Novel Full Chapter 1603: Breaking Barriers: The Second Trial (6)
Chapter 1603: Breaking Barriers: The Second Trial (6)
“…Even though the performance in your first attempt has already exceeded my expectations, the fact that you’ve gone past the 500th set still astounds me.”
As these words left Aeramis’ mouth, the man faintly let out a low sigh, his mind briefly thinking back to the events that had transpired just moments earlier.
Whoosh!
Keeping an eye on all of the sets of beams that were heading Ataraxia’s way, the man’s eyes widened in surprise after seeing the young man miss one of the beams by the time he got around to the 550th set.
Unsurprisingly, realizing that he had missed one of the beams in his calculations, the young man briefly froze, throwing caution to the wind as he tried his best to get away from the threat of looming death that neared him.
Though, before the stray red beam could even make contact with his body, the young man noticed that Aeramis had already made a move, quickly dispelling the red beam with his energy before it could even make contact with him.
Because of that, Ataraxia let out a wide sigh of relief, only to then give the man a somewhat apologetic look.
Seeing the young man still glum over his failure to dodge all of those beams, a faint amused smile appeared on the man’s face, slightly chuckling as he said, “An outcome like that isn’t all that surprising.”
“After all, you’ve been focusing all of your attention on the beams all this time. Though focusing on those beams may seem not like much at first, by the time your sets involved more than 10 beams, your mental energy was being used up more than expected.”
“I know,” replied Ataraxia, letting out a low sigh as he inwardly admonished himself. “However, my opportunity to obtain a higher score in this trial has come to an end.”
“I wouldn’t be able to upgrade the title you’ve given me anymore.”
“Who says you can’t obtain a higher score?” Listening to the young man’s words, Aeramis slightly tilted his head in confusion. “Have I not mentioned before that you have three attempts to obtain the highest possible score during this trial?”
“I do…?” Hearing those words, Ataraxia blanked out for a brief moment, only to then look at the man with an expression that contained disbelief.
Though, not long after, that expression changed into indignance. “You know… it would’ve been nice if you told me I had three attempts while you were explaining the second trial’s mechanics.”
“…I suppose that’s an oversight on my part,” said Aeramis after giving it a bit of thought, quickly realizing that the young man only knew of the additional attempts after he had asked him more about it.
Admitting that he was at the wrong for not informing Ataraxia of the additional attempts, the man decided to go a couple steps after that, clarifying the number of attempts the young man would have throughout the trial.
“Considering that I’ve already forgotten the mention the number of attempts you have twice in a row, I guess it would be best if I mention the number of attempts you’d have while tackling the remaining trials of the inheritance.”
“Three,” said Aeramis, holding up three fingers in front of the young man. “For all of the trials the inheritance throws at you, you shall have three attempts to obtain as high of a score as possible.”
“Though, for the final trial, the number of attempts you have shall be increased to five,” the man continued, pausing for a bit. “Although you’ve shown exemplary talent in the trials thus far, even I fear that the difficulty of the trial might restrain you from exhibiting your utmost capabilities in just three attempts.”
“Understood.” By the time Aeramis was done going over the number of attempts Ataraxia had throughout the entire inheritance, the latter had finally stopped beating himself up for the slight lapse of judgment he had.
Instead, a will to push himself once more had taken over that previous feeling.
After all, if not for that slight lapse of judgment, he was confident that he would have netted himself a grade of A, if not a bit above that.
With that, he went ahead and tackled the second trial once more, heading to the spot where all of the beams converged as he gave Aeramis the go signal.
Seeing that the young man decided to continue taking on the challenge rather than remain content with what he had achieved, the man had a slightly proud smile on his face as he activated the lasers lining up the walls once more.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
With the experience he had accumulated from dodging over 500 sets of beams during his first attempt, it went without saying that Ataraxia was able to clear through the first 200 sets of beams with immense ease.
If anything, while Aeramis was watching the young man dodge all those beams, the man noticed that a faint look of boredom had even appeared on the latter’s face for a brief moment.
However, just as he had begun to think that this look of boredom was a sign that the young man would show himself something amazing after going past 200…
The opposite happened instead.
Swoosh!
With him only a few sets away from reaching the 400th set of beams, Ataraxia took a brief glance at the set of 17 beams he had to dodge, noticing that 80% of them would make contact with a certain part of his body.
Knowing this, the young man swiftly drafted a course of action in his mind, allowing him to swerve through all of the beams that tried to make contact with his body…
Except for one.
Whoosh!
Thankfully, already being prepared for the possibility that the young man might fail once more, Aeramis caught the stray red beam that would have hit Ataraxia far before it could even make contact, prompting the latter to give him a look of apology yet again.
However, rather than admonish himself again for yet another lapse in his judgment, the young man instead took the second failure as an opportunity to go over his mistakes, gradually refining the methods he used to dodge all those beams.
At the same time, he used it as an opportunity to recover some of the mental energy he had expended, considering that he hadn’t taken that much of a break after failing to reach the limits of the trial the first time.
“…Alright.”
Feeling that he now knew what hindered him from reaching the trial’s end, Ataraxia took to the trial area once more, his mind having recovered enough energy to tackle the second trial one last time.
Glancing at Aeramis the moment he arrived at the spot, the young man gave the former a slight nod, prompting the latter to nod back as he went ahead and activated the lasers for the third time.
Whirr…
Listening to the lasers warming up in preparation for the beams he had to dodge, the young man took in a calming breath, understanding that this would be his last opportunity to obtain a perfectly upgraded Extended Title.
“It’s now… or never.”
Whoosh!