The Trial Is Nearing Its End

Heather opened her eyes and saw a bright ceiling; this was the room she had been in before ascending to the Spirit Realm.

Then, as she raised her hand and turned her body to the side, she heard a sound.

"Your Highness, you're finally awake! What happened in the Spirit Realm?"

Heather stood up, shook her head, and rubbed her aching chest before she felt better.

Although non- Spirit Realm Profession do not suffer physical damage when they die in the Spirit Realm, they will still experience some pain.

"Something did happen. I was killed by someone using Sunflame Arts during the Trial."

Valerie blinked and said slowly:

"Your Highness, you were killed. It was that person who used Sunflame Arts who fought you one-on-one..."

"I couldn't see anything when I was killed. All I saw was darkness, and then a weapon with Sunflame pierced my chest."

"When I died, I was walking with three Proxy. After I came down, I didn't know if they were still alive."

Valerie also realized the seriousness of Heather's words.

"The Trial participant who used the Sunflame Arts ambushed and killed one of the four Proxy without them noticing..."

Valerie knew from the mere thought of the scene that this was no ordinary event; this Trial seemed quite different from the usual ones.

"No wonder the Deity sent an Archbishop to the Spirit Realm to discuss matters."

"Archbishop, are we going to the Spirit Realm?"

Heather asked in some shock, "Personnel of this caliber are not usually transferred casually. It must have been something major that made the Deity decide to send the Archbishop to the Spirit Realm."

"Yes, Your Highness. Actually, before you returned, similar news came from other Sect of the Deity. They were mostly about Proxy of other Sect being killed by someone who used Sunflame Arts."

"Furthermore, according to the information we've received, the person who uses the Sunflame Arts may have a way of disguising themselves as Proxy."

"Many Proxy were caught off guard and killed because they relaxed their guard because of the other party's identity Proxy."

"Furthermore, according to the latest news, eight of the Proxy went to Trial Trial have been confirmed to have returned."

"Eight?"

Heather was somewhat shocked when she heard the number; she knew that if all the members of her squad died, that would be exactly twelve.

This figure indicates that virtually all Proxy who went to the Spirit Realm to obstruct the Trial failed.

"Then we failed... I remember we had Elephant of Mountains Proxy in our team, ask Rachel if she's back yet."

Valery walked out the door, then came back in ten seconds later and said:

"Our current information is that, including Your Highness, approximately ten Proxy have returned."

Heather sighed and then said:

"Even if there are still Proxy inside the Trial, it's useless. I didn't expect we could fail this mission."

Heather paused for a moment, then continued:

"By the way, this is the first recorded failure, right?"

"You are right, Your Highness. This is indeed the first time. In the records of similar events over the past hundred years, this is the first time that a situation has occurred where the Trial was hindered and the trial failed."

"Then we've truly made history."

Heather said with a hint of self-deprecation.

"There's no way around it. That Trial participant who knows the Sunflame Arts is too powerful. He has a very strong binding Arts that makes people unable to move inside. I guess only Rachel could put up a fight."

"This is not your problem, Your Highness. Since that Proxy knows the Sunflame Arts is so powerful, even if we send ten more Proxy up there, it still won't be successful."

Heather composed herself slightly and was about to leave when she seemed to remember something...

"By the way, Valerie, do you know who I met during the Spirit Realm Trial this time?"

"Who?"

"The Proxy we encountered last time we went to the Emerald Market was the one who robbed the Emerald Market Deity."

"Oh!" Valerie was somewhat surprised, not expecting Fran, the Proxy, to have done such a thing and still have the audacity to participate in this Trial.

However, it must have been Deity command; perhaps there was some connection between the Deity that she hadn't considered.

She stopped dwelling on why Fran had gone to the Spirit Realm for Trial and instead asked about something else.

"Did you have a conflict with her?"

Upon hearing this, Heather instinctively patted herself, finding nothing amiss. She then said in a somewhat disappointed tone:

"No, she even handed the sword to me willingly, so I didn't have a conflict with her."

"It was just a coincidence that she was attacked when she handed me the weapon."

"We didn't have time to perform the ritual of exchanging items, so I didn't bring the Short Sword back."

As she spoke, Heather recalled the rune pattern she had seen on the short Short Sword, but her memory was now somewhat confused.

One image is of the Short Sword still engraved with the pattern of the frost behemoth, just like the one she saw at the Emerald Market.

Another scene shows her seeing the image of the Goddess of Ocean Currents on her Short Sword, not the kind of image on Divine Statue, but the full image of the Goddess of Ocean Currents that she occasionally sees when she is praying.

Heather shook her head, thinking the latter image was her imagination, a figment of her imagination based on information she had received from Valerie.

To inscribe such Ancient Rune, one must first see the full form of the Deity. However, apart from her, almost no one can see the full form of the Goddess of Ocean Currents, so this must be one's own illusion.

She didn't even tell Valerie about it, otherwise the latter would have gone on and on about how she disrespected the Deity.

She kept that matter to herself and stopped thinking about it, then brought up another matter.

"By the way, it seems that the red-glowing Arts we saw the Proxy use at the Emerald Market last time was the Sunflame Arts."

Valerie's expression froze, then turned serious.

"Your Highness, are you sure? If so, then the Proxy from last time might be the one who attacked you."

"After all, didn't you just say that you were ambushed the moment you got that Short Sword?"

Heather shook her head and continued:

"I'm certain she used the Sunflame Arts. After seeing it again, combined with the description the Deity gave me, I'm quite certain that the Sunflame Arts was what brought me back to the Material Realm last time."

"But..." Heather shook her head and continued:

"I don't believe she was the one who attacked me. First of all, from the most basic logic, even if she had the ability, what benefit would she gain from killing us?"

"Once you become Proxy of God, it's almost impossible to pursue a Profession advancement path."

"Furthermore, since Sunflame Arts is a Arts that can be obtained from the Adventurers Guild, it's quite normal for the other party to know Arts, after all, this Arts is very powerful."

Valerie raised an eyebrow and said slowly:

"So Your Highness doesn't believe that the Proxy was the one who attacked you?"

"Yes," Heather continued.

"Moreover, when I was attacked, there was no sudden bright light like last time; instead, my body was restrained by something."

"It's obvious that she didn't use this Arts during the last conflict with us, and if she had, she would have used it then."

"After all, if she had used that Arts back then, we wouldn't have been able to stop her at all, let alone fight her for a while."

"Besides, not much time has passed since we last met her. I don't think she could have mastered such a powerful Arts in such a short period of time."

Perhaps it was because Fran had just returned the Short Sword to Heather that Heather had developed a more positive impression of Fran.

In any case, Heather never doubted Fran; on the contrary, she tried her best to protect Fran.

Valerie smiled, then turned and walked to the door.

"Alright, Your Highness, since you've just returned from the Spirit Realm, let's not discuss who used the Sunflame Arts to launch the sneak attack. That's a matter for the Archbishop to consider."

"I'll be going now, so as not to disturb your rest any longer."

Valerie went out and closed the door, leaving Heather alone in the room.

"By the way, it seems she's hiding in the Spirit Realm because of what happened last time. We didn't agree on a way to contact her, so it looks like we won't be able to find her or get that Short Sword."

Heather suddenly realized that she might not be able to get the Short Sword she wanted again, and could only sigh softly.

Returning to the Sun Domain, within the Trial, the red pillar of light has been burning for about a day.

A pair of eyes fixed on the spot couldn't hide their excitement. Zali excitedly pounded the scorched earth, but he still couldn't calm his heart.

"Finally, after hundreds of years, a new Sunflame Knight has been born."

Zali unconsciously repeated the sentence several times, his eyes never leaving the scene on the screen.

He watched as Fran, after dealing with the four Proxy, headed towards the third Trial and activated the pillar of light without hesitation.

Although the beam of light attracted the Trial participants captured from the Spirit Realm, none of them were a match for Fran's terrifying power.

Zali watched as Fran stood beneath the pillar of light, battling various enemies, and then spent the entire day in the arena.

"Perhaps in the future, if someone wants to participate in the Trial of the Sun, I can recommend this method of hunting down Proxy."

Zali made a humorous joke, knowing that Fran's success was not something that could be replicated.

After all, how could a normal Trial participant possess the strength of Fran, or the ability to impersonate Proxy?

Moreover, after this incident, Zali even guaranteed that the Gods would develop a plan to hunt down these Proxy.

Even if Fran were to undergo such Trial again, with the prepared Deity intervening, the outcome would be uncertain.

However, Fran only needs to pass the Trial once, which is enough for Fran to obtain the Sunflame Knight Profession.