The hilly forest stretched endlessly beneath the cloud-filled sky.
Rustle! Rustle! Swoosh!
The First Princess, in a disheveled state, pushed through a dense patch of foliage before slowly climbing up an uneven slope. Her movements were no longer as weak as they had been the previous day, but every few steps still caused a flash of pain to spread through her body.
Her injuries had already stabilized, but that didn't mean they had healed. In fact, she was far from it. If not for Petra, perhaps she would already be on her deathbed.
The damaged light armour that hung awkwardly over her body was more of a burden than anything else, and the crude stone weapon she held in her hands made her look like a savage. Compared to the equipment she had when entering the secret realm, her current appearance was truly miserable. If she was seen in this state, one would really have to question if this was really the first princess of the empire.
Reaching the top of another hill, Rotell stopped.
She crouched down and raised her head.
Through a gap in the distant canopy, the faintest signs of a pillar of light could be seen stretching into the cloudy sky. It was like a thin cloud, ethereal and ever-changing, but it was undoubtedly there. Perhaps it had been there since the beginning, but only those who knew what to look for could see it.
She muttered, "There…"
Rotell narrowed her eyes before carefully checking the surrounding terrain. She was far more careful than she had been previously, mostly because she finally understood that she couldn't underestimate the local inhabitants of this secret realm.
Not to mention that serpent, since then, she had passed multiple monsters in the fifth realm. Such things were ridiculous, and just thinking about the casualty rates gave her a headache. Fortunately, she didn't have time to worry, because even now, Rotell was not out of danger.
As a Golden Core Realm Cultivator, she could be said to be above her peers, but at the same time, she seemed to lack a lot of that security higher-level practitioners possessed. If a first-order practitioner represented the newbie or student level, then a second-order was like a more experienced big brother. As for third-order practitioners, those were like the graduates—people who had already gotten a grasp on the cultivation world but had yet to find a proper place to become a leader.
After confirming the direction, she jumped back down and continued forward.
The wind blew, and the leaves rustled as she silently shot away.
Despite the increasing number of people, the surrounding forest was strangely quiet. After the constant battles, repeated climbs, and any number of terrifying beast encounters, this silence felt almost unnatural, making Rotell unconsciously shiver.
The occasional rustling of leaves accompanied her footsteps.
Rotell tightened her grip around the crude stone weapon as she scanned her surroundings. She didn't know where Cirsen or the others were, but she had no doubt that they would be safe. If that group of people had anything, it was endurance. As for the rest, she didn't even know if they were still together, but the Trial Pillar was the most obvious landmark in the region.
If her companions were still searching for one another, then sooner or later, they would go there…
Rotell looked toward the distant light once more.
Without another word, she continued through the forest in a flash.
* * *
Somewhere in the forest—
Rustle!
"Let's stop here for now." This voice came from a young man.
Looking over, a small group of adventurers stopped beneath the trees. There were four in total, all exhausted but relatively unharmed. It was clear that they had just finished a hard fight, but this fight was more tedious than difficult. Compared to a certain unfortunate first princess, they were also remarkably well-equipped, with intact weapons, full sets of clothing, and even a few extra bags filled with food and supplies. At the same time, apart from these four, there was an additional set of greedy eyes stalking them from the shadows.
Mm, one of the men, the leader, wiped his forehead in exhaustion. "I'm going to get some water. You guys scout the area."
"Don't go too far."
"Yeah, yeah…"
The youngest of the adventurers separated from the group and disappeared through the trees, but unannounced to him, that pair of dark, very desperate eyes were silently following him as he left.
Rustle!
The wind blew, and something disappeared...
After walking some distance, the adventurer crouched down beside a small stream, preparing to get some water to fill his waterskin—
Thud!
—His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed.
In a flash, Rotell caught him before he could fall into the water. "Sorry…" she muttered, her eyes showing a hint of embarrassment. She looked around cautiously, then tucked the unconscious man beneath her arm and roughly carried him behind a large patch of bushes.
Several minutes later, Rotell walked away, staring at the collection of items she had gathered.
There was a sword, a dark cloak, two packs of dried meat, some basic medicine and pills, a waterskin, several survival tools, and, most importantly—Dun-da-da! Clothes!
Rotell nearly cried, because her clothes were completely destroyed! No matter how hard she tried to pretend to be okay, she really couldn't. Even the clothes she was currently wearing, despite being stowed away as a backup set and staying in her bag during that fall, had still suffered heavily, tearing in many places. She didn't even care that these were men's clothes, because she was already used to wearing men's clothes in the outside world, so what was the problem?
Ha-ha!
Unfortunately, after trying them on, she discovered that the trousers were too large, the shirt was too tight, and the boots were completely unusable. She shook her head.
Still, it was better than nothing!
As for the awkward situation of some random guy recognizing his clothes on the First Princess in the future, well, as long as Rotell had her light armor on, it would be pretty difficult to tell.
She clicked her tongue.
She popped off her outer armor, tightened the lower clothing with a strip of cloth, threw the cloak over her shoulders, then strapped the sword to her waist and quickly popped her armor back on. Then, in a dramatic fashion, she took a large step. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Rotell finally felt somewhat human again! Also, she looked really cool, like a loser down on his luck suddenly getting a good break! She wanted to laugh hysterically; in fact, she did!
"Hahahahaha!"
She looked back at the unconscious adventurer, then looked away. After a moment of hesitation, she neatly placed her ruined equipment in her bag. Then, feeling slightly guilty, Rotell reached into her remaining belongings and retrieved one of the mysterious bottles she had bought from Petra. She stared at it, tossed it up and down a few times, then snatched it from the air and pursed her lips.
Her mind turned, and after making a decision, Rotell carefully placed it beside the man.
"...Compensation! Yep!" Perfect!
Crack!
The sound of a branch snapping echoed somewhere nearby. "Hey! Are you done yet!?" an unknown voice rang out, causing Rotell to faintly freeze.
Without another word, she grabbed her new supplies and disappeared into the forest.
-
Several seconds later, the bushes rustled.
The young adventurer's companions arrived, only to discover their friend unconscious, partially undressed, surrounded by discarded trash, and lying beside a completely unknown bottle of super suspicious, strange-smelling liquid.
There was silence…
"What… happened here?"
-
Later—
Rotell continued through the forest. Her pace was noticeably faster than before. With proper clothing covering her body, she no longer had to worry about disgracing herself in public. She finally felt like an adventurer again, rather than some half-naked savage who had crawled out of a river.
Still, she had to remain cautious. As the distance between herself and the Trial Pillar gradually shortened, signs of the other participants became increasingly common. Fresh footprints crossed muddy paths, and broken branches marked hurried movement. She passed through some abandoned camps, walked around the bodies of not one, but two massive dead magic beasts, and the aftermath of what appeared to be a battlefield between two massive forces.
As time passed, there were more and more people nearby.
Rotell occasionally heard the sound of distant voices, but instead of approaching, she quietly changed direction, not wanting to be seen. Inside the secret realm, strangers naturally didn't mean allies. Because her identity was special, she had to be careful of those with ulterior motives.
Rustle!
Reaching the top of another hill, Rotell looked down. Through a small gap between the trees, the distant Trial Pillar appeared before her eyes. She narrowed her eyes.
Then, after a brief pause, she continued forward.
Not long after, Rotell's footsteps suddenly slowed down.
Soon, she began to hear voices.
She immediately lowered her presence, stepped away from the path, and silently slipped behind the thick foliage beneath a large tree. Not far away, several practitioners were recovering around the remains of a small campfire.
"…I heard that the trial is related to a specific part of loyalty," one of them said in a disgruntled voice.
"Loyalty? A specific part? What does that mean?" a young woman asked, her eyes showing clear confusion at the remark.
"I'm not sure. So far, everyone who's tried has failed, even those who are considered extremely loyal. It is because of this that people have begun to suspect that the trial is not only related to loyalty, but a very specific aspect of it."
"Hm, because you forget everything after you fail once, it's really difficult. If it's a specific part of loyalty… That makes a lot of sense. So could it be related to one's companions, your loyalty to yourself, or even a task of some kind? Something like that? Although nobody seems to know the exact contents, we can at least make a guess from people's reactions when getting thrown out."
Rotell's eyes narrowed.
She continued to listen.
Another practitioner leaned back lazily. "There must have been hundreds of attempts so far, but nobody's managed to pass! Perhaps the trial is much more difficult than we suspect. It's also possible that we have misunderstood something. Since it's a part of this secret realm, this pillar must be possible to conquer, but there are also benefits to it not having been conquered yet. Because of that, I think that the core area is completely untouched. When it eventually does open, it will be like a massive treasure trove! Just thinking about it, oh ho!"
A strange silence fell over the camp…
After a long pause—
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly that! Just think about it. If entering the central area is like a huge treasure trove, then what if the trial is related to staying loyal and not becoming greedy? Perhaps there's some kind of temptation related to this? Just think about it, what if you pass the initial trial successfully and then enter the core area to start collecting stuff, but by doing this, you've actually failed to realize that you're already in a dream and have failed the overall trial?"
"T-that's ridiculous!"
"How could it be like that?
"Complete nonsense!"
"But if it's like that, even if we pass, we won't know if we really passed? Wouldn't something like that be a bit too cruel?" A young girl stuttered.
"Indeed!" Many of them agreed.
"If it was something like that, then erasing our memories would definitely make it more difficult. If our memories weren't erased, then we would pass it the second time around, every single time!"
"Saying it like that, it sounds really suspicious."
"Obviously! These kinds of trial-based secret realms are all like that! What a hassle!"
The group fell silent.
Crackle!
One adventurer stepped on the ashes of the dying fire. "Maybe forgetting really is part of the trial," he muttered, his eyes staring ahead.
Another figure shook her head. "Or maybe you're not supposed to know what you did, and it's just another random quirk. We can't know for sure, but we can keep thinking about it."
Their voices trailed off…
-
Hidden among the trees, Rotell frowned.
Loyalty…
Could it be like they said?
Why did she feel like it shouldn't be so tricky? Loyalty was simply staying true to oneself. If one can stay true to oneself and not diverge from their path of advancement, then is there any greater form of loyalty? Her thoughts instinctively turned toward her companions.
Should she find them first, or give the trial a try?
Rotell furrowed her brows...
She didn't know, so she remained hidden for several more minutes, listening until the group began preparing to leave. Only after their voices completely disappeared did Rotell emerge.
She looked toward the distant Trial Pillar.
For some reason, it suddenly felt slightly more ominous than before…