Gaming Sword Magician

Chapter 99: Flame Puppet!

Just like the previous times, three bluish mana snakes whisked towards Whittaker, who showed no hesitation and killed them with a single effective move. A system notification popped up in his vision.

[Guardian has killed mana snakes. Successfully absorbed mana pool shards. Guardian mana pool increased by 1km. The total area of the mana pool = 199 km. Guardian mana pool has successfully stabilized.]

Now, the mana pool of Whittaker was so wide that he could absorb up to 1500+ mana without facing any problems.

"At first I thought that this trial would be hard but it seems and feels more like a walk in a park filled with endless treasures." He exclaimed in glee, unaware that he was facing 1-star magical beasts, mana-snakes because he was only classified as an F-ranked by the trial formation.

Whittaker could fight a 4-star magical beast and run away from a 7-star magical beast, hence he did not even break a sweat while facing 1-star magical beast, mana snakes.

He had butchered around 300 mana snakes and his mana pool has increased in size by about 100 km. "Sadly, I did not receive any experience points from killing them otherwise, it would have been a win-win situation for me," Whittaker muttered in slight disappointment.

After killing the mana snakes, he took his time to adapt to the mana pressure acting on his body. After making sure that he has adapted to it, Whittaker continued to climb upwards, directly breaking past the mana restrictive force of the ninety-ninth stair of the heaven-reaching staircases and heading beyond dozens of steps, just like a raging bull charging through the open mulberry fields.

But this win-win and easy situation was not gonna last forever. A trial like this was meant to push a person to its limit, Whittaker was not an exception; he was just so overpowered that the early stages of the heaven-reaching trial have become a walk in the backyard.

Several minutes later, he broke through the restrictive force of the one-hundred thirty-two heaven-reaching step. Suddenly, a red teleportation portal appeared in front of his body and swallowed him all. He did not even get the chance to dodge it for it was too sudden. Right after, Whittaker arrived at the one-hundred thirty-three heaven-reaching step of the first level of the heaven-reaching staircase but this place seemed far different than what it should be like.

With the help of Devansha's vision, Whittaker adjusted and advanced eyesight instantly focused on the unknown land he had just entered and he was met with a vast view of an empty arena, whose ground was decorated with many patterns, joining together in the middle to create two sides and at the edges to create a boundary. 

"A battle stage?" He muttered while blinking his eyes at the enemy.

He was standing on a wide circular field with patches of grasses, dust fluttering about. The circular field was divided into two parts, each side with one combatant. On one side, Whittaker stood while on the other, an iron puppet modeled after a human sat cross-legged and closed eyes as if in deep mediation. The puppet was bald and had four dots on its forehead signifying its relationship with the monk of the Zen mountain.

'At least, the mana pressure I am feeling in this place is still the same as the ninety-ninth step but this step is far bigger than all the previous 132 steps combined.' He made his judgment within two seconds and focused his vision on the unmoving puppet that clutched a spear with a flame attribute line.

When Whittaker's snowy crystal eyes focused on the puppet, a system notification popped up,

[Zen Flame Puppet: Agni Jalal (offline)

Power level: 4-star Battle Energy master

Battle style: Demonic berserker]

Before Whittaker could further continue with his investigation, a weird sound rang out as something drop from the top, in the very moment, an announcement was made.

Congratulations on reaching the 1/3 part of the first level of the heaven-reaching trial. Your task to complete this challenge in challenge is to successfully defeat the Zen mountain puppet. The faster you are the better for your name will be inscribed in the cube of glory

Whittaker tilted his head to take a look at the cube of glory. A giant cube floated right above them, twirling around. Names of different people who have taken this challenge before Whittaker was written on it.

[Inheritance trial challengers - time took to reach this step.

1- Edward Agni - F-ranker - 4 months - Defeated Agni Jalal (4-star) in 30 minutes

2- Varlet black- A-ranker - 1 month - Defeated Agni Jalal (16-star) in 35 minutes

3- Daniel brian- B-ranker - 8 months - Defeated puppet Agni Jalal (14-star) in 2 hours

4- Yuriel Agami- E-ranker - 16 months - Uncompleted.

More than hundreds of names were written on the wooden-cube. Only those challengers that have reached this place were honored by having their names inscribed on the giant cube. Whittaker was not the only one who has been lucky enough to participate in the inheritance trial challenges of Elder Zachary to reach this place; Instead, there were thousands of others, but each one of them had died in the end.

F-rankers only need to pass the first level of the heaven-reaching trial and they would be considered to have passed but they can choose to continue; a decision which Edward Agni an F-rank mage with an S-rank potential made resulting in his death. While high ranked challengers will have to pass the second or even the third stage of the heaven-reaching mountain to pass the trial. That's why there has never been an inheritor to his name.

A new announcement was made, shifting Whittaker's attention to the offline battle puppet! 

One hundred thirty third step challenge incompleted - Kill Flaming Monk puppet 4-star battle energy Master to complete!

Rewards received will depend on the amount of time taken by the challenger to defeat the creation of the Zen Mountain!

10...

7...

4...

1...0

Let the battle commence!