"Well, the part where you said that I wouldn't be able to know which challenge the tile will pose might be a little incorrect. Actually, very incorrect," he replied.
"Even my generation lost the meaning of these runes. How will someone from such a backward empire be able to understand them?" Nefrati was shocked that he could understand the runes. Based on everything she knew about Leo, the impression she had was very far from this.
Since he didn't even have a master being this talented and wasn't a noble either, she assumed he was incredibly poor. Being incredibly poor, he wouldn't have any access to any resources. How was he supposed to learn something as rare as runes in a backward empire in those conditions?
"Well, I wouldn't call my empire backward. I think we just lost some techniques because of the power of time. Anyway, I can read the runes so I know what's coming," he said.
In reality, the only reason he could read the runes was because of the tome. When he first got the tome, it gave him an incredible amount of knowledge. Along with the common language that he spoke in Solaria, he also learned how to read runes. Of course, it took a toll on his mind since the language was very close to nature.
Reading runes wasn't as easy as reading the common language, but it wasn't hard for him considering the mental strength that his magic developed. With it, understanding the runes on the tiles would be easy.
"Okay. But that doesn't change how hard it is going to be. You need to be careful if you are attempting those. Even I just tried for the 4th and 6th furthest treasures." She said.
In total, there were 12 treasures. There were 5 lined up on each side and two in the front. He took a deep breath and started to go toward his goal.
When he took the first step, an arrow flew toward him. It was fairly slow so he caught it with his hand. When he caught it, the arrows dissolved into blood.
"This doesn't seem as hard," he commented.
Just as he said that two more arrows came from different directions. He quickly caught them and left them once they lost their momentum. He realized there was a pattern. As soon as the two arrows were set down, three came flying his way.
The place wasn't giving him a rest, so the only way to escape it would either be to retreat or move forward. He took a few steps while dodging the arrows. If he had his magic, it would save him a lot of time. However, things didn't always go his way.
As he was walking forward, the number of arrows shooting toward him was increasing. He was not as concerned because of the strength behind the arrows. They didn't seem to be able to harm him. If he put up a Shadow Dome, it would counter all of the arrows.
Of course, it would also render him immobile and it would be pointless to do that. After half a minute, he got to the other side of the tile. In front of him were nine more tiles before the treasures would be in his grasp.
The 9th tile would be beside both the treasures, so he wouldn't have any more obstacles once he took care of that. Since the first tile was incredibly easy, he moved on to the next one with a lot of optimism.
Meanwhile, Nefrati was complaining about the absurdity of how easy the trial seemed. When she took it, the arrow trial was dozens of levels higher. There were countless arrows bombarding her with some of them having poison on their tips. All of them were out to kill her.
For Leo, on the other hand, there were 10 arrows coming at once at the last minute, all of them so weak they wouldn't even do anything to him if they did hit him.
However, she realized why this was the case. It had to do with his absurd amount of aura and the aura techniques he was using. Combining that with his Peak-Affinity with the Shadow Attribute, he was a lot stronger than her when she was a 2nd Circle Aura Knight.
But that wasn't that high of a bar to clear. She was not an Aura Knight that specialized in head-to-head fights. Her specialty was in providing support. A better comparison would be the other geniuses of her time, but Leo would still be able to match them. The sad part was that he didn't even focus on aura. He was a mage.
As Nefrati was thinking about how he was too strong compared to a typical 2nd Circle Aura Knight, he crossed the tile to move on to the next one. As he did, he formed Shadow Blades by his side.
"Why are you preparing so early? What is this tile?" She asked him.
"The rune means guardian," he responded. "I want to see what will come out. I know it can't be a real person since it has probably been years since people came here," he said.
"Who even makes sure this place has enough treasures?" He had a question that puzzled him.
"Ha. You have no idea how many treasures the Blood God amassed. 12th Circle Aura Knights are rumored to live for a thousand years. Forget a thousand years. Even in a hundred years, someone that powerful can gather more treasures than an empire with a thousand years of history," she said.
"If an empire had a rich history, how would it not have a single 12th Circle Aura Knight in a thousand years?" Leo cheekily replied as blood started to rise from the tile in front of him.
"I don't think you understand how rare 12th Circle Aura Knights are. They live in legends. There is a single 11th Circle Aura Knight in 500 years. And someone at that level wouldn't be tied to a single empire. They would only pass on their treasure to their disciple.
The only logical reason why the Blood God erected this temple is because he needed a successor. That was what we theorized, but no one ever reached that status. At least, not in my time." She said.
"Sounds like a good opportunity to me," Leo replied.
Nefrati laughed at this. "Keep dreaming. I don't know what you think you are, but you would need Peak-Affinity with the Blood Element, one of the rarest elements, to be considered by him. And focus on the fight. You need all the attention you can spare."
In the time they were chatting, the guardian he was supposed to fight had formed. It was a silhouette who was an entire foot taller than him, donned completely in armor. Unlike the completely black silhouette he encountered in his training room, this one was blood red.
It had a spear in its hand and a small wrist shield on the other. There was a helmet covering its face, but he had a faint feeling that it had eyes staring him down.
"I know. It won't be an easy fight," he said.
