His body felt cold as though the strange potion was drawing in all of his body heat. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t pleasant either. he told Priscilla to check his body and make sure that nothing harmful was happening. It shouldn’t be possible according to his skill, but he was still a little worried considering this potion was otherworldly.

[This is strange, it’s changing your body. I don’t know what is happening, though it doesn’t seem to be harmful.]

Mash agreed with her, as he could somewhat follow the mana of the potion with his draconic domain. It seemed to dissolve and spread through his body, mixing with his skin and bones. Somehow, the potion spread to his entire body, though it didn’t actually feel like it did anything other than making him a bit colder.

“I think that’s it.”

Everyone in the room just stared at him, and they seemed a bit dissatisfied. Mash felt much the same as his body seemed unchanged. Coraline looked at him for a second and nodded to him before leaving. Once she had left, he was going to prepare to head back to the library.

“Check your status. You really need to remember to do that.”

Red sounded like she was talking to a child, and Mash winced as he remembered to do that. It really should be something he used as a skill, but he always seemed to forget about it. Unsurprisingly, his status was mostly unchanged, however, he did notice one difference.

Name: Mash Stellumbra Class: Draconic Thunder-wood Imitation

Level: 78

Health: 1800 / 1800

Energy: 3110 / 3110

■

■

■

Trial of the Golden Body

4/10

The final thing he received, even after all of his skills was something new. “Trial of the Golden Body” sounded like exactly what he was looking for. While his skills and attributes were unchanged, seeing the system adapt to the potion was a bit jarring. How did the class system work that it could include foreign things like this, and why didn’t his marks show up? Both of them provided some benefits, and he wondered why those effects didn’t show up here.

“I got something called Trial of the Golden Body, and it’s almost half done already. I think it included where my body was already at. I don’t think it relates to stats as much as we initially believed, otherwise I think I would be a lot closer to finishing.”

He tried to explain what he could, and he wished Luna was around to check his body with more detail. Luke walked over speaking, as he reached for Mash.

“Let me check, maybe I can see what’s happening.”

Nodding towards him, Mash held his arm out for Luke. Luke’s mana entered his body and dissolved in a similar way to the potion, however it returned to him after a short period of time. He rubbed his chin for a second before explaining.

“I think it is strengthening your body in relation to your soul, or maybe it’s the other way around. There are changes happening to make them line up.”

That explanation was obviously a bit lacking, and mash asked him to expand on what he meant. After talking for a little bit longer, they couldn’t really come up with any more insights. It was late by the time they finished, and Mash decided he could just head to bed. He didn’t get to sleep last night and wanted to get some tonight. As his friends left his room, he was surprised to realize that his day had been uneventful. He had talked with his friends and learned a good bit, but he hadn’t had to fight anything. Nobody even got hurt, and he wondered how long it had been since he last had a day like that.

Tomorrow wouldn’t be the same, as they were planning on going to the sanctuary. He didn’t think that getting a gift would be easy, although he wasn’t worried about getting to hurt. The trials here weren’t actually life-threatening, and most trials didn’t involve any kind of combat. Apparently, there were a few, but even those would end before someone took serious harm. God was extremely generous in this world. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that but decided that it was better than having to kill for power.

That night he went to sleep early, feeling surprisingly good as he did so. He felt even better when he woke up in the morning and he didn’t even need to use inhuman hibernation to wash away his fatigue. He wondered what could have caused it and remembered the portion. That was the only thing he had done differently and hoped that the effect would happen again tonight.

Looking out his window, he saw that it was fairly early in the morning. However, the sun was out, and he figured it would be fine to wake the others. They were probably just as excited as he was to try and get a gift. He was right, as most of the others were already awake. Red was the only one who was still asleep, and Jill actually had to teleport into her room to wake her up. Red got a room like the other servants, and while it was somewhat extravagant, it was much worse than the ones that he was using. Her room was close to Rebecca’s though, and Mash wondered how her duties as a servant were going.

Once she woke up, they told a servant that they were heading out for a bit. They had made up an excuse, claiming that some of them wanted to try and take another trial. The servant didn’t seem bothered and told them where they would need to go. After informing their hosts, Mash left a wooden copy of Priscilla in his room. He used his treant form to make it so that he wouldn’t need to worry about using his energy to support.

They left soon after, heading for the sanctuary. It was opposite the village, and they found it fairly easily. They walked along the river and noticed a wide area where the trees were taller, and the grass was riddled with small flowers. The flowers were oddly purple, and the area stood out from its surroundings. The rest of the area was a grass plain with the occasional tree, and he had noticed a few white flowers during the journey. He had expected them to hide the sanctuary, though he guessed that there was no real reason to hide it. If the book was right, then only humans would be able to receive a gift.

As they got closer to the sanctuary, Mash could feel it within his domain. Or rather he couldn’t feel anything which meant that it was probably a domain similar to his own skill. It seemed like the God here had a similar ability to the ones back in their world. That interested Mash, and he told the others the same. What was surprising was the decrease in mana density as they approached the space. Normally, a place like this would have more mana, and the feeling was jarring.

Mash stopped at the edge of the boundary, and he looked at the others. Red and Luke stopped, but Jill just kept walking. As soon as she stepped inside, she vanished purple smoke appearing where she had been. He couldn’t see her with his domain and hadn’t even felt anything happen. She entered with complete confidence, and Mash grew a little worried for her. He knew that she had a lot of things to help her stay safe and could even see the future in a strange way, but he still thought that she was getting overconfident. This place was supposedly made by a God, and a being like that would hundreds of levels above them.

“I’ll try and talk to her afterward.”

Red spoke, sounding very annoyed. For his part, he was just glad that someone else volunteered for the position. Mash probably wouldn’t be a very good choice for lecturing someone on not doing something dangerous. His very being was dangerous at this point, and he constantly seemed to rush into even greater danger. Even if he didn’t want it, he knew that he couldn’t avoid it. believing anything else would just be stupid.

After Red finished speaking, she stepped into the sanctuary too. She vanished similarly too, and then it was just Luke and Mash. Luke clapped the back of Mash’s shoulder before entering himself. Once the purple smoke finally dispersed, Mash himself stepped in. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh as he entered.

Everything was covered in darkness for a second, and then Mash found himself in a room of some kind. There were no walls in the room, and it was completely empty. Looking around, it seemed like the room stretched out endlessly. He didn’t feel any breeze, and there were no sounds or smells either. The room was totally empty though it wasn’t dark. The floor was white, and it sprawled in every direction. Bending over he ran his hands against the floor and was surprised to feel that it was perfectly smooth. It was perfectly flat.

Out of curiosity, he punched the ground. He could easily break stone with his fist, though the floor didn’t even seem to budge. Mash was pretty confused and decided that he was just wasting time. Well, there was no point in sitting around and he started walking in a direction. He left a trail of wood behind him to make sure that he kept walking straight. It was a small insurance, but it was enough for him to feel comfortable.

Starting to walk, he quickly grew annoyed. There was literally nothing in the room, and if not for Priscilla he would have been extremely bored. With Priscilla around, he was able to practice his telepathy and had managed to distract himself. He couldn’t really tell how much time had passed but knew that it had already been several hours. Feeling a little hungry, Mash opened up his storage space and grabbed some of his rations. He had stocked up on pieces of bread, cheeses, and dried meats. He made several sandwiches and munched on them as he waited for something to change.

Nothing happened, and after a while, he decided to continue walking. Before the day passed, he sat down and took another potion. They had given him all the doses he would need at the start, and he stored it in his storage space. Having that with him was very relieving, as it made it feel like he was making some progress.

He knew when a day had passed. After the first few hours, he told Priscilla to start counting. She was better at multitasking than Mash and would be able to do something as simple as counting without much effort. All he really wanted to do was make sure he had some reference for time. He still had plenty of rations and ate them whenever he felt like he needed to. Although, he was worried about the others. Not so much about lacking food, but he was worried that they would have already finished.

He wondered what they were up to and just kept walking. A few times he had tried breaking the space and freeing himself. The only thing he had really gained was time, as he had already drunk a few more of the potions. Using the potions had helped him tell how much time had passed, although he couldn’t hide his excitement. He was worried about escaping, but as he kept an eye on his status, he was pleased to see how far he had gotten. He expected that he would only need one or two more potions before achieving gold.

He grew more anxious as ten days passed, and he wondered if he would be trapped in here forever. Although, he dismissed the thought, remembering that these Trials were supposed to be harmless. He assumed that if he was ever really in trouble of starving, God would free him. With all the time he had, Mash continued to work on his telepathy and was at the point where he could send and receive thoughts. Reading people’s minds was difficult, but he could get a general idea of what someone was thinking now. He had actually managed to raise his wisdom a bit too, and he guessed that he would reach a golden body after today. Checking his status, he checked his attributes before making the change.

Name: Mash Stellumbra Class: Draconic Thunder-wood Imitation

Level: 78

Health: 1800 / 1800

Energy: 3110 / 3110

■

■

Wisdom: 90 → 92

■

■

Trial of the Golden Body

9/10