News of the Trial

After Fran entered the white light, everything went black before her eyes, and she couldn't sense anything at all, as if she didn't have those organs.

Fran remained in this 'nothingness' for about ten seconds before she felt her feet touching the ground and could feel the temperature of the outside world.

As the light shone into her eyes, a voice followed.

"Proxy?!"

The voice was filled with immense astonishment, followed by the sound of flesh colliding, as if the person who made the sound had fallen to the ground in shock.

Fran opened her eyes and saw a familiar building— the Divine Temple of Monsa City from the Spirit Realm Trial.

She looked around and realized that she was standing at the port of a river, on a wooden plank, and around her were a dozen or so people dressed in Monsa clothing.

Some people have some Dragonkin features, while others do not.

At that reminder from the Proxy, almost everyone looked at Fran and then exclaimed in unison.

"A true Proxy."

Fran could only manage an awkward smile, putting her hands behind her back, unsure how to handle the situation.

Fortunately, something else happened unexpectedly that drew everyone's attention to her; a screen of light suddenly appeared beside her.

Then, countless Spirit Crystal shot out from the light screen.

That's right, it just gushed out, as if a connection had been opened beneath the pile of Spirit Crystal, and these Spirit Crystal flew out of the light curtain with inertia.

"Don't just stand there, this is a task commanded by our lord, get to work!"

At the crucial moment, someone realized what was happening and shouted, drawing everyone's attention away from Fran.

Even so, they couldn't help but steal glances at Fran while dealing with the spewed-out Spirit Crystal.

Fran stood awkwardly to the side, unsure of what to do next.

Are they here to count these Spirit Crystal Spirit Crystal? But it's clear that the Lord of Radiance has already arranged for people to handle them.

Should we go to the Divine Temple to find the Divine Statue of the Lord of Radiance? But Fran is already famous here; wouldn't it be a bad idea to just walk straight there?

Just as Fran was struggling with her decision, a joyful voice rang out from beside her.

"It really is you, Proxy!"

Fran turned her head and saw that it was Lyle, an old acquaintance of hers.

He was wearing a white robe with a winged pattern on his chest, and he exuded an astonishing aura.

Fran carefully discerned this aura and was quite surprised by what she discovered: she could sense that the other party was now a second-tier Profession.

If the dragonification traits on these people could be eliminated, Fran wouldn't be too surprised, since the previous Deity here could do it, there's no reason why the Lord of Radiance couldn't.

However, it is truly astonishing that in such a short period of time, a person could be transformed from an ordinary person who had drunk the Dragon-Transformation Potion into a Second Order Profession User.

This also made Fran deeply appreciate the power of the gods; even with her Panel, she hadn't reached the second tier so quickly.

Lyle stepped forward to Fran, curtsied to her, and then said respectfully:

"Proxy, you're finally back..." Lyle's face was full of excitement, as if Fran's return was a momentous event.

Then Lyle seemed to remember something and said to Fran:

"My Proxy, my lord is waiting in the Divine Temple."

Fran understood the implication in the other person's words: the Lord of Radiance was already waiting for her in the Divine Temple to discuss the next steps.

Without hesitation, Fran followed Lyle toward the Divine Temple in the center of Monsa.

On her way to the Divine Temple, every person Fran encountered would show a shocked expression and then watch Fran walk away, which made Fran feel a little uneasy.

As Fran climbed the mountain leading to the Divine Temple, she glanced back and witnessed a truly magnificent sight.

In the past, when Fran stood on the mountain where the Divine Temple was located, she saw a horizon that was no different from the Material Realm.

But now she no longer saw the horizon; she saw the green meadows around Monsa stretch to a boundary line, where they abruptly turned grayish-brown, as if she had entered some other region.

She looked at the gray-brown grass in the distance, where some things looked like trees, but were not actually trees.

The trees had many branches, but no leaves were visible on them. She watched as the branches lay limp on the ground, deeply embedded in the soil.

There was more than one of these grayish-brown patches of land. To Fran's right was a forest growing over a swamp; to Fran's left was an Block covered with white stone.

"These are the Block we have occupied under God's guidance."

Lyle explained this to Fran with pride and a genuine sense of accomplishment.

Block? Are these Block from other realms? Fran guessed.

But that's not important. What's important now is to hurry into the Divine Temple and discuss the robbery of the Emerald Market with the Lord of Radiance.

"Let's keep going," Fran said slowly, turning her head.

Lyle didn't waste any time and led Fran directly towards the Divine Temple.

At this moment, all traces of the battle inside the Divine Temple had been removed, Fran saw a perfectly clean interior of the Divine Temple.

After bringing Fran to the Divine Temple, Lyle stopped right outside the door and gestured for Fran to go in by herself.

Fran didn't dwell on it and strode straight in. After she went in, the door behind her closed automatically.

At the same time, according to Fran's perception, she seemed to have arrived at a special place, and she stopped in her tracks.

"I am coming."

Fran's voice echoed in the empty hall, but the enormous Divine Statue before her remained unresponsive.

After a while, the Divine Statue's eyes lit up, and Fran's familiar, gentle voice rang out.

"Thank you for your hard work, my Proxy."

"You can take 5% of those Spirit Crystal as your reward for this operation."

"So few? I risked my life to go in, and almost lost my weapon."

"That was also because I made the Spirit Realm of the Emerald Market ineffective."

"..."

After some haggling, Fran received approximately 8% of the Spirit Crystal as a reward. Now that this matter was settled, it was time to talk about something else.

Do you know about the Trial of the Sun?

This was one of the conditions for Fran to become Sunflame Knight. She had searched for a long time at the Northern Lands Society, including asking Iris and contacting Harbos via magical communication, but she had no clues.

Now, the only one who might know about the Trial of the Sun is this god before them. If even he doesn't know, Fran has no better options.

"The Trial of the Sun?!" Hearing the Lord of Radiance seem to recognize the word "Trial," Fran quickly pressed for an answer:

"Ha... you know about the Trial of the Sun."

"I don't know..." came the intermittent words from the Divine Statue.

Just as Fran was feeling disappointed, the Lord of Radiance suddenly spoke up.

"I don't know anything about this Trial of the Sun, but I roughly know that if you want to find it, you can go there."

Fran's eyes lit up, and then she said:

Tell me about it!

The Lord of Radiance paused for a moment, then a gentle voice slowly emanated from the Divine Statue.

"First of all, I think you know that Deity in the Material Realm are represented by a star, right?"

"Yes." Fran nodded; she had seen this passage in a book a long time ago.

"Since Deity represent the stars, have you ever thought about what the sun and moon, these two celestial bodies that are larger and more unique than the stars, represent?"

Fran was startled by this statement. She felt that the Lord of Radiance's words made a lot of sense. After all, if the stars could represent Deity, then what about the even more unique sun and moon?

Fran quickly pressed on, asking:

What do they represent?

"I don't know the specifics either..."

Upon hearing this, Fran immediately rolled her eyes, seemingly unable to bear the Lord of Radiance still keeping her in suspense.

The laughter of the Lord of Radiance echoed from within the Divine Statue.

"Okay, that's not really important, because even I don't know what the sun and moon represent, or if they represent nothing at all..."

"The celestial bodies we see in the Material Realm are all located in the Astral Realm, including the sun and the moon. In other words, you are unlikely to find any Trial of the Sun in the Material Realm."

"The Trial of the Sun you're looking for can only take place in the Spirit Realm, because the Spirit Realm is the barrier between the Material Realm and the Astral Realm."

"In the Spirit Realm, there is such a domain, with a large sphere of light at its center. Anyone or anything that gets close will be incinerated by the intense heat. Because it resembles the sun, this domain is called the Sun Domain."

"I think there might be the Trial of the Sun that you need there."

In fact, the Lord of Radiance was unaware of the existence of this realm, but He accidentally discovered it during His 'territorial expansion'.

The Lord of Radiance wasn't particularly interested in those specific Block, which is why he didn't make a move against this realm.

After listening, Fran seemed thoughtful, thinking that this Sun Domain might indeed hold the Trial of the Sun she was looking for. She nodded to Radiance and said:

"Then I'll be going. I'll leave the Spirit Crystal here for now."

"Take care, and remember to quickly expand your believers in the Material Realm..."

Fran pushed open the Divine Temple doors, where Lyle had been waiting.

Seeing Fran emerge, he asked with an expectant expression:

"My Proxy, will you stay this time?"

Fran smiled and said:

"No, my lord has assigned me to a mission elsewhere."

"I see..." Lyle's face was full of disappointment and regret.

Although he wanted Fran to stay and help him oversee the overall situation, he couldn't really say anything under the command of the Deity.

After all, his power came from the Deity, so naturally he had to obey Deity commands.