The shadow figure moved his arm forward as the smoke then collected in front of him to form a greatsword. He immediately pulled it back, holding the hilt with both hands as he took the stance to fight.

Luke didn't take it lightly this time. he had fought Navajo very recently and knew how dangerous he was. He realized he might have to give his all in this fight.

But more than that, what he feared more was that if the shadow Navajo activated his spirit form, he might have to use his limit overload, and as a result he would get unconscious. And if another trial appears after this, he would lose immediately.

Just then the shadow Navajo disappeared from his spot. Luke's eyes opened wide as he immediately lifted his arm to the side and a the greatsword struck his gauntlet, creating sparks as it slid off.

He jumped back and created some distance. But the shadow figure rushed ahead immediately and kept slashing and thrusting his sword at Luke.

Luke evaded each and every strike, moving around the platform in circles. But he then realized that the shadow figure of Navajo was not as strong as Navajo himself.

It's not like he had far outgrown Navajo in this short time, when he wasn't even able to cultivate well and was busy with travelling, practicing his spells and the tournament. But he was still able to evade the attack with much less effort.

If this had been the real Navajo instead of the shadow, Luke wouldn't have been able to rest for even a second. Instead, he was evading quite easily and even able to contemplate about the situation.

Still, Luke decided to test the waters a bit more, and saving his energy in case the shadow activates the spirit form. But even after a few minutes, the shadow did nothing other than swinging his sword. He didn't even activate a single spell of Navajo's.

"I think this is enough."

"Limit break." The tattoo behind Luke glowed as an amber circle appeared behind him, a few of his hair transformed into flames and his gauntlets ignited with amber flames.

Prana gathered on his feet and he vanished from his spot and appeared right behind the shadow figure.

The shadow figured immediately turned around with his sword swinging towards Luke's head, but Luke crouched down and the sword passed above. His fist glowed with amber flames as he jabbed right at the shadow figure's belly, blasting the smoke away.

The shadow immediately dispersed and vanished completely.

RUMBLE!! GRIND!!

Another door on the opposite wall to the front one opened. The flame letters appeared again and floated in front of Luke into a sentence.

FIRST TRIAL CLEARED

MOVE ON TO THE NEXT FLOOR

As the flame letters dissipated, Luke saw the opened doors. He cancelled his limit break and started moving towards the opened door.

After he had formed the limit overload, Luke was now able to hold the limit break for a longer time. he no longer lost consciousness from using the limit break and was like a secret move of his which he could use without thinking of the later consequences.

After passing through the door, Luke was first met with a blinding light as he had to close his eyes shut.

When he opened his eyes again, he was surprised to see that he was no longer in a room, but in front of a huge and steep stone mountain. His gauntlets and boots had vanished, and he was in a dusty torn tunic and a pant.

He tried to channel his prana, but there was no response, he couldn't feel any prana in his body. It was just like how he was before being able to cultivate, when he had the shattered circle and couldn't even feel mana.

His buffed body and muscle were gone too, and his body had become lean and soft. He felt all the strength and muscles he had accumulated in the years vanish altogether.

After a long time, Luke felt helpless, fear gripped his mind as he thought he was useless again, what would he do without his prowess, he was nothing without his chakra and blood armament.

He started gasping for breath as anxiety rose inside him. he was getting more and more restless when the flame letters appeared again and formed a sentence in front of him.

SECOND TRIAL: TRIAL OF RESOLVE

WHAT ARE YOU WITHOUT THE ILLUSION OF STRNGTH YOU FEEL YOU HAVE

PROVE YOUR RESOLVE AND PROVE YOUR WORTHINESS

CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN WITH YOUR WILL

A chuckle escaped Luke, he finally calmed down and realized how dependent he had become on his chakra. He believed he was nothing without the prana cultivation method he had received from the first ancestor, but forgot why the ancestor gave it to him in the first place.

It was only after seeing his firm resolve and will, with which he climbed that mountain without a single ounce of mana in his body, with only his hardwork and resolve.

Luke smiled at himself. He steeled his mind and clenched his fists as his eyes burned with determination.

He stepped up and moved his arms forward, grabbed hold at one of the rocks, lifted his leg and placed it on another protruding rock and started climbing slowly and one step at a time he started moving up.

After climbing for some meters up, his arms and legs started shaking. He couldn't feel any strength in them, but he bit on his lips hard as blood seeped out and moved his arm up, grabbing another rock and pulled up, moving another step ahead.

The skin of his fingers peeled off as wherever he had gripped, red finger prints was etched on the rocks. Blood flowed down and started soaking his sleeve from the bottom.

His toe and heel were scratched as blood stuck on the stones and flowed down, but Luke didn't give up. The top was still far but he didn't look down once, his eyes were only looking ahead, and a fire burned in them.

He was going to pass this trial no matter what. He resolved that If he couldn't even climb this simple mountain ahead of him, then he better die then dreaming of becoming the strongest S rank adventurer in the future.

Biting his lips and without blinking once, Luke kept on climbing, moving ahead leaving a trail of blood in his way.

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