Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

The southern testing grounds. Minerva's Utopia.

There was a limestone circular platform in an open space, which was surrounded by the vegetation exclusive to Minerva's Utopia. This circular platform was levitating 40 meters above the ground and there were phantom stairs one could use to get on it.

The circular platform had a radius of 20 miles, allowing it to host loads of participants in one go. The platform had a distinct mana signature that let the participants know that it was an A-Ranked artifact itself.

This platform tested one's battle potential. However, nobody was dueling over the platform. Every participant that was on the platform could be found seated with their legs folded and eyes closed.

The platform sent the participants' consciousness to an illusory space that would render their opponents for them. They would be paired up randomly in the illusory space, making them fight each other without any bodily harm being done to them in reality.

It was only when they became exhausted in the illusory world that they would give up the battle. Until then they would keep on fighting to score more points out of 100 units.

The battles would become more difficult as one kept on gaining points in the battle. A player who was close to scoring 100 points would face more difficult battles. It would also increase the difficulty by making the player closer to reaching 100 points face multiple opponents as well as renditions of unknown opponents who weren't present on the platform as participants in reality.

These renditions were spectral apparitions without any facial features. They were superior to normal rankers and would come to fight the participants from time to time, making their job to score 100 points even more difficult.

Participants would also have to fight off hordes of mana beasts. It all depended on their performance, expertise, class type, and other personal factors.

However, it wasn't just the difficulty that increased the closer one was to scoring 100 points. The rewards one would get after facing incremental difficulties were also something to look forward to.

The southern city ground offered a variety of rewards to its participants. Of them all, chunks of precious Andrium and Extols were the most common rewards. The placeholders of each testing session would receive artifacts of their choice and preference.

The southern city ground was made for all the rankers. It was not focused on potioners and potion making. Thus, this testing ground attracted a massive crowd. Most participants would come here not to win, but to gain Andrium chunks and Extols.

The participants would also be awarded ranking techniques and spells if they have done exceptionally well. Some of the participants were also given runic steles they could use to enhance their elemental attainment.

Making profits was easy after performing well in the Test of Bravery. Most of the rankers who visited the separate dimension wanted to forever stay on this levitating platform and keep on earning rewards for all four days they were here.

Alas, just like all the other testing grounds, the southern testing ground only allowed participants to be on the platform for up to a day. After which they would be pulled out of their illusory space and sent out.

Test of Bravery! The southern testing grounds tested one's potential to stand against and fight the odds. As such, the test was inclined to get more difficult the closer one got to scoring 100 points.

Today was no different. The platform was hosting loads of participants at once. Around 10,000 participants were taking the test at this point in absolute silence.

One just had to sit and close their eyes for the platform to act on their consciousness. After which, they would not be in control of their bodies. However, their bodies were secured by the platform itself, raising a thin layer of energy barrier around each of them to prevent anyone from harming the participants.

The participants would keep a safe distance from each other. They would be teleported away to a different place if they forcefully tried to get close to any other participant who was immersed in the illusory space.

The illusory space rendered the same platform the participants' real bodies were currently occupying. However, there was no one except for their opponents. The space around the platform was also blurred and hazy, making the rankers realize that they were indeed in an illusory space.

A blonde young girl was sitting on the platform with her eyes closed. As with everyone else, her face painted a picture of stress. That's because she was currently engaged in a battle in the illusory space.

"Haaah!"

Shalen Croft took care of the participant that was attacking her. She had made extensive use of her poison-related spells and her crossbow in this round.

The arrows she had launched toward her opponent had no arrowheads. Instead, they were coated with a slimy yellow substance.

Shalen was an assassin and she had a poison element. Her poison was strong enough to make her opponents lose their motor functions and cause disharmony in their mana circuits. Lower ranked opponents would instantly get killed because of such poison entering their system.

Shalen had scored 64 points till now with her performance. She could keep tabs on her score by sending her mana sense into the tattoo that was etched over the back of her right hand.

Shalen had come to realize that the difficulty of her battles was increasing exponentially the closer she got to scoring 100 points. That's because she had just defeated 2 opponents and 4 apparitions back to back. However, unlike in previous instances, she was not given breathing room.

Another apparition appeared in the front right after the last apparition was taken care of. Shalen gritted her teeth and pulled out her duel daggers once again. She charged at her opponent who had no face and was wielding a spear.

Another long and tiring duel ensued once again. By the time Shalen was done with her most recent opponent, she was already exhausted and sweating buckets. She had decided that if any more opponents came at this point, she would immediately quit the test.

To her surprise and delight, Shalen was offered a sought-after break.