Alen looked up at the vast sand fortress. There was no sign of an entrance anywhere, as if it had been sealed shut or never existed in the first place.

Alen and Serene both searched the perimeter for clues, hoping to find a hidden doorway, but their hard work yielded no results against the giant structure.

"Ughh... I feel exhausted now... Where is the clue?"

Serene sat down on a nearby rock, completely drained. Thankfully, with the arrival of night, the blistering heat of the day had finally faded. A cool night breeze began to flow, normalizing the temperature of the desert environment.

Alen stared up at the fortress walls.

"Sigh... How the hell are we going to find the Sigil if we can’t even get inside?"

He walked over to a nearby rock, sat down, and leaned his back against the outer wall of the fortress. As he looked up at the glowing white moon, he honestly didn’t know what they should do next.

Serene looked at him. Suddenly, she stood up. Her usually bubbly expression shifted into something incredibly serious, and she walked straight toward him.

Alen watched her approach, remaining leaned against the wall.

’What is she doing?...’ he wondered.

She stepped closer, stopping directly in front of him. She leaned forward, her silver eyes focused intently.

"Can you please show me your hand?" she asked quietly.

Alen didn’t know what she wanted, but he held his hand out to her.

She stared at his palm. There was a faint, seven-pointed star drawn on his skin, and one of its seven arms was shaded entirely pitch-black.

Alen looked at his own arm. He had noticed this mark before. The symbol was weird, and he had no idea when or how it had appeared on his body; it was just suddenly there one day.

Serene raised her eyes to meet his.

"Where did you get this symbol from?" she asked, her voice dead serious.

"Umm... well, I don’t know. It just appeared somehow," Alen replied, feeling mystified by the mark.

"What is it? Does it mean something?"

"Umm... no, actually I don’t know what it means either..."

"But I saw that exact symbol in a dream once... Well, whatever... Forget it..."

She stepped back, tucking a strand of blue hair behind her ear.

"So, what should we do now? We don’t have much time left."

"Sigh... I don’t know, but we can’t give up yet..."

He looked up at the night sky, where thousands of stars were shining brightly. He stared at them continuously, his eyes tracing the constellations. Suddenly, he noticed a specific cluster of bright stars directly above the fortress. They perfectly formed a seven-pointed star.

"Wait a second..."

Alen suddenly stood up. He looked down at the ground, his eyes scanning the sand and stone around the base of the fortress, trying to find something to confirm his guess.

There, etched faintly into the stone floor beneath the sand, was a round, circular indentation. He looked a few feet away and spotted another one.

"Serene, find the other round circles in the ground, hurry!" Alen ordered.

Serene snapped out of her daze, instantly realizing what he was talking about. She started clearing the sand.

A few moments later, all seven circular indentations were uncovered, forming a massive ring on the ground.

"Now the only thing left is to fill these circles with something," Alen muttered, falling into deep thought.

"But there doesn’t seem to be anything special around here to use..."

Suddenly, Serene spoke up.

"Well... what about using mana instead of a physical object? Ultimately, we just need to provide an energy source, right?"

Alen glanced at her and nodded. It was a brilliant idea.

Serene smiled. She walked toward the exact center of the seven circles. Closing her eyes, she channeled a pure stream of mana and directed it straight up toward the sky.

As the mana flowed upward, it split and rained down, landing equally inside each of the seven circular indentations.

The stone circles began to glow, reacting violently to her mana. The light grew brighter as glowing lines of energy suddenly etched themselves across the floor, connecting the dots.

The structure of a perfect, glowing seven-pointed star formed on the ground.

Sweat started to bead on Serene’s forehead. It required immense focus to actively and precisely supply such dense mana to all seven points at once.

As the perfect star was completed, the magical formation actually began to float slightly above the ground. Swirling starlight flowed around them, illuminating Alen and Serene at the very center of the array.

Suddenly, a hidden mechanism triggered. The floor rumbled, and right in front of them, the ground began to rise.

A stone pedestal emerged from the floor. Floating gently at the top of the pedestal was a glowing, golden coin.

The symbol engraved on the coin depicted a radiant sun. It was the Solar Sigil.

They both took a step back in awe.

Serene immediately cut off her mana supply. She had nearly completely exhausted her mana pool. She had already used a massive amount of energy to summon the tsunami against the mummy monsters earlier—that attack alone had drained seventy percent of her reserves.

The continuous supply of mana for the puzzle had drained whatever she had left. Her knees buckled, and she started to collapse toward the ground.

Fortunately, Alen moved quickly and caught her before she could hit the floor.

"Hey, Serene, are you okay?"

Alen asked worriedly. He didn’t want to make her do all the heavy lifting; he could have supplied the mana instead if he had known it would take this much out of her.

"Umm... I’m okay. Just a little bit of a headache," Serene smiled weakly, steadying herself.

"Hmm, it’s alright! No need to worry about me!"

She gently stepped out of his arms.

They both turned their attention back to the glowing Sigil. Looking at each other, they shared a nod, walked toward the pedestal, and reached out to touch the coin together.

As they grasped the floating coin, it glowed even brighter before disappearing in a flash of warm light.

[Ding!]

[The Trial ’Find the Lost Solar Sigil’ has been successfully cleared!]

[Ding! Distributing suitable rewards according to your contribution rate...]

[Ding! You have gained a new ability: ’Phantom Step’!]

[Description: The user moves so fast that their body seems to disappear, leaving behind phantom-like afterimages. Enemies are tricked by these illusions while the real body strikes or escapes.]

Alen stared at his interface in awe. Meanwhile, the exhausted Serene was looking blankly at her own glowing screens.

[Ding!]

[The Trial ’Find the Lost Solar Sigil’ has been successfully cleared!]

[Ding! Distributing suitable rewards according to your contribution rate...]

[Ding! Your Affinity for nature’s mana has been boosted significantly!]

[Ding! Your Mana Capacity has been increased tremendously!]

[You have been recognized by the ’God of Hydro’...]

[Ding! You have obtained a new Element: ’Water’!]

[Ding! You have obtained a new skill: ’Blessing’.]

[Description: A divine support skill that allows the user to temporarily grant a blessing to themselves or an ally. The blessing enhances the target in various ways depending on the user’s intent, such as increasing physical strength, speed, or defense. It can also provide healing, improve skill performance, or grant temporary affinity toward certain elements.]

[Ding! You have successfully broken through the limit of the D+ rank...]

[Ascending to the C- Rank...]

[Rank: C-]

[Ding! Your overall stats have increased tremendously!]

[Ding! Your overall skills have been ranked up!]

A massive amount of pure mana began to absorb into Serene’s body, bringing a warm, refreshing flow to her chest. Her exhaustion vanished instantly. A sweet, triumphant smile slowly formed on her lips as she finally ascended to the next rank.

As both of them stood there, absorbing the incredible new powers they had earned by working together, a massive spatial whirlpool suddenly tore open behind them, revealing the exit to the trial.