MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1625: Breaking Barriers: The Fourth Trial (2)

Whoosh!

Dispelling all of the energy he had gathered for a spell, Ataraxia turned to look at Aeramis and nodded the moment he heard those words.

”Ready?” Nodding back in return, the latter went ahead and asked this question, considering that the young man had probably spent a decent chunk of energy practicing while waiting for him to finish the adjustments.

”Just a second.”

In response, the young man went ahead and took out one of the mana potions Valyr gave him from his spatial bracelet.

”Glug... glug... glug...”

Then, without hesitation, he downed the potion in a couple of gulps, easily returning his energy pool back to peak condition.

”Alright, I’m ready.”

”...Huh?” Though Aeramis did not take note of the mana potion Ataraxia brought out at first, the man’s eyes soon widened in surprise after sensing an otherworldly feeling of power emanating from it.

Fortunately, he was able to quickly snap back to reality after that, realizing that the young man was waiting for his signal.

”Right.”

Whoosh!

Seeing that Ataraxia was now ready to tackle the fourth trial, the man went ahead and moved to the top of the walls, only to then push his perception to the limit to make sure he could still clearly see their movements.

”Before I have you fight your opponent, let me first tell you that the minimum threshold for me to consider that you’ve defeated opponent is an exchange of 50 moves,” said Aeramis after that, summoning a few strands of energy in preparation for the fourth trial.

”With that being said, as long as your fight against the opponent extends beyond 50 moves, you could consider the opponent as having forfeited.”

”Of course, you could also choose to overwhelm your opponent,” he continued. ”However, overwhelming your opponent through sheer power is not allowed.”

”Only by overwhelming your opponent through your greater integration of movement and combat shall I consider whether or not you move onto your next opponent before meeting the threshold.”

”Is that clear?”

Though the man’s explanation briefly caused him to fall silent, Ataraxia eventually nodded in return as he slowly got into a combat stance.

Faintly nodding at the young man’s response, Aeramis took in a deep breath as he sent the strands of energy he previously summoned into the young man’s opponent.

Whir...

At the very moment those strands were absorbed by the figure, it was as if the figure had come to life, its faceless head glancing at Ataraxia as if it were staring at him.

”Since both sides are ready...” Glancing at both the young man and the figure to make sure they were ready, Aeramis officially announced the start of the fourth trial.

”Let the fourth trial begin!”

Whoosh!

Radiating a great amount of combat intent, the figure swiftly dashed towards Ataraxia, closing the gap between them as a spell began to manifest on one of the figure’s hands.

”[Fleeting Arcane Scripture].”

In response, Ataraxia calmly looked at the figure and made use of his newly-created movement skill, easily putting enough distance between them for him to make his next move.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Activating his mana circuit, as well as [Limit Break], the young man calmly watched the figure pause in its tracks before turning to look at him once more.

Fwoosh!

Understanding that it wouldn’t be easy for it to close the gap between them, the figure went ahead and sent out a number of spells at him, all of which were surprisingly attuned to the element of Earth.

”[Fireball].”

Swiftly chanting the incantations accompanying his spells, Ataraxia sent out a counter volley at the figure, all of which contained more than enough power to neutralize the threat the figure’s spells had.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Making use of the chaos and confusion the collision between spells created, the young man swiftly closed the gap between it and the figure with his spell, hoping to catch the latter off guard with a spell from up close.

Whoosh!

However, as if it already understood the young man’s intentions during the spell collision, the figure went ahead and activated its movement skill, allowing it to put a similar amount of distance Ataraxia did when he used his skill.

”Clearing the fourth trial won’t be that easy, it seems,” muttered the young man to himself, a smile of amusement tugging on his lips. ”Although we’ve only clashed a couple of times so far, I’ve pretty much confirmed that its stats and skills are more or less on par with me.”

”In fact, its combat ability seems to be on par with me as well.”

”...That means the only way to end the fight quickly is to showcase greater integration between my movement and my spells,” muttered Ataraxia after that, discarding the option of relying on [Soul Fusion] to win the fight.

After all, just as Aeramis had told him, overwhelming his opponent with sheer power would not allow him to delve deeper into the trial. Only by overwhelming his opponent with greater skill would such an exception be made.

Since greater skill was all that was needed for him to clear the trial in record time...

Then that’s what he’ll just do.

...

Whoosh!

Though both Ataraxia and the figure seemed to be at a stalemate at first, after realizing what he needed to do once more during the fight, it was as if the young man had transformed into an entirely different person.

Swoosh!

Following the rules Aeramis had set before the start of the trial, the young man went ahead and showcased his greater mastery of integration against the figure, slowly pushing the latter into a state where all of its moves were easily negated.

Seeing as how Ataraxia was overwhelming the figure with sheer skill, Aeramis went ahead and swapped the young man’s opponent with the next one, thinking that the latter’s progress in integration could only match the 2nd opponent at most.

After all, there was only so much one could learn and comprehend in an hour.

However, contrary to his expectations, the young man still showed dominance against the 2nd opponent, unleashing a level of integration between movement and spells that briefly left Aeramis with his mouth agape.

”He’s only spent an hour trying to figure out how to integrate his movement... yet he’s already been able to integrate 20% of it into his combat style?”

”Insane,” said the man with a shake of his head, the sight before him reinforcing his earlier thought that the young man was the most monstrous prodigy to ever enter his inheritance.

Then again, even though Ataraxia was the most monstrous prodigy he had ever met, prodigies like him still had limits, especially if they were attempting something for the first time.

Whoosh!

Although he defeated the 2nd opponent of the trial through sheer skill, the young man began to feel a bit of difficulty in winning by the time he fought against the 3rd opponent.

Fortunately, with his absorption of combat experience greatly increased with the help of [Perception of the Grand Origin], Ataraxia was still able to hang on, defeating the 3rd opponent of the trial by exchanging over 50 moves with it.

However, when the time to fight the 4th opponent came...

Bang!

He thoroughly lost.