Chapter 223: Challenge

The night of Vieno’s second day heading to Deya City.

With Gadelia’s help, Suna was studying an ancient artifact she had never seen before—the “Challenge Crystal.”

According to Gadelia, the crystal pulls the user’s consciousness into a virtual world to fight a simulated opponent. It was incredibly mysterious.

Moreover, since there was currently no technology capable of reproducing such an item, every opponent inside a Challenge Crystal was completely unique.

Once damaged, it could never be repaired.

“Theoretical knowledge is important, but practical combat experience is just as essential.”

Gadelia handed Suna a crystal engraved with two vertical marks and a string of ancient text.

At the Royal Magic Academy, ordinary students could only use a Challenge Crystal a few times after accumulating enough points.

But Gadelia had directly used her authority to select one perfectly suited for Suna.

“Hold the crystal tightly and focus your mind. Don’t worry—everything happens in your consciousness. It will only drain your mental energy and won’t harm your body.”

“Okay, I’ll try…” Suna sat down, gripping the crystal with both hands.

In the next moment, she felt her consciousness merge with it, and a massive combat platform appeared in her mind.

“Huh?”

In the blink of an eye, Suna found herself standing at the center of the platform, holding the Fire Pattern Staff.

Even though she had prepared herself mentally, it still felt astonishing.

A stream of strange ancient text scrolled past her vision, completely incomprehensible to her.

Thud. Thud.

Two dull sounds echoed. Instinctively, Suna looked forward.

About thirty meters away, a woman appeared silently.

She wore a black and purple mage robe, had a striking figure, held a nearly three-meter staff, and wore an oversized mage hat.

The two dull sounds came from her striking the ground with her staff.

Here she comes—my virtual opponent!

“Please teach me!”

Suna immediately entered combat mode. According to Gadelia, her goal was to defeat this opponent head-on.

However, the opponent did not attack immediately. Instead, she waved her hand dramatically, her robe swaying, and struck an infuriating pose.

She spread her legs, clad in black stockings, held her staff horizontally before her face, twisted her waist exaggeratedly, then slowly raised her left hand into a fist—before extending her middle finger straight up.

Suna frowned. For some reason, it felt like the woman wasn’t wearing anything under her robe…

A UI suddenly appeared, and a massive countdown hung above the platform.

Information appeared above both of their heads:

Suna, level twenty (restricted), with HP, MP, and status bar.

Lin, level twenty (restricted), with HP, MP, and status bar.

“Lin?” Suna finally learned her opponent’s name. It was written in ancient text, but she recognized it—there was a well-known ancient elf deity named Eileen.

A line of text appeared above Lin’s head instead of speech.

“Yeah, my name’s Lin! A top-tier single-character ID—come try and suppress me!”

Suna was completely confused. Not only was this an odd way to communicate, but she couldn’t even understand most of the ancient text.

Battle preparation. Three, two, one… begin!

……

“We’re back, Tia. Go check if the Church has delivered the one hundred thousand gold coins yet.”

After a long journey, Truth and Tia quietly returned to Deya City by carriage, awaiting the Goddess of Life’s next task.

During their absence, almost no one in the city knew they had participated in the demon suppression battle.

The nobles still believed Truth had been secretly doing something shady and had not slept well for quite some time.

“Wait, let me finish this report letter first!”

Along the way, Tia endured the bumpy ride while handwriting a formal complaint against Annabelle.

The letter strongly condemned the conduct of the Lily Priest Order and accused Annabelle of blasphemy against the Saintess.

Normally, complaint letters sent to the Church would disappear without a trace.

But with the Saintess’s signature, things would be different.

Tia was determined to see Annabelle severely punished, and she had spent a long time persuading Truth to sign it.

She could tell that Truth did not actually want to punish Annabelle.

And she was right.

“Do we really have to target her like this? She didn’t really do anything…”

Tia became upset.

“There’s a saying—if you’re too kind, people will walk all over you! Even a Saintess can’t just tolerate others’ malice! No matter what, I’m making sure she pays for this!”

“What would it take for you to let her go?”

Truth thought to herself, It was just taking off clothes. There’s no need to call it “malice”…

After all, she had been the one to ask Annabelle to do it in the first place.

She had explained that already, but Tia refused to believe her.

This situation felt unfair to Annabelle. Truth really did not want to report her.

Besides, she had not suffered any loss. A seven-day confinement would be enough.

But Tia remained firm.

“No way. If you stay this soft, what if everyone thinks you’re easy to bully and starts taking advantage of you?”

That is exactly what I want… Truth sighed, then offered an enticing condition.

“I can ask the Hermit to grant you a blessing. How about that?”

“Really?! No… wait—you’re using the Hermit’s blessing to spare Annabelle?!” Tia was shocked, gaining an even deeper understanding of Truth’s kindness.

Sometimes, being too kind is not a good thing…

“Really.” Truth nodded seriously.

After reaching the second rank, Truth could now use Faith Power to grant simple blessings to her followers.

It was more than enough to convince a devout believer like Tia.

Although she felt a little guilty, she decided to make it up to Tia later. After all, following her would never be a loss.

Rip—

Without hesitation, Tia tore up the report letter she had spent so long writing.

“I’ll go check the Church’s reply right now!”

Ten minutes later, Truth returned to the second floor of the Church of the Goddess of Life, holding the reply Tia had retrieved.

The contents were simple: since Truth had not completed the Saintess Trial, the resources she could access were limited.

At most, they could provide eight thousand gold coins for now.

The money was already on its way.

“Eight thousand?!” Truth slammed the table.

“That’s it? Are they treating me like a beggar? If they can’t give one hundred thousand, fine—but using the unfinished trial as an excuse?”

Do they think I can’t pass the trial?

“Wait, the Church actually gave eight thousand gold coins? That’s a lot!” Tia was surprised.

Even as the Dean of the Priest Academy, her yearly salary was only fifty gold coins.

“Too little. Gold should be unlimited…” Truth muttered. “Looks like I need to move forward with the shop plan…”

Snowveil City, Royal Magic Academy.

Gadelia sat on a bench reading a magic book, finally feeling her mind settle after returning.

She had never expected to suffer such humiliation in a backward place.

It had shaken her confidence and worldview. Fortunately, Wilona had helped her recover.

Beside her, Suna sat with eyes tightly shut, brows furrowed, the Challenge Crystal in her hands glowing brightly. The battle was clearly intense.

“She’s lasted almost five minutes… impressive. This is one of the hardest second-rank crystals. Maybe she could actually win?”

Gadelia began to see Suna in a new light.

“Ah!”

Suddenly, Suna jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat. The crystal’s glow faded.

“Judging by that, you failed?” Gadelia asked without looking up.

After a while, Suna replied weakly, “It was too hard…”

Although failure did not cause death or physical harm, the mental exhaustion was real.

And the sensation of dying at the end had felt far too real.

“Senior Gadelia, is that mage named Lin someone from our academy?” Tina asked.

At the start of the battle, Lin had cast a simple Ice Cone spell.

Suna prepared to dodge and counter—but then Lin grabbed the ice cone and attached it to her staff tip.

With a sharp whistling sound, she began wielding it like a spear.

“Watch this! Lin Family Overlord Spear!”

The next moment, she charged like a fearless melee fighter.

“What?! That’s allowed?!”

Suna panicked. At the same rank, a mage caught in close combat was doomed.

She quickly used her Fire Pattern Staff to create a wall of flames.

Enhanced by its Heavenly Fire attribute, Lin’s ice spear melted after a few exchanges.

Lin grew annoyed.

“You’re using a top-tier weapon in a second-rank fight? And it’s enchanted with Heavenly Fire? Seriously? Fine, I’ll play for real!”

She broke her long staff into two to increase agility, blue magic flowing through both halves, and began testing Suna.

Even though this was an AI controlling an offline Lin, its combat style closely mirrored the real player.

It quickly noticed Suna’s poor mana control and wasteful skill usage.

Lin began baiting out her skills, completely toying with her. Her weapon shifted forms constantly—staff, nunchaku, ice blade—forcing Suna to exhaust her abilities.

“Too weak!”

Lin’s combat level was far beyond second rank. Within three exchanges, Suna’s mana was down to one-third.

Meanwhile, Lin had only used one-fifth of hers. Every movement was precise, making Suna feel completely seen through.

The rest of the fight was one-sided. In the end, as Suna’s chest was pierced, she saw a final line above Lin’s head:

“No mounts accepted.”

“Senior? Not even close.” Gadelia chuckled.

“Those in the Challenge Crystals are projections of ancient humans. Many scholars believe they deliberately left them across the world, though the purpose is unknown. Their combat style is quite unique, isn’t it?”

“Unique? More like cunning…” Suna sighed.

“Still, I learned a lot. But if these crystals exist everywhere, why didn’t I ever hear about them in Deya City?”

“Well…” Gadelia smiled faintly.

“The reason might offend your gods. Do you still want to hear it?”