“HWAHHH~” Stark opened his eyes.
~SPLASH, SPLASH~
“Huh?” every time he moved to get up, he could hear the sound of water, and that’s when he remembered, “Oh shit…”
He had fought Soulayer right before entering the trial, thus meaning that he had been transported to the trial from this location, and so he was back here when he woke up since his “real life” body never left that space, or at least that’s what he theorized.
He got up from his slumber, the back of his head wet from staying in the ‘soul water’ for a long time.
“Oh,” and as he looked up, he saw that Soulayer’s body was still lying there, dead, “I mean… I guess I did kill him heh…”
But that wasn’t what interested Stark, instead, what did was…
“Here!” it was the two dark blue sparkles around Soulayer’s body as they were pieces of equipment dropped from defeating the boss.
He had failed to grab them right before being transported to the trial, but luckily they were still here, and seems like nobody even came to this place as his body would have probably been found.
In the end, none of this really mattered: he had completed the trial, got his rewards, and now had five pieces of equipment to check out/sell.
He kneeled down to grab both dark blue sparkles and placed them inside his [Spatial Inventory], not wanting to stay any longer since this place smelled awful because of the rotting corpse of Soulayer.
But… wait a damn minute…
How can a corpse rot so fast…?
He had only been gone for a few hours… so…
“…!”
[You have been inside the ‘Lucullus Prison’ for 3 weeks!]
“…” Stark sighed, “Alright.”
He had believed that time would flow NORMALLY, much like during the first trial, but it looks like he was wrong, every trial had a different concept of time.
“Need to get out anyway,” he mumbled as he noticed that a portal had appeared in the distance on top of the ‘soul water’.
He marched toward it, then jumped with not a second of hesitation.
Not a single thing was going through his mind at that moment except for the intense desire so sleep on the bed of his new hotel room.
Things such as his new skill, checking out his equipment, or whatever else that would happen in the future… didn’t matter, just for this moment.
~FWISH~
Stark traversed the portal and immediately was sent back to the start of the rift, where dozens upon dozens of people could still be seen fighting monsters to level up.
Yet, the moment he left the portal…
An overwhelming aura completely twisted the atmosphere, taking aback everyone, monsters and classifiers.
And then… sensing its source, everyone turned their eyes to look at him.
Everyone’s heart raced with caution and a bit of fear as they saw Stark walk toward them, his body completely covered with crimson aura, yet his eyes looking into the void, tired, yet still powerful.
They let him pass easily as he kept going in a straight line, making sure not to annoy such a being as they felt it in their bones that this thing was extremely powerful.
And then…
~FWISH~
Stark jumped into the exit portal, leaving that rift behind.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Contact the association, was that a monster?!”
“No, its a human, just forget about it and don’t lose focus!”
Some just wanted to forget about that thing, although it would probably haunt their nightmares.
“…” Stark kept his neutral expression as he was transported through the threshold between the rift and reality, and after a few seconds…
~FWISH~
He emerged on the other side.
Yet again, his arrival was met with several reactions, and some even tried to some him, but one look from his tired eyes was enough to stop them from acting or touching him.
Stark… just… wanted… to… rest.
Stark arrived in the massive room which regrouped all the portals to different rifts, thousands upon thousands of classifiers there.
“…” the number of widened eyes on him obviously increased, more and more people stopping to check out what that boy was doing, as his aura was still sickening to be around.
But then…
“Hey, bud,” a classifier with a large chin and. very short gray hair, almost making him look bald, could be heard behind Stark.
Stark turned around, his movements slow and smooth, making it feel like he could black out at any time.
The man before Stark was alone, and he was decently muscular, although not on the extreme side like some other people, he was indeed tall though, at around 1.85cm.
“What the fuck are you doing?” the man spoke as soon as Stark looked at him in the eyes, the vortex of aura still in them as it took the man aback the moment he saw them, but he quickly recovered as to not lose face, “You’re scaring people, why don’t you leave?”
That guy tried so hard to act menacing, but Stark squinted his eyes in annoyance, clearly realizing what he was trying to do: he was just trying to be a hero, speaking up for the others, and receiving praise if Stark does leave.
“Hey,” Stark spoke as he looked at him, and even the tone of his voice sent shivers down the man’s spine, “Fuck off.”
And so Stark turned back, walking toward the exit again.
But… the man couldn’t allow that: if Stark had the last word of the matter, then he would just seem like a coward who ran away and be more humiliated than all the others.
And so…
~FWISH, DASH~
He summoned his sword, which was a claymore, in his hands, and dashed at Stark.
‘I’m level 92, there’s no chance he can beat me, his aura is probably just for intimidation!’
He didn’t realize though… that Stark had just went through fucking hell, a hell he would have died in for sure.
And so… right as he swung his sword down…
~FWISH, BAM~
Stark, without even looking back, took one step to the side, avoiding the attack, and then… he punched the man in the stomach, not even letting him follow up with another strike.
~BOOM~
The impact could be heard through the entire room, the man sent flying toward the wall as everyone avoided his body.
He crashed against it and fell unconscious, the stares of everyone on him before looking back at Stark, astonished expressions on their faces.
“You were also just a false hero…” Stark mumbled as he finally left the room, nobody else annoying him after that even though his aura became even more powerful, remembering Warden increasing his power.
He arrived onto the streets, even more people watching and filming him, some even doing live streams, garnering thousands of viewers, yet all were shocked at the sight of Stark.
He hailed for a taxi, yet even after five minutes no one stopped for him, all too scared their lives.
“…”
Knowing no one would stop, Stark grabbed his phone from his [Spatial Inventory].
And… he did the unthinkable: he contacted Lana Moonless.
[You have 136 unread messages and 28 missed phone calls]
“…” Stark didn’t even bother reading any of it.
Instead, he began to type on his phone.
[Stark Heartsouls: Help, I’m at the fighting district, can you come pick me up?]
This was all he said, it was currently 7pm, so he didn’t expect any response for awhile.
Yet…
~DING~
His message was immediately set as “read”, and a response came even faster.
[Lana Moonless: Where were you again? Anyway, don’t move I’m close so I’ll be there in 10 minutes!]
