Chương 440: Chapter 411: Rewards Revealed

"You! This is the one who stole my fruit!" the young woman exclaimed as she stormed into the room with a band of mercenaries. They were all relatively far into E-grade, around level 120. That was to be expected—anyone weaker had likely been sorted out already. Thalion groaned when he spotted the young woman from the previous stage. What were the odds they would meet here after he had used an escape token? Yet there she stood, pointing an accusing finger at him.

All heads turned toward Thalion, and the shift in their expressions when they realized who he was was almost comical.

"What? The first on the leaderboard is only F-grade?" a black-bearded man with a bow shouted in surprise.

"Ah, good joke, Albert. Like the first place on the leaderboard would be hiding out in some forgotten town—" a slim man with two daggers began, only to freeze.

"—oh, what the fuck." Thalion didn't like how their expressions slowly turned to greed as they continued to observe him. Time to shut that down. These people had likely come from the surface. The young woman and the man from before had climbed quite a distance before teleporting to the next stage, which meant they probably knew a way up. Thalion was nearly finished with his crafting anyway, and having them stare at him like this was getting annoying.

Before he could speak, another man in the group shouted, "I checked the rankings a few hours ago. He only recently got a massive boost. That makes it likely he used an escape token to land here—because I doubt a treasure worth millions would be hidden in this place. And you all know how fucked up you are after using an escape token." Thalion liked even less how accurate that guess was. Well, aside from the fact that his condition was perfectly fine. He didn't fear this group in the slightest.

He still had limited control over his bloodline flames as long as he kept his aura contained, but even without them, this group posed no real threat. He was more than confident he could wipe them out. Still, Thalion didn't really want to kill them—at least not just to prevent them from spreading information about where he had gone. Even if that was the safer option. Forcing them to use their escape tokens crossed his mind, but that could backfire badly.

It would spread the information that Thalion had gone to the surface, and worse—that he was only F-grade. That would send half the trial rushing upward. In hindsight, he regretted not just killing them outright. Maybe leaving one alive to ask about the way up would have been simpler than whatever mess he was dealing with now.

"So," Thalion said calmly, "before you decide to attack me—are you sure about that? I can assure you, you wouldn't stand even the slightest chance. Even releasing my aura could be life-threatening for weaklings like you." His voice grew more sinister with every word.

"So what will it be? Killing you would at least give me more time to craft." The declaration stunned most of them, but greed was hard to suppress. Still, one voice of reason spoke up.

"We'd prefer the option where we don't die. Something similar to last time would be optimal." It was the broad-shouldered man who had spoken earlier. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one with an opinion.

"Are you stupid?" a greedy-looking man snapped.

"Think before you talk. There are almost twenty of us, and you're afraid of one person? Not even a strong E-grade—but an F-grade. I'm almost thirty levels above him. The ones who almost evolved to E-grade were weak as fuck. I seriously don't get why you're afraid just because his eyes are glowing—" The sentence ended abruptly. Thalion's Crimson Gaze tore through the man's soul-body, shredding it instantly. Thalion decided he didn't like that one—and maybe showing a little power wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"ANYONE ELSE?" This time, his voice was infused with a massive amount of mana. The shockwave forced those in front to cover their ears. Voice enchantment was always a reliable way to demonstrate power—and intimidate. The effect was immediate. Everyone took a step back. Some raised barriers, others hid behind shields.

"Holy shit… Marco, are you okay?" the man behind the fallen mercenary cried as he caught his friend.

"What did you do to him? Are you hiding your true level? How can you be this strong?" At the moment, no one else seemed willing to test Thalion's patience—but they were also too afraid to move.

"Everyone leaves, except you," Thalion said, pointing at the man he had seen in an earlier stage. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Wait—why me? I swear I wouldn't have attacked you. There's no need to be this cruel…" the muscular man said as the others began to move toward the exit.

"Don't be like that. I just want to have a little talk, and then you can join the others," Thalion replied in a calm tone before shouting after the group.

"And close the gate behind you. If I catch anyone spying on me, you're dead." That did the trick. A moment later, the gate slammed shut with a loud clang of metal on metal.

"Uh… so why do you want to talk to me?" the man asked, still unsure whether Thalion would honor his word.

"Nothing major, actually. Just tell me what happened to you after arriving in this stage," Thalion said, nodding toward one of the anvils.

"Sit."

"Uh, well… not much, really. We came out on the fiery surface. After wandering around for a bit, we found a way down not far from here. We fought some dwarves and ran into this group that had a plan showing larger cities in the other direction. This small town was just on the way," the man explained, his voice stuttering from time to time.

"In which direction are those cities?" Thalion asked. He didn't want to ask outright about the way up, and since the cities were in the opposite direction, the man wouldn't notice what he was really after.

"Oh, that's easy. We were just about to head that way," the man said, sounding more confident now as he pointed behind Thalion. He also explained where they had come from, adding information about nearby mines and three safe zones. This had been a very productive conversation. So much information, and so many possible paths. Thalion really wanted to know how everyone kept finding clues about safe zones so easily.

"Good. Thank you for the information," Thalion said.

"In exchange, a small piece of advice: I'd check one of the mines instead. There are dangerous people in the big city." With that, Thalion motioned for the man to leave. The man didn't hesitate and ran through the gate. With his blood vision, Thalion saw the group regroup shortly afterward, heading toward the mines while carrying their barely alive comrade. Thalion waited a few minutes before moving as well. Staying in one place for too long wasn't wise—not when such a large group knew his location.

What if they met someone they believed strong enough to kill him? No. Better to keep moving and prepare for the next stage. He wouldn't make much progress with smithing anyway. After collecting a few anvils and some expensive-looking items from the smithy, Thalion shot through the tunnels. It didn't take long before he found the opening that led back to the surface. Thalion shifted into Eagly and dove upward as fast as he could, activating every movement skill he had.

The air was so hot that he would have slowly lost health if the Power of the Outsider hadn't been healing him constantly. Still, he didn't dare take out the skyship—its sails would burn away instantly. Better to cover as much distance as possible with Eagly. His passive skill also helped obscure him high up in the sky—though with all the smoke and fire elementals around, complete stealth was impossible anyway. As he continued to ascend, Thalion worked on his soul.

Flying wasn't particularly taxing, allowing him to slip into meditation. Not nearly as deep as the one he needed to rein in his passive skill, but enough to weave a few more spirit veins and further strengthen his soul-body. He barely felt the twisting sensation from the crystal within the Tidecaller Serpent. It didn't take long before the wall of nothingness began to approach—time passed differently while meditating.

With his high perception, Thalion spotted many trial-takers fleeing the underground to avoid being consumed by the zone. There were still a little over three hundred thousand participants left in the trial. Compared to the initial two to three million, that number was already small. The trial had been brutally difficult, and Thalion was confident that many more would fail to reach the final stage.

It was unlikely they had all died—but even those who quit had lost fifteen hundred years of their lifespan without gaining anything in return. That alone meant that even if they eventually reached D-grade, they would face enormous problems. They would have to push themselves relentlessly, or they would die before ever reaching C-grade. To be fair, reaching C-grade couldn't be easy anyway. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for sects to remain at E-grade for hundreds of years. Not that it mattered much to Thalion.

He would become a god no matter what it took. No price would be too great. The stage ended relatively quickly, and Thalion was teleported to the seventh stage of the treasure hunt—this one being the only stage where he held a real advantage over his competitors. Welcome to Stage Seven The inhabitants of this world have fought for years to keep this planet cold. Help them in their pursuit, and you will be rewarded with leaderboard points. This will be the last stage in which you will lose all your loot upon exiting.

At the end of this stage, you may leave with a chosen payout, depending on your decision. Details on how this works will be provided in the next stage, as there are a few restrictions for those at the top of the leaderboard when it comes to the payout. This treasure hunt has been the longest one I have ever created, and to keep you motivated, here is a short sneak peek at the rewards.

Good luck Thalion's eyes widened as he read the message, and he was glad he'd read it to the end—otherwise, he might have left immediately to cash in first place. Next, he wanted to see what the top three would receive. Pearl of Unending Progress Reaching the third place grants a perfect bloodline evolution. If you do not possess a bloodline, you will awaken a powerful one tailored to your path. Additionally, you gain five hundred free stat points. This reward was absolutely insane, Thalion thought, his eyes wide.

He was so focused on the window that he didn't even notice the icy winds and swirling snow around him. A perfect bloodline evolution and five hundred free stat points—no one in their right mind would ever refuse that. Thalion could barely stay still as excitement built within him. He needed to see the others. Power Above All Reaching second place rewards you with a thirty percent amplifier for the stat of your choosing. Gain two thousand free stat points. Gain a divine skill tailored to your path.

Thalion came to the conclusion that he was starting to like short descriptions. Second place was just as absurd as the previous reward. Two thousand free stat points and a thirty percent amplifier—whoever received this would be nearly untouchable. No one would be able to match that level of power for years. With a reward like that, someone could reach three times an Eclipsari's strength and gain a divine skill on top of it. After seeing these rewards, Thalion didn't want to wait a second longer.

If this was second place, then first place had to be an absolute monster.