As Damien walked over a hill, he squinted his eyes and looked at the horizon toward the center of the radiation zone. In the distance, he spotted a temple structure. “What is that?” he muttered aloud, mostly speaking to himself.

Noticing where Damien was gazing, Ela followed his gaze and spotted the temple. She remarked, “Just as I expected. Given that this zone is unique, I anticipated that the center would not only harbor dangerous creatures but could also give rise to something like this.”

Confusion spread across Damien's face. "What do you mean?" he asked, looking puzzled. "After the system descended into our world, places like this one began appearing everywhere, especially in special areas like this. While I have no idea what that temple holds for us, I do know it must be worth risking our lives for."

Damien nodded in understanding, smiling again at the thought of what might be inside the temple. As they resumed their journey, they noticed that the radiation levels increased the closer they got, reminding Damien of Ela’s earlier warnings. “If I hadn’t listened to her and traveled here, this could have killed me,” he thought, grateful that his past self had enough sense to heed her advice.

As they approached the temple, Damien sensed something intriguing: several other groups were also making their way to the center, just like Ela and himself. There were quite a few of them. Expanding his awareness to include these groups, Damien realized he could see many unfamiliar faces among them.

The only group Damien recognized was Ruby’s, along with that guy Zack; the other groups were completely unfamiliar to him. As he sensed their auras, Damien realized that nearly everyone approaching was E rank, but he also noticed that some individuals in the groups had a particularly strong presence.

One figure stood out in particular: an old-looking man. Damien couldn't clearly discern his features, but he sensed that this old man would put up a fierce fight if it came to that. "I hope whatever challenges the temple has in store for us allow us to fight against one another.," he mused.

Not long after Damien noticed the other groups, they became aware of each other as well. By this time, the temple was only a few hundred yards away from each group. After sitting in silence for a while and staring at one another, someone finally spoke up.

A man with broad stature donning an axe in his hands he had slung over his shoulder, “Well, we certainly were not expecting this. Since we are all here for the same opportunities, how about we settle this with a contest of strength?”

Many agreed with the man's suggestion, while others disagreed. Surprisingly, Damien was among the dissenters. Ela looked at him, her expression showing slight surprise.

Noticing her expression, he explained, “While I would love to fight, I'd prefer not to waste my time doing so here. I would rather make my way inside. With that in mind, shall we go?” Smiling at his words, Ela agreed.

While everyone discussed who should go in first, Damien and Ela approached the entrance. Noticing their movement, everyone looked over at them before the man who spoke earlier quickly called out.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked, but there was no response as Damien and Ela ignored him and continued walking, unbothered by his protest. A frown spread across the man’s face as he began to follow Damien.

“Don't blame me for this,” he said. Immediately after, the man bent his legs and launched himself with surprising speed for his size. Sensing the incoming attack, Damien turned around.

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As the aura of "Primordial's Presence" emanated from Damien's body, it surged outward with tremendous force in all directions. When it made contact with the man, he became frozen in place, cold sweat starting to pour down his back.

“Next time, I won't let you off with just a warning.” turning back around Damien and Ela continued to walk to the entrance before disappearing inside, leaving everyone else stunned by Damien’s actions.

After a moment, the man regained his senses and looked around. “How about we all go in together? Now that someone is ahead of us, we can't afford to be left behind.” Seeing everyone nod in agreement, he let out a sigh of relief.

One of the women of his group walked over and looked at him with a pondering gaze, “What is it, Mya?” Hearing his words, she looked at him for a few more seconds before speaking. “That man used some type of skill to make you freeze if we come across him again, try your best not to fight him. Based on what I'm sensing even if we all teamed up on him… we would still lose.”

A grim expression appeared on his face after hearing her last words, if Mya was telling him this, it had to be true. She was one of the best of their squad when it came to perception, as that was her highest stat.

“Noted, let's move,” the man said before making his way inside.

Inside the temple, far ahead of Damien and Ela, a lone man with a giant sword upon his back could be seen, Jake. Surprisingly, though… he was not alone, across from him a mysterious person with thick robes covering their body and face also sat seemingly in wait for something.

They both sat facing each other, on guard in case one of them tried anything. Between them, a spirit-like being occupied a chair, watching over the area where they were seated. The spirit appeared to be extremely old, with a sense of ancientness emanating from him..

The spirit-like being opened its eyes, releasing a wave of energy that captured the attention of the two below. "They have arrived," the being said, gazing down at them with a face that remained expressionless as if nothing could alter his demeanor.

As Damien and Ela quickly made their way through the temple, they occasionally glanced at the walls, trying to decipher the ancient writing on them. “How do you think this temple came to be?” Damien asked Ela.

“How would I know?” she replied, looking at Damien as if he had asked a dumb question. “I was asking for your opinion there’s no need to be sassy.”

Ela laughed and, with her beautiful smile captivating Damein, spoke up. “If I had to guess, I would say the system placed them here to help the beings of this world level up. Otherwise, I have no idea how they ended up on our planet.”

Damien agreed with her; her words made the most sense. If the system did not create these areas, then where did they come from? He believed they had not always been there.

As they continued to examine the walls of the temple, Damien noticed numerous images depicted on them. Some portrayed fierce battles between powerful beasts, while others showed humanoid figures locked in combat with the beasts or with other humans.

He saw depictions of humans with horns, humans with long ears, and many other beings that resembled humans, much like himself and Ela. However, several of them had features that indicated they were not the humans Damien was familiar with.

As he became engrossed in the murals and writings on the walls, Damien and Ela eventually arrived at a room where two figures were seated, facing each other. They turned to look at Damien and Ela as soon as they entered, and in the middle of them was a spirit-like being.

The being opened its eyes and focused on Damien and Ela. , causing both of them to react with surprise. “Come sit down and wait for the others,” he said. Deciding to hold off on his questions for later, Damien walked over to Jake.

“When did you get here?” he asked.

“A few hours after them,” Jake replied, nodding his head toward the cloaked figure.

Glancing over at him Damien could not make out anything about him and just decided to ignore him for now but kept him in the back of his mind, if he was the first person to get here then that meant he was certainly strong. Excitement once more began brewing in Damien's mind at potentially fighting the man, sensing his Gaze the man looked over at him and underneath his hood, a look of astonishment was hidden eventually however the man looked away after shaking his head.

After a bit more waiting the others soon gather inside the room prompting the spirit being to speak.

Opening his eyes, his aura washed over everyone present once more. Some even felt they should bow to the man just off the aura alone.

“With everyone present the trials shall now commence.”