[Veiled Trial: Kill One of The Temple's Main Monsters
Grade: B+
Time Limit: 70 minutes
Conditions: retrieve the soul of the fenghuang
Failure: permanent imprisonment in the temple's spire
Reward: 5000 species]
Zane invested a few species in Wisteria's second attribute until it had reached level 8. He didn't particularly have any plan other than investing more species in agility and strength. Now, he stood on the ledge that he would have to jump off of.
'Okay,' he told himself. 'I just have to jump. That's all.'
Zane glanced at Rhian, who was cleaning Executioner's blade as he focused on raising the stats of his two skills.
[Time limit: 70 minutes]
"Okay," he murmured to himself again. Shen was sitting in the 'pouch' since it wouldn't be convenient for it to poke its head out. Zane took a few steps back before he turned around and stared at the ledge. Okay. 'Here I go.'
He broke into a run and he was jumping off the ledge. Wind whipped under his feet, and the robes fluttered elegantly in the wind as electricity spread through him as he triggered the second attribute of Wisteria.
Bright purple electricity bursted as the whip crackled to life, fused with his mana. Some of the monster's attention snapped up to him and they let out loud roars.
[Electricity-based ether is surrounding you!]
Zane snapped Wisteria mid-air just before he reached the ground, diffusing his landing and spreading a wave of electricity before his feet touched the ground. And as expected, it caused the lowest-grade monsters to die and the lower grades to be displaced. The others merely growled at him and emitted hostility.
Zane unsheathed Ember and the sword seemed to be fusing with his mana as the patterns on it glowed red.
[The sword, Ember, is responding to your mana!]
Zane used his sword to kill the incoming beasts, watching in surprise as the mana that was emitted through Ember was burning the creatures. With his agility increased, he could evade the creatures and manage to attack them in vulnerable areas. As he had presumed, the creatures began dropping dead one by one.
[
[
Zane couldn't afford to throw Ember and control it, but he was sure there should be some attribute that would allow him to do so by controlling the sword without wielding it. But for the moment, it seemed as if there was nothing to do than fight.
[The
Zane used Wisteria to pull it by its foot and managed to stab Ember into the wolf's chest and quickly grabbed the other end of Wisteria to defend himself. "Shit," he cursed.
[You've triggered Wisteria's 1st attribute!]
He simultaneously grabbed Ember and managed to cut off the head of a lizard-like beast. As he continued slaying them, he quickly checked the time remaining.
[Time remaining: 54:20]
"Rhian!" he shouted. "Whatever you're doing, it better be now."
Rhian sighed as he stood up from where he sat watching. He walked over to where Zane had stood and exhaled through his nose as he ran ahead and jumped off the ledge.
'He cleared more than a fifth,' Rhian thought to himself as he cut a few strands of his hair.
[
[Time limit for skill: 4 minutes]
[
The blue aura swept around Executioner and extended to him as his body accelerated through the pack of magical beasts. He was killing most of them. He glanced back to see that Zane stood in the field defending himself as he was thrown back by one of the bigger monsters.
"Its weakness is its neck!" Rhian shouted, and he averted his eyes to see another Cursed Lycaon make its way towards him, hurtling an ax.
Rhian managed to ram Executioner into its chest, causing the Lycaon to let out a loud cry as it fell to the ground. Ever since he upgraded his stats it became easier to fight these beasts.
"Rhian!" Zane shouted. "Duck!"
Rhian ducked as he worked on pulling Executioner out of the wolf's chest. Just as he did, a heavy weight fell beside him. Upon glancing, it was an orc.
[Orcs] were magical creatures that usually lived in packs, and depending on their position in their pack, their status increased or decreased. They were pretty challenging because of their large physiques that could crush a person.
Zane knew he shouldn't have thrown the Dao, because it was highly unlikely that he would get that sword back. Regardless, he used Ember to kill one of the ghouls. "How many more should suffice?" he asked.
"A few more," Rhian replied.
It didn't take long once they'd killed all the grade D monsters and then had moved on to the lower grades. Zane sucked in a breath and cracked his neck as he could hear small sounds in his ear. Probably the species that he was being given for killing the magical beasts.
It didn't take a minute longer for them to be done with killing all the monsters, and Zane could notice the blue aura surrounding Rhian die down.
"Are you alright?" Zane asked, glancing at Rhian.
Rhian nodded, then averted his eyes to the spire. "So the Fenghuang is here."
"Yes, it is." Zane murmured, glancing at the spire. The door to it had been pushed ajar since Rhian had whammed a Cursed Lycaon at it. Zane took a deep. "How much more time will it take for you to be able to use your skill again?"
"Roughly ten minutes," Rhian said, "That is after I've paid repercussions to reduce the time taken."
'Well… damn,' Zane thought. "Shen?" he asked.
Rhian shot him a confused look but the pouch at Zane's waist wiggled a little before the white ears of the bunny peeked out. "Are there any things we should keep in mind?"
[No, there are none] Shen said, wriggling itself as it tried pushing itself out of the pouch. Zane simply grabbed it by its sides and pulled it out, placing the bunny on the ground. [However, the presence of the Fuzanglong is much stronger than that of the Fenghuang, so while the system has its constraints in place, you must act.]
"I see," Zane murmured, glancing at the door. Even the veiled trial only asked for them to kill 'one' of the monsters. Most of the temples had a few monsters, which were beings or spirits that had transcended to such powers that the temple repercussions had put them under a state of dormancy.
Mostly, only one monster was required to keep the Temple's repercussions intact. However, sometimes it happened that more than one monster reached that state of transcendence. It was said that their consciousness was shifted to another place while their bodies lay dormant here.
It was confusing to explain it to someone who had never been part of the system, but needless to say, it was like an eternal punishment for those who went against the system's orders. For example, using the system as an excuse for massacre. Was it fair? Absolutely not. The Temples used their souls as a channeling medium to prevent the space fold from collapsing on itself.
"Hold the heck up," Rhian said, and Zane glanced at him, tilting his head.
"What?" he asked.
Rhian pointed at the bunny by Zane's foot, who seemed to be copying Zane's head tilt. "Can you talk to it?"
"Well, yes," Zane said. "I wouldn't be talking to myself or you currently."
"Does that mean you're mentally sane?"
"Why are you even asking?"
"You're talking to an animal! And acting as if it's no big deal, that's why? It's not normal… per se. I thought I was putting up with... nevermind." Rhian reasoned. "Do you have a skill?"
'Should I toy with him a little?' Zane thought to himself before he quickly shook his head and decided he couldn't waste time. "Yeah, I have a skill."
"Oh," Rhian mumbled. "What is the bunny saying?"
[Shen does not like this human]
"That the bunny finds you irresistible," Zane said, rolling his eyes when he noticed Rhian crouch down and try to pet it.
[Shen is repulsed by Zane's actions] the bunny hid behind Zane's foot and away from Rhian's touch. [Get this human away from Shen!]
Zane couldn't help but relent, since the bunny was simply too cute. "Fine," he mumbled, reaching down and picking Shen up into his arms.
[
"Wait," Rhian paused. "Zane, you know that the bunny could be the spirit of an ancient man, right?"
Zane blinked and then glanced at Shen. "I doubt."
[Shen is thankful that Zane didn't fall to the whims of this odd human]
"Suit yourself," Rhian murmured. "Could be some creepy pervert as well, you'd never know, would you?"
Now, that was disturbing, but the bunny didn't seem to have done anything out of the ordinary for the time being. "How much time is remaining for your skill cooldown?"
"Six and a half minutes," Rhian said. "By the way, do you know the interior of these?"
"I have some knowledge, but I don't know if it's accurate," Zane murmured.
Rhian stared at him before he ran a hand down his face. "Are you into getting into such messes?" he asked.
It wasn't that Zane didn't know anything, it was just that he wasn't particularly confident with his knowledge in this case. "Do you think I'd tell you if I were?"
Rhian stared at him in bewilderment before eventually shaking it off. "Did you know that in scriptures, the Fenghuang and Fuzanglong were often depicted as being seen together? This was because of the assumption that they were mates. Thus, they both are the symbolic guardians of the Temple, often referred to as the Temple's Monsters."
[This human is not lying to Zane]
"Does that mean that killing one will result in instability?"
"Technically, no. But some sort of instability is expected," Rhian said, gripping and letting go of Executioner's hilt as he thought. "If you know about the Temple's basic ideology, you'll also know that only one 'monster' is required to keep it stable. The interior is designed in a simple way to make sure the symbolic bodies of the monsters are kept in adjacent rooms under mana binding. However… Why do you intend to kill the Fenghuang?"
[Some
"How much time is left for you to use your skills?"
"Three minutes."
Zane wondered if he should just tell Rhian what he wanted out of this. However, he stopped himself. "There are various stages to get the 'genesis' S-ranking swords. Out of which is the accumulation of spirit-based energy."
"I'm not sure—"
"The Circe is a sword that lies on the midpoint of light and demonic energy. Thus, to get it, you need to be able to have some accumulation of spirit-based energy, as the spirits are those who are cursed and still have somewhat consciousness," Zane explained. "The Fenghuang is a being that has lived many lifetimes, it must've accumulated a multitude of experiences which makes it at a similar point where it is, like the Circe, at a midpoint."
"No," Rhian mumbled.
"No?" Zane paused. Did Rhian know that he had half told the truth? 'The Circe wasn't... on the midpoint, you see, it was a rumor. The Circe was a purely luxus based sword that worked on pure ether and completely diminished the use of any skill that came down from an 'evil' genesis. Which meant Rhian wouldn't be able to use 'Hymn of the Cursed Apostle'.'
"You won't do anything for free, bastard. What are you getting out of this?" Rhian asked. "Might as well tell me since you've dragged us into this veiled trial."
"I'll tell you once I acquire it," Zane replied, internally sighing. "How much time?"
"In a minute, we can head in." Rhian unsheathed Executioner as he walked towards the door. "Also, no funny business, remember that no one can leave without the number of people they came in with."
Zane nodded and felt Shen squeeze itself back into his pouch. After Rhian's look of prompt, he held Ember out in front of him and pushed the door open.
[You've entered the 31st Temple's spire!]
[Warning: this area is dangerous]
As they entered the spire, the light seemed further dimmed. "Shen?" Zane whispered.
[Zane is going the right way]
Rhian's palm lit up as he held it up, which was probably a way in which one could use their mana to illuminate the way. As the light fell on their surroundings, Zane could make out various images that were carved into the walls.
[Zane must use the room in the West facing direction]
Nothing odd seemed to happen as they climbed up the stairs and were forced to stand at the midpoint of two narrow passageways. "The West."
Rhisn nodded and took a step towards the passageway to the west side. And after climbing another flight of circular stairs, there finally came a room. However, it was missing a key.
Zane tried pushing the door open, but it seemed as though it were made of the strongest metal. A small hologram hovered.
[Insert the key and proceed to the challenge]
'Where was the key? Had I forgotten?' Zane paused to think, but as he stared ahead, he noticed that Rhian was reaching into his pouch and was taking out something. Upon further inspection, it was an obsidian key.
"Where did you get that?" Zane asked.
"Byproduct of me killing some creature," Rhian mumbled. "Don't get too happy, I don't know if it fits."
[
It did. Zane heard the telltale click of a lock turning. They watched as the door opened and the key dissipated into thin air.
[You have now entered the challenge!]
[The Fenghuang is being rid of its repercussions!]
[Challenge participants: Zephyr Mor, Rhian Amren]
[Time to clear the challenge: 30 minutes]