Ray rushed toward an old street vendor and started going through all the stuff on his stall.
There!
He grabbed a half-broken rock. It had broken runes.
Just to make sure, he checked the other rocks. Thankfully, only this one rock had the red runes he was looking for.
Not wasting any time, he randomly picked a couple of other rocks and asked, "Hey, old man, how much for all this?"
A couple of players glanced at him, but he did not care. After all, there were multiple stalls all over the market that sold these rune rocks.
Even the stall owner looked bored and waved two fingers at him. "20 copper."
Ray sighed and just placed a 5 copper coin down. "Come on, I know the standard price."
The old man rolled his eyes. "Then why bother asking?"
Ray just shook his head while placing the bundle of rocks within his inventory.
Not bothering much, he calmly walked through the city and went deeper into the forest outside.
Finding a quiet corner away from the hunting spot, he calmly took out a pile of rough rocks mixed with six golden rocks.
It was because of these six golden rocks that he started collecting every rock with a red rune.
The way he got them was even funnier. He still remembered how one of the village chiefs scammed him. Instead of money, that guy gave him five golden rocks.
All that happened during the initial days. He had only kept those five rocks to serve as a reminder for himself.
It was just on one random day, by sheer coincidence, that he found the sixth rock in a city auction. In that auction, he learned these rocks were actually linked to the ancient era.
Too bad that after that, he never found any more pieces.
The other rune rocks were just something he wanted to use to create a fake rune set and sell them for a higher price.
It was just that these runes had something else in store for him.
He started arranging the rocks in a way that each rune line was connected to another to make it look more complete.
From time to time, he threw away multiple rocks with unusable curved runes. To match the golden rocks, he focused more on those with straight runes.
Not long after, a messy circular crisscrossed form appeared, with his last six openings left.
Unknowingly, his heart rate spiked.
Finally, he placed down the last golden rock.
Immediately, a golden current flashed through one of the rocks and traveled throughout the runes.
A blue notification popped up before him.
[Congratulations. You have combined the keys of the ruler.]
Ding!
[Alert:
Hidden unique class conditions met. Do you want to take part in the Trial of the Ruler?
Warning:
* Taking part in the Trial of the Ruler will reset all your progress.
* Failure in the trial will make you ineligible for the unique class.
Note: Class change is reversible. Take caution.
Please select: (Yes/No)
]
Ray took a deep breath. In Zenaris Online, resetting your character was impossible.
Even without the chance to gain the unique class, this item alone would still set him up for years.
He stopped thinking about other things as he looked at the Yes button.
'I can still back off. That would be better, right? No.'
Not leaving himself any moment to think more, he tapped on the panel while shouting, "Yes."
[Are you sure about the change?]
"Yes."
Instantly, a sense of weightlessness engulfed him. He felt as if he was floating. Then, from the tip of his finger, he started losing sensation over his entire body.
His character started disintegrating into pieces.
Ray clicked his tongue. 'It's the third time, and I still hate it.'
Then darkness engulfed him.
…
After a long time, Ray came to his senses.
Tap! Tap!
A dripping sound entered his ears. He fluttered open his eyes, only to find himself inside an underground cave.
It had been so long. He turned toward the glowing blue crystals embedded all over the cave ceiling.
Just then, a trial notification popped up before him as a metallic voice echoed within his head.
Ding!
[Trial of the Ruler Initiated.
Objective: Defend the path to the heart from the invading monsters.
Failure: Destruction of the cave heart.]
[Please check your status for the details.]
Already waiting for it, Ray muttered, "Status."
Another translucent blue screen materialized before him.
[Participant name: Ray Juan.
Species linked: Snake.
Life forms available to collect: 25.
Time left before the next invasion: 01 minute 59 seconds.]
Ray raised his eyebrow at his name. It had changed back from his registered name to his original name.
Well, at least the species linked was still the same. 'So it's not random after all.'
Everything else looked like his past life.
Just then, a mechanical voice once again echoed within his head.
[Participant Ray Juan, you have received a second chance. Your performance in the coming trial will decide your future.]
Ray looked up and squinted his eyes. 'It's her, right?'
He shook his head.
Now was not the time for that. Instead, he focused on his hands. All he saw were two clusters of yellow light that formed the rough shape of hands.
It was the same for his entire body.
Last time, he was too panicked to notice these details. This humanoid-shaped light should be the null state that those guys talked about.
He calmly scanned the surroundings.
The cave was around 10 by 12 meters, with a height of 2 meters. Not rushing, he even mapped out all the gaps within the floor and ceiling.
A red alert popped up before him.
[Alert!!
Time left for the first invasion: 0:59.
Dear participant, less than a minute left. Please claim your life forms and defend the gate to the sky.]
Ray nodded his head and shouted, "Claim all the snakes."
Just then, the entire cave shone in bright green light.
The next moment, Ray heard multiple slithers around him as the mechanical voice echoed within his head.
[Participant Ray has successfully summoned five types of snake life forms. Synchronizing all creatures to the participant.]
With that, Ray felt the familiar sense of mental connection with all twenty-five snakes.
Before he could examine them further, a red countdown screen popped up next to him.
[10…9…8…]
Ray wasted no time and pointed to the slanted gap in the right wall. "Go there."
As if they understood his command, all of them slithered together and moved toward the right wall.
[3…2…1…0]