Gaming Sword Magician

The encounter with the Venomous Dragon-Scaled Horned Python was a valuable lesson for Whittaker. He understood that Fortune never arrives in peace, and danger is hidden within the beauty of nature. He also realized the importance of strength. 'If I was powerful enough then I would have been able to surely thrash It until the horn atop its triangular face breaks!'

He was angry at the shameless python that refuses to go away.

Elder Zachary and Nina were impressed as Whittaker has managed to successfully escape the danger which was hiding in plain sight but was not easy to locate.

"Now, he only needs to suppress his greed, and the advanced level inheritance trial will be completed without any problem" Zachary murmured while intently staring at each of his actions.

___

Three hours passed by as Whittaker kept on walking in a straight line through the smooth trail in the middle of the wide, misty forest. He wasn't alone as the Horned Python has decided to accompany him. It was following him everywhere he goes, separated only by the mana wall that kept them both off each other. Whittaker hasn't stepped outside the mana wall formation to look for treasures in the forest, fearing that he would be instantly attacked by the stubborn python the moment he steps out of the protective trail. 

The mana wall formation acted as a defense line for both sides. Whittaker, who was inside of the mana wall formation couldn't attack the magical beast that was outside the mana wall formation. The same goes for the Venomous Dragon-Scaled horned python, it couldn't attack Whittaker, either. If he could attack It, then the Python would have been facing a shower of Frost Bolt.

Curiously, he asked the system, 'Hey system, why won't it just go away? Also, is there any way to send it packing?" The forest was a treasure ground, yet he couldn't explore it because of the proudful snake glaring intently at each of his movements. It has climbed up the mana wall and was literally right above Whittaker's head, ready to pounce at him the moment he leaves the trail.

[You have hurt Its pride and It won't give up without taking revenge. Also, Magical beasts have a long lifespan, stalking you for some months on a row isn't a hard task for the venomous dragon-scaled snake.] The system replied. Everything it said was true, and a high-ranked magical beast, such as the snake outside really can live for thousands of years.

"What an insidious creature!" Whittaker felt somewhat angry at the triangular head, but he felt more sadness at the loss of the treasure that could have been potentially his!

"Do I need to give up on all the treasures? Night's Will System, isn't there a way to somehow dupe it?" He internally said to the system with a downcast feeling dwelling in his empty stomach.

[The horned python is a very powerful magical beast, you managed to escape its jaw because It wasn't aware of your true abilities, next time you won't be as lucky. There's no way to dupe it, either. I advise the guardian to just complete the trial. Later on, there will be a lot of chances for the guardian to obtain these miscellaneous treasure]

"Miscellaneous treasure?" Whittaker was shocked at the system's words. These treasures that he was willing to get hurt for were merely classified as miscellaneous by the system… "Whatever, I shouldn't think about what I can't get. It's better to complete this trail as fast as I can and complete the inheritance trial!" Whittaker exclaimed while inhaling and exhaling deeply for a few seconds. He was trying to suppress his greed for treasures.

Soon after, the uneasiness caused by not being able to obtain the treasures starts to go away, and clarity filled his mind and soul. He sprinted for the finish line while ignoring all thoughts of obtaining the glittering treasures laying somewhere in the surrounding forest which laid outside the trail.

Whittaker hastened his journey while sprinting ahead and the python slithered on the grassy ground beside him to continue onwards with its shameless stalking. He felt a disturbance in his soul space and stopped to check what it is. He found out that Wolfie has awakened. Wolfie is the name that Whittaker has given to the Winter wolf pup. With drowsy eyes, the puppy was crying for some attention and possibly food. Whittaker pulled it out of the soul space so that it will breathe some fresh air, but he held on to it somewhat tightly as there's a high chance that Wolfie will run out of the mana wall and get attacked by the magical beast outside. Wolfie also didn't cause any hindrance to his master, as its loyalty has increased to 70 points. Like a good child, it remained seated in Whittaker's embrace after shifting his body in a comfortable position. Occasionally he would move about but would stop in fear of troubling his master, what a sensible child. Whittaker was using everything he could use to increase his speed so that he can reach the other end in a short amount of time.

Just like that, a day passed by...

Whittaker hasn't stopped for a single second, yet the summit of the heaven-reaching mountain still seemed far, far away. "Huff! It will take about three more days to reach that place!" Whittaker estimated by using his kneen eyes and high level of intelligence. To continue this journey without getting treasure was simply boring. This trial tested a person's emotional stability. Normally, an awakened won't be able to estimate the time needed to reach the summit of the heaven-reaching mountain, hence they will probably break down or commit suicide while thinking that they will never reach the end.

Along the way, Whittaker had only given that Venomous snake a single glance, then continued on his path without any opinion. Right now, to release some stress, he turned around to take a look at it.

"Mister pervert, aren't you tired? Maybe, go back to your home and leave me alone. You won't be getting to eat me anyway no matter how long you stalk me." Just like yesterday, the damn snake still stubbornly glared at him in silence and continued with the stalking.

Distressed at the childish nature of the python, Whittaker shook his head left and right and continued with his journey. He exclaimed with a huff, "Three more days and I will get out of this place!"

But how could the creator of this trial allow a challenger to pass so easily?

This trial was about the choices a person would make when facing different situations. Also, Whittaker has only satisfied just one part of Elder Zachary's burning curiosity, which is to know about Whittaker's character as a person.

Zachary wasn't gonna hand his hard-earned stuff to a random person, after all. With a wave of his hand, a command was activated, and the terrain of the forest changed, such that, the grassy ground upon which the spirit flowers grew moved nearer to the trail in the middle of the forest!

An evil grin was enacted on Elder Zachary's face as he awaited the choice that the young snowy-haired boy will make!

___

In the face of the horned python, Whittaker has suppressed all his greedy desire; however, sadly, soon after, he saw spirit flower right in front of his eyes, almost as if they have popped out of nowhere to tempt him to take some step out of the safe zone, but he didn't dare to. He had stopped moving and was looking left–at the spirit flower and right–at the purplish python.

Glaring at the spirit flowers and the purplish python, he muttered with a gulp, "To get the nearby treasure or not?" This was also the first time that worry had appeared on his charming face and he faced an internal turmoil that gave him constipation like feeling. 'System, will I be able to get some spirit flower if I use the combination of Frost Bolt and Frost elemental shift?'

In reply, a notification popped up,

[At this distance, no! The beast is too close to you]

The triangular head python was extremely crafty. Its thousand years of living in the wild had caused it to possess a certain amount of intelligence related to trapping, baiting, and killing preys. The actions of Whittaker didn't escape its eyes, and it had understood that the boy wanted to go out and obtain the spirit flowers...

Since it was unable to harm its prey because of the mana wall formation then It will bait him out of the formation. With these insidious thoughts, It suddenly spat out a mouthful of venom clouds towards Whittaker, before turning around to run away. After taking dozens of turns left and right in few seconds, it came behind a thick tree, drilled into the ground by using an innate ability and silently made Its way back to the spirit flowers. 

On the other hand, the venom cloud was blocked by the mana wall formation while a faint light was flickering in Whittaker's crystal icy eyes, and he clearly saw that the python has turned tail and shamelessly made its escape, going who knows where!

Pearly white teeth made their appearance as a loud crackle rang out, so loud that Wolfie, who was sleeping atop his head, woke up and protested with a slight cry. Whittaker put him in his soul space and decided to get the spirit flowers as the danger was no longer outside.

Just as he was about to move outside the formation, a manly yet melodic voice rang beside his ear,

"Young boy, I advise you against it. There's danger outside!"