The Law Source Light, profoundly mysterious and ineffable, is an arcane brilliance that manifests within an Awakened One upon the ascent of their Awakening Level. This luminous essence can be channeled to enhance any of the three core attributes.
Guided by the female knight's counsel, Li Ang focused the power of the Law Source Light upon his Intelligence. A surge of enigmatic force converged within him, flowing into the depths of his mind, elevating his Intelligence from nine to eleven points. Simultaneously, the system's voice resonated in his consciousness.
System Notification: Host's Intelligence has broken through the ten-point threshold, surpassing the first critical line. Additional attribute ability unlocked: Mana Sublimation — For each point of Intelligence increased henceforth, the bonus to Maximum Mana rises from 15 points to 20 points.
For the Awakened, the three core attributes serve distinct purposes. Strength governs physical attack, vitality, and constitution, typically granting 25 Health per point. Agility determines attack speed, movement, and reflexes. Intelligence correlates with spirit, willpower, and mana, ordinarily providing 15 Mana per point. Li Ang's breakthrough beyond ten Intelligence had indeed yielded the enhancement the female knight mentioned, granted upon crossing the first significant milestone for an attribute.
The passive ability, Mana Sublimation, meant each future point invested in Intelligence would grant him 5 more Mana than it would for others. "For a traditional mage, this might be the finest bonus," he mused. "But as a summoner, my reliance on vast mana reserves seems less pressing... Wait, that's shortsighted. While I currently possess only the True Summoning skill, worrying about mana scarcity is premature. Once my repertoire expands, the situation will change entirely." His initially furrowed brow smoothed as reason prevailed. Mana, to an Awakened One, is akin to soldiers under a general's command—one can never have too many. Should his mana pool be exhausted, rendering potent skills unusable, even the most powerful Awakened would be reduced to a mere foot soldier. Ultimately, he was satisfied with the bonus acquired from his Intelligence breakthrough.
The night passed without event. Li Ang managed a few hours of fitful rest before dawn, when the female knight roused him for another day of training. Over the following days, the five core members of the Abyss-Cleaver squad took turns dedicating a day to his intensive instruction: Edward Pu, the stalwart captain and primary melee combatant; the towering bulwark, Mundo; Han Feng, the ranged archer; Alan, the scout ranger; and Ye Qing, the female support adept in control and restoration arts.
Their training focused less on intricate combat techniques—such skills requiring time far beyond their brief schedule to transform an ordinary youth into a refined warrior—and more on cultivating essential combat experience. They drilled into him constant vigilance, the optimal responses to ambushes, and the necessity of showing not a shred of mercy towards enemies—lessons etched in blood through their own harrowing experiences. During their absence, the squad's steward, a middle-aged Awakened who, though not a knight, had ventured widely and slain numerous fiends, continued Li Ang's discipline.
After thirty days of relentless training, a significant change was evident in Li Ang's demeanor. Though traces of youth remained, the bearing of a warrior had taken root. Former indolent habits were forcibly eradicated; his hand now rested instinctively near where a sword would be drawn, and his eyes perpetually scanned his surroundings with hardened alertness.
On the very day his training concluded, the Abyss-Cleaver squad escorted Li Ang from Fort Rock to undertake the Abyssal Trials. Their steel-clad steeds thundered through the massive iron-reinforced gatehouse and surged into the vast wilderness. Scattered, unburied bones occasionally lined the roadside, while farmers toiled in distant fields. Though this world suffered the blight of evil creatures, their influence was largely contained beyond the human-controlled territories shrouded in the mists. Yet, for common folk dwelling outside the great cities garrisoned by Awakened Knights, danger remained an ever-present shadow. Fiends perpetually devised methods to breach defenses, infiltrating human lands from the encroaching fog.
The five Gold-rank Abyssal Knights galloped northward. All in their path—travelers, merchant caravans, even other warriors sworn to the Church—hastily made way, offering respectful salutes as the party passed. Church law was unequivocal: those obstructing an Abyssal Knight's passage outdoors forfeited their lives, with no recourse for grievance.
Their exceptional mounts, bred for such purposes, covered fifty kilometers in little over half an hour. This black torrent of horse and steel stormed into a heavily fortified castle—or more accurately, a castle mid-construction. The stronghold was distinctly divided into an outer and a vastly taller, thicker inner wall that continued to rise. The entire site swarmed with activity, yet security was unprecedentedly tight: sentinels stood virtually shoulder-to-shoulder. Even the Abyss-Cleaver squad, with their credentials, endured multiple challenging inspections before nearing the inner ward.
"What could possibly warrant such formidable defenses?" Li Ang wondered.
Upon ascending the inner rampart, the answer struck him dumb. Enclosed by the towering walls lay not treasure or palaces, but an undulating mist, grey-black and veined with bloody crimson light. Within its churning depths, a pitch-black fissure, akin to a tear in reality itself, flickered intermittently. An aura emanated from it that stirred a primal disquiet deep within the soul.
"That is..." Li Ang whispered, eyes wide. "The Abyssal Chasm of Evil!"
Captain Edward Pu, his face obscured by a bronze mask, stated impassively, "This is a newly formed chasm, appearing merely a fortnight ago. We suspect the novel fiend you encountered originated from within."
Li Ang asked, "Has no reconnaissance been conducted?"
"That is precisely your purpose here," interjected the female knight, Ye Qing, her gaze sweeping over other knight squads and their young charges nearby. "This nascent rift is highly unstable. Those of higher level cannot pass. Thus, you and five other candidates will venture inside. Your primary task is not slaughter, but survival for ten days. Return alive with gathered intelligence, and you pass. The value of the items and information you retrieve will determine your final evaluation."
Li Ang drew a sharp breath. To explore a completely unknown fiendish abyss—this was a gambit with life itself as the stake. The Abyssal Knights had their reasons: freshly formed, unstable portals often only permitted passage to those below level twenty. Reconnaissance was essential. The Church had calculated that sending lower-level candidates on initial, intelligence-gathering forays into unknown chasms was more... expedient than risking seasoned knights. If the chasm housed minor threats, the candidates could handle it. If it concealed a supreme danger, where survival was a lottery... then the cold calculus of sacrificing candidates versus full knights was clear. Furthermore, after a month of training, candidates were not mere cannon fodder; their Innate Skills offered a measure of self-preservation.
In short, this trial was a gamble on fate. A minor chasm could see all succeed; a supreme one could mean total annihilation.
"I told you, becoming an Abyssal Knight is no simple path," Han Feng said, clapping Li Ang's shoulder. "It's too late to turn back now. Just focus on surviving. A little caution is no disgrace."
"If the chasm truly leads to the world of The Strain, the source of the Strigoi..." Li Ang thought, "then I possess inherent advantages there." This realization slowly quelled his anxiety, replaced by a flicker of anticipation for the unknown challenge. If he failed this trial despite his foreknowledge, then perhaps a quiet, obscure fate was indeed his lot. Outwardly, however, he remained impassive. "The chasm seems a spatial tear. How do we return? Is there a corresponding passage on the other side?"
"What lies beyond is uncertain," Ye Qing explained. "But nascent chasms rarely possess stable return paths, only shifting, ephemeral tears. This is a Void Stone, a law artifact devised by the Church's Grand Augur." She handed him a gem resembling a blue diamond. "In the abyssal world, ensure your vicinity is clear of fiends, channel your Law Power into it, and it will create a temporary rift for your return. But the stone requires at least ten days to gather the necessary spatial coordinates of that dimension."
"So, ten days is the theoretical minimum for a return journey, not a guarantee?" Li Ang clarified soberly.
"Correct," she replied. "Do not resent the harshness. Blame the era we are born into. For thirty years, since the fiendish invasions began, every Abyssal Knight has been forged this way." For a moment, her tone softened, almost jesting. "Let's hope you survive. Perhaps one day, you might even count yourself among those great personages." She nodded towards three figures hovering in the air high above the chasm, robed in sanctity or clad in resplendent armor, their forms radiating such brilliance that their features were impossible to discern—three miniature suns demanding averted gazes. These were the true pillars of the Sacred Church, beings even the Abyss-Cleaver squad could only look up to in reverence.
The central figure raised a hand, and silence fell instantly throughout the castle. An authoritative, majestic voice, amplified to echo under the heavens, resonated: "The 5,156th Abyssal Trials of the Fort Rock Diocese commence in ten minutes! All candidates, to your positions!"
The Abyss-Cleaver squad led Li Ang onto a great archway that spanned the misty chasm, towards a circular platform at its center. The five other candidates, each escorted by a knight squad akin to Abyss-Cleaver, also ascended. A casual glance revealed familiar ties between the escorting knights.
"Edward, you picked a mere child?" one knight remarked, eyeing Li Ang dismissively.
Ye Qing retorted, glancing at the blond youth beside the speaker, "And yours seems scarcely weaned!"
"Ah, but he is a scion of the Arizlan main family. Young, yet formidable. He aims for the top rank this time." Murmurs of recognition spread; the Arizlan were a major power in Fort Rock.
Captain Edward remained expressionless. His teammates simply smiled faintly, letting the matter drop. For them, such banter was commonplace, hardly worth a second thought.