Greedy?

Inside the building, there was literally a huge warehouse stretching hundreds of meters. Piled up inside were lots of small stones. They had grayish tones. There was a subtle difference between them: most were light gray, and some were a bit darker.

As soon as everyone stepped in, they felt a strange sensation, like the whole place was vibrating.

"You're feeling the influence of these stones on space," the head Elder explained.

"These are Spatial Chaotic Stones. They exist on pretty much every high-level planet, but only in really small amounts. What's hard is finding one with high quality."

Some of them recognized the stones as the Elder continued:

"Yes, spatial rings are made from them," he went on. "But only the medium or high-quality ones have a stable inner space. The others, with the slightest interference in their internal space, explode. That's why they're useless for spatial rings — but they're good for other things."

"The test is simple. The Spiritual Guardians must use their ring's power to enter the inner space of one of these stones." Darian knew the elder was talking about his normal Ring on his forehead, but also wondered if his two special rings could be used as well. The elder continued. "The ring's power is way stronger than the stone's, and once they're inside, it's just a matter of the Guardian's will to break the internal space without triggering an explosion." He looked at everyone seriously.

"Like I said before, you'll have a full day. This test is all about total control for the Spiritual Guardian. You'll need to control the ring's power so it doesn't interfere with the stone's unstable space, and slowly enter it. Even the smallest mistake, and it's all over. You can use as many stones as you want — every one you enter perfectly, without blowing it up, will give you points."

Everyone listened closely, eyes on the stones ahead. At the very back, there were ten standing out.

The Elder added: "There are three types of stones: the lighter ones, about 90% of the total, are worth 50 points each; the darker ones, about 9%, are worth 100 points each; the last type, almost black, there are only ten of those, and they're worth 250 points each. I'd suggest not trying those — they take way too much time and effort, and failing is almost guaranteed. In the time it takes to do one, you could get several of the lower-level ones."

Everyone nodded. This was a test where speed and control of the Spiritual Guardian mattered most. Luck didn't mean anything here.

"You may begin."

With the Elder's signal, around 160 Summoners and their Spiritual Guardians started moving.

Niara walked slowly. She didn't say anything, but when she heard Darian's request, she smiled.

The head Elder watched the Dragoness calmly walking past everyone, heading straight for the highest-level stone.

The stone, about the size of a fist, was nearly pitch black. As she approached it, she gently held the slug and brought it close to the stone.

Darian focused, and soon his body was covered in a reddish aura coming from the ring on his forehead. That power entered the stone.

He felt it moving inside… until he sensed a warped and violent region getting close. At the slightest touch of his power, he felt a subtle danger and pulled back.

'Well, it's not like I thought I'd just magically pull it off…' he muttered to himself. Truth was, he wasn't better than anyone else at this. Actually, the elites were definitely better than him at this kind of thing.

But…

Inside his soul, he had something hidden that he figured might help: the Canine Tooth.

He'd seen that demon beast create it with its mutation. And thanks to what he'd learned from that book, he had an idea of what it could do — and how powerful it was.

Instead of absorbing poisonous and dark stuff to power up the body, like was common for her race, that she-wolf could strengthen the three powers of life: life energy, mental power, and soul power.

She used her full strength to create that canine tooth, and Darian was sure it could be used with all three types of life energy. But since he was only a soul in that universe, he could only use the soul aspect.

Unfortunately, Niara had a body and could technically use the other two — but there was no way. That wasn't her style at all. She liked to use her body in battle and had zero talent for this kind of stuff.

'I'll call it the Canine of Three Energies.'

He decided, and moved his treasure in secret. It was in spiritual form, and with his will, he could make it act like the ring's power. Its little antennae touched the stone, and he did everything slowly so he wouldn't trigger anything.

Darian didn't know how to use soul power, but the canine could drain some from him with just a thought. He allowed it to pull a bit, then slowly moved it deeper into the stone...

"!"

And just like that, it entered the chaotic space with ease.

His eyes widened with excitement. Even inside the space, he still had total control over the Canine. So he pulled it back out without a problem.

That Canine was much gentler and easier to control than the ring's power, which was way better suited for combat. His mastery over the Canine came from the fact he'd been accepted into that tomb and inherited that legacy. It was like having an extra arm now.

The reason he was able to get in was because soul power had that unique trait. It was a subtle kind of force, not rejected by anything and easy to blend in.

'Hmmm... if it can sneak into things that easily, then how about...'

Darian moved a little bit of his black power. Just a tiny speck. He hid it inside the Canine and calmly sent it back into the stone.

Some time later…

'It went in perfectly!'

Darian ran another test, this time leaving only the black power inside the chaotic space and pulling the Canine out. He quickly found something pretty interesting: 'The black power... I can control it perfectly from a distance.'

'Partner, there's two minutes left.'

Niara's voice echoed in his mind, startling him.

'What? Already?'

Time had flown while he was testing things, all excited. A whole day was gone... he sighed, getting ready for one last test.

Inside the stone, the black power could move perfectly with his will—even at full capacity. It was something tiny and subtle, but Darian felt like he was remotely controlling a nanobot.

A minute later...

The entire space shattered from just a single black speck, which was completely consumed. The ring's power was stronger than the space itself—but the black power seemed even stronger.

'Success.'

He said it, excited. The Canine was amazing for slipping into things thanks to the soul power. But it could also act like a courier, dropping off a "little gift" silently.

Niara took a deep breath, then picked up the slug and the stone.

"It's over."

The Elder announced.

At that moment, all eyes turned to Niara and the slug.

She smiled sarcastically, holding the highest-grade stone in her hands.

One of the Elders came over right away to check…

"The internal space is destroyed... you got 250 points."

Everyone heard it and took a deep breath. Niara and Darian had spent the whole day on just that one stone, but they pulled it off.

The point tally continued.

Nobody managed to get many stones. Controlling the ring's power was insanely hard. It wasn't smooth at all—it behaved like a raging flame, trying to burn everything around it.

By the end of the count... three elite members hit 350 points, two got to 300, and two more reached 250. Everyone else was below that.

That dragon-blooded couple were the ones who also reached 250. They looked at Niara from afar, smiling slightly, looking excited.

As for the elite members, they sighed heavily as they looked at Niara and her partner. If they hadn't gotten greedy and gone for the highest-point stone, they probably would've topped the whole trial. Still, 250 points was nowhere near bad—especially with the thousand they already had.

'Greedy? Hehehe... I gained way more than just a few points. Let's see who's laughing in the end.' Darian murmured to himself.

"Let's head outside," the Elder said.