Xior and Becca entered a building with a dragon coiling around it, it was the headquarters of the Dragon Guild. She took him to the guild shop since he wanted to sell runes and who else would she want to benefit if not her guild.
"Oh, Hunter Rebecca and Mister, did you come to get some new gear or buy runes?" The woman at the counter politely asked Becca.
"Hello, well I am not here to buy anything. It's the opposite, this is Xior my best friend.
He wants to sell his runes."
"Sure, Mr. Xior come forward and place the runes on the counter." She said
"We will need an empty room for these, Miss." Xior replied as he started dropping runes on the counter.
The speed at which they came out was fast enough to make the woman realize that he was right. He stops and they gather the runes and move to an empty room.
He continues and after fifteen minutes, the room is filled with runes. Stat runes, elemental runes and what not. The woman's eyes are widened, she wanted to go home early but now she'd have to do overtime.
Xior bent down and picked up an elemental rune for all elements. He had already leveled up his fire elemental rune through alchemy, now his he had access to three elemental skills.
After an hour it is finally done, Xior had 1295487 stat runes, each stat runes costs 50 plat. Which meant Xior's final amount would be 64774350 plat. Becca was speechless. Xior was once again unfazed, he looked through the top tier gear displayed.
After he was done he had bought a new suit like the one he found in Andromalius's castle. A grey suit with a high collard black shirt and formal shoes.
"Are you done now?" Becca asked as she walked besides Xior.
"Yes, for now. Your guild is pretty nice." Xior said in a low voice taking over Becca.
"I can't believe this Xior...we're finally going to start climbing the tower tomorrow.."
"Same, memories of when you would forcefully make me sit and explained the tower to me." Xio said.
*****
It was finally the day. Xior and Becca wore similar clothes. He wore the same grey suit with a white buttoned up shirt while Becca wore a black suit with a white buttoned up shirt as well.
It suited them both, Xior's hair was now not a mess, though still long it changed his look completely. They arrived in front of the entrance of the tower. Maria escorted them personally.
Both had a bad in their hands which contained day to day things for them.
"Becca and Xior, please be careful. First thing you have to do after finishing the trial is to find the Dragon Guild building inside, they will help you immensely." Maria exclaimed.
Xior and Becca entered the tower, it was massive on the inside. Then a small creature popped out of the fabric of reality.
"Welcome hunters, I will not beat around the bush. When you enter the tower you will be given a special trial, which rewards with the a special item which may or may not be important later on."
The flying goblin said, it was short with pale blue skin long claws, jagged teeth and a menacing smile. You can call me out and I will start, you can do your preparations.
They looked at each other and nodded, there was no need for that. Both of them were prepared. Seeing that the goblin snapped his finger, a bright light enveloped both of them and they were transported to somewhere.
As soon as her feet touched the ground a chill crept up her spine, memories of what happened five years ago came back. She looked around and found herself in a place where she got her worst memories.
The Gateway to the Abyss, the same old black hole loomed over the horizon, the ground was barren with no signs of vegetation. In the distance the same group of goblins stood. She understood what the purpose of this trial was.
By showing the worst day of her life, the tower wanted to see if she would break or push through. If she had been the old Becca, she would've broken down but as she was right now, not many things could shake her up.
This was an opportunity for her to let loose, she knew she had grown a lot these past five years and wanted to check if she really was on par with an S-Rank. Her red hair shone from her glowing body.
Runes glowed as she unsheathed her sword and jumped high in the air activating her skill. An arc of fire jumped from her sword and scorched the goblins with a single attack. Nothing remained as their screams were suppressed by the sizzling sound of them turning to ash.
She landed on the ground with a crack and the same golden light enveloped her taking her back to the tower entrance.
"That was great performance, you cleared the trial in twelve seconds. That puts you as the fifth fastest clearer. Your reward will be given to you when your friend is done with his trial."
*****
Xior was teleported to a desolate plain, blood painted the land red and corpses lay all over the ground. In the distance he saw the same man who had saved him. His armor was less jagged and he could see his features clearly.
Tall, scarred face and eyes just like his. He was fighting something, a grotesque combination of tentacles, numerous eyes and gaping maws. As soon as Xior saw the thing his nose started to bleed and strength left his legs.
He fell on his knees as he watched the fight, his vision blurred and he passed out. As he woke up he found himself in the same place as before. This time the corpses had decayed and were now skeletons.
The man was nowhere to be found, and neither was the creature. Only a decaying corpse in the distance. He walled towards the corpse and found a rune laying down.
'This is definitely a trap, no one would leave a skill rune like this.' He thought.
But he needed to finish this quickly so he picked it up and absorbed it. Blood poured out from his wrist and he felt his whole body was burning by an intense flame which almost came close to bypassing his regeneration.
He fell on the ground as the his skin color turned pale and his body shrank in size. His cheeks were now hollow, just like they were when he was fifteen. There was no strength in his body.
But as the burning sensation subsided his skill kicked in and within a minute he was back to normal. The trial had just began. He got up and started to walk again, this was the thing he was the best at.
For five years he wandered in The Abyss and eventually found the exit, and now he would clear the trial as well.