Chapter 28：Popcorn (1/2)

Mack had no clue what to do, so he just stayed there. Sitting on a hill looking at the battle in the distance.

He first needed to figure out the goal of the gate. Otherwise, he would just run in circles, or worst, die.

'Why would he put all this grand battle here for me to revert it? Just because he did it too in the past?'

Mack thought that was unlikely that his ancestor wanted him to pass the same thing he passed just because he felt like doing it.

Mack knew from the past trials that his ancestor was wise and ruthless at the same time. A man like him would never do things on a whim. Not when creating all this grand scheme to train someone from his own bloodline.

'What I'm missing?'

”Ok. Let's recapitulate things...”

'First, I received a bunch of gear and a legendary sword when entering this gate'

'Then..... a bunch of NPCs are killing each other in a historic battle that will last for at least a hundred days'

'And my ancestor was the sole survivor of this battle'

Mack still could not believe his ancestor was weaker than him when he entered this battle. This was not a battle for shrimps. One wrong step and you are dead.

”But the goal for me is not to survive to the end of the battle as my ancestor did. But to slay all mages before the 100th day.”

”If really was something about pride.... he would just set the goal for me to survive too”

Then Mack remembered the last gates. All the previous trials taught him without actually teaching. Even the previous one. Showing that scene of the children being impaled taught Mack how cruel mages could be.

'Teaching without teaching'

”Why?”

Mack could not figure out why his ancestor would choose the hardest way to train someone. It would be far easier just telling exactly what to do.

'If his modus operandi is the same as the previous gates, then he is trying to teach me here the same way too'

”How? By jumping in a fireball and getting burnt to ashes? tsc...”

Mack kept looking at the battle in distance, with his head resting over his hand in a pensive expression.

After a few minutes of pondering over the matter.

”I'm such a moron!!!!!!! How could I not see this! It's so obvious!”

”I have broken the nine gates in my body. I can influence Essence to some degree because I can see in the dark. But I don't know how to use it actively! I only know how to use it in a passive way.”

”Such a moron!”

”And here I am! Watching an epic battle with the bests teachers in the world performing all kinds of stuff in front of me. And! For free!”

”The copycat method! Fake it until you make it!”

'Where should I start? Right! The sword! I never used one. I should first try to learn how to use it.'