Jin reached the end of the forest safely. He took off the protective layers at once and stored the elemental fluids and mists back in their respective rings. They could still be used and it wasn't a place where he could waste resources as he wished. He looked in front of him and was met with a world of ice. The snow swirling fiercely in the wind and the white carpet extending everywhere in his sight was beautiful. But he could feel how deadly it was as well.

It reminded him of his time in Siberia... Back then, he had been far too adventurous and nearly paid the price with his life. Nature was the strongest, it wasn't man. He felt it first back then. He went there in order to find a certain hermit to have a spar and got caught in a blizzard. If not for having been smart enough to hire some guides and not being his usual over-confident self, he would have died. At that time, they had been forced to make an igloo.

Igloos were snow houses created as a means to survive in the coldest of environments by hunters back in the days. It works in a simple principle that make use of snow itself as an insulator. The walls block the wind, snow works as an insulator to trap the body heat of the occupants inside the construct and the insulating properties keep strengthening themselves as the snow turns to solid ice.

In order to cross over this landscape, Jin had planned to use the same principle. Back during the previous week, he had analyzed everything Hae-Hyuk said and prepared means to cross over the three areas. Regardless of the one he would reach after exiting the forest, he had a way to cross it. And the way to cross this one was to turn himself into a moving igloo.

It wasn't too hard either. Two external coatings of the water element in its extreme cold liquid state to keep it malleable and still retain the isolating properties and an inner coating of fire element to warm himself. A wall of ice and a small bonfire. That was the image of the igloo in his memories and he was going to recreate it. Obviously, he had previously tested it. And it worked.

Not wasting time, he quickly went to work and soon began to ascend once more. He was a lot slower than before though as the wind was pushing him violently and he was constantly being pelted by ice and snow propelled at high speeds by the wind. But he was moving at a steady pace and trusted himself. He would cross this blizzard and he would be one of the first 32 to do so.

That was because he hadn't yet fought a single battle and he was very aware that this was a key element to winning this first part, this race. Here, it wasn't about might but about speed...

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

...

Min-Su reached the exit quite quickly as well. He was lucky enough not to have been forced into a fight throughout the forest. What was in front of him was a red and dark land devoid of life and incredibly hot. Right, this was the volcano side of The Peak. Just like other champions though, he made preparations beforehand.

While Jin had relied on his ability, Min-Su had been more practical. He took out something that he was given to him by the clan. Or rather, something he raided from there. He asked the clan head to go into the treasury long before leaving to train outside with the elder. Of course, even though it had pained him, the clan head had no choice back then and opened his treasury for Min-Su to pilfer it.

What he took out from his spatial ring was the only item he took from the treasury back then. He always believed that there was no need to pick many average things if one could get one good one. And this was something impressive. One of the clan's ancestral treasures in fact. A purple full-body armor that completely covered all of the wearer. And it was a grade 6 treasure.

He only had to input his spiritual energy into it for that thing to open and encase him inside. As he wore it, he didn't feel its weight. It was as if he didn't have anything on. This armor had many properties and they were mostly turned towards defense. That was exactly what he needed here. The only reason he hadn't used it in the forest was that it consumed a lot of spiritual energy to activate it. He previously made a calculation and believed that he would only have the ability to wear through one area. In the end, he decided to pick this area.

Because he could deal with the forest without it.

After donning the armor, he didn't feel the heat and ran forward unhindered...

..

At that time, in the grand hall, everyone was cursing Hae-Hyuk:

"How outrageous! How could you give so many pinnacle treasures to your champions!"

"You cheater! How could they have earned those things themselves!"

"I demand a second judgement be passed down by the heavens on this fraud!"

The look on Cao Lei's face was especially priceless. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not only were those kids quite powerful, they made use of artifacts far beyond what they should own. It was a miracle that the heavens hadn't reduced Hae-Hyuk to cinders for gifting them such things.

Saint Patron Bôrakos was close to tears. It was his first trial as the Patron and it was already the second situation like this...He looked at the chuckling Saint Arialdo Vassi. Did this old fuck know it would be like this? Is that why he retired now?

One needed to know that Arialdo oversaw the previous fourteen trials and not once did he have to intervene during the trials. Yet it was the second time he had to in a single trial. He was truly getting angry.