God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain felt the silence turn heavy...

What Susan had suggested was indeed quite probable. After all, the Arbitrator had said nothing about killing or taking lives.

No, its exact words had been, 'Collect a Thousand Souls.'

Cain frowned, 'Then, if it didn't mean kill, how else is one supposed to collect souls?'

He shook his head,

'No, think harder... There should be another way.'

Suddenly, an idea appeared in his head,

'System, what do you know about the Trial of Heaven?'

{Replying to Host: The Trial of Heaven is a peculiar challenge posed to beings born in lesser planes, granting them a once in a lifetime opportunity to obtain celestial grace. Should a mortal being successfully complete theTrial of Heaven, it will gain access into the Heavenly planes}.

Cain frowned, 'Is that all?'

That seemed too simple. There had to be some convoluted story behind it. The Arbitrator had said they were to forget all they had learned about the trial initially. Having learnt nothing about the trial before hand, Cain decided it was time to catch up now that they still had the chance.

{Replying to Host: Indeed, there is a rather compelling reason behind the existence of the Sky Bridges and the Trial of Heaven. Would the host like to hear it?}

Cain nodded slowly.

{Replying to Host: Access to this information will cost the host a significant amount of system points. Would the host still like to make the purchase?}

Cain furrowed his brows, 'Haven't seen one of these in a while, huh...'

Still, he couldn't decline. He accepted the offer.

{There are many planes within the Nomad's domain. The physical plane, the plane where all of reality, all that the host knows and therefore exists within resides,the Spiritual Plane, the plane in which all forms of energy reside, the Aether Plane, home to all the Aether creatures and beings of summoning, and the Abyssal Plane, the plane linking all these planes together, as well as the birthplace of the devils, also known as the Greater Void...}

{Within the Physical Plane resides the five realms of existence. The Earthly realm, The Godless realm, The Godly realm, The Divine realm, and The Heavenly realm, each with smaller worlds of their own within, create a complex network of a near-infinite amount of worlds. The world of Cloudsea is located in the Godless realm. The Godless realm is the layer within the physical plane that links the Earthly, Godly, Divine, and Heavenly realms together. The Sky Bridges are the parts of the Godless that act as transit hubs that facilitate movement between all the realms of the physical plane}.

{According to Legend, the Sky Bridges were once pillars created by the Nomad that held all the realms together. During his reign, access to the Sky Bridges were not controlled, and all beings were free to move from one realm to the other within the physical realm. Upon the disappearance of the Nomad, the pillars that held the realms together threatened to fall apart, completely severing the link between all planes for eternity. However, the Lord of the Heavens, Tian, managed to rebuild them. In doing so, however, he imposed several limits adj restrictions upon them...}

{In the words of the Heavenly Golden Emperor himself, "The Heavens open only to those with the will to become gods." The Trial of Heaven exists to test those who believe they are worthy enough to step into the Heavens}.

Cain shook his head,

'That makes sense, but even if those who pass the Trial make it to the Heavenly Realms, what would they do all the way up there?'

His frowned deepened as he asked further,

'I doubt a Tier 2 or even 3 being would be much of anything within the Heavenly Realms. What is the reason? What drives them towards such a place in the first place?'

He was curious. Very curious...

He had a feeling the answer to this question would be very important if he truly wanted to understand the true nature of this trial and successful survive through it.

{Replying to Host: The Trial of Heaven is one of the only paths available for beings born in the lower realms to ascend to godhood. The concept of celestial beings being true gods have been a debate since the dawn of time. Hence, the best way to become a god, is to learn from a god themself. Just become a Celestial servant is not enough. Those who ascend through the Trial of Heaven gain true recognition from the beings within the Heavenly Realms. They gain a chance... to be just like them}.

Cain was stumped. He almost couldn't believe what he had just heard.

He was very aware of what the grades of all creatures represented. Instead of their current power levels, it represented their potential within that Tier.

For example, a Tier 2 creature with the Celestial grade would ascend to Tier 3 rather quickly, far more quickly than beings of lower grades. However, once it did reach Tier 3, there was a very large chance that its grade would fall to something lower. Potential was nearly impossible to control.

Hence, while a Celestial grade beings was possibly the most powerful being within its own Tier, it was not a true Celestial. Usually, beings with the Celestial-grade at lower Tiers possessed some sort of bloodline from either Celestial Deities or Celestial Beasts.

As the Tier rose, the difference in the grading rose exponentially as well.

Cain tried his best to digest the information he was receiving as fast as possible.

He now understood why the Trial of Heaven was so important. Ascending to the final Tier and becoming an actual being wouldn't be as difficult as this route was taken.

Cain couldn't help but ask,

'System, how many beings from the lower planes have succeeded in attaining godhood through the Trial of Heaven and the Sky Bridges?'

{Replying to Host: According to current data, there have only been twelve beings that had successfully attained godhood through the Trial of Heaven}.

Cain felt the urge to rage and spit,

'Twelve! Just twelve?!'

{Replying to Host: Affirmative}.

'Why is it so goddamn low?!'

{Replying to Host: The success rate is low because regardless of how many pass the Trial, becoming a Celestial Being is a very improbable, quite impossible task to achieve}.

Cain felt like pulling all his hairs out.

He took in a deep breath to calm down,

'If the success rate is so low, then why do they keep doing it? Isn't it meaningless?!'

Every single Trial of Heaven had thousands upon thousands of participants. From what he had heard so far, it has been going on for eons. And while it wasn't as though the Trial was held every year, it was still held with enough frequency that so many people were aware of its existence and would make it their mission to attend. And yet...

He shook his head woefully.

Anything with such a low rate of success didn't deserve to be continued in his opinion. They would lay their lives down, and even then, those who did pass were not even guaranteed an actual chance.

It all seemed like one convoluted joke played at the expense of so many lives.

A tasteless joke, but a joke nonetheless... Continue your saga on empire

Then he thought to himself,

'The system said to solve the conflict of the instance to pass the Trial of the Second Order...'

He had reasonably come to the conclusion that the Trial of Heaven had to be the conflict of the instance.

In other words, he, alongside the other four had to pass the Trial considerably. Something told him just 'surviving' the trial wasn't going to be enough.

And the first step to that, was figuring out what 'Collect a Thousand Souls ' really meant.

'There is no way to figure anything out while still in here.'

He turned around and was about to say something to Evangeline when he felt something change around him.

His face squeezed up and he immediately sprung to his feet.

The others were also quick to react. Jenny unslung her rifle in a split second, her eyes already glowing a deep shade of indigo as magic circles whirled in their center.

Susan had her staff in hand, ready to cast a spell, while Roselle drew her rapiers and took on a battle stance in one single, fluid movement.

Cain turned to face Evangeline who seemed a bit panicked for some reason,

"What's going on, Eva?"

She pursed her lips, her tone a bit uncertain and grim,

"There's... something attacking {Shadow World}."

Cain's brows shot up,

"There's something attacking us right now?!"

His eyes quickly scanned their environment. Sure enough, it didn't take him long to notice that the shadowy walls were pulsating and squirming in certain areas. It was as though something was trying to eat its way through the layers of shadow walls that guarded them.

Cain yelled grimly,

"Everyone, get ready."

There was no time to think about it.

He turned to Evangeline and gave her a wry smile,

"Who would have thought there'd be something that could attack us even when we are in here."

Evangeline didn't respond. Instead, her usually calm, apathetic demeanor seemed furious. Her crimson eyes had widened significantly, and her fists were balled up.

"Something dared to invade my world?"

'She's pissed.'

Cain didn't think he had seen her this pissed before.

He couldn't help but shiver.

Either way, whatever was coming, was coming fast. The wall of shadows were already being punctured and broken in a few places. If her rage would help them against whatever was coming, Cain had nothing against it. In fact, he welcomed it.

Evangeline took a step forward, as though to welcome the fools that had dared step foot into her domain without an invite.

The {Shadow World} shook and trembled, and a huge hole in the wall of shadows was ripped into existence.

And out of that hole...