Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons-Chapter 251: Regulus, The Archmage

Arthur carefully picked up the orb, surprised by its weight.

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"It's much heavier than its size shows" He muttered.

The surface was warm but not burning, responding to his touch by glowing brighter, the flames within swirling more vigorously.

"I don't need this orb...But, I know someone who does," he murmured.

He already had ideas for how to use this.

Arthur stored the orb in his inventory.

Epic-rank items were rare enough, but ones with passive enhancement properties were especially valuable. Most required activation or consumed mana during use, but this one would work continuously once integrated into any equipment.

The spatial distortions in the corridor began to settle, reality calming after the violence of his attack. As normality returned, a new pathway revealed itself—a doorway carved into what had previously been a solid wall.

Arthur's gaze fixed on the newly revealed passage. The labyrinth was testing him, yes, but also rewarding him.

'This is why secret realms are the best.'

He smiled at the thought. After disposing of a level 20 Epic-Boss with minimal effort, he was rewarded with an Epic rank item.

"Let's see what else you're hiding,"

He stepped through the doorway, leaving the crushed remains of the Crimson Hyena behind.

After entering through the doorway, instead of continuing down the path in front of him, Arthur felt some teleportation mechanism activate beneath his feet. The sensation was unmistakable—reality bending around him, preparing to relocate his physical form.

Although he sensed that he could have stopped it with his Space talent, he chose not to.

'Let's see where this is taking me,' he thought as his body dissolved into particles of light before reforming elsewhere in the hidden realm.

The transition was smoother than most teleportation magic he'd experienced—almost gentle in how it deposited him in the new location. When his vision cleared, Arthur found himself in a place so jarringly different from the labyrinth that he wondered if he'd been transported to another realm entirely.

'Where... is this?' Arthur thought as he glanced around, his gaze immediately drawn to a massive pillar standing in the center of the area.

He stood in what appeared to be a large courtyard straight out of a fairy tale. Lush grass carpeted the ground, swaying gently in a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere. Birds chirped melodiously from the branches of cherry trees in full bloom, their petals occasionally drifting down like pink snow. A small stream gurgled nearby, its crystal waters catching the light of a sun that couldn't possibly exist in an underground realm.

And yet, rising from the middle of this peaceful idyll was the pillar—a monolithic structure of obsidian so black it seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. Ancient runes spiraled up its surface, occasionally pulsing with arcane energy. The pillar looked utterly out of place, like a shard of darkness thrust into paradise.

"This is nice," Arthur muttered as he looked around. The peaceful atmosphere was a stark contrast to the life-or-death challenges of the labyrinth. Everything felt calming—the light breeze, the birds chirping, the grass swaying.

'I wish Charlotte were here with me, watching this scene' he thought, as a wave of melancholy washed over him.

The serene setting had reminded him of his separation from his only family in the world. His sister's face flashed in his mind—her smile, the one she wore before their life went downhill.

Arthur shook his head, refocusing.

'Perhaps this place was designed to evoke such feelings? Another form of test?' He thought grimly.

Seeing no sign of the mercury guardian, Arthur decided to explore the courtyard's centerpiece. The obsidian pillar was the only anomaly in this otherwise perfect pastoral scene.

As he approached the structure, the runes began to glow more intensely, responding to his presence. The air thickened with magical energy, and a notification appeared before him.

[You have entered the comprehension zone.]

[Would you like to take the comprehension test?] [Yes | No]

Arthur considered it for a few seconds. 'Comprehension' could mean many things in magical contexts—understanding complex skills, perceiving hidden truths.

Whatever it was, he wasn't going to refuse it.

He clicked [Yes].

"Let's see what this comprehension test is about," he muttered.

Arthur was confident in his abilities. His high Intelligence stat, combined with his various talents and skills, had always made mental challenges easier for him than for most. Whatever this pillar had to offer, he believed he could handle it.

A series of instructions materialized in glowing script before him:

[The Comprehension Test evaluates your ability to perceive and understand a fundamental force that shapes reality. Sit beside the Pillar of Truth. Close your eyes. Open your mind. What you comprehend, you may keep.]

'Interesting,' He thought.

Unlike the straightforward combat challenges of the labyrinth, this test seemed almost philosophical in nature.

Arthur sat cross-legged on the grass before the pillar, his back straight, hands resting on his knees in a meditative pose. He closed his eyes as instructed, allowing his other senses to expand.

The moment his eyelids shut, the world around him completely changed as if it didn't exist.

The sounds of birds and rushing water faded, replaced by a profound silence. The breeze against his skin vanished. Even the smell of grass and flowers disappeared.

Arthur found himself in a pure black void.

No up, no down.

No left, no right.

Just absolute nothingness extending infinitely in all directions.

Then, a pinprick of light appeared in the distance.

The light grew rapidly, expanding from a mere speck to a brilliant sphere of roiling plasma.

"That's the birth of a star?"

A star was being born before his eyes. The massive ball of gas and fire pulsed with energy, its surface churning with solar flares that stretched millions of miles into the void.

Arthur felt no heat despite the celestial inferno.

Gradually, smaller particles of dust and gas began to orbit the newborn star. Arthur watched, fascinated, as gravity pulled these particles into a spiral pattern.