Chapter 561: Perspective


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    The ce for the second test was yet again inside another ordinary, spacious chamber. Adam looked around the room, wondering to himself, Hmm... could it be?


    As he had expected, the chamber began to distort the next moment. The colors turned blurry, and the stones on the walls and ceilings began to melt.


    In but a few moments, Adam found himself standing inside a vast za full of people!


    "Another illusion," said the youth as he looked around.


    The za was situated inside a bustling metropolis. From the attire of the men and women around him, Adam could guess that this was an illusion of an Acadian city.


    However, it was something of the past. Adam had only seen people wearing these traditional clothes in paintings and history books.


    Just as he was wondering where he was, a beautiful young woman walked up to him. She wore revealing clothes that unted the majority of her body.


    Her eyes shed with lust and longing as she dove into Adam''s arms. "My love, I have been waiting for you!"


    Adam was speechless and thought to himself, What the hell is going on?!


    He couldn''t help but feel a warm tingling sensation inside his chest. After all, this person before him was by far the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.


    "Everyone said that you won''t return from the war, that you''d die at the hands of the enemy," said the woman as pearls of tears trickled down her fair face, making her all the more alluring in Adam''s eyes.


    She leaned closer and whispered in his ears, "But I knew you''d return. A man as strong as you would never be in by those barbarians."


    Adam''s breathing turned heavy as he lowered his head and nced at the seductive expression of this woman.


    Although he knew it was an illusion, it was tempting. Very tempting.


    The woman proceeded to nibble at his earlobe. Then, she gently stroked Adam''s beard and said in an erotic voice, "Come now, my dear husband. You promised me that once you returned from the war, you would give me loads of children. Let us go home."


    Adam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, they were clear. He had extinguished the ripple of emotion that was beginning to form inside of him.


    He looked at the woman and said tly, "No."


    Right at that moment, everything and everyone inside the illusion seemed to have momentarilye to a pause.


    But suddenly, warning bells started to ring inside Adam''s mind, alerting him of the impending danger.


    This was the first time that he had felt danger inside the inheritance!


    The woman, who was supposedly his wife within this illusion, suddenly turned into a shadowy figure, covered in ck miasma.


    Her eyes shed with an ominous light as she suddenly conjured a ck dagger out of nowhere and thrust it toward Adam''s throat.


    They were already standing extremely close to one another, giving Adam very little room to maneuver.


    DRIP!


    A few drops of blood fell to the ground. The dagger had just barely managed to pierce Adam''s neck by a quarter of an inch.


    At thest possible moment, he was able to shift his head to the side and also grab the weapon-wielding hand of the shadowy figure.


    The youth''s eyes shed with ruthlessness and he thrust his other hand straight through the shadowy figure''s chest.


    SPLAT!N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The figure dissipated into wisps of shadows, dissipating into thin air. All that remained was the ck dagger that it had once wielded.


    However, a strange transformation took ce. The smoke covering the ck dagger receded, revealing a raven''s feather inside!


    Before it fell to the ground, Adam grabbed it. He nced at it curiously, muttering to himself, "This feather is as sharp as a Rank 2 artifact!"


    The raven feather was the size of his entire forearm-from the elbow to the tip of his middle finger. The quill acted as the handle, whereas the vane served as the de.


    "How interesting," Adam muttered as he swung the feather around.


    He could sense a very strong chill radiating from the de. He then imbued it with mana and swung it randomly. The chill radiating from it got even more intense.


    "Nice!" He grinned. "I wonder if this is the reward for this trial-"


    As if refuting his statement, the surroundings around him distorted once again. Seeing this, he couldn''t help but shake his head and sigh.


    The Trial of Persepctive was far from over.


    And just like that, he was put inside another illusion. For this one, he had to face yet another desiremon to man: power.


    But unlike thest one, Adam didn''t have much problem dealing with it. After that, came another illusion where he had to face his desire for glory.


    Once again, he passed it effortlessly. He had never bothered about such things to begin with. He believed in living a simple life, away from the eyes and ears of the public.


    The only reason he even took so long battling his desire for lust was because he was still a young man in the prime of his youth. He just couldn''t help it.


    Finally, thest illusion was the test which took him the longest to pass. It was the most difficult one he''d faced in this trial.


    He had to face his desire for wealth!


    The Trial of Perspective made the seeker face multiple illusions of their own desire, each one more tempting than thest.


    To pass, they had to reject the illusions, recognizing them as fleeting distractions. They had to choose the path of wisdom and humility instead.


    After having finished the test, Adam stood at the center of the chamber with four raven feathers in his hand. His mind, however, was not on these weapons.


    Instead, he was pondering the lesson thest illusion taught him.


    "Is this your way of saying true wealth is found in wisdom and virtue, instead of material possessions or external validation?" He asked out aloud. "That leaves a bad aftertase in my


    mouth..."


    Right at the moment, the androgynous voice from before echoed yet again.


    "The Trial of Perspective isplete! You may now recieve your reward!"