Rauf looked at Owen with a dumbstruck expression. Inwardly thinking that no one was stupid enough to follow such a gamble. Although there is thousands of people who wanted to play Noble roulette? As long as you were the last person to slash down on the count of zero you would keep your arm and your life. However if you were one of the unlucky ones that struck first, then you could say good bye to your limbs and life soon after.

This expression didn’t just include Rauf, it also included all of the Pathwalkers as well. Although Owen didn’t know what facial expression they were wearing exactly he could take a guess. Owen was incredibly smart, he knew what people were thinking mostly. Except for Rauf there was no way he could imagine what Rauf was thinking and this was another reason why Owen liked Rauf so much. Anyways Owen didn’t believe that anyone would even remotely agree with him, as they only had good intentions for him. Yes, Owen saved them but that only made the Pathwalkers like him.

It didn’t mean they would unconditionally follow him. The only reason they were following him in the pool was because they were sure he knew something. If one put together that the Little Light Rock managed to save everyone with the least amount of losses then one could imagine that Owen had some great thinking capabilities. But even still, everyone here wasn’t an idiot. You couldn’t live in a world like this without some sort of intelligence. Even if you were a slave, or a commoner. So how was Owen supposed to convince them? By proving that he wasn’t going to use them.

“I know what all of you are thinking, and to unite ourselves so that we can pass this test with the least amount of issues, I’ll even prove my sincerity.”

“Is he crazy?”

People started to whisper loudly to themselves. On the other hand Rauf was thinking to himself silently. He would also agree if Owen didn’t speak these last few words. It was easy to come up with a gamble idea. It was another thing entirely to convince people to commit to your idea with actions.

‘Why is he…. No… damn you’re a terrifying man Owen’

Rauf then realized exactly what Owen was planning on doing. But he didn’t make a sound he only smiled and nodded. Just then Owen calmly walked forward. He didn’t rush, as he knew no one would move after he spoke. Every step forward the water became colder. His toes dug into the wet sand on the bottom. Pieces of itty bitty rocks grinded back and forth through his toes. But Owen didn’t care. He was resolved, as he took his final step past the next 10 meter mark. As he did, as if waiting for him, he saw the ice pillar condense the Essence. The ripple appeared soon after and Owen didn’t move another step. He stood there unmoving waiting for the ripple to reach him.

‘Pain? I don’t think I will experience anything more painful than the Solar Eyes Essence. That was like ripping my heart out and replacing it.’

Owen thought to himself. He was usually never afraid of pain but he shivered at the thought of reexperiencing the Solar eyes. But this ripple? From what Owen saw was that it only ripped off the layers of skin. This was also only the beginning but pain was still pain. As the ripple approached Owen started to lessen his Essence flow on his two arms. He wanted to show everyone where the ice fragments were appearing. He also wanted to keep his legs as intact as possible to continue walking.

When the ripple arrived, Owen felt like he was hit by the Little Light Rocks shockwave. The only difference was that it felt like it and he wasn’t launched away. It wasn’t painful but it was an incredible amount of pressure. The ice Essence started to invade his body, but because there was already a weakened point, the Essence all rushed towards Owen’s two arms. The ice fragments started to appear and all the Pathwalkers gasped in astonishment.

“He’s really taking the first ripple! Does he want our trust that much?”

A woman spoke out in admiration. It wasn’t far off from everyone’s opinion as well. After all Owen was taking the ripples effects right in front of them, just to get them to try the gamble with him. If this was admirable than what was?

“Hm… It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought, but to make it more believable I should at least scream right? But…. I don’t know how to scream. Hmmm, this might be a problem. Well whatever it looks like Rauf has already caught on so I’ll rely on him.’

Owen was calmly thinking but realistically he was kind of worried. He had never screamed in his entire life, so he wasn’t sure how to make something he hasn’t down believable but nonetheless he inhaled and screamed, of course it was awkward and low pitched.

“Aahhh!”

Rauf immediately rubbed his temples fully knowing that Owen’s scream was the worst acting he had ever seen, but as his friend he was willing to play along.

“Look! See what Owen did for all of you?! Don’t you feel ashamed? He saved 90% of you idiots and you can’t even trust his gamble? How dare you!! Look at the pain he is in right now just to get your trust. Are you assholes ready to act yet? LET’S GO!”

Rauf started to run into deeper into the lake, as everyone was momentarily stunned by Rauf’s lecture, they realized the sincerity behind Owen’s actions even if the scream was weird he did in fact prove himself. With that, all of the Pathwalkers started to rush in towards the ice pillar. As the crowd moved, Owen had already at this point ripped off the ice fragments causing blood to leak down his arms but he didn’t care. When Rauf reached Owen, under the water’s surface they both pounded their fists together and Owen spoke.

“Nice follow.”

“Work on your screams and next time I won’t have to work so hard!”

Rauf retorted but underneath Owen’s eyelids he rolled his eyes, and thought to himself.

‘You worked hard? Do you see this blood?’

But Owen still smiled and rushed off with Rauf.