to become someone average. He was no longer looked down upon and he was no longer stepped on.

But the elf was not satisfied with just this much. He craved more. He wanted to become someone dazzling and brilliant just like the elves whom he looked up to. He wanted to change more.

This elf worked really hard to achieve his goals. He burned the midnight oil, never allowed himself to relax even for a moment and finally, he found out that he had talent in something.

Liam's eyes widened as he saw what the elf was talented in. It was smithing!

When he had first entered this inheritance site, he assumed that this would also be similar to the last one and perhaps he would gain an understanding of another element. 

However, from what he had seen he could tell that this elder was more proud about his smithing than anything else. 

No wonder it was this skill that he decided to pass down as an inheritance using whatever bit of soul energy that he could spare.