[You have completed the Trial of Wisdom; Calculating]

As Irwyn answered the last question, his surroundings seemingly dispersed and words appeared in front of his eyes. Although finishing the trial of Wisdom always took some time it was hardly difficult considering how much experience Irwyn had with it.

[Final score: 5500/5500; proceed to the next trial]

A black rectangle appeared in front of Irwyn, creating an obvious doorway. Despite it, Irwyn did not proceed, instead, he turned around and trod into the infinite white. For ten or so minutes, nothing appeared in front of him, until finally, a voice spoke out, echoing from every direction: “What dwells atop the Spire?”

“A cursed Crown,” Irwyn answered, “Sealed with the blood of first Flame so that we may all avoid demise.”

“Welcome back, blood of Ignis,” the voice immediately returned, “I shall notify everyone of your return,” as those words sounded another black rectangle appeared in front of Irwyn and the voice vanished. With his contingency activated, Irwyn stepped through. Although the Academy of Ignis had the most resources to advance as a mage, that was hardly the reason why Irwyn always chose to head there as soon as he could.

What was more important was that majority of the most powerful awakened dwelled within the Academy. Ancient immortals, some old enough to remember events and people from millennia ago. Such as the ascendants. Within the Academy, Irwyn and his brother had cultivated a small group of awakened aware of their existence and loyal enough to assist their greater good.

[Choose your next trial: Trial of combat; Trial of creation; Trial of salvation]

As soon as Irwyn stepped through the rectangle, he was welcomed by another line of text. The latter two were crossed out because of his keystone True mage, so Irwyn quickly selected the first option.

[The trial of combat is divided into two stages; First of all, you will be matched into a group of five haphazardly selected people, each undergoing the trial from a different location as well as a single participant of the trial of salvation. After being defeated you are going to receive the final score and move on to the individual stage. Both stages of this trial are divided into phases. Your body and mana will be completely restored should you survive a phase.]

When his eyes passed over the final words, the darkness around Irwyn dispersed as his feet firmly landed in sand. The equatorial sun nearly blinded him and unpleasant heat engulfed his body but Irwyn quickly got used to the environment and looked around. Around him were 5 other people, apparently in the same situation as him, though not quite as adaptive. The first one which caught Irwyn’s eyes was a young female cleric in white robes. The golden sigils of the major goddess of mercy, Mirila, imbued into her clothes and glittering with faint gilded energy. That appeared to be the participant from the trial of Mercy. Besides him, there were two figures wearing nearly identical plate mail armour hiding their features; a woman with a bow on her back; and a man in a grey and brown robe of the mage’s guild. When his eyes moved beyond the figures he noticed tall walls of sandstone creating a circle around them with four open gates placed in a regular interval.

“It’s damn hot, isn’t it?” Irwyn laughed out loud, alerting everyone to his presence as they turned towards him. Despite everything, Irwyn was still just a 12-year-old child so his new companions took a moment to take in his low height.

“A damn br…” one of the two figures in plate mail almost cursed out in a grizzly tone, however, he was interrupted by an overly enthusiastic voice.

“Around twelve with that sigil on ebony clothes as well as a simple ring on your right hand,” the man in mage guild clothes spoke with his eyes nearly glittering. He appeared to be around 17 or 18 as most participants. Since the academy only recruited new students every 5 years it was not uncommon to see people nearing their twenties who had fulfilled the requirement of advancing into second-tier before 15, “You must be Irwyn von Blackburg!”

“My infamy precedes me,” Irwyn smiled. Having someone recognise him could make things go significantly smoother.

“I thought the participants were chosen from different sites,” the woman with a bow frowned, “How do you know him?”

“What caster in the North had not heard of the youngest Blackburg son?” the mage laughed and looked around, seeing the lack of reaction from the rest of their band he continued, “At least I can say for sure that we are the only two people from the North.”

“Let’s cut to the chase, correct me if I am wrong,” Irwyn seized the initiative before anyone else could, “The most basic plate mails money can get, no trace of enchantments, so you two are either low nobility or children of wealthy merchants. Since you were allowed into this realm in the first place, you probably gained a class that could reach the 4th tier by accident and decided to give this a shot because you felt superior when compared to your peers. I will mark that off as average abilities.”

“Hey!” the man who had previously almost cursed at Irwyn seemed to take offence, “It has been a while since someone had the gall to talk to me like that.”

“Low nobility then considering the arrogance,” Irwyn sighed, “No family emblem so you are either doing this in secret or your family has far too many enemies to just flaunt their sigil around.”

“I will let you know that my father is a count!” he insisted.

“And my family runs third of the North,” Irwyn immediately shrugged apparently catching the man off guard as he almost recoiled backwards, “But neither of those things matter in here.”

“You are not carrying any enchanted items yourself,” the woman with the bow interfered with their conversation.

“Or maybe you just can’t see through them,” Irwyn smiled in her direction, “Your bow on the other hand…," Irwyn smiled and left the rest unsaid, making the woman frown. What he felt from that bow was overwhelming yet familiar vitality possessed by only a single base material: Wood from the Tree of life. Considering how difficult carving a bow from its branches would be, the woman must have had quite the encounter. Unfortunately for Irwyn, its presence mostly meant that he couldn't use [Overseer] with liberty since body parts from extremely powerful yet still living beings had the tendency to divert all such effects from the weaker creatures to their main body. The tree of Life was also particularly nasty when it came to counterattacking any [beholder] abilities.

"Let's not fight," meekly, the cleric girl finally tried to defuse the situation. She appeared about 15 years old and hardly the confident type.

"Those golden markings imply a high standing within your church," Irwyn turned towards her, "I hope those were received based on talent and ability rather than background."

"You don't have to worry," the girl nodded with surprising realism in her eyes, "I have earned every bit Mirila's favour that I have received."

"Good, I am going to rely on you then," Irwyn nodded and smiled, "What is your name?"

"Fel'ganeer," she answered, apparently not unscathed by the strange naming patterns of some religious sects, "Though most people call me Fel."

"And you?" Irwyn turned towards the woman with the bow who appeared to be almost pouting. She and the cleric were almost certain to pass and they would not be bad acquaintances within the academy. Although his older brother would already have connections in place, Irwyn prefered to also build his own network from scratch.

"Arianne,” she answered him after a few seconds, “And you are Irwyn, right?”

“It’s starting,” Irwyn nodded to Arianne as he felt something about to enter his mind.

[First phase commences, round 1-5; The desert arena; Survive 5 waves of mindless monsters; Bonus objective: Clear each wave in under a minute of all monsters appearing]

That apparently got everyone on their guard as they each drew their weapons, though Irwyn had other plans. “That will hardly be necessary,” he said and with a wave of his hand a cascade of mana left his body. The two knights and the other mage stumbled and almost fell to their knees just from its presence while the cleric and bowwoman were also visibly shaken. Before they could say anything, a wall of flames rose in front of each of the four gates, creating a rising inferno all around them.

“What sort of spell is that?!” the knight was flabbergasted as he struggled to stand straight. The impact of raw mana from earlier had apparently nearly knocked him out.

“Not a spell but rather raw magecraft,” Irwyn answered, “This realm is incredible in many ways, one of which is that it replaces all mana spent after each phase allowing me to fire at will. Sit back, you won’t have to do much for a while.”

[Wave 1/5 completed]

An announcement rang in their head just a few seconds after the wall of flame appeared.

“Why would they even run into that,” that cleric asked, puzzled.

“The monsters are compelled to enter the arena,” Irwyn smiled, “Even if that means their immediate doom.”

“We won’t get any extra points for contribution this way,” the bowwoman frowned once again.

“I am sure that going along with me is going to earn you significantly more as we reach phases far above anyone else in the competition.”

[Wave 2/5 completed]

“Although this appears amazing,” Arianne pointed towards the walls of flame, “I have no idea how far it can get us.

“My limit is not my power but rather my body,” Irwyn smiled and turned towards the cleric, “That is why a decent healer matters the most. Her power will directly indicate how far I can push my body before it falls apart. Though if those golden engravings are truly earned, reaching near round 95 might be possible before we get wiped out.”

[Wave 3/5 completed]

“I have heard few people make it past 45 where multiple third-tier monsters begin to appear,” the knight seemed sceptical, “Yet you are speaking about more than double that. I doubt those flame can hold out.”

“As I can confess, Irwyn is quite literally known for having killed someone two tiers higher than him at the time,” the mage spoke again after some time, “I am Baelik, by the way,” he also quickly and enthusiastically introduced himself, not minding that he had never been asked. Irwyn could clearly feel the man's power and didn't feel particularly inclined to try and make a connection based on it despite that enthusiasm.

[Wave 4/5 completed]

“Third tiers are not a problem,” Irwyn shook his head, “The gap between second and third is not as large. However, the last 10 rounds between 90 and 100 are not meant to be surmounted. Definitely not by the participants in the second tier but not even by those in the third tier. Past round 90, 4th tier monster appear. I will have to push my body several steps beyond its limit to kill something like that.”

“I don’t believe you can kill a 4th tier,” the knight almost tauntingly laughed. Very few people in the third tier dared to even claim they could wound a freshly advanced one. It was only natural to doubt someone in the second tier could kill one. Even Irwyn understood that it would only be possible for him because the trial's realm allowed him to attack with suicidal abandon.

[Wave 5/5 completed; calculating]

“Thankfully, your opinion doesn’t matter,” Irwyn just chuckled back, though his eyes momentarily shifter towards the other knight. He had been utterly quiet and almost motionless since the beginning. Not that Irwyn cared too much but it was strange.

[Phase score: Completition 70/70; Contribution 70/70; Surviving members 70/70; Bonus objectives 70/70. Final score 280/280; Next phase will initiate soon.]

“See you in the next round,” Irwyn gave the knight one more sneer before the world around then fell apart.