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The Gates closed behind Surtr and his group, as they faced the tower's interior, finding themselves within a hollow interior filled with bright crystals, stones, and pools of lava everywhere.
A large monolith in the shape of a fire giant slowly started to glow, and from within, the manifestation of the Venerable of Flames' Will emerged.
FLUOOOSH!
"So you're the ones that have come to do the very last trial, interesting." He laughed. "I can assume the very last Fire Dragon is the leader, is it?"
Everyone around the group agreed, nodding in unison.
"You're the Venerable of Flames, right?" Surtr asked. "What is the trial going to be about? Is it going to be similar to the one my Master went through?"
"Oh, you mean the Trial of Strength?" Wondered the Venerable. "Well, no. Every Trial is different, they're actually not the same. The Trial of Strength was the most brutal, but it seems I underestimated the strength that the Dragon King had… Now, you're going to go through the Trial of Endurance!"
"T-Trial of Endurance?!" Mina asked. "I don't have a good feeling about this one…"
"Don't be a coward and face it head-on, Mina." Nadia said, crossing her arms. "So what is it about?"
"We're ready for anything, no matter what!" Jamar said energetically.
"Heh, looks like your companions aren't half bad, I must admit." Laughed the Venerable. "And the Dragon King has lend you some of his companions as well. Let's see if you're prepared for what this Trial truly is…"
TRUUUMMM…!
Suddenly, several magic circles started to emerge across the entire Floor, as the Flame Emperor started to laugh.
"It is not the hardest of Trials, but for those that are weakhearted or lazy, it might be their end." Laughed the Flame Emperor. "This Tower is actually made up of one hundred floors, defeat the monsters of every floor, with one Boss Monster every 10 Floors to win! There is no time limit, but this is a Trial that will wear down even the mightiest of warriors' stamina!"
"Hoh, so it's like a game where you conquer a tower!" Surtr seemed overly excited, quickly transforming into his gigantic dragon form, over fifty Divine Monsters beginning to be summoned. "This is perfect to earn EXP! I really wanted to train much more! Alright everyone, let's do our best!"
"Huh?" The Flame Emperor was perplexed, every other warrior that had tried this trial despaired after hearing the monumental task it was.
Yet someone like Surtr, who used to be a young gamer, loved these repetitive, monotonous things that were common in many video games, especially the MMORPGs he used to play.
And it was also the perfect time for him to gain much needed EXP, for his unique Divine Construct similar to a System to help him Level Up quickly, rapidly advancing his Divine Core Cultivation!
"Hey, can we keep the corpses and drops from the monsters?" Asked Surtr.
"Eh? Sure…" The Flame Emperor muttered, his flame body wondering what was inside the head of this dragon to be so crazy as to find something like this enjoyable!
"Alright! Let's do this!"
Surtr rushed forward, leading his group of over thirteen warriors, including his own team, his gigantic blazing fists clashed against a large hawk covered in flames, pulverizing the bird into the ground!
BAAAAMMM!!
.
.
.
Leaving Surtr to his trial alongside Agni and his sister, we moved back into the jungles. Accompanying me were my daughters, Benladann, and Miranda. Alongside them there was a small team of my Elites, that decided to stretch their legs a bit for once, this included Yuki, Hector, Larzak, Kraxka, Ruby, his mother, Rakasha, Pekora and Tisha.
The Lizardmen were especially excited about these jungles, as they reminded them of their home. They were waving their tails all around, barely noticing how they were hitting us with them all the time. They were smelling the wet and hot air and feeling right at home.
"These jungles really hit home; I feel nostalgic even if I have never been in these lands before." Kraxka sighed, smiling faintly.
"Indeed… It really feels like home. I wonder what sorts of tribes could be living in here." Larzak commented, rubbing his chin. "Lord Drake, you said you could sense some footsteps from afar?"
"I said it!" Miranda said. "And yeah, as my powers have developed and evolved, like other fungus, I can expand my roots across the underground, and parasitize trees and other plants to absorb their nutrients, at the same time, I get to share their senses. And their senses are telling me there's a bunch of people wandering around, shaping the jungle."
"T-That's a terrifying power… I hope you don't turn us into mushroom zombies." Said Yuki, feeling a bit creeped out.
"Aw come on, I've already stopped being a monstrous virus-like aberration long ago!" Miranda said angrily, crossing her arms. "Look at me, I even evolved in some kind of Demon Spirit… or something, I'm not really sure myself."
"Come to think of it, Pandemonium and his Demons aren't the first time we see one, after all Miranda, on her evolution, was qualified as a Demon and a Spirit, right?" Benladann wondered. "I wonder if she's a true Demon like those guys, or a different kind of Demon."
["The Evolution Tickets transform and help the bodies evolve into their strongest forms. Though it only works on Spirits, Miranda's composition is similar to a Spirit because she's a demi-physical ethereal being that originates from Benladann's soul… Or that's what I think."]
"Huh, so my greatest potential was turning into a Demon?" Miranda felt a bit offended by that. "Ah, well… whatever."
Evolution Tickets… The special rewards we got in the Yggdrasil Dream Dungeon. I still have the last Divine Spirit Creation Ticket, as I had used the three evolution tickets on Belle, Gabriel, and Rose to help them evolve into higher ranked Spirits, which even helped them develop new Divine Abilities too.
I'm still debating in what I should use this last Ticket, I want to make a powerful Spirit, but I first need to gather proper materials…
"There's something coming from the southwest." Miranda suddenly got really serious. "Something… huge, and strong!"
TRUM! TRUM! TRUM! TRUM!
Suddenly, the entire jungle started to tremble, as something gigantic emerged!
Something gigantic and… fluffy?!
"HEEEELP! HELP MEEEEE!"
What is that thing?!
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