Born In Ashes: The Enigma
Chapter 61: Maelir And A Familiar Face (Part 1)

Chapter 61: Maelir And A Familiar Face (Part 1)

As soon as the cross galaxy teleportation formation activated, Azrael felt as if he had been thrown inside a rapidly spinning tornado. His vision blurred and twisted, and his entire body was shaken violently.

If it weren’t for Ashara protecting him, he felt he might have passed out from the toll of using a cross-galaxy teleportation formation.

When the world finally returned to normal and the spinning stopped, Azrael nearly vomited up the breakfast he had just eaten.

Fortunately, Ashara’s cosmic energy seeped into his body and relieved the discomfort he was feeling.

"How was the ride?" Ashara’s slightly amused voice brought Azrael back to his senses.

He rubbed his temples with his fingers before answering in a low voice, "It was terrible."

Azrael looked around and noticed that they were standing on an altar-like platform—the same one they had used in the federation building.

Two men wearing military uniforms and serious expressions stood guard around the platform.

Once they saw Azrael had regained his senses, one of them stepped forward.

"Please show your ID."

Ashara took out two cards that seemed to be made of crystal and handed them to the man.

Azrael wasn’t surprised by the presence of the military on the planet Arkanis. As a planet where the entrance to Eonrift was located, it was only natural that it would be heavily guarded and that everyone entering the planet would be thoroughly checked.

When the military man saw Ashara’s ID, his stern expression stiffened, and his hands, which held the ID card began to tremble.

’This woman is the infamous Witch of Destruction...’ He cried inwardly.

Azrael noticed the man’s reaction. But rather than thinking the soldier was afraid of Ashara, he assumed the man was simply stunned because Ashara belonged to the Blazeheart Family.

Ashara’s family held enormous influence within the Federation military, so it was understandable that he would be shocked after seeing her credentials.

Moreover, as a Cosmic King-level being who possessed one of the Five Witch Classes, Ashara herself was incredibly famous.

The military man soon came back to his senses and took out a device from his pocket. He scanned their IDs with it, and after confirming their authenticity, he respectfully handed them back to Ashara.

"Lady Ashara, are you here for the Eonrift Trial?" He asked after returning the cards.

"Yes," Ashara replied calmly and pointed at Azrael. "My son is going to participate in the trial."

The military man glanced at Azrael and nodded.

"The entrance will open at noon, in about three hours. Please visit the registration office to complete trial registration before that, if you haven’t already."

"We have already registered," Ashara said and looked at Azrael. "Let’s go. I will show you around until the trial begins."

Azrael nodded and followed Ashara.

As Azrael stepped out of the room, he noticed many similar chambers nearby, each emitting a steady flow of people coming and going.

Ashara led Azrael out of the building, and a massive crowd spread out before them, scattered across the surrounding space.

"All the planets with entrances to Eonrift get very crowded during the trial period," Ashara said to Azrael as they moved away from the congestion.

Once they reached a quieter area, Ashara handed Azrael a blood-red colored token.

"Your entrance token for Eonrift," She said, her tone growing serious. "It’s the Hell-level token you requested. Although I believe you can pass the Hell-level trial, you still need to be extremely careful. The Hell-level trial is no joke."

Azrael accepted the token, which was different from the Despair-level token he had received after completing the system task, and reassured her.

"Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be careful."

Ashara nodded and said nothing more.

Of course, Azrael had no intention of using the Hell-level token, as he planned to use the Despair-level one.

The only reason he accepted the Hell token from Ashara was because he couldn’t tell her that he already possessed a Despair-level token.

He had actually asked Ashara for a Despair-level token, but she told him that such tokens only existed in legends and that there was no confirmed evidence of their existence.

This also answered Azrael’s lingering question about why there was so little information about Despair-level tokens on the internet.

After putting the token away in his storage ring, Ashara and Azrael began to roam the area to pass time until Eonrift opened.

"Mom, there will be millions of people taking part in the trial, right?" Azrael asked as they walked.

"Hmmm," Ashara nodded. "There should be approximately ten million participants."

Azrael wasn’t surprised by the massive number, since people came to join the trial from all over the world. And this figure only accounted for participants on the Arkanis Planet.

The other four entrances would have a similar number of applicants.

"Among these ten million, approximately how many will be able to join Slayer’s Academy?"

Ashara thought for a moment before answering.

"Not more than five thousand."

This time, Azrael was truly surprised by how small the number was.

Ashara noticed his stunned expression and added, "The top five academies have very strict admission requirements. If you’re not strong enough, you won’t be able to join them."

Azrael nodded at her explanation and asked, "There are so many people. If only a small number will be accepted into Slayer’s Academy, what happens to the rest?"

"There will be many representatives from first-rate and other lower academies observing the trial. Most people will end up joining those academies," Ashara said. After a pause, she continued.

"Honestly, which academy you join doesn’t matter. As long as you work hard and have the will to reach greater heights, you can become strong even if you attend a third-rate academy.

The top-level academies give you an edge over others, but if you don’t put in the effort, that advantage becomes meaningless."

Azrael agreed with Ashara’s words. Then, as something occurred to him, he asked curiously.

"Mom, which academy did you graduate from?"

Ashara smiled at his question and replied in a teasing tone, "I actually graduated from a second-rate academy."

Azrael was stunned by her answer and looked at her in disbelief.

"Seriously?"

"Really," Ashara nodded. "What? Are you feeling ashamed that your mom graduated from a second-rate academy?"

Azrael came back to his senses after hearing her playful question and shook his head.

"There’s no way I’d be ashamed of something like that. I was just surprised. I never imagined you actually went to a second-rate academy."

Ashara only smiled at his words and didn’t say anything further.

Seeing that she didn’t seem interested in discussing the matter, Azrael didn’t press the topic any further either.

They continued to roam around and had lunch together in a restaurant.

Time passed, and finally, the moment for the opening of Eonrift arrived.