Chapter 607: Miraculous Rewards
That’s when Aria stepped forward, her eyes cold and calculating. "Who are you?" she asked. Her voice wasn’t hostile, but it was sharp—like a blade hidden behind velvet. "I noticed you before. You’re an anomaly here. Everyone else is either peak Expert Rank or Master Rank. But you... you’re just an 8th level Seeker Rank. And yet, here you are."
Max sighed, acting as if weary from the questioning. "I found a key a while back," he said, weaving his lie with practiced ease. "Just a few days ago, the key turned into a portal. Curious, I followed it. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into."
Aria studied him for a long moment, silent. Her eyes narrowed, sensing something off, but the story was plausible enough. A Seeker Rank wouldn’t dare enter a place this dangerous by choice—yet this one had not only entered, but survived till now and even came to this secret world. She couldn’t decide if he was hiding something... or just incredibly lucky.
In truth, she felt both curiosity and suspicion stirring in her gut. Because no matter how convincing Max’s words were, there was one thing she couldn’t ignore: the feeling that the boy standing before them had seen far more than he let on.
"Now that everyone is here, let’s start the trials," a calm yet eerie voice echoed through the spacious hall, grabbing everyone’s attention. Max, Elias, Aria, and the two commanders turned sharply toward the sound. What they saw left them momentarily stunned.
A young man—no, a boy, even younger than Max—stood before them, his posture relaxed, his expression unreadable. He wore a sleek black coat adorned with intricate gold linings, and atop his head sat a peculiar black hat fitted with visible mechanical components—whirring, shifting, softly humming with a quiet mechanical life of their own.
Floating around him were several glowing blue orbs, each the size of a fist, and unsettlingly, each had a pair of blinking eyes and a grinning mouth. They hovered like spirits, silently watching the group with curious, twitching smiles.
"I’ll be handling your trials," the boy said, his voice light but somehow authoritative. Then, with a casual snap of his fingers, five floating black cubes materialized before the five of them—Max, Elias, Aria, and the two commanders. Each cube pulsed faintly as if responding to the energy around them.
"The first trial is a test of your energy-based attack," the boy continued, tone matter-of-fact. "Attack the cube with all your strength through your energy. The points you earn will determine your reward from this trial. Simple enough."