Outside the monastery, the changing of the information under John's name caught the attention of everyone outside, as it was the first change that had happened since the geniuses had entered.
The crowd watched as the information was inscribed beneath John's name, and began to discuss the changes immediately.
"Look, the stele is changing!" many in the crowd exclaimed.
"Its changing under that 'Asura' boy…" others said.
"Trial One? So there are trials within that each of them needs to pass," another mused, as they had received the first hint of what was inside the mysterious realm.
"Trials huh? Well it looks like the brazen 'Asura' is already done with his trial, which seems to have been a time related trial. Did he pass first, or fail first?" another said.
"He received a score of twelve? Aren't there twelve participants in there? Wouldn't that mean that he came last?" others mused.
"That would make sense. After all, even if he is a 'genius', he is by far the weakest of those who entered. Perhaps the boy bit off more than he can chew."
"Hahaha," boisterous laughter drifted out from amongst the crowds that were enemies with John, namely the Forbidden Alliance and enemy races. They felt quite content that John had already embarrassed himself by coming last in whatever trial there was, and were gloating in that embarrassment.
The inscription beneath John's name finally finished, and his name and information suddenly moved. It was as if the words that were carved into the stone were fish, able to swim freely across the stone surface. It was bizarre to look at.
John's name swam up the stone stele, going from the position at the very bottom to the very top, something that confused the crowd as to its meaning. There were no other changes to the stele under any of the other names, and so the crowd did not know if being at the top was an indication of success, or failure.
Many thought about asking the monks who sat atop the large staircase, but decided against disturbing them. If the monks wanted the crowd to know the truth of the stele, they would have explained it to them already. As such, many heated discussions broke out amongst the crowd as to the truth of what the changes truly meant.
…
The now lightless seal was held in John's hand, who inspected it closely for a brief moment. There was nothing special about the seal other than the ethereal glow it had given off earlier, which now no longer existed.
"What's the purpose of this seal? Does it have use, or was it merely a tool for measuring my success through the dantian restricting plains?" John mused to himself.
Unlike the others, he had a hint as to what this realm was, as it was most definitely related to the seal he had obtained in the other Divine Talent realm. This realm was most likely the same, and so John had already been expecting trials. Reaching the seal to determine time it took to cross the plains was the most likely answer, but John collected the seal regardless and put it away in his spatial ring.
With the seal stored away, his gaze turned forward as did his footsteps. John walked to the other side of the mountain peak, and gazed over the other side to the land beyond. His eyes widened ever so slightly as he gazed at the land beyond, which was an amalgamation of different landscapes, like they were haphazardly thrown together.
The land on the other side stretched as far as the eye could see, and was filled with raging inferno's, molten lava, icy tundras, deathly swamps, and other dangerous looking biomes. Each of the biomes were a few miles long and wide before changing to the other, appearing almost like a chessboard, only one that stretched as far as the eye could see.
It was incredibly bizarre, and was not at all what John was expecting. He inspected the hellish looking landscape for a while, and then proceeded to move forward towards it. He suddenly stopped once more as he felt something, and raised his hand forward before his face.
A screen of light appeared before him, created by an unseen formation. It barred his path forward, making him unable to move towards.
"Hmm? I can't proceed?" John mused to himself.
"Please wait for the other participants to finish the first trial," the monotone voice that had appeared in the realm of golden light when John had first entered sounded out from all directions around him.
John had not been expecting to hear the voice, and quickly scanned the surrounding area, but felt nothing whatsoever. It was as if the artifact spirit was talking to him through the void itself.
"Wait for them huh? Then this is a trial realm as expected," John mused again and sat down. His eyes closed as he used the downtime to meditate on his cultivation and comprehensions once more.
…
Rumble!
Rumble!
Rumble!
Outside the divine wall, the stone stele eventually started to rumble again as new information was inscribed under the other participants' names. Each change caught the attention of the crowd, who watched in apt attention, trying to figure out what was going on.
The first name after John that had its information inscribed was another unexpected name.
-Name: Lilian Celestria
-Cultivation: Peak Dao Transformation
-Age: Twenty-Six
-Dao Name: Goddess of Death
-Trial One: Eight Hours. Nine Minutes. Thirty-Six Seconds.
-Trial One Score: Eleven
"Lilian Celestria, huh?" the crowd mused, and watched as her name swam upwards on the stele, resting in the position directly below Johns.
"First John, and then her. It must be a duration based trial, and they were the first to fail!" many guessed, as John and Lilian were two of the weakest participants cultivation wise who had entered.
"Must be. Otherwise, if it was a trial where passing first matters, wouldn't it mean that these two were the first to pass? No way I believe that," another chimed in.
"Right? How can they pass before the others, like Zeras or Lua. Those monsters are the absolute pinnacle geniuses of the last century, and are also much stronger than John and Lilian," another said.
Thousands of similar discussions broke out, with the enemy camps mostly having the same opinion, while allied camps such as the Honorable Alliance were of the opposite opinion. Those who knew John, and what he was capable of, refused to believe he came last in any sort of trial, even with his low cultivation when compared to the others. He was a man that defied all cultivation norms many times over, and the rumors of his feats in the Jade Dragon Empire Realm had already spread through the Honorable Alliance like wildfire, further adding to his legendary mythos.
Rumble!
Rumble!
Rumble!
The stone stele rumbled once more shortly after Lilian's information had changed, revealing that another had finished their trial. The crowd watched closely as the information updated, yet again for one of the weakest participants, further reinforcing the opinion of many that the first to appear on this list had been the first to fail whatever the trial was.
It was a name that had garnered much attention a few years ago, but had fallen off slightly in conversation due to the rise of other names such as Asura. However, all knew this name, as it belonged to one of the most impressive talents to ever score on the Talent Testing Steps.
-Name: Parker Fenix
-Cultivation: Middle Dao Transformation
-Age: Twenty
-Dao Name: Asuros
-Trial One: Eight Hours. Thirteen Minutes. Thirty-Four Seconds.
-Trial One Score: Ten
