The Test of Will was rather straightforward. Just keep going until you couldn't, so there were no changes or alterations. Everything went as one would expect, with Darius pulling along as far as he could by shutting down his senses and leaving his brain with a single command to keep walking until he died.
That was his way of avoiding unnecessary torment.
A normal person with 10 Int, which this realm seemed to limit all challengers to, would not be able to do this easily. However, someone who had controlled his brain like a supercomputer could achieve this with ease because he knew how.
For Darius, time never passed since the moment he closed off his mind. One second he was in a sort of mental darkness/coma-like state, and the next he awoke in the chamber within the Tower of Spirits again.
He noticed that Gunner and 10 others awoke alongside him, yet Xela was still sleeping with her brows scrunched in extreme discomfort.
Darius sighed as he didn't expect the Elven Princess to pass the Test of Will with her upbringing and soft nature.
It wasn't that she was weak. Even Darius knew he couldn't have easily passed with his pampered life of wealth on Earth compared to those who lived in this horrible desert land day to day, but he had found a clever loophole to pass.
After all, the Test of Will would only end in one of two ways, either if one gave up... or when one died.
The goal was to persevere until one died, because it would be too ridiculous to expect people to behave like those characters in Earth's anime who would rise up after having their bones broken and their lives practically reaped through 'willpower'.
Darius noticed that by now the incense of the first batch had disappeared. The 70 or so of them who had not awoken with Darius and co rose to their feet with a dazed expression and walked out of the room after a white light shone over their heads.
Darius frowned deeply as it seemed his speculation was correct. This tower did indeed erase memories of what went on in here if you failed, which was interesting.
Darius gazed at Xela and her batch to see that they were still seated. He wondered if such a method would work on the Elven Princess with her stats, affiliations, and most importantly, with the Supreme System at the helm.
Darius then saw that their incenses were swapped again. This time, the color was a yellow hue, and the smoke soon wafted into the nose of the 12 who had already passed the previous test.
He allowed himself to sink into the abyss that led to the mental world for this new test.
............….
Darius woke up in a courtroom of some sort. It was open with many outlets to the outside but its size was actually quite small. It was surrounded on the left, right, and back by rows of well-arranged cushions placed atop colorful mats.
Before Darius was a high table with a paramount seat and two subordinate seats on either side. Within these seats were three men with a stern expression and premier wear as they glared at him.
Darius also noticed that the courtroom was packed with people. Those who could sit on the cushions were well dressed, but were split into two groups.
Those on the left wore a yellowish thaub with a symbol of a lion on their left breast while those on the right wore a reddish thaub with the symbol of an eagle on their right breast.
Outside the court were hundreds of normal people who were squeezed everywhere to try and spectate what was going on. It seemed that whatever this case involved, it was quite the big deal.
Darius noticed that he wore a red thaub with the eagle sigil, meaning he was either a part of - or at least affiliated with - the clan/family on the right while the person to his left - which was a beautiful woman who was being held by an older woman as she sobbed - wore a yellow thaub, meaning they were with the lion sigil clan/family.
The head judge smashed the gavel to quieten the courtroom and glared at everyone, making their necks shrink. He then gazed at Darius coldly and spoke.
"Young Heir of the Stone Eashira, you are brought before this court today on the accusation of rape against the Young Mistress of the Silica Eashira. How do you plead?"
Darius showed no outward change of expression, but inside his emotions swirled in a steady but calm whirlpool. He had to praise the tower, for it had done really well, using something very personal to him to test his Fortitude.
As someone who used to hate and distrust women because of the evils done to him and his father, using something like this was a perfect way to test him.
In fact, the tower had gone the extra mile and somehow extracted his memory of the ordeal he had undergone when his girlfriend had accused him of exactly this act.
He looked to his left briefly and saw that while she was covered by what should be her mother who was glaring at him with hatred and accusation, the form and voice of the crying lass should be that of his ex-girlfriend, Joan Silica.
She had been an exotic Franco-Italian beauty who had been more beautiful than all women Darius had interacted with, with the exception of Deia who had far surpassed her. She had a cold and very unapproachable personality, but had become infatuated with Darius, having noticed him due to the way he had dressed and later on falling for his maturity.
It had been a standard sort of relationship/attraction, completely different to the one he had shared with Deia that had been tempered with some life and death action which had fortified their reliance on each other.
Darius sighed internally. The tower may not even have read his memories, but simply prompted his subconscious to create a scenario using his own memories. If that was the case, then the general situation should be the same as last time.
As such, Darius raised his head and gazed at the stoic judge who did not seem in a hurry to pass judgment just yet.
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