The last grain in the hourglass trickled down.

Jered had never felt such sweet relief before. For all of his cultivated will-power and endurance, he had been extremely close to the edge of losing his grip on sanity. As soon as they were yanked out of that hell, there was no more pain, just a cozy warmth that enveloped his body like a blanket. It didn't matter how strong you were, magically or otherwise—that trial was bound to make anyone feel immense pain. Jered fluttered his eyes open with a deep breath.

"Not bad," Ravenn, who appeared in a flash of light along with Astoria and Ruldoph, said with an enthusiastic clap of his hands, "Although we've had better, you were not bad."

A slight, fresh breeze swept by.

The location they had been teleported to was different than last time. It was neither a white room nor a burning inferno.

It was a rocky no-man's-land. The sky was lifeless, frozen. And it reminded Jered of that time when he and Evelyn were lost in the Abyss Gulf.

Only 6 examinees were left. And in front of each of them, a lone path led to a destination somewhere over the horizon. It was sketchy, but at least Jered's senses were not blocked, and nor was he forced into magma.

"This trial will see you going through a dungeon. As for what awaits you there, well... who knows? Just survive and reach the end. The difficulty will be the same for everyone; there won't be any sort of favoritism. If you're good, you'll pass. And if you do, I'll offer you a couple of royal drinks from my personal stash. So yeah, you have something to look forward to," Ravenn continued merrily, "However, unlike the last test... if you fail here, you'll die. You won't be transported back outside. If there's anyone who wants to back out now, you better speak up."

Silence.

"Hmm? No one? Are you sure?"

"..."

Not a word was muttered. Everyone had a look of grim determination on their faces. It was understandable. After making it through the second test, who would give up in light of that? Stacy was a bit fidgety, but she decided to slap her face a few times to snap herself out of it. She was indeed quite the oddball. As for Jered, he was relaxed. He doubted he was going to face troublesome opponents—at least not on the same level as Vozremeth.

"I'm glad that there are no quitters," Ravenn smiled, "Without further ado, let's start the test!" with a clap of his hands, Ravenn, Astoria, and Ruldoph became streaks of lights rocketing towards the sky.

The mist around them became so thick that Jered couldn't see Stacy or the other examinees anymore. However, the path in front of him was surprisingly clear and visible.

"Stacy, can you hear me?" Jered called out, but no reply came back. Was it because of the mist or were they transported to different places again?

His 'Mana Sense' couldn't penetrate the mist, but it worked fine around him. Jered laughed. He was going to get ambushed until he reached the end of the path, wasn't he?

Slowly, his feet left the ground. However, after floating up a few dozen meters in the air, his head hit something invisible. A ceiling or a barrier of some kind, perhaps.

There was no way back, only forward.

Jered floated back down, eyes ablaze with power. He began to walk down the path laid out for him. He didn't know how long it was. However, it stretched over the skyline, so it would take him a while to clear the dungeon. Then again, that might have been another illusion. A few minutes later, the first eerie movements and sounds rang out. Jered promptly stopped and spread out his 'Mana Sense' as far as he could. He couldn't sense what was making that noise, or how strong they were.

Then a shadow flew at him. Its face was green and gnarly, with a long, crooked nose in the middle. Jered easily avoided the incoming blow. In that split-second, he roughly determined the snarling creature's strength. And it was laughable. He cast 'Physical Enhancement' and made a sweeping motion with his hand. The creature's head slid off of the bleeding stump and fell onto the floor with a thud. Jered eyed it up and down, and came to the conclusion that it was a Goblin.

An inferior creature. Even Jasmine could take care of it.

He took another step forward, and was immediately surrounded by a mob of Goblins, each of them equipped with different weapons. Swords. Spears. Clubs. Sticks. They looked worse for wear, and he doubted they could cause any substantial damage to his body besides a couple of scratches. Nevertheless, Jered wasn't about to waste time testing that out, "Move," he said, his Magic Density flaring out and enveloping them.

The Goblins abandoned their weapons and clutched their necks, choking.

Jered passed by them, ignoring the cacophony of Goblins falling down.

More Goblins popped out of the mist, swinging their blades at him, but each of them fell down without Jered having to lift a finger.

Soon, the stretch of road behind him was filled to the brim with dead Goblins.

A war cry sounded out, and it wasn't from a Goblin.

Something big was approaching. No, multiple 'things' were.

Jered slowed down to a halt, just in time to twist his head out of the way of a spear. The sheer speed it traveled at messed up his hair, before disappearing somewhere in the mist behind him. His 'Mana Sense' picked up on a presence extremely close to him. A foot stomped out of the mist, followed by a body that was easily four times Jered's size, shredded, and clothed in threadbare garments. It looked like an upgraded version of the Goblin he faced before, but more intimidating and with a meaner streak.

A spear was in its hand.

It was an Orc—and while it was vastly superior than a Goblin, it was still another inferior creature in the eyes of a Royal Magician.

The Orc beat its chest and roared.

Jered simply raised his hand and a 'Giza's Gaze' left the poor Orc with a gaping hole in his chest.

It staggered back and fell down.

As if on cue, the Orc's death stirred quite the party around him. Jered could hear the indignant cries of more Orcs, all of them leaping out of the mist, their spears going for his head.

A 'Mana Barrier' was erected, easily parrying the swarm of spears and pushing the Orcs away.

Jered immediately followed up with 'Fire Wall'. The flames curled out of the ground and swallowed the fleeing Orcs, turning them into charred corpses in barely a few seconds.

Peace was restored, and Jered continued on towards the end of the path.

"It's quite boring so far," Ravenn commented with a disappointed expression as he stared at the screen in front of them, "Everyone is speedrunning through the first part."

"It's your fault," Astoria chided gently.

Rudolph grunted out his agreement.

"I know... I shouldn't have added such weak monsters from the start, but I didn't want the test to end too soon," Ravenn slumped in his seat, "Also, I went out of my way to capture those samples, it would have been a waste not to use them. Alas. I wonder if we can speed up the process. Just a little bit."

"..."

"..."

A long trail of dead Goblins, Orcs, Gnomes, Trolls, and some other colorful winged creatures were left in Jered's wake. Now he was busy fending off the attack of a particularly stubborn Titanoboa. It swept its tail at Jered, who disappeared in a burst of 'Shadowport' and flew around the Titanoboa, bombarding the overgrown snake with 'Fireball's. And while the fire was strong enough to cause some minimal damage, it was not nearly enough to kill it.

Jered decided not to hold back anymore. He made an abrupt stop mid-air, and his flames began to twist and warp ominously, the crimson of the fire deepening, its temperature rising drastically. His 'Pharaoh's Flame' showed its delight and anticipation of burning the snake into a pile of ash by poking its head out of the flames, mouth torn wide open into a wicked grin. The Titanoboa's instincts told it to avoid it, but due to its humongous size, it was quite an impossible feat.

The fire storm swelled up and swirled around the Titanoboa, slowly roasting its scales and cooking the flesh within. It flared its tongue at Jered, large jets of venom spewing out towards him. Naturally, he wove a 'Mana Barrier' in time, though he was quite surprised to see the golden shimmer of his barrier sizzle. He renewed his efforts into putting an end to the Titanoboa, and pumped more mana into his 'Pharaoh's Flame'.

The Titanoboa shrieked, thrashing violently within the dome of fire. It probably realized that its death was inevitable, for it suddenly lunged at Jered in a last-ditch effort of taking him down with it.

Unfortunately for the snake, Jered had the speed and size advantage. He easily maneuvered through the frenzy swipes of its tail and venom spurts. Of course, there was a limit to his aerial movement due to the 'ceiling' overhead, but his 'Shadowport' more than compensated for it.

Eventually, the Titanoboa's tail crashed down, and along with it, the rest of its body.

Jered waved his hand, and the flames thinned out, until only the smoking, charred carcass of his opponent lay there. He straightened his clothes and fixed his hair before he resumed his expedition down the endless path.

Everything was going off without a hitch. At least, Jered didn’t encounter any threatening creatures throughout his journey. Still, he doubted he’d get to the end without facing difficulties. Only Elder and Royal Magicians were allowed to take the trails; it would have been stupid to think that the overseers didn’t prepare some ‘surprises’ for them.

And Jered didn’t consider a Titanoboa not even in its adulthood ‘surprising’.

His coat billowed as he sped forward, his ‘Pharaoh’s Flame’ twirling around him in long, thick ribbons of fire. Any creature that dared to ambush him was quickly incinerated. The moment someone or something managed to survive through the heat, it was the moment a ‘true’ fight would ensue.

Jered’s prediction came earlier than he would have thought. And it was not in the form of some gargantuan, eldritch creature out of a child’s nightmare. Instead, it was roughly the size of a teddy bear, its body smooth and with a purple sheen that altered to different shades each second.

A pair of bat ears were on its head, along with wings fully stretched on its back. And coupled with its big, sparkling black eyes. It was one of the cutest yet deadliest creatures around.

It was a Doom Fiend—a rare, purple sample at that.

Jered stared at it, expressionless.

The Doom Fiend stared back, its beautiful round eyes blinking innocently.

The heat of his ‘Pharaoh’s Flame’ had no effect on the Doom Fiend, so Jered beckoned his fire forth and swept it towards the creature. A toothy smile broke out on the Doom Fiend’s face, and following that, an immense pressure.

Jered’s eyes splayed wide open as the creature disappeared from sight, and in nigh an instant, its fist had landed in his solar plexus. Thankfully, his ‘Physical Enhancement’ was active, but still… it hurt like a bitch.

He was sent flying back a dozen of meters, rolling on the ground a couple of times before a pile of corpses stopped his momentum. He blinked as he slowly got up.

The Doom Fiend didn’t pursue with another attack, instead, it was smiling cheekily at him, dancing on the spot.

Jered stared at his arm, which was bent at an unnatural angle, and leisurely popped it back into place. His mana would have healed everything else, “A Doom Fiend of all creatures. Thank you, Ravenn.”

Naturally, there was no response to his sarcasm, though he knew the Arch-Magus was somewhere up there having a jolly time.

The Doom Fiend giggled with a blush that didn’t fit with its monochromatic face. Jered ignored that, readjusted his clothes, and then disappeared in a plume of smoke. A wave of emerald fire billowed out around them, each limb whipping at the Doom Fiend, who easily avoided the blows, jumping and side-stepping out of blows with a huge smile on its face.

It didn’t expect Jered to reappear right above him, his body spinning around to deliver an overhead kick. The Doom Fiend craned its head to the side, just in time too, but Jered didn’t finish. He sent a burst of ‘Kinetic Blast’ at its face.

And due to the close proximity, the Doom Fiend couldn’t avoid it without leaving itself open for more attacks. And fortunately for Jered, that was exactly what he did. So he loaded his other hand back, summoning a crescent wave of darkness that immediately morphed into a spear.

It was at that point that the Doom Fiend stopped laughing, its eyes going from black to crimson as its own immeasurably deep mana pool flared up, cracking the ground around them for half a mile.

Jered was prepared, and replied by asserting his own mana presence, which caused a wider crater to spread, with them as the epicenter.