Death… And Me

Chapter 3896: 10!

As the hours passed, more and more groups completed the Endurance Path, and the numbers quickly got closer to fifty. In the last ten minutes, you could even see some participants sweating blood and ignoring all injuries to drag themselves or their companions to the finish line.

Finally, the fiftieth group crossed the finishing line, and the Divine Energy Pressure disappeared. This group instantly collapsed to the ground; only its captain was capable of staying up, but even he was on the verge of passing out.

As for the remaining groups behind, Spatial Powers gathered around them, a silver light flashed, and they all disappeared. They were sent back to the main field for failing.

-Congratulations to the first fifty teams.-

Bugel’s voice echoed throughout the island again. He looked a lot more enthusiastic this time, though. Obviously, that’s because he saw what the twins’ group did.

-Now then, let’s jump straight into the second event.-

The last ten groups to cross the finishing line heard that and cursed it out. They barely managed to get through the Path of Endurance, and they aren’t getting any resting time? The last one, especially, was feeling pretty aggravated. ”This is ridiculous! Look at these pieces of shit behind me! They can’t even move anymore. We need time to recover!”

President Bugel didn’t hear a single word, though. He just continued his explanation.

*Zush, zush, zush, zush, zush...*

Several crystals began to appear near each of the fifty successful teams, one for each of them. The groups looked at the crystal, failing to recognize its purpose.

-The Trial of Resonance will test each team’s capability to utilize their energies in harmony. It’s pretty simple. The crystals have ten levels of activation. The first level can be activated by a single member. The second will need two to work together, the third will need three, and so on.-

-You must activate each level of the crystal in sequence, or the next level won’t be available for you. If you succeed in activating one level, a projection of a number will appear above the crystal. Obviously, number one will be level one, number two will be level two, etc., all the way to number ten.-

-Only the first ten teams to reach level ten will proceed to the last phase. This test has nothing to do with cultivation, so the suppression has been removed. Your reserves of Divine Energy have little use here. If anything, the huge difference in cultivation levels could actually make it even harder to achieve harmony. Alright, that’s all. You can start now.-

Typically, Wisfreya would have stepped forward to check the crystal first. Then she would use what she found to activate the first level and try to work with the energy of the next member of her group.

However, just as she was about to walk ahead, Roan raised his hand in front of her, making the girl stop. ”Not you. We have the perfect guy for this test.”

It was at that moment that everyone watching the second test saw a certain Demon Plant moving forward. His branches and vines enveloped the crystal while his Divine Energy began to enter it.

Who else could it be if not Celis?

Evergy Manipulation? If Celis said he was the second-best, no one in the twins’ group would dare say they were first.

Of course, only the twins’ group knew about Celis’s unmatched energy manipulation. Others simply looked at that and found it strange that Wisfreya didn’t take the lead, especially with her cultivation. Sure, cultivation didn’t matter, but she was the oldest there, too.

’What is she doing?’ Bugel couldn’t help but get slightly nervous again. This test prioritized the first participant who used the crystal. This participant would be the foundation for the next members of their group, acting as the guiding light that kept everyone’s energies in check. That was one more reason for each group to have a Saint Realm Expert as their captain. Why would Wisfreya let that young Demon Plant take that responsibility?

Of course, Wisfreya didn’t want it, but she knew that the twins’ group was anything but young. ’Is he any good at this kind of thing?’ Wisfreya asked Kentucky on the side.

Kentucky looked at her, trying to hold his laugh. ’Good? That would be the understatement of the century. You can call all the Divinity Realm experts of the A1 Universe here. I would be surprised if even one of them managed to match that Demon Plant.’

Wisfreya took a deep, cold breath. She knew they were all old monsters, but this universe had no lack of such monsters. And yet, Kentucky said Celis would probably be unmatched. Just how ridiculous was that? ’He must be exaggerating...’ Naturally, that was her first thought.

Suddenly, the number one appeared on the crystal... of another team a few hundred meters away.

*wow!*

The public cheered down in the city as the online stream service chats, forums, and such exploded with messages. That was a group from the Bautuk Sect, the first one to activate a level, and they only took a few seconds!

Seeing that, Wisfreya narrowed her eyes. ’Are you really sure he is that good?’

Kentucky shrugged but didn’t try to convince her. ’It’s up to you to believe or not.’

Rean and the others weren’t even paying attention to Celis. They were enjoying the view, chatting, or had their eyes closed as they waited. It was almost as if they didn’t care about Celis’s performance.

*Wow!*

Wisfreya looked somewhere else, and sure enough, another group managed to activate the first level of the crystal.

This kind of event began to happen all around, with over half of the teams activating the first level before even half a minute had gone by. It didn’t take too long before someone managed to activate the second.

”Shit!” Wisfreya looked over and saw the number two appearing above the Bautuk Sect’s Crystal.

Yet, Rean patted her head. ’Calm down, kid. Everything is fine.’

The more levels you had to activate, the harder it became as you had to work with several participants of your team at the same time. The first level took only a few seconds. The second level was activated before a minute passed. Then, the third level appeared at the third minute of the test. As one might imagine, the Bautuk Sect was the first team to reach Level Three.

And yet, Celis hadn’t activated a single level. Even worse, the twins’ group was literally the only group that hadn’t activated the first level of their crystal yet!

Per the rules, no one could contact the participants during the tests. Otherwise, President Bugel would already have scolded Wisfreya for not stepping forward yet. It was obvious that the Demon Plant didn’t know what he was doing. He and the other members of the Verjansy Country Government were feeling even more nervous.

Ten minutes later, the fourth level appeared, once again, the Bautuk Sect. However, several other groups were quickly catching up to the Bautuk Sect. From the looks of it, although the Bautuk Group Leader was very good, not everyone in his group was at his level.

Thirty minutes, and the fifth level appeared; now five participants worked together to activate it. Everyone understood. It would take longer and longer for the higher levels to be activated. Working together was truly not easy.

Yet, one group stood out, other than those at the front... the twins’ group. Even now, not a single level of the crystal was activated.

Wisfreya was almost losing her patience. ’Are you doing it on purpose?’

Kentucky looked at her. ’Oh! Did you notice?’

Wisfreya almost vomited blood. Did he say Celis was doing it on purpose?!

Yet, before she started to complain, Celis’s voice echoed in their group’s ears. ”Alright, come forward.’

Wisfreya sighed in relief. ”Finally. So, shall I go second?”

”Second?” Celis looked at Wisfreya as if he were looking at an idiot. ”Just come all at once. Stop wasting my time.”

Wisfreya, as well as Gakrid and Rovitel, thought they had heard it wrong. ”What?!”

Yet, everyone in the twins’ group was already touching the crystal. ”Don’t overthink. Touch the crystal and send your Divine Energies inside already.”

Wisfreya, Gakrid, and Rovitel could only take a deep breath and do as they were asked.

Their move obviously caught a lot of eyes. Why would all ten members of that group touch the crystal at the same time? Curiosity filled their minds.

Celis then gave an order. ”Once you send your Divine Energies inside the crystal, don’t try to control it. Just let it flow. I’ll do the rest.”

Now there was no way back, so Wisfreya nodded. ”You’d better know what you are doing.”

The group sent their Divine Energy inside together. In the next instant..

-01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09... 10!-

Ten seconds! All ten levels of the crystal were activated in ten seconds! Wisfreya’s group was the first one to complete the Trial of Resonance!