Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100 Chapter 2094 Registering on the Challenge Platform!

The four of them didn't linger in the second monolith. Now that they had all passed the Second Shadow Trial, there was nothing keeping them there, so they headed together toward the exit that led to the third monolith.

As they walked, the conversation naturally turned to the two shadows they had faced so far.

"The first one was strange," Ervin said.

Rakan nodded. "I thought so too."

Rosaline glanced at Max. "It wasn't overwhelmingly strong, but its battle instinct was ridiculous."

Max agreed. "That was its real strength."

He thought back to the first shadow. Even without using any major technique, it had responded almost perfectly to every sword strike. Its movements had been efficient and its defenses precise, and every time Max deliberately left an opening, it had gone straight for it.

"The First Shadow felt like it was built entirely around combat instinct," Max said. "Its cultivation was dangerous, but that wasn't what made it hard."

Ervin nodded slowly. "It was how it reacted."

"Exactly," Max said. "It never wasted a movement and never hesitated. Even when I changed the angle of my sword in the middle of an attack, it adjusted almost instantly."

Rakan frowned. "That thing fought better than most geniuses I've met."

Rosaline smiled faintly. "That's probably the whole point." She looked ahead down the path. "If the First Shadow exists to test whether someone can actually fight instead of just leaning on their cultivation, then it makes sense."

Max nodded.

Then the conversation shifted to the second shadow, and Rakan's expression immediately turned more serious. "The second one was worse."

Ervin glanced at him. "Because of the sharpness?"

Rakan nodded. "That blade was dangerous."

Max agreed with him.

The Second Shadow had been something else entirely. Its battle instinct hadn't come close to the first one's, and its movements weren't nearly as refined. Its cultivation sat at only the 2nd level of the Divine Lord Realm, yet every single attack carried terrifying sharpness.

"One mistake against the second shadow could end the whole fight," Max said.

Rosaline looked over at him. "So you noticed it too?"

Max nodded. "I could tell from the first clash."

He remembered the sensation clearly. The shadow's attack hadn't been overwhelmingly powerful, but its edge had been so concentrated that even Max's body couldn't simply shrug it off.

"If that blade had landed cleanly on me, it would have hurt me."

Rakan looked a little surprised. "You?"

Max glanced at him. "Yes."

That answer made the others take the Second Shadow even more seriously. They all knew how abnormal Max's physical body was, so if even he thought the shadow's attacks could injure him, the danger it posed to an ordinary newcomer was obvious.

Ervin frowned thoughtfully. "So the first shadow had exceptional combat instinct."

"And the second had exceptional sharpness," Rosaline added.

Max nodded as a pattern started to take shape in his mind.

Each shadow seemed to represent something different. It wasn't simply a matter of higher cultivation or greater raw strength, because each one carried a specific trait pushed to an extreme.

That made him more curious about the shadows waiting ahead.

'If that's the pattern, then what does the third shadow specialize in?'

The question stayed with him as the four of them approached the third monolith.

Before long, the enormous structure towered over them, and the moment they stepped inside, the atmosphere changed again.

The third monolith was even more crowded than the second. Battle arenas stretched across the vast interior, and nearly every one of them was in use.

The participants here were clearly stronger as well. Most of them had already cleared the first two shadows, which meant anyone standing in the third monolith had proven themselves at least twice, and the pressure from so many Divine Lord Realm geniuses filled the entire space.

Almost as soon as Max walked in, though, something else happened.

People began looking at him. Only a few at first, and then more.

Whispers started spreading.

"That's him."

"Max Voidwalker."

"The Primordial from Bloodstone City?"

"The one at the Law Manifestation Realm?"

"That's right."

"I heard he blocked Greyjin's full-power attack with a single finger."

"I heard he finished him off with a flick."

"Was any of that actually true?"

"It has to be. Just look at his cultivation."

The attention spread remarkably fast.

By now, word of what Max had done in Bloodstone City had reached almost everyone inside the Ten Shadows Trial. A Primordial at the 1st level of the Law Manifestation Realm beating a Divine Lord Realm Dragon Race genius with nothing but physical strength was far too unusual to stay a local rumor.

Several people stared at him openly. Some looked curious, others seemed doubtful, and a few looked eager to challenge him themselves.

Max ignored all of it, since he had already grown used to the attention.

Instead, he checked the Bronze Mark on his palm, and his expression shifted slightly. He had fewer than fifty Bronze Marks left.

He looked over at Ervin, Rakan, and Rosaline, and all three of them checked their own marks with much the same reaction.

Rosaline frowned. "This is a problem."

Rakan sighed. "I don't even have fifty left."

Ervin nodded. "Same here."

Max looked up at the Challenge Platform floating above the arena area. The minimum wager listed there was fifty Bronze Marks, which meant none of them could challenge anyone. Starting a challenge required enough marks to match the wager, and not one of them had that much.

Max crossed his arms. "So what do we do?"

Rosaline looked toward the Challenge Platform. "We register ourselves."

Max turned to her. "That works even without fifty marks?"

"Yes," Rosaline said, and then she explained. "If you register without setting a specific wager, the Challenge Platform automatically assigns the minimum one."

Max looked at the glowing board. "Fifty Bronze Marks?"

Rosaline nodded. "Exactly."

"Which means we don't need enough marks to challenge anyone ourselves," Ervin added. "We only need to get our names on the platform."

Rakan caught on right away. "And then someone else can challenge us."

Rosaline nodded. "And the platform sets the wager at fifty Bronze Marks on its own."

Max frowned slightly. "But we don't have fifty."

"The wager comes out of the challenger first," Rosaline replied. "If we lose, the platform takes whatever Bronze Marks we do have and settles the rest through the trial's own system."

Max looked at her. "And if we win?"

"Then we get the fifty."

A faint smile crossed Max's face. "So we let someone else pay for the privilege of fighting us."

Rosaline gave him a strange look. "That's one way to put it."

Max glanced at the Challenge Platform again.

This was actually more convenient. He wouldn't have to go hunting for opponents, since all he needed to do was register. Considering how much attention he had already drawn just by walking into the third monolith, he doubted he would be waiting long for someone to challenge him.

He looked around. Several people were still watching him, and some clearly recognized him, while others were already whispering as they glanced toward the Challenge Platform.

Max smiled faintly.

It looked like earning the Bronze Marks he needed for the Third Shadow Trial might turn out easier than he had expected.