Chapter 161: Trial of 400 Orbs / Part 1

Living and death had their fair share of issues and worries. Death had no place for fear, while living can only hope to crave away from dying.

It was a common idea, with an even simpler instinct that was happening for a long while.

Living didn't want to die unless the mind or body already gave up. Allan knew that sort of feeling a little bit more than he wished. Almost in all matters of facts, in fact.

As for the matter of killing or dying, Allan had no issues with killing someone, if that someone was ready to kill him with no regard.

He learned it the hard way in his own home, within his own set of rules. Back then, that was a drastically different situation than now, where he fought a freaking immortal and even won.

At that time, he felt young and afraid of death. He still does, even now, but

Heartbeat crazed, sweat in part of the body that he feared shouldn't sweat, and trembles echoed in the tip of his toes, all the way to shimmers of his temples. It was an agonizing feeling. He probably won't ever forget it, since it was that enticing, as fearful.

A first kill, that is. A lunatic of a man – a northern tribesman glared at him with the intention of nothing less than to kill.

Today, Allan felt he was one step away from overcoming his past fear, but only time would tell if it was a good idea to go through the motion of traveling to the Diary of the Body.

It made some sense, still… Albeit limited in his heart. Even though this pain and near-death experience. After all, he kept repeating the same words in his mind. Calm. Nothing dangerous. It was just a hurdle along the way. Nothing to be fearful of.

“Calm… Calm. Allan. Breath. Clam and steady. Like he told you. Father also.” he whispered to himself, carrying with his task of calming himself down. It began with deep breaths in, and low breaths out. It made his raging inside calmer, but he also figured it wasn't as simple as that.

The pain of the attack prevailed, jolting his insides,d but the raging flame of Soul Fire prevented imminent issues. He was hurt. He was… He felt it.

It wasn't like before, in his first kill that he achieved an easy time. Now… Against this figure that he perceived wrongly, he almost died.

It definitely put his mind at unease and his body at aching nervousness.

“No…No…” His had trembled. “The premise of going inside was not the killing of some woman on the brink of death. It is to go along with this trial. It has no dangers. 36 said that. Said that. No worry. Not now, where it doesn't matter.” Allan forced himself to calm down, and after more minutes of calm breathing, he pulled the fabric that he had to carry a spear and his glaive. With them gone, this was uselessly wrapped around his torso. So, he decided to use it for his previous idea.

Folding the fabric around half of the flying knife, he secured it around the ending part of his staff. The reinforced part of the one edge was still useful, so that was great, but a double-handed stance would no longer work. At least half of the mass of the length was gone from the attack of Spectral Hand, so it was like a one-handled stick, rather than a proper weapon. One part became sharp with a flying knife secured with this cloth, white other would give blunt damage.

It was a lacking and improper idea he had, but it was done quickly, and on the spot, so what else he could figure out when he was weaponless?

“No… It's wriggling already. This was a terrible idea of securing the round handle to another round object.” Allan scowled at his failing idea, figuring out the obvious issue. The tip of the knife would prove to be useful but only at one quick point, before becoming useless.

Thinking of the barriers and things he will meet, striking tough and sturdy things required equally tough weapons. This wasn't that, and he knew it before even trying. An impact against the barrier was a bad idea with this sort of "weapon". The flying knife would twist within the handle and drift away with the cloth that carried it clumsily along the staff. A piece of cloth was not tough and tight enough.

“Hm… yes. It's bad. Let's try this again, but with a different idea in mind.” Allan nodded to himself, forgetting where he was, or why he was there, as his mind turned to a crafter.

It bit unfortunate, as he battled a life and death battle a bit ago, and here he was, carrying residual scorched wounds around his neck, yet was playful enough to craft.

Calling him a maddening crafter wasn't too farfetched.

Allan unwrapped the flying knife and suddenly, something hit him in his mind. A knife in hand, to be exact. It was nothing tangible. Jsut an idea. He forgot one straight fact that was as obvious as one could think.

He had no need for such a clumsy method to call this thing a weapon. “I am really an idiot… Have I lost my cool after seeing and feeling The Underworld for the second time, haven't I? I fear I do… How sad, but… No. I don't want to come and feel that place ever again. Nope.” he muttered, clutching the flying knife in his hand.

This, right there along his firm grasp was the finest solution already. A tool to be used. A weapon, to be fair. It already proved itself capable of killing a northern tribesman, let alone an Immortal, so why not think of it as enough for this trial?

“This can be considered as a ranged weapon, but tossing it away is out of the question. I won't be able to find it in such a big space. Well, the sounds will echo a lot, so maybe my ears will adjust along wiht it? I wonder.” Allan deduced, and started playing with his flying knife. Scrapping and tossing it against the ground, he confirmed his idea and suspicion. It was workable.

“Securing it within the incompatible staff was a wrong idea, to begin with.” Allan sighed as he got to his feet and further adjustment of his knife in his grasp put him at ease. It was his creation. A memento from his father, albeit a thing that he hasn't seen.

“I swear. I will show him this thing. I swear to my name.” he promised himself, and continued with some practicing shots. Against the ground, it bounced. Against the wall, it slid or bounded. Too far, and he couldn't hear it properly, but with enough hearing and work, he found it soon enough.

“The knife feels comfortable in my hands. Was it like this when I tossed it for the first time as well? Against that man who wanted to kill me?” Allan wondered, unsure why he even asked himself that sort of question. Such a topic of killing was something he haven't even considered in the past days, let alone before he even killed for the first time.

It seemed, that with the first kill, the further one became normalized as if they no longer mattered. It was a strange feeling for sure, and one Allan felt disturbing to find within himself.

Slamming his chest, he clutched his knife and took a deep breath.

“Huh… Fine. Time to go see this place. I can practice for a while since I have no idea what those barriers will even be like, let alone what will be inside of them.”

With a firm decision, Allan walked along the wall until he found a corner. Then, he continued walking beside the wall to see another corner. It was around 100 meters further according to his steps, counting, and time of walking.

Soon enough, he walked back to the door after two more turns. Occasionally tossing the knife above his head, he found the general vision of this room within his mind.

It was a huge hall, with a narrower kind of passage, and a high ceiling.

“Alright, 100 meters far, with around 10 or so meters as a slack. It is very narrow – around 15 meters. A ceiling that is around 5 meters tall provokes some imagination. It sounds bigger from the echo, but I guess that's because it's so narrow.” Allan deducted, grabbing half of his stuff in his right hand, and flying knife in another.

“Alright. I can "see" it now. I have nothing to lose by being afraid that destroying them will give me something to decide, am I right? A book to take may be bad… I can't read, but whatever. I am not going to waste it. I will get the results I deserve.” Allan reassured himself, nodding and whispering along with his walking. “There must be a way to get the results in the best way possible. Then, I will need to figure the topic, or idea around the few rewards after destroying their barriers.”

Allan waited a couple of more minutes after he felt his neck not being overly strained, and the heat seemed to be bearable.

Then he walked to the middle of the room.

“Begin the Trial!” Allan firmly said, making the voice from before confirming his words with a simple message.

Confirmation, successful. Intizaliazting the Trial of 400 Orbs. Proceeding.

Strange mechanical noises spread from the line of Allan's upper perception. That was the ceiling.

Within it, lines spread, and opening emerged. Gusts of wind spread while more noise of cluttering and sharp-sounding noises spread throughout this huge room.

Flowing orbs of varying mass, but noticeable rewards of all kinds, flowed to the ground en masse. There was chaos to them, as they bounced across each other, bumped into each other, hit each other, and wrestled with each other.

There were hundreds of them with almost no distinct color of the barrier, but that was something Allan didn't care about.

But one would see the things within them. Some held strange sights that would surprise Allan for sure. Like spears, bloody swirling matter, and even pill sacks. Some also had ordinary-looking things, like books,s rocks, materials, and so on. There were even smaller and bigger weapons, but none made it through Allan's senses.

At the moment of this raging noise, Allan felt aghast and more than annoyed and pained.

All he felt was incredible noise, which echoed in his mind. It was deafening, making him dizzy and a bit crazy. He grimaced, finding himself in the midst of incoming chaos as the first barrier bumped into him. They were hard and quite physical to the touch.

Hard surface, and cold they were, and many flew around, hitting him or dancing around like mad.

The vast majority of them had smaller sizes with scrolls, or manuals within themselves, while bigger ones held some weapons, and a few in number had some rocky formations, Pill furnaces, and also pouches of unknown stuff.

Allan remained standing there, feeling the tension and noise around him to be incredibly infuriating. Calming himself through the breathing, he didn't feel his core steadying but his heart at least calmed down. His ears began to adjust to this noise, but there was too much cluttering noise. Making sense out of the incoming barriers made almost no sense to him.

“There are hundreds of them as I expected and feared,” he told to himself, yet his words carried low volume in such a noise. “Barriers sound and feel tough from the words alone and they are tough as they bounce and force themself on me too. Well, it's like a hit of a hammer, but nowhere near a punch or kick from Zigmund. That's for sure. Their bouncing sounds are somewhat resembling a metal against the metal, but their internal structure is not that… I know that. They should be tough depending on what's worth it inside of them. What if some hold Immortal Rank treasures? Or Peak Mortal rank?” Allan wondered, standing firm like a huge boulder in the raging river of hundreds of boulders that would crush an unprepared student.

It would be that… An unsightly look for sure. The trial would stop at the moment the student would feel unable to continue, but not as if it was possible.

Not like it ever happened, since the standards for the students in this place, were ridiculous.

The trial has begun. the monotone and stoic voice said. The student has 1 hour to undergo the Trial of 400 Orbs. Choosing the rewards is a fine choice while uncovering, realizing, and finding the right fit is as important as destroying a barrier. If no rewards are chosen within the time limit, none shall be gained from the Reward Trial so one should be careful and not waste time, or be too greedy. Good luck

“Right. I've got it. This thing called it a Trial of 400 Orbs, so it sounds interesting enough. It surely is not as easy as going to them one by one. Well, they already bumped into me dozens of times, but they aren't as fast, or heavy. Well, some are…. which made them different from each other.

Figuring out the methods to break them will be the main thing while finding what is within them is another… Time is ticking, so let's begin looking.” Allan decided and walked forth, brandishing his knife before his chest, while his right hand grasped half of his staff. He felt his knife to be the most proper tool, so he used his right hand.

All floating and flying orbs remained near the ground, bouncing and traveling like mad around this huge room. A lot of them bounced far and fast, loudly clashing against each other around and further making the space messy.

Sometimes it was like a chain reaction. An orb bumped into Allan, and he hit it once, and dozens of sharp sounds echoed next, making any sensible outcome, useless.

It was an extremely confusing problem that he didn't experience before.

Allan was trying his best to adjust his footing, and grip to strike a few, but all he did was bounce them away causing no damage to them even with his knife. So, he figured something else. Flying ones didn't make it through his power, so how about stationary ones?

Allan found the few barriers which traveled slower than the rest. Stepping forth toward them, he reached out and pounced forth. A bear hug pushed a barrier to the ground, and he successfully retrieved one from flying away.

The barrier didn't struggle, as it had no mind on its own.

A head-wide rounded object was within his grasp next. This one was one of the few barriers that had a pouch inside of it, but Allan had no way to know it.

He couldn't even guess if this was a hard-to-get or a very easy-to-attain reward. The cold and hard surface of the barrier provided excellent defense, and with further closing touch, he was indeed determined to destroy it.

In order to make sense, the way to find out the truth was only one.

Force through it, and destroy this barrier.

“It is small, but in no way it could be a bad reward, right? I felt some bigger barrier bump into me, but this seems weak in comparison. Sense is not in the vocabulary of the people who made this place anyways, so who am I kidding? Some barriers would surely have a small size and had incredible rewards within. Size isn't everything, and I can't even notice or note a thing.” Allan mumbled as he tried to feel the ball.

Smack!

“Open up!” Allan smacked it with the last reinforced part of his staff. Multiple hits almost caused the barrier to fling away, but Allan secured it well between his thighs, as he sat on the ground.

The barrier did not even budge. Placing it on the ground, he found a blunt attack rather useless. His one-handed smacks with his staff weren't all that powerful. Allan felt the sturdiness of this barrier to be stronger than steel for sure, but could this be a stronger kind of barrier?

He wondered about it, as there were all kinds of barriers in this place. Some had distinctive features, power, movements, and flying speed to them, making them tougher to catch and break, but he was yet to realize that. Some barely flew in this space, while the majority had a speed of a flying eagle.

Their movements were erratic, chaotic, and impossible to guess even with open eyes. They bounced around, and one would easily find a specific reward gone in an instant. With so many overlapping barriers, it was no wonder one can focus on a specific one.

“This will be hard…” Allan sighed and decided to give it a bigger kind of shot.

Allan pulled himself to more of a kneeling position, where he held more power over his upper body. He grabbed the half-meter-long staff, which retained some of its purposes, but not much.

Holding it with both hands while keeping his knife in his pocket, he shoved it down with all his body weight.

Hitting the barrier, the screeching sound of metal against metal began to crease against each other. Stuff's thrust left cracks in the barrier at last, but they soon ceased to exist without Allan even knowing how. It happened too fast, but he didn't stop.

The crack did not go unnoticed by Allan so he got an idea in a flash of a moment. Pulling his staff higher above his head, he also pulled his knife and bite its handle, securing it with his mouth.

He attacked again, and again with his staff, furthering the cracks as the regenerating barrier was slowly declining. Bigger lines of cracks were furthering, but it was not possible to destroy the barrier much further with a blunt weapon. Allan would perhaps be able to do so if he had the proper tools or a nice weapon.

The staff – albeit his own creative creation – was not as destructive against firm objects like this. Especially the one, which could not be handled in a normal manner, as the barrier was tough, and held Immortal energy. It was an Immortal tool that Allan felt in his grasp, and he was trying to destroy it!

He definitely realized that fact, which made him unhinged in his try, to not give up.

Beng! Beng!

Allan remained firm wiht his all-out thrusts from higher grounds. Guessing the limitation of the strikes was no longer useful. The staff proved to be limited, even if he tried his best, so he let go of the knife within his jaw and grasped it fast with his right hand, as he let go of the staff completely.

He gripped the knife with his right hand while he found the opening cracks with his other palm. He pierced the closing gap while the few centimeters of the knife were barely inside, but they were there for sure.

Alas, the knife was already slipping up, since the regenerative force of this energy barrier wanted to close the gap.

“You are not going anywhere!” Allan shouted, pushing with both arms and the majority of his body weight, down. He stopped the closure, but the knife was not going down either, leaving his body strained in stamina draining state.

Huh!

He grunted, and Allan pushed himself up. He freed his right leg and adjusted the angle of the barrier. A knee hit the knife with a powerful thrust to the handle, showing it deeper, or at least hopefully so.

Again, and again, he pushed the knife deeper, and it was working.

Minute by minute, dozens, if not hundreds of knees passed before the cracks furthered with each advancing millimeter.

At last, its regeneration ceased to exist, and so did the barrier which rumbled to foggy and glowing matter.

“Holy ore… This better is worth it… So hard.” Allan huffed as his knee was hurting from hundreds of hits.

There was a pouch on the ground, where the barrier was dusted to nothingness. The reward was there and Allan reached for it.

“Huh? Fabric… leather? Pouch? An immortal pouch like that one?” Allan guessed the possibility of what it was since he got something very similar not long ago. Alabit, the previous pouch involved much more dangers, than this one.

Allan held it with unknown thoughts. Was something inside? Was it a good reward?

He didn't know, but suddenly, within his mind, a shimmering and raspy voice spread the words, shaking Allan's mind.

It was unlike the one before, since it didn't speak out loud, but forces some mentality into his mind directly.

It was a strange feeling as if a voice was inside his head.

“Reward gained. Middle-Rank Mortal treasure. Pouch of Keeping.”

“Eh? Did that voice from before just explain the detail of the reward?” Allan shuddered as this was not inconvenient for him at all. Unfortunately, he needed scrolls and martial arts, and not some sort of pouch which probably had nothing inside.

54 minutes remain. This time, the voice from before, said out loud. it was a more stoic, and emotionless kind of voice, unlike the one that gave him the verbal explanation of the reward to him.

“Um… right. No time to waste. The knee will have to manage those cracks, so let's see another one.”

Allan pounced forth as the clicking sounds spread much clearer within his mind. Passing moments of his tries to catch flying ones were hard. Bigger ones were harder to reach with hands, let alone catch them. So, Allan assumed the next course of action he had.

Strike within the motion, and not randomly to create more chaos away. This place needed strategy and a good one, at that.

Using the momentum of the flying barriers to his advantage was thus, a good idea, but was it achievable to him?

A simple try will answer it.

The easiest part was simple. Almost all of the barriers traveled around, so he could choose any direction since he had no issue looking for something specific. It was an unfit thing to occur. Usually, the challenger would try and look for specific things, thus, making the Trial of the 400 Orbs rather tough.

Though, Allan had a unique circumstance, as his random solutions weren't as bad, even though he found them bad. Every barrier had some possible reward, but he can't guess then unless he destroys them.

Now, he could choose a random one within his path and strike forth, forgetting anything else.

And that was precisely what Allan did.

A flying barrier bigger than the volume of a human head bounced across his head and just as it was about to slam into another one, Allan placed the knife within their path, causing a deep metallic sound to echo.

It was a random idea he got. A simple one, but it went shockingly well. The knife penetrated through the barrier thanks to the momentum of both of them, cracking and penetrating one that shoved the sharp point into the other with ease.

Perhaps, having two faced knife would be also a good idea in such circumstances, but Allan had no time to wonder about such ideas.

He quickly performed a flying kick and pushed the knife deeper, and shoved the barrier down to the ground. The other barrier bounced away. His leg kick, shot well beyond his head, almost resembling a Body Whip Technique but not really.

The forceful motion along wiht the knife inside the barrier was enough. It crumbled the stronger barrier then the last one to dust.

All it took was barely 30 seconds from the previous one, which was something that Allan found surprising, but welcomed.

The content of the barrier fell to the ground. Allan wondered what he gained, so he returned from his half-tumble, and flying kick to the ground.

Grabbing it, he found a book with a cover made of hide. Its surface and structure indicated some lizardy creature. The roughness of the cover was quite obvious to the touch as if it had some small spikes all over it.

He also noticed a distinct engraved symbol of tougher spikes at the front of the book, indicating the origin, or a token of this book. Well, the origin would be easy to guess for anyone who had the eyes in their head, since underneath this engraved symbol, was a series of words indicating the name of this immortal technique.

“Reward gained. High-Rank Mortal technique. Secondary Book of the Body Forging, School of Radiant Bull.” a raspy voice announced with the same echoing voice that pushed into Allan's mind, informing him what he gained, which he welcomed.

“Secondary book? A Body Forging book? So it is some auxiliary techniques within another school that go with Body Forging? 36 never made more examples of them, but I shouldn't be upset or surprised. He gave me what he thought was the best for the current me. I have my Unmoving technique. This one is surely not something that I can use without a second thought. Body Forging cultivation method of High Mortal rank though. It seems good, but I need Martial Arts and not technique as I already have one.” Allan firmly decided, tossing the book to the ground with no pain in his heart.

He already had another sound coming to his ears. With hundreds coming his way, he could take his time to find a proper barrier for himself.

53 minutes remain. the out loud and stoic voice announced.

“Alright, Alright. Keep your minutes to yourself. I will get what I want!” Allan calmly and resolutely said, grasping the flying knife while securing the staff to his trousers. He figured out his hunt, so it was time to do things according to his intentions.

Pouncing once more towards another barrier that came around 3 meters to his right, he held all intentions to continue with this method.

Pulling his hand up, the knife screeched as it was pushed into the thick-looking barrier that slammed into his knife. However, his wrist twisted, making the barrier bounce away.

A failure was also possible, but Allan didn't mind it. He shook his head, figuring it was a temporary pain that will soon fade away.

Getting back to it, his ears piqued another chance not far away. He pulled his hand up again, and as before, the knife was hit by another barrier that pushed the knife to the other. However, not even 2 centimeters into a meter-wide barrier that Allan involuntarily chose. The knife did not penetrate its thickness and was stuck instead.

Worse comes worse, Allan lost his grip because of the force of the sudden impact. He was too slow to strike the knife further since the barrier got plenty of momentum from this clash. This barrier was much stronger, heavier, and sturdy than the last two combined.

Allan realized it on the spot, but he didn't want to give up. He wanted to see what could be inside, even if it would waste time, and make him suffer.

“Heavy. That was quite a heavy blow.” He stepped back, realizing that he unwillingly let go of his remaining knife.

“You are not going away! Over my dead body!” Allan shouted and took the strip of cloth that was 3 meters long from his body. Flicking it behind his back, he whipped it towards the location within the meter distance from him. The barrier was already leaving his location but the cloth wrapped around the stuck knife, stopping it from flying further.

Once again, it was a quick and fast idea, but Allan accomplished great success in one try.

The strip of cloth was in his tight grip, and he pulled the barrier closer. Its momentum stopped, and quite a hefty barrier rested and rolled on the ground.

“I will destroy you. I swear.” Allan mumbled to him, beginning to contemplate what method to use.