After contemplating for a while about his new unique skill, Alex started walking out of the Trial Tower.
On his way out, he passed by the stone monument's ranking and saw that it had changed.
At the very top, the name that was written became 'Zero'.
That means, Alex has just become the one that cleared the 2nd Tier trial with the highest points!
"It seems like choosing the Abyss difficulty was the right choice. I don't know how the Trial Tower scores its trialists though."
Alex fell silent for a moment before saying, "I wonder if anyone else can really complete the Abyss trial…"
Alex thought about that for a few seconds before shaking his head.
"Well, since I'm the first one who was able to do it, then I guess not."
Next, Alex opened his inventory and saw that his other reward, the [Random Treasure Chest] has also arrived.
"Since there's nothing else for me to do here, it's about time I leave this place."
Taking a step forward, Alex soon saw the outside of the Trial Tower.
Closing his eyes, Alex took a deep breath.
"Hais~ I'm back~."
When he opened his eyes again, Alex turned his head in a certain direction and saw Ferri and the Flame Lion already looking back at him.
Smiling, Alex walked towards them and said, "It took me a while to clear the trial. I hope you two didn't cause any problems, huh."
Hearing Alex's words, a serious expression appeared on Ferri's face and he barked,
"Woof!"
It seems like he's telling Alex that they didn't do anything while he's gone.
Alex smiled more and rubbed Ferri's furry neck.
After playing with Ferri for a while, Alex looked at the Flame Lion next and said, "I guess you also didn't cause any trouble."
Unlike Ferri's enthusiastic mood around Alex, the Flame Lion seems to still want to maintain the last bit of dignity that it has by acting calm all the time.
It gently bowed its head to Alex in response to his words.
Alex nodded and didn't say anything more to it.
After that, Alex decided to go back to Kupido Town.
"Well then, let's try to journey back to Kupido Town on foot this time."
"Ferri, I will be riding on your back again this time."
Hearing that, Ferri began to get excited.
"Woof! Woof!"
Alex patted its head that was lowered in front of him.
"Let's go. We have to go somewhere first before we really leave Nagels."
Saying that, Alex started moving in a certain direction.
Behind him, Ferri and the Flame Lion both stood up at the same time and followed Alex.
When Alex left, a lot of eyes that had been looking at him the moment he left the Trial Tower also headed back to their respective places.
Shadow, the one that the King has ordered to gather information on Alex, has also come back to the castle.
At the Castle's throne room.
The King looked at the kneeling man wearing all black from top to bottom and said, "So, he has already come out, huh."
"Hmm, it only took him less than 24 hours to clear the 2nd Tier's trial. I'm curious as to what difficulty he chose…"
Putting on a thoughtful expression, the King tapped his finger on the throne a couple of times before turning his head back to Shadow.
Then, he said, "Shadow, continue watching Zero until you come to the conclusion whether he's someone we should recruit or dispose of."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Shadow bowed at the King before he suddenly disappeared.
Slowly looking out the window, the King muttered, "You're making me interested in you more and more, Zero…"
…
Just like the King, other factions have also received the news of Alex's completion of the 2nd Tier trial.
Exclamations came out from various directions as leaders of different organizations and family learned about Alex's trial completion.
Usually, even when a player chooses the easiest difficulty in the 2nd Tier trial, it still takes them 2 to 3 days to clear the trial.
That's why, the news of Alex coming out of the tower in less than 24 hours surprised many!
At the same time, a lot of them have also finally decided to make their moves.
"We have to hurry up and recruit this man!"
Similar words came out of various leader's mouths.
Without delay, they ordered their people to start looking for Alex all over the city.
Their movements have caused a lot of commotion within the capital for a while.
However, Alex doesn't know anything about these.
Right now, Alex is surrounded by dilapidated houses that seem like they will fall into ruin once blown by the wind.
Looking around, Alex said, "This place looks old, gloomy, and… dirty."
Alex and his two monster pets are currently in the slums.
And the reason for Alex to come here is because…
"Ah! Brother Zero, you're here!"
In one of the most dilapidated looking houses in the area, the door opened and a small girl with an obviously malnourished physique came out.
That girl is none other than Angelica!
After meeting Alex last time, Angelica came back to their house in the slums and gave the food to her brothers.
That was their first decent food in such a long time that Angelica, the oldest one, ended up crying as they ate.
Anyway, even though Angelica still looked malnourished, her aura somehow seems so much brighter than before.
Seeing her, Alex smiled and said, "I came to take you with me. Have you read everything?"
Hearing that, Angelica exclaimed in surprise and apologized, "Ah! Sorry, Brother Zero, I haven't prepared our things yet."
"Can you please wait for a second as I prepare my and my brother's things?"
When she asked that, Angelica looked nervously at Alex, scared that he would get mad at her for asking too much.
Noticing that, Alex walked closer and patted her on the head.
"Sure, take your time preparing your things."
"I will wait for you and your brothers to come out here, okay?"
The gentle warmth that comes from Alex's hand being transmitted to her head calms down Angelica's worried heart.
Nodding, she replied, "Oum!"
Seeing that she calmed down, Alex said, "Go now, prepare your things so that we can leave this place."
When saying that, Alex's eyes can't help but fall into the black ground that's been covered with dirt and other garbage.
Honestly, Alex isn't unfamiliar to this kind of environment.
After all, his house stands just near the dumpsite and even the items in his house are from that place.
It's just that Alex has noticed that this place actually has a weird smell that Alex is positive that it's toxic.
So, Alex doesn't want the kids to stay in this place any more seconds.
They are still young and their growth might get affected by this kind of thing.
Anyway, sitting with Ferri and the Flame Lion, Alex doesn't have anything to do as Angelica is preparing their things.
Turning his head at the Flame Lion, Alex said, "Before I went inside the Trial Tower, I told you that I'll be giving you a name, right?"
The Flame Lion that has a frown on its face since it entered the slums looked at Alex.
To Alex's words, it nodded calmly as a response.
"Okay, then I guess it's about time I give you a name."
"Since I have nothing to do right now, let me think about it."
Alex propped his hand on his chin and started thinking of the Flame Lion's name.
"Hmm, lion, flame… fiery, pride, king… I wonder what name would fit…"
"Ah! I know!"
Finally, after thinking long (about 3 minutes) and hard (not really), Alex has come up with what he thinks is a suitable name for the Flame Lion.
Looking at the Flame Lion, Alex smiled and said, "From now on, you'll be called Blaze!"
Nodding his head, Alex felt very satisfied with his own naming sense.
Of course, it's only him who's satisfied.
Hearing its new name, the Flame Lion looked at Alex with a blank face.
But from the look on its eyes, you can see that it seems like it wants to tell Alex not to name him with a simple name like that.
However, 'Blaze' still decided not to do so.
It's not because he's scared that Alex will beat him up if he disagrees, yeah, it's not that for sure.
While Blaze is experiencing some complex emotion and Alex is feeling happy, Angelica and three other small kids came out of the house at this time.
Alex looked at them before focusing his eyes at Angelica, saying, "Are you guys done? Are you all ready to leave now?"
Since only Angelica is a little familiar to Alex, she replied, "Yes, Brother Zero."
Clap!
Alex clapped his hands and said, "Good! Then let's leave Nagels and head out to Kupido Town immediately!"
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