Chapter 59 - Final Part of the Trial

"Amuse me."

The librarian said as she looked down at Rynold from her seat, considering him as a lesser being.

Despite the woman's provocations, Rynold was unaffected. Rather, he simply didn't care about what the hell the librarian was doing as she constantly looked down on him. It would take a lot more than simple words to get him angry.

It was understandable, all things considered. As much as he wanted to do something about it, Rynold won't or, more accurately, couldn't. He'll be squashed like a bug as soon as he does something that would make the librarian angry. But, then again, he didn't really know what she meant.

Suddenly, though, a window popped up.

[The Final Trial of the Librarian]

Deal damage to the Librarian within the time limit!

Time remaining: 00:04:59

'Oh?' Rynold raised a brow, 'this... I will gladly do.'

With a smile on his face, Rynold jumped up with the drill extended out.

He had 5 minutes and thought it was an ample amount of time to get the job done. Even though Rynold didn't want to mess with a person that could be considered the embodiment of beauty, he had to. As soon as he got to eye level with the Librarian, victory was within his grasp.

Or so he thought.

With a little tap on her chair, gravity struck Rynold back down to the ground with a force parallel to the one that he had felt before. The pain just took priority over remembering the feeling that he had once experienced.

Rynold let out a slight groan as he stood back up on his two feet. He admitted that he was careless; he didn't activate any sort of defense on his approach nor did he consider what sort of powers did she have.

He got cocky.

Spitting out blood from his mouth, Rynold stared. He had to find a different approach to this and time was slowly dwindling away. The direct approach would certainly give him the most advantage since he had no other means of attack, but it couldn't be that simple, now could it?

A spark of an idea dwelled from within him. He raised his drill but this time chose the most barebones options into dealing with the woman with unfathomable power.

He whirred the drill to life and simultaneously activated [Mana Augment Form: Drill] to empower his attack. Making sure his preparations were complete, Rynold swung. This time around, though, instead of getting to the woman's level, Rynold decided to bring her down.

Rynold stabbed the drill into the chair itself and violently activated his Mana. Despite his calculations on how fast the damn chair would break open, he certainly overestimated it.

Concrete, or whatever the chair was made of, cracked. Rynold pressed his drill harder and the cracks and grooves extended until the entire chair broke.

The throne that the Librarian was sitting on easily broke like two twigs. Somehow, Rynold considered how powerful the combination of the drill and his Mana Augment skill to be a factor in how fast it broke but it was still way too easy.

However, Rynold didn't stop drilling until the whole thing crumbled to the ground. The Librarian, though, saw what happened and was too slow to react to her chair breaking.

She inadvertently let out a shriek as a little girl would but Rynold was too busy to hear it.

As the throne crumbled, Rynold finally let up when he saw that the spot where the Librarian was sitting was on his elevation as well. He deactivated his drill and looked around to find where the woman who was looking down on him was.

She laid down on the ground in a somewhat provocative spot from the waist down. Luckily, though, Rynold approach from her waist up and looked down on her. Her long hair covered most of her face and Rynold could only make out an expression of... vulnerability?

Rynold's heart throbbed as he looked down on the woman who originally radiated maturity be laying on the ground, eyes closed, like a pup. He thought she looked, by every definition of the word, adorable.

Before he could get absorbed with the Librarian's beauty, Rynold stepped back and, in near-perfect timing, a window popped up.

[The Final Trial of the Librarian Completed!]

[Time Remaining: 00:04:02. Calculating Completion Rate of the entire Trial run...]

[Completion Rate: Excellent. Rewards to be Determined by the Librarian.]

Rynold smiled at his victory and suddenly heard some noises coming from beside him. The Librarian was waking up from the sudden fall and knowing her disheveled appearance might make out a wrong idea, Rynold looked away.

Now his back turned to the woman, Rynold pretended he was doing something else and decided to act naturally. He could seriously get hurt if the Librarian misunderstood in any way.

The Librarian finally woke up and looked at what happened. Her robes all dirty and her throne now in pieces, she recognized that this challenger was one who she sparked a bit of interest in. Of course, with Rynold being a lesser being, she couldn't really express these interests openly.

Her pride just wouldn't allow it.

Using Mana, she fixed her throne right back to the way it was and instantaneously teleported to sit. Her gaze and expression reverted back to her natural maturity and casually looked back down to Rynold who was staring at the bubbles that trapped his friends.

"Human," she called out, "you have successfully completed the trials that I have set forth. In accordance to the scripture that the gods have ordered me to accomplish, I shall grant you the -"

"Let me stop you right there," Rynold interrupted without shame, "can you at least free them first?"

Striking a deal, Rynold pointed at the dark cloud bubbles that trapped his friends in a suspended animation state with his thumb. At the very least, he should have his friends safe before accepting any sort of rewards from an unknown entity.

The Librarian giggled, "Brazen, aren't we?" she said before promptly removing the dark clouds from his friends and a few other people as well.

Rynold didn't care for the rest of them and focused on the wellbeing of his friends instead. X was the same as he had last left him while Jack was heavily injured. Oliver and Strider were relatively fine as well, apart from the glaring hole in Oliver's right palm that is.

Oliver was the first to wake from his suspended animation. He struggled to stand up and staggered his way to where Rynold was.

"Glad of you to join us," Rynold sarcastically said.

Oliver clutched his chest as a bruise still stung. He shook his head with a smile on his head before grabbing onto Rynold's shoulder for support.

"As I was saying," the Librarian suddenly grabbed Rynold's attention from Oliver, "You, human, have completed my trial and, according to the rules set out by the gods, I shall now grant you your rewards."

Rynold acknowledged with a nod, "Bring it on."

Before the Librarian could even speak, Jack suddenly interrupted from behind.

"Who's the babe?" Jack asked, his voice loud enough to echo throughout the chamber.

To her dismay, the Librarian was noticeably annoyed. She didn't like being called a 'babe' to which she regards the name as more of an insult than anything else.

Rynold sighed in serious consideration as to why he bothers bringing the idiot around. Regardless, he looked back at Jack and shot him a gaze that would kill. Even though they haven't known each other for long, Jack at least knew that this look meant to stop talking and shut the hell up.

"As you were saying?" Rynold prompted to have her speak.

"Just before I was so rudely interrupted," the Librarian shot an even more threatening gaze to Jack, "I am now going to grant you your rewards. According to the scripture that the gods have left behind, whoever accomplishes the trial I have set forth will now be the sole owner of this Tree."

"I'm sorry... what?" Rynold was surprised beyond anything else and a window that popped up essentially confirmed it.

[You are now granted ownership of the Tree of the In-Between.]

[Lordship Title Unlocked!]

[Resource Management Menu Unlocked!]

With too much information to absorb, Rynold's brain was stalled. He didn't know how to react to what just happened and simply stared into the screen until he was interrupted by the Librarian once more.

"Furthermore...," the Librarian floated down from her throne.

'You're kidding,' Rynold thought.

"I, Margareth of the Elven Race, High Sorceress, and Keeper of Knowledge across many races, pledge my allegiance to thy Lord," she said as she kneeled in front of Rynold.

Oliver's eyes widened. How could he have missed all of this? Just how long was he out of it? Jack also stared at them because of what the Librarian just said and there were many other gazes that did the same.

Rynold's thoughts, however, were completely scattered. He could only ever make out a single sound in response.

"Eh?"