[Congratulations! You've obtained 50,000 Chaos Points!]

'Well, damn!' Hal couldn't help but curse inwardly, not expecting to earn such a huge amount in a single battle. 'Using two charges of [Epic]-tier spell cards was well worth it, no?'

The notification easily regulated his emotions, restoring clarity in his mind.

A few moments later, Hal was back to calmly observing the interior of the Temple of Chaos.

The murals were gone…

The temple's interior was now as plain as could be.

Also, there weren't any growths inside, and the walls weren't as old as he remembered.

'What the hell is going on?' Hal pondered.

He didn't descend immediately.

Instead, he opted to use his points first.

He used ten thousand to upgrade the draw chances, then another for [Uncommon]-tier draws.

Hal hoped to max out the levels of his uncommon-tier spell cards while also further increasing his chances through the consecutive draw bonus.

Only then did he dare spend thirty thousand points on another round of [Epic]-tier draws that resulted in eight [Epic]-tier spell cards and five [Unique]-tier ones.

He now had more utility and offensive power to rely on if push comes to shove.

Taking one deep breath, he descended the stairs once more, finding the strange arch entrance again at the bottom of the steps.

But the abyss bridge wasn't there.

Hal and Loki only halted for a moment before entering the entrance.

Soon, eerie and silent darkness consumed the temple.

The duo couldn't see anything even if they tried to look back.

The darkness this time was unlike the nightly one in the previous trial.

This time, even Loki with his night vision was unable to see anything, though they could strangely feel that their other four senses were heightened in exchange for losing one.

A human's senses weren't all that great, though.

And so, Hal decided that if nothing changed in the next few minutes, he would use a charge of [Mana Pulse] to ensure his safety.

He shall trust Loki's senses for now.

What Hal didn't expect was that his enemy this time wasn't in the form of a creature.

After around five minutes of wandering in absolute darkness, he stepped on something that sank slightly, and a click sounded.

Hal was already falling before he knew it.

'Sh*t!' he cursed, immediately activating [Mana Flight].

To his horror, it didn't work, and he just kept on plummeting deeper and deeper into the abyss.

Loki kept on barking and snarling above, panicking.

In the end, the wolf companion decided to jump in and go with his master. But he slammed face-first on the concrete floor of the temple.

Hal tried everything in his arsenal. None worked.

'F*ck! F*ck!! F–'

He couldn't even finish cursing in his mind, as, suddenly, he heard the unsettling waves behind him.

The moment he turned to look, sunlight had returned.

A huge splash then sounded, but it was quickly drowned by the raging sea.

Hal could feel the cold and violent embrace of the seawater for a few moments as he plunged deep into the sea, though the sensation was quickly replaced by the usual gentleness once the momentum of his fall was exhausted.

Without hesitation, he quickly equipped two of his [Unique]-tier cards, though he had to wait ten helpless seconds before the swap cooldown allowed him to use [Breathing Room] and [Mana Fins].

He was quite lucky that nothing attacked him in that span.

Hal scanned his surroundings and spotted a huge, unmoving silhouette deeper down. Chills crawled down his spine at the sight.

Who the hell would willingly swim closer to whatever monstrosity that was?

He quickly swam to the surface, far from whatever that massive thing was that lurked in the depths.

The fall didn't take him very deep, so Hal was able to poke his head out of the water in less than a minute, staring at the distant island in front of him.

It was the Great Carralis Canyonlands.

He was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, turning around in hopes of swimming towards Tiki Island.

Only, the island…was not there.

Hal's eyes widened momentarily as he fell into confusion.

For a few moments, he was lost, unsure about what to do next.

He was able to regather his wits in the next second, attempting to fly in hopes of surveying the location from a high point of view, but was quickly reminded that flying wasn't allowed.

And so, he instead decided to swim to the Great Carralis Canyonlands first.

Dangerous as the location was, Hal believed that, for a human, being on land was infinitely safer than staying on the water.

He had to look for a safe base of operations first and figure out how to end this stage of the trial.

He thought all he would have to do was return to the entrance of the Temple of Chaos every time, but it doesn't seem to be the case this time.

The entire Tiki Island was gone, after all.

'There should be another way…' he pondered, swimming as fast as he could to the Great Carralis Canyonlands.

The sun was beginning to set.

He didn't want to stay in dark waters, as it would be far too dangerous.

Naturally, the Southern Seas weren't too peaceful, and around three minutes in, he sensed multiple presences around him.

Some remained in their positions, but three went after him.

'Sh*t!' Hal cursed.

He didn't know how strong the aquatic creatures were, but he wasn't used to underwater battles and needed time to adjust first.

How could he fight three at once?

And so, he focused on swimming as fast as he could.

His [Unique]-tier spell card, [Mana Fins], thankfully didn't fail him.

The three pursuers were gaining on him, but at a rather manageable pace.

Hal had a few aces up his sleeve to ensure that he wouldn't need to fight the aquatic bastards.

He didn't even need to use all of them, as [Knockback] alone gave him enough distance to make his pursuers give up.

Hal breathed a sigh of relief and continued on his way.

After a dozen minutes, he arrived at the Rocky Cliffs of the Great Carralis Canyonlands.

Flight was unfortunately banned.

However, Hal wasn't dumb, and he had a few ideas of what could work.

He quickly conjured a shield and sat on it, willing it to slowly fly towards the main surface.