“Again?” Norren said, looking at Alnea suspiciously. “Have we not decided that already? Or is this another sort of test?”

  “…Relax. There are no more tests,” Alnea said, trying to restrain his laughter. “We really do have to decide how to deal with the Final Trial.”

  “Then what did we do before?”

  “Before… That was just deciding our attitude on how to approach the Final Trial. We still have to decide how to deal with the Trial itself.”

  “Are you talking about the contents of the Trial?” Karl said, earning Alnea’s nod in response.

  “That’s right.”

  “…If the Final Trial is truly going to be as dangerous as you made it out to be—

  “It is.”

  “—then we really do need to discuss a few things about it in advance. But before that, we need to have at least a general idea of what the rules of the Trial are.”

  “Do not worry. I already have got that covered. Vestia…”

  “I know… but this time, do not interrupt me too much.”

  “…I will try,” Alnea mumbled in a low voice, losing all his confidence from before. Thankfully, by the time he had responded, Vestia had already stopped paying attention to him, and turned towards the rest of the Star Seekers instead.

  “Everyone should have an idea of what the Final Trial is going to be like by now. Still, as Alnea and Karl said, if we want to discuss how to deal with the Trial, then we really do need to need to know a few things about it in advance. Like its venue. The Trials of the Blood Hall are held in the Blood Hall itself, while the Black Desert Trials are held in the Black Desert. The Final Trial, on the other hand, is going to be held in a separate dimension.”

  “A separate dimension? Like the Trial Space?”

  “Not exactly. The Trial Space is more like a… Spirit Domain, I guess. A unique Spirit Domain, that can split off its branches into countless separate dimensions. That is how the Trial Space we took our Trials in originated. They were formed the moment we stepped into the Trial Space, and then destroyed the moment we left… It is hard to explain.

  “You just need to know that the separate dimension of the Trial Space is a transient existence, while the separate dimension of the Final Trial is a permanent existence. Almost like a separate world. An incomplete world that can exist only by attaching itself to our world, but a separate world, nonetheless.”

  “Like a Secret Realm?”

  “…Not exactly. Secret Realms can exist on their own. The separate world of the Final Trial cannot exist on its own. Still, it does have a few characteristics of Secret Realms. Maybe it is an incomplete Secret Realm, or an infant Secret Realm… But that is not important. And stop interrupting me.”

  “…I will hold my curiosities.”

  “…Anyways, as I was saying, the Final Trial will be held in the small world that the Lost City has recently captured from the turbulent space in between the barriers of the world and the Origin Sea, tentatively named after the Final Trial it is going to hold as the Final World. Things may change later, but for now, that is what we are also going to call it.”

  “Final Trial in the Final World… Who came up with these ridiculous names?”

  “…Probably a Warrior…”

  “Do you have a problem with Warriors?”

  “…Not all. Only those who have poor naming sense.”

  “…So, you have a problem with Warriors.”

  “If you admit that you have poor naming sense.”

  “…You…”

  “Focus,” Vestia said, forcing everyone to shut up, and brining their attention to herself. “As I was saying, the Final Trial is going to be held in the Final World. And the only way to enter the Final World is through the sub entrances placed in the Blood Halls.”

  “What are sub entrances?”

  “…What did I say about interrupting me?”

  “…I—

  “Forget it. I did not think it through. If I do not answer your questions, then you will all probably go on a tangent of your own. So, go ahead. Ask any questions that you have.”

  “…What are sub entrances?”

  “…The Final World is a separate world attached to our own. As such, the point where it touches our word is its entrance. Since it is an incomplete world though, its entrance is rather chaotic and unstable. Even True Wanderers may get hurt if they try to force their way in, let alone False Wanderers like us. So, to let the Trialists of the city enter the Final World, the Grand Wanderers guarding the city got together and leveraged the Final World’s main entrance to create a few dozen sub entrances.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “So, a sub entrance is like a side door to a separate world?”

  “…You can say that. Do you have any other questions?”

  “Not for the moment.”

  “…Then, as I was saying, the only way of entering the Final World, at least for False Wanderers like us, is through the sub entrances placed in the Blood Halls. You can find these entrances on the twelfth floor of the Blood Hall. But like the entrances of the other Trials, these entrances to the Final World are also locked away by the city using its special means.

  “To get access to the Final World, we will have to first register for the Final Trial at the new counter for Final Trial in the Blood Hall. The Blood Hall will then pass on our application for the Final Trial to the council in the inner city, which will then review our application, and decide whether to approve it or not. Of course, the council cannot reject our application without any reason.

  “Only if the council finds that we do not meet the standards in the Trials and the Arena, or that the grudges we mentioned in the application are false, mentioned only to take advantage of the rules of the Trial to arrange our own opponents, can it reject our application. In all other cases, it can only hold back our application for seven days. After seven days, it will have to approve the application regardless of its wishes.”

  “I have been meaning to ask this ever since I read all the rules… Do you not think of that part as strange?”

  “Which part?”

  “That part about the council not being able to arbitrarily reject applications for Final Trial. If it did, then it could have easily blocked me from entering the inner city, and would not have to go through all the unnecessary trouble.”

  “…Maybe some of the Orthodoxies objected to the council gaining absolute power?”

  “…That does not sound like Orthodoxies.”

  “…You are right. That really does not sound like Orthodoxies.”

  “…What do you two think of Orthodoxies as?”

  “Tyrants?”

  “Narcissists?”

  “…I can understand why Alnea does not have a good impression of Orthodoxies, but what are you joining in for? You too are a part of an Orthodoxy, you know.”

  “But that’s the truth,” Zain said, shrugging his shoulders. “Orthodoxies are truly Narcissistic. Especially my clan.”

  “…I do not even want to know the reasoning behind that statement.”

  “How else could they have not praised a genius such as me, when I was in their midst?”

  “…As I was saying, we can register for the Final Trial in the Blood Hall. The city will then review our application, and give us an answer within seven days. And do not worry, we do not have to keep checking at the Blood Hall every day. When the city is done reviewing our application, it will send a message to our Blood Cards, calling us back to the Blood Hall to look at the arrangements it made for us.

  “Similarly, if someone has challenged us to the Final Trial, then the city will just send a message to our Blood Cards to inform us about it. If we ignore the message, and do not report to the counter of the Final Trial within twenty five hours, then we will be considered to have given up the Final Trial, and in consequence, our right to live in the Lost City.”

  “…They get seven days to decide whether we can take the Trial or not, and we get only one day?” Norren grumbled.

  “That is because they decide the rules,” Yuri said. “You can do the same once you are in their position.”

  “…What about the Trial?” Karl said. “Do we have to go to the Final World the moment we accept the Trial, or do we get some time to prepare?”

  “I was about to get to it,” Vestia said. “Once our application for the Final Trial is passed, or we accept someone’s challenge to the Final Trial, then the city will arrange a time for us to take the Trial. Depending on how many Wanderers are applying for the Final Trial, this time can range anywhere form a day to a month, but in my estimation, it should not exceed a week.

  “As for the Trial itself, it will depend on what part of the Final World the city will be sending us to, and a few other factors. Like the number and strength of participants, the nature of the Trial, or the environment of the Final World. In short, it can be anything from collecting some item to going through some checkpoints, or even defending or invading territories. Whatever the Final Trial will be though, it will surely involve battles. The only difference would be degree and intensity of battles.”

  “…Is that it?” Zain said, blinking with confusion. “That is the Final Trial?”

  “…Does it feel anti climatic?” Vestia said, as the edges of her lips twitched in annoyance. “Were you expecting something like war with Thralls?”

  “…Not to that extent,” Zain said, withdrawing the disappointed look from his face. “It is just that, with all the tension that Alnea had created, I expected the trial to be more dangerous…”

  “…Do you think what I have described is not dangerous enough?” Vestia said. “Imagine being sent to a valley, with your Final Trial being defending against the hundreds of Wanderers attacking you from all sides at the same time. Does that make you dangerous enough?”

  “…I think I would prefer the other missions,” Zain said, gulping down all the dissatisfaction he had before.

  “Unfortunately, it will not be up to us to decide which Trial we will get.”

  “…Will it be up to the council?”

  “Fortunately, we have not lost all of Goddess Ilea’s favour,” Alnea said. “The Trials will be decided randomly, and given to us when we enter the Final World.”

  “Then what you said before about deciding how to deal with the Trials…”

  “Obviously, to make plans on how we will tackle different situations in advance. Of course, these plans will not be set in stone. Things might be different from what we expect in the Final World. But once we get there, we will not have the time to think of a plan from scratch. It would be better if we just make a few plans in advance, and then adapt those plans in the Final Trial according to our situation.”

  “…That makes sense,” Karl said. “Do you have a list of all the different kinds of Trials we can expect in the Final Trial?”

  “It is—

  Alnea paused in his words, as he felt a familiar burning sensation in his chest, the kind that he had experienced the night before. Glancing around, he noticed the pale faces of his teammates getting distorted with all kinds of thoughts and emotions. He knew that the Curse of his Fate was inevitable, but he did not expect it to come so soon. Letting out a sigh, he closed his eyes and subdued the raging waves in his Heart, before reaching into his robe to take out his Blood Card.

  You have been challenged to the Final Trial.