Second World
chapter-1981

Everyone dispersed to do their own things. Some took John's advice and headed straight to the training cave. Some preferred to cool their nerves by relaxing around the lake. Nobody blamed them. They had just fought a fierce battle against the devils, after all.

John stayed inside the lakeside pavilion. He was using the spying platform to monitor the situation. Chris operated the platform for him since only he could access it. Wilted stayed by their sides to make sure Chris followed John's instructions.

As for Jack, he went away to check on the Runestone of the Devil King.

"Anything I need to know before I fuse with this runestone?" Jack asked. "Don't make me waste time if you can give me clues."

"All right. I'll try to explain," Peniel said. "This runestone is special. Unlike normal runestones, you can't rely only on your willpower to endure tribulations. You need several factors to increase your chance of fusing with this runestone."

"And those factors are...?"

"Understanding of rune diagram," Peniel answered. "Which you lack. You have never learned the basics of creating a rune diagram. Thankfully, you have the experience of defusing several rune diagrams. Pretty high-level rune diagrams, I might add, so you are not exactly blind to it."

"What are the other factors?"

"Mana sense and mana manipulation, which you are superb at. The last factor is your runecraft level, which can also be considered top class."

Jack's runecraft was Advanced Master. There was still a higher tier, which was the Grandmaster level, but having the Master level could already be considered among the top. Jack could achieve this level because he constantly used the Runestone of Spellcasting during combat.

"Well, if you say it like that, I win three out of the four factors. I say my odds should be pretty good," Jack said.

Peniel rolled her eyes at that remark. "Go ahead and try it then. No need to worry. The runestone won't be gone even if you fail. You just need to start over again."

"Let's use the training cave," Jack said. "The time inside is sped up by twice. I can save time attempting the fusion inside there."

"But you will have to end the fusing process if you are under attack," Peniel warned.

Jack simply grinned at the warning.

Entering the training cave, Jack was sent to a different dimension for solo training. Inside this training dimension, he looked around. There was a choice to choose the terrain setup when entering the training cave. Normally, he chose plain terrain to maximize his killing spree. This time, he chose a mountainous terrain.

The first batch of monsters, which consisted of five goblin knights, were running over to where Jack was. Jack did not doubt those five were level 99 special elites. It took several waves before higher-grade goblin knights were spawned, to a maximum of the mythical grade.

Jack ignored those goblin knights. He continued to look around. He even took to the sky to get a better view. The goblin knights activated their wings tool and chased Jack into the sky. Jack continued to evade those goblin knights while searching for something.

After a while, he finally saw what he was looking for. A cave. He landed in front of the cave before summoning Therras and Spark. He entered the cave and left his two summons to guard the entrance. He then summoned his ten golden wolves. He commanded the wolves to search the cave to see if there were other entrances.

The goblin knights arrived. Therras and Spark easily dispatched the five monsters. Jack sent the two a mental command to take it easy in the killing. Their main objective was not to farm exp points but to keep the monsters from entering the cave. He left Peniel with the two so she could heal them when needed.

After the ten golden wolves confirmed that there was no second entrance to the cave, Jack unsummoned those wolves and sat down. He took out the Runestone of the Devil King and started the fusing process.

He soon found himself inside a different space, similar to when he fused with the other runestones. As he waited for an elemental tribulation to come, the space around him alighted instead. He suddenly found himself in a sea of stars. So many small orbs of light floated around him. He was confused and unsure about what to do.

"Hey, Peniel! Am I supposed to do something with these lights?" Jack called.

"Focus your mana sense to get a feel of your surroundings." Peniel's voice replied. She was with Therras and Spark, but her mental link with Jack allowed her to know what was going on inside this tribulation space.

Jack followed her instructions. He closed his eyes and focused solely on his mana sense. Due to his keen mana sense, he quickly identified what he was supposed to feel. The orbs of light floating around him produced the same luminous intensity. It was impossible to differentiate them using sight alone. However, with mana sense, he knew each had a different intensity of mana. The difference was subtle, but with enough focus, he could identify which light was stronger than the others.

"Again, do I need to do something with these lights?" Jack asked.

"Yes. You need to connect those lights," Peniel answered.

Jack looked around. There were probably hundreds of these lights floating around him.

"Find the light with the strongest intensity of mana, then work your way to the weakest one," Peniel explained.

It was not difficult doing that with his level of mana sense. He already identified the strongest and the weakest ones when he used his mana sense to sweep the lights earlier. Since he needed to connect the lights from the strongest to the weakest, he assumed he needed to find the second strongest light. Considering the difference between one light to the other was subtle, this task was harder... for a common expert. Thankfully, Jack's mana sense was among the top. He needed time to scan the lights but only needed a few seconds to find the one he was looking for.

He didn't need to ask Peniel how to connect the two lights. He knew from his mana sense that he could affect these lights. He manipulated the mana inside the strongest light and pulled it out. A line came out of that light. It went toward the one with the second strongest light.

"Hehe. This is easy," Jack uttered.

The instant the line touched the second light, an intense burst of fire engulfed him. He felt like he had been roasted alive. The fire soon vanished as abruptly as it appeared. "Wha... What the heck...?!" He stammered. He looked at himself. No burn marks, but the

searing pain still lingered.

He heard Peniel giggling.

"Hey! What exactly happened just now?!" Jack yelled.

"Who asks you to underestimate this tribulation? I've already told you it will be difficult for you, didn't I?" Peniel returned. "Every time you make the wrong move, an elemental attack will assail you. That is your tribulation. If you can correctly connect all the lights without making a mistake, you can fuse with this runestone without suffering pain."

"What mistake? I'm certain the one I've connected just now was second in terms of mana intensity," Jack protested.

"You didn't make a mistake in identifying the targets. You made a mistake in the way you are

connecting them."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"Do you remember what the runic symbols within a spell formation look like? Do they consist

of only straight lines?"

"Do you mean... I need to form a particular shape when connecting the lights?" Jack asked.

"You catch on pretty quick," Peniel replied. "You can imagine these lights as the power nodes

of an enormous spell formation or rune diagram. These power nodes needed to be connected

into runic symbols to enable them to function."

"How do I know what the symbols should look like?"

"That's why I said your lack of the basics of creating a rune diagram will be the obstacle in fusing with this runestone."

"Then, what do you suggest? Don't tell me I have to go and join the Runecraft Society and learn their secrets before I can fuse with this runestone," Jack said nervously. "Not only does that take too long, but I am also vulnerable out there. You know Master is looking for me. His God Sense can detect me from a long distance while I can't tell for sure if he is around. If I'm not careful, he might catch me unaware. Once he does, he only needs an instant to end me. I can't take that risk just for the sake of fusing with this runestone."

"I did say it is difficult for you, but I never say it is impossible," Peniel said. "You just need to spend more time in the effort... You also need a great deal of luck, patience, and the willingness to suffer the tribulation."