Death... and me

Seeing that Roan didn't seem to believe him that much, Dipsy gave them a piece of advice. "Here's a good thing for you to do. It's better to start the twelve tests with the test you're worst at. That way, you can get a feel of it and give up when things get dangerous. If you succeed in the next eleven tests and leave the worst for last, you will at least know what to expect."

That was indeed a good piece of advice. "I see... after all, it doesn't matter which test we start from. We have just to conclude all twelve." Unfortunately, that also meant a wait of one year and one month. That would definitely reduce the number of Destiny Points from the quest.

"Just give us a moment to think about it," Rean told Dipsy.

Dipsy obviously saw no problem with it. "Sure. I'll wait by the entrance if you need me for anything else. If you want, you can head straight to the counters at the Deep Sea Monster Assault area and sign for it. Just present your IDs there."

Well, only Kentucky and Roan had IDs, but it wouldn't be a problem to make new ones for Rean and Celis in Infal City itself.

Rean then looked at everyone before saying, 'The question here is whether we want to enter those tests with the four of us or not. If not, we can have only Roan or I take the tests since we can carry everyone else in the Dimensional Realm. Perhaps it would be good for the two of us at the same time since we don't know if the other one might fail one of the tests.'

Roan pondered over it for a bit before saying, 'We should all try the tests. They will serve as a good way of training even if we fail. Celis, especially, has been in the Dimensional Realm all this time doing nothing more than cultivating.'

Celis was taken aback to hear that. 'I was a Peak Stage Transition Realm World Swallowing Cedar before, remember? I don't really need training as I'm well aware of my own strengths and weaknesses at this level. I would rather keep cultivating.'

Rean looked at the Minokawa after that. 'What about you, Kentucky?'

Kentucky shrugged his shoulders in response. 'You know me. I don't like annoying things. Since Celis doesn't want to go, I don't either... or so I wanted to say. However, I only had one chance to test my fighting prowess since I reached the Transition Realm. Not only that, all I did was block the attacks of two weaklings. That isn't good at all. I want a real challenge to see how far my defense has improved.' Kentucky had never stopped consuming high-level metals. That obviously helped him increase his defense, although it had a limit depending on his cultivation. It's just that this limit was never reached since his cultivation was too fast, thanks to the connection with Celis, Rean, and Roan.

Celis looked at Kentucky for a moment. 'It's quite rare of you to be this proactive.' After so many years, Celis had obviously understood Kentucky's personality. 'Sigh... fine, I'm going in with you. We have our pact together, so we're stronger when we're close to each other. We might as well see how well our combination goes.'

Roan was obviously happy to hear that. 'Good! In that case, I won't join you. We will take the tests at the same time, but we will go our own separate ways.'

Rean couldn't help but ask, 'Does that mean I have to go alone?'

Roan nodded. 'I don't want to stay close to you if I can help it.'

Suddenly, the idea didn't look so bad. 'Now that you say that, it really is a good idea.'

Rean then contacted Havek in the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm and told him about the events outside. 'That's about it. Do you want to take part in the tests?'

Havek snorted in response. 'Ha! As if! I only care about my cultivation because it's directly related to the level of formations I can create. I obviously have no interest in such things. Unless extremely necessary, don't get me involved in it.'

Rean bitterly smiled in response but didn't insist. He kind of expected this kind of answer from Havek already. That guy only cared about formations. And that was all.

It was then that Celis thought about something. 'Wait! Can we even join the tests as a group?'

Roan spread his arms in response. 'Look around you. Can't you see the huge number of cultivators and demon beasts here? Do you think they're all here simply waiting for the test to start? If you pay attention, you can see many groups forming everywhere. Just spread your Divine Sense a little, and you will hear lots of conversation about people and demon beasts trying to form their own groups.'

Celis did exactly that. Sure enough, Roan was right. A lot of the cultivators and demon beasts were truly trying to form groups or had already formed one and were recruiting more participants. That only made Celis smile, though. "Kentucky, come with me. Let's join that demon beast group over there."

Kentucky was taken aback. "Eh?! Weren't we going just the two of us?"

Celis shook his head, telling him, "We're just not joining the twins since they're too strong. The other groups are bound to be weaker than us, so we can use them to scout ahead."

Kentucky found it strange, though. "But many of them are at a higher stage of the Transition Realm or are even in the Void Tempering Realm. Won't they force us to take the vanguard instead?"

Celis laughed in response. "Hahaha! I sure hope they try."

Kentucky's eyes lit up as he laughed as well. "Hahaha! I sure hope they try it too." Immediately, he followed Celis. As for how they would fare, the twins would find out once the test was over.

Roan then looked at Rean and said, "Alright, I'm off. I'm going to find some random team as well. You should do the same."

Rean agreed with him. "Sure. Let me know if you need something through our connection."