Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 2088: First Challenge!

Max looked at the list again.

’So most people prepare as much as they can before coming here.’

That made sense. If a person could only enter the Ten Shadows Trial once in their entire life, throwing that chance away by entering too early would be foolish.

Max was a different case. His cultivation realm sat far below even the lowest level normally seen here, yet his actual combat strength had already outgrown what his cultivation suggested by an absurd margin, which was why he had never felt any need to wait.

After browsing the Challenge Platform a while longer, Max picked one of the available names at random. That participant had posted a wager of two hundred Bronze Marks, and Max confirmed the challenge.

A notification appeared immediately.

[Challenge failed.]

[You do not possess enough Bronze Marks to match the wager.]

Max blinked. "Huh?"

He stared at the message for a moment before understanding showed in his eyes. "So that’s how it works."

He looked down at the Bronze Mark on his palm. He only had sixty-seven left, so of course the platform wouldn’t let him challenge someone wagering two hundred. The system needed both participants to hold enough marks to cover the bet before the battle could start.

Max turned back to the Challenge Platform. "So I can only challenge someone whose wager I can actually match."

That narrowed his options considerably.

He began scrolling through the available challengers again. Two hundred Bronze Marks was out of reach, and one hundred was still too much, while even seventy-five was impossible for him.

Finally, Max found someone offering a wager of fifty Bronze Marks, and he selected the name.

This time the platform accepted it right away.

[Challenge initiated.]

[Participant Fin has been challenged by Participant Max Voidwalker.]

[Wager: 50 Bronze Marks.]

[Both participants are being summoned to the arena.]

The moment Max finished reading, spatial energy gathered around his body and the monolith began to blur.

At the same time, somewhere else inside the second monolith, a participant named Fin was being pulled into the same arena whether he wanted to fight Max or not.

A heartbeat later, Max found himself standing inside one of the battle arenas.

The arena was wide and circular, with a smooth gray floor marked by faint formation lines. A translucent barrier enclosed the battlefield, separating it from the rest of the monolith while still letting the countless spectators outside watch everything that happened within.

The noise of the surrounding battles grew slightly muffled behind the barrier, leaving the two participants with plenty of room to fight without interference.

Another flash of light appeared across from Max, and a young man materialized several dozen meters away.

Max recognized him at once as a member of the Angel Race.

Fin looked like he was in his early twenties, with long pale golden hair and refined features that gave him the elegant look common among angels.

A white halo floated above his head, and a pair of golden-white wings rested behind his back. He wore light silver armor across his chest and shoulders, with glowing golden patterns carved into its surface.

The aura around him was considerably stronger than that of an ordinary newcomer, since he stood at the 2nd level of the Divine Lord Realm.

Fin looked irritated when he first arrived in the arena. He glanced down at his palm, muttered something under his breath, and then turned toward whoever had challenged him.

Then he saw Max, and his expression froze.

Fin’s eyes traveled slowly over him from head to toe before finally settling on his cultivation realm, which was only the 1st level of the Law Manifestation Realm.

For several seconds, the angel just stared. Then every trace of his earlier irritation vanished, and a wide smile spread across his face.

"Hahaha!"

Fin suddenly burst out laughing.

Max raised an eyebrow.

The angel looked almost relieved. "Finally."

He shook his head as he laughed, as though some terrible run of luck had just turned around completely. "Someone actually challenged me while sitting at the Law Manifestation Realm."

Max watched him calmly.

Fin clearly had no idea who he was, which wasn’t all that surprising. Like the Spirit Race genius Max had spoken with earlier, Fin had probably been inside the Ten Shadows Trial when everything happened in Bloodstone City.

News of the fight with Greyjin might already be circulating through several cities, but there were far too many participants inside the trial for every one of them to recognize him on sight.

Fin looked at Max again, and his smile grew even wider. "You have no idea how good your timing is."

Max tilted his head slightly. "Is that so?"

Fin let out a bitter laugh and gestured at the Bronze Mark on his palm. "I just lost a hundred Bronze Marks to some Dragon Race bastard."

His expression darkened for a moment, since the previous battle clearly hadn’t gone his way. "I thought I could earn enough for another attempt at the Second Shadow Trial, but that dragon was stronger than his information made him look."

Fin’s hand tightened slightly. "A hundred Bronze Marks, gone just like that."

Then his gaze returned to Max, and the frustration melted away almost instantly. "And now the platform hands me you."

His eyes swept over Max’s cultivation once more. A Law Manifestation Realm cultivator. To Fin, who stood at the 2nd level of the Divine Lord Realm and had already cleared the First Shadow Trial, the gap seemed absurd.

He laughed again. "Looks like the heavens finally decided to pay me back."

Max said nothing.

Fin rolled his shoulders, and his golden wings slowly unfolded behind him. "I was just wondering how many fights it would take to recover what I lost."

He smiled with complete confidence. "Turns out I only had to wait for someone stupid enough to challenge me."

Max studied him for a moment before glancing at the barrier surrounding the arena. "So you lost a hundred Bronze Marks."

Fin nodded proudly, apparently taking the question for nervousness. "That’s right."

Max’s lips curved slightly. "Then you should have wagered the hundred you have left."

Fin’s smile faltered.

Max calmly summoned Dragonheart into his hand. "Fifty is a little disappointing."