Eighteen meters.
The incense stick had already burned halfway through.
Only twelve meters remained, but the distance seemed impossible to cross in that time frame, especially since the traps continued to become harder and harder!
“Two meters more… then I have… escaped… the gravity… trap!”
Ambrose screamed, stabbed his nails to the ground in front of him, and tried dragging himself forward, ignoring the numbness that shot throughout his hands.
However, the closer he got to the twenty-meter mark, the heavier the gravity seemed to become.
Now, it felt like the entire sky was crashing down upon him, making every centimeter a monumental task.
“Grrrr!” Through bloodied teeth, he raised his head and tried to push himself forward, but then the gravity increased again, causing his head to fall back down with a loud thud.
It made many villagers flinch, as they thought the young man’s head would split open from that kind of impact.
Yet Ambrose lifted his head, his forehead only slightly bleeding.
Ignoring the blinking red health bar, he screamed and tried an impossible task: lift his body from the ground.
Using his muscular and well-toned arms, he pushed his body up like he was doing a push-up.
However, it felt like he was trying to do a push-up through a ceiling.
Whenever he tried pushing his body up, he hit an invisible wall called gravity that stopped him from completing the full push-up motion.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t overcome the force of gravity.
The villagers continued gasping and sighing.
They could clearly see the impossible task at hand, even though they couldn’t feel the increased gravity.
However, hearing the young man’s screams and seeing his bloodied nails, they could only imagine the struggle.
Many Honorables remembered when they did their own tests and it was already difficult to cross the gravity trap with both legs.
They couldn’t imagine doing it without legs.
Thus, Ambrose’s decision to cut down his legs to escape the cold trap seemed to come back to haunt him.
“Ngh…” Ambrose crashed back to the ground, and this time he stopped moving altogether.
Many villagers shot to their feet, thinking that the young man might’ve passed out.
However, they still saw his open, dull blue eyes, which seemed to stare into nothingness.
The Self-Possession had ended a long time ago, and using it constantly drained him of his stamina at immense speed.
He had already used it twice today, and using it a third time might actually make him pass out.
However, Ambrose didn’t think there was any other choice to overcome this trap.
“Rgh… Self-Possession!” He screamed, and he suddenly felt the transparent hand squeezing his heart. 𝑶𝑣xt.𝑶𝑀
As his heart stopped beating for a moment, he could feel his consciousness fading away.
However, then the heart started beating strongly against his chest with new-found vitality.
“Ability: Floating!” Ambrose screamed, and out of nowhere, his body started hovering one centimeter above the platform.
It was barely noticeable; thus, the villagers didn’t notice the strange sight.
However, the Wisdom King and the Honorables did.
“Argh!” Ambrose lunged forward with the help of the floating, but then the gravity rained down with incredible might, pushing him straight to the ground.
However, loud cheers came from the crowd as they saw where Ambrose’s lunge took him.
That one split second of floating managed to help him reach the twenty-meter mark!
Only ten meters remained!
The increased gravity vanished like a fleeting cloud.
“Haah… haah…” Ambrose tried to reach into his inventory to pull out the Restoration Gel, but then caught sight of the incense stick.
It was barely burning; there was only a small amount of stick left!
It might not even take a minute for it to burn completely!
It would take at least half a minute for his limbs to grow back, maybe even further as both of his legs were missing.
He didn’t have that much time to wait!
Seeing where he was looking, all the villagers turned to the incense stick and paled.
“Hurry up!”
“You are so close!”
“Shit, time is running out!”
The young boy grabbed his mother’s hand and squeezed it hard with anxiety.
“Ability… Floating!” Ambrose screamed and tried to float, but suddenly a sharp object shot through his chest.
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.
A steel-bladed spear appeared out of nowhere on the ground.
“Ugh!” Ambrose coughed blood and looked at the spear stuck in his chest. “Ability: Phasing…”
He phased through the blade and managed to reach the 21-meter mark.
However, then an illusionary-looking blade appeared from the ground and stabbed through his neck!
“Ugh!” Ambrose’s eyes widened in shock.
The phasing couldn’t save him this time!
‘How did this blade manage to hit me?!’
The Wisdom King half-closed his eyes. ‘Your ability of phasing won’t be as invincible as you hoped it to be. There are weapons in the world that can hurt even ghosts.’
The villagers closed their mouths in shock.
They truly thought this young man was dead.
After all, he got stabbed through the neck!
No one would be able to survive that.
However, against all odds, Ambrose pulled out the illusionary blade from his neck and tossed it away.
He was bleeding almost everywhere, but he refused to give up.
The red health bar continued blinking rapidly, signaling low health.
If he hadn’t assigned those sixty stats on the Vitality, he might’ve died already!
‘I am so… fucking close!’ Ambrose thought, determination burning through his eyes.
He clenched his fists and began crawling forward with unyielding fury.
All sorts of weapons continued to fly through the ground, impaling him from all angles.
Blood spewed, and the health plummeted all the way down.
Everyone watched in silence as the young man, impaled like a porcupine, continued crawling forward.
No one could imagine the pain he must be going through.
It was a gruesome sight that would haunt their nightmares for years to come.
However, finally, Ambrose’s trembling fingernails touched the tile at the 25-meter mark.
No more weapons appeared on the ground.
However, something much worse happened.
The biting cold and increased gravity came crashing down, trapping him in a limbo of being crushed and frozen.
It was a fate worse than hell.
He could feel his body slowly succumbing to the unbearable pressure.
His chest started breaking apart as if there was a heavy shelf on his back that was gradually collapsing onto him.
“Aaargh!”
After letting out a blood-curling scream, he desperately pushed his hand forward, but out of nowhere, two pocket knives flew through the ground, impaling both his hands.
His eyes widened in desperation, as now his hands were stuck on those knives, unable to move them any further.
The Wisdom King sighed and closed his eyes.
The villagers shouted and gave encouragement, but even they realized that the situation was hopeless.
The Honorables sighed and nodded in approval, impressed by the young man’s showing.
However, as they expected, he was still far too young, unexperienced, and weak to pass the test, even though he tried everything.
The incense stick barely burned anymore; only a small flickering flame was left, but it was slowly dying out.
Then, Ambrose’s body froze as he realized that his Self-Possession had ended.
It didn’t even last a minute, like the time limit should’ve been.
He was simply too exhausted to keep it going!
Slowly, Ambrose’s eyelids turned heavy and his vision blurry.
He was losing consciousness!
‘I give up…’ Ambrose muttered inwardly as his body succumbed to sleep.
However, flashes of old memories resurfaced, causing his eyes to shoot open.
“No!” Ambrose screamed and flinched like he was electrocuted.
With his body at its breaking point and his mind trying to get him to sleep, he realized that there was only one thing he could do.
He had to leave the rest to his instincts.
His mouth opened wide, and then he let out a mighty cry.
“Kill!”
His primal instincts took over, urging him to survive at any cost.