The director and the deans continued observing the trial.
Most of the stufons were already resting inside their tents, recovering their strength before the end of the test.
Only a few were still trying to break into the top ten, but in the eyes of the director and the deans, those efforts were already meaningless.
All of the strongest had long since secured their positions.
It seemed as though the rankings would no longer change.
But in the next moment, everyone's attention was drawn to one of the tents.
It began to fold up.
The director and the deans had already grown accustomed to seeing Trey accompanied by his three servants—or at least, that was what they had started calling the summoned creatures among themselves.
But this time, another figure stood beside him.
A new one.
An unknown one.
The darkness made it difficult to examine properly, but four glowing eyes of different colors immediately caught their attention.
That alone was enough to understand one thing: Trey had created something new again.
That was precisely what made all three of them frown.
They still had no idea how he was managing to do something like this.
"So the little monster has decided to show us his latest creation. I wonder what it's capable of," the director said with a smile, never taking his eyes off the screen.
The two deans exchanged glances and gave crooked smirks.
It seemed their recent bet could already be considered lost.
They had wagered that the top five would remain unchanged until the end of the trial.
But, as expected, Trey had decided to shatter all of their predictions.
Up until this point, both deans had been convinced that the half-elf had finally decided to rest after two days of nearly nonstop battles.
Trey and his servants had fought almost without pause, taking only short breaks.
So his rest had seemed perfectly logical.
But apparently, they had been wrong yet again.
"I propose a new wager, Deans," the director suddenly said.
Both of them turned to him, not entirely understanding where this was going.
After exchanging looks, they still nodded.
At the very least, they should hear the offer first.
The director smiled faintly, clearly pleased with the reaction.
"If stufon Trey manages to take first place by the end of the trial, he will be added to the list of tournament participants," the director said calmly, carefully observing the deans' reactions.
"And if he doesn't take first place?" Shego`Lo was the first to break the silence.
The director did not hesitate for even a moment.
"Then I'll pretend I didn't notice how both of you were helping your protégés secure spots in the top ten."
As he spoke, he slowly shifted his gaze from one dean to the other.
That calm but far-too-knowing look made both of them tense involuntarily.
A heavy silence settled over the office for a moment.
The deans could only sigh in resignation.
The director was right.
Each of them had indeed helped several representatives of their own race advance as far as possible and secure positions among the strongest.
Such requests had come directly from the rulers of their respective nations, making refusal nearly impossible.
It was not a direct violation of the rules, but calling it entirely fair would have been difficult as well.
Noticing their silence, the director smiled almost imperceptibly.
"Since neither of you is objecting, I'll take that as agreement to my terms."
He turned his gaze back to the screen.
On one of them, five figures could clearly be seen slowly moving deeper into the hunting grounds.
"Then let us continue watching what else stufon Trey can do to surprise us," the director concluded calmly.
Cassandra observed everything from the sidelines, having nearly convinced herself by now that this stufon could no longer surprise her.
Over the past two days, she had seen more than enough of the three creatures fighting at Trey's side.
And because of that, one question continued to trouble her more and more.
Throughout the entire trial, she had not seen the half-elf use even a single spell related to his talent or his primary magic.
He barely used magic directly at all.
Instead, he summoned those creatures again and again.
Cassandra could not understand his logic.
Yes, those creatures were highly effective in battle, especially when attacking together.
But maintaining multiple summoned servants at once should consume an enormous amount of mana.
In a prolonged battle, something like that could easily cost him his life.
But her thoughts were interrupted.
Movement began near Trey's tent.
Cassandra immediately pushed aside her distracting thoughts and focused intently in that direction.
A few seconds later, the tent began folding away, gradually clearing the view.
At first, she thought her eyes were deceiving her.
Far too little sleep over the last two days was clearly taking its toll.
She blinked several times.
But what she saw did not change.
There were indeed five figures standing there.
Four familiar ones.
And one completely new.
A Crocalis?
That was her first thought.
But after looking more carefully, Cassandra immediately realized she was mistaken.
The creature only partially resembled a member of that race.
It had four arms instead of two.
Its eyes looked even stranger.
Instead of the usual pair, the creature had four.
Two were where they should naturally be, while the other two were positioned slightly higher and to the sides, creating a deeply unnatural impression.
Cassandra frowned slightly.
Did he find some unknown monster?
Almost immediately, she rejected the thought herself.
Cassandra remembered every creature Trey had encountered during the trial perfectly well.
And the last Crocalis he killed had looked entirely normal.
No extra arms.
No additional eyes.
Her gaze slowly dropped to the new creature's weapons.
In its upper pair of hands, it held two red halberds.
In the lower pair, two curved blades.
Cassandra shifted her eyes toward Trey himself.
A new question involuntarily surfaced in her mind.
Just who could have raised a talent like this in complete secrecy from everyone else?
The half-elf was becoming increasingly unpredictable.
And that was exactly what began to concern her most.
At that moment, a familiar chill ran down her spine.
Sensing hostile attention directed at her, Cassandra sharply turned her head.
The elf with the staff was looking directly at her once again.
Tilting his head slightly, he slowly tapped the staff against the ground.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Over the past few days, Cassandra had already learned to understand the meaning behind that gesture.
Don't stare too long.
Don't get too absorbed in watching.
Don't provoke.
A few seconds later, the elf looked away.
The others turned as well.
The five figures headed toward the mountain.
Cassandra frowned in confusion.
What exactly was Trey trying to prove?
He was already among the top five strongest.
There was no need for him to keep taking risks.
Especially now.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Cassandra mentally cursed Dean Shego`Lo once again for assigning her to monitor this insane half-elf.
Then, silently leaping down from the branch, she followed after Trey.
Continuing deeper toward the mountain, I fought through several more battles against C-rank monsters alongside my four Torturers.
The first one I sent into battle was the new Torturer—the Crocalis.
I needed to understand exactly what it was capable of in real combat.
And, honestly, it managed to pleasantly surprise me.
Simultaneously maintaining both fire and ice magic, the Crocalis confidently controlled the battlefield distance.
At medium and long range, it attacked with its halberds, using their reach and powerful swings. But the moment an enemy closed in, it immediately switched to its curved blades, turning the battle into a swift execution.
This weapon transition noticeably accelerated the killing of monsters.
As I observed it, I mentally noted both its strengths and weaknesses.
Some things definitely needed improvement.
For example, its roar.
Every time it attacked, the Crocalis let out a sharp, unpleasant screech that attracted the attention of every nearby monster.
For now, this was not a serious threat.
But in the future, when fighting A-rank or S-rank monsters, such a habit could become a major problem.
Watching the way it skillfully used its tail in combat, I suddenly came up with another idea.
As we advanced deeper into the mountain region, I decided to improve it even further.
Using Blood Call, I added a long wedge-shaped blade to its tail, tightly wrapping around its base and transforming the tail into yet another deadly weapon.
It cost quite a bit of blood.
But the result was definitely worth it.
Now all four Torturers looked even more dangerous.
This became especially obvious once we began hunting B-rank monsters.
During the remaining three hours before the trial ended, we managed to kill around twenty monsters of that rank.
Most were Crocalises and golems.
A few times, we also encountered bats.
Those proved to be the most exhausting fights.
None of the Torturers possessed a proper ranged attack.
And I still had no intention of revealing my own magic.
So I had to improvise.
I ordered the elf with the staff to bind the bats with chains.
Once immobilized, the orc, the second elf, and the Crocalis quickly finished them off without much difficulty.
Watching this, I made a mental note.
The fifth Torturer definitely needed to be either a mage or a ranged warrior.
At the end of the hunt, I touched my emblem and opened the rankings.
Seeing the updated list, I smiled involuntarily.
First Place — Trey
Second Place — LeiXu
Third Place — Heya
Fourth Place — Nreu
Fifth Place — ShoNi
I would have loved to see their faces when they noticed the changes.
Aware that I was still being watched, I remained completely calm.
If anyone decided to accuse me of cheating, let them try.
I had witnesses.
Sitting down on a large rock, I lifted my gaze toward the horizon.
The sky was gradually growing brighter.
Dawn slowly cut through the night's darkness, painting the world in the soft shades of a new day.
The world welcomed another morning.
And with it came new opportunities.
Whether you could make use of them depended only on you.
The world could offer an opportunity.
But it would never make the decision for you.
Remembering those words, my thoughts unexpectedly returned to the imperial castle of the Kray Empire.
That was where my mentor had once spoken them.
Back then, I had not fully understood their meaning.
But now, sitting on a rock surrounded by my Torturers, I finally grasped the truth hidden within them.
Everything depended solely on you.
Not on the world.
Not on circumstances.
Not on fate.
The world did not care.
It would not shed tears for someone who gave up.
Just as you would not mourn an ant accidentally crushed beneath your own boot.
Before, I had no clear goal.
After awakening as the Herald of Chaos of the god Ges, I did not understand what exactly I wanted from this life.
But now, everything had changed.
I had finally set a goal for myself.
Power.
I wanted power that would command respect not only from other races, but even from the gods themselves.
And if one day I had to stand against the entire world for that, then so be it.
But by that moment, I had to be ready.
After making that decision, I unexpectedly felt a strange lightness.
As though something inside me had finally clicked into place.
Shifting my gaze toward the Torturers, I smirked involuntarily.
They had already proven their usefulness.
All that remained was figuring out how to make them even stronger.
Continuing to sit atop the rock, watching the dawn while surrounded by four silent figures, I calmly waited for the third trial to end.