Infinite Realm

*Boom* 

A violent explosion rang out on an arena as a flaming ball hit a red wooden puppet. 

*Crack* *Crack*

Large cracks began to form on the puppet's body and they eventually expanded and extended to cover the entirety of the puppet.

*Bang*

Finally, with a fierce bang, the puppet broke into pieces and was destroyed. Sprawled all over the arena, just a couple of metres around it, were the leftovers of a few other wooden puppets.

"Huff Huff." 

A weary Xue Yan was exposed after the explosion settled, with sweat all over her forehead which accentuated her beauty to a whole other level. Due to the sweat excreted from her body by virtue of the demanding battle she had undergone, her previously loose mage robes began to stick to her skin, highlighting her magnificent curves. The aura exuded from Xue Yan's body was fiery and this wasn't because of her beauty.

"This girl has a lot of potential." Saimon commended as he stared at the lady in red robes with a hint of astonishment in his eyes.

"Indeed. Ignoring the rewards they would gain at the end of the trials, just by their current gains and achievements, she's already surpassed that little boy." Lord Worrus' voice sounded from the side. 

From the tone of his voice, he also seemed to be impressed about Xue Yan's progress in the trials as he didn't harbor as much faith in her as he did in Sato. As for the 'little boy' he was referring to, that was obviously Sato, and by all right, he could do so. Ignoring the fact that this was a game, if they were to calculate their ages, Sato's age wouldn't even be up to a hundredth of Worrus'.

The current Xue Yan was a whole lot stronger than before the trials. This wasn't strength in relation increase in levels, but improvement in her skills and battle awareness. In IR, attributes weren't a pure measure of one's abilities or strength; they were just a physical quantification of an element of one's abilities such as their speed or power. Also, a player could improve in strength even without increasing their attributes. This was by improving their body's natural physique[1]. The effect of physique was currently not popular among players but it actually existed. 

A good example is when a [Guardian] and a [Swordsman] or maybe even a mage class player with the same amount of [Strength] were to clash in close combat. The mage player or [Swordsman] would lose to the [Guardian] because [Strength] was the advantage of a [Guardian] and their physique is altered to give them this advantage. The current Xue Yan was able to gain an improvement in her body's physique that aided her abilities as a mage in the Main trials or to be specific, the first challenge.

"This girl is really lucky; at least luckier than that young man." Saimon sighed. He was originally rooting for Sato to win and didn't have much faith in Xue Yan but she had ended up giving him surprise after surprise.

"True." Lord Worrus didn't deny it.

The Main Trials consisted of 3 different challenges and each participant would usually face a different one, though some challenges would repeat. However, it was a confirmed case that at a single instance, despite the number of participants entering at the same time, they would all experience different challenges. Sato and Xue Yan had entered the same time but their challenges were different from the other. Sato had faced the [Staircase to Zolstice] for his first challenge but experienced the [Labyrinth of Helios] for his second. Xue Yan, on the other hand, had faced the [Puzzle of Cryptics] for her first and the second one, which she was currently facing, was the [Battle of Ten Thousand]. When Lord Worrus and Saimon praised Xue Yan for her luck, they were referring to the fact that she had encountered the [Puzzle of Cryptics].

Not all challenges in the Main trials were related to battle, after all, several different participants had appeared in history and would appear in the future. Some of the challenges would aid one in comprehending their strength and abilities better and the [Puzzle of Cryptics] was one such.

The [Puzzle of Cryptics] was aimed at mages and Rune-forgers or scribes. They were required to complete a specific amount of fragmented magical runes within a certain amount of time. While it was a challenge, players were able to learn more about runes and spells in the process, increasing their knowledge as well as their control and power. The more runes one could complete, the more knowledge, experience, and improvements they would receive. 

This was like having an apprentice mechanic fix the engine of a Lamborghini or a Ferrari. At first, he/she obviously would know nothing about it since their area of expertise was commercial cars and he/she was just an apprentice. But if they were to start from the bottom, going over old Toyota or Honda models, then learning about the new ones then old Ferrari models, and so on, they would eventually learn the mechanics behind it and would be able to fix the car engine, so long as their learning speed and thinking capacity were satisfactory. The same held for the [Puzzle of Cryptics].

However, Xue Yan had an advantage.

Using the same analogy, imagine if the apprentice already had forehand knowledge about the Ferrari engine. They would just need a little bit more experience to convert that theoretical knowledge to practical skill. At that point in time, they would be able to repair the engine or even build it from scratch. The same went for Xue Yan who had already read a lot about runes and spells in the Hall's library. The first challenge only served to help her digest this theoretical knowledge and convert it to practical skills. 

It was because of this that both Lord Worrus and Saimon had praised her for her luck because the first challenge had helped her to increase her strength without affecting her level. In other words, the challenges the current Xue Yan would face wouldn't increase in difficulty but would remain the same. However, she was already much stronger than she was before.

As for the second challenge that she was currently facing, the [Battle of Ten Thousand], it was as its name had implied. The [Battle of Ten Thousand] required Xue Yan to face ten thousand opponents however, she wouldn't do so all at once, otherwise, even the combination of her, Sato, and the others wouldn't do much. It was a survival challenge, so dying didn't mean failing the entire Main trials. Xue Yan had to face her opponents in sets and each one would be stronger than the last. Apart from that, she also had to reach a specific amount of kills which would enable her to move on to the next challenge.

Xue Yan originally began by facing one dirt-brown wooden battle puppet which was a level 5 Elite that she easily defeated. The next was 2 opponents and the number kept increasing in each set. By the 5th round, there was one Special Elite rank battle puppet with blue stripes but she still won. Following that, the number of Special Elites increased till she reached a total of 7 opponents. After that, the challenge repeated but this time it was a peach-coloured battle puppet which was a level 6 opponent. The same went on and by the 5th round, a Special Elite was also added to the mix. 

The loop continued till she encountered her match, a green coloured battle puppet, which was a level 8 opponent. 

Just like Sato, Xue Yan had made her preparations, sadly for this challenge, outside help wasn't allowed. However, Xue Yan was still allowed to use her manufactured runes since she had personally made them and they were considered a part of her strength. Because of this, the level 8 opponents weren't a challenge to her either. It was only when she faced the level 9 Elites that Xue Yan began facing some difficulties, after all, she had used most of her runes against her level 8 opponents. 

Currently, Xue Yan was had just defeated the 4th wave of the red puppets meaning that her strength was about the level of four level 9 Elite monsters despite being a level 8 player; and this is after she had spent a lot of stamina and energy on facing other monsters s well as using most of her skills and abilities with the previous opponents.

"Her strength is quite alright but this is where it ends." Lord Worrus said.

"Indeed. Ever since its creation, no one has ever completed the [Battle of Ten Thousand]." Saimon nodded.

The [Battle of Ten Thousand] required one to defeat ten thousand battle puppets, whose strength would increase with time and proportion to the challenger. Not even a god could claim to be able to complete it. Even Xue Yan knew her limits.

'I'd probably lose against the next one. However, I need to deal as much damage as possible to them. If I can defeat the Special Elite then that would be better.'

Since she didn't know how many puppets she had to defeat to pass, Xue Yan had to kill as many as possible just in case. This was why despite knowing she would lose, she still wanted to give it her all and take a few enemies down with her.

"Such will and endurance are impressive." Lord Worrus' voice said.

"If she had appeared back in the days, I would have taken her as my student."

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