The second puppet was no stronger or smarter than the first one. He was the same, the very replica of it. It appeared in the same way and followed the same patterns. It didn't prove to be a challenge and now aware of how to deal with them, Jin didn't waste time. He had taken back the spear from the first puppet remains and was pointing towards this second one. This time, he wasn't going to pierce it. No. He slashed down at an arm and kept on using the rotation of the spear to slash continuously. Four rotations later and the puppet was separated in a total of six parts: leg 1, leg 2, arm 1, arm 2, head, torso.

It was quite creepy to see all the parts still trembling as if alive even after this but it didn't affect Jin at all. He had questions about this part of the trial. He was thinking whether or not a third puppet would ever appear if he didn't finish this one. So, he waited. And a third one did come down from the ceiling. He dispatched it in the same manner and waited again. He repeated it three more times before he became sure of it. It wasn't about ending them first or last nor was it about ending them at all. They dropped down from the ceiling in due time, every five minutes. This felt weird, Hae-Hyuk didn't mention it being this way. He recalled the words of his Master:

"Puppets will be continuously sent out until only sixteen champions are still alive. You need to defeat the puppets quickly without wasting energy. The earlier you finish them compared to your rivals, the longer you can rest after every battle"

At first, he thought that it would be about finishing them faster than the others or that the puppets would be sent according to everyone's speed or a similar mechanism. It wasn't. Instead, it was made in a fair way in which everyone would face a new puppet after the previous one every five minutes. But then, how long would this take? There was still something that he was missing. Those things were too weak compared to him and he believed every champion to be worthy rivals. As such, since he could continuously maintain a peak state throughout, wouldn't the others be able to do so as well? After all, if he dispatched the puppet in seconds, he had minutes to recuperate. He could go on for a long time like this... If not for the need of food, water and sleep, he could eternally go on... Wait, could it be about this? Being capable of dealing with deprivation of the life's needs? No. No! It could not! Hae-Hyuk would have mentioned it if it was. He wanted to win, he wouldn't have forgotten such an important detail. There had to be something else... Then, the next puppet dropped. From the same hatch...

Jin smirked.

How could he have forgotten? The goal was to climb up. Not to stay here. He dispatched the puppet and, through the use of spiritual energy, made himself stairs to climb to the hatch. He tried to open it in many ways, everything he thought of, really, to no avail. It didn't budge. He tried to destroy the rocks around it and it failed too. It seemed like the ceiling was made of a mineral he couldn't breach. Or maybe it was an array? He couldn't be certain but it was obvious he was unable to open it.

He waited for it to open naturally as it dropped a puppet. As he tried to rush through the opening, some kind of force stopped him and bounced him back down straight towards the puppet that had already jumped towards him. He had to twist his body mid-air to deflect the attack before moving on to finishing this puppet.

It wasn't the hatch either. So, what was it? That's when he heard a very loud noise from the side, beyond the walls. Was there someone having difficulties against mere puppets? He walked towards the rocky wall and listened closely. As he focused spiritual energy to his hearing sense, he managed to grasp a few sounds from seemingly far beyond the rocks. Sounds of fierce battles.

Could it be that the puppets in other caverns were different? Stronger? Was there such a mechanism? This was unlikely but then again, why not? Still, Hae-Hyuk would have mentioned it. He didn't. So, it shouldn't be like that. What could it be then?

It was at that moment that a weird idea popped up in his head. He made a fist and condensed a little energy into it, then he punched at the wall...And it broke a bit. He frowned as he understood the implications. The ceiling would not collapse, completely stopping them from going up. However, the walls could be broken. They could go into the caverns of other champions. This meant many things but one thing was certain, this was no longer a battle solely against the puppets. It was a giant battle royal inside a rocky maze, with bonus puppet opponents.

Endurance didn't mean to survive waves of puppets or be the last one standing after overcoming hunger, thirst and sleepiness. It meant having endured until the others were dead.

With determined steps, Jin walked...back to the center of his cavern.

Why should he go out of his way to fight other champions? Let them kill each other. He only needed to be one of the last sixteen to proceed higher anyways. He was likely not the only one thinking so. But many seemed to think otherwise.

This was the case of the dark tiger. He grasped the peculiarity of the trial relatively earlier than others due to the intervention of another champion in his cavern. He didn't try to break a wall though, he broke the door that sealed him inside the mountain. He went out once more and laughed as he did.

Whatever rules were placed, there was only one in reality: the strong would prevail!