“How did you know?” Rakna snarled whilst suppressing his anger. His face was still as stone but the venom that could be heard in his voice was very unusual for him to display.

“Calm down, young wolf,” Flegra raised her voice slightly and an invisible force pushed him down until he was forced to hunch his body. “I don’t want my house burned down because you cannot control your emotions.”

Rakna was surprised by the sudden display of power but quickly recovered. He breathed in and turned humanoid again before donning on new clothes. “You dare speak of control when you tried to pry into my mind?”

“I didn’t pry. That… pool of blood,” she said and ignored the frown on his face. “Was the most buried thought in your mind. I merely stirred it.”

“Didn’t you realize that something confined within another’s mind is meant to stay locked?” Rakna retorted scornfully.

Flegra shook her head. “It is the purpose of this Trial. I was meant to take what you hide the most and make you face it. That nightmare of drowning in blood… although I do not know how it might have developed in you, was meant to be the Trial. However, I never expected it to surface like this. Your entire being went haywire and you almost burned down my house.”

“Why do you keep saying that? I don’t have any energy capable of doing that.”

The old woman looked at him in confusion. “Don’t you see the burning marks under your feet or the steam around your friend? He had been standing on your shoulder when the heat seized him.”

Rakna closed his mouth and glanced at Pronos who had gotten closer. The little snake nodded at his inquisitive stare and he immediately brought up his status but nothing had changed. However, a few skills had leveled up without him knowing.

‘Alexa, can you bring up any System windows that I have missed?’ He asked mentally but even after a few seconds, she didn’t answer. ‘Alexa?’

[…yes, Rakna. Here they are,] she responded with a weird tone but Rakna couldn’t ask questions about it as his focus was caught by the System prompts.

❮ ◈ ❯

Flegra has asked you the third question, the Mental Trial has begun.

Your subconscious has been scanned; no weakness has been found.

A trial of a higher grade will be launched.

Your intuitive mind has been scanned; a weakness has been found.

The Trial will proceed. Mental Simulation; Pool of Blood.

---

Error. The System has lost control over the Simulation. The Host’s trauma is fueling its survival.

Attempt to wake the Host; Failed.

Attempt to cut off the Simulation; Failed.

Error.

Error.

…

Error.

An anomaly has been detected. Obsidian Blood has been activated. Ireful Shell has been stirred. Soul Core has been roused. Fabled Sight has been enhanced. Eyes of the Soul has responded.

The Simulation has been terminated. Obsidian Blood has been negated. The unknown anomaly has been terminated.

---

Ireful Shell has leveled up!

Soul Core has leveled up!

Eyes of the Soul has leveled up!

Fabled Sight has leveled up! x2

Pain Resistance has entered Exceled state.

Fear Resistance has entered Exceled state.

Fatigue Resistance has entered Exceled state.

❮ ◈ ❯

‘What just happened?’ Rakna had never been more puzzled in his life. He had lived every moment of what had just happened to him but everything was a blur at best, so he truly was lost. His three resistance skills had even entered Exceled state.

“As you probably have just read, the System judged you to be too strong for the normal level and asked me to increase the intensity,” Flegra admitted with an apologetic tone. “I just never expected that bottled-up thought to be so chaotic. It is normally meant for Hosts to question themselves and face their demons before truly starting to climb Plateaus.”

Rakna scoffed and lit a cigarette, uncaring of what she would think about it. “How stupid. There is no demon inside me that I’m scared of. You got it all wrong. I’m only scared of one thing; to break the promise I made to my uncle that I would never lose myself. As for this thing I have in my head, if I could face it, I would have already done so.”

“I see…” Flegra lowered her head a bit. “There have been people like you with strong traumas that came to me in the past. But, the explosiveness of yours is very irregular, to say the least.”

“Are you done analyzing my psyche?” Rakna retorted, his temper was still a bit stuck on the side effect of Obsidian Blood’s influence. “Believe me, I’ve done that myself for years, I don’t need you to bore me with more of this crap. Did I pass this Trial, yes or no?”

She smiled wryly. “Yes, you did. Congratulations.”

❮ ◈ ❯

You have completed the Mental Trial!

---

First Plateau: All Trials Completed!

You have gained the right to leave the First Plateau.

Do you wish to exercise it now? You have 26 247 hours to make your decision.

Yes/No

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna snorted at the conversion of three years’ worth of time into hours. ‘Alexa, I will be able to come back here whenever I want after accepting, correct?’

[Affirmative. With the badge you own, if you so desired, you could accept and return to the First Plateau within a minute.]

‘All right then,’ he thought and chose yes. Then, the window became bigger and showed a buffering bar before listing something.

❮ ◈ ❯

Host’s strength has been evaluated. You’ve met the minimum conditions for several other Plateaus. A skipping right has been granted. Please select:

- Second Plateau

- Third Plateau

- Fourth Plateau

- Fifth Plateau

❮ ◈ ❯

‘Skipping right?’

[It is a mechanic put in place when a Host is stronger than the average standard progression. You have the strength to continue conquering the next Plateaus with ease. Thus, you have been allowed to skip them. However, one can never skip more than four Plateaus. To be exact, one can never skip a Plateau multiple of five.]

‘Why?’

[Every five Plateaus, a new ‘stage’ is introduced. Hosts have called it ‘Biomes’ in the past. The first four Plateaus are similar in nature but that changes once it hits five. That applies for the tenth and so on.]

‘I see… to be sure, if I choose the Fifth Plateau here, I will be able to go to the ones I skipped, right?’

[Affirmative.]

‘In that case, I will go to the Fifth Plateau.’

❮ ◈ ❯

The selection has been confirmed.

The Host, Rakna Xiorra, will now be transferred to the Fifth Plateau, The Swamp. You will be automatically dropped at a random location in thirty seconds.

Brace yourself for the spatial transfer.

❮ ◈ ❯

“Hop on, little guy. We’re going,” Rakna said and Pronos took his spot back on his shoulder after sighing in relief that his human friend was completely calm now. The heat he had emitted earlier hadn’t been very harmful to him or his scales as he hadn’t stayed in contact with it for long but it had been very forbidding.

“It seems I was your last Trial,” Flegra commented and Rakna looked at her. “If you ever need a favor in the future, whatever it may be, come to me. This Trial revealed itself to be considerably harder for you than it should have. You almost died because of me and I will repay that mistake.”

He scowled at the sympathetic gesture but grunted positively anyway. He wasn’t going to turn an apology down along with a free favor from a powerful entity like her. “I’ll keep that in mind. Also, do not speak to anyone about my race.”

The old woman nodded. “Naturally. What happened today will never leave my humble abode.”

Rakna looked at her in the eyes as she said that and ultimately disappeared from the room as the System finished the countdown and teleported him away.

* * *

The spatial transfer hadn't done too much to him this time. Rakna had already gotten used to it at this point. However, the place he appeared was lacking a very critical aspect.

“Really?” He muttered dully as started falling backward whilst facing the night sky. He grunted and turned around in mid-air to look down.

The landscape that laid before him instantly explained to him why the System had called this The Swamp; because it was literally what was presented to him. It was a gathering of tall withered trees in the middle ponds of mud with some places of firm land welcoming dark green grass and brownish plants.

Rakna raised his head to look at the horizon and noted that this seemed to go on for a very long distance. After inspecting the land, he finally focused on his landing. He candidly made a long pole of Star Energy and threw it toward the ground.

It landed through the mud and pierced the bottom before starting to freeze whatever it was touching. Rakna classily landed on the tip while using Artzpul at very low output and looked around whilst balancing himself on it as if it was the easiest thing to do.

He opened his map and sighed at how empty it was. “This… is truly a random-looking location. It’s nothing like Black Steel.”

[Indeed. This is meant to act against ambushes and in favor of a fair repartition of rewards and resources when exploring the Plateau.]

“Ambushes?” Rakna asked as he dispelled the star energy construct and landed on the frozen mud under it. He then started walking in a random direction while freezing the spots he walked on as Alexa replied.

[Yes, ambushes. Host killings are a risk in the System from both fellow Hosts and Locals.]

“To steal?”

[Yes. When a Host dies, they drop all the Talys and items they possess. Additionally, if they happen to have unassigned free points, a random percentage will be given to the killer. Obviously, there is no benefit of the sort for considerably stronger Hosts.]

“I see. Does that happen on the First Plateau as well?”

[Negative. It is forbidden by the System. That is also the reason why new Hosts are all transported to Black Steel directly since ambushes are not to be feared there. The only other Plateau that has the same rules is the 500th Plateau; Old Eden.]

“Interesting…” Rakna mumbled as he stopped in place, his feet releasing cold mist as the mud froze in his path. He slightly tilted his head to the side and his lupine ears folded. “Stop hiding,” he said out loud and several shadows slowly appeared from behind trees or on top of them.

One of them leaped over to a tree root sticking out from the swamps and aimed a bow at him.

“State your identity!”

Rakna frowned as he took in the other party’s appearance. It was a young man with dark skin and long ears. He had dark green eyes and an overall handsome face. He didn’t sense any evil intent from him or any of the other shadow surrounding him, so he raised his hands obediently.

“My name is Rakna Xiorra. I’m a new Host who just reached this Plateau.”

“A Host? Plateau? What are you talking about?!”

“Huh?” Rakna’s mouth moved on its own.

“What?” The dark elf-like man reacted. “Tell us who you are and why you’re here! Now!”

Rakna sighed tiredly and looked at the sky. The sun hadn’t even risen yet but he already knew this was going to be a long day.