Brand enjoyed the silence in the chairman's room until it was time for the test. He had gained a certain amount of control over his mind, having been in countless difficult situations in his previous life and had to make countless difficult decisions. Therefore, he had prevented the tension from spreading into his mind and put it in a relaxed state.

Vilatrix popped up a screen.

 

[Attention!]

[You can take the Test for Tuillisant's Blessing!]

[Warning: You will not be able to control your body in any way during the test.]

[Tuillisant will judge your will, your ambitions, and your fears. No entity or law can interfere with Tuillisant's judgment and blessing.]

[Tuillisant's Blessing: Tuillisant will grant you a Power Badge by burning the power of destiny.]

[Power Badge: It indicates the supernatural power you will gain.]

[Tuillisant will judge your will, your ambitions, and your fears. No entity or law can interfere with Tuillisant's judgment and blessing.]

[The Power Badge you will receive will be between the SS, S, A, B, C, D, E, and F classes. An SS-Class Power Badge will have 4 Arts; an S-Class Power Badge will have 3 Arts; Class A, B and C Power Badge will have 2 Arts; and class D, E and F Power Badge will have 1 Art.]

[Start the Test?]

[CONFIRM] [REJECT]

 

"Now I can take the Test!"

Brand took a deep breath and gave his consent for his test to begin.

Lying on the comfortable long chair, he noticed that his body was starting to feel numb. It was as if all the strength in his muscles was being pulled by something.

After he had completely lost control of his body, his vision also began to fog up and then slowly darken.

After remaining consciously in complete darkness for an unknown time, he saw a red orb moving in a circular orbit ahead.

At that time, his body was starting to gain strength from his toes upward. His feet were on the ground, which he didn't quite understand. He did not feel any heat, hardness, or softness.

He felt that he was stepping on ground, but his comprehension was insufficient to define the characteristics of the ground he stepped on.

When he looked at his own body and around him, he saw nothing but pitch black. The only thing in the endless darkness was the red orb ahead.

Brand tried to walk unsteadily, but he didn't know if he was walking. He was subconsciously moving towards the red orb, although he could not understand what he was experiencing.

After continuing in the same way for a while, he realized that he was actually getting closer and closer to the orb.

"Either I'm really moving or the orb is approaching me." Only two options came to his mind.

As he got closer to the orb, he saw that there was some kind of flame inside it that was constantly spinning. As he extended his hand towards it, the orb rose rapidly and, after drawing a "Z", flew forward and landed on a marble pillar.

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

Bursts of sound resounded in the surroundings.

The engravings on the marble pillar began to glow in the same color as the orb, and the surrounding veil of darkness dissipated.

With the disappearance of darkness in a certain area, many tombstones became visible.

"Stay calm! Remember! You're in the Test! You've already been waiting for this sight!" Brand began to reassure himself as he tried to suppress the shivering feeling deep inside him.

This place was a kind of reflection of the graveyard where he had fought countless battles with Thorn in a dimension in his mind in the past. Being aware of the fact that this entire cemetery was created by Tuillisant for his testing was not enough to dispel the feeling of disgust and discomfort within him.

Just then, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. Turning in the direction of the sound, he saw Thorn emerging from the darkness.

The contemptuous smile he always wore was still there.

"It's been a while!" Thorn stared at him with eyes that sealed the endless darkness.

"No need for empty words!" Brand leaped forward and tried to punch him in the face.

Thorn tilted his head to the side, dodged the punch, and slammed his knee into Brand's stomach. Then he threw a hard punch in his face.

With a quick reflex, Brand blocked the punch and slammed his elbow into Thorn's chin. He also received a kick in the stomach as he staggered under the impact of the hard elbow blow that exploded on his chin.

"If you want to beat me, you're going to need more effort than that." Thorn rushed forward and kicked him in the chest.

Although Brand managed to block the kick, he was dragged back about a meter due to its violence. He couldn't help gritting his teeth as the pain in his arms moved uncomfortably to his shoulders.

Thorn did not stop.

He dashed forward once more and threw several hard punches at him in a row. The power and speed behind his punches were frightening.

Brand began to think about when he was first tested. As an inexperienced child back then, his biggest fear was snakes. He had to take on a giant snake during his test, and he actually managed to resist it more than he expected, gaining a B-Class Power Badge as a result.

However, the difference between the two tests was clear. If that snake he had encountered before had been kicked directly by Thorn, he would probably have been thrown several meters away, and his skin would have been heavily crushed.

He had already expected to encounter such a situation. First of all, nothing here was real; it was a willpower fight in the most general sense. His willpower was on a whole other level compared to his first test, due to decades of life-or-death battles and suffering. At the same time, the magnitude of his fear was incomparable to his childhood fear.

Therefore, the difficulty of the current test he was taking was much more difficult than the one before.

Moreover, although he was aware that he was in the Test, his mind was inclined to forget about it. He thought Tuillisant was pushing this to make the attempt harder. If he lost his awareness, he would be at a disadvantage.

After dodging his punches, Brand counterattacked and grabbed his leg; then he lifted him up into the air and slammed him to the ground.

Thorn kicked his leg, throwing him off balance and pulling him to the ground.

After the two of them wrestled for a while, Thorn took the lead, pressing Brand to the ground and then punching him hard in the face.

Brand felt like an earthquake was going on inside his head from the intense pain he felt and the severity of the blow. However, he recovered quickly and kicked him in the stomach before the second punch came.

After Thorn flew back a few meters, he hit the ground hard.

Brand immediately got up from the ground and started running towards him, but Thorn was on the move to do the same.

They both started throwing punches at each other. Neither of them had the upper hand; they were constantly able to block each other's moves.

"Looks like I underestimated you."

As Thorn's expression grew serious, his attacks became more aggressive.

When Brand dodged his attacks and grabbed him by the arms, a strength struggle ensued between the two.

"You really never learn, Brand. Even after you've been defeated a hundred times by me, is there still hope inside you that you can beat me? How pathetic!" With a sudden burst of power, Thorn brought his arms down and then gripped him by the throat. With a wave of his hand, Brand flew several tens of meters into the back and saw the light diverge into a tiny dot as he fell into the endless darkness.

As he swept through the endless darkness, he saw a rapidly growing yellow beam of light ahead. Soon, as he got close to it, he realized it was a gigantic orb; countless dunes came into his sight.

With a sudden gust of hot wind hitting his face, he was caught in a very strong gust of wind and began to fly uncontrollably. Although he had solidly developed his will in the twenty years that he was constantly in life-or-death battles, he wanted to scream relentlessly as he swept away at a terrifying speed, but he couldn't even breathe. Grains of sand were constantly getting into his mouth, nose, and eyes.

*BAM!*

His body hit the dune hard, one by one, and he felt excruciating pain all over his body. His head spun intensely, and he involuntarily began gagging to vomit, but he couldn't vomit anything.

Brand blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the sudden change of scenery. He felt a scorching heat wave hit his face. The sun above was being cruel to those below.

He stood up, trying to ignore his aching body. When he looked around, he saw nothing but sand and rocks stretching endlessly in all directions.

He was in a desert and didn't know why he was there.

Brand did not allow any fear to sprout in his heart, as he constantly reminded himself that he was in the Test. However, as he spent time in the Test, his mind began to see what he was experiencing as real, and although he was aware of it, he couldn't help it.

It was just like an absurd but hard-to-get-out doubt that arose in the mind.

He started walking in a random direction. Even though only a few minutes had passed, his throat was completely dry. He felt his skin starting to crack.