Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Take Duke Megera from the Hexennacht for example, he was an influential Demon Duke who had lived for more than 1500 years. His fight with the Commander of Envy, went on for 2 days straight with most of his injuries, even the most dire ones healing in a couple of seconds.

From this, one could tell what kind of realm level 700 and above was. However, for a single magic to contain enough might to kill them, it could be said that it was unprecedented in the current era.

What was even more shocking was that the wielder of such a magic was none other than a Demon Earl, a rank that was two stages lower than them.

Simon clenched his hands, feeling a rush of exhilaration course through his body. He knew better than anyone that it was impossible for an Amalgamation magic of two attributes, one of which was even a novice tier to possess that kind of might.

It was only possible because Simon had the [Shortcuts] option. It was because of this feature that he was able to empower the magic with mana every day. However, it was not just his own mana that made the magic so strong, the option that had undergone a drastic change after transmigrating to this world, also had something to do with the insane power of that magic.

It would be impossible for others to replicate what Simon did without the [Shortcuts] option.

Next, Simon shifted his eyes at the lines of notification that appeared before him. Most of it was his level up announcements. Defeating Abomination, a being of level 740 had rewarded him with a ton of experience, enough to fill up his experience bar multiple times.

[You have reached the limit of your bloodline, your level cannot progress any further. The Exp threshold exceeds the limit, storing it away temporarily].

Simon glanced at his status and noticed that he had reached level 600, the limit of the Demon Earl. If he wanted to progress any further, he would have to use the Purifying Crystal Essence to [Promote] his character and purify his bloodline to the next rank.

Demon Marquess… a rank that was the dream of countless low ranking demon nobles, Simon was finally going to achieve it. How long did it take him?

Counting the time since the moment he arrived in his world, it wouldn't be more than five years. That is to say, in just less than five years, Simon had reached the threshold of Demon Marquess from Demon Baron.

A growth like that, it was simply heaven defying. It also went on to show how powerful the Fragments of Pride were to elevate his growth to such speed.

Simon took a while to reminisce about the journey he went through to reach this stage. Five years, it might be extremely short given the fact that even the low ranking demon nobles live for a few hundred years, not to mention the pure blood and high ranking ones.

The years he lived might have been short; however, the experiences he had gone through was very rich. Even some Demon Dukes might not be able to compare to him in that aspect.

Simon was in no hurry to [Promote] his rank, he still had a few skills that he needed to acquire before reaching the Demon Marquess rank. As such, he put the Promotion at the back of his head and focused on the matter at hand.

Other than the level up notification, he also received an announcement from the Forbidden Grounds that marked his successful clearance of the Trial.

[The Sixth Trail has been cleared. Number of participants remaining:- 1. Your actions and Karma are being recorded. Calculating your reward… your reward has been set. Proceed through the gate to experience the [Historia] and collect your reward].

With the defeat of the Abomination, Simon had successfully cleared the Sixth Trail: Open Space Snowlands.

Tens of kilometres in front of him, the land which was the epicentre of the magic had been reduced to nothing but barren sands, a teleportation gate fluctuating with spatial powers, formed. This was his exit from here.

Simon got up and walked towards the spatial gate, of course, he didn't forget to collect his other reward, the rewards that he got from defeating the Fourth Finger.

The finger of Ozymandias, just like the one sitting inside his space ring, was buried underneath a pile of sand. Even after getting caught in that explosion, it didn't appear that the body of the finger took much damage.

And whatever damage it took, was all healed by the curse energy oozing from it. From this, one could tell how absurdly strong defence the fingers possessed. Perhaps if he didn't restore the Radiant Crown of Brilliance, then he wouldn't have been able to defeat the fourth finger.

This realisation made Simon sigh a breath of relief. His intuitions were right, there was a good reason why he received the crown and the materials to restore it as a clear reward. The crown has a much greater purpose and would be an essential item in the future trials.

Using the Philosopher's Stone that stored Irene's Magic, Simon sealed the Finger in the ice coffin and stored it away.

With that, he proceeded forward and entered the teleportation gate. The next thing he knew, he was already inside the [Historia], experiencing a part of history that was lost with time.

His hands and body became illusory like he was a ghost watching everything as a bystander. As he looked around, he noticed that he was standing on top of a wide expanse of land, the grass beneath his feet was a vibrant shade of green, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

It was a stark contrast to the desolation he had witnessed moments ago in the snowlands. The land here was also teeming with life, colourful wildflowers swayed gently in the breeze, and the air was filled with a relaxing atmosphere.

The scent of blooming flowers and the earthy fragrance of the grass combined to create a mesmerising scene that was both refreshing and invigorating.

As he took in the scenery, Simon couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity with this place, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

"This place…" he muttered to himself. The similarity between this place and the snowlands he had been in just moments ago was too uncanny.

"Could it be the same place?"

While the climate and surroundings were polar opposites, there was an undeniable familiarity in the geography. Especially that majestic mountain range in the distance that rose to the sky like an ancient sentinel of the land.

There was no doubt about it, this place was the Snowlands he was just in. How did such a vast verdant land transform into the snowlands that it was now?

Simon did not have to think much as the answer soon presented itself in front of him.

The land began to tremble and soon after, breaking through the ground, numerous dark black sinister looking appendages appeared followed by a monstrous form. It was the Abomination, the creature he just defeated to clear the Sixth Trial.

Its presence was sinister, and its emergence tainted the once-vibrant landscape. It wasn't alone, following the path it created, more and more nightmarish looking entities burst forth from the ground, each more grotesque than the last.

Some had twisted, elongated limbs, while others had multiple sets of eyes that gleamed with malevolence. Some even had figures that eerily resembled a human.

As Simon glanced at those figures breaking out of the ground, a chilling revelation struck him like a bolt of lightning. He realised that he had seen them before, although it was just once, the thing he saw then left a deep impression in his mind.

Scenes from the Third Trial resurfaced from his memories once again. That's right, these nightmarish looking entities were none other than the children from the third trial who were experimented upon and later deemed a failure and frozen inside that ice wall.

The sight of that unimaginable despair, one that had left an indelible mark on his consciousness.

In the depths of that facility, the enormous Frozen Prison that trapped thousands of children, once filled with hope and innocence, within its icy embrace. Their forms were grotesque and savage, twisted by the cruel experiments they had endured.

Each child's face bore the haunting visage of a mindless beast, a creature that had lost all semblance of humanity. Their eyes, once filled with dreams and aspirations, were vacant and hollow.

Their mouths, frozen in eternal torment, seemed to emit silent screams that echoed through the icy chamber. Limbs contorted into unnatural shapes, and their bodies bore the scars of countless experiments.

It was a wretched tableau of suffering and despair, a stark reminder of the atrocities committed in the name of twisted ambition.

There was no need to guess, this [Historia] was a continuation from back then. At that time, the [Historia] ended abruptly leaving Simon and the group he came in with, Lucine and Denzel in an unclear and inconclusive state of mind.

At that time, he wondered what happened of the children that raised the spark of resistance against those mad scientists. Were they able to survive or not, what happened to that teleport circle that was their only exit out of there and the despair inducing Abomination?

When he reached the depth of the facility after witnessing the [Historia] everything had changed. There was no way of knowing what had happened back then, and many questions remained unanswered at that time.