Max glanced at the few figures surrounding him, a smile appearing on his face.

"Everyone seems excited," he said, grinning. "Good."

No sooner had his words finished than Nathan stormed forward in a fit of fury. "You are Max?" he asked loudly.

Max raised his brows and glanced at the others behind him. "I told you he has some problems in his head," he said, shaking his head.

Nathan clenched his fists so hard that they began to crack, his eyes filled with rage as he pointed at Max. "I challenge you to a battle… do you dare to accept it?"

Max sneered at him. "I don't fight meaningless battles. It just doesn't interest me," he said, still grinning. "Though I like to fight for revenge and other things, clearly your fight doesn't interest me in the least."

Shaking his head, he turned and headed toward his guild members, ignoring them.

However, he hadn't gone far when two figures blocked his path. They were Tom and Evlin.

"Going somewhere?" Evlin asked, her tone sarcastic.

"No, I'm sure he's running away," Tom said, sneering.

Max sighed. He didn't want anything to do with them, but it seemed conflict was inevitable.

"Everyone!" The blob shouted as it descended to the heads of the geniuses.

Seeing that it had everyone's attention, it continued, "The next stage for you folks is to go and comprehend your auras in the temple," it said, waving its hands.

As it did, the ground where everyone was standing trembled for a moment before twenty or more tall chunks of stone appeared out of nowhere and floated behind them. They were as large as a human, about 20 feet tall.

Each of these tall chunks of stone overflowed with different types of pure auras. Fire, water, earth, lightning, sword, spear—almost every aura could be represented in these chunks of stone.

Every single genius could feel the auras within them, and they felt naturally attracted to some of the chunks as if they were being called upon by these stones.

'What is this feeling?' Max thought, feeling an intense desire to go and immerse himself in comprehending all the auras from the chunks. The desire to do so was so powerful that his mind felt numb for a moment.

"Be warned," the blob said, its tone solemn. "All these chunks contain auras at the peak of level 1, but it isn't easy to just go and comprehend them."

It added, "Don't give in to the temptations. Don't let these auras control what you need to comprehend. Don't get drawn towards them; don't submit to these auras. Take control of yourself and choose what aura you want to comprehend, not the one that just came to your mind."

"They are just mindless temptations playing tricks on you," the blob continued. "If you go ahead and give in to these temptations, forget about comprehending any auras. You won't achieve anything here."

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The blob's warning rang in everyone's mind as they controlled themselves not to respond to the calling. Everyone present in the temple were geniuses, and although some were strong and others weaker, they possessed a strong enough state of mind to remain calm under these temptations.

However, there would always be someone who just couldn't resist.

"Aahh, I can comprehend water element aura. I can feel it. I can feel it calling to me. I can definitely comprehend it," a genius from the Emerald Legion said, his tone tinged with desperation.

"Ash, didn't you hear the blob? You shouldn't give in to those temptations!" someone from the guild scolded Ash for his stupidity, but it was already too late.

Ash ignored everyone and ran toward the water element chunk of stone, sitting in front of it like a monk to begin his attempt at comprehending the water aura.

"That is what you lot must not do!" the blob warned, its tone serious. "Once you give in to temptation, there's no turning back until you've comprehended the element you were tempted by. Think carefully before you act."

'It has such a problem?' Max thought, his expression grim as he recalled the feeling of being called by all the auras before him. It was like the need to eat to satisfy his hunger.

"On to the next topic," the blob said, grinning. "I noticed a bit of scuffle here, but don't worry, there are always rules for everything in this temple."

It added, "The number of meters you've climbed on the monolith determines how many minutes you have before these chunks of aura. The moment you run out of time, you will simply be teleported back here to me."

Everyone was shocked by the blob's words, their eyes widening. However, they quickly realized that a minute was a very short time, and whether it was a hundred or two hundred, it wouldn't be enough to comprehend an aura.

The geniuses present weren't fools; they understood that comprehending an aura required time, and it couldn't be done in mere minutes, no matter how many they had.

"How can we comprehend an aura in a matter of minutes? It's impossible!" someone questioned the blob.

The blob shrugged. "That's your problem, but I assure you, comprehending an aura from these chunks of stone is different than comprehending from nothing. In that case, you'd have to try a thousand different ways to find the right path. But with these chunks, the right path is in front of you. All you have to do is comprehend it."

It added, "Moreover, my master isn't that cruel. Everything will be fine once you begin comprehending."

The blob glanced at everyone, its expression turning into a sneer. "Now for the most important part. One can gain extra time by battling others."

Everyone's eyes gleamed when they heard the blob.

Seeing their attention focused on it, the blob continued with a grin, "The rules for a battle are simple. Let's say challenger A is challenging genius B. Genius B can either decide to fight or not. It's entirely up to genius B whether they want to accept the challenge or not."

The blob grinned. "If genius B decides to fight and loses, challenger A will win 10% of the minutes B possesses, in hours. For example, if genius B has 100 minutes, and B loses, challenger A will gain 10% of that time in hours, which is 10 hours."

The rules surprised everyone. It tilted heavily in favor of the challengers.

"However," the blob continued, "if the challenger A loses, not only will challenger A be unable to challenge anyone further, but they will also lose 10% of their time. Most importantly, challenger A will lose the privilege to decline any future challenges. They will have to accept every challenge, regardless of whether they want to or not."

"One more thing: if challenger A loses, genius B won't gain anything. Meaning accepting a challenge is the most foolish decision you could ever make so think carefully before accepting anyone's challenge." The blob added at the end.

Everyone was once again surprised. At first, they thought the rules favored the challengers, but now they couldn't tell. Accepting a challenge wouldn't reward you with anything, but losing as a challenger would result in severe penalties.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay