"Wee to the Graveyard. Due to the unique nature of this challenge, levels 38 to 40 have been merged. You must clear both levels together by killing all monsters within 15 minutes.


    You can choose to rx now before entering the trial or rest afterward. Make your decision within the next 5 seconds."


    Immediately, us appeared on Level 38 as the system introduced the nature of the trial. He quickly took in his surroundings.


    Looking around, he knew many would be taken aback by how the next levels of the trial would progress, but us was more interested in the setting he had just found himself in.


    He found himself in a graveyard filled with crumbling tombstones and mausoleums. The tombstones looked ancient as if they had been crafted by a game designer. Lucil had clearly invested a lot into the Dark Tower trial, aiming to impress us.


    A cold wind howled, carrying ghostly whispers.


    "This ce feels icky," us muttered before opting to continue instead of resting. He wasn''t really tired; it was just that something about the current trial made him think it would be a good one.


    As expected, the moment he decided to continue, some of the tombstones started to move, and the area began to grow darker.


    "Spooky," us said, watching his surroundings with eagerness. Suddenly, from the shadows that seemed to have appeared within the area and beneath the tombstones, bony ghouls began to rise.


    "Grave Ghouls," us muttered.


    It was a game character he had learned about from Lucil during his time at Stone Valley. Back then, he didn''t understand why she was so keen on him learning the names of her game characters.


    But now, as he watched hundreds of skeletal creatures with elongated ws emerging from the ground to ambush him, he couldn''t help but smile. Lucil had made sure he wasn''t overwhelmed when heid eyes on the monsters.


    Of course, he hadn''t really paid much attention to her ramblings, but his brain was very good at picking things up, so he immediately knew he had to do just one thing.


    ''I have to look for the Death Mage,'' us said inwardly.


    From what he could remember, Lucil mentioned that she implemented these characters in one of her video games. She wanted to create a mage necromancer ss where the user could only summon Grave Ghouls.


    However, after some brainstorming, she came up with a better idea. Instead of just Grave Ghouls, she decided to add another monster with simr traits. This meant even a rabid dog could have some abilities of a Grave Ghoul.


    In essence, she aimed to create OP characters, ultimately putting theirmand in the hands of a sneaky character called the Death Mage. These Death Mages are darkness-type characters with great control over dark energies.


    However, they are cowards and prefer to hide, summoning their minions to do their bidding. Like necromancers, the monsters they summon are undead, meaning as long as the Death Mages are alive, the tide of undead will never cease.


    ''I better find that sneaky bastard before the other icky and spooky monsters pour in,'' us thought.


    He sprang into action. The Void Piercing Needles began their onught, and his senses activated, scanning the battlefield for the fiend.


    ***


    Far away in Stone Valley, Lucil, her friend, Olive, and the three nerds were seated, watching us''s trial with smiles on their faces.


    "Looks like he was paying attention when I spoke about the Dark Mages and the Grave Ghouls," Lucil said, smiling.


    "What did you expect?" Joon replied. "I remembered how you were bothering him with all your ''amazing'' character designs," he added.


    "Well, he didn''t go to school like every other kid, and he also never had ess to the inte until recently, so he never yed the Ghoul Ascendence game. If I hadn''t said anything to him, he would have chosen to fight these monsters until time ran out," Lucil exined.


    The three nerds nodded, knowing what she said was true. Unlike many who had ess to these games, us never did, so it was her way of educating him.


    "Then what about his sister? I researched her and found out she wasn''t really his sister by birth but rather an orphan he epted into his family. How would she manage that?" Ryan asked.


    Since us had been indirectly given a heads-up, what about his sister Hanna? Among the 5,000 taking the trial, they were the only two without any shy backgrounds. While other academies and families were guiding their youngsters through game trials and training, they weren''t as fortunate.


    "Who said she doesn''t know?" Lucil asked with a smirk. "Have you heard of the Female X Archers before? Specifically, Female Archer XX and Female Archer XI?" she asked again.


    "Of course, everybody knows those two gamers. However, nobody knows their true identities," Joon surprisingly answered. The question was rather unusual, something a nerd like him shouldn''t have known, but he did.


    Lucil smiled inwardly, understanding why he was aware of that. However, she chose to stay on topic.


    "Well, Female Archer XX is us''s sister. She and her friend formed that group when Ghoul Ascendenceunched four years ago and have been topping the charts ever since. So, I think among all 5,000 candidates that entered the trial, she was perhaps the most well-informed."


    "No way!" Joon eximed, his smile widening in shock.


    "You look like you''ve uncovered the identity of your idol," Lucil remarked, observing Joon''s expression.


    "That''s because he did. Joon is a huge fan of those two. He even has their posters in his room," Ryan ratted him out before he could deny anything.


    "He even offered to pay a million gold coins just to meet them at one point when their fame was skyrocketing."


    Lucil and the others burst into resoundingughter at what Ryan said. Joon could only hide his face as he observed us moving toward something.


    us moved through the graveyard, killing monsters left and right. His senses were on high alert, searching for the root cause of the horde.


    Five minutes passed, but he hadn''t found it. Then suddenly, he noticed a shift in one of the destroyed mausoleums. He quickly made his way there, killing the monsters along the way as if they were chickens.


    "Got ya!" us eximed the moment his senses picked up on the shadowy figure. Without wasting time, he summoned a sword and coated it in fire. Heshed forward, sending a clean, lethal fire arc that cut through the mausoleum.


    The attack destroyed it, creating a wide-open area for him to see the Death Mage. He quickly unleashed another fire arc thatnded in empty space. However, us just smiled as he watched the shadowy figure moving through the darkness, trying to escape.


    The Ice Lotus appeared, and before the shadowy figure could jump into its next hiding spot, an ice beamnded on it, freezing it in ce instantly. One thing about the Dark Mage: despite its ability to summon hundreds of Death Ghouls, they themselves weren''t that strong.


    So the ice beam was all it took to kill it. Its body froze for a few seconds before dissipating. Immediately it did, us was teleported to a ce where the system immediately asked if he wanted to rest or continue.


    Of course, he opted to continue.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Thus, us entered the third stage of the Trial leading everyone.