Chương 99: Ashes and Ambition

Fifteen minutes prior. The middle-aged man, Tantoo, Deano, and Edgar stood at the edge of the Sword and Golden Chain Dome Shield, watching the battle transpiring inside. When they left the underground Safe Spot after confronting Old Man Larry, they had half expected Toni to be battling multiple people. However, to their surprise, some Elites had joined hands with him to protect the kid. They felt relieved. If Toni were to exert his whole strength, it would severely backlash against him.

Furthermore, the situation would escalate too much, as the strength he gained in his final form would be overkill against these people. Therefore, avoiding the deaths of those from Faith City's prominent families was a good thing. But the question remained: who were the other people battling the Pleasence? The middle-aged man looked toward the gathered crowd and touched the Dome Shield. It was sturdy, and it would stop the group from forcefully entering the Dome.

However, it would not hold if a certain people decided to enter. The middle-aged man's gaze shifted toward Lothaire and the few Elites disguised as normal civilians. Looking at the battle and the reactions of these people, he thought the situation would not escalate much. Even if that were to happen and these people were to get involved, Toni was capable of taking care of them.

"Let's go," the middle-aged man said. Seeing that he was ready to leave the place, Edgar quickly asked the middle-aged man, "Master, where to? I want to search for the boy. Currently, I cannot see him, nor do I know whether he is alive or dead." The middle-aged man did not say anything to Edgar; he simply watched the inside of the Dome.

"Okay, you stay here. Wait to see how things play out, talk to the kid, and get some details. I just want to confirm some things." Seeing that his master was going somewhere, Edgar wanted to be with him.

"Wait. If what you want to do takes precedence, I will come with you as well. I am sure Toni will take care of things here." The middle-aged man did not reply; he simply disappeared from the spot. Tantoo sent an invisible thread to Edgar, coiling around his body, and the three blurred as they disappeared from the battlefield.

Born with a silver spoon, Victor never lacked anything in his life. He always got what he wanted, and there was no one who could say no to him. During his childhood, he possessed very little concern regarding how much influence his family held, almost as if he never cared about it. However, as he grew up and things started to make sense, his heart broke upon realizing that his family held so little power and strength within their own city.

This feeling of inferiority regarding his family's strength increased greatly, fueling his ambition to gain more power and rule the city. Yet, the more his ambitions drove him to his absolute limit, the more he was suppressed by other families. Whether it was in business, influence, or relationships with other families, their family lacked greatly.

As time passed, his mind automatically adapted to the truth that his family was merely a second-tier family in his generation as well, but his ambition to rule the city did not wane a single bit. That ambition burned like hellfire, constantly driving him forward. It was then that he came to know about the Trial lingering in their own backyard. He realized this was their time to shine brightly and place his family above all.

However, his family did not realize his true ambitions, denying him from participating in the Concentric Trial. Taking action on his own, he entered into the Trial. While he waited silently for his family to arrive, he saw a nobody arrive and start acting as if he were the savior, asking all sorts of things about the Trial. Knowledge regarding the Trial was very scarce, especially if one was not from a prominent family.

At first, Victor ignored him, but soon, this person's actions reminded him of the families who ruled the city. They always showed a good side to the common people, and because of this, they always gained the support of the mobs. After seeing the people gathered around this nobody who was acting like a big shot, Victor's thoughts gnawed at his heart. He was supposed to be the savior here; he wanted to be the person who gained the support of the mob, not him. However, was the mob's support what he truly sought?

No, he did not want the mob's support. Whether it was wealth, power, or influence, he wanted to become number one in all of them. To achieve that, he needed to crush whoever stood above him, and that was exactly what he did. He picked everyone off and placed them under his rule. Seeing people tremble at his orders, he experienced the euphoria of the power he held. But it was not enough; he wanted more. He still felt that someone was standing above him.

That feeling did not go away, and he could not truly feel like he was number one. Because he wanted to establish himself as number one, he did exactly that. He killed the person who he thought stood above him. The feeling he felt when he stood above all was good; it was truly good. Just when he was enjoying being number one! [Isolde Anomaly Killed. Gained Temporary Ability "Snigir Savant".] He suddenly received a message about gaining a new Ability, which was temporary.

As for what the use of this [Snigir Savant] Ability was, he did not know, nor was he interested in it at that time. While he was going through these feelings, his family members arrived. It was then that he truly felt they had achieved the number one spot in the Trial. However, that joy and exhilaration he felt was short-lived. As more powerful families started to arrive, his grandfather started to negotiate with others to work together. This deed put his mind in a dark place.

The real number one family would not expect others to join hands with them, as it showed weakness. He did not like that. He wanted to change it; he wanted to feel like he was number one every living minute. That hope rekindled when he revealed that he had gained the Ability after killing some nobody. When his grandfather heard the name of the Ability, he went into shock, putting him into a seizure. The Ability he had gained, [Snigir Savant], could be used to read the [Snigir Inscriptions].

Those inscriptions were the lock for the Torical Secret Chamber. Now that his grandson had the ability to read the inscriptions, they possessed the key to open the Torical Secret Chamber. When he heard the name Torical Secret Chamber, Victor went into euphoria once again. As an heir of a second-tier family, he had heard a ton of stories about the Founder and how his strength came from the treasures of the Torical Secret Chamber.

If what his grandfather said was true, not only would they become the number one family in Faith City once they gained all the treasures with this Ability, but they could also rule the whole world. No one in this world could do anything but bow their heads before them. They could become gods of this world. He wanted it; he wanted that strength. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. But Victor did not like what came after this one bit.

His grandfather gathered the other families and signed a pact to share the treasures. This showed how powerless his family was once again; they did not have enough strength to obtain a treasure on their own. Gritting his teeth, he waited for the Trial to start. However, upon seeing a Black Skeleton in the Main Chamber, the situation became more complicated. Victor already explained every minute detail of how he gained his Ability, so they automatically understood the situation, immediately taking action.

If the guy somehow came back to life and someone were to kill him again to gain the same Ability, their leverage would plummet to the bottom, if not become zero. The 20% share of the Treasure might become 5% if that were to happen. But what if he was killed by them again? Wouldn't they gain some other rewards? With that greedy thought, Victor immediately followed his family, leaving the Safe Spot. But before he could reach the location, he saw a dome-like shield engulf his family members.

The battle had already started, and the cruel part was that his family members were being suppressed by some unknown researchers. How could this happen to them? How inferior was their strength, to even be surpassed by some nobody? Victor could not accept this humiliation. If his family failed to kill the guy, he would do it, again. When he was done with that guy, he would become a god. Erupting with anger, he frantically tried to break the shield.

However, with the strength he had, he could not even move the shield. As more time passed, their family members started to lose the battle, which made his heart burn at the incapabilities of his family and the mediocre strength they possessed. This was unacceptable. The fire burning in his heart ignited an ambition that he would get all the Treasure. He would get every single one of them, and the humiliation his family faced would never happen again.

He took an oath that he would become a god, and every one of these people would bow before him.

The middle-aged man and Trio reached the top of the mountain. He came here specifically to check on one thing. He possessed wide knowledge about the Trial rules, as well as how they worked. Even though this was his first Concentric Trial, throughout his years of being Awakened and gathering knowledge, he had never heard that the [Catalyst] would share Trial details and forget participant details. Others could discard the utterances as rumor, or those who never knew about the Trial could believe them.

Being the center of this metric, he worried whether these things were truly a part of the Trial. If what the [Catalyst] told them was true, wouldn't a path exist that could be crossed simply by defeating the territory Boss monster? If so, what kind of [Trial Tree] would the Trial impose upon them? There were a lot of questions, but no answers. Thus, he wanted to see if there was truly a different way to approach the Trial. This was not simply for his own curiosity.

This discovery could change how Trials were approached in the future, greatly helping future generations.

"Master, do you truly believe the old man's words to be true?" Deano asked. At first, he considered these rumors to be mere mundane pass-time talk. However, when his Master decided to validate them, his curiosity piqued.

"I am not sure, Deano. We cannot neglect or ignore things related to the Trials," the old man said.

"These Trials are very strange; we have to take account of every aspect." While talking, his eyes locked intently in one direction. After staring for a few moments, he slowly started to drift towards that location.

Susanne cried for two minutes straight until Arthur's body fell apart. It fully decayed, turning into ash before disintegrating into the ground. Everyone witnessed this scene, the cruelty of death. All the participants who had arrived at this place stood at the crater. While they were wondering what could have caused Arthur's horrific demise, their heads turned toward a location where people emerged from a cave hole. Walking at the forefront of the group was the old man.

He looked around at the crowd, and finally, his eyes landed on the location where the people had gathered. With great effort, he looked up to see the countdown timer. No one spoke a word. Even Pleasence merely stood there. Victor stood behind his grandfather, his eyes burning with loathing as he looked at the people. Linlyn had already moved towards her granddaughter to try and console her. Denis had already walked away.

Lothaire took a casual look at the Persoff and Winters groups; no one could tell what he was thinking. Susanne felt this might be the end for Arthur. She had held onto the hope that he would somehow come back to life like the last time. However, seeing his entire body disappear into nothingness, that hope shattered. She sat there blankly, pondering how their lives would have been if they had never met Arthur. They would have died in that Luck Forest; that was for sure.

But would Arthur have chosen a different quest if they had never met him? She did not know. Perhaps his life would have been different. A single tear rolled down her cheek. As the time counted down, nobody moved or talked. Everyone waited for the timer to hit zero. 00: 00: 25 00: 00: 24 … 00: 00: 15 … … 00: 00: 03 00: 00: 02 00: 00: 01 00: 00: 00 [Welcome to the Concentric Trial, where rewards are abundant when you know how to get them.] Everyone heard a voice from the sky.

Susanne still watched the spot where Arthur had disappeared until her eyes lost their senses. ❖❖❖❖❖❖❖ Hi Everyone Check out this Novel: If you like this, try… Mastery Is Earned by J. S. Hatherley"Mastery is not given. It is earned." One hard-won skill can change a life. Enough of them can change the world. Raymond possesses a mastery system unique to him. Starting with nothing more than basic swordsmanship, he must earn every skill through genuine effort.

Every improvement, no matter how small, becomes a foundation for something greater. In a world filled with danger, secrets, and impossible challenges, Raymond's journey will test how far dedication and mastery can truly take him. Mastery is not given. It is earned. Release Schedule: 14 chapters on launch day, 2 chapters daily for the following 6 days, then 1 chapter every day thereafter. Read Now! Jump to first chapter