A small crowd had formed around Verity. It had taken some time, but now most of the adventurers around him had finally understood that his relentless assault was not without meaning.

With each new blow, the spear's screams seemed to echo louder, and the water sphere seemed to give a bit further. On the thirtieth, a shuddering noise resounded and Verity's forearm bone cracked.

On the fortieth, the shockwave produced from the blow itself was enough to force one or two of the other challengers to step back. They watched the sheer power behind his attacks rise, and they found themselves wiping sweat from their temple as the clash reverberated throughout their very bodies.

And at last —

SPLASH

The forty seventh hit.

Breaking the water sphere had taken Verity forty seven hits. He had done what was considered nigh-impossible. He had not found a gap within the spell, he had not teamed up with others, and he had not used the special properties of his Aura to pass this test.

He had simply hit the water sphere hard enough for it to break.

Somewhere far away, a woman with silver hair smirked, and she leaned back into her chair. "Well.. that's not bad, I suppose, but still not exactly satisfying."

Another with a sword at her hip rolled her eyes beside her. "Just say you're proud of him, Evie. It's written all over your face."

Evangelina glared at the woman with the sword on her hip, and the latter pretended to look away.

In the arena, Verity collapsed to the ground, his breath heavy, and his entire body numb. His eyes dimmed and his head was hazy from the extreme concentration he had just imposed upon himself.

With a faint smirk, he let out a long sigh. "Hell yeah…"

Even if only barely, he had passed the third trial.

Behind him, the alchemist clapped his hands and whistled with awe. "Ya think you can do that for me too?"

Verity wanted to raise his middle finger at him, but he wasn't sure if the alchemist would even understand the gesture, so he simply threw a glare.

The alchemist leaned back and sighed. "Didn't think so either."

With that, Verity used the last of what he had to walk toward the gate and receive confirmation of passing. As he crossed the threshold, the Trial Overseer spoke for the first time in many hours.

"And that concludes the end of the third trial everyone!! Thank you for participating, and for those who failed, see you in a few years!"

—

Verity sat with Marco on a couch in a less popular cafe in the third area of the city.

"So it's just us today," Verity said, his arms spread across the couch.

Marco shrugged. "I guess. I have no idea what Felicia's doing, and Hoshino… well I wasn't really listening when she told me."

Verity looked at the ceiling. 'I wonder what she's doing right now.'

Of course, he'd looked for her when the trial had ended. After all, she had told him she wanted to try a restaurant before leaving the arena, but… she had also told him to not take too long.

Verity had taken around four hours, not a small amount of time by any means.

When he had left the arena, she no longer answered her wrist band, and Verity could not find her no matter how hard he looked.

Where was she?

An obvious thought crossed Verity's mind. 'Is she with him? She said he'd invited her on a date… maybe she agreed after all?'

He shook his head. 'Again with these stupid thoughts… there are more important things to think about.'

Marco grabbed a tea cup which seemed comically small next to his hands and brought it to his lips. He sipped slowly, carefully, as though he thoroughly enjoyed the tea.

Verity ate a small cake whole and wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief.

Both had the same thoughts as they did this.

Stolen story; please report.

'Awkward….'

Marco cleared his throat and set down his tea cup. "I've known you for a while, but I guess we've never really talked before, have we?"

Verity nodded. "No, we haven't…."

Another moment of silence ensued, and Marco slammed his hands on the table.

"There's one thing that two men can always talk about!" He exclaimed, before turning his head dramatically. "How's your progress with Felicia?"

Verity raised an eyebrow. "My progress with… Felicia? What do you mean?"

Marco frowned. "You know exactly what I mean! Have you asked her out yet, or not?"

Verity's cheeks flushed. "W-what? No! Why would I do that!?"

Marco tilted his head. "...Because she's super hot, smart, nice, strong, she's totally into you… and you're totally into her?"

Verity's head recoiled from those words, and he couldn't help but stutter. "W-what are you saying!?? I-Into me? What even makes you say that??"

Marco sighed. "Haven't you two shared a room at an inn before? Are you going to sit here and tell me that meant nothing?"

Verity's eyes widened and he wanted to cover his face out of embarrassment. "She told you that!?? And besides, I-I didn't sleep in the room with her!!!"

Marco paused for a moment, and he then passed a hand over his face, a long sigh escaping his mouth. "This is worse than I thought…"

With his large hands, Marco grabbed Verity's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "Tell me, what do you think of Felicia?"

Verity, clearly uncomfortable, muttered a few words as he wished for nothing more than for this moment to end. "Well… she's nice, I guess? I don't know what you want me to say..."

Marco shook his head and he leaned forward. "Nice? That's it? Are you sure? Is that all you think of when you think about her? Your chest doesn't tighten, your mind doesn't feel weird?"

Verity took a second to respond, but not because he needed time to refute Marco, but rather because he knew deep down that it was exactly as Marco said.

Still, he would never admit it, not to Marco, not to himself.

He pushed Marco's hands aside. "Ah! What are you!? Some relationship guru??"

Marco let out a hearty laugh. "Haha! So I'm right then! Well, not that I thought for a second I was wrong!"

Verity, his cheeks now beet red, shot back at Marco, embarrassment lacing his voice. "W-What about you?? Y-You and Hoshino get along very well, don't you!? Do you have something for her??"

Marco froze, and Verity's eyes almost widened before Marco placed a hand over his mouth, clutched his stomach with the other, and burst out in hysterical laughter.

"AHAHHAHAH!!!! THAT'S A GOOD ONE VERITY! A REALLY GOOD ONE!" He wiped tears from the corner of his eye. "HOSHINO?! OUT OF ALL PEOPLE!! HAHAH!!"

Verity's face dropped as Marco's hysterical laughter continued.

"I mean, she's a great person and all, but man, if anything, Hoshino is like a snotty little sister! I could never see anything romantic with her, seriously! Just mentioning it feels weird!!"

He quelled his laughter at last and took a long breath. "She's an idiot who can't make sensible decisions. She always does whatever she wants without caring for anyone else. You get used to her… antics, but it's always a pain to explain to other people and most of all she's… she's…"

Verity sat down, and he kept his lips shut tight. He was no longer looking at Marco.

Marco, still in the midst of his rant, did not notice Verity's change in behavior. "She's totally not my type. I like my women a bit more…"

Marco finally noticed that Verity's eyes no longer looked at him. The atmosphere suddenly thickened, and Marco began feeling very, very hot, as if one of the two suns itself had descended into the cafe.

Not that that was too far off the mark.

"So this great mage is that bad to you, huh." A venomous voice spat behind him, a crazed smile curling its lips.

Marco's blood ran cold, and shivers slithered down his spine. He turned around in a flash and he raised his hands in an attempt to explain. "W-Wait, hold on, Hoshino. What I meant was that—"

"O Stars so bright, O skies so high–"

Marco lifted his head at the magic circle forming above him, and Verity quietly slipped out.

"H-Hey… it's not that serious… is it?"

—

That night, Hoshino went to bed clutching her wand slightly tighter than usual.

"Hpmf. Imbecile."

—

The next morning, the fourth trial had started.

In the middle of a large jungle full of both fauna and flora, Verity looked down at a scroll where the instructions for the trial were written.

Fourth Trial: Friends and Foes

Description:

The objective of this trial is deceptively simple: Within three hours, you must collect ten points and locate one of the hidden exits within the jungle.

How do you collect points? Quite easily.

Each participant has been issued an enchanted armband, color-coded to reflect their performance in the previous three trials. Your task is to acquire the armbands of others. How you do so is up to you.

Armband Rankings & Point Values:

Rank 4 – Yellow: 1 point

Rank 3 – Purple: 2 points

Rank 2 – Green: 3 points

Rank 1 – Red: 4 points

Rank 0 – Black: 10 points (Held only by special personnel walking amongst you)

Additional Notes:

You may exit the trial no sooner than one hour after it begins, provided you meet the point requirement. But be warned, the jungle is perilous, yes… but it also teems with rare resources, ancient relics, and perhaps even fate-altering encounters.

Verity looked at his arm, where a purple colored armband was attached, and he frowned slightly. "Well at least I'm not rank 4. That would have been embarrassing."

He scratched his head.

When he had reached the arena that morning, Verity had been knocked out with a spell of some sort, and he'd awoken in this dense jungle only a few minutes ago.

He had yet to see any other challenger, and even with the rune of Truth, he was not sure which direction he was supposed to head in. He only had a faint sense that walking ahead probably wouldn't be bad.

He sighed. Besides helping him figure out his skill's usage, the rune of Truth had found little real world application, despite apparently being a Primordial Rune or whatever.

Speaking of skills, Verity had a few other skills he wanted to use the rune on, and now that he was alone and unsure what to do, the moment could not have been any more perfect.

Well, perhaps not being in the center of a deadly jungle surrounded by bloodthirsty adventurers would have made this situation more perfect, but those were insignificant details.

He thought of the skill that had until now been the biggest mystery for him. [Accumulate].

As far as he was concerned, it gave him a minor stat boost, but he had no idea why, nor how to increase the stat boost.

So, without wasting another second, Verity opened the skill window for [Accumulate] and he activated the rune of Truth, just as he had done before for [Beyond Reason].

A sharp headache assaulted him when he did so, but not strong enough to be unbearable, and what he saw left him with no words.

Activation condition - This skill activates when you die.

"Huh?"

Six words. Simple, concise, and the description could not be any clearer.

It couldn't be any clearer, and yet, Verity couldn't understand it.

"It… activates when I di–"

He wasn't given the luxury to think about it any longer.

"Do you really think you can hold out against the three of us!? Just be nice, surrender, and we swear we'll only take your armband, nothing more."

A woman with skin the color of the night sky and braided hair falling to her ankles clicked her tongue. "This after I helped you all with the last trial… Ha, what else should I have expected?"

The conversation attracted Verity's attention, and he sneakily approached, peering through the thick vines.

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