Defeating the golem came with many benefits. Ones that were immediate. Its body had turned into a special magic scroll, a magic matrix, a sheet containing complex inscription patterns, and a brown magic core. These items were hovering above the ground and a barrier enclosed them inside of itself.

"I hate to say this, but congratulations for defeating the might and pride of the Avalon Empire. You've completed the Second Entrance Trial. The items in front of you are the rewards of this trial.

"By her will, I will let you divide them amongst yourself according to the contribution you made in the battle against the golem. The highest contributor gets to pick whatever he wants from the several rewards first. And only after him, can the second-highest contributor pick an item as their reward. And so on.

"I hope you follow this rule word to word, or else don't blame me for being ruthless."

The Purple Fairy Melody suddenly appeared in front of them and spoke a few words of congratulations in a bitter voice.

"Well then, who is the highest contributor?" One of them asked while looking at her.

"I will start announcing your name, starting from the highest contributor to the lowest. So, listen well!"

"First Place: Vincent Sangue!"

"Second Place: Varth."

"Third Place: Leilani."

"Fourth Place: Iris."

"Fifth Place: Nevis."

"Sixth Place: John."

Vincent, who happened to have made the most contributions in the battle against the golem, got to pick up a reward from himself before the others.

Nevis stepped close to him in a hurry, and said, "Do you remember our deal?"

"Yeah," Vincent said in a calm voice, looking at him in silence.

"It's time to uphold your words," Nevis said, telling Vincent that the time to repay him for the Divine Continent Fruit has come.

Vincent took a deep breath and said, "Which one do you need?"

Nevis pointed at the circular seal in the center of the items and said, "Please get the magic matrix for me."

"Alright," Vincent said without even a single sign of reluctance on his face.

He turned to the little fairy, pointed at the Magic Matrix, and said, "I would like to take that as my reward."

"As you wish." As soon as she finished saying those words, the energy bubble around the seal broke. Then, the seal floated towards Vincent and landed on the palm of one of his hands.

Vincent looked at it and saw its details.

[Item Name: Wood Magic Seal

Type: Magic Matrix

Description: A unique item crafted by the soul and the flesh of an ancient human of the year 2XXX. This item can integrate with the flesh of any person, allowing them to use wood magic. A person only needs to pour energy into it in order to conjure and manipulate woods. The more energy a person channels into it, the more powerful attack they can conjure.]

This was undoubtedly the most mysterious and powerful item Vincent has ever come across in his life. He would like to have it. However, he knew that Nevis needed it more than himself.

"As promised, it's yours," Vincent said as he handed over the seal to Nevis.

"Thank you, Buddy!" Nevis hugged him in excitement.

Vincent pushed him away from himself and said, "With this, our deal comes to an end."

After his turn, the other also picked up their rewards

Varth chose the magic core made out of condensed wood energy.

Leilani picked up the sheet with complicated inscription patterns and gave it to Vincent.

Iris took the weary magic scroll and gave it to John.

"Alright, now you may enter the castle," Melody said as she snapped her fingers and the gate of the castle creaked open.

"Let's go."

A moment after all of them entered the dimly lit castle, the gate closed shut with a loud bam. Then, a familiar voice sounded in their ears.

"Roam around this place as you like, but beware of the dangers that lie within. Each place comes with a problem of its own. Solve them using intellect or brutal force, and you will inch closer to the next trial ground. Good luck!"

They talked a bit with each other, trying to come up with the best way to reach the next trial ground.

Iris raised her hand and said, "I know of one. The legend in a book I once read said that the inheritance trial in the castle of roses is in its center and the fastest way to reach it is to walk in a straight path. However-"

"Let's charge straight ahead."

"Wait! Let her first finish her words."

"Ah, my bad. I was too fired up!"

"Ahem. Just like how a rose has a lot of roses, charging straight ahead means stepping on the path of thorns. It's the most difficult path in the castle of roses, one filled with the most danger." Iris finished saying her piece, waiting for them to come to a decision.

Although taking the straight path meant coming across the most dangerous situations, it was still better than going around in circles, facing a lot of enemies, and exhausting themselves.

They stepped on the red carpet which led straight into a big hall filled to the brim with monstrous slimes of a red color. Vincent acted as the vanguard of the group, while Varth guarded their rear. They hunted the slimes pretty easily. The slimes were known to be the nemesis of women and men alike. After all, they were parasitic creatures that could invade the body of anyone through their pores and take control of their bodies. Also, they couldn't be harmed by physical attacks.

However, with Vincent and Varth blasting them away from the party and Leila and Iris using ice and fire respectively to deal the finishing blow, the red slimes died one after another. Leilani first frosted their bodies. Then, Iris used fire scrolls to blast them to smithereens. Meanwhile, Nevis and John dealt with the ones that escaped through the gaps and tried to attack Leilani and Iris.

‹ You've added others in killing several dozen monsters of the first to the tenth level of the magical realm ›

‹ You've gained several hundred experience points ›

An instant after they dealt with all the slimes in the first half of the castle of roses, Vincent received a few notifications from his family heirloom. He was surprised to know that he got 700 experience points for helping others kill monsters.

'Previously, I never got any experience points for helping other kill monsters. Have the rules changed?' Vincent wondered in his mind, standing at the helm of the group.

"Phew. It took an hour but we managed to kill all of them." John said as Iris used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his face.

'These monsters were easy to kill as the combined attacks of the two women countered the entire slime race,' Vincent thought in his mind, looking at the several dozen magic cores sprawled on the floor.

"Pick up the cores they dropped! They will sell for a lot," he said.

Killing these slimes was plentiful, as they got a lot of monster cores, ones filled with fire energy and magic power.

These cores could be traded for a good amount of contribution points, and they decided to split the reward equally.

Of course, they collected all of them in their spatial rings.

[Ding! It's detected that you have succeeded in defeating the slimes of the first hall of the castle. You have earned the right to head to the second hall of the castle. Please take the portal to do so as early as you can.]

A voice sounded in their ears, and at the same time, a distribution of space occurred in the hall and a big portal opened in the center of the room.

They didn't step inside the portal immediately because they wanted to restore their magic energy. Furthermore, many of them were exhausted and their stamina was running low. They needed to rest or else it was hard to say how long they would be able to keep on moving. At the end of the day, they were merely humans in the early evolutionary stages and couldn't fight long battles and move on for hours without resting.

"Let's move on after resting for a while." John decided to rest and the rest of them agreed.

"Guys, I think that's no longer a good idea," Vincent said as he motioned them to look at their surroundings.

They looked around them and saw slimes respawning and filling the hall once again.

"Damn! Isn't this just forcing us to continue without resting for even a moment!"

The slimes came hopping towards them in order to harm them.

"What do we do? Fight or flight?"

"I would love to farm the hell out of them, but we don't have stamina, resources, or time to do such a thing. Am I right?"

"Yes, I only have around twenty fire magic scrolls left with me. I don't think we can face another wave of these monsters."

"Guess we have no choice but to make a run for it."

"Let's go!"

They didn't want to enter another brawl with the slimes, so they decided to jump into the portal. Their vision blurred after they entered the portal made out of swirling dark energy; however, clarity returned to their eyes after a moment, and they found themselves in a place brightened by a thousand of bright light coming out of round orbs.

Vincent's eyes opened wide as he realized that these were mere sources of light.

"No. These aren't orbs. They are monsters."

They were surrounded by thousands of monsters!