Stretching his body, Jason felt his entire back was hurting.
He had been seated on the wooden chair for almost an entire month, with only a few breaks to eat something and to move around.
After being stuck with answering questions that felt like an eternity, he had the urge to fight, move around, and do something other than sit.
Knowing that his body wanted to move but that it was unable to do so if he wanted to pass the trial at the quickest pace was horrific and so he hurried up and began to rush the answers.
Yet, before he knew it, Jason found himself reviewing and modifying the hastily scribbled answers while cursing himself.
In the end, he wanted to receive the best possible score and highest amount of merit points. This meant that he had to finish the trial quickly, but also with thorough answers.
Because of that, he was unable to randomly scribble anything if he didn't believe in the answer. His honesty was being tested, as well as his personality.
As such, rushing things, while answering without having thought about the answer was not helpful, and might as well lead to him failing the trial.
With that in mind, he had finished answering every single question thoroughly.
After that, he decided to circulate mana through his body while exerting the FLoating sky technique to move around, releasing the tension in his body.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})He even ignored the notification of the artificial intelligence as he began to imagine an opponent, and started fighting him.
Shadow fighting was useful in specific circumstances, and Jason's situation was the prime example of releasing his tension by imagining an overly powerful opponent who could overwhelm him.
Despite that, not much time passed before he was finally able to calm down as his tensed body was finally freed. This allowed him to finally hear the notification of the artificial intelligence that repeated the same message over and over again.
[Congratulations! The fourth Trial has been passed successfully! Time required [39D:23H:59M:01S] , 'Void' difficulty, Extraordinary achievement!]
[97% Honest answers, authentic reactions, no secrets, attempted to satisfy his desire to save as many individuals as possible through his succinct answers.]
Somehow, Jason liked the second message the most because he felt as if his personality was rewarded with an extraordinary passing score. This made him feel reassured that his mindset was correct and that there was nothing wrong with it.
With that in mind, he couldn't hide his smile anymore as he turned towards the opened gate that revealed the portal towards the fifth trial.
Taking a deep breath, he approached the gate without any hesitation as Byakur manifested in his hand.
Emerging through it, he revealed his strongest combat prowess, excluding his fusion with any soulbond.
Nonetheless, he was ready to allow Petri to occupy his body, and fuse with him at any moment. Thus, he was fully prepared for a sudden attack that he would try to evade, block, or accept with Petri's scale armour.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Yet, instead of being forced to fight, he emerged in a seemingly inconspicuous room. It looked just like a large combat arena that had a vibe similar to the Colosseum on Argos.
Because of that, Jason understood that he would have to fight once again, which was reassuring.
Everything other than answering questions while being forced to sit on a chair for almost 40 days was great.
With that in mind, he tried to see if there were any opponents nearby but was forced to wait for the artificial intelligence to report to him.
[Fifth trial will be initiated! 'Puppet fight' has been chosen. Fight against one puppet using everything! After 180 days the fight will be repeated, and the progress evaluated!]
[Remark: Not giving everything in the first fight will decrease the possible rewards and completion score of the trial, and every previous trial the challenger has already completed!]
Listening to the artificial voice, Jason just nodded his head and accepted his mission. The remark might be annoying for some, but it was obvious that one would be punished if they were to try finding a loophole and exploiting it.
With that in mind, Jason wanted to start, eager to figure out what exactly made the puppet so special.
Yet, contrary to his expectations of finding just one puppet, he found himself staring at five puppets.
Each of these was made of silver-colored material and emerged out of the five portals that appeared out of nowhere.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Their appearance was exactly the same, but it didn't take much for Jason to realize that each of the puppets was completely different.
If Jason had to describe the five puppets in extremely simple terms, he would describe them as extremely terrifying.
Their cultivation base was exactly the same as his, which was probably supposed to be the case owing to the dungeon's regulations.
However, Jason quickly realized that their aura, energy fluctuations, and every other possible characteristic were on par with his, or even higher.
This caused him to become nervous because there was one particular puppet that had the same aura as him, just that it was several times more distinct.
It was similar to his Celestia aura, but there was not even the need to compare the two because the answer to which one was stronger was obvious.
Meanwhile, the auras of the other four puppets were equally terrifying, suppressing Jason just by being released.
He was not sure if that was something the puppets were ought to do in order to intimidate him, but it was not working.
Instead, Jason's heart was thumping wildly, excited about the possibility of figuring out the combat prowess of a puppet.
Even though it was not a real person made of blood and flesh, it was probably constructed after the model of a true Celestia being, and adjusted to his cultivation base!
That might as well be wrong, but it didn't matter because Jason knew that each of the five puppets was much stronger than him, while having the exact same cultivation base!
With that in mind, he took a proper look at them, trying to figure out their strongest and weakest characteristics, when suddenly he heard the artificial voice resounding in his mind.
[Please challenge one of the puppets. After the fight is over, the challenger is allowed to continue to challenge the other puppets. Once the challenger is assumed to have reached the highest possible combat prowess in a fight against one of the puppets, please report so after the fight is concluded.
The cultivation environment will then open, allowing the challenger to gain the dungeon's best environment.
He will have the opportunity to become stronger for the next 180 days before the fight against one, or possibly, multiple puppets will be repeated!
Good luck!]
Jason felt odd because the artificial intelligence's message was extremely long, and the way it was conveyed sounded less robotic and more humane than before.
This was weird, but instead of minding it too much, he repeated the message in his mind.
In the end, the entire message he had received allowed him to know what exactly he was supposed to do. There was nothing he could misunderstand, and everything was clear to his mind.
Because of that, he averted his attention from the message to the puppets as he investigated them once again.
They were extremely interesting to inspect, and there was no need to hide his interest in them.
Yet, what astonished Jason the most was the fact that the puppet he presumed to have been fashioned after a model of a being of the Celestia race, was not the most intriguing to him.
Instead, the puppet that was on the far right was the most intriguing, while the remaining four puppets seemed to be oddly similar, yet completely different.
This intrigued him, and he began to note down the characteristics of every single puppet.
