"Welcome. You must be participant Damien Void."
A middle-aged man approached with a smile on his face. People at his age were rare to see, as most people achieved prominence when they were either very old or very young.
He was the only other person Damien could see in the pure white hall that he was transported to. As he glanced around, he noticed that the walls, floor, and even ceiling were padded with a strange material that seemed to be scanning his Nonexistence.
More importantly, there was a piece of hidden glass on a certain part of the wall. There was likely an observer's platform there. Whether it was empty or not was still a question.
"Nice to meet you too," Damien responded, returning his attention to the man.
He only looked away for a brief second, but by the time he returned his gaze to the man he was already standing in front of him.
"We will go over the trial requirements in case you are not aware. There is no such thing as a ranking system for new members, so this trial is mainly to determine if you are ready to join the combat challenge. However, if you show a memorable performance, there are benefits you can attain," the man said while looking down at his clipboard.
"Benefits?" Damien repeated.
"Indeed. From better accommodations to privileges to use specific training facilities reserved for higher tier members to even an audience with our esteemed leader. Depending on your level of skill, you could gain many advantages in our temple."
As the man listed the many things he could earn, Damien nodded.
'So, if I want to live a convenient life, I should put in a little effort. Works for me.'
"Ah, that is even simpler," the man said.
"All you need to do is kill the beasts that will be summoned into this hall. They will become increasingly stronger as you defeat them. If you make it past five levels, you will be accepted into the temple. Anything after that is for extra rewards."
It was indeed as streamlined as possible. Since the test only existed to make sure that nobody recklessly entered the folds of battle, the challenge itself was also easy at the early levels.
After telling Damien everything he needed to know, the man went off to the side and teleported away, likely to the observer's booth.
At the same time, a beast appeared for Damien to kill.
It was small in size and had canine features. It was clearly meant to test new people who had never been in battle before.
'Did they also think I was one of the kids raised here? Well, at least that makes me feel a little better.'
Damien cracked his knuckles and smiled.
'It's too late to increase the difficulty. I might as well just enjoy it.'
It wasn't as if it would take him a long time to get to the harder beasts anyway.
Damien flicked his hand out. For a beast of this level, it wasn't even worth setting up a domain.
With that single flick of his wrist, the beast vanished. It turned into nothingness just as fast as it arrived.
The next several beasts met the same fate.
A lot of them had similar shapes to beasts that existed in the True Void Universe, but none of them were exactly the same. There was always something inherently different about them as their genetic sequences completely differed from beasts that were raised by the laws of Damien's home cosmos.
He didn't take that much time to consider them. The beasts that differed were normal. What made Damien more curious were beings that remained relatively unchanged across all realities.
Humans were like that, weren't they? There wasn't another species that propagated the many cosmos in the way that they did.
Damien went through over ten beasts without any trouble. From the eleventh onward, he had to put in a little more effort, but it still wasn't that big of a deal.
Over and over again, Damien cleared out the enemies placed in front of him, thinking only that they were no match for Kura or the beasts from Death's Hold.
Twenty, thirty, forty…
Damien moved so alarmingly fast that he reached forty kills before the news of his trial could be transmitted to the higher authorities.
Nevertheless, that was something that had to happen. It wasn't normal for anyone to come in and make it this far.
After all, even people who came from the second island had to adapt to serious combat. Only after reaching this island did people become skilled at using Nonexistence. Beforehand, even the experts like the people who tried to chase after Damien were just fodder.
He saw it himself when they fought against Death's Hold. Someone like Kura could absolutely draw the beasts of that land into a prolonged fight. She wouldn't have been instantly killed regardless of their power.
The Temple Master was not going to appear for a matter , but the news made it to his closest aides.
Originally, there were only three people in the observer's booth. By the time Damien reached his fiftieth beast, that number increased to ten.
A man with dark black hair and a thick goatee stood facing the hidden glass and spoke to the man who originally explained the rules to Damien.
"His name is Damien Void, sir. At first, we believed that he was related to some family from the island, however, his performance suggests that he is an outsider."
"That much is obvious," the black-haired man said.
"I apologize, sir. He has not been on the island for long, and it seems like he has only fought one time. We cannot ascertain anything more."
"Oh? He got into a fight? Was it one of those who keep watch over the shoreline?"
"Yes, sir. It was Kura from the Water Temple."
The black-haired man raised an eyebrow in interest. Kura's name was well known. She was a very difficult person to deal with unless one had a power that perfectly antithesized hers. Most people avoided her, and the experts who ended up fighting her on the shore always found themselves humbled before they approached the temples.
Not to mention, she did not attain her gold badge because of luck.
His first fight on the island was a victory against someone of her caliber?
The man smiled slightly.
'Competition has become less fierce recently. The current Area Lords are too strong, so most newcomers are unmotivated and choose to stop before facing them. If someone arrives to throw a stone into the stagnant water…'
…wouldn't the island once again regain its fervor?
'I need to meet him after his trial ends.'
As the black-haired man gained an interest in Damien, the man himself was focusing on the final enemy that appeared before him.
He found the answer to his previous question when it was summoned.
The only other species that was able to exist in every cosmos the same way that humans did…