Chapter 63: Trials
Raven looked up.
An owl drifted down from the sky, passing through the dome like it wasn't there. It perched atop the monolith, feathers shimmering like woven starlight. Its eyes were entire galaxies—dark, ancient, endless.
"Who are you?" Raven demanded.
The owl blinked.
"Do you have time to ask questions?"
Ten lights materialized around the altar—stretching, warping—
Ten goblins stepped into existence, each armed differently, each bristling with killing intent.
Their eyes burned with furious malice.
Raven didn't hesitate.
I can't waste stamina.
He inhaled deeply.
Then exhaled—
A swirling jet of icy mist roared out, devouring the goblins in a freezing wave. Their bodies crystallized instantly.
Raven moved.
Frozen Ender gleamed—a silver blur. Each strike shattered a frozen body, spraying icy shards across the clearing.
In seconds, all ten goblins were gone.
Light particles floated up like dying stars.
The owl tilted its head.
"Impressive."
Raven ignored it.
Because three more lights were already forming.
This time, the ground trembled as they took shape.
Three massive forms—two to three meters tall each—pigs' heads, muscular torsos, thick hide armor.
Orcs.
Raven's pulse steadied.
He moved first.
The club-wielding orc charged, weapon raised.
Raven slipped behind it, stabbing deep into its lower back.
A roar of rage and a wild swing.
He flipped backward—barely avoiding being crushed.
The axe-wielder swung next—heavy, reckless.
Raven sidestepped. The axe drove into the soil with a crash.
A perfect opening appeared in his sight.
He flooded Frozen Ender with the Frozen Lance skill.
A crescent blade of ice shot outward—
SHRRK.
The orc split into two, dissolving before it hit the ground.
The chain mace wielder howled, whipping its weapon.
The chain sliced through the air with killing force.
Raven ducked under it, rolled forward, and thrust upward.
The spear punched through the throat.
A twist and then tore it from within before killing it.
The last orc—the club wielder—charged in blind fury.
Raven blocked, the impact numbing his arms.
Strong.
Far stronger than anything a low-ranked walker should handle.
He drew a deep breath, slid low, and unleashed a barrage of rapid strikes at its legs. Frost bloomed on its skin—numbing, slowing, freezing.
The beast fell to a knee.
With a final leap, Raven drove Frozen Ender through its skull.
Light scattered across the altar.
Then—
Silence again.
Raven stood upright, chest rising slowly, eyes fixed on the altar's center.
Something else was coming.
Just as Raven feared, the altar pulsed again.
A white beam lanced upward, gathering at the center before collapsing into the shape of a man—no, a warrior—encased in heavy armor.
The moment Raven's monocle activated, his expression hardened.
A Radiant Undead Knight.
This one was different from the others.
No ragged gear or exposed bone.
A full set of black armor sealed its body, a helm hiding everything but a faint glow behind the visor. In its gauntlets, it carried a longsword and shield.
The undead knight raised its sword.
A blinding golden radiance erupted along the blade.
Raven's face stiffened.
Intermediate Sword Aura.
Clashing head-on meant death.
He tightened his grip on Frozen Ender and dashed forward instead.
Mid-sprint, he flung several pieces of clothing from his inventory, turning the air into a fluttering curtain of fabric.
The knight didn't hesitate.
SHRRRING—!
A wave of rippling sword energy exploded outward, shredding every cloth scrap in a violent cyclone.
When the light faded, the knight scanned the space—only to freeze.
The human was gone.
No—he was behind it.
The Undead Knight turned just in time to see Raven swinging at empty air—fighting nothing.
At the same time, it felt another shadow appeared behind it.
Before the knight could process it, the world twisted.
The ground rotated.
The horizon spun.
And then—
FLASH.
It disintegrated into bursting white motes.
The crystalline owl hooted sharply, feathers shimmering like shards of moonlight.
"Hoooot! You've already learned Elapsed Time? Now that was glorious."
It bobbed its head, clearly delighted.
"Well then. On to the next trial."
Raven's shoulders tensed.
Another burst of light gathered at the altar's center.
He gritted his teeth.
This trial won't end…
The light stretched into a small humanoid figure draped in robes, a staff clutched in its thin hands.
"A goblin wizard?" Raven whispered.
But its aura told the real story—
An Acolyte Shaman.
The crystal atop its staff crackled.
Before Raven could brace—
ZAP!
Lightning tore across the altar, slamming into Raven's chest and paralyzing him instantly.
His muscles locked.
Breath froze in his lungs.
No good!
He couldn't lift a finger—but he didn't need to.
He activated a bloodline spell the instant the paralysis hit.
His vision narrowed.
His body shimmered.
The goblin clutched its chest, staggering as a phantom pain tore through it.
Its vision blurred, legs wobbling.
Raven's appearance distorted—his disguised face melting away.
And on his forehead—
A vertical slit formed.
Then opened.
Revealing a blood-red eye burning with crackling lightning.
BOOOOOOM—!!
A blast of crimson lightning erupted from Raven's third eye, vaporizing the goblin shaman's head in one devastating strike.
Its body dissolved into drifting light.
"That… was too close," Raven muttered as the paralysis faded.
But the owl didn't give him a heartbeat to breathe.
The altar lit up again.
…
Two new figures emerged.
And Raven's face lost all color.
One was an orc shaman—robes, a staff, and two bloodline skills flickering around it: Fireball and Dark Chains.
The second—
A towering orc warrior.
Broadsword, shield, bone crown.
Strength like a boulder, muscles rippling with raw power.
Raven's monocle fed him the stats:
Strength 21. Agility 12. Vitality 30.
Bloodline spells flared inside it—
Blood Fury. Primal Regeneration. Hunting Instinct. Feral Leap.
Magical Beasts!
Before Raven could prepare—
CLANK!!
Black chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around his legs, torso, arms—binding him completely.
The orc warrior vanished.
Reappeared in front of him.
Broadsword raised—
Sunshine aura coating the blade.
Death descended like a shadow.
Raven's body couldn't move.
But his mind could.
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"Shadow Shift."
SWOOP—!!
His body melted into a shadow—vanishing.
The orc warrior froze.
In front of its blade now stood the orc shaman.
Eyes wide.
It didn't even have time to scream.
SLASH!!
The orc warrior's shining broadsword cleaved its ally clean in half.
The shaman burst into light.
Raven reappeared behind the warrior, breath sharp.
The warrior roared, bloodline flaring.
Its muscles bulged.
Veins glowed crimson.
Its speed doubled.
It blurred.
Raven tried to counter with Blood Control, seizing control of the orc's flowing blood—slowing it, redirecting it—
But it wasn't enough.
The orc slashed.
Raven moved—
Too slow.
SHHKK—!!
A deep cut tore across his arm, warm blood spilling onto the snow.
He staggered back, face pale.
The warrior lunged again.
Raven inhaled sharply—
"Frost Breath!"
A wave of icy wind burst from his mouth, engulfing the orc. Freezing air wrapped its body in layers of crystalline frost.
But only for five seconds.
Cracks splintered across the ice.
Faster, Raven told himself. I need to act faster.
He raised his blood-coated spear—sunshine aura shimmering along its edge.
The ice shattered.
Raven struck.
The aura tore through the orc's chest and pierced its heart.
The orc screamed—ripped the spear out—and instantly regenerated, bloodline spells flaring like wildfire.
Raven's wound healed just as fast, his arm knitting back together.
The owl watched from above.
"Hoo… back to square one, are we?"
But Raven was smiling again.
The orc, however, blinked in confusion.
Its vision blurred.
Its legs wobbled.
Purple-blue blotches formed on its skin.
Poison.
"When?" the owl asked, genuinely baffled.
Raven didn't answer.
He charged like a panther.
The spear flashed like lightning and sliced clean through the orc's neck.
The beast collapsed, dissolving into pale light.
Raven exhaled heavily.
His gaze drifted to the owl—hard, tired, and done.
"Is it over?"
The owl blinked once.
Twice.
"I wonder."
Its tone was far too playful.
"You look a bit exhausted. Let's try something real this time, shall we?"
Raven stiffened.
'It's playing with me.'
[Endure. That creature is far beyond your level. All you can do is pass its games.]
'I'm… at my limit.'
The altar ignited.
A summoning circle appeared—its glow deep red, pulsing like a heartbeat.
[Kid… that owl is summoning a real being.]
Raven's breath hitched.
The light dimmed.
And standing in the center was a pale, black-haired man in a black morning coat.
Around fifty, crimson eyes and a small chevron mustache.
A black cane gripped in one hand.
He looked confused.
And very, very real.
Meanwhile, a row of information snapped into place before Raven's eye.
…
[Status Window Detected]
Name: Billy Morgan (Lucian Graves)
Age: 145
Race: Vampire
Origin: Zarovich's Fortress, Zenith Empire
Affiliation: Butler of Concubine Inna — Servant of Duke Zarovich
Title: The Night Servant
Class: Warlock Rank-2 (Baronet) — 3rd Circle
Health: Normal
Attributes:
• Strength — 32
• Agility — 34
• Vitality — 35
• Luck — 10
• Spirit — 68
Bloodline Spells:
Rank 1: Crimson Blade, Blood Puppet, Vampiric Regeneration, Sanguine Mirage, Blood Curse, Blood Drain
Rank 2: Bloody Mist, Vampiric Gaze, Blood Bond
Skills:
• Intermediate Swordsmanship
Affinities:
• Blood (High)
• Sword (Low)
• Shadow (Intermediate)
Vampire.
Raven's heart stopped for half a beat.
Lucian's crimson eyes slid toward him.
"Where is this? And who are you, boy?"
Before Raven could answer, a ripple of unseen power swept through the altar and shattered the Sanguine Mirage cloaking the Vampire's true form.
Lucian's appearance warped.
His ears sharpened into points.
His skin drained into ghost-pale white.
Fangs slid down past his lips.
His nails turned long and razor-thin.
He looked at his own hands.
Then at Raven.
"Haa… What kind of cursed place is this?"
His eyes narrowed.
"No matter. You'll talk."
Lucian vanished.
Or rather—Raven saw him move, a streak of high-speed motion thanks to Mind Eye, and understood instantly:
Equal to Jacob. Maybe stronger.
Lucian materialized in front of him, one hand clamping around Raven's neck. He lifted him effortlessly.
"Speak, child—"
A silver gleam flashed.
Lucian's eyes widened—he twisted aside as Raven's silver spear nearly skewered his head.
He looked at his hand.
The boy he was holding shattered like broken mirrors, shards scattering before fading into nothingness.
An illusion.
Lucian spun, stunned.
"What manner of creature are you?"
Raven didn't answer. He had already retreated, hand diving into his inventory.
A green vial.
Gulp.
A surge of raw strength flooded his veins.
Then a dark-blue vial.
Another gulp.
His muscles tightened. His breathing steadied. His vision sharpened.
Strength… 28 points. Agility… 27.
Still below Lucian, but enough to survive.
The fractured illusion around him crumbled fully, revealing his exact position.
Lucian clicked his tongue and drew the rapier hidden within his cane, spinning it with aristocratic grace.
"You're full of surprises, boy."
His voice dripped with annoyance. "Tell me how you brought me here."
Raven had no time for talk.
'Zera. Weaknesses. Now.'
[Sunlight. Silver. Light magic. Fire. Ice, if you freeze their cells fast enough. Your spear is already a natural bane.]
'Why silver?'
[Old lunar myths. Silver holds the moon. Moon governs tides—and blood. Who cares why? It works.]
Good enough.
Raven lunged.
Ice-elemental energy zipped along his spear as he infused aura into the strike. Lucian parried—but the moment the silver edge scraped his skin, he hissed as frost spider-webbed across the wound.
"You little pest," Lucian growled.
They clashed again.
Raven's strikes were fast—too fast for his actual physical rank. Mind Eye amplified his perception until Lucian's movements felt almost predictable. Each attack targeted a tendon, a joint, a nerve cluster.
He cut.
He froze.
He retreated.
He baited.
Despite being far weaker, Raven fought with a terrifying efficiency.
Lucian soon found several frozen lacerations on his arms and chest. His breaths grew sharper.
"This… is becoming irritating."
He suddenly surged forward, forcing Raven back with a violent, spiraling rapier thrust.
"Raw power won't save you."
A red fog seeped out from beneath Lucian's feet, spreading like a living organism.
Raven's instincts screamed.
The fog swallowed the altar in seconds.
"Bloody Mist," Lucian whispered with a grin. "Let's see how long you last."
…
The world turned crimson.
Raven's vision dropped to barely a few meters. Breathing felt like sucking in warm blood. A whispering presence slithered around him—an ancient, predatory awareness.
A shadow moved—
Raven's heart stopped.
Fear stabbed into his spine.
Vampiric Gaze.
Hallucinations crashed over him like a tidal wave. The forest spun. The altar twisted. Shapes flickered at the corners of his eyes.
Something cut the air.
A 30-meter crescent blade of blood shot toward his throat.
Sht—I can't dodge!*
Raven threw everything into Iron Resilience, bracing himself, crossing both arms and spear—
The blood blade slammed into him.
His arms split open to the bone.
His clothes tore.
Blood flowed freely, bathing him in crimson.
But pain didn't take over.
His mind cooled, his heartbeat steadied, and fear faded entirely.
Iron Resilience worked.
He kept his expression twisted in terror.
And waited.
Footsteps. Soft, confident.
Lucian emerged from the fog like a phantom, a gentleman's smile stretching across his pale face.
"Enough playtime. Let me turn you into a proper puppet—"
He reached for Raven's neck.
The vertical slit on Raven's forehead opened.
Lucian froze.
"Wha—"
BOOOOOM!!!
A beam of red lightning burst from Raven's third eye and drilled straight into the Vampire's head.
Lucian's skull exploded like a crushed fruit.
His body staggered backward, collapsing onto the altar and twitching for several seconds before falling still.
Raven panted—weak, trembling.
Is he… dead?
His hands throbbed violently. New tissue crawled beneath his skin, knitting the wounds together painfully slowly.
Zera's voice echoed.
[Store the body. Quickly.]
Raven dragged himself toward the corpse, touched it, and stored the remains inside his inventory.
He collapsed.
A playful voice echoed from above.
"Marvelous. Truly marvelous."
The invisible dome shattered, dissolving into drifting motes of light.
The crystalline owl swooped down with a chilling shriek.
"Surrender your soul core," it whispered.
"And become a part of me."
A silver blur—
The owl shot straight into Raven's chest, slipping into his mind like a blade of light.
Inside the Soul
The owl found itself in a world it didn't expect.
A magnificent expanse of endless emerald forest.
A sky painted with drifting nebulae.
And above—all-encompassing—floated a massive sphere of rotating runes and blazing fire…
A miniature sun.
"What… is this place?" the owl whispered.
This was no child's imagination.
This was a domain.
A presence stirred.
"A Will… of an artifact?" the owl muttered, feeling something ancient tugging on its existence.
Time slowed.
No—time froze.
The owl's magic had triggered on its own—Time Stop—but nothing in the world actually stopped.
Someone had overridden it.
An elegant elven woman floated in the air before it, floral gown billowing like divine silk.
Zera.
And she was smiling politely.
"Why are you trespassing in my owner's soul?"
She didn't wait for an answer.
Reddish chains of fire burst from her palm, wrapping the owl and binding it in a cage.
The chains glowed with temporal power—the Law of Time woven into their runes.
The owl panicked.
"Impossible! You—"
A second layer of chains—purple fire—sealed over the first.
Zera flicked her finger.
"If you touch those chains, your memories will burn away. Please wait obediently. We'll talk after my master wakes up."
She lifted the cage and vanished.
Morning
Raven woke to soft sunlight and a throbbing headache.
He lay on the ruined altar, dried blood caking his clothes.
"What… happened?"
He remembered the owl diving into him. Then darkness.
Zera's voice soothed him.
[You're awake early. Good. I left a gift for you in the Memory Library. But first—leave the forest.]
Raven exhaled and pushed himself upright.
His clothes were soaked in dried blood.
He smelled like a corpse.
"If I enter the city like this, they'll arrest me on sight."
He stripped off the clothes, pulled two small water barrels from his inventory, and washed himself thoroughly.
Zera clicked her tongue.
[I keep telling you—store a big water barrel. Enough rations for years. Anything can happen at any moment.]
"True," Raven muttered.
"And with the coming war… we'll need everything."
The future he saw in the dreamworld flashed before him.
The first catastrophy, the war between Zenith and Viser.
Happened around Year 1430 Rune Era, 70 million deaths, and 5% of the Empire gone.
1440 — The Great Famine, resulting in climate collapse, rivers drying, and glaciers melting.
350 million dead.
1552 — The Black Death, the worst of all.
A mystery even the dreamworld never explained.
'I need to make preparations for the future.'
He changed into fresh clothes and headed out.
A few wolves and goblins tried their luck along the way—he dispatched them like an afterthought.