Chapter 311

Chapter 311: Temptation of the Other Side

Under the warm glow of the flickering fire, the campsite felt warm and inviting.

A large pot at the center bubbled with tender meats mixed with wild vegetables and spices. Even from a hundred meters away, the rich aroma drifted onto the Path of the Mind, making most trial participants inhale deeply and swallow saliva despite themselves.

On the other side of the campfire, fluffy bedding and thick sleeping bags lay spread out. The trial participants’ eyes shone with a wolfish green glow, like predators eyeing prey.

They’d run nonstop for a full day without food or rest, sustained only by magic and alchemical potions.

Even Midi’s group, who’d maintained steady pacing, had slipped from peak condition—let alone the others who’d alternated between rushing and dawdling.

The hot food and soft beds now seemed irresistible.

Yet such comforts appearing in the Mind Maze couldn’t be real. Worse, a hundred-meter chasm filled with howling Sharp Wind separated the tempting camp from the Path—a clear warning against approaching.

No one faltered.

These were elite members of Blood Purification. Jaw clenched, they ran past the campsite.

Midi at the lead never even glanced sideways, gaze locked ahead.

"Nothing happened," Wiseman remarked disappointedly, looking back.

Before the Necromancer finished speaking, Midi gave a mocking smile. "This is just the start."

How could the Path of the Mind offer only one trial? Mere food and pillows?

As a seasoned adventurer, Midi knew the true test was beginning.

Soon, more temptations lined the path.

Simple meats became juicy steaks, then lavish feasts with fine wine.

Campsite bedding transformed into opulent rooms containing beds so luxurious they’d shock even Prince Reinhardt.

Later came greater lures—heritage skills in demon-sealing boxes, rare alchemical potions to boost levels and magic capacity, even treasures like Dragon’s Blood.

The temptations grew fiercer.

Finally, someone stopped—a Patrol Team youth staring across the abyss at a revival potion, feet rooted.

"That potion could heal my sister’s paralysis! Let her become a practitioner!" he rasped, eyes bloodshot.

Before companions could react, he leapt toward the chasm.

Milky-white air currents swirled around him—Psionicist skills: Breath of Wind and Qi Envelopment. His mastery of Composite Skills normally enabled hundred-meter jumps.

But this was the deadly Mind Maze.

Before he cleared thirty meters, black Sharp Wind tore at him like ravenous beasts. Metal screeched as the storm shredded his Qi layer by layer, slowing his flight.

At fifty meters, his Qi vanished.

Without skill support, he dropped like stone into the abyss. His fading scream etched itself into every listener’s mind.

This was the first sacrifice of the trial.

"That guy was too greedy," Reinhardt sighed.

Midi shook his head.

Clearly, this wasn’t merely caused by greed.

The temptations lining both sides seemed to erode the trial participants’ reason. As time passed, their rationality diminished while fatigue accumulated, making them increasingly vulnerable to enticements that drove them to suicidal acts.

Midi sensed deeper layers to the Path of the Mind trial.

Why had a revival potion specifically appeared earlier?

With no time to mourn, Rot from the Patrol Team roared sorrowfully before resuming his run.

Midi maintained his steady pace throughout, seemingly impervious to worldly distractions. His iron will helped allies Avril, Reinhardt and Wiseman resist temptations as they advanced.

Others fared worse.

Though temptation intensity plateaued after Dragon’s Blood appeared, more participants succumbed. Soon came the second sacrifice – another desperate lunge for something "guaranteed", ending in the abyss.

Now the illusions targeted personal desires rather than offering generic valuables.

Even Wiseman, Reinhardt and Avril faced tailored temptations later, though their mental fortitude held. By then, three or four of twenty participants had perished.

As vigilance increased, so did the temptations’ precision.

Only Midi remained untouched by personalized illusions… until fiery maple-red hair flashed in his vision.

"Fina…"

His starry black eyes trembled before the image of his lover – battered and crucified on a black cross above kindling ignited by spreading flames.

Reinhardt and Wiseman paled. As Arad natives and Midi’s former opponents, they knew what "Queen of Magic" Fina Hamilton meant to him.

While others gaped at the crucified beauty, rage burned in Midi’s eyes.

He knew this abyss-spanning illusion aimed to provoke him. No rescue was needed. But would ignoring this insult to his deepest bonds truly demonstrate mental strength?

"Merely avoiding traps doesn’t make one strong," Midi concluded.

Golden-red sword light erupted around him as he transformed into a blazing arc across the chasm. His allies barely registered the movement before Sharp Winds assailed him – met by whirling dual swords Sun and Moon. Metal screeched as he shredded the gales.

Seconds later, Midi stood before the illusion. Instead of saving "Fina", his longsword flashed – cleaving both cross and figure vertically.

"Those crossing my line die," he stated coldly.

The shattered illusion dissolved as an ancient voice echoed: "Trial illusion passed: 50 psychic energy. Illusion destroyed: 300 psychic energy."

Blue liquid filled participants’ Mind Crystals – barely covering the base for most. Midi’s crystal pooled sixfold more, drawing stares from Sandur, Rot and the Scarred Man.