While Damien was getting a history lesson from the old spirit Ela and the others were waiting patiently outside by now it had been a few hours since Damien and the old spirit left leaving Ela a bit on edge as to what was taking so long. According to the spirit, the person who was chosen would be able to pick out some rewards or something along those lines along with learning the history of the planet, so unless the old spirit was teaching him the entire history of the earth of old then something else had to be going on.

Nevertheless, she could only wait and see what the outcome would be, Ela just hoped that she would not lose him again… she could not go through that pain a second time.

It was not just Damien’s group of five, there were also the other twenty people who passed the second trial waiting for the spirits to return and a lot of them were starting to get restless. Honestly, though Ela and the others could not blame them, no one wants to wait for hours in an old and decrepit dungeon surrounded by people potentially strong enough to kill you.

During the time they had been here, Ela had been talking quite a bit to Adam and telling him about what was going on since the last time they saw each other which was like two hundred years ago, if Ela was being honest Adam had changed quite a bit.

He used to be quite the talkative and cheerful guy and rarely would he not have a smile on his face, but since she began speaking to him Adam seemed different. Now there was nothing wrong with that, two hundred years was bound to change someone’s way of life and just general thoughts.

Overall though she believed that should not have been enough to make him change this much, the current Adam had not smiled once besides when he first saw her and Damien, and on top of that, the man did not even bother to speak to her until she initiated a conversation first which was insane to Ela.

Regardless of the situation, as long as Adam still considered her and Damien to be friends, she didn't mind his personality change too much. After all, he wasn't the young, cheerful kid he used to be, and becoming less talkative was understandable given the state of the world now. Everyone who lived through the awakening of the system likely experienced similar changes in personality.

While Ela was lost in thought a bright flash of light appeared in front of the crowd of people blinding everyone present and forcing them to look away or shield their eyes from the light.

After the light cleared everyone looked in the direction it came from to see what was going on, standing where the light had just been was the old spirit and Damien seemingly chatting happily with each other.

Seeing Damien be so unguarded around the man surprised everyone in their group. After all, Damien had been saying the entire time they were here that the man gave off a weird vibe and that they should be careful around him. Now seeing Damien seemingly take a complete one-eighty and be carefree around the old spirit came as quite a surprise making Ela’s heart sink.

On the platform in front of them, Damien turned his head and looked down at Ela and the others before flashing a bright smile and making his way down to them. “Hope you guys did not wait too long,” he said while staring at them.

No one replied for a few minutes and they all just stared at him with a discerning look as if trying to see if anything was wrong with him, finally, Ela let out the breath she had been holding in relief believing him to be okay and that the old spirit had not done something of harm to him.

“It's fine just tell us later once we get out of here what took you so long, I am quite curious as to what you were doing with that old spirit and I am sure the others are as well,” Ela stated before looking at the other three who all nodded at her words in agreement.

“Even if you had not said anything I had planned to tell you guys about it later.” Everyone smiled at him before starting to probe about the rewards he had gotten for being chosen causing Damien to let out a smug grin.

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Right as he was about to begin speaking Sokai's voice boomed out inside the room they were in. “Alright, now that the chosen has been selected and picked their rewards I will now give the rest of you a chance to earn something as well.”

Pausing for a moment he scanned the crowd looking at the variety of different reactions to his words, some were excited, and others had a look of concern, for the most part however everyone was determined to participate making the old spirit smile.

He was concerned about the planet's youth after hearing from Damien that the bloodless organization was still active. If the people present weren't up to the challenge and unwilling to take risks for opportunities, Sokai intended to offer chances only to those who were. He planned to force those who did not meet his standards to leave.

Nodding his head at the determined looks they all had Sokai began to speak once more, “This will be the final trial of the temple, and it's something I came up with on a whim so all it really will be is a one vs one. Seeing as there are twenty-four people in the room minus the chosen those who make it within the top eight will be able to pick a reward.”

Excitement began brewing in the crowd of people's hearts, everyone present had been alive for quite some time and while they were still children in the eyes of the old spirit. To them, however, they were all old and seasoned fighters confident in their abilities.

Once everyone calmed down Sokai had them move behind him snapping his fingers after encasing them in some type of mana bubble, suddenly they were back outside the temple and were standing on top of some kind of arena that had previously not been there when they first arrived.

Shock could be seen on everyone's face presently at the display of ability from the old spirit. Everyone except Damien as he had been able to personally witness Sokai’s abilities and the abilities of those of old Earth.

Before Damien and the Sokai had shown up in front of everyone Sokai had been telling him all about Earth's history and why he thinks the system disappeared. After the big battle that Damien had watched went down and after the hunt for Bloodless everything went back to normal for a while, that was until a day that Sokai called the “Unawkeing day” arrived.

According to him the events that happened on that day were even more shocking than the day the system originally arrived on Earth, instead of things getting stronger everyone's strength started to regress at an astonishing pace. Luckily Sokai was quite strong so even though he was rapidly losing levels he was able to preserve himself and the temple in time before losing his life.

Had he not been quick enough in his actions he would have died from old age and the temple they were within would not have existed. Since he was losing levels and his strength leaving him that also meant his extended life span was also regressing back to what it originally should have been when he was a mortal, with the average life span of humans being eighty years and with him being well over seven hundred years old he was sure to die once his level regressed far enough.

This whole turn of events made Damien completely baffled, once this “unawakening day” came millions of humans, animals, monsters, etc died in an instant. Honestly, it also left him a little scared, if that day were to ever come again what would happen to him and Ela? They had also long outlived a mortal lifespan…

Regardless though Damien forced these thoughts to the back of his mind, if the day were to ever come he would find a way to deal with it then, worrying about it now would do him no good.

Snapping out of his thoughts upon hearing the sound of clashing Damien looked up to see two people already fighting in the arena, apparently while he had been lost in thought Sokai had quickly set everything up before having the first two people fight.

In the arena was the woman who warned the man about Damien and some random person Damien had only glanced at once before looking away in disregard. The man was using some type of halberd that did not match his body type which looked more suited for daggers or short swords.

As for the woman Damien had a certain impression of her, the woman seemed to be extremely intelligent and aware. Every attack the man threw at her was blocked or dodged with ease and each time the woman wasted almost no energy doing so from what Damien could observe.

Suddenly after the woman dodged another swipe from the man’s halberd she took a light step in the man's direction and cut at the air five feet in front of him making the man rather puzzled by her actions, that was until he felt a sudden sense of danger. Unfortunately, it was too late and a deep gash appeared across his chest almost reaching his vitals.

A deep look of horror immediately appeared on the halberd user's face, “H-how?” he asked completely confused as to what happened. One minute it seemed like the woman just missed or something but the next he felt danger and a deep gash was on his chest.

Before the woman could answer Sokai spoke out, “Winner of match one is Alina.”