An explosion, and Azure, transformed and more injured, comes out of the smoke and kicks Enrico, who falls into the pit without any mana.
Enrico grabs the rocks, and Azure comes from above with a kick that Enrico dodges, causing Azure's foot to get stuck in the wall.
Enrico grabs the normal bow from this dungeon and also the spear.
"Great, now that we're in the pit and with his foot stuck, he can't move."
He puts the spear on the bow and shoots at Azure's core, which is destroyed and dissipates in the air.
"Finally, fucki—"
Before he can finish, Crimson appears above and punches Enrico, who falls into the pit unconscious.
"Damn it."
Enrico gets up from the bed sweating and bites his finger.
"I got excited for succeeding and let my guard down."
Enrico stands up, a bit dizzy because he remembers the pain. The only good thing is that when he's about to die, he's brought back.
"At least I got the first 2%."
[Hmph... Enjoy it, because it only works once for each of the six.]
"I can feel your irritation from here."
[Of course I'm irritated, you exploited it.]
"Not my fault you didn't specify."
The smile on Enrico's face looked like a demon's.
[You... You're lucky the constellations liked your strategy and that it only works once.]
Three weeks have passed since everything happened, and what made the system so upset was that, when he entered the fake dungeon and was defeated, everything was going as the system expected. The real problem was that he entered on a Friday, and when Monday came, Enrico said
"The week has passed, so take me to the fake dungeon again."
Immediately, an argument started between the two, and the system had to back down and accept it by order of the constellations.
After that, he kept asking Serenya to buy cores for him.
"How nice to have a rich friend."
Enrico checks his stats
Name: Enrico Solcren Ferreira
Magic: Fire, Circle Zero – 70%
Mana Capacity: 91
Skill: Elemental Clone
Soul: 60
Thanks to that, I improved a lot, but it's still not enough. Just yesterday, when he saw the stats of Kai, Valença, and Serenya, he saw they had reached Circle 1, and that creates a considerable gap.
"It's decided. I'm going to the Mana Zone this Saturday."
Enrico gets up and starts packing a bag.
[Mana Zone?]
"It's a dangerous place where there are various Ranvil-level Nartheis."
[Wouldn't that be suicide?]
"Yes, but if I want to improve my mana and reach the first circle, I have to go there. The next arc is the rank competition. We were supposed to fight Class C, but since we already are, we'll go against Class B."
In Class B, half of them are already in Circle 1. If he wanted a good fight, this was the only option.
[But why should you go? If it increases circles, why not send someone strong with their child to improve?]
"Because it's poisonous."
Enrico finishes and stores the bag under the bed.
"That place poisons the user's mana. It was there that the Nartheis who devoured Tolen's Father mana was born."
[So you could lose your mana... Sorry, but I can't allow that.]
"Don't worry. I'll take a protection the protagonist was supposed to use, a restoration necklace."
[He was? Wait—are you using the protagonist's stuff?]
"Yes, but with me, he'll surpass the level he would've had with that item quickly."
It was an item the protagonist would use to reach Circle Two after getting trapped in a cave within the magic zone. The magic poison would corrupt his mana, but that item would restore it to normal.
[That's broken. You can't use that.]
"Relax. It's a single-use item. He wins it after defeating an old man in the illusion magic stone-finding game. And even if I can't see it, it's easy, since he always leaves it in the middle."
Lying in bed, Enrico prepares to sleep.
[Who is this old man?]
"A 9th-circle mage. Now I'm going to sleep. I have to wake up in four hours."
Enrico turns off the light.
---
An old man was sitting and watching people pass by. He invited a few of them to try finding the stone among six moves with six cups.
"Here."
A man pointed to the fifth cup, and the old man showed there was nothing there.
"What? But I was sure I saw it go into that cup."
The man was confused but sighed and walked away.
"Sorry, young man, but you didn't make it."
He tidied everything and waited for the next. The reason he did this was simple: he was looking for people with the potential to reach the ninth circle — and for fun.
'I've been doing this for months and no one has seen through the illusion.'
That illusion was pretty simple for a ninth-circle mage. What he did was create a layered illusion, essentially forming a mini-dimension.
The stone wasn't in any of the cups — it was always in the middle of the table. The stone people saw was another illusion. A magic he created that could turn illusion into reality, letting the person pick up the stone. Then when they returned it, he'd cancel the illusion and put it in a different cup.
In fact, he didn't even bother to move the cups too fast. He just wanted to be sure they saw the illusory stone. He had to do this to find someone interesting and didn't even know if he would succeed
'When will someone interesting finally appear?'
"What an interesting game. Can I try?"
A boy appeared, dressed like a student from Astrong Academy
'He looks pretty young, must be about 15, so probably a first-year.'
"Of course, boy. This game is for everyone."
He did what he always did: created the stone, handed it to the boy, who then denied it, looking quite surprised — which made the old man raise an eyebrow — and then started to move the cups slowly, getting just fast enough for the boy to catch a glimpse of the stone.
"Where is it, boy?"
He looked at the boy with curiosity.
The boy looked around and started pointing toward the middle cup.
'I already knew.'
Before he could get disappointed, the boy lowered his finger to the area right in front of the cup and pointed directly at the real stone.
"Is it this one, sir?"
The boy's smile was full of challenge.
That greatly surprised the 9th-circle mage, Damian Hiei.
"What's your name, boy?"
"Oh, my name is Enrico Solcren Ferreira. Nice to meet you, sir. So... is there any reward?"
Enrico's smile grew as Damian looked at him in disbelief, realizing he had truly found someone capable.