Chapter 2086: Second Monolith!

"Anyway, I’m heading in now," Damian said, glancing toward the enormous door that led to the First Shadow Trial. "I’ll see all of you at the second monolith."

Without waiting for a reply, he stepped forward. The formation around the entrance reacted at once, and a faint glow wrapped around his body before he disappeared.

Revona looked toward the same door. "Same here."

She gave Max and the others a quick nod and followed Damian. As soon as she reached the entrance, another spatial ripple appeared, and her figure vanished as well.

Ervin watched them go before turning to Max, Rosaline, and Rakan. "Let’s head to the second monolith."

The other three agreed, and together they began making their way out of the first monolith.

As they walked, Max glanced at the Bronze Mark on his palm, and a faint number surfaced in his perception. He had sixty-seven left, and that was all.

"I’ll need to fight a battle or two before I can keep going," Max said. "I’ve only got sixty-seven Bronze Marks left."

Rosaline immediately frowned. "Same here."

She checked her own mark before continuing. "We spent nearly everything just getting this far."

Rakan let out a quiet sigh beside her, and Ervin looked a little helpless as well. The Ten Shadows Trial had already turned out to be far more expensive than it first appeared.

Rosaline turned to Max. "And from what I’ve heard, the Second Shadow Trial costs two hundred Bronze Marks just to attempt."

Max’s step faltered for a moment. "Two hundred?"

His brows rose, since that was double the price of the first shadow. Then another possibility immediately occurred to him, and he looked toward the distant second monolith.

"Wait a second."

Rosaline and the others turned toward him.

Max’s expression grew a little incredulous. "If the First Shadow costs one hundred Bronze Marks and the second costs two hundred, does that mean the third costs three hundred?"

Nobody answered right away.

"And then four hundred for the fourth?" Max went on, looking from one of them to the next. "Five hundred for the fifth?"

His expression turned more serious as the pattern became obvious. "So by the Tenth Shadow Trial, it would cost a thousand Bronze Marks?"

If that were true, then every attempt would get more expensive the deeper someone progressed. The thought alone made Max realize just how many Bronze Marks a participant could burn through while staying inside the Ten Shadows Trial.

Ervin nodded. "That’s what we heard in Silverveil City."

Max looked at him. "So it isn’t confirmed?"

Ervin shook his head. "No. It’s just information that got passed around between participants, and we never saw anything official." He glanced toward the second monolith. "We’ll find out soon enough."

Max nodded slowly.

That particular detail had never been mentioned in the information they’d bought from the Information Hall in Bloodstone City. Perhaps it had been considered too minor, or perhaps the report had only covered the general structure of the Ten Shadows Trial. It was also possible that participants were simply expected to discover the rising cost for themselves.

Whatever the reason, the implication was clear. Max had seriously underestimated how many Bronze Marks he would need.

If every shadow only cost one hundred Bronze Marks per attempt, things would have been simple. He could enter one arena in each monolith, win a single battle, earn enough marks, and then challenge the next shadow.

If the cost rose by a hundred every time he moved on to another monolith, though, everything changed. One battle would no longer be enough, especially in the later monoliths.

By the time he reached the eighth or ninth shadow, he might have to fight several opponents just to afford a single attempt, and that was assuming he never failed. If he lost to any of the first nine shadows, he would have to pay the full entry fee all over again.

Max glanced toward the arenas behind them, and for the first time, he understood why there were so many of them.

The Ten Shadows Trial wasn’t designed to let people simply walk from one shadow to the next. Participants had to earn their progress.

They needed enough strength to defeat the shadows and enough confidence to wager Bronze Marks in the arenas, and most importantly, they needed the consistency to keep winning.

Max’s lips curved into a faint smile. "So that’s how it works."

Rosaline looked at him. "You sound like you’re enjoying this."

"I wouldn’t call it enjoying it," Max said, looking toward the second monolith. "But it’s more interesting than I expected."

The four of them kept walking.

As they left the first monolith behind, Max looked at the Bronze Mark on his palm once more. Sixty-seven Bronze Marks wouldn’t even be enough to enter the Second Shadow Trial if the rumors were true.

It seemed that before he could challenge the next shadow, he would first have to find someone willing to wager against him.

Not long after leaving the first monolith, Max, Ervin, Rakan, and Rosaline arrived at the second.

The moment they stepped inside, Max noticed one difference right away. It was even more crowded than the first.

The overall layout was nearly identical. A vast interior stretched out before them with hundreds of battle arenas scattered across it, and glowing formations surrounded each one to keep the fights contained and stop one battle’s attacks from spilling into another. Weapons clashed constantly, techniques exploded in bursts of light, and waves of law power surged through the air from every direction.

The real difference was the people, and the atmosphere here was noticeably more intense. Most of the participants in the second monolith had already passed the First Shadow Trial, which meant none of them could be written off as ordinary newcomers.

Even among the geniuses at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd levels of the Divine Lord Realm gathered here, nearly everyone carried themselves with more confidence than the people Max had seen in the first monolith.

Some of them were still recovering from earlier battles, while others stood beside the arenas searching for opponents willing to wager Bronze Marks. Several groups had gathered to discuss the Second Shadow Trial, and every so often, a cultivator would leave an arena looking either thrilled or plainly frustrated.

Max swept his gaze across the enormous chamber. Just like in the first monolith, a massive door stood beyond all the arenas, and it was impossible to miss.

The door leading to the Second Shadow Trial was larger than the one in the first monolith, and the pressure coming from it was noticeably heavier. Ancient patterns covered its surface, and faint streams of energy moved between the inscriptions like flowing veins.

Participants approached it constantly. Some vanished the moment they reached the entrance, clearly being sent into the Second Shadow Trial, while others suddenly reappeared in front of the door after finishing or failing their attempts.

Max watched the scene for a moment, and the structure of the Ten Shadows Trial became clear to him. Every monolith followed the same basic design.

The arenas existed so participants could earn the Bronze Marks they needed to continue, and beyond them waited the entrance to the shadow itself. As a participant moved from one monolith to the next, both the competition and the cost of moving forward grew steadily harsher.

Max looked at the arenas around him. With only sixty-seven Bronze Marks left, he already knew what came next. Before he could challenge the Second Shadow Trial, he would have to earn enough marks first.