He continued on his way, and about fifteen minutes later, the ruins appeared among the trees, at first glance, there was nothing impressive about them.
On top of a rocky hill, a circular platform about thirty meters wide had been built.
There had once been four pillars around it, but three of them were broken and their pieces had fallen among the grass and tree roots.
The only remaining pillar was about ten meters tall and its surface was covered with faded lines.
Several half-collapsed walls could also be seen around the platform, and one of them had a carving of a broken crown on it.
Lian walked up the cracked stairs and entered the center of the ruins.
In the middle of the platform, there was a stone panel with five small slots.
None of them had anything inside, and at first glance, he could not understand what they were used for.
But the moment his foot touched the center of the platform, a faint light appeared on the stone lines.
[Sub-Test discovered.]
[Participation in the test is optional.]
He raised an eyebrow.
Optional.
Then he could turn back right now and continue on his path.
He looked around for a few seconds, if the goal was only speed, stopping here would be a waste of time.
But if Silas had intentionally mentioned special locations, ignoring the first one he found did not make much sense.
"We’ve already come this far, so there’s no problem with testing it, and besides, there is no time limit for the test."
[Sub-Test accepted.]
[Broken Path.]
A sound of stone came from behind the platform.
Lian turned around.
A large part of the mist moved away and revealed a narrow cliff behind the ruins, on the other side of the cliff, a small stone platform was floating in the air about one hundred meters away.
There was no bridge between them, and then the first piece of stone appeared in the air.
Then the second.
The third.
In less than a few seconds, a path made of floating stone pieces was formed toward the platform on the other side.
But before he could take a step, the first stone disappeared.
A few seconds later, it appeared again.
The second stone disappeared.
Then the fourth.
At first glance, the pattern looked random.
Lian stood beside the cliff and watched for almost a minute.
Each piece remained for three to five seconds and then disappeared for a different amount of time.
If someone was fast enough, they might be able to run across them without thinking, but one mistake was enough to fall into the sea of clouds below the island.
Of course, the protective seal would probably activate before death, but being removed from the test just because of a stupid rush was not worth it.
He looked more carefully, there was something on the first stone, a very small symbol.
He bent down a little to see it better, there was a nearly faded symbol on the surface of each piece, and every time just before the stone disappeared, its shape changed slightly.
"So it’s not only about speed, reaction time is also important," he whispered to himself.
Or at least it was not only about speed.
The symbols warned him before each stone disappeared.
If he could read the pattern, even someone who was not very fast could cross it.
He watched a few more cycles, then took a step and jumped onto the first stone, the symbol changed and he moved to the second without rushing.
The third was still there, but Lian did not jump onto it, two seconds later, the same stone disappeared.
He waited on the second piece, then moved to the fourth.
Every step was based on timing, and instead of racing against the disappearing stones, he let the path itself decide when he should move.
However, this strategy stopped working halfway through, because the order changed.
The stone that was supposed to appear did not appear.
The young Vorhelm stayed on the piece under his feet instead of jumping, the symbol on it was still unchanged.
Two seconds later, a new path appeared on the left.
"You even change it in the middle of the test?"
There was no answer, but now he knew what the test wanted.
A few minutes later, he landed on the platform on the other side and a short golden light appeared around the platform.
[Sub-Test completed.]
[Points updated.]
[Current Points: 164.]
Lian looked at the number for a moment, he still did not know exactly how many points he had received for killing each monster or completing this test.
It was probably intentional.
The test probably did not want them to know how many points they received for each action.
Then another light appeared in front of him.
[Sub-Test Reward]
A round metal token, almost the size of his palm.
Its surface was dark, and the design of a broken crown with silver lines could be seen on it.
[Broken Crown Token ×1]
[Use: Helper.]
"Helper? What does that mean?" He picked up the token and turned it between his fingers for a few moments.
No other notification appeared.
"Alright."
He placed the token in his storage space and returned through the stone path.
When he entered the forest again, he stopped after a few steps, a strange silence had filled the forest, and there was truly no sound.
The birds had gone silent, the sounds of distant creatures had stopped.
Even the wind, which had been moving through the trees almost without stopping since he entered, had now become a very weak breeze.
The mist around his feet was almost completely still, and he slowly raised his head.
[Performance Evaluation completed.]
[Adjusting difficulty level.]
The ground shook.
The roots sticking out of the ground moved, and several rocks fell down the slope beside the forest.
The birds that had remained silent until that moment suddenly flew up from the deeper parts of the forest and moved together toward the sky.
Something was approaching through the trees, this time, its footsteps were heavier than the monsters from the previous waves.
But it was not fast, every step was slow, and yet the ground shook under it.
Then two trees moved aside and a four-legged creature nearly four meters tall came out of the forest.
Its body looked more like a combination of black wood and stone than flesh.
Thick and uneven plates covered its chest, shoulders, and sides, and large roots were wrapped around its four legs.
Two bone blades came out from above its shoulders, and its small orange eyes lit up inside its stone-like head.
[Simulated Monster.]
[Ironroot Ravager.]
[Rank: Fallen.]
[Level: 18.]
Lian looked at the last number for a moment.
Level 18.
It was lower than the previous wave of enemies, but the Rank changed everything.
A real Fallen Monster at this level could give a Level 30 Awakened a lot of trouble and even kill a nornal one
The Ironroot Ravager roared and moved.
Unlike the previous monsters, it did not charge blindly, with every step, it kept its body lower, and the thick plates on its shoulders covered the front of its head and neck.
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