"It's because of his last name, my friend. Zenith. All in the Aether Universe know of that name," the old man said in a cryptic tone.

"Old man... I told you, stop reminding me of that man. There's no way that this primitive humanoid is related to that guy, now stop reminding me of him."

As Tai fought through the hordes of monsters, his fighting instincts grew. Whereas before he was simply swinging his fists around, this time, they were moving precisely in the way he wanted. There were no wasted movements. Every move had a purpose. Moving his arm back to get more force, ducking down to dodge an attack aimed at his head.

Tai entered a kind of fighting zone where he felt like he could do anything, but he knew that he shouldn't get ahead of himself.

At about the 15-minute mark, more and stronger monsters started appearing. Monsters with razor-sharp teeth that could easily rip him to shreds if he was careless.

Tai checked his ki reserves and saw that it was still at a good level and that he didn't need to worry about running low on ki.

"What do you think he's going to get?" the old man asked.

"Definitely something related to ki. Maybe something absurd like the one you got from your first trial?"

The old man laughed in his deep voice. "That was so long ago."

While he was fighting, Tai found out that he could use his ki more efficiently if he had his Ki Aura activated. It was like having a life-jacket on. It would help people who didn't know how to swim, and it would also still be helpful to people who knew how to swim.

Reaching the 30-minute mark, Tai's body had cuts from failing to dodge attacks, but they were small enough to be ignored. The bad thing was that he was now regularly getting hit as the number of monsters had increased to a large amount, but Tai still did his best, killing the monsters around him.

During the past few minutes, his Polearm Proficiency had gone up a few levels and his Energy Combat had also gone up a few levels. Along with those two, his Ki Armor, Ki Manipulation, Ki Augmentation, Ki Aura and Regenerative Healing Factor (II) had all leveled up, some more than others, but they were all helpful as Tai gained status points. He couldn't use them right now as if he lost his focus he would die and the trial would end.

Around the 45 minute mark, everything was going relatively fine. Tai was getting hit, but Tai kept killing the monsters, and then something happened. He was blown back by an impact and thrown into the horde of monsters. Getting the wind knocked out of him, he couldn't do much as the monsters pounced on him, some biting him with their sharp teeth.

"Ohh, looks like this is the end," the man beside the old man said, laughing a bit. "And you said that he was special."

"No, look."

Pain Resistance has leveled up

+1 status point

Pain Resistance has leveled up

+1 status point

Pain Resistance has leveled up

+1 status point

Tai saw the familiar notification in front of him. It was the notification that had saved him from the weird tiger monster. The requirement to level-up Pain Resistance was to experience even greater pain, meaning that if one leveled up pain resistance from stubbing their toe, it wouldn't level up again until one receives equal, or greater, pain.

"I WILL NOT FAIL HERE!" Tai knew that even if he died here, he wouldn't die for real, but he hated to lose.

Tai roared out as he channeled his ki as much as possible, not caring if he ran out. He made his armor stronger and augmented his body to its limits, no, past its limits, and released his Ki around him, sending the monsters that were on him flying away.

Tai stood in the center of the shockwave, a black, and red aura now surrounding him. His eyes were pure black with only his iris being red. Instead of a prosthetic leg, Tai stood with his real leg which had been regrown.

You have learned a new skill: Ki Empowered State

+1 status point

Ki Aura has leveled up

+1 status point

Ki Aura has leveled up

+1 status point

Ki Armor has leveled up

+1 status point

Ki Augmentation has leveled up

+1 status point

Ki Augmentation has leveled up

+1 status point

Ki Manipulation has leveled up

+1 status point

Creating his naginata, instead of its usual red appearance, it was now black and gave off a menacing black aura.

"DIE, DIE, DIE," Tai said as he charged at the hordes of monsters, spinning his naginata around and beheading the monsters around him.

Being in an empowered state not only empowered his body, but also his emotions. Because of this, his anger had become greater, wanting to destroy everything.

Channeling his ki into his naginata, he swung it around, sending energy waves and killing multiple monsters at once. It was truly a massacre.

Ki Wave Emission has leveled up

+1 status point

Ki Wave Emission has leveled up

+1 status point

"Hmm, I did not expect him to breakthrough. Most people struggle to learn that skill, but it is weird. His aura is black, but I don't sense any Dark Ki from him," the old man pointed out.

His friend nodded beside him, not disagreeing for once.

The rest of the trial passed smoothly and Tai passed out by the end of it because of his overuse of ki and pushing his body well past its limits.

Trial Completed

You will now receive your rewards

That was the last thing Tai saw as he fell down on the ground, unconscious.