When Gerald opened his eyes after the teleportation, he noticed he was in a swamp.
"It seems this is where I get to start with the meet and fight." He thought.
The will of the realm descended on him along with soothing energy that instantly healed his injuries and fatigue. She also said to him
"Congratulations to you Gehald Oakstein for getting to this stage. Truly impressive, you were just a notch away from a perfect pass. What a pity."
He doesn't think she truly pitied him, her voice sounded monotonous just like ever. He heard some rumors that the will of the realm didn't start talking to her children until after the realm Lord ascended. She used to just send her intents to inform them unlike now that she is talking to every sovereign that has reached here with a personalized message. Meanwhile, she was still talking.
"It isn't the end of the road for you, even though you weren't part of the 12,624 sovereigns and Grand gods that died you must continue to thrive for life. The available reward of origin essence amounts to exactly 1,800 beads. Of which the 461 with perfect pass get two each, which leaves 880 beads."
Of all the 22,862 competitors that took part in the Sovereign trial, 461 of them got a perfect pass. That's 2% of their numbers. He was just a single mark from being among them.
"The remaining 10,238 of you will fight to the last 4,500, of which the top 880 fighters will get the opportunity to challenge for each of the remaining origin beads. "
That's the thing about the world. The strongest get the best treatment. The ones with perfect passes get to skip the next section and are also rewarded with two beads of Origin essence while the rest have to struggle amongst themselves to share the remaining amount.
Mother high heaven continued to explain the rules of the next section of the trial.
"A mark will save you from death once, if you still have a mark and are part of the top 880 you can skip the challenge and get your Origin essence. If you have at least two marks after the meet and fight, and you are within the first 2000 then you can challenge the top 880 without a mark for their spot. Priority is given to those with the most marks left."
"From now on you can view your position and score within your status. The number of points you have will be used to exchange for your rewards after this section of the trial. You have until a day cycle to rest. Then the Meet and fight will start."
Mother High Heaven left with her will when she was done. He was left with his thoughts, he couldn't move from his position because of the barrier around him.
Everyone that survived the first section will be teleported randomly within the world within this space, well except for those that had perfect passes. When the trial starts they would seek each other out. If you meet someone you must fight that person, the both of you will be teleported to a small enclosed arena for a battle to the death.
The winner will get his or her energy fully recovered and teleported to a random location, while the loser dies. If the loser has a mark he or she can surrender and be teleported out of the arena.
If the fight doesn't end after a day, which is unlikely, the will of the realm will descend to decide the fate of the fighters, their life and death will be based on the sincerity and effort put into the fight. No one should hope to deceive mother High Heaven.
To rank high in this trial, you have to win enough fights before the ten thousand or so competitors are reduced to 4,500. The marks are very important, to preserve them you either hide or win your fights.
If you rank in the top 880 you will be challenged by someone if you don't have a mark, and the chances are that you will be challenged by someone strong because that person would have to have survived deathmatches and still have two marks left.
For you to be eligible to challenge the top 880 you must survive, have at least two marks and be within the top 2000. But challenging isn't sure because the top 880 might have just a few that have exhausted their marks, the people that will be chosen to challenge will be prioritized based on the number of marks they have.
It is rare but they will be people in the top 2000 with 5 marks. Some truly powerful people consider the trials a piece of cake and didn't try their best, especially for the battle trial, Dragons for example. There would be some Dragons that lazied around during the all-out battle or other trials they consider time-consuming or too intensive for them, they know that as long as they have a single mark they would live. It is these ones that will spoil the trial for everyone else.
Gehald and probably everyone else will plan to try their best to reach the top 880, it is the safest option. So about 6 thousand people will die again for their hopes and dreams.
Sovereigns and grand gods that are the highest power within High Heaven, respected and adored, will die like ordinary men. All for the chance to grow stronger, all for origin essence.
There are only two ways for a sovereign to become an Origin god. The first option is to obtain a bead of Origin essence, this bead of precious Origin essence is the size of a peanut. To get one you either go to the trial of heaven to acquire one or go to the upper realm in search of the secret realms of incapacitated Origin gods.
Origin gods have immortal souls that can produce Origin essence, but this essence is unusable by anyone else unless their soul suffers from such a terrible injury that they don't have any choice but to lose consciousness. Only then can you purify the Origin essence they produce of their soul marks.
But the Origin essence of incapacitated origin gods isn't just lying about. You could only find some in their towers or stronghold. So for your options, it is either you go to the trial of heaven with a one in five chance of survival and success or you go to a wounded tiger's cave to ask for its skin.