Blood Evolution System

After Vincent said those words, Iris told them to wait here for a moment. She took out a sketchbook from her spatial ring and opened a page with the drawing of a castle on it. She turned to look at the castle in the distance and compared it to the one in her drawings.

"It exactly looks like it," Iris said, confirming that the castle in their visions is undoubtedly the resting place of Roselia.

"Then, let's go there," Vincent spoke in an excited voice.

Before they could even take a few steps towards the castle, a voice boomed from above their heads.

"Welcome to the Tomb of Roselia, Challengers from the outside!"

Shocked and surprised by the melodic voice sounding in their ears, they turned to look at the source of the voice and saw a lot of purple rays of lights combining into one, taking the shape of a little fairy with four transparent wings, fluttering gently in the wind.

"Who are you?" John asked in a surprised tone of voice when he saw the purple fairy hovering above their head.

"I'm the fairy that will host your trials," she replied, her voice very soothing to hear.

"What is your name?" Vincent asked, wondering what should they called her.

"Please call me Melody!" Purple Fairy Melody replied smilingly, excitedly twirling to the side.

"Okay, then Melody, why are you here?" Peter asked.

"How about all of you first announce your name?" Melody said, telling them to reveal their names to her.

"Alright."

Vincent, John, Iris, Varth, Leilani, and Nevis revealed their names to the fairy, one after another, taking only several seconds to do so.

"Great! With the introductions out of the way, let's start the first trial. The first trial is pretty simple. Every single one of you needs to reach the castle in the distance within six hours. If a single one of you fails to do so, all of you will fail the trial and get kicked out of the Mysterious Violet Forest. Does anyone have any questions?"

"Nope." They shook their heads altogether, indicating that they don't have any questions, and would like to immediately challenge the first trial.

"That's good! One last thing before I start the trial." Melody said in a hurry, stopping them in their steps.

"What is it?" Vincent asked while looking at her.

"I want all of you to know that each time you complete a trial, not only will you get to advance deeper into the Tomb of Roselia where lies great treasures such as the fruit of life, which many lust after, but you will also get something good for completing the trial. So, give it yours all and do your best to smash through every hurdle that comes your way in the trials!" Melody said before suddenly snapping her finger and vanishing from their sights.

A voice sounded in the air, telling them that the Trial has begun and that they only have six hours to complete it. An intangible ticking clock also appeared above them, hovering over the trees.

"Let's get going," Vincent said as he started to move ahead, heading towards the castle. The rest followed in tow.

The castle wasn't too far away. It was only at a distance of a few miles from their present location. With their speed that was as fast as an arrow shot out from a bow, reaching the castle shouldn't take them too long. They couldn't help but smile, thinking that completing this trial will be a piece of cake.

After moving deeper into the mysterious violet forest for several minutes, passing by several purple mushrooms and charging through dense purple luminous, Vincent's eyes opened wide for some reason and he suddenly came to a halt.

"Wait, guys!" Vincent said out loud, motioning them to stop. "Something weird is going on here,"

"Hmm?" Varth and the others immediately stopped after they heard Vincent's words. They turned to look at the surrounding with a penetrating gaze.

Vincent was also looking at this place with narrowed eyes, finding this place eerily similar to the one he passed by a few minutes ago, searching for a few clues to confirm his suspicions.

Seeing that there was no sign of danger or anything significant around them, Nevis turned towards Vincent and asked, "Buddy, what's wrong?"

As Vincent heard his words, he said, "I think we passed by this place just a few minutes ago."

"Maybe it's just your imagination," Iris said, feeling no similarities from this place whatsoever.

Seeing that no one was believing him, Vincent shook his head before walking up to a tree with a crimson sword in his hand. He brandishes his sword a few times, landing three slashes on three of the many trees. If he comes across these trees with three slashes on their trunks again, it will confirm that they are going in circles.

"Let's go."

After leaving a few marks on the trees, Vincent grouped with the others, running towards the castle in the distance.

What he didn't know was that the moment he and the others left this area, the slashes on the trees vanished in the blink of an eye.

Several moments later, once they had dashed across hundreds of trees and thought they were only a mile away from the castle, John's bewildered voice sounded in their ears, "Guys, why does it seems like we haven't taken a single step closer to the castle?"

John motioned them to look at the castle, which seemed to be as far away as it was the moment they appeared in this place. Vincent and Varth took to the top of the trees in order to get a better look at the picture, and they found out that the castle did seemed to be three miles away from them, as it had been before they began venturing into the Mysterious Violet Forest.

They looked at each other, nodded, and then leaped down the trees, landing near the others. They told them about their findings and that what John said is true without a doubt.

"This confirms my suspicions," Vincent said while looking at his teammates. "We are going around in circles!"