49: The second challenge: Trial of Courage

"Ding, you have completed the Trial of Wisdom. Trial of the Seven Gods progress (1/7)."

Walking into the next door, Lin Yue left behind a sentence before departing: "Next time, please be more professional when you're trying to deceive people."

The White-Bearded Old Man's eyes widened. Looking at Lin Yue's departing figure, he began to laugh for some inexplicable reason. "An interesting Adventurer. Perhaps he really can obtain the final Treasure Trove."

Immediately after, the White-Bearded Old Man's form shifted, transforming back into the Three-Headed Hellhound.

"Which Demon God has arrived? Why not come out and meet?"

In the Void Realm, a massive black mist condensed out of thin air to form a giant eye. "You are a mere projection; do you think you're worthy of blocking me?"

"So it is you, Asmodeus."

The God of Cunning's face turned bitter. The opponent's strength was immense; it was indeed not something he could stop.

However, gods have their dignity. Even if the opponent was a Strong God among the thirty-six Demon Gods, he could not show weakness.

"Though I cannot defeat you, I can still delay you."

As his voice fell, the Three-Headed Hellhound's three heads simultaneously unleashed frost, fire, and lightning Spells, rapidly striking toward the giant black eye in the sky.

"Insignificant tricks."

The giant eye dispersed into thin air and re-condensed into a black giant over eight meters tall. A massive fist smashed down violently toward the Three-Headed Hellhound... Entering the second stage, a valiant woman clad in armor, with both hands resting on a longsword thrust into the ground, was quietly waiting for Lin Yue's arrival.

"I am the Trial God of the second stage, the God of Courage. Adventurer, are you prepared?"

The woman's straightforward words made Lin Yue pause slightly. This God of Courage's personality was quite decent.

"I am ready."

"Very well. Open your mind and body; I shall lead you into the trial."

The God of Courage looked at Lin Yue with approval. A soft light enveloped the two of them, and then they vanished.

In a dilapidated small village, a man with disheveled hair and a face covered in mud blankly opened his eyes. His exhausted body and the unbearable feeling of hunger caused a trace of pain to appear on the man's face.

"This is the Courage Trial?"

Lin Yue looked at his appearance with a bitter smile. Even if it was like this, there was no need to turn him into a Beggar.

Barely adapting to his current body, Lin Yue checked his status. All skills and equipment were gone, but his health was still there, indicating that Lin Yue's talent could not be stripped away. This was a blessing in disguise.

Although his talent remained, Lin Yue was not feeling well right now. His body was afflicted with various debuffs: hunger, cold, weakness, disease... Taking a deep breath, Lin Yue found a pool of water and washed his body. He scrutinized himself again; his face was pale and bloodless. His features were still his original ones, but his state made him look decades older.

Slowly calming down, the current priority was to find useful information first, and then fill his stomach... "The village was raided by Bandits; no one has much grain left in their hands."

"If you want to fill your stomach, go to the back mountain to dig up some wild vegetables."

"I heard the Bandits will return today. Stop struggling."

"I have nothing to give you. My family and I are about to flee."

...Dizzy with hunger, Lin Yue gulped down several mouthfuls of cold water before organizing his findings.

It seemed this Courage Trial was also very direct.

In Lin Yue's current state, encountering well-equipped Bandits would certainly be seeking death.

Courage, courage?

Was he supposed to face the Bandits directly?

Lin Yue's eyes flickered slightly. He still had to get food first, otherwise the hunger and weakness states could not be removed.

Walking to the village's back mountain, it was somewhat similar to the Novice Village's back mountain; the hills were teeming with ferocious monsters.

At this moment, Lin Yue was empty-handed. Trying to deal with these beasts would likely be a thankless task.

Casually picking a branch that looked somewhat like a staff from a pile of firewood, Lin Yue gathered all the energy in his body and began chanting a Spell incantation.

The most basic Magic Missile.

This was equivalent to the basic attack of other classes; there was no way Lin Yue could forget how to cast it.

Chanting while praying, he hoped it could actually be cast!

As if hearing Lin Yue's thoughts, a ping-pong ball-sized Magic Missile shot out from his hand, hitting a wild boar.

-1

...Looking at the pitifully low damage value, Lin Yue's expression was bitter, but something was better than nothing.

While dealing damage, Lin Yue felt a trace of warmth in his body. His health increased by 4 points, and his spell power increased by 0.004 points.

Since it worked, looking at the wild boar charging toward him, Lin Yue finally pulled himself together.

An hour later, Lin Yue lay on the ground exhausted, gasping for breath. To kill this single wild boar, he had pushed through various debuffs and barely managed it, nearly collapsing from the effort.

He had over four hundred thousand health, so this wild boar certainly couldn't kill him, but Lin Yue was exhausted just trying to kill the opponent.

He simply started a fire and placed a piece of wild boar meat over it to roast. Not caring whether it was fully cooked or not, he took a large bite and began devouring it ravenously.

After ten minutes, the hunger state was removed, and even the weakness state had decreased significantly.

Continuing the hunt, Lin Yue felt much more relaxed now that he had eaten. The Magic Missile grew from its original ping-pong ball size to the size of an apple.

Although the damage was only a few dozen points, there was more room for movement and maneuvering.

Taking almost no damage, the second wild boar was killed; Lin Yue only took thirty minutes.

Next came the third, fourth, fifth... He didn't know how much time had passed, but the originally bright daylight had turned into a dim night.

The small village had no Life Qi at all, illuminated only by scattered sparks of fire; not even a wisp of cooking smoke dared to rise.

Even so, Lin Yue still heard the slight vibration of the ground. A group of people was riding horses toward this village.

Finishing a piece of golden-roasted wild boar meat in one bite, Lin Yue ran quickly toward the village entrance with a cold gaze.

What was meant to come had finally arrived.

Over a dozen Bandits stood unscrupulously at the village entrance, the sharp blades in their hands glinting with undried blood. They began checking house by house.

The leading Scarface Man, full of thuggish air, shouted, "Loot all the grain and money!"

An old grandmother desperately protected the rice vat behind her, while a one-year-old child on the bed watched numbly. "This is the last of the grain in the house. I beg you, don't take it away; this is the life-saving food I kept for the child."

"Move aside! Who cares if you live or die!"

Several Bandits rudely pushed the grandmother to the ground, ignoring her wails as they snatched the grain.

The same scene played out in every household of the small village. Those who resisted were killed on the spot; those who obstructed were beaten severely, leaving them bloodied.

Before long, a fair amount of property and grain had been gathered at the village entrance.

"Boss, it's all here."

The Scarface Man looked at the items on the ground and spat on the floor.

"A village of paupers. Let's go."

However, in the next second, Lin Yue, who had run down from the back mountain, roared loudly at the Bandits with a red glint in his eyes:

"Put everything down for me!"