I took a deep breath as the energy in the burrow flowed into me. Three days passed in the blink of an eye. It was so quick that I seriously considered staying for another week but that wouldn't do. I couldn't be sure that the rest of trial goers wouldn't have completed the task already.

  I took another breath and stopped the flow of energy. The energy slowed in my channels and I let out an annoyed sigh. I opened all three eyes and took in the world around us. It was drab. The earthy and sanguine colors had become annoying. Every time I took a break from energy gathering it was all I could see. That wasn't enough to ruin the joy in my heart. I looked at the ground nearly five feet below me and laughed. I could float!

  Lowing myself to the ground still took a serious act of will but I counted it as a win. I carefully lowered myself to the ground and stretched. My body was a bit stiff but that was the worse of the bad changes. The good changes were great. My psychokinetic control was much better. I could easily lift up to fifteen or so pounds. If I focused I could hit one hundred.

  "Yo big dog. You ready to head out?" I glanced over at Xerxes who had definitely grown. He was now closer to a wolf than a dog. He had lost some of the childlike innocents in his eyes as well. It turned out the natural treasures were designed for beast bloodlines. The ones he could absorb on short notice provided decent benefits so I was excited to see what the big ones would do.

  "I am ready!" He then tossed his head back and unleashed a roar that made the ground tremble. His aura exploded and it felt like we were in the middle of a savage jungle. A place where only the strongest predators could reside.

  "Well looks like I wasn't the only person who was tired of this place. Come on lets go and see what people have been up to."

  I stepped up to the wall of rock and dirt a ball of compressed space slowly expanded until to the size of a car door. I launched it forward. In the next instant a massive chunk of the wall ceased to exist. I still didn't get how this Tao worked. Thanks to the Eye of Heaven I had some theories. None of which were helpful now. We stepped out into the forest and were hit with a wall of stench.

  "Next time we explore a world it needs to be a beach or a spa."

  Xerxes snorted which made me roll my eyes. "Alright, if I remember right we need to head right. Keep your senses ready. I imagine people should be looking for us now."

  I expanded my spiritual sense to about five hundred feet around us but that was nothing compared to Xerxes' senses. We still hadn't figured out just how far away his nose was food for. We jogged for less than twenty minutes before a creature that looked like six winged hornet shot toward us. I warned Xerxes but it wasn't necessary. The poor bug shot out like an arrow only for the Qilin to catch it by its stinger and slam into the ground. I had barely stopped moving when he ripped the bug's head off.

  "Shitty hunt."

  I laughed. "Do you want to keep the corpse? Not sure if ugly hornet corpse is worth eating but who knows."

  He looked at it for a moment and then shook his head. "Poor hunt. Nasty meat."

  I shrugged and gestured toward the forest. We settled into a pace that rivaled nascar drivers until my treasure sense started to act up. It wasn't as strong as the lotus back on earth but no reason to ignore a potentially good thing. We diverted course and ran until we encountered a clearing. We stopped at the mouth and stared. The clearing had a massive hole in the center that led into an underground chamber.

  There were six people in the hole five of them stood over the sixth. The five were the uniforms of one of the three princes while the sixth was the dwarf from earlier. I grinned when it hit me. I had found the first got damn prince.

  "All you had to do was give the crown prince some face and you could have avoided this. You can't blame us for what happened." A slender guard with a scar across his right face spoke up. His voice grated on my nerves. I checked their energy levels with my eye and grinned. The guards were a bit stronger than Tamais but the man. The prince was on a whole different tier. It was like his power was pushing at a threshold.

  It took another second for it to click. He was at the threshold of the realm. As much as I wanted to fight him I wasn't confident I could win. Nor was I confident Xerxes could hold back the five guards. Lastly if their royalty worked together than they should already know about my abilities. That being said there was no way I was going to let them kill the dwarf. I looked at Xerxes who readied himself just in case.

  We retreated to the maximum distance we could for the *Eye of Heaven.* I triggered Apportation. I felt the portal open deep in the cavern and then a shocked dwarf shot through it. The portal remained open long enough for me to look eyes with the Prince. He was different than the other two. Staring at him felt like looking at a honed blade. A blade that cut through the world if it stood between him and his goal.

  I glanced at the sword on his hip. I fought back the urge to wince when I realized it was a relic. Not only was it a relic but it was on a different tier than what Aaliyah and the others used. A scream of danger was my only warning when something shot through the portal and at my throat. I expanded my Tao field just before the attack hit but it was like holding back a runaway train with my bare hands.

  I forced the portal shut just as the Prince's guards rushed for us. I couldn't spare them anymore of my attention as whatever the prince did continued. It was an attack made from his Tao only it was more dense than anything I had managed. I quickly formed a barrier with the Tao of Adamance. Seconds felt like hours as I slowly ground it down.

  "Got damn." I gasped as the blade at my throat was extinguished. I immediately opened another portal and took the three of five miles away. When we stepped out of the portal we were in a different section of the blood forest and I briefly considered another jump. When we saw no signs of the prince or his people I decided to rest.

  "Thank you. I didn't think we would meet up again so soon." Sikheth replied. "You have my eternal thanks for saving my life back there. I don't think ole Sikheth would have gotten out of that on my own."

  "Why didn't you just give up the treasure? No offense but you don't seem like the type that could win in a five on one situation."

  He awkwardly rubbed his beard for a moment as if deep in thought and then he laughed. "I got a bit greedy. That treasure was a piece of bloodmoon ore. Its really hard to find since it requires but blood attuned energy and lunar attuned energy."

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I shrugged and took a seat against a tree. "Still you have to be alive for that kind of thing."

  "Yeah of course you have to be willing to go after what you want. It was just my luck that I was attacked by an elite. You haven't told me why you would stick your neck out for someone you barely knew?"

  I grinned. "It seemed like the right thing to do and I have already gotten two of trio upset so why not bother all three?"

  Sikheth stared at me like I had grown a second head. "What kind of reason is that?"

  I laughed and shrugged. "Its kind of fun. I haven't killed any of them so I don't think its too big a deal. Besides we are all her competing. Speaking of which how many tokens have you gathered?"

  "Two, well four total but two of them are copies. I don't think I am going to participate in the final part of the trial. I'll let the monsters work that out."

  I raised an eyebrow at that. "Which ones do you have? If you aren't interested maybe we can make a trade?"

  He pulled out all four of his tokens and I already had both. It wasn't all bad he did have a few treasures that Xerxes wanted. We managed to exchange a handful of things. I even got a couple of attribute fruits out of it. None of them were luck based so that was slightly disappointing.

  "Question if a person wanted to join a sect how would they do it?"

  "Well the most common way is to be invited. Most outer members can't invite people which makes it trickier. If you can reach one of the sect's recruitment centers you could join that way. Lastly there are recruitment events throughout the multiverse. From what I heard if you perform well enough you can receive multiple invites at once."

  "Do you know of any events or where I can get a token to those events?"

  He shook his head. "Uh not really I joined my sect when I was child so I don't know much about it."

  "Alright, well thanks for the info. Once I get out of here I will have to see if there is anything near my world. I don't think the prince is searching for us. So we should get going. Stay safe." I gestured to Xerxes to follow.

  "Good luck. Happy hunting." He called out as we disappeared into the forest.

  I took us back in the direction of the cavern. I was pretty sure the prince would have left already and I was tired of this area. I wasn't sure if a swamp would be better but I was willing to give it a chance. We arrived at the cavern about an hour later and found it empty. I expanded my soul sense and scanned with the eye just to be sure.

  "Should we explore underground or just get out of here?"

  "Leave, it smells horrible."

  I chuckled and took a moment to check with my senses. I half hoped that my treasure sense would reveal something left behind but there was nothing. "Fuck it, let's get on out."

  We turned and continued running. We reached the outskirts of the forest a while later. The swamp section was no more inviting than the forest. It had a passive stench of death that was different than the blood forest but no less disgusting. I removed a strip of cloth from my ring and used my psychokinesis to keep it on my face.

  "I took a moment to check if there were any treasures around. When nothing happened I shrugged and we continued forward. We hadn't made it deep into the swamp when a creature shot up out of the water. Its sudden appearance stunned me. The creature was like a six legged crocodile with two mouths and four eyes. I threw myself to the side just in time to avoid the beast taking my right arm.

  I landed on a overturned tree and spun around. Before I could unleash an attack the beast was gone. Xerxes landed behind me a second later but he was just as confused as I was. I expanded my soul sense to search everything around us but it was like the creature had seized to exist. Even the Eye of Heaven made no difference. I expanded my Tao field to cover both of us and waited for another attack.

  "Do you smell anything? Or see anything?" I asked while the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

  "Nothing. Everything smells like death."

  I bit back a swear and took a deep breath. I had no idea how a creature had got past both my spiritual sense, the *Eye of Heaven* and my danger sense. It was clearly an ambush hunter that could either hide its scent and energy or knew how to hide within the swamp. The passive energy in the air further confused my senses. Just as I was debating next step the water to my right moved. It was a slight movement that I couldn't be completely sure I hadn't imagined. Xerxes and I leaped to the side. Just a the beast shot out at us.

  Three invisible blades of mental energy shot toward it along with a burst of fire from Xerxes. All four attacks slammed into the beast and it let out a roar of pain. The beast slammed into the ground but before we could follow up it turned and divided into the murky water. I cocked my head to the side and conjured a halo of blades.

  "Next time it comes up try and tackle it. It doesn't seem very strong in a straight up battle."

  I scanned the water but their were no signs of the monster. I circulated the Tao of Adamance to help keep my calm. The waiting was worse than the fight. I couldn't help but feel like something was breathing down my neck. It felt like an eternity before something happened. This time it leaped out of the water and unleashed a black fog from its mouth. Xerxes was about to rush at when I sent a warning down our link. I activated *Psychic Aegis* in its wall form.

  The black fog pushed against the barrier and my skin crawled. It was like the beast had spit pure rot at us. This time it didn't duck back into the water. It ran forward and slammed into the shield wall. I was about to launch my blades when something strange happened with the creature. The scales around its neck flared out like a frilled lizard and then my danger sense screamed. I ducked to the right just a beam of black rot smashed through the shield. The tree behind where I had been standing had rotted almost instantly.

  "What the fuck?" I turned my focus back to the beast just as it tore through the hole in my barrier. Xerxes ran forward to meet it and the two monsters crashed into each other with bone shattering force. I sent my invisible blades at the beast just before Xerxes howled in my mind. He retreated as a black sludge burned the sides of his mouth. So its a poison touch kind of monsters? I activated an imbued *Psionic Rain* it took less than a second for the spell to rain down on the beast.

  A second that it used to pursue Xerxes. The Qilin leaped backwards to avoid it before unleashing another blast of fire. The fire caught the lizard on the side of its head just before *Psionic Rain* hit. Our combined attack slammed into the creature but it wasn't enough. The reptile unleashed another blast of rot. This time aimed at me. I ducked below the attack and time slowed to a crawl as it narrowly missed me.

  The energy made my skin feel like it would melt off of my body. My eyes began to water as I activated another spell. A blast psionic energy shot toward the monster as it scurried to the water. Xerxes roared and leaped for the beast as I conjured and unleashed another six blades. The beast leaped for the water and was mere inches away when our combined attacks slammed into it.

  A surge of energy flowed into my dantian and I let out a breath. The creature didn't give as much energy as I would have thought. I assumed that meant Xerxes got the other half. "Well that was one hell of a welcoming party." I grinned at Xerxes as I rushed up. The black gunk was still on his face.

  "Hold still I am going to see what I can do." I placed a reassuring hand on his back. I then held my other hand in front of his mouth. I slowly formed a sphere of Compression around it and focused on the rotting tar. It felt like performing surgery while having no medical knowledge. I said a mental prayer to whatever was responsible for the guiding hand but nothing responded.

  I wasn't sure how long we stood there as the gunk slowly shrunk. It didn't so much as fall off Xerxes' face as it just wasn't there anymore. When I finished I held an orb the size of my palm. It was filled with the Tao of Rot and every part of me said I should throw it out. Yet I decided against it. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to go down the necromancer route but just in case that changed or someone else wanted to this might help them. I placed the disgusting thing in my ring.

  "Feeling better?" I asked and placed a healing pill in his mouth.

  "Thank you Amari."

  I scanned the area and was pretty sure that we were safe. Or at least safer. "Let's rest here for around half and hour before we set out. I want to make sure whatever attack that was didn't hurt you too bad. Or that it won't have any lasting effects."