The first trial was self-explanatory.
Damien's flesh and bones were sundered and burned until they couldn't be burned anymore.
And then they were burned some more.
Transcendent Regeneration kept him alive and his iron wall mentality didn't submit to such little pain, making this trial easy to pass.
It was even mildly enjoyable.
Damien enjoyed "sensation" a lot. The tactile sensation of pain made him feel like he was putting in effort to gain the strength he had, changing his view of it into something positive.
Even during battle, while getting injured was extremely detrimental, it only made Damien enjoy the fight more.
The battle maniac tendencies he had as a teenager had been thoroughly suppressed in the vicissitude of time, but they were still present somewhere in his heart.
He only really felt that insane, almost orgasmic drive for pain and death in training situations like this where he was stimulated to the max.
Nevertheless, Damien was able to hold back both pleasure and pain to complete the trial, staying in the lava pool for over 48 hours without pause.
When he resurfaced and regained his ability to move, he immediately followed Granny Liu to the next trial, the trial of perseverance.
Perseverance was difficult to test. In most cases, these kinds of trials would be composed of endless roads or other constructs that forced the participants to experience infinity.
The Cloud Giants seemed to have a more extreme version of this trial.
Perseverance in the face of infinity, in the face of an impossible wall, was possible to overcome as long as hope was present.
But perseverance could only be truly experienced in hopelessness.
The hopelessness felt when facing an impossible walk was sinking. It felt like thousands of pounds of weight were chained to one's ankles, dragging them to drown in the depths of the ocean.
However…what if this impossible wall was met with existing hopelessness?
What if one's family was slaughtered by a supreme expert, their homeworld destroyed by that expert's sect, their body crippled, their martial path cut off by lack of talent and guidance; what if all factors that could possibly go wrong went wrong at once?
Would one still be able to persevere even while knowing that getting anywhere was literally impossible?
This was the feeling Damien was made to experience.
In the face of true impossibility, what was the point of fighting spirit?
At that point, it was no longer a matter that had anything to do with the outside world.
It was a matter only pertaining to the individual.
It was pride.
Even if one was destined to achieve nothing, would they succumb to this nothingness, or would they relentlessly fight it until their last breath, even if it was just for the sake of saying they fought?
Damien didn't know if there was a correct answer to this question. He couldn't fault those who decided to throw away their personal desires for security.
In the end, their path wasn't wrong either.
He just couldn't do it.
Even if it was only for that final moment of realization when he was on his deathbed, even if it was only to comfort himself with the fact that he never gave up, at least he would die without regrets because he tried.
Life meant opportunity.
This was the realization Damien made when he completed the second trial.
He did so in less than 3 hours, a record that had never been surpassed in Titan history.
And now that those two trials were finished, Damien began the last.
This was both the simplest and most difficult trial.
Because the decision of whether or not one passed was entirely subjective.
Currently, Damien was stood before an array of massive individuals. Even the smallest one was 10 meters tall, with the largest one being over a kilometer in height, taking up the majority of the vast cavern in which they were situated.
Granny Liu, still shorter than short, stood on the side and watched the proceedings quietly.
"Damien Void, you have challenged our three trials and come out successful from the first two! Even if you fail here, you have still earned the right to make a request from our clan, albeit smaller than your original one!" The kilometer-tall giant said, his voice booming through the cavern.
"For this trial, I shall ask you three questions. Once you have given your answers, the jury before you will discuss and come to a decision on whether or not you passed. Have you any questions?"
Damien looked up into the giant's eyes and shook his head in refusal.
He was concerned about this trial, especially since he was well aware that lying wouldn't work, but there was nothing he could do about it.
If his true thoughts couldn't convince these Cloud Giants, he didn't need their extended help.
There was no point trying to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with people who couldn't see eye to eye with him.
The kilometer-tall giant, the Head of the Cloud Giant Tribe, nodded his head, affirming Damien's willingness to continue.
He opened his mouth and asked the first question.
"There are 1,000,000 innocent civilians being held captive in an enemy camp, however, your mother has been kidnapped by a mysterious force that is colluding with the enemy. You can only save o—"
"My mother," Damien answered, cutting the Giant Leader off.
The giant raised his brow. "I have yet to finish my question, are you sure about your answer?"
Damien shook his head. "No need to ask. It doesn't matter how many randoms you add to the scenario. My mother's life is worth more than even the Heavens themselves."
Saving his mother was the first motivation he ever had on his path to strength. The determination to save his mother allowed him to survive so much tragedy and pain, how could her life be worth the same as rabble he'd never met before?
It might've been a cruel thought process, but it was honest.
In this trial, that was all that mattered.
The Giant Leader nodded his head without a change of expression.
"Then, onto the second question. You meet an enemy who has committed countless atrocities, however, he wishes to faithfully serve you and become one of your people. Would you accept him?"
Damien furrowed his brows.
"Am I allowed to ask questions?"
"Ask away." The Giant Leader responded.
"Am I answering from the perspective of the me who stands before you or a nondescript entity?"
The Giant Leader thought for a moment before answering, "Tell me what you, the Damien Void I meet now, would do in this situation."
Damien nodded. "Then, my answer is that it depends on his crimes."
"If his crimes are murder, treachery, or other violent atrocities, regardless of the scale, as long as I put a slave seal on him, I can control him at a whim and make sure he doesn't step out of line. If he has the capacity to commit such atrocities, he will be a useful subordinate, as sometimes such qualities are necessary."
"Otherwise?" The Giant Leader questioned.
"There are two alternate paths that don't differ much from the original. Regardless, I will put a slave seal on him and control him."
"However, if he has touched women, he will be punished by women. His punishment will wholly depend on what, depending on what the situation, either the women he assaulted or my female subordinates decide. Afterward, whether or not I accept him as a subordinate also depends on their opinions, as they are the ones whose performance will be affected if they are uncomfortable in his presence."
Damien's eyes sharpened.
"If he decided to stoop so low as to touch children, I'll personally place him in a hell of endless torture, and I'll personally make sure that he maintains sanity and reason for as long as he remains alive in that place. I cannot punish all those who commit such atrocities, but I'll never shy away from punishing one who is before me."
The Giant Leader nodded, the same indifferent look on his face as if Damien's answer meant nothing to him at all.
And now that they'd reached this point, he asked the final question.
"If the entire universe turned against you, including those you hold dear in your heart, would you still move with the same determination to save it?"
