The lion lay unmoving on the ground, in a large puddle of blood. It took a few minutes to finally seal the deal, but the job was done. This hellish trial was now over, the most bizzare and ridiculous series of events in his life had finally come to an end. Or....was it only begining?

"Well, let's leave that as a question for later, they'll be plenty of time to figure it out" he said, and the soothing feeling once again enveloped him, healing his internal injuries.

[Congratulations, you have slain the level 9 elite, Silver Maned Lion]

[Congratulations, you have reached level 9. To gain further levels, you must improve your cultivation base]

[Elite rank creature slain at lower level, drop rate boosted by 200 percent]

[Rolling....]

[Congratulations, you have received high stage initiate level robes: Fox Demon's Robes]

[Congratulations, you have received Limited Title: Resolute Will+. Requirements: Complete the planetary integration's first trial by fire. Stat bonus doubled for first completion]

[ You have received a random minor dao fruit. Rolling...]

[Congratulations, you have received minor dao fruit of mist!]

" Whew, Christmas is here. Finally, some proper clothes at last. Some mashed potatoes and gravy would be nice too, but alas that's a foregone dream." muttered Tim and hurriedly reached out to grab his new robes.

The robes were jet black in colour, made of a material that seemed to be very dense, yet thin at the same time. He put them on, it was a loosely fitting one piece, with the upper portion of the dress being a V-shaped shirt, connecting to what was reminiscent of a Scottish kilt.

Thankfully, the dress came with a pair of normal pants made of the same material, and a sash that he tied at the waist to prevent the outfit from dangling as he moved.

Since it was a reward from killing the lion, he knew the system wouldn't treat him unfairly. Well.... it did treat him unfairly, and he could write an entire treatise on the system's bullshit, but when it came to the weapon's department it was always state of the art tech.

He used his claws and lightly scratched his robes, wondering if it would hold up.

"Hmm interesting, it doesn't quite work like armor. It seems to act as a force retardant, any sharp weapons that try to pierce it feel like they're trying to cut through.... Uhh, water I guess? It feels like there's no point trying to get through this material, it's condensed to a very high degree." he went through the results of his experiments aloud.

A minute or two later, the small holes his initial clawing left were quickly filled up, seeming like the material expended some of its density to automatically fill in the gaps.

Testing a bit further, he came to the conclusion that where this outfit lost out on toughness compared to traditional armor, if such a thing existed in the multiverse, it made up for in flexiblity and light-weight. The small holes his initial clawing left were quickly filled up, seeming like the material expended some of its density to automatically fill in the gaps.

Looking back at his fights so far, most of the maneoveres he used were probably impossible in a full set of armor, so this kind of outfit made sense. Though, it's aim seemed not to be to provide an impenetrable defence, but reducing damage.

Based on his guesses, if he attacked using the full power of his claws, he would most likely pierce through his robes albeit the damage would be reduced greatly. Realizing something, he took out the Tyrant Monkey's claw from earlier and tried to use it to impale the robes.

He used far greater strength this time, but it barely managed to go half way through the material. That confirmed a theory of his, it was not that his Lunar's claw or Warrior's resentment were weak weapons, but maybe he just didn't have the necessary strength or skill to display their true power. A mere prick from his class could leave small holes in this material, but the Tyrant Monkey using all it's strength probably still wouldn't get through.

As for the title, he pressed on it waiting to see what flavor text it would offer.

[Resolute Will+, Limited Title

2+2= +4 to Luck

15+15= +30 to All stats

In this trial by fire meant to test the will of newly integrated cultivators, you have proved yourself to be a cut above the rest. In a morphed land, facing beasts of kind never known or seen, you have advanced relentlessly, not falling to the fear of the unknown nor to one's own fickle heart creating illusory demons. ]

"Well, I guess it does feel nice to be acknowledged" though I didn't know I'd be the first.

[ The Trial by Fire has now ended. Participants: 50,848. Survivors: 1]

"Damn, there's my answer. Now I wish I'd never have asked. It's a system wide announcement too" sighed Tim, his excitement being replaced by a melancholic mood. It was as he had expected, though a surprise would have been welcome.

He took out the dao fruit of mist and examined it. It was an oddly shaped, unsymmetrical fruit that was covered in small, weird symbols he couldn't make any sense of, that appeared to exist naturally instead of being carved out by some person. It was beautiful, in a hue of light blue that seemed etherial.

His initial thought was to eat it on the spot, and hope he would magically gain control over the mists, but he had no idea if he'd explode instead, the system getting a laugh at his expense. As if it hadn't already laughed enough.

So he reluctantly kept it back, saving it for later and wondered what he should do now.

[ Please step into the teleportation formation. For completing the trial, you will be directly teleported into the 701st Citadel. ]

Lightly humming his favorite rock song, he went into the circular formation glowing in white light.