Damien stood there, still, as the white light entered his body. He didn't even understand what had happened. Just as he was panicking, different memories began to play in his mind.
"So the world I entered isn't an apocalyptic world—it is a trial planet made by a supreme being to look for a successor."
Damien's expression began to change as he thought of the different possibilities over all these months. He was in another world, but he was still very far from his own home planet.
"Then how did I appear in this world? If I remember clearly, they broke my leg and threw me down the river." Thinking of this, Damien suddenly realized, "Could there be some portal left to enter this world?"
Damien shook his head. Then he turned his eyes toward the fruits in the boxes and knew these fruits were used to increase strength to a certain point, but the world was more dangerous than he had thought.
"According to the memory, I need to go to the Nine Tower Pagoda at the center of this world. To reach the original site and receive the inheritance, I need to have strength equivalent to a Rank 9 warrior."
Damien was already confused about going to the center of the world, and then came the ranking.
"How the hell will I know what ranking warrior I am?"
Damien didn't know what to look for; he could only think of these fruits.
"Let's practice the sword martial art, then use these fruits to increase my strength so that even if I have to go outside, I can have the strength to confront the monsters."
From that day onward, Damien started to practice the simple sword martial art he had gotten from the library. He even moved all his meat and food from the previous house to the palace. After all, living in a palace was better than a two-story building.
Damien's daily routine was eating meat along with the fruits, and at the same time he tried to refine a weapon from the ore in the treasure room. Although he failed, he never gave up. He continued this process for more than two months until he finally succeeded.
Damien looked at the sword he had made.
"Not perfect, but still satisfying that I made this one."
He swung the sword to feel its rhythm.
"Now it's time to move and search other cities as well. If the trial happens in this world and if people enter this world, it shouldn't be a single person. So this world might also have some other opportunities."
Damien walked toward the main bedroom, which he had taken as his own.
"Even the mystical fruits are almost finished. I need to look for other cities as well, and at the same time I need to know what the ranking system of warriors is. I could find it in other cities."
Damien then turned his attention to two things he didn't understand: one was the ring, and the second was a fire-like stone whose use he didn't know.
"Should I leave them here, or should I take them with me?"
In the end, Damien kept both of them in the jade box that had contained the white crystal and placed them into a bag he had found in the palace.
Then he packed the few fruits that remained.
"Let's hope this journey shows me the way to move forward."
Damien left the city for the first time in two months. As he came out of the city gate, he moved toward the location where he knew there was another city.
"Let's go to that city. If I find fruits there, I will move along the path to look for another city. If my guess is correct, every city is created at a certain distance to let people who come to the trial gain proper strength to cross the forest."
Then he thought about his own foolishness when he had crossed the forest earlier.
As he started his journey, he also began to look for mystical fruits, but he didn't see any.
Damien came close to the other city.
"Although the city looks the same, now I need to be swift to collect all the available mystical fruits, or else I don't know whether other inheritors have also come."
Damien's movements were swift. He went directly to the palace, but this time he saw a different scenario.
"What the hell—why can't I open the gate?" He looked toward the palace gate in confusion.
Then he looked toward the side of the main door where a stone was placed.
"Could it be the measurement instrument of warrior strength? Only qualified warriors are allowed to enter."
Thinking this, Damien grew nervous. After all, if his strength didn't qualify him to enter the palace, what would his situation be?
"If my strength doesn't qualify me to enter the palace, then what will become of me?"
Damien didn't think about anything else but looked toward the stone.
"I should be at least a level one warrior."
Damien came in front of the stone, which looked more like it was made of a golden material.
Without hesitation, he punched the stone slab with full strength.
"Boom."
A loud sound rang out.
Damien looked at the stone. He felt it might have broken, but he was surprised to see the stone standing as it was.
Just as he thought he might have failed—after all, the stone didn't even buzz—he heard the sound of the door opening. He looked at the main gate, which was slowly opening.
"What the hell is with this door? It required someone to show their power to open it."
Damien looked at the automatically opened door, but this time he entered without hesitation.
"Will there be the same mystical fruits, or something else, in this palace?"
Damien didn't look into other rooms but this time went directly toward the main bedroom. Here, too, the secret room was in the same place, as if both had been constructed with the same pattern.
When he entered the room, he didn't see any wooden boxes, but this time he saw only two small boxes made of jade.
They were made of the same material as the last one he had brought with him.
Damien opened the first one, where he saw a ring, similar to the one from the last palace. Then he opened the second one, where a futuristic type of sunglasses was kept.
"What the hell is this ring for, and what's the use of sunglasses?"
Damien looked more curiously, then he put on the sunglasses, only to hear a voice.
"It looks like ordinary sunglasses. I thought it might be some sort of AI sunglass, but it looks normal."
Then his eyes focused on the ring. Just as he thought the ring had no value, words began to appear in front of his eyes.
"Space ring: used to store non-living things."
Seeing the sentence in front of his eyes, he was surprised. Then he thought about the ring he had found in the first city.
He took out the ring. As soon as the ring was scanned, the letters appeared again.
"Space ring: used to store non-living things."
Looking at the same words, he was sure that both rings were Space rings. Then he took out the sword he had made.
"A crude sword made of rare ore. The level can't be determined due to bad refinement."
Looking at the words, even he himself was speechless. Although he knew he wasn't a blacksmith, he still thought he had made a very good sword, but looking at the evaluation, his sword didn't even rank at the lowest level.
Damien could only sigh about it. Then he thought about his ranking. He held the sunglasses in front of himself for a few seconds, then put them on.
"Level 3 warrior."
Looking at his ranking as a 3rd level warrior, he was surprised. Then he thought of the mystical fruits he had eaten over the past two months and realized that without even having a technique to cultivate, he had advanced to the 3rd level. With cultivation techniques, his level might be even higher.
Then he thought about the ring.
"What should I do with this Space ring? Should I drop blood on it to see if it works?"