“Who is going first?” Alnea said, staring at the giant pair of doors stretching from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. The doors… their humungous size, coupled with the strange symbols and figurines that they were sporting, was giving them an archaic air. As if the doors had been in existence since the beginning of time itself.

Then there was the large scanner, shaped like a cylindrical pillar, almost half as thick as his thighs, reaching up to the height of his waist, standing next to one of the two pair of doors. Almost like the one in front of the Arena. And though the scanner itself did not have any archaic feeling about itself, it sure did add a strange, mysterious feeling to the entire floor as a whole.

On second thought, the doors were indeed a little mysterious. They worked on principles that he could not understand. Just like everything else in the city. As if the city was built by beings who used a completely different system of harnessing the Origin Sea’s powers. Yet, the city was running for the benefits of Wanderers… Was it the original intention of the city? Or were the three Halls added later on by the Wanderers who came to the city?

Most probably, no one knew the answer. The city was so old, that even if the records of the city were preserved, and renewed every few millennia or so, they would not have been saved from the distortion of perspectives. All that people knew about the city should probably be nothing more than some speculations and comments on the original records. Unless the records were maintained using some special materials, of course. But the city was not so special to warrant the use of such precious materials.

From what he knew, the city could benefit Wanderers only up to the Mystic Rank. And even for the Mystic Wanderers, the benefits should be limited. The Grand Wanderers in the city should be there to just ensure the safety of their juniors. Wasting resources that even Supreme Wanderers would find useful on Wanderers below the Mystic Rank was not worth it. Thus, the apparent lack of information about the city. There were hundreds of thousands of Wanderers just in the outer city, and yet, none of them knew about the city’s origin.

Ironically enough, it was exactly because people knew almost nothing about the city that it felt more mysterious and tempting. Similarly, neither Alnea, nor Cecilia, or Yuri knew anything about the trials. Except for the strange symbols marking it as the door for Initial Stage Trials, they did not know what lay beyond the doors in front of them. They did not know what trials they would have to face, and neither did they know what benefits they would gain. Yet, it was exactly this feeling of venturing into something unknown, something mysterious, that made Alnea feel excited about the trials.

“Does it matter who goes first?” Cecilia said with a bit on nonchalance in her voice. As if she could not care who went first. Yet the sneaky girl took advantage of the fact that he was still lost in his thoughts, and quickly slipped out her Blood Card, before slapping it on the scanner. “Of course, it does.”

“…Shameless,” Alnea said, staring at the scanner. In appearance, it looked similar to the scanner at the Arena. Yet it worked more like the box they had seen at the canteen. Listening to the creaking sounds, Alnea shifted his gaze back to the large doors in front of him. Just like the doors of the canteen, they opened only slightly, just enough for Cecilia to squeeze in.

“Don’t blame me for your laziness,” Cecilia said, laughing at him, before turning back towards the doors. “I will be going in then.”

“Although you do not need it… may Goddess’ Ilea be with you.”

“You too.”

The moment that Cecilia, with Forne following her on her heels, went in, the doors closed on their own, just like how the doors to the canteen had closed, leaving just Alnea and Yuri standing in front of the doors. And the other Wanderers on the stairs, of course. Some of them were going up, while some of them were going down. Even on the floor he was, he noticed a man walk out of the second pair of doors. He looked a little exhausted, but from the smile on his face, the man had probably succeeded in clearing the trial.

Noticing his gaze, the man stopped smiling, and looked at him with vigilance, as he made his way downstairs. But Alnea did not care. Even if his master had asked him to make friends, and interact with other Wanderers, it did not mean that he had to interact with every Wanderer that he met. Tearing his gaze away from the man, Alnea shifted his gaze back to the doors.

“The doors do look fascinating… What do you think?”

“I cannot say that I have seen the designs before.”

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“So, they are not made by Wanderers. And yet…”

“Does that not make the city even more fascinating?” Yuri said, with a radiant smile on her face. “Who built the city? What is its purpose? Most importantly, what is the legacy that it is hiding?”

“…Forget it. Rather than scratching our head, it would be better to complete the trial in front of us.”

“…You are becoming more and more like an old man,” Yuri said with chuckles, before placing her Blood Card on the scanner. “Let us see who ranks better in the trial.”

“Is that even something that you need to think about?” Alnea said, full of confidence. “As long as it has something to do with Martial Styles, none of our peers can beat me.”

“…We will see,” Yuri said, before stepping past the doors, allowing them to close on their own. This time, he was truly alone. But he did not care. Not long after Yuri passed through the doors, he placed his own Blood Card on the scanner, and watched it blink with a red a light, before taking his Blood Card back, and walking through the gap between the doors. Into a world of darkness.

“Welcome to the Warrior Hall, Blood Soldier N 06 08499.”

A blood red curtain of light appeared in front of him, just as a strange voice rang out in his head. He was already used to voices appearing in his head though, so he did not panic. Instead, he observed the curtain of light in front of him. Thin, translucent, about as wide as his arm, and half as tall, the curtain of light looked more like a sheet. Then there were the strange symbols glowing on the curtain, making it look even less like a curtain. Thankfully, he had taken a language spar the night before.

“Blood Hall… Blood Soldier…”

“You are in the Trial Space of the Martial Style Trials. Please select the difficulty of the Trial.”

“You cannot select a difficulty two levels beyond the level you have already cleared.”

“The difficulty level of the Trial will decide what kind of Martial Styles you will be allowed to use in the Trial.”

“Using the senses of your Spirit, or a Martial Style beyond the specified kind and level will disqualify you from the Trial.”

“How quickly and efficiently you complete the Trial will decide how many Trial Points you earn.”

“The greater the number of Trial Points you have, the better your rank would be in the Warrior Hall.”

“In addition, the Warrior Hall will reward you according to your performance in the Trials.”

“The reward for perfect clearance of the first Trial is ten Blood Coins, which will increase to twenty Blood Coins for the second Trial, thirty Blood Coins for the third Trial, forty Blood Coins for…”

“If you fail to gain a perfect clearance, your reward will decrease according to your performance.”

“If you fail the Trials, or are disqualified, you will not be rewarded with any Blood Coins.”

“If you can gain perfect clearance in all ten Trials, the Hall will reward you with additional five hundred Blood Coins, and a Low Grade Warrior Token, which can be used to redeem any Low Grade Martial Style, or resources of an equivalent value.”

“Breaking records will grant you an additional amount of Blood Coins, equivalent to what you would have gotten for a perfect clearance for that level.”

“If you break a record for the entire city, you will earn an additional Low Grade Warrior Medal.”

“If you…”

Alnea read all the instructions that were written—glowing on the curtain of light, and fell into thought. The Trial… it was surprisingly more informative than he had thought it would be, making his job easier for him. As for which trial to choose… he could only choose the Trial with the lowest difficulty. It did not matter though. The first Trial was just for familiarising himself with the trials. After all, his aim was not just to clear the trials, but to clear them perfectly, and break some records.

Nodding to himself, Alnea returned his attention back to the curtain of light. According to the instructions given on the curtain, he moved his finger to the row repressing the difficulty of his Trial, and pressed one. Almost immediately, all the symbols on the curtain scrambled, and faded away, making way for new symbols, and instructions.

“Defeat a first level Initial Stage Blood Shadow.”

“Powers outside of the path of Warriors are forbidden.”

“Usage of Aspects is forbidden.”

“You can use only one Martial Style.”

“Using more than one Martial Style, or a Martial Style above the Lowest Grade will disqualify you from the trial.”

“Perfect clearance condition: Defeating the Blood Shadow without getting injured.”

“Record one: Defeating the Blood Shadow in three seconds.”

“Record two: Defeating the Blood Shadow in one move.”

“Record three: Defeating the Blood Shadow without using any Martial Style.”

“Your Trial will begin at the count of sixty.”

“…Ten.”

“Nine.”

“Eight.”

“Seven.”

“Six.”

“Five.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

“Zero…”