Chapter 36: Luck and Skill
The space around Priam stabilized.
At that moment, he found himself standing among six other people.
Among them were Flaris, Shione, Lumiere, and Gangrel. In total, only 7 out of the 43 participants had passed to the second stage of the Trial.
Priam was stunned for a second.
Out of 43 people, since each one had a different tablet, there should have been at least 10 who passed. However, the Trial area was indeed enormous, and even though everyone had been randomly sent to nearby regions, there would still be those who took strange routes and didn’t encounter enough people, or simply had terrible luck and only met people carrying tablets of the same color.
Furthermore, it was possible to destroy a tablet by pouring a large amount of Ether into it. Of course, doing so was extremely risky because it required several seconds of concentration, and an enemy trying to steal it would become furious and attack with lethal intent.
That was why none of the opponents Priam encountered had attempted to destroy their tablets. The injuries they would suffer while trying simply weren’t worth it.
These reasons could explain why there were so few survivors.
This elimination rate was absolutely shocking.
But these seven were definitely the geniuses of the clan’s generation.
Priam’s gaze immediately moved toward Gangrel, noticing a hidden flash of surprise and shock in his eyes. Obviously, seeing his two younger siblings alive and standing there, while his three allies were nowhere to be seen, was more than enough evidence that the plan had completely failed.
How?
His absolutely perfect plan.
"Cousin, we did it!" An excited voice echoed beside Priam.
He turned and looked up, meeting Flaris’s emotion-filled eyes.
Priam smiled.
"Good job. You worked very hard. But maybe we can go even further."
Flaris nodded, taking a deep breath and controlling her excitement.
There were also two other approved youths. One was a rather muscular and powerful-looking boy, and the other was a tall, slender girl. Priam didn’t know their names, but they were equally thrilled by their success.
As for Shione and Lumiere, they had genuinely noticed that something was wrong with Gangrel.
They wanted to tell him everything that had happened. After all, he was their Big Brother. Neither of them could even imagine that he might wish them harm.
But because they had promised Priam not to say anything until everything was over, they remained silent.
While everyone was still lost in their thoughts, they felt the space ripple before them.
Everyone looked forward and saw more than ten Elders appear.
Without saying a word, they simply walked ahead.
There stood a massive stone wall.
All of those Elders wore gray robes and carried stern, aged expressions. The intense light emanating from their eyes exerted such pressure that no one dared look directly at them.
Their auras were absolutely enormous.
They had released only a tiny fraction of them. Even so, that restrained feeling made them seem like volcanoes.
Once they erupted, they could destroy the land itself.
"They say the Elders and the clan’s strongest figures are all ninth-level Mage Disciples, only one step away from becoming a Mage Master," Flaris whispered to Priam.
He nodded.
Master was the third Rank of Mages, and the final one.
Beyond that, a Mage transcended and became a Sage.
However, the ninth level of a Mage Disciple was known to be the absolute limit of Mages in the Mortal plane.
That was because breaking through to the next realm required something that only existed in the Divine world.
Of course, after spending a long time at that peak level, they developed their own techniques and combat methods. Each of them possessed a different degree of strength.
The clan leader was obviously the strongest among them, despite technically being at the same level.
The pressure coming from the Elders diminished, yet the atmosphere seemed to sink even deeper, becoming unbearably oppressive.
It was as though the gates of hell had suddenly been opened.
In front of the stone wall stood an enormous staircase thirty meters tall.
All the Elders leaped upward, landing on the stone steps. They sat cross-legged and closed their eyes.
Priam was curious about what they were doing when one of them descended from the sky and landed at the top of the staircase.
The youths remained completely silent.
The atmosphere was so heavy that breathing felt difficult.
"I am Elder Raoes. I will be responsible for the second stage of the Trial, corresponding to the clan’s coming-of-age ceremony."
Raoes’s voice was like a powerful bell, filled with dignity and majesty.
Its echo reverberated against the stone wall.
He paused and looked at the seven youths.
When his eyes met Gangrel’s, he nodded in satisfaction.
Everyone considered it normal, since Gangrel was viewed as the clan’s future leader and had likely obtained something valuable.
But Priam had something else on his mind.
He felt that this Elder might be one of Gangrel’s allies and could cause trouble.
If that was the case...
What could he do?
"All of you can see that there are more than nine thousand caves behind me. That place is the location of the second stage."
Raoes pointed toward the stone wall behind him.
Following his movement, the Elders slowly opened their eyes.
Stone pillars emerged from the ground and slowly rose in front of each of them. These stone pillars were about sixty centimeters thick and reached approximately three meters in height. All kinds of strange-looking lines covered them, giving them an incredibly ancient feeling.
When those stone pillars appeared, all the Elders extended a hand and placed it on their respective pillars.
The lines at the top of the stone pillars began to glow as the Elders injected more energy into them, almost as if they were coming to life.
**BUZZ!**
When those lines became completely illuminated, a powerful hum echoed from the entire stone wall.
The ground trembled under the terrifying pressure that spread outward, as though it wanted to crush people into dust.
It was a kind of spiritual pressure that came from the depths of a person’s soul.
It involuntarily made people feel reverence and terror at the same time.
Almost no one could stop themselves from taking a few steps backward.
It was pure instinct.
But there were three people who did not retreat, remaining where they stood like calm cypress trees.
They were Gangrel, Flaris, and Priam.
Raoes looked at the three of them and nodded.
These three truly possessed immense confidence and courage.
Even Shione and Lumiere lacked something like that, having been overly pampered.
Priam sighed when he saw this.
Now that he thought about it... perhaps those two had received such poor guidance because of the influence of their Big Brother, who had wanted to suppress them from an early age.
*Crack, crack, crack...*
After the stone wall trembled, the stone doors that had completely sealed the caves began to slowly rise.
The sight was almost as if a demon were opening its eyes, and a sinister aura hung in the air, making people shudder.
The interiors of the caves were completely dark, preventing anyone from seeing what lay inside.
Only through the light from the stone pillars could they make out that there were inscription runes above each cave entrance.
"Each cave contains a random challenge, and all of you will be sent in simultaneously. The challenges vary greatly in difficulty. If you succeed, you will receive a score assigned by the clan’s inscription. The inscription is completely impartial and judges according to direct criteria: it will evaluate the time taken to overcome the challenge based on its difficulty, as well as the severity of the injuries suffered. In other words, even if you are unlucky enough to receive an easy challenge, if you clear it instantly, you may earn the same score as someone who encountered a challenge many times more difficult."
The Elder explained slowly, causing the expressions in the seven youths’ eyes to change.
"In summary, this second phase evaluates your performance. However, although the scoring is fair, the risk to your life is completely unequal, as you can imagine. Naturally, this is intentional. Geniuses are not rare in the world, and every genius is different, possessing different talents. Our clan needs to find the Supreme Genius, but it must be the one who possesses the abilities our leader desires most."
"With nine thousand caves and only seven participants, the probability of encountering a challenge that exposes your weakness is almost guaranteed. The test does not judge only who is strongest, but who is the most versatile... and also who has a little luck. In the end, regardless of the score difference, only first and second place will advance to the final stage."
All seven sighed in understanding.
They were no longer going to complain about fairness, because they had already realized that such a thing never truly existed.
The main factors here were luck and individual ability.
"But before this Trial begins, I need to tell you something important. Listen carefully, because it will concern your lives and deaths in the future."
Raoes looked at everyone solemnly.
Those two words, life and death, echoed through the minds of the young participants, striking their hearts like hammers.
