Vincent woke up in the middle of the night and found Leilani in his embrace. He gently put her aside and covered her with a blanket in silence, making sure that he doesn't wake her up. He then took out the remaining Divine Continent Fruit from his inventory and consumed it. It didn't take long for the fruit to start working its wonders. The medicinal essence not only opened his second energy channel but also nourished it to maturity.

‹ You can now store 300 units of any type of energy in your body ›

Vincent looked at the state of his body, and seeing that he still needed to unlock eight more energy channels, he took a deep breath and wondered how long it would take to open all of them.

"As long as I perform well in the upcoming trials, I might come across treasures such as this one, or I might get something that helps a person open their energy channels at a faster rate. The thing is I will reach the advanced evolutionary stage once I open all my energy channels. In that stage, a person can circulate energy throughout their bodies, feeding their cells, bones, and organs with purified magic power! And the more energy one feeds their body, the stronger their body becomes." Vincent thought in his mind, revising the benefits of opening all energy channels. His physical capabilities will increase by leaps and bounds after he starts feeding purified energy to his body.

He was already freaking strong, and he found it hard to comprehend how strong he will become once he nourishes his body. Wouldn't he be able to defeat a monster lord with physical strength alone? Or fight toe to toe with a monster beyond the Lord Realm.

He stopped thinking about it, however, as he was too far away from such a goal.

A few hours later, once sunlight peeked through the canopies of the trees of the forest enveloped in dense and cloudy mist and everyone woke up and had breakfast, the Purple Moon Fairy suddenly appeared above them, calling out their names for their attention.

"Good morning, Challengers from Outside! It's time for the next trial to start. This one's far simple than the last one. You only need to prove your strength by defeating the pride and might of the Avalon Empire. Is that understood?"

John raised his hands and said, "Umm, may I ask a question?"

"Yes, what is it?" Melody asked while looking at him.

"Where is it?" he said, wondering where the thing they need to defeat is.

"Oh, I still haven't summoned it, have I? Just give me a moment!"

An instant after saying those words, Melody took out a scroll from her hand and released it, letting it drop to the ground. The moment the magic scroll touched the ground, it turned into specks of green light. These specks seeped inside the ground, vanishing from their sights. They then felt the ground below their feet trembling violently before they saw wooden branches bursting out of the ground with a loud bam.

The wooden branches were as thick as a tree, and they stretched upwards, reaching five meters in length. The branches then intertwined into one being, taking the shape of a humongous creature that was three times the size of an average person. It looked like a golem, one made out of woods, and once could see a lot of magical symbols on its body.

Melody extended her hands towards it and exclaimed, "I present to you, the Mighty Magic Golem! You need to fight and defeat it. Otherwise, you won't gain the right to enter my master's castle."

Vincent licked his lips as he used the appraisal spell matrix to appraise the golem, trying to know his enemy before the battle.

«Mighty Magic Golem»

[Type: Special Grade Magic Scroll

State: Suppressed

Strength: 180 (280)

Speed: 90 (210)

Stamina: 300 (800)

Mana: 1800 (3000)

HP: 1800/1800

Weakness: It dies once all of its Mana depletes.

Magic Matrix: Wood Bending]

Vincent felt his heart trembling in excitement and horror. He was horrified to know that the golem strength is actually above his although it is suppressed. Similarly, he was feeling excited at the mere thought of fighting it.

"We need to fight that?" John said, mouth agape and eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets. The thing didn't only look huge and strong, but merely looking at it overwhelmed and overpowered his entire being. Seeing that, Iris placed her hand on his shoulder, and John turned to look at her, only to see her giving him a look that said that everything will work out someway.

"This thing looks damn strong! My blood's boiling for battle!" Nevis felt goosebumps rising all over his body, but he felt equally excited. He was itching to fight the

"Any rewards?" Varth asked.

"Oh, yes! There are plenty of rewards for completing this trial. What they are though you will only know after defeating it. Am I forgetting something? Ah yes, one last thing before the trial starts! The one who deals the most damage to it will get to be the biggest contributor. The one with the most contribution gets to take a reward before the others. That means you can choose the best reward out of all, leaving lesser ones to the other."

"We understand. Fairy, please start the trial." Vincent said, urging the fairy to keep her words little.

"Good Luck! The trial starts after three seconds."

The moment the countdown ended, the golem raised its hands and pointed it towards them. Simultaneously, one of the magic symbols on its body glowed dimly. Then, they only saw dozens of sharp spikes manifesting around it before shooting towards them at an incredible speed.

WHOOSH

The spikes blasted towards them, moving so fast that they reached next to them in the blink of an eye. Varth was fast enough to pull the demon trigger and destroy the spike heading towards him midway, but not the others. Not just Leilani and John, but even Iris and Nevis weren't able to react in time, unable to dodge it. Their eyes opened wide in horror as they felt this is going to be the end of them.

It was at this moment that waves of blood burst forth from Vincent's back, stretching outwards and solidifying into the shape of animal tails that grabbed the end of the gigantic spikes.

The four horrified souls saw that somehow Vincent managed to stop the spikes just an inch away from their bodies and Iris dropped to her knees, shocked out of her senses.

"Snap out of it up and fight back! Don't give it a chance to use its magic matrix or else it won't end well for us!" Vincent shouted at the top of his lungs, immediately focusing more on the battle.

Whoosh

Whoosh

Whoosh

His tails yanked the spikes towards the humongous golems as he moved towards it. Varth also pulled the demon triggers twelve times in a second, shooting a round of demonic bullet towards it. Leilani, on the other hand, got pulled back to her senses after hearing Vincent's shout, and she activated her ability. Her eyes brightened up in a silvery moonlight as weapons made out of ice manifested around her. Then, as if a humongous force smashed into them, all of the weapons burst forth towards the golem, reaching it before the bullets.

The golem wasn't able to react to it. It was too slow to do anything against Leilani's ferocious attack. Ice weapons crashed on its body, making it lose its balance. The bullet then crashed on its body, tilting it backwards. And then the spikes crashed on its body, tilting it even further.

John's eyes and Iris's eyes brightened in joy as they believed that taking down the golem will become easier once it falls on its back.

BAM

However, it stomped its foot heavily on the ground, regaining its balance.

Vincent moved towards it and the crimson swords in his hands gleamed with a strong thirst for blood. He was aiming for the Golem's weakness, the magic core within its body. The golem could feel his killing intent and knew it wouldn't end well for it if he allows this person to get close to it.

The magic symbols on its body glowed once again, this time it activated two magic techniques. One created a shield that blocked the second wave of ranged attacks thrown by Leilani and Varth. The other created weapons and hurled them at Vincent.

Vincent moved to the left and jumped to the right as he dodged the sharp weapons descending from above him. The weapons missed him by a hair's breadth, penetrating the ground a step behind him. 

It only took a few seconds for him to dodge all the weapons thrown his way and reach a few steps away from it.

At the very moment, one of its hands balled into a fist and blasted towards Vincent. His vision darkened as the shadow of the gigantic fist encompassed his entire being.

However, he fearlessly charged forward with his body lowered, moving at full speed towards his death. Just when the fist was a few inches above his head, he stomped his foot on the ground, jumping to his right.

BAM