After a brief, deathly silence, the vast space was filled with the sound of four girls' racing hearts and heavy, ragged breaths.
"The trial... is it over?"
Lefiya leaned against a wall, gasping for air. The sensation of being draped in the shadow of death hadn't quite faded yet.
"It's over," Lynn answered firmly.
Almost at the same moment, the grand yet dilapidated halls around them began to turn ethereal, shimmering like a reflection in a disturbed pond.
"Whoa, whoa! Is this place collapsing?!" Tiona scrambled to her feet, looking around nervously.
"No, the trial is ending." Ais's golden eyes reflected the warping light and shadows. She had already sheathed her sword, her voice returning to its usual calm, but her eyes held a spark that hadn't been there before. "We're going back."
The moment she finished speaking, a brilliant white light swallowed everyone's vision.
When they opened their eyes again, the oppressive, decaying stench of Stormveil Castle was gone. In its place was the unique air of the Dungeon—a mixture of damp earth and the faint musk of monsters.
They were standing in a wide cavern on the 17th floor, the exact spot where they had entered the trial.
"Whoa! We're back!"
Tiona was the first to feel the change. She gave her greatsword, Urga, a experimental swing. The weapon, which had felt like it weighed a thousand tons during the trial, had regained its familiar weightlessness.
She bounced excitedly on the spot, easily leaping several meters high, her face beaming with the joy of regaining her power.
"My strength! My speed! It's all back! Ohhhhoooo!" The Amazonian girl let out an incoherent cheer.
Tione and Lefiya also felt the shift. Their power, which had been suppressed to its absolute limit, came flooding back into their limbs like water through a burst dam. That feeling of fullness and strength made them let out long sighs of relief.
"Thank goodness..." Lefiya muttered, nearly moved to tears.
Just then, a faint golden light began to rise slowly from the empty ground in front of them.
"A Site of Grace!" Tiona shouted, her voice tinged with excitement.
Lynn walked over as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Under the watchful eyes of the four girls, he reached out and pressed his hand against the pile of embers.
The warm golden glow surged again, but this time, it didn't envelop everyone as it had in the trial space. Instead, it formed a soft, gentle halo solely around Lynn.
"Let's rest for a moment, and then we'll head back."
The journey back to the surface was filled with a somewhat subtle silence.
Tiona was still relishing the thrill of the heart-pounding battle, occasionally punching the air. Tione was quietly observing Lynn, realizing this man was a walking enigma. Lefiya walked in the middle of the group, occasionally stealing glances at Lynn's back with a complicated expression.
Only Ais, walking beside Lynn, spoke up in a soft voice: "Thank you."
"For what?" Lynn glanced at her.
"I learned a lot." Ais's answer was simple and direct, her golden eyes shining with sincerity. "Next time... when can we go again?"
"Huh?" Lynn was amused by her bluntness. "You're a bit too eager. That place isn't somewhere you can just enter whenever you want. It depends on my God's whim."
"I will wait for you," Ais said. She didn't say anything more after that, but her firm resolve was clearly conveyed.
Soon, the group returned to the surface. The plaza beneath the Tower of Babel was bustling with people, and the noisy, mundane atmosphere of the city instantly washed away the killing intent they had brought back from the Dungeon.
"Well then, we'll take our leave here," Tione said as the representative, offering Lynn a solemn nod of thanks. "Thank you for the invitation today, Mr. Lynn. It was... quite an experience."
"Let's go together again sometime! Next time there's a strong enemy, I'm definitely going to tear them apart myself!" Tiona shouted, waving her fist.
"Thank you, Mr. Lynn," Lefiya added, gathering her courage to offer a small bow.
Lynn waved his hand dismissively. "It was nothing. See you around."
With that, he turned and blended into the crowd, disappearing after a few turns. Ais watched the direction he had gone for a long time, her gaze never wavering.
Meanwhile, Lynn took a series of twists and turns, ducking into a secluded, empty alley in Orario.
He leaned against the cold stone wall and let out a long, heavy breath. The calm, nonchalant expression he had maintained vanished instantly, replaced by an irrepressible excitement and urgency.
System! Open the panel! he commanded in his mind.
A second later, a shimmering, Souls-style interface that only he could see expanded before his eyes. His gaze immediately locked onto his stats.
Name: Lynn Level: Lv. 1
Strength: S 1024 Endurance: S 1047 Dexterity: S 1065 Agility: S 1042 Magic: S 1000
"I knew it!"
Lynn's pupils shrank, and his heart hammered against his ribs.
A breakthrough!
Before this, no matter how many points he allocated, his four main stats had been stuck as if hitting an invisible wall, pinned at S 999 with no way to progress. But now, after obtaining the Great Rune, that wall had silently vanished! The cap on his attributes had been blown wide open!
"So that's it... the Great Rune is the key to breaking the level limit..."
Lynn's mouth curled into a wide grin, and he couldn't help but let out a low, mocking laugh. "You old bastard, I guess you have a heart after all."
As he excitedly studied his limit-broken stats, his peripheral vision caught a faint glow from a brand-new icon in the bottom right corner of the panel—something that had never been there before.
It was an icon outlined in ancient, simple lines, resembling a merchant's shelf. Beneath the icon were two clear words:
[Shop]
Lynn's breath hitched.
A shop?
With a touch of pilgrimage-like reverence and anticipation, he reached out and tapped the new icon.
The moment his fingertip touched the [Shop] icon, Lynn felt as if his soul was being pulled in. The image before him blurred and twisted, and then two familiar, black-robed figures appeared before him.
The Twin Maiden Husks.
Lynn froze for a moment, then habitually tapped the screen. A list appeared before him, showing various items and their marked prices.
"It really is a goddamn shop..."
Lynn's throat moved as he swallowed. Suppressing his racing heart, his eyes swept greedily over the shelves.
[Fire Pot]: 100 Runes
[Lightning Pot]: 200 Runes
[Throwing Dagger]: 20 Runes
[Bolt]: 10 Runes
[Broadsword]: 500 Runes
[Heater Shield]: 500 Runes
...
Lynn's lip twitched.
He flipped through a few pages quickly, and the expression on his face shifted from initial fanatical anticipation to a bizarre mix of speechlessness and disdain.
It was all junk.
He couldn't say it was useless, but it was all stuff he could find lying on the ground the moment he stepped out of the starting area in the Lands Between.
Where was the Moonlight Greatsword? The Dark Moon Greatsword? Rivers of Blood? Bloodhound's Fang? Forget about legendary weapons—there wasn't even a decent Nagakiba or Uchigatana!
"Stingy. That old bastard is still as stingy as ever," Lynn grumbled under his breath.
He'd been given a shop, but it turned out to be a general store. It felt like thinking you'd won the lottery only to find out the ticket just said "Thank you for playing."
He patiently kept scrolling, and just as he was about to close the interface in disappointment, a special item radiating a faint blue glow caught his eye and held it fast.
[Spirit Calling Bell]
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