Chapter 41: The First God King Trail
"Succeed And Earn Yourself A Crown! Fail And Earn Yourself Death And Eternal Obliteration!"
The voice boomed out like the sound of angered lightning the instant Nolan felt his feet step onto the cold marble floor.
The loudness of it almost made him shift onto both knees, but he resisted, rising and looking around the room.
Quickly, his heart sank until absolute reverence appeared on his face.
Before him was a large hall, illuminated brightly by multi-colored lights whose source came from the thousand-meter-tall statues that covered every inch of the space.
They ranged from animals to strange aliens, to strange plant-like creatures, to something simply incomprehensible.
Every single statue revealed such a level of power that it made him quake, just wondering how it was possible for mere statues to have such an aura.
"Welcome To The Hall Of Gods!" The loud voice boomed out once more, but Nolan had solidified himself with his surroundings and simply remained where he was.
The voice boomed through the entire hall, and its source was untraceable, but he needed not to find the source.
"Pick A God Statue and Earn Its Crown By Passing Its Trial. You Only Have One Choice..." The voice warned gravely, as Nolan's eyes flashed around the ginormous statues.
"So, I have to pick one, huh?" He mused, and in the next instant, he took a single step forth.
Immediately his feet landed, a strange golden light undulated forth in a circular motion through the entire hall.
Seeing no harm upon him, Nolan began walking forward.
He came across many statues, some radiating an awe-inspiring aura, some so bright with aura that Nolan couldn't even see their features, and some radiated close to no aura at all, just looking dull compared to the rest.
Yet, Nolan never chose a single one of these statues, and he knew very well the reason.
The truth is, there were some statues here that if he decided to choose, he would be doomed.
And the reason for that was simple.
Every Celestial Heir was a descendant from any of these mythological gods, and if there was a defining feature about the Celestial Heirs from other creatures, it would be their ability to use Divine Essence.
It was what made their Mythological descent even useful at all.
But Nolan couldn't control his divine essence due to his 'special' physique.
If he chose a statue because it was significantly brighter or stronger, in the end, if the statue relied on Divine Essence for its descendant to use its power, then that power would still be useless to Nolan since he couldn't use his divine essence.
In the end, he would just have a powerful ability without the power to run it.
Then what was the point of the trouble?
That was why right now, there was only a single statue that Nolan knew well he could choose out of the countless number of statues.
As he walked deeper and deeper into the crowd of statues, he began encountering strange ones.
They neither oozed out with light, nor were they awe-inspiring looking.
Yet Nolan felt an invisible pressure wrapping around his chest once he walked past them, wanting to force him down to his knees, while some simply wanted nothing but to eradicate him.
Not only that, but the smallest of them was 5000 meters in pure height, five times taller than the ones before.
It was the simple demonstration of the word "Real Power Shuts Up!"
When Nolan was almost at the end of the statues, he finally found who he was looking for.
An awe-inspiring statue that reveled in an absolute raging and barbaric aura.
It was the statue of a man, exactly 10,000 meters tall, with a gigantic sword in his left hand and an axe in his right.
A red paint covered his face and bald head, and in the next instant, a strange tattoo appeared on Nolan's forehead, followed by his left crimson eye oozing with a strange crimson light.
Now he knew well he had found what he was looking for.
Of course, the statue Nolan wanted to choose in this trial was none other than the statue of Kratos himself, his own Mythological Descent.
Nolan's reason was simple: not only had he received the recognition of Kratos when he wanted to re-awaken his will, but he also knew that Kratos was his first and rightful Mythological Descent.
His body was naturally attuned to its power already, and he expected the trial to be a bit easier than if he was to choose a statue which he had absolutely no idea of.
Not only that, but when he had first met the system, it had called him a peasant due to the fact that the Kratos bloodline, which he possessed, doesn't even need Divine Essence to use, yet Nolan was a weakling.
It was a word Nolan didn't dwell much on with the system, but he kept it at the back of his mind, and truly he could confirm.
Anytime he used his Lost Dagger of Kratos, Nolan didn't feel he was using his divine essence but his pure physical strength instead.
That meant those who possess the Kratos bloodline do not even need Divine Essence at all, which was why he had chosen it.
If he was to obtain his first God Crown, then why not choose the crown of his Kratos Descent?
That wouldn't just make him familiar with an already greatly familiar power but make him even stronger, and maybe an anomaly amongst those in the Kratos descendants.
That was why right now, Nolan stood before the feet of this mountain, his heart knowing well this was what he wanted, and almost like it could sense his will, the voice boomed once more through the hall.
"Touch the god statue whose trial you wish to bind to partake in its test."
"Success will mean its ultimate recognition and therefore a crown, and failure would mean death and eternal obliteration."
"Your fate is now in your hands..." The voice said before disappearing completely.
And without wasting more seconds, Nolan's hand stretched forth, and touched the feet of Kratos.
An iridescent light flashed immediately as he did, proceeding to cover his figure, and slowly the light dimmed, revealing no one present at the feet of the statue any longer, and the hall was once more reduced to its eternal silence.