CHAPTER 51: CHAPTER 51: LEAVING THE TRIAL

On his fourth death, a monster kicked Ethan to the ground and then pierced his head.

It was his first time seeing his own brain matter mixed with blood.

After dying four times, Ethan fully understood the monsters’ speed and strength—they were at the human limit.

Most people would have broken down by now.

How could a normal person beat these two monsters?

But Ethan didn’t. He felt this [Berserk Blood Warrior] trial wasn’t torture for him—it was a chance.

When he opened his eyes again, Ethan didn’t run or grab a weapon from the ground. He stood where he was and did nothing.

He wasn’t giving up. He had figured out how to pass this trial.

He stood still, eyes wide, locking onto the monsters’ moves.

When the first monster swung its sharp arm at his head, Ethan suddenly stepped back.

Blood welled up.

His throat was cut, and blood sprayed out.

But a small smile lifted the corner of his mouth.

He "revived" again.

Ethan still didn’t run or look for a weapon, same as before.

But this time, the monster’s sharp arm only cut the skin at his throat. No blood came out.

However, right after he dodged the first monster’s attack, the other monster pierced his lung.

Open his eyes, face the monsters, then die.

After death, open his eyes again, and face them again...

As Ethan died more and more times, he could last longer under the monsters’ attacks.

At first, the moment he met them, he’d be killed in a second.

Later, even without a weapon, just by reading their moves and dodging, he could hold out for a few minutes.

He had died over forty times.

With only a normal human body, how could he beat these two monsters? At first, he thought he should pick up a weapon and try to fight.

But then he remembered what Tina said: stay alive.

That’s right—stay alive.

Only by staying alive would he get the chance to kill them.

It’s like in real life: if you want to be good at fighting, you have to get used to taking hits.

When his death count reached 49, he picked up a weapon again.

This time, he badly wounded one of the monsters.

...

52nd death: killed one monster, then was killed by the other.

...

58th death: killed both monsters, went down with them.

...

65th death: killed both monsters, lost an arm.

...

70th death: killed both monsters, only took a few cuts.

71st death: killed both monsters without a scratch.

Looking at the two monsters lying truly dead in the pile of bodies, Ethan panted hard. He wasn’t injured, but he’d burned a lot of energy.

Even with just a normal human body, Ethan could kill the two monsters without getting hurt. He never thought that was possible before.

So after dying a few times, he realized the [Berserk Blood Warrior] trial was a rare chance for him.

He could keep raising his fighting skills, and the cost was only dying again and again.

Ethan knew very well that if he went back to the real world now, with a bit of training, he could do the same there too.

Before, he knew some fighting and grappling, but he was never this strong.

While Ethan was thinking, more monsters showed up at the foot of the pile of bodies—this time, three of them.

...

Safe Zone 9527, in the room at the top of the spire.

Admin Tina had been working for a long time. She stretched, a bit tired, and said to Elise beside her, "Finally done. How long has it been since [Windchaser] entered the trial?"

Bored out of her mind, Elise answered at once, "More than two hours!"

Tina frowned right away. "Are you sure? It’s already been over two hours?"

Elise nodded firmly. While Tina was working, she had nothing to do but watch the time and wait for the trial’s result.

After getting Elise’s answer, Tina suddenly stood up and hurried to the door.

Seeing this, Elise also stood at once and followed her, asking quickly, "What’s wrong? Did [Windchaser] fail the trial?"

"No," Tina said. "There must be something wrong with the trial. Normally, two hours is enough to clear it.

"If he had failed, [Windchaser] would’ve come out long ago."

"So something abnormal must have happened in there, keeping [Windchaser] inside for so long."

When they hurried to the blood-red iron door Ethan had entered, Tina checked it carefully.

Nothing seemed wrong. Everything looked normal.

Standing outside the door, Tina murmured in a puzzled tone, "That’s strange. The trial isn’t showing any problems. It’s still running."

"But it’s been more than two hours. Normally, it should be over by now."

Elise asked curiously, "So what counts as a successful class change to [Berserk Blood Warrior]?"

Tina gave a brief explanation. The advice she gave [Windchaser] before was to stay alive and feel everything the trial brings.

That’s because to pass the [Berserk Blood Warrior] trial, you have to keep your fighting spirit through death after death. You can’t break down because of dying.

If you do break down, the trial fails right away, and the player inside will really die and respawn at the revival point.

As for "feeling everything the trial brings," that’s about class skills.

Different people feel and understand things in their own way, so the skills they grasp will also be different.

Tina didn’t really think Ethan could pass, but for Elise’s sake, she still gave him as many reminders as she could.

She just didn’t expect some unknown problem would make the trial last for over two hours.

Elise felt uneasy. She still needed Ethan’s help that evening to complete her talent metamorphosis, so she was more worried about him than anyone else.

So Elise said, "Tina, should we stop the trial for now?"

Tina shook her head. Once a trial starts, it has to end on its own. If you stop it, you won’t be able to start it again in the future.

All we can do now is wait.

Inside the [Berserk Blood Warrior] class trial, Ethan had lost count of how many times he’d died.

It started with two monsters, then three, four, five...

Ethan was now facing a squad of ten monsters.

Back when he hit his 100th death, an iron door appeared near the pile of bodies, exactly like the one he came in through.

At that point, he already knew: if he entered that red iron door, he could finish the [Berserk Blood Warrior] class change trial.

But he hadn’t reached his limit yet. He didn’t want to waste this chance.

So he chose to ignore the door and stayed, looping through death and "revival" again and again.

Sadly, no matter what he did, he still couldn’t kill all ten monsters.

His best result so far was a mutual wipe—he took all ten down with him.

He thought if he just died a few more times, he could keep improving like before, get hurt less, and pay a smaller price.

But after several more tries, he couldn’t even repeat that best result, let alone do better.

It was probably because, even though he could "revive," his state was still getting affected.

With each death and revival, he could clearly feel a growing fatigue.

If he kept going, he felt he wouldn’t just fail to kill the ten—there could be serious consequences.

So Ethan let out a reluctant sigh, and slowly walked to the iron door that had been waiting for him.

Outside the door, Evan, Tina, and Elise were all waiting.

Evan had rushed over after he learned what was happening.

He said, "Lord Tina, just waiting like this isn’t going to work. It’s been over four hours."

Tina was starting to regret it. Maybe she shouldn’t have let [Windchaser] enter the trial.

Right now she truly had no clue what kind of abnormal issue had hit the [Berserk Blood Warrior] class change trial.

Elise was also very anxious. If they kept waiting, it would be evening, and she still needed Ethan’s help to complete her talent metamorphosis.

Right then, the blood-red iron door suddenly shook.

As the three watched nervously, Ethan slowly stepped out through the door.

Tina let out a breath of relief and quickly asked, "Did the trial fail? Did you notice anything unusual?"

Elise said: "How are you? You’re okay, right? It won’t mess up tonight, will it?"

Evan didn’t speak. He was staring hard at Ethan.

The moment he saw Ethan, he felt a wave of unease, as if a strong killing intent was coming off him.

Tina noticed it too now. She’d been too focused on the [Berserk Blood Warrior] class change trial to notice the change in Ethan earlier.

In surprise, Tina asked: "Did you already complete the trial?"