"The first two are fine, but the third is one nasty trial," Varian laughed with an evil expression.
"Why?"
"Did you ever wonder the reason these Duchies or Kingdoms or whatever sent a weak prince to this Synthetic World? They can send one more hybrid who's sure to be stronger than a prince."
"For experience and merits." Sarah titled her head cutely.
"Apparently, a Synthetic world is a strategic treasure for these big forces. And there are a limited number of them in the universe. It doesn't make sense to send princes to win a strategic weapon. By doing that, they're just squandering their chances of winning." Varian explained.
"You're really feeling enthusiastic today. Speaking so much," Enigma indicated that she wanted him to shut up.
"Excuse me, I'm a new born. New borns do make a lot of noise," Varian said shamelessly.
The real reason he was babbling was to distract himself from the pain he started feeling due to the space crack.
It was fine in the beginning, but the longer he kept it open and started expanding it, the worse the pain got.
It felt like a hot sword was stabbing his flesh and vaporizing his blood. It hurt so much that he just wanted to stop opening the space crack altogether. But to win this trial, he must do it.
So, he talked. And talked.
Thankfully, his body path allowed him to stop himself from sweating and controlling his facial expressions. So, he appeared 'normal' while he was going through hell.
Of course, if he talked nonsense, Sarah or Enigma would find out something's wrong with him.
So, he began to speak about the trial like an old bard.
"Anyway, the third is Survival Trial. It's quite simple. They'll be swarmed by a horde of monsters that are as strong as the weakest team member. They have to survive to pass."
"Horde? How big is it exactly?"
"Well…" Varian chuckled, "For normal Synthetic worlds, it's a hundred, but for this one…"
— — —
"Your mom! More than three hundred? No, five hundred?" Sapphire Prince jumped up and down as he dodged the countless elemental attacks directed at him.
After passing the second test, his team appeared in a vast plain.
Before they could even explore the place, they're surrounded by a huge swarm of humanoid creatures that lacked any facial features.
Each with the strength of a peak level 9 and they all started attacking the prince at the same time.
The main force of the team, the Sovereign protected the prince from the first wave of attacks and entrusted him to the hybrid.
The hybrid did its duty and faithfully protected the prince at its own expense.
The Sovereign, meanwhile, jumped into the horde and unleashed his full powers to kill the creatures.
As a Sovereign, he had a great advantage over the peak level 9s. But that didn't mean he could face an endless amount of them.
So, when the creatures numbering in hundred attacked him indiscriminately, even the Sovereign was pushed back.
But thankfully, his single attack killed at least a dozen creatures. And as time went on, the horde began to noticably reduce in size.
However, the numbers were still too high. The hybrid and prince remained defensive.
The Sovereign started getting injured. First, it was just a scratch. Then, a minor injury. Eventually, a huge chunk of his flesh was just blown away by the combined attacks.
Yet, the fight continued.
As hours passed and the horde shrank to a quarter of its initial size, the hybrid and the prince joined in the offensive.
The Sovereign took the opportunity to gulp another precious healing potion and joined the match.
By the time the last creature was killed, the three of them were drenched in blood and were filled with injuries.
Despite joining later on, the hybrid had the worst injuries and was almost pushed to death. The prince accumulated several major injuries and was lying on the ground without any energy.
Only the Sovereign was better off, but even he was on a single knee, panting heavily.
"T-This is absurd. How is this trial so hard…?" Sapphire Prince groaned as he took a couple of pain killers and healing potions.
"This world itself is weird. Why wouldn't the trial be weird?" The Sovereign wanted to shrugg his shoulders, but feeling the stinging pain, he smiled wryly.
"Urgh, I have a bad feeling about this…" The Prince cursed and fainted.
A few minutes later, a light enveloped the three and they disappeared from the plains.
— — —
"Compared to other Synthetic Worlds, the numbers here are 75% higher." Varian said, "That's why this trial alone eliminated 50% of all candidates till date."
"Woah, a half?!"
"Yep. I mean, if we take that trial, we'd have to face more than five hundred mid level 9." Varian shrugged, "That's hell."
"Aren't you the stronger than us now?"
"The thing only looks at level. Good for us."
"Then, can we pass?"
Varian gave it a serious thought for a moment and shook his head. "Nope."
Actually, they could. But the two would die in the process. Technically, it's a pass. But for Varian, it's a fail.
"The only way to pass this trial is to have a Sovereign in the team," Varian shrugged, "Anyone not doing that is just asking for a beating."
"…Right." Sarah nodded.
A Sovereign's attack power isn't really equal to two or three hundred peak level 9. It's only a dozen or so times higher.
But a single Sovereign could indeed wreck hundreds of peak level 9.
It seemed absurd. But the same logic applied in a fight between an adult and a child.
A human adult is just a couple of times stronger and faster than a human child. But what would happen in a fight even if ten children fought against an adult?
Sarah shook her head and glanced at the space crack behind Varian. It's continously expanding since the start and is now the size of a mountain.
It's been a few hours already and no turtle came out.
"Varian, didn't you say the turtles will be out in a few minutes?" Sarah asked.
"Ah—ahahaha!" As he endured the growing pain for opening the space crack, Varian wanted to slap his past self for saying those words.
A few minutes? Without any pain, sure. But with this much pain, it'd take a few more hours.
"I, I was kidding, haha and yeah, do you know the next trial is…"
