Alen woke up from his dream and found himself in a dark room. The window seemed to be foggy, hiding the view outside, though he could tell the snow was still falling.

Alen sat up and stepped out of the inn’s comfortable bed.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened.

*Creak!*

He looked up to see Serene standing there on her tiptoes, already fully dressed and ready to go.

He glared at her.

"Do you not even have the common sense to knock on a door before entering?"

"Hehe... Cool down, it’s early in the morning. Don’t get so hyper..."

"Sigh... Why did you even come in here? I thought you would have already left."

"Hmm... Where would I have gone?" Serene asked innocently.

Alen looked at her.

"Don’t you want to find the person you were separated from before the last trial?"

"Hmph! You’re right... But I don’t know how to contact him."

"Then find your own way. Just leave me alone."

Alen sighed and walked into the bathroom to wash up. After taking a warm shower and changing into fresh clothes, he walked back out, only to see that the room was completely empty.

"Sigh... It seems she really left. Thank God."

Alen took his sword, strapped it securely to his waist, and readied himself for the next trial.

He had decided to continuously attempt the trials until he fully conquered Stage 1. By completing Stage 1, he would gain a proper understanding of how the ’Ascension Realm’ truly worked, and he would no longer stand at the very bottom of the hierarchy like any normal awakeners. It would be the biggest step on his Path.

He had to pass it. Since there was nothing left for him to do in the real world, he could dedicate his entire focus to completing the trials. He decided he would only take a proper break after reaching Stage 2. For now, his only goal was to keep pushing forward—a path that would either end in his success or his death. It was a fifty-fifty percent gamble with his own life.

Fully prepared, he opened the door to leave.

*Creak—*

As he stepped outside into the hallway and turned around to close the door behind him, he froze.

A girl was sitting on the floor right beside his room. She had light blue hair and silver eyes. She sat hugging her knees, resting her chin on them, looking exactly like an abandoned kitten in a wasteland.

’Why is she sitting out here looking like that?’ Alen thought.

He looked around. Several of the inn’s staff members were glaring at him, whispering among themselves as they saw the sad-looking girl sitting by his door. They clearly thought he was a terrible boyfriend who had done something to make her cry.

Alen sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Hey... silly girl. Let’s go."

"Hmph! I’m not silly..."

Serene pouted, but she immediately stood up at his words, her sad expression vanishing.

Alen walked straight ahead, not even glancing at her. Serene quickly jogged to catch up, walking briskly beside him, even trying to playfully out-run him in the halls.

After checking out of the inn, they stepped out onto the city streets together. The magically heated pavement was completely clear of snow, contrasting with the massive white mounds piled up beside the road.

"I’m going to attempt another trial right now," Alen stated plainly.

"So, you should go your own way."

"Hmm... You’re going into another trial this early?"

"Well, there isn’t anything else for me to do, so I guess I will just keep going."

Serene walked beside him with her arms folded, deep in thought. After a moment, she made her decision and turned toward him.

"I will come with you!"

"Huh? Why? Don’t you have to find your companion?"

"Yeah... I have to find him. But he probably went into another trial too. And I don’t even know how I’ll be able to find him in a massive world like this. So, rather than wasting time, I should just go to another trial. Maybe I will actually run into him there!"

Alen stared at her. She was talking as if the chances of finding her friend in the infinitely vast ’Ascension Realm’ were somehow higher than finding him in the real world. He didn’t even know what to say to that flawless airhead logic.

*Sigh...*

"Fine... You can join me," Alen relented.

"But there is still a high possibility that we will get split up after we enter the gate, just like what happened with you and your companion. So, your safety is your own responsibility."

"Of course! I won’t blame you. Let’s go then!"

She walked forward confidently, acting as if she were absolutely sure she was going to pass whatever trial came next.

Alen shook his head and followed her toward the center of the city, heading straight for the giant spatial whirlpool.

When they reached the dimensional gate, there were massive crowds of people forming teams and actively recruiting members.

As Alen and Serene walked past, several recruiters stepped forward to ask them to join.

"Not interested..."

"We have enough..."

"Nope."

Alen flatly rejected anyone who attempted to recruit them, walking directly toward the glowing dimensional gate without breaking his stride.

"Hey, are you sure we shouldn’t join a larger team?" Serene asked, looking slightly confused.

"Nope. I don’t want the excess noise,"

Alen dismissed her, standing right in front of the giant portal.

The teams he had just rejected early, contained fifty to a hundred Awakeners. Entering with a group that large would only scale up the difficulty of the trial, and he would end up getting a much smaller contribution rate for the final rewards.

"So, shall we go?" Alen asked.

Serene nodded. As they both prepared themselves, they stepped forward, their figures vanishing into the dimensional gate to face their next unknown trial, in which they might see new things and have to survive new troubles.