Unlike the times when the names of the two previous trials were announced, Valyr decided not to speculate over what the third trial about.
After all, from what the voice had told him so far, he more or less had an idea of what to expect once the trial began.
"Aside from that, it's a given that the voice will describe the mechanics of the upcoming trial in greater detail," said the young man to himself, deciding to rest on the ground for a bit longer as he waited for the voice to speak out once more.
Of course, it only took a couple of minutes of silence for the monotonous voice to echo throughout the trial grounds yet again, this time discussing the specifics of the Trial of Four Forms.
'In the world of combat, there are a myriad number of styles and ways for one to engage with the enemy. Some of them approach combat from the shadows, while some of them approach it head-on.'
'Nevertheless, all of these styles and ways stem from a common ancestor, a series of combat styles that seem to have been imbued into the lifeblood of mortals themselves through generations of effort and innovation.'
'Though these combat styles are called by many mortals as basic or rudimentary combat styles, these combat styles form the foundation that make up almost all of the combat styles one would see at the present.'
'To the purists of combat, these combat styles are termed the four foundational forms of combat, with the fist, sword, spear, and staff making up those four.'
'During the Trial of Four Forms, the trial taker must comprehend the essence behind each form and increase their level of understanding of it to a certain degree.'
'Once the trial taker has comprehended each of the four forms to a level of understanding that stands at the peak of Common grade, only then would the trial taker be considered to have passed the third trial.'
'You have five minutes to prepare.'
With the surroundings becoming silent yet again after the voice was done with its explanation, it took a while for Valyr to utter out the words that began to plague his mind.
"Huh."
"Why does it seem like this trial… is easier than even the second trial?"
During the first trial, he had to kill a thousand primitive humanoids that had strengths greater than even the quadrant leaders at their first phase.
During the second trial, he had to forge four items where the next item should be of a higher grade than the previous one.
And now, if he was understands the mechanics of the third trial that the voice explained correctly…
What he needed to do was to obtain the corresponding mastery skills for the four foundational forms and upgrade them to the peak of Common grade.
"As long as the trial gives me the corresponding mastery skills for the four forms in the form of skill books, it'll undoubtedly be smooth sailing to the completion of this trial," said the young man, using the time he had been given to prepare as more rest time.
"Then again, even if they don't, it's not like I don't have any experience in obtaining mastery skills from nothing."
With those thoughts continuing to linger in his mind, Valyr felt confident that it wouldn't be long until he received his first batch of rewards from the Gates of Awakening, as well as the rewards from his currently ongoing quest.
Adorning a faint smile that oozed confidence, Valyr stood up at the very moment the five minutes of preparation were up, waiting for the monotonous voice to speak up once more.
'The trial begins in 3… 2… 1…'
Rumble…
Hearing the voice's countdown, Valyr slightly distanced himself from where he stood as he felt the ground beneath him starting to rumble yet again.
Watching a set of items jutting out of the ground once more, a knowing smile gradually crept up onto the young man's face as he took a look at the items that had appeared in front of him.
'Well… I think I have an idea as to why this is considered the third trial now.'
Though the items were covered in a faint layer of dust, it still didn't hide the many years of history engraved into the items themselves, making Valyr feel as if he were staring at prized relics rather than items that had been loaned to him for the trial.
Looking at the large gray training dummy standing a fair distance away from him, the young man then shifted his gaze towards the four pedestals to the side, all of which contained a weapon that corresponded to one of the four forms.
'Fist, sword, spear, staff…'
Wondering which among the four weapons he should comprehend first, Valyr eventually opted to go with the staff, considering that it was the weapon that felt closest to the spear.
Though, just as he had picked the staff off from the pedestal, the trial's monotonous voice sounded out once more.
'With the prowess you've shown in the previous trials, as well as the knowledge shared to us by the Gates of Enlightenment, you have successfully achieved the level of comprehension necessary to understand the essence of the spear.'
'Only three of the four foundational forms remain.'
For a while, the young man did not know how to react.
After all, the voice just mentioned to him out of nowhere that it had obtained information about him from the Gates of Enlightenment.
However, once he got past that point, great elation covered his face.
Then again, who wouldn't be after hearing that a part of the trial had already been completed beforehand?
With that, he moved towards the training dummy with a slight spring in his step.
Then, tightly gripping onto the staff, the young man began to send a flurry of strikes onto the dummy.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As if he were a tireless machine, Valyr struck the training dummy from multiple angles, being reminded of the days he had done the same thing with the spear back at Astarto Village.
Though, unlike back then, he now had access to [Hunter's Tracking Eyes], which allowed him to peer through the weak spots of the training dummy and deal considerably greater damage.
Then again, rather than deal greater damage, due to how the trial was designed, what Valyr felt instead from hitting these weak spots was instead a greater surge of information regarding the essence of the staff.
In a way, he felt that a single strike to one of the dummy's weak spots was equivalent to five strikes if he were to strike any other point on the dummy.
With that, he changed his thought process and began to strike the training dummy only at the weak spots, causing more and more information regarding the essence of the staff to inundate his mind.
Of course, just like the couple other mastery skills he had gained in the past, the information he had gained had eventually culminated as he felt as if he had received enlightenment towards a certain concept.
Ding!
[You have gained a basic grasp of wielding the staff.]
[You have gained the passive skill 'Basic Staff Mastery'.]
Seeing that he had finally gained the corresponding mastery skill of the staff, Valyr swiftly placed the staff to the side as he commanded the system to upgrade the skill to its level limit.
Waiting for the system's notification in anticipation, a faint hint of confusion appeared on his face after not having received any notification in response whatsoever.
Wondering what was going on, Valyr decided to take a look at the skill to see if the trial had done something peculiar with it.
Surprisingly enough, the trial had indeed done something to it, causing a bitter smile to appear on the young man's face.
Letting out a sigh, he picked up the staff once more and began to hit the training dummy once again.
"I now truly understand why this is considered the third trial." Valyr let out a wry chuckle.
"After all, who in their right mind would upgrade a skill to the peak of any rarity through sheer repetition if you could use XP to do so?"
"Only madmen would do such a thing."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Haah…"
"Guess I'm gonna have to turn into one of those madmen for a while."
