---
[The Voting process has concluded.]
[With 4 out of 7 votes in your favour, it has been determined to spare your life.]
[In return, your first-clearance reward has been terminated.]
[However, Basic Trial clearance reward and the First Hidden stage clearance reward will still be provided.]
---
Skimming through the screen, Kai's face lit up upon hearing that he'd live to see yet another day.
He let out a deep, long sigh—essentially putting his worries and mind to rest.
It didn't take long for the system to materialize another one of his windows sideways to his previous one either.
---
[Providing appropriate rewards...]
[Basic Trial Clearance Rewards - (+3) Agility stats; Full Recovery.]
[Congratulations! You have received the first-ever Hidden Trial clearance reward!]
[You are being presented with a choice for your reward-]
[•1 - (+1) All Stats]
[•2 - A new weapon of your choice]
[•3 - Potential Awakening Potion]
[Choose your rewards wisely.]
---
Warmth enveloped Kai's body along with the same golden energy from before, healing him inside out without leaving any marks of the previous struggle.
Within mere moments, his body was healed and exhaustion was gone. Kai slightly raised both of his hands forward and looked patiently as he repeatedly clenched his hands into fists and loosened them again.
"Well... This doesn't feel weird anymore..." He said softly before raising his eyes once again and looking at the system window.
"I guess I'm really getting used to this full recovery thing, although, I still don't get what this 'Potential Awakening Potion' is..."
"An increase in all stats sounds good since that surely will make things a lot easier for me, but I just can't unsee this potion now."
Unable to fend off his curiosity from taking over his mind, at last, he took in a long breath and just like how a volcano would erupt, Kai shot out his answer in one go.
"Gimme the potion!"
---
[Understood.]
---
A radiant white glow pulsed through the system window and rays of light stretched above, fusing and converging into each other until finally with a single last burst of light, an exquisite bottle of glass—filled to the brim with a water like liquid and closed off with a circular glass head—hovered right above the screen.
Kai extended his hand and grabbed the bottle softly, trying to take a closer look as he brought the bottle somewhat close to his face.
"Looks pretty normal.." he narrowed his eyes and glared at the system as if trying to get the description out of it.
---
[Item Name - Potential Awakening Potion]
[• Grade - Unknown]
[• Description - An extraordinary potion crafted by the 'Mage of the Beginning' used to awaken someone's dormant potential. Once consumed, it lies dormant in the user's body and waits for the user to meet Certain hidden conditions before activating automatically.]
---
"Hmmm..."
For a few moments, Kai simply looked at the bottle while pondering about these things that he had never seen before popping out as if they had been existing since the beginning.
Mage of the Beginning, Potential Awakening Potion, and whatnot.
Even if he were to take the old man's—Lukas's—words as the truth and believe that the world he had experienced before through the game was the true past of this world, then how come he had never seen any detail or mention of things like these?
It was confusing, but he did not have any means to find out the truth either. Thus, he decided not to explore this topic any further.
'If questions such as these just keep piling up, then that means I'm not ready for the answers yet. Better not think too much about them.'
With that, Kai firmly removed the head cover of the bottle with his other hand and in a single breath, gulped down the palm-sized bottle.
"Huff... It tastes like water too." He tossed the bottle aside along with its cap.
Almost instantly, another system window appeared before him.
---
[You may now proceed with the next Trial.]
---
"I was just about to say that as well. System, I'd like to proceed with the next Trial immediately."
The corners of his lips curled into a smirk as he read the screen's content.
'I don't know since when, but it seems like I've started to enjoy this. Time to quickly speedrun through the rest of the Trials.'
Realizing that imploring about things that couldn't be answered yet, made Kai's old self return as the ember of life that once used to burn inside his heart re-ignited once again.
It was a small change. But equally huge at the same time.
His body gradually began to glisten with a layer of white glow as the system proceeded to teleport him to the next Trial.
Within the blink of an eye, Kai vanished into thin air leaving the dark void behind as the platform he stood on not too long ago began to crumble apart, decimating into nothingness and eventually becoming one with the empty void itself.
***
On the other hand, in a faraway realm, where the gods bickered about the fate of Kai Evernox not too long ago, except for the four gods that voted in favour—all others had left.
The four remaining gods sat in their places in complete silence.
Suddenly, as if Saphyra couldn't hold onto her curiosity any longer, her voice tore through the silence:
"Say, Aesmeria, knowing your personality, I cannot help but question - why did you vote in favour of the human player?"
For several moments, Aesmeria did not say anything, making Saphyra feel slightly awkward.
"Nothing peculiar, I just want to confirm something."
With a short answer like that, Aesmeria vanished from her place, returning to her domain as the rest of the three gods looked at each other in astonishment before bursting out in giggles.
"It's been so long since we've heard her voice no? Anyways, I shall go back as well. That human should be visiting my Realm soon." Obrion said with a satisfactory smile on his face.
"Same for me." Eilune and Saphyra followed behind, and almost immediately, all the gods had returned to their respective realms.