Chapter 193: Trial (1)

A few hours later, Aurelius was no longer surrounded by a wild or desolate wilderness.

Instead, he found himself in the midst of human civilization, surrounded by high buildings that somewhat closely resembled those found in Blood Sun City.

Aurelius wandered along the city’s crowded streets, observing the people around him and taking in the sights of the city itself.

Judging by the sun, which was already approaching the horizon, several hours had passed since he had left the Dryad Forest.

In fact, it had been almost ten hours since Aurelius secretly departed from the Sol estate.

During that time, he had killed the most powerful monsters in the Dryad Forest, taken stock of his spoils, and then continued his journey.

This time, he had headed south, toward the capital of the Dawn Kingdom.

’Sure enough, traveling through Nova Roma is extremely difficult. It’s no wonder that ordinary people seldom travel and even Awakeners are unwilling to do so. Even when these people choose to do so, they usually travel in large groups.’

Recalling his recent experiences, Aurelius sighed.

He had prior experience traveling outside Blood Sun City. However, unlike the last time, when he had headed toward the northern border and entered the Goblin Mountains, he wasn’t in such a hurry this time.

Rather than flying using Solar Manifestation, he had chosen to travel on foot, taking the opportunity to observe his surroundings along the way.

As a result, he had experienced firsthand the difficulties ordinary people faced when traveling through the wilderness.

Over the past few hours, he had been attacked by monsters several times.

Although most of them were relatively weak, since the more powerful ones had long been slain by the Kingdom’s organizations, the surviving monsters were still extremely cunning. Otherwise, they would not have survived.

Their concealment abilities were impressive enough to hide them from even Rank 3 Awakeners. At the same time, they were extremely bloodthirsty.

Even Aurelius had suffered at their hands.

Although he hadn’t sustained any injuries, he was mentally exhausted. After all, he had to remain alert at all times, prepared to fight off monsters that could launch a surprise attack at any moment.

Moreover, monsters were only one of the difficulties associated with traveling through Nova Roma.

Natural disasters were just as dangerous, if not more so.

With both threats combined, and their severity increasing even further at night, even Aurelius didn’t dare to remain outside after dark.

Thus, after finding a large city, he decided to spend the night there and continue his journey the following morning.

Shaking his head, Aurelius set these thoughts aside for the time being.

After finding a relatively remote inn, he rented a room for the night, paid one silver coin, and was subsequently led to his room.

Watching the staff member leave without another word, Aurelius glanced around the small, nearly empty room and couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

He hadn’t stayed in a place like this for a very long time.

He had originally thought he would have no trouble dealing with the inconveniences of traveling alone. However, only now did he realize that he might have grown accustomed to living a noble’s life.

Recalling how the maids at the Sol estate had taken care of his every need, while here he had to handle everything himself, Aurelius smacked his lips.

’It’s no wonder that powerful Awakeners choose to establish their own organizations or families.’

’Even if it’s not for the sake of developing their power, having someone take care of the trivial matters is more than worth it.’

As this thought crossed his mind, Aurelius sat down on the bed.

After organizing his thoughts, he put aside his wandering mind and focused on the matters that concerned him most.

’My departure from Blood Sun City should have thrown the assassins off. It’s likely they won’t realize I’ve left for several days.’

’Of course, once they do, the hunt for me will become even more intense. While I was in Blood Sun City, they didn’t dare attack me openly, either because they feared the Sol family’s retaliation or because they were wary of something else.’

’Now that I’ve left the city, however, they’ll no longer have so many scruples.’

Aurelius was currently disguised as an ordinary young man, the kind who could easily get lost in a crowd.

Yet he knew full well that such a disguise couldn’t last forever.

Although he possessed the Mystery Cloak, which should be able to prevent others from divining his location, Aurelius didn’t dare underestimate the people of this world.

There were all kinds of extraordinary abilities, and he had no doubt that some could detect the traces he had unknowingly left behind.

Given enough time, someone might still discover his whereabouts.

In his opinion, he was bound to encounter some of the assassins on his way to the capital.

With his current strength, he was confident he could escape even if he encountered a Rank 4 Awakener.

However, that didn’t mean he could guarantee his safety.

’If an assassin discovers my location and fails to kill me, my identity as an Awakener will be exposed prematurely. Moreover, there’s a high chance they’ll call for reinforcements.’

The thought made Aurelius realize something:

He needed to improve his strength further.

Thankfully, unlike other Awakeners, he had several ways to accomplish that.

Among them was something he had been planning to do for a long time, and which had only recently become easier to accomplish.

With that in mind, he didn’t hesitate.

He lowered his gaze toward the shadow cast by his body and stirred his mind.

Immediately, a shadowy creature emerged from the darkness.

Looking at the undead summoned by sacrificing the Shadow Thief to the Underworld Throne, Aurelius nodded in satisfaction.

He ordered it to guard the room and prevent anyone from entering.

The shadowy creature silently acknowledged the command before sinking into the darkness beneath the door and disappearing from sight.

Knowing that even Rank 3 Awakeners would struggle to get past it, Aurelius no longer hesitated.

His gaze shifted toward the floating grids at the edge of his vision.

As one of them trembled, a book flew out of the System Inventory and landed in his hands.

Although Aurelius had never personally seen the book before, he held it with surprising familiarity.

With a slight movement of his fingers, he opened the cover and looked at the first page.

Lines of text entered his vision.

The moment he focused on them, the words lit up before blurring and transforming into floating symbols and patterns.

They shot toward his forehead, turning into a torrent of information that flooded his mind.

Fragments of knowledge surfaced one after another.

Information about the use of Templates. Information about their significance.

And, most importantly, information about how to increase their rank.

’A Template represents the importance a person holds in this world.’

’In terms of a story, a Common NPC is merely a bystander, someone who plays no role in the "story".’

’Elite NPCs are side characters, Rare NPCs are important side characters, and so on.’

Aurelius finally understood why the Protagonists shown in the trailers had been judged to be Epic NPCs.

At the same time, he also understood why he possessed only a Common NPC Template.

After all, the original Aurelius had indeed been an unimportant character.

Had he never awakened his memories, he would likely have continued living as a playboy until he died of old age or was eventually assassinated by his enemies.

’To upgrade my Template, I have two options.’

’First, I can gradually involve myself in the "story". In a sense, I’ve been doing that all along. If I continue along this path, I’ll likely become an Elite NPC soon.’

’Second, I can use the Template Upgrade Opportunity. As long as I pass the Trial, I can artificially obtain the "importance" required to upgrade my Template.’

Besides this basic information, there was something else that interested Aurelius far more.

The Trial itself. Or, more precisely, the possible Trials he might have to face.

The more information he absorbed, the more satisfied he became with his decision to postpone using this item until now.

Had he attempted the Trial earlier, he would likely have failed and wasted this precious opportunity.

Fortunately, he was no longer the same person he had been in the past.

With his current strength and the information he had just acquired, he was confident he could pass the Trial. Or, at the very least, he was as confident as he could reasonably be.

’But first, I’ll have to make some preparations...’

With that thought, Aurelius took several items out of the System Inventory and began using Transmutation.

These precious items were quickly melted into dense liquid.

Mere minutes later, the liquid had disappeared, replaced by a variety of Relics and precious Potions.

Even then, Aurelius did not stop.

He continued his forging and refining, wanting to improve his chances of passing the Trial to the current limit.

Potion after Potion. Relic after Relic.

It was only several hours later, when the midnight had long passed, that he finally stopped.

After closing his eyes and consciously helping his Spirit recover, he placed the items he had just created in the System Inventory.

Then, his mind communicated with the Player Panel.

Instantly, the Template Upgrade Opportunity was activated.

Aurelius felt the world around him descend into darkness.