He was exhausted and his body would collapse at any point, but his mind was still focused on the two chests in front of him. After all, he spent so much time and effort in crossing the long line of challenges.
After doing all of that, it was expected that he would focus so much on the prize. He staggered to the end and got to the first pedestal. His eyes were full of anticipation as he opened the chest.
He got the lid open and looked inside. There was a tiny golden box inside the chest. Leo immediately had a suspicion of what it was. The box was the same size as the pillboxes he used to buy.
For a second, he had a little disappointment. How helpful would a pill be to him? He could always substitute that with an infinite amount of Aura Gathering Pills. Nefrati seemed to sense this from Leo and assured him.
"Don't doubt what the Blood God has prepared for you. It will be a very useful item that will help you greatly," she said.
"We'll see about that," he said. With a delicate motion, he opened the box, revealing a blood-red pill inside. The minute he opened the box, the stench of blood permeated the hall. He wrinkled his nose but his eyes showed delight.
The amount of aura he could sense inside the pill was astronomical. It was more than anything he had ever seen before. If he took it, he felt that he would have enough aura to break through to the 3rd Circle directly.
Of course, that was not what he was planning to do. And Nefrati made sure of it.
"Don't even think about using that pill yet. If the Blood God was willing to gift this pill to you, then it means you have to save it," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"The pill there has so much aura that is full of the blood element. If a person training in the blood element took it, it would be a lot more useful than if you did, because they wouldn't need to convert the aura to their respective element. However, if he gave it to you, it means he will try to make you train in the blood element," she said.
"So you are saying that the Blood God wants me to shift my aura to the blood element?"
"No. He will definitely test you still. You will need to keep going forward and pass future trials before being considered. This is, after all, the place for his inheritance. He is looking for a successor, so he will consider every aspect."
He didn't even bother asking her how she knew so much about the temple. She was a lot more knowledgable than him and she had already been there. There wasn't a point in him asking. Instead, he went to the next chest.
Now that he had looked at one of them, he had to see if the other was as good. And if he could actually use it immediately. With the pill being of no immediate use, hopefully, there was something that could help him recover.
The chest was opened and his eyes scanned its content.
Inside the chest was a fragment of some object made of ruby. He knew it was a fragment because it was properly carved into a square but the top edge seemed broken off. It had an interesting aura to it that made him realize it wasn't normal at all. While it was a treasure, he didn't know its use so he threw it into his dimensional ring.
Just as he took the ruby piece out of the second chest, the entire hall changed. It was suddenly breathable and he could feel the aura creep into his body.
It was going to be very hard for him to survive there without any aura. If he had to get into another fight, then he was done for. So his being able to recover his aura was a godsend.
"Wait. I can try to recover my aura now!" He said with excitement. Immediately taking a seated position, he started recovering the aura he had used up. Meanwhile, the sealed wall in front of him was changing its shape.
A huge door was starting to form on the wall. Once it formed completely, it slowly opened to show the room beyond. Leo was too engrossed in recovering his aura that he hadn't paid attention to his surroundings.
After an entire aura, he felt that he had completely recovered. When he opened his eyes, he realized that the place had changed. The runes on the tiles were completely gone but the chests were still sitting there.
"I understand where you got your greed from. But how would someone know that they are only allowed two treasures?" He asked Nefrati. Even he felt like grabbing a couple of the treasures since there wasn't anything stopping him from doing it.
"There was supposed to be a board in the start that had this information along with the rules of the test, but I think someone knocked it down. They probably took it down when they failed the tests inside."
He shook his head in disgust. "Selfish bastards," he cursed them. If he didn't have Nefrati guiding him, he would have long been dead in the place.
The door in front of him was inviting him inside and he was completely recovered, so he started walking toward it. As he was walking, he got a warning from her.
"From here on, I will be useless. I never crossed this door, so I don't know what is beyond that point. You might be facing off against a monster for all I know," she said.
"I know, but it's a risk I am willing to take," he said as he walked into the door.
The minute he walked out of the hall, a huge burden was released from him. He immediately noticed the difference because he could feel his magic flowing.
"I can use my magic again!" He said, surprised. Because it was suppressed in the previous room, he thought it would stay that way in the entire temple. Lucky for him, that wasn't the case.
"What does that mean? How strong are you as a mage?" Nefrati asked. She didn't know exactly how strong he or the mages he fought against previously were.
"Well, I could easily beat a Peak-Stage 3rd Circle Aura Knight, but a 4th Circle Aura Knight is a no-go. My spells would do no damage, but they won't be able to catch me if I need to escape," he said.
"So you are almost at the level of a 4th Circle person?!"
She was already feeling envious of his talent before, but now she didn't even have those feelings. Leo was no longer talented - he was a monster. More so than anyone she had ever seen in her entire life.
"Yes, so it should help me in this temple," he said.
The room he had entered was full of fog and it started to clear out little by little when he entered the room. However, the fog did nothing to hide what was in the room from Leo.
