Beneath the towering, sky-piercing mountain, the wind howled like a beast in agony, wheezing through the destendscape with relentless fury.


    The air was thick with the scent of cold stone, which could be exined by the surrounding cracked rocks in the area.


    At the foot of this mountainy a young man with flowy white hair spread across the ground.


    His chest rose and fell rhythmically, an absolute contrast to the harsh environment around him.


    In his bloodless lips, he held the hilt of a dagger, partly covered by the asional sshes of his hair due to the wheezing wind.


    Slowly, his eyelids stirred, and then—


    A bright sh of light cut through the stormy area as his eyes snapped open, staring at the gray sky.


    Suddenly, he jumped up from where hey, carving a massive gorge into the ground, with his dagger now firmly in his hands.


    Nn surveyed the area, his cold, indifferent eyes filled with a slight caution as he scanned his surroundings.


    But nothing before him was threatening to his life and so, he rose upright, sensing nothing unusual.


    The wind howled anxiously around him, but he paid little attention, stretching his gaze towards the gigantic mountain before him.


    From where he stood, Nn was unable to see its peak due to its otherworldly height and the tip being obscured by fog.


    But soon, a voice rang out loud through the area.


    "Congrattions on passing the First Trial of Kratos, and wee to the Second Trial. Your mission is simple!"


    The voice echoed as Nn turned his gaze upward and thought to himself:


    ''Climb up the mountain...''


    "You are to climb up the mountain. At the top, you will find what you''re searching for..." the voice resounded as Nn''s eyes shed.


    ''It better be,'' he thought.


    He had gone through enough hell just to arrive where his rewards ought to be and find nothing.


    That wouldn''t be funny at all.


    But something else diverted his attention as he looked down at his own body, pleasantly surprised by what he saw.


    He had expected holes and cuts, but now, with no clothes on, he could see all his injuries had faded away.


    Unconsciously, he stretched his legs, which had formerly been snatched off by jaws of an ice serpent in the previous mission.


    "So I ended up passing the first trial, huh?" Nn mused to himself, remembering his helplessness during the first trial.


    Thinking about it, he knew well that only one thing had saved him.


    Rage.


    The rage in his heart.


    The unfairness he felt towards everything in his life.


    In the end, he had taken down those who wanted his life, and thankfully, the trial had been able to piece him back to normal.


    "Perhaps it was just all an illusion..." Nn mused to himself.


    Yet, he couldn''t quite exin why, but he felt a new emotion in his heart, one he knew he could consciously explode out with.


    He couldn''t point directly at what it was, but he saw no reason to do so.


    Now before him was a mountain with an height of 2000 meters, and he had to scale it to the top.


    Whether a blessing or not, the mountain itself had protruding footholds with which Nn could climb, but instead of stowing away his dagger, he kept it by his side, deciding to ce it in his teeth.


    Quickly, he began his ascent.


    From seconds to minutes to hours, Nn kept climbing higher and higher.


    The more he climbed, the more his fingertips began to burn


    After scaling for 14 hours straight, Nn paused on his hold.


    Turning his head, blood rained down from where his hand was, dripping onto his face and sliding down his chin.


    His fingertips had been roughly sliced open, but Nn''s eyes remained strangely indifferent—a trait he never possessed before the trial.


    Ignoring the blood, he looked up at the mountain, but the peak was still out of sight.


    So Nn took a deep breath before he began climbing once more.


    Slowly and steadily, he made his way forward.


    Sometimes, rain poured down heavily from the sky, drenching him in cold.


    Sometimes, heavy snow battered his fingers with incredible force.


    Yet, his lone figure could be seen, shouldering everything as he continued upward, one step at a time.


    Raising his head once more, the peak of the mountain was still unseen, but now Nn could see the fog up ahead that blocked his vision.


    Nn was spent, his heart drained of any semnce of hope. He turned down his feet, yet found he couldn''t see the ground either.


    He had climbed too far to see below him.


    Going back down now to re-prepare, as his mind was telling him, wouldn''t work. That would be double the work, and his will to climb was nearly gone.


    So Nn remained pressed against the mountain wall.


    How many days had passed since he had been stuck here, he had no idea.


    Some muscles in his body had turned numb, and his bones were frozen by the terrible weather conditions.


    *Give up, Nn. Give up...*


    *Fall down, and save yourself all of the pain...*


    The voice whispered to Nn, whose eyes remained shut as he regted his breathing.


    He remained in his position for an unknown amount of time, and suddenly, the dagger in his lips red with a bright crimson light.


    Once more, Nn''s eyes snapped open as he began lifting himself up again.


    A crimson light shed from his eyes, containing an unbelievable amount of stubbornness and will as he climbed.


    asionally, his hand slipped off the rocks, but before he could fall too far, Nn grabbed his dagger in his lips and roughly pierced it into the mountain, holding himself steady.


    He would rest for a few seconds before continuing his ascent.


    It was terrible. It was intense, crazy, painful, and hope-dashing. He felt the need to give up, and rx, but....


    He kept at it... anyway.