Ch 60 - Ascension Trials & Judgement

Mathew was directed by the phantom mage to stand in front of a massive metal tree that was the second object created from the orb. The metal tree was almost as big as a regular tree, but it lacked any leaves and was made entirely of metal. Its branches stretched out far and wide, and it closely resembled a real tree, except for a hollow at the center of its trunk. The hollow was filled with an eerie black mist that emitted an ominous aura, and it was impossible to see inside.

We candidates watched attentively to understand how the trial works. Mathew was our first guinea pig and we can also learn what to do and what not to do.

Mathew approached the tree, his eyes curiously glancing at the hollow. The phantom mage then instructed him, "For the second trial, insert both your arms inside the hollow tree." Mathew was a bit nervous, but he made sure to follow the instructions carefully. He rolled up his sleeves before inserting both his arms inside the tree. One could see the nervous expression on his face.

As soon as Mathew inserted his arms, nothing happened. He was scared at first, but he noticed that nothing was happening, and his confidence grew back.

We, the candidates, started to believe that the trial was going to be a breeze like the 1st Trial.

However, the phantom mage then instructed Mathew, "Now you need to create the mana orb while your arms are inside the hollow tree. Whatever happens, you don’t need to panic, just keep calm." Mathew obeyed, and the next instant, he started to concentrate. The branches of the tree began moving, almost like it was alive, and Mathew's face started to look uneasy for some reason.

Despite this, Mathew maintained his arms inside the tree, and the branches started recoiling, growing shorter. At the same time, small glowing leaves began to grow on the branches of the tree at a speed visible to the eye. The leaves were glowing, and they almost resembled pure mana, similar to the mana orb we were instructed to create. In a matter of a minute, the dead metal tree had finally grown into a full small grown healthy tree with mana leaves all over.

However, suddenly a voice interrupted, "Pardon my interjection grandmasters. Might I ask if it is alright to pull out my arms? I am starting to feel a bit really sick." To our surprise, the voice belonged to Mathew.

As the grandmasters fell silent, we, the candidates, were taken aback. We had never seen them act this way before. The other candidates began to whisper among themselves, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Didn't the grandmaster just tell him to keep his mouth shut?" one of the candidates murmured.

"He's done for. I'm sure he'll be expelled immediately," another candidate chimed in.

"Expelled? I don't even know if Lady Hamanthra will let him walk away alive," a third candidate added.

Hendrickson muttered, "Mathew is such a wussy,"

"I can't blame him. Just look at his face. That tree is actually draining all of Mathew's mana. He's probably experiencing the same relapses that a mage feels when their mana is drained," Trisha said in a serious tone.

I nodded my head and said, "Death is better than insufferable pain. No wonder he opened his big mouth. May his soul rest in peace."

Trisha asked me, "Could you once show some sympathy?"

But I replied arrogantly, "Nope."

We had anticipated that Lady Hamanthra would impose severe punishment on Mathew for disobeying her orders, but to our surprise, she sat there with a devious smile on her face instead of reprimanding him. Her smile appeared more sinister than friendly, almost as if she was deriving pleasure from Mathew's discomfort.

Grandmaster Biswaq said, "Just hang on for a few more minutes. The trial will be concluded soon enough."

Meanwhile, Mathew's face turned pale as he obeyed and kept his arms inside the hollow of the tree.

As we watched, the once-dead metal tree began to grow, and its leaves had fully grown. Buds appeared all over the branches, which soon blossomed into beautiful flowers. However, the flowers wilted and fell off quickly, only to be replaced by small fruits that started growing in their place. The small orbs grew into multiple small round fruits that resembled cherry-like fruits.

To our amazement, the cherry-like fruits began appearing all over the branches, and they were glowing, resembling the mana. Mathew sat on his knees with his arms still stuck inside the hollow trunk, looking barely conscious.

Suddenly, the dark mist inside the hollow trunk dissipated, and Mathew could finally pull his arm away. However, he was almost on his knees and couldn't get up on his feet.

We expected the grandmasters to scold him severely, but they appeared somehow impressed. The phantom mage host walked towards Mathew, holding some kind of potion bottle in her hand. As soon as she reached him, she uncorked the bottle and splashed the contents of the mana bottle on top of Mathew.

Instantly, the potion began to glow, and the color returned to Mathew's face. He quickly stood up and checked his body for any damage, “Thank you for saving me,”.

The phantom mage simply nodded in response.

Grandmaster Biswaq was the first to rise from his seat and gave a short round of applause. "Well done, Mathew," he praised. Mathew smiled bashfully and scratched his head, clearly relieved.

Biswaq then directed his attention to the metal tree. "This is quite impressive," he remarked, looking at the tree with mana leaves and cherry fruits.

Every grandmaster focused their attention on the tree, and Gunther stroked his beard, observing the tree's size and the number of mana leaves. "The tree's size is remarkable, and the number of mana leaves indicates that his mana core has good storage capacity at such a young age," he said.

"The leaves are impressive, yes, but the fact that the tree's fruits manifested into cherries suggests that the purity of Mathew's mana is quite low," Grandmaster Pierre responded.

Ajax interrupted suddenly, "Well, I do like cherries. So I don’t see that as a problem."

Pierre retorted, "You moron, I am not asking for your taste preferences! Nevermind."

Ajax, undeterred, flexed his muscles and said, "As long as he can train and use those muscular arms for battle, I don't mind welcoming him aboard Ivory Tower."

Biswaq interjected, "Ajax, let's save the invites for later, shall we?"

As we sat in our seats, we were able to observe and get a general understanding of what the trial entailed.

Hendrickson snapped his fingers and asked,
"So, you're saying that the tree absorbs all our mana and then checks the quantity and quality of it?"

Trisha nodded,
“That’s the Ironwood Tree that actually devourers mana. They have tweaked the tree to become a trial object. Let me explain-”

The candidate listened carefully and made sure to take mental notes as she spoke. According to her, the hollow in the tree absorbs the mana to the point where the mage almost collapses. Then, the tree uses the mana to grow and come back to life.

As the tree grows, it regrows leaves that are made of the candidate's mana. The more mana there is, the more leaves there are on the tree. Additionally, the tree produces different types of fruits depending on the purity of the candidate's mana. However, if the mana is of lower quality, then the tree bears small, common fruits like cherries and berries.

She also warned that we will start feeling drowsy during the trial but we should not be scared.
The tree will only absorb mana and it will stop absorbing mana when it absorbs the majority of the candidate's mana.

“How come you know so much about the 2nd trial?” I asked Trisha, curious about her knowledge.

Trisha nodded in response. “Yes, we had one of these trees in my master’s villa. It was quite efficient for training one's mana supply.”

I remembered that Trisha came from a noble background. However, her family had been stripped of their title of nobility, yet she and the other Valencia knights still remained loyal to their old master.

As Trisha spoke, the other candidates took a step back, clearly realizing that there was a noble among them. Despite her status, Trisha was quite amiable with the commoners, which made me feel disgusted. I am a pessimistic person, and I find Trisha's morality repulsive. To me, there are two types of "good people" in the world: the "two-faced" ones who act good in front of others, and the "dumb" ones who get exploited until their death. Neither type lives long enough.

Meanwhile, the rest of the candidates’ eyes shone with a newfound respect for Trisha. They admired her noble character and kind heart.

“Why are you all staring at me like that?” asked Trisha, noticing their gaze.

“She's such a beautiful soul!” muttered one candidate.

“Her heart is made of gold,” said another.

“Please marry me, Lady Trisha,” said yet another.

Trisha was clearly creeped out by their sudden admiration. “You guys are creeping me out. Anyway, we should focus on the next trial.”

As the third trial commenced, all eyes were fixed on Mathew as he stood in front of the mummified exoskeleton of what appeared to be a humanoid figure. The exoskeleton was adorned with numerous gemstones embedded in its ribcage, and it was made to sit in a meditating posture.

Mathew stood behind the exoskeleton, and as he approached it, he noticed two hand-palm prints engraved on the back of the exoskeleton. The Grandmasters were intently watching him, and even the Ivory Tower guys who were previously rowdy, were now quietly munching on their food.

As soon as Mathew's hand came into contact with the back of the exoskeleton, there was a rattling noise of bones twisting. In the next instant, some of the ribcage bones flipped on the back and entrapped Mathew's hand in place. Startled, Mathew shouted, "Aah! Sir, is this supposed to happen!"

Grandmaster Biswaq quickly assured Mathew, "Yes, no need to worry. Just focus and stay quiet."

However, the exoskeleton started to move, and its bones began to rattle and twist as if they were undergoing a transformation. Mathew's hands were stuck, and he couldn't free himself. He tried pulling off his hand, but it was no use. Biswaq noticed Mathew's nervousness and reassured him, "Don’t panic, Mathew. You’ll be just fine!"

But the next instant, the exoskeleton straightened its back and raised both his skeletal arms in the air.

All the candidates let out gasped voices.

“Holy shit, that thing is alive?” muttered Hendrickson.
“Well if it can raise its arm like that, I think it's alive.”
“Well to be honest I have a rough guess what that thing is,” responded Trisha.
We all waited for her to respond.

“According to the books I read, that exoskeleton resembles the skeletal remains of the Bone Devourer Tribe. They were a special humanoid species that used to live long ago. They are said to be a bloodthirsty species that went extinct long ago.”

Confused, Hendrickson asked,
"Bone Divorce Tribe?"

Trisha corrected him, "Bone Devourer Tribe. They were said to be able to eat mages and monsters to gain their abilities. Although they were said to have to be killed in a great war. I thought they were just a myth, but this seems to say otherwise. Although I am not 100%."

As the exoskeleton raised its arms, Mathew tried to start a conversation with it, "Dear Sir, sorry for disturbing your sleep. Just let go of my hands," but to no avail.

Hamanthra looked a bit annoyed and muttered,
"This is why I hate kids,".
Grandmaster Biswaq shook his head and let out a sigh. Meanwhile, Grandmaster Ajax laughed loudly, finding all this to be quite amusing.

A loud cracking sound emanated from the exoskeleton, and the next instant, six skeletal arms appeared from the exoskeleton's abdomen like a spring. Now, it had a total of eight arms, similar to that of Mathew's transmutant form.

Meanwhile, Mathew was still sobbing like a little kid.
He never knew such a thing would happen and also forgot the grandmasters were present there.

At this point even I started to feel a bit bad for Mathew.
Poor lad drew the short end of the stick, then again I don’t feel that bad to sympathize.
He deserved it.

Just when we thought that the ordeal was over, the exoskeleton went through yet another transformation. The skeletal arms that had sprouted from its abdomen started to change shape and texture. The eight arms suddenly turned into a gray-brownish texture and looked quite rigid. It was as if the arms were replaced with skeletal bones by a bunch of rocks that barely resembled arms.

The next thing the rib cage opened and Mathew’s hands were freed at last.
Mathew quickly backed away from the exoskeleton and tried to run away only to be caught by the phantom mage host who grabbed him by the collar. Mathew was still crying out loudly and was still scared shitless.

The grandmasters were clearly displeased with Mathew's cowardice.

Biswaq placed his hand on his brow and sighed, "Well, young lad's bravery could handle only so much."

Grandmaster Gunther then spoke up, "Mathew is a transmutant mage, and looking at those rocky arms, he luckily also gained the favor of the earth element somehow." He smiled and continued, "Well, looking aside his cowardly nature, if you join my Sapphire Citadel, my boot camp training will surely train you into a battle-hardened soldier, that is, if you survive the training camp."

Suddenly, Gunther flicked his wrist and Mathew's pocket began to glow. Mathew stopped crying immediately and took out his dial card. The insignia of Sapphire Citadel lit up, and Mathew's sobbing cry was replaced with wonder.

What the hell, this brat still managed to gain an invite in the end. What happened to the grandmaster's standards? I hoped Mathew won’t get any invites at all.

Then to my surprise-

Grandmaster Ajax then spoke up, "I think you should join us, kid. I find you amusing, and I think you will feel at home at Ivory Tower, with our battle-hardened mages who will make a man out of you." He turned to his retainers and asked, "What do you all say?"

All the retainers of Ivory Tower raised their drinking jugs in the air and shouted, "The more the merrier!" Ajax flicked his wrist and another insignia lit up, indicating that Mathew had been invited to join Ivory Tower.

The other grandmasters remained silent, and Mathew took a glance at Grandmaster Biswaq, but all he got was a smile from the grandmaster without any words of praise. There were no more invites for Mathew, and he seemed a bit dejected. He took the dial card and bowed his head, saying, "Thank you for your time, and I apologize for showing such a disgraceful side."

The phantom mage escorted Mathew to the other side of the arena, where he was made to sit on the floor yet again. He was instructed to wait for the rest of the candidates to finish their trials and take this time to decide which invite he was planning to accept.

Meanwhile, the rest of the candidates seemed to be going through mixed emotions, some trying to stay focused and psyching themselves up, while others looked nervous and jittery. I cracked my knuckles, feeling confident that I could breeze through this trial, eagerly anticipating my name to be called next.

Suddenly, the phantom mage boomed out the next name, "Rina Bolina."
My heart sank. "For goodness' sake, how long are they going to drag out this arc?" I muttered under my breath, feeling irritated.

“Arc?” questioned Hendrickson and Trisha.

“Nothing. Just talking to myself,” I replied with a sigh.