Chapter 115- Completion of the Epic Rank trial?

Chapter 115: Chapter 115- Completion of the Epic Rank trial?

The Guardian finally managed to get Cindy’s attention.

"Look. You’ve already lit seven pillars. The evaluation is finished."

Cindy stared at the result, stunned, barely believing it herself.

"D-does that mean I get a Legendary class?" she asked, voice cracking slightly.

The Guardian shook her head. "You’re qualified to attempt the trial. That’s not the same as being ready to pass it."

Cindy tilted her head, confused. "What’s the difference?"

"Qualification measures whether you carry the required affinity. Readiness measures your actual strength." The Guardian’s gaze swept over her, taking in her small frame and current level. "You’re simply too low-level right now. You wouldn’t survive the trial as you are."

"Then how do I get ready?" Cindy pressed.

The Guardian’s expression softened into something warm. "Let me teach you."

She reached out and gently rested a hand on Cindy’s head.

A new notification lit up in front of the girl.

[Ding~]

[Class Conversion — Available]

[Thunderchild — Rare Rank]

[A storm is not born. It is gathered.]

[Ding~]

[New Quest — The Trial of the Seventh Pillar]

[Reach Level 20.]

[Then return to the Lightning Legacy Temple.]

[Reward — Legendary Trial Unlock.]

"Wow! Big sister, you’re already giving me a Rare class?" Cindy’s eyes went wide with delight, and she threw her arms around the Guardian in a spontaneous hug.

The Guardian smiled, stroking her hair gently. "The path to Legendary isn’t a gift, dear. It’s a road. One you’ll have to walk yourself." Her voice had gone soft, almost maternal.

Cindy nodded fast, practically bobbing her head. "Okay, big sister! I’ll get stronger and come back!"

"I know you will," the Guardian said, smiling.

Cindy scampered back to her grandfather’s side.

The Guardian swept her gaze across the remaining crowd. "Anyone left?"

Leo glanced around and realized everyone else had already tested. "Guess that just leaves me."

He stepped into the formation, placed both hands on the platform, and poured his mana into it.

The pillars stayed completely dark. Even the platform itself failed to light up.

"Did Cindy break it?" Leo asked, only half joking.

Cindy immediately broke into a cold sweat, genuinely worried she might have actually broken something important.

The Guardian shook her head. "It’s fine. Nothing’s broken."

Leo tried again. For a long, uncomfortable stretch, nothing happened at all—no movement, no light, no response whatsoever.

He started to wonder if the temple was outright rejecting him, or if his affinity was simply that poor.

Then, all at once, every single pillar began to flicker.

None of them lit fully. They just flickered, erratically, out of sync with one another.

All eight, from the first to the last, surrounding the mana well in a chaotic, stuttering rhythm.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Leo asked, watching the display with growing unease.

Even the Guardian looked genuinely startled. "I’ve never seen this happen before. Not once."

The lights kept flickering on and off in staggered bursts, like some kind of malfunctioning disco display.

Then, abruptly, every pillar went dark.

[Ding~]

[Affinity Evaluation — Inconclusive.]

[Lightning Affinity — Unable to Determine.]

[Legacy Compatibility — Unable to Determine.]

[No Class Available.]

Leo stared at the notification, then up at the Guardian, who was now studying him with an intensity that genuinely unnerved him.

"You truly are strange," she said slowly. "The path you walk is stranger still. It’s not that you lack lightning affinity—you already carry something far more formidable than that."

Leo just shook his head, unsure what to say to that.

Elona, curious, spoke up. "What exactly does ’undetermined’ mean here?"

"It means the pillars simply cannot read him," the Guardian answered.

Rook frowned. "But they read everyone else just fine."

"Everyone but him," the Guardian said. "The pillars pour lightning essence into a vessel to measure its capacity. His vessel has no shape they can measure against. It’s simply... different."

Everyone traded glances—some visibly confused, others nodding like they half-understood.

The Guardian herself shook her head slowly, clearly still processing it.

Leo gave up trying and stepped back toward the group. "Ah well. Wasn’t really after the class anyway."

As the conversation drifted elsewhere, a notification chimed above the temple, a panel flaring to life in the air.

[Epic Lightning Trial — Complete.]

A vortex tore open, accompanied by a violet, thunderous roar, and Yuna came crashing out of it.

She hit the ground hard, landing on one knee, both hands braced against the stone floor. Her expression was tight with strain. She looked thoroughly beaten up—staff snapped in two, robes scorched black in places, hair a tangled mess—but her eyes still carried faint sparks of lightning, flickering with residual energy.

She was gasping hard for breath.

"Yuna!" Elona rushed to her side immediately, pulling her upright and checking her over frantically. "What happened to you?"

Yuna looked up, finding Elona’s face, then glanced around at everyone else still gathered in the same spots they’d been in when she’d entered the trial.

"...You all came back to check affinity again?" she asked, clearly confused.

"What do you mean?" Elona asked, equally bewildered.

"I mean I spent days in there. Multiple days. There’s no way you all just stood around here waiting that whole time, right?"

The question landed like a physical blow. Everyone froze.

A heavy silence settled over the chamber.

"...Days?" Leo repeated, dazed. "You were gone maybe fifteen minutes. Twenty, tops."

Yuna’s head snapped up to meet his eyes. "What? Fifteen minutes? I spent days in there completing that trial. That world was—it was insane. No sun, no moon. Just a nonstop storm, twenty-four hours a day."

She laughed weakly, the sound hollow with exhaustion. "I genuinely thought I was going to die in there. Thought about giving up more times than I can count. But I held on. Finished it anyway."

She looked down at her own hands, watching faint threads of violet lightning dance obediently across her fingertips.

While the group processed this, the Guardian watched the whole exchange with clear amusement, like she’d known exactly what was coming.

She shared a new notification panel with both Leo and Elona.

[Ding~]

[Epic Lightning Trial — Passed.]

[Epic Lightning Inheritance — Acquired.]

[Class Evolution Available — Pyroarchitect]

[A mage who builds. A mage who burns with lightning. Now a mage who calls the sky.]

Yuna spent the next several minutes recounting everything she’d endured to Leo and Elona in halting, exhausted detail.

Elona couldn’t hold back any longer—she pulled Yuna into a tight hug, laughing despite herself. "You absolutely insane woman."

The Guardian finally spoke up, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Oh my. Did I perhaps forget to mention the time dilation?"

"Every trial carries some degree of time dilation, though the exact ratio varies unpredictably. We only know time will pass differently inside than out—sometimes a minute out here equals an hour in there. Sometimes a month. Occasionally, even a full year."

Both Yuna and Elona finally understood the full scope of what had actually happened.

The temple had gone quiet by now, the murmuring dying down naturally. The evaluations were complete, and everyone who’d wanted a class had already made their choice. There was nothing left to do here.

Leo turned to the Guardian. "Thank you for your help today. We’ll head out now."

She nodded in acknowledgment.

As he turned to leave, he paused briefly beside the mana well. Its still surface rippled suddenly—slow, deliberate, directional ripples, almost purposeful in how they moved.

For a moment, Leo felt distinctly like the well itself was staring back at him.

The ripples settled just as quickly as they’d appeared. Something flickered briefly across the Guardian’s eyes as she watched it happen, though she said nothing.

Leo and the rest of the group thanked her properly, offering a polite bow before making their way toward the vault’s exit.

Before they got far, the Guardian called out to Cindy. "Come visit once a day. I’ll teach you the fundamentals of lightning myself, from the very beginning. You need to grow, need to learn to actually fight. I’ll make sure you have everything you need."

Cindy beamed and nodded eagerly. "Okay, big sister! I’ll come back tomorrow, I promise!"

The group began filing out of the vault. As they left, the Guardian seemed to visibly deflate, a quiet loneliness settling over her expression.

Leo lingered behind for a moment, until he was the last one left in the chamber. He could see the sadness sitting plainly in her eyes.

"If you’re able to move around," he offered, "you’re welcome to stay up at the guild hall. It’s a decent place." He’d already half-pictured her manning the front reception desk, honestly.

The Guardian just shook her head, declining quietly.

Just as Leo reached the vault’s entrance, she spoke up once more. "Oh—and remember. This chamber sits at the center of the fortress’s lower half. It may look like the exact center of the whole fortress, but it isn’t. It’s the center of only half of it."

Leo nodded, only half-following what she meant, confusion plain on his face.

Just as he turned to leave for good, her voice carried after him again. "And if you come across any skeletons along the way—don’t kill them. They’re friends. Though, in fairness, it wouldn’t really matter either way, given they’re already undead."

Seeing his continued confusion, she offered one more hint. "Have you encountered the skeletal undead already?"

Leo thought back. "Yeah. We ran into a few, about halfway through the tunnel."

Her eyes brightened at that. She smiled at him, something knowing in her expression. "Ever wonder why undead skeletons would be wandering around inside a lightning-saturated fortress like this one?"

Leo felt his confusion deepen further, no closer to an answer.

"Go on, then. You should head out," she said, waving him off. "Just remember—the undead here are friends."