Chapter 125: A Blob of Slime
"Everyone enter the portal at once and heed my warnings," Aurelia said to the geniuses of her guild.
They nodded solemnly.
Following that, the geniuses from all five guilds began entering the portal one by one.
"It will be difficult for them this time," James muttered, his sharp gaze flicking toward Aurelia and Kate.
Kate smiled, her confidence radiating. "Facing geniuses from across the world is the challenge one should strive for. I believe the geniuses of our region are not inferior to those of the other regions."
Aurelia gave a slight nod of agreement. "You're right. Every single one of them has the potential to rank among the top. Their efforts and training will determine how far they rise."
"I completely agree," said the leader of the Black Lotus Guild, stepping forward with a measured smile beneath his mask. "The Temple of Divine is a crucible where the strong are forged. This is the perfect opportunity for them to prove their worth."
James turned to him, his expression hardening as he issued a cold warning. "Your guild had better not try to betray any of the others this time. If you do, the consequences will be severe."
The masked man chuckled softly, his tone smooth and unbothered. "Tell me, James, has the Black Lotus Guild ever backstabbed your guild before?"
James's jaw tightened, but he said nothing, his silence confirming the guild leader's implication.
With a low chuckle, the masked man turned to Aurelia and Kate. "This temple is a place where legends are born—or where ambitions are crushed. It's where geniuses will either rise as dragons or sink into obscurity among the sea of mediocrity."
As his words lingered, the glowing portal before them began to close, its shimmering light fading as the last of the geniuses stepped through.
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Kate's gaze followed the vanishing portal, a faint smile gracing her lips. "Let's see how they fare. Will they soar as dragons… or drown in the tide of mediocrity?" Her eyes shifted to the sky, reflecting a flicker of anticipation.
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Max found himself falling downward when he entered the portal. "What the hell?!" He was shocked. He was falling through an endless black sky.
Looking around, he saw everyone who entered with him also falling, their faces desperate. Even those at the Adept Rank could do nothing but fall.
Max frowned as he saw the situation and used Wind Float, only to realize he couldn't stop the fall. "I'm being pulled downward by some force," he muttered, then stopped any further attempts to resist, believing it was all part of the temple's workings.
"MAX!"
Just then, a loud voice tore through the distance and reached his ears. Everyone else also heard the voice as they turned to the side, where they saw another group of geniuses falling just like them.
"MAX! I will kill you!"
There they saw a young man with messy black hair shouting. Lightning danced all around his body as wings made of lightning appeared behind his back.
With that, Veylin soared, separating from his group midair, and moved toward Max. They couldn't stop falling, but they could fly around while descending.
"Veylin…" Max grinned as he saw him and drew his sword. It began to glow with red and blue light as he activated both Level 1 Sword Aura and Flame Aura at a 3% fusion state. He soon added the strength of 15 Draconic Essences.
"Damn! Is he crazy or what?!" One of the members of the Phoenix Order guild exclaimed in shock.
Anton frowned when he saw that but didn't say anything else.
"Look at that!" Someone shouted, pointing at Max.
Hundreds of small and regular-sized swords appeared in the air beside Max as they merged one after another to form one long blade.
Max grinned as he held the regular sword in his left hand and the long sword in his right hand, sneering at Veylin. "Come."
However, before they could meet, the scene before them changed, and everyone found themselves standing on a white tile slab.
Max and Veylin were no exception. What's more, they found themselves in their base state, as if the power-ups they had just used hadn't happened at all.
However, what was worth noticing was that Max found only Apprentice Rank geniuses with him. All the Adept Ranks were nowhere to be seen.
Moreover, they seemed to be inside a white hall, in front of a monolith.
"I'm certain everyone was falling with me, but only a few of us are here," Max muttered, observing the situation.
Noticing the number of people, he was sure that every Apprentice Rank genius from all four regions was present.
"Everyone, welcome to my master's humble abode," a small blob of water floated in front of them, its childlike voice reaching everyone's ears.
"What is that? Is that a spirit?"
"I don't know, but to be honest, it looks like a slime to me."
"From the looks of it, this spirit seems to be handling things here."
The blob, which resembled a slime, looked around at the geniuses with big white, round eyes and introduced itself. It pointed its stick-like hand at itself. "I am indeed a spirit, but you can call me Blob."
Everyone stared blankly at the blob of slime, hearing its name, wondering if something was wrong with the slime or if they were just not enlightened enough to understand the sarcasm behind the name.
The blob of slime danced around in the air, noticing the doubtful faces of the geniuses. It fumed. "Humph, don't give me that face. I know Blob isn't the greatest name, but a name is a name. What can I do about it?"
It coughed and continued, "I am the overseer of the entire temple, so you better show respect to me, otherwise…" An evil arc of a smile appeared on its blob-like face.
Seeing that not many seemed affected by its threat, it shamelessly continued, "Anyway, the monolith in front of you determines how many auras you can comprehend or how many auras your body is attuned to."
It pointed at the monolith. "The higher you climb on that monolith, the more chances you have of attuning to more auras."
Just then, one of the geniuses asked, "What does attuning have to do with comprehending auras?"
The blob gave him a proud smile, a smirk on its face as it explained, "The more auras you're attuned to, the higher your chances of comprehending more auras. In simple terms, if your body is attuned to fire and water auras, you'll be successful in comprehending them."
It added, glancing at them with a pitying look on its slime-like face, "Since most of you haven't comprehended an aura here, at least some of you will have a better understanding of which aura to focus on."
"This area is for those who have comprehended Level 1 auras and for those who haven't comprehended one yet?" Max asked, glancing at the blob.
The blob's eyes darted towards the gray-white-haired boy as it nodded. "Correct. This temple has five floors. Three floors are dedicated to the three laws, and the last two floors are secrets. You'll only know about them when you reach those floors."
It glanced at the geniuses and said enthusiastically, "Now, get on with yourselves and start climbing the monolith. It's big enough to support everyone here at the same time."