William arrived on the second floor of the trial tower, his feet making no noise as they made contact with the last step of the staircase behind him.
He took a careful peek at the floor above. The surroundings were as described, a flat expanse of dark rock in front, while vast lava pools covered around ninety percent of the floor. A few sparse platforms made of rock floated in the lava, but there truly was no cover to hide behind.
The heat wasn't too bad, but that was probably due to William's A Rank Heat Resistance Talent, his S Rank Fire Affinity, and his S Rank Ice Affinity that all held some degree of defense against hot environments.
He looked at the ceiling near the back of the second floor, where a large hanging structure caught his attention.
His eyes widened as he realized that the large structure was actually a creature. More specifically, it was the dragon that the runner mentioned. Even from his current position over a kilometer away, William could feel the dragon's aura that exceeded the Nascent Soul Realm.
He failed to mention the Cultivation of the dragon and the fact that there are barely any safe places to stand! William cursed the runner in his mind, even though he knew it was partially his fault for not asking these questions.
Thankfully, the upgrade to his Stealth Talent seemed to be the right way to go. He assumed the dragon was at the Soul Formation Realm, but regardless, it didn't seem to sense him.
William made careful steps forward, until he had fully entered the second floor. The source of thɪs content is N0veI.Fiɾe.net
Welcome to the second floor of my greatest trial. To reach the third floor, you must be an excellent thief. Steal the Molten Dragonstone and the path forward will open. Good luck!
After the voice subsided, William looked around the room for any changes but couldn't find any suspicious rocks that seemed valuable. He asked the System for a description of the Molten Dragonstone, who provided a mental image of the item for free.
It looked like a square slab of brown rock with deep red veins that flowed like lava. The exterior of the rock had a few jagged symbols shaped like scales, which explained why it was called a Molten Dragonstone.
He took another look around the room, even taking a few peeks at the dragon, but there was still nothing resembling it.
There're only two places it can be. Inside the dragon, or under the lava. William deduced.
He thought from the perspective of the trial creator. No one would expect a Core Formation Cultivator to kill a Soul Formation Beast right? Additionally, the creator specifically said one needed to be a good thief, meaning it didn't require any killing.
It has to be under the lava then. William turned to the Navigation Talent for help. He activated the Navigation radar and looked at the regions of lava for any peculiar structures.
He noticed something.
Right in the center of the room was a small squarish imprint that sunk about half a meter lower than the lava level. He traced a path from his current position, finding that there were conveniently a set of stone platforms in the lava that led straight to its location.
So it's not so hard after all...The main trial must have been avoiding the dragon, but with my Stealth Talent, that isn't an issue at all!
William rejoiced for having such useful Talents. Without Navigation, it might have taken William over an hour to figure out where the Molten Dragonstone was hidden, perhaps longer since he would have to be careful not to alert the dragon.
As he approached the center of the floor, he periodically looked in the direction of the dragon, making sure it wasn't just pretending not to notice him.
In William's memories of Cultivation worlds and video games, dragons were very proud creatures. They wouldn't need tricks to beat an opponent, but William wasn't sure if their character was the same in this world.
He arrived in the center of the floor, peering into the lava pool that supposedly contained the Molten Dragonstone. Like the Navigation radar showed, the lava was a bit lower in the center.
Floating just barely on the surface of the lava was the Molten Dragonstone. Only the topside of the Dragonstone was revealed, but William could instantly tell that this was the special item that he was tasked to steal.
He was scared of using Magic to pick up the Dragonstone, which would probably alert the dragon instantly.
William hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to dip his finger into the lava to test its effects on his skin. After just one touch, his finger began to turn a dark brown. He quickly pulled his finger out of the lava, allowing the Regeneration Talent to completely heal the finger in just a fraction of a second.
Ow, that hurt! He winced in pain as he could still feel the aftereffects of the injury. That being said, the lava didn't instantly melt off his finger like he expected. Instead, he received third-degree burns that could still be healed by his insane natural regeneration.
He steeled his resolve and dipped his whole hand into the lava, plucking the Molten Dragonstone like one would take piping hot toast from a toaster. He flung the Dragonstone onto the solid rock platform he was standing on, then held his hand in pain as he waited for it to heal.
-Acquired Molten Dragonstone: +250 PP
The experience was pure torture, but William endured. The hardest part was over, now he just needed to wait for the Molten Dragonstone to cool.
He communicated with the System, asking for advice on how to store it in his Space Ring, lest he burn everything inside to a crisp. The question cost him three Potential Points, but it was better than potentially losing priceless treasures.
-Items should be contained within around -50 and 300 degrees Celsius before storing it in a Space Ring, but if that isn't possible, you can store it in a secondary container that is insulated before throwing the entire thing into your Space Ring.
William understood the System's logic. If he remembered correctly, the melting point of lead was just over three hundred degrees Celsius, so the System was essentially warning him not to surpass the melting point of various metals, lest the Space Ring melt from the inside.
Additionally, the -50 degrees Celsius rule was probably set in place to prevent other items from becoming damaged from freezing. If William could help it, he would prefer to keep all items within 0 degrees to 200 degrees Celsius, just in case something went wrong.
Unfortunately, William didn't have a secondary storage container that was insulated for this kind of material. He could use the chests that stored the Mana Stones in the Array Trial, but he would need to form some new Arrays inside them, which would probably alert the dragon.
I'll just empty a Space Ring for now and store it in there until I reach the third floor. William decided. It was a bit risky since he didn't know what was on the third floor, but it was the best he could come up with in the heat of the moment.
Haha, heat of the moment. I get it.