Hearing the old man say that, the people in the room frowned. One of the men, who seemed like he had the most authority stood up and asked, “How?” The white haired old man then said, “I don’t know. When I was transporting the Trial Takers to the Trial World, he suddenly appeared amongst them.”
The man frowned even harder as he asked, “Who is he?” The man answered, “A young man from the Mortal Realm. From what I learned of his memories, he has no idea what is going on either. He was dying and when he closed his eyes, drawing what he thought would be his last breath, he was suddenly transported to the Trial World.” The middle aged man thought to himself for a moment and asked, “Does he have any foundation in cultivating?”
The white haired old man shook his head and said, “He has some proficiency in Mortal Martial Arts but that is all. In his World, they never developed cultivating of any sort.” The man let out a deep sigh and threw the man ten jade slips and said, “Let him choose one Cultivating Art and Offensive Art from these. Also, let him choose one Offensive and Defensive Soul Artefact as well.”
Hearing this, another man stood up and immediately said, “Chief, that is-” However, before he could finish, the man silenced him with a glance and said, “It seems like it was fate that he accidentally became part of the Trials. I want to see how far his fate takes him. Also, the rest of the Trial Takers have been groomed meticulously by their Clans for decades. Giving him this little advantage still puts him in a disadvantage against the rest of them.” Hearing this, the man shut his mouth and it seemed like it made sense.
He then glanced at the sphere and sighed heavily. He mumbled, “That boy will have it hard against all of these sly foxes.” The rest of the people present nodded their heads in acknowledgement. The white haired man accepted the ten Jade Slips and disappeared from the room.
***
As the young man was aimlessly wandering around, the air twenty meters in front of him suddenly distorted and a white haired man appeared in front of him. The young man immediately jumped back as he stared at the incomprehensible sight in front of him. The white haired man sized him up for a moment before he said, “You shouldn’t be here.”
Hearing this, the young man grew serious. As he slowly inched backwards, he said cautiously, “I have no idea how I got here or what this place is. I am sorry for trespassing.” The white haired man let out a smile and waved his sleeve. Ten bright lights flew out of his sleeve and seeing this, the young man immediately ran for it. However, the moment he turned around, he suddenly felt frozen in place. No matter how much he urged his body, it seemed as though it was frozen in time.
A voice came from behind him, “It doesn’t matter how you got here or where you are from. You appearing here seems to be fate and to make it fairer for you, the higher ups have decided to give you a chance.” Hearing this, the young man involuntarily turned around. More like, he was forced to turn around by the invisible force that was wrapped around him. It was only then that he saw that those ten bright lights had turned into small crystals that floated in front of him.
As the young man glanced at the white haired man, the man continued explaining, “In front of you are three Cultivation Arts, three Offensive Arts and three Defensive Arts and the Soul Artefact registry. You are allowed to choose one of each type of Art and one Offensive and one Defensive Soul Artefact.” Hearing this, the young man had a dumb expression on his face as he asked, “What the fuck are Arts and Soul Artefacts?”
The white haired man seemed to have expected the question and started explaining, “Cultivation Arts allow you to take in the Qi around you to strengthen your body. This is called cultivating and the higher ones cultivation, the longer their lifespan. In front of you are three Top Grade Cultivation Arts that are amongst the strongest in all of the Three Realms.” The man then took a moment before he continued, “Offensive Arts are special methods for attacking. For example, if you chose a sword as your main weapon, then using a Sword Art you could split mountains or redirect rivers. Defensive Arts are the opposite, they are meant for defending. If your proficiency in a Defensive Art is high enough, you can stand even having a mountain dropped on you.”
Hearing this, the young man gulped. To him, this was straight out of a book. He had read his fair share of fantasy novels and to him, this was something straight out of one of these novels. After another moment, the man continued explaining about the Artefacts. “Artefacts are divided into Offensive, Defensive and Utility Artefacts. Offensive Artefacts are meant for attacking, such as swords, axes, spears and so on. Defensive Artefacts are for defending such as shields, robes and such. Utility Artefacts however have no direct connection to either of the two, such as Alchemy Cauldrons or Movement Artefacts.”
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The man then continued after a breath, “Soul Artefacts are special Artefacts that grow alongside in power with it’s wielder. The bond between the Master and Artefact is far stronger than normal and since they have the ability to grow, they are most valued of any type of Artefact since they have the ability to grow Heaven Defying.”
The young man was numb already from the explanations, he had a sharp head, so he took in everything the man said. However, he just had a hard time believing that this was happening. He mumbled to himself, “Is this a coma dream? Did I survive the crash and am currently in a coma?” Hearing this, the man raised a brow. The man asked, “Are you still doubting it?” The young man let out a hollow laugh and said, “Sorry but too much has happened in a too small of a time frame. In one moment I was laying on the ground dying, the next I am told that I have somehow appeared in the Trial for Immortals. It is a bit unbelievable, that is all.”
Hearing this, the man simply nodded his head and said in a softer tone, “However, this is the truth and your new reality. Although, we don’t know how you got here or what happened, since you are here, you also qualify to take part in the Trials.” The young man let out a deep sigh. As silence took reign, the young man asked, “Are there any differences between these Arts?” The man nodded his head and started explaining, “These three Cultivation Arts are all different. One is a full Body Refining, one is full Qi Refining and one of them is a mix of both. Each of them have their own advantages and disadvantages.”
The man continued explaining, “Full Body Refiners are unbeatable against Qi Refiners in close combat and their fighting style is up and personal. Qi Refiners however focus more on Arts and fighting from a distance. The mixed one however is proficient in both, although, in close combat, they are weaker than Body Refiners and from a distance, they are weaker than Qi Refiners.”
The man then crossed his hands on his chest as he explained, “However, the mixed one is the most versatile one. If the situation calls for it, they can fight in close combat or from a distance.” Hearing this, the young man nodded his head. The mixed one wasn’t the strongest in neither close combat or from a distance but for the ability to do both well. They were stronger than Body Refiners in controlling Artefacts and Arts to fight form a distance and they were stronger than Qi Refiners when fighting in close combat.
The young man then murmured, “It is like an RPG. Body Refiners are Assassins and Qi Refiners are Mages or Archers. Mixed ones are like Luminaries that can fight in both.” Thinking of it like this, the idea behind it was simplified a lot. The man then waved his sleeve and three Arts floated closer to the young man and the man explained, “From the left, the Arts are a Body Refining, Dual one and Qi Refining one. I will now explain the benefits of each of them before you make your choice.” The young man nodded his head, indicating that he understood.
The man started with the Body Refining one, “This Art is called [Infernal Demon Art]. It focuses on training your body to be extremely durable and strong. The perfect weapons for this Art are two handed heavy weapons that make full use of the ridiculous amounts of strength this Art grants. However, training in this Art is extremely difficult as it places an enormous strain on your body and overestimating oneself when training in the Art may split your tendons shatter your Meridians.” Hearing this, the young man’s eyes grew as wide as carriage wheels as he gulped hard.
The man then pointed at the next Art and said, “This is the Dual Art. It is called [Nether Angel Art]. The unique aspect of this Art is that cultivating in it will allow you to create a Nether Flame inside your Dantian and incorporate it in your attacks.”
He then introduced the last one, “This is the [Illustrious Illusion Art]. This one focuses training ones Soul to control more Artefacts at the same time. The higher your cultivation in the Art, the more Artefacts one can control simultaneously to set up death traps for the enemies.” After giving a brief overview of the last Art, the man turned quiet. The young man fell into thought, each of them had their own advantages.
For example the Body Refining one would give him ridiculous amounts of strength however, at the same time, it was the most dangerous to cultivate as it was easy to harm himself. The Qi one however would give him control over more and more Artefacts. If he accumulated enough Artefacts, he could smother his enemies under them. However, in his opinion, the [Nether Angel Art] seemed the best.
Although, he didn’t know how strong this Nether Flame was but seeing as the Art that was centred around the Flame, it couldn’t be weak. After taking a few moments to decide, the young man look at the man with determination in his eyes and said, “I choose the [Nether Angel Art].” The old man nodded his head and with a wave of his hand, the other two jade slips flew back to his sleeve.
The one containing the information about the Art however, floated to his side. The old man then said, “I haven’t asked for your name yet.” The young man was startled and said with a sheepish smile, “My name is Jack Lumi.” The man nodded his head and continued, “These three Arts are the Offensive Arts. One is a Blade Art, one is a Sword Art and one is a Spear Art.”
Jack looked at the three jade slips in front of him and asked, “Which one goes best with the [Nether Angel Art]?” A sly smile appeared on the man’s lips as he said, “The Blade Art.” Jack didn’t hesitate to choose the Blade Art then. Although he had no idea if the old man was lying or not, he had no experience with any weapons, so he would be starting with a clean slate any ways. Up next were the three Defensive Arts.
After a brief introduction, Jack chose an Art that had both escape and defensive abilities. Now, it was time to choose his Defensive and Offensive Artefact.
It was obvious he was going to choose a Blade as his Offensive Artefact, however, he had no idea what he was going to choose as his Defensive Artefact.