Then, just as quickly as the victory notification rang out, Caelus shot forward and grabbed hold of the dissipating Asura.

[Ding!]

[Extraction failed.]

"Ha..." Caelus sighed disappointedly as he stepped back.

"H-He beat it." The crowd was stunned beyond words.

At the same time, those who had spoken ill of him earlier now wore expressions of intense embarrassment.

They had to face reality. They had insulted him, loudly claiming that he would lose since he was just an inexperienced newbie. Yet somehow, not only did he effortlessly survive the first attack of the Asura, but he also completely destroyed it without leaving the demon a single chance to retaliate.

This caliber of combat experience and raw power... they were sure they couldn’t exhibit anything close to it even if given years.

"He’s a monster," someone in the crowd muttered in sheer disbelief.

Sebastian’s face, on the other hand, was twisted in ugly fury.

"Damn this guy... always stealing the spotlight," Sebastian gnashed his teeth in absolute anger, hiding near the back of the crowd.

"Let’s go, Sylvia," Caelus said casually, arriving back beside Sylvia, who was looking at him with equally stunned eyes.

Since when did Caelus get so good at using a sword? He even had Sword Energy? How come she had never seen him use it before?

He had moved like a professionally trained swordsman who had meticulously trained for at least fifty years. His movements were incredibly fluid and painfully precise. Even an inexperienced fighter like her looking at it couldn’t help but think: Oh, you can move like that?

"It was nothing. But you should have gotten the shared levels and reputation points, right?" Caelus asked with a warm smile.

"Yep," Sylvia nodded readily, snapping out of her daze.

This was the absolute benefit of the Rookie God title’s sharing mechanic. It was the best thing ever. Thanks to the massive boost, Sylvia’s combat score now sat comfortably at 97 as well.

Soon, they stepped away from the spatial turbulence and looked over the rest of the trial rewards.

Caelus had received a Trait Generator reward. He immediately used it.

[Ding!]

[You have acquired the Trait: Turn Stone into Gold (Mythical, 2-Star)]

"What?" Caelus was genuinely baffled as he checked its detailed info.

[Turn Stone into Gold (Mythical, 2-Star): Allows the user to physically transmute ordinary stone into pure gold.]

[Cost: 1 CA per stone. The size of the stone directly impacts the total CA cost.]

"..." Caelus was completely speechless. "Oh well, it is better than nothing, I suppose."

He could now literally turn stones into gold. Wasn’t that essentially printing free money in the real world? 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Sylvia, if you ever need some heavy gold accessories, just tell me," Caelus said with a sigh as he manifested the system window to show her the bizarre trait.

Sylvia giggled delightfully upon seeing it. "Isn’t that great? Now I do not have to pay a hefty sum of money to buy premium gold for myself~"

"You are always so reliable, Caelus~" Sylvia leaned closer, wrapping her arms around him from behind and whispering softly into his ear. "Good work out there. You did very well~"

"Thank you," Caelus replied with a genuine smile.

"Alright. When is that bastard Sebastian coming out?" Caelus looked intently at the spatial turbulence. He was entirely sure that Sebastian had entered the arena using this exact portal; he should be coming out soon.

However, even after waiting for several minutes, the arrogant noble did not emerge.

"Whatever, there is no time to waste on him. Let’s head out to the other regions to quickly complete the remaining challenges."

"Sure," Sylvia agreed with a small nod.

While they had been waiting, they also took the time to look into the new Origin Domain update they had unlocked.

This update was heavily related to troops and Factions of Divinity.

It was a massive overhaul for the Animus Spirits; they had now officially been renamed to ’Troops,’ and Region Leaders could now build specialized Barracks related to certain factions. The old Transmutation Matrix had evolved into a Troop Circuit. For some reason, the circuit didn’t have a direct way to level up right now, but due to their region already being Tier 2, all newly spawned troops were luckily set to Bronze I automatically.

"I cannot level it up? Could it be locked behind another future update?" Caelus mused.

Perhaps the Divine Kingdoms themselves held the answer to that question.

Sylvia and Caelus were quick on their feet. They soon crossed the treacherous mountain range acting as the border between the Divine Region of Fire and Water. By carefully avoiding the roaming high-level mountain bandits, they successfully reached the Divine Region of Water.

The entire region was filled with vast bodies of water, stretching out like an endless ocean dotted with an intricate archipelago of islands.

[Ding!]

[You are close to the trial area. A marker has been placed on your minimap. Please move to that area immediately. A trial is currently ongoing.]

Caelus and Sylvia followed the prompt and soon found another swirling spatial turbulence hovering over the island-like region. Luckily, Caelus possessed the Frost Monarch talent, so they did not have to awkwardly swim; he simply froze the water’s surface to create a stable ice bridge for them to cross.

[Ding! There is a strict restriction in this zone. The maximum power you can exhibit is capped at Bronze I. Your current combat score will be temporarily translated and compressed to the Bronze I limit.]

As soon as they entered the turbulence, they were transported to a massive oceanic arena. Out in the open water was a terrifying sea creature, a ginormous, corrupted whale. Floating above it was a massive, rapidly depleting HP bar.

There were already ten or eleven people here, frantically attacking the whale with loud grunts and shouts as water violently splashed everywhere. He also immediately spotted Mia fighting among them.

"Yo," Caelus casually walked forward across the water’s surface and struck up a conversation.

"Not now," Mia replied breathlessly, looking at Caelus as if he were completely nuts.

Could he not clearly see the massive sea boss right out in the open that everyone was frantically trying to kill?

"Oh." Caelus nodded understandingly.

"Would you do the honors, my lady?" He turned to Sylvia, offering a polite, teasing smile.

"Sure. Leave it to me this time."

The following moment, Sylvia drew her Blood-Moon Longsword. A terrifying aura erupted from her figure as a violent trail of crimson swept through the arena. Dense blood power exploded outward as she jumped straight into the air, descending upon the massive whale and beginning to rapidly, mercilessly attack it.

It was like a literal time bomb going off. The sheer damage output of her fully buffed Progenitor class and the new Mythical weapon was devastating.

Soon, the massive whale let out a final, deafening cry and dissolved into data. Sylvia gracefully landed back down on the ice path, her clothes slightly bloodied, wearing a wide, heavily intoxicated smile on her beautiful face.

[Ding!]

[Divine Anomaly cleared.]

[Evaluating the combat...]

[Player 222 dealt the highest percentage of damage. As a result, the Divine Emblem of Water is awarded to her.]

[Other participating players will receive standard participation rewards.]

[You have obtained update: Void Trials]

[You have obtained +15 Reputation Points.]

[You have obtained +5 Levels.]

...

[Ding!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[Level: 12 (0/2,600)]

[Combat Score: 97.34 -> 112.34]

....

"No fair! We came here first, and a new player just walked in and stole the boss kill? Who are you? What is your real identity? I will not let you go!" A burly guy on the side became completely enraged as he glared viciously at Sylvia.

"Yeah, you blatantly stole our kill! That should have been our guild’s emblem. Give it back, or else we will hunt you down. You cannot handle the consequences of angering us!" another player chimed in, brandishing his weapon.

Caelus just chuckled upon hearing their generic threats.

"Oh yeah? If you can actually do anything about it, then come out into the Endless Expanse. Let’s see you guys doing that exact same boasting when the safe zone drops."

"You guys are all talk. A bunch of sore losers whining just because my partner possesses infinitely more combat score than you. It is a simple matter of skill, and you guys clearly lack it. Tsk, tsk," Caelus clicked his tongue.

The others immediately started violently cursing at Sylvia and Caelus. But inside the trial grounds, direct PvP combat was strictly disabled by the system. They could do nothing but helplessly watch as Sylvia and Caelus turned their backs and left the arena with the grand prize.