Novel Full Chapter 1624: Breaking Barriers: The Fourth Trial (1)
Chapter 1624: Breaking Barriers: The Fourth Trial (1)
’Eh…’
Hearing the words that soon left Aeramis’ mouth, Ataraxia’s thought of asking the man for more information was immediately stopped in its tracks.
After all, with how vague some parts of the man’s advice were, it went without saying that he planned on asking the former more about it.
Especially after the man himself told him that a new world of possibilities would be opened to him if he were to do so.
However, with Aeramis shifting the topic of the conversation to the fourth trial, and with the man’s expression subtly telling him that he had no plans to talk about his previous words any further, the young man was forced to set his curiosity aside for the meantime.
Whoosh!
Just as he had mentioned the start of the fourth trial, the man went ahead and sent out a massive amount of energy into the surroundings, only to have them concentrate at the center of the clearing not long after.
Fwoosh!
Then, with the infusion of his thoughts, Aeramis proceeded to gradually restore the clearing’s terrain back to what it was, starting off with the row of hills and mountains that dotted the far side of the clearing.
After that, he worked on removing all of the pillars that dotted both the desert and swamp area, only to then return the desert and the swamp back to the forest ground that once thrived on the land they covered.
Once that was done, he then worked on removing the large lake that covered the center of the clearing, which eventually allowed Aeramis and Ataraxia to be greeted by the sight of a roughly flat plains before them around a few minutes later.
Swoosh!
Though, just as the young man thought that the terraforming was finally over, Aeramis went ahead and sent out energy into the surroundings yet again, only for the energy to start concentrating at the center just like before.
However, instead of having the energy split apart and dismantle all of the terrain he had created, the man willed the energy to take on the shape of an incomplete ring, its final diameter a few hundred meters in size.
After confirming that the slit that made the ring incomplete was big enough to accommodate both their entry and exit, Aeramis then had the ring of energy burrow into the ground, which caused walls made out of pure earth that jut out of the ground a few seconds later.
Rumble…
Witnessing these walls appear in front of their very eyes, the walls eventually stopped after reaching a height of around 50 meters, prompting Aeramis to nod in satisfaction as he made his way into the space within the ring.
“Is this where the fourth trial is going to be held?” Following behind the man, Ataraxia eventually asked the former this question, thinking that the current setting was pretty lackluster compared to the setting of the three trials thus far.
“Yes.” Though, after seeing the man nod in response to his question without giving it much thought, the young man decided not to think about the contrast between the trials’ settings any further.
After all, his only job was to clear the inheritance’s trials to their very limits.
Swoosh!
Once he had Ataraxia move to a certain part of the space, Aeramis briefly took in a deep breath as he summoned a great amount of energy one last time.
“Huu…” Letting out a long exhale in a bid to compose his thoughts, he swiftly infused a myriad number of thoughts into it, only to then will the energy to burrow into the ground just like the ring did.
Rumble…
In response, a humanoid figure soon began to appear out of the ground, taking on a structure that resembled Ataraxia’s current figure closely.
’Hmm…’ Sensing the faint combat intent that was emanating from the figure the moment it had been fully summoned, the young man discarded all the random thoughts lingering in his mind, getting the feeling that it won’t be long until the fourth trial truly began.
Yet, just as he got into a combat stance…
“Say… what kind of combat style do you specialize in?” Hearing this question leave Aeramis’ mouth, Ataraxia could not help but pause for a bit as he looked at the man in slight confusion.
Fortunately, the young man was able to quickly recover, letting out a faint exhale as he replied, “Long-range. I’m a mage.”
“…You know, I should have realized that when I saw how talented you were when it came to energy manipulation,” replied Aeramis after a bit of pause, giving Ataraxia a slightly wry smile as thoughts of the previous trial briefly flashed in his mind.
“In any case, casting spells at a long range is your main combat style, correct?”
Ataraxia nodded at those words.
“Alright.” Obtaining second confirmation from the young man, Aeramis nodded in response. “I shall now adjust your opponent’s abilities according to the combat style you’ve just mentioned.”
“Naturally, since I’m doing this on the spot, it will be a while until the fourth trial actually begins,” he continued. “If you want, you could take the time while waiting as an opportunity to practice integrating your movement skill with your combat style.”
“Sure,” replied the young man, finding no reason to decline the man’s offer.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Facing away from Aeramis in order not to disturb the man during his work, Ataraxia decided to limit the offensive spells he used to basic ones for the meantime.
After all, going all out before the actual fight was not only unnecessary, but it was also counterproductive towards his goal of reaching the fourth trial’s limit.
Yet, even with the limitations he had imposed on himself, the young man digested all of the discoveries and things he understood thoroughly during that time, getting a better sense of timing and opportunity as to when he should make use of his movement skill.
’Though both players and NPCs would eventually figure out how to further integrate their movement skills during combat, the fact that this inheritance offers a systematic way of doing so would put me and the others way ahead in combat for a good chunk of time,’ thought Ataraxia to himself.
’The only question now is… how long would it take for me to integrate my movement skill into my combat style?’
’…Would it be possible to exceed the limits of integration during this trial?’
As these questions flashed in his mind, the young man continued to experiment mixing both movement and spells together, changing the spells he used every once in a while to see how effective his integration of the two was.
Eventually, after spending over an hour experimenting and theorizing possible ways to integrate both movement and combat into something more seamless, Aeramis had given him the green light.
“The adjustment is finally complete.”