When I woke up, I found Thea curled up on my chest. “She must have fallen asleep listening to my heart,” I whispered. “She looks wiped from mana deprivation.”

The nameless beast (the one I'll forever call That Fucking Beast, to shame it) stopped howling, creating a still atmosphere in the forest. It was a perfect environment, and I wanted to let Thea rest. Unfortunately, my internal body was raging out of control with the poison waging war with my soul mana.

“Thea, we need to get more soul mana in me…." I rubbed her cat ears. "Otherwise, I might die."

Soul mana heals, and that beast has loads of it. An influx should let it overpower the poison permanently.

“Ryker!” Thea cried, waking in a fury. She immediately hugged me and burst into tears, sobbing on my chest. I felt uncomfortable, and time was ticking down, but I was only alive because of her.

After finally coaxing her to help me hobble to That Fucking Beast, I closed my eyes and linked to it. Then, I churned my melded soul core to the maximum and opened my eyes. “Reap.”

A golden sea of pixie dust filled the sky, making the beasts in the forest yelp, holler, and howl as it entered my chest.

The effects were immediate. My eyes glowed bright gold, illuminating my nose, and my body burned as my muscles healed around my new bone structure.

It was painful, but it felt… intoxicating, like scratching an aggressive itch with enough force to make it bleed.

Thea’s trembling eyes calmed when she saw vitality return to my pale skin, and my locked-up body started moving again.

“Damn,” I chuckled. “We beat a guardian, but I almost got done in by the plants here.”

Thea giggled, but there wasn’t humor in her eyes. Just concern. A lot of it.

“Come on, get your fill,” I said. “This isn’t Rosaka—this is all ours, and we aren’t leaving here until we finish it.”

“That’s so like you….” Thea frowned. “Okay.”

After switching into panther form, she walked up That Fucking Beast’s spine and started ripping it out with her teeth, murmuring about how she hoped it would paralyze it in the afterlife.

It was endearing.

We couldn’t finish it all in one place, so I set to work on building the ward for the night. It started by procuring various mana cores I had mined or harvested from beasts (each with qualities like the Heartbeat Hibiscus) and setting them up in a particular network around the tent.

Then, I pulled out a steel rod with a crexus tip. The magical stone was famous for retaining magic for extended periods. Once I chanted a spell, it lit up with a dim light and triggered all the complementary mana cores, creating a persistent network of spells that retained their properties.

Wards were expensive unless you hunted beasts and mined—and I did both.

Also, I was filthy rich… so there was that.

Once I finished the ward, I stumbled into the tent and crashed onto our king-size bed, and my mind faded to blackness.

I woke in the middle of the night from a tight yet soft grip on my chest. Turning my head, I found Thea curled on me in a tight ball, hugging me tightly as if she was afraid to let go. ‘I wonder if she genuinely thought she might’ve lost me….’ I thought. ‘I’d probably feel the same in her shoes.’

Love. That was the word that came to mind.

Thea and I had been through hell and back together. She was there for me since we were young, and in nineteen years, she had never done anything that kept me up at night, reliving everything.

No matter how good I got at suppressing my memories, they were always lingering, like a scratch in the back of your throat or tinnitus ringing in your ears—never truly painful, but consistent and haunting, never allowing you to truly enjoy life.

You love me, Rema? You must’ve forgotten when you said you wanted me to avoid an old man—when you bluntly said that you wanted to use me. When you adamantly insisted that I join the Suitor’s Tournament to your father, which ensured that my surveillance became personal.

Is that what people who love each other do?

Sure, it’s what princesses do. But princesses don’t love—isn’t that what you always say? That you don’t have a choice? That it wasn’t personal? So then, Rema Redfield, how do you love me?

What? That was when you were seven? Hah. Surely you’ve forgotten when you were just last year when, and I quote….

And so it goes.

Is that fair? Absolutely not. Rema’s changed over the years, and her desire to be free—to be a teenager—has become ever more aggressive after joining me in Sundell and Goldenspire. It was natural. Hell, I couldn’t even blame her; she was doing the logical thing then and still being logical now. Still….

One negative trigger would make these thoughts flood back in.

But Thea….

Thea was always there, letting me knead her ears, make me smile, and dote on me. Since I was four, there hasn’t been a memory of her where I thought, wow, that was selfish… or rude, even. Sure, some things ticked me off over the years, but there wasn’t a single one where I could say, “Thea did this for her gain.” It was always (and I mean always) for my benefit. It was strange.

“What did I do to deserve someone so loyal?” I thought. “It feels unfair to you….”

Thea opened her groggy eyes, heavy and blurry, and looked at me. “Ryker?”

“I’m here,” I whispered.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I was just….”

“Just what?”

I stroked her ears and wrapped my hand over her shoulder. “Just thinking about how thankful I am you’re in my life. Thank you.”

Thea purred and gripped me tight. “I love you.”

I held her close to my chest. “I love you, too. We’ll always be together—forever.”

Unlike Rema, whose love was sketchy, after spending fifteen years with Thea, I could confidently say that. If I had to choose between Solstice and Thea, Solstice would burn.

With that thought, I quickly fell asleep.

***

That evening marked the beginning of four days of fending off scavengers as we absorbed all the soul mana. It gave me plenty of time to break down my muscles before healing them again, constantly molding them around my new body structure. Near the end, I used the omnipotent tool to look in the mirror. “Damn, I look like a jock,” I frowned. “I don’t know how to feel about that.”

Except, awesome! Good-looking people get away with some twisted shit, and now I was one of them. Satisfied with that, I moved on to the next part of my plan: mining.

I checked my status.

—

Requirements for the next stage:

- Unique minerals mined: (112/100)

- Minerals quantity [lbs] (493,283/5,000)

- Magical minerals mined: (63/100)

- Magical mineral quantity [lbs] (1,823/100)

- Unique magical crystals (773/1,000)

- Magical crystals accumulated (4,231/5,000)

- Unique magical creations (95/100)

- Gold accumulated (2,993,782,183/100,000)

- Become a political or military leader (2/1)

- Prevent a catastrophe (198/1)

- Lead and win group battle (201/1)

—

“Okay, we need magical minerals and crystals,” I said, putting my chin on my fist. “We should move toward Wantakora…. Is that okay with you?”

Thea’s ears perked up, and she turned to me. “You know I’m okay with it. But why there?”

I gave her a shit-eating grin. “I just want to know what Valiera is too afraid to mine.”

Wantakora is the wall separating Nightshade Forest and Valeria. Due to the proximity and the fact that it was a major barrier between them and death, the mountain range was illegal to mine in, lest they accidentally create a tunnel between them. However, there were mountains beyond the border that wouldn’t cause difficulties. Nevertheless, no one dared to move into Nightshade Forest just to check.

“I’m okay with that,” Thea giggled and gave me a sassy look. “Do you want to ride me there?” She froze and blushed super hard, making me smile.

“Sure,” I replied to ease the awkwardness. “I look forward to it.”

I turned, and a few minutes later, Thea was fifteen feet tall, majestic, and pure. Her form had an even more formidable aura, as she had eaten half of That Fucking Beast. Thea was now the queen of Nightshade Forest.

Mounting her, she ran from our campsite, about fifty miles from Elderthorn, all the way west toward the Wantakora Mountain Range, stopping every so often to chow on A-class beasts and rest up. It was a super nice vacation, free from the drama and responsibilities of Goldenspire and Sundell.

Three days in, we finally spotted a mountain range much different than the rest. While the mountains to the south were black and volcanic, and Wantakora was dark gray, these ones looked like rust, contrasting against the white mountains to the north. It was truly a strange sight.

“I’m not an expert, but I’m fairly certain those mountains are special,” I remarked.

Thea giggled in panther form, making a strange sort of melody. “I’d place money on it.”

“Shall we go?”

She grinned, “Let’s!” The teal panther shot ahead at 50 miles an hour, weaving between trees and bushes as if they weren’t there to begin with. For anyone else, it would’ve been a nightmare, but I felt like it was a rollercoaster ride—with less risk. Even if I smashed into one of the trees, I’d be fine.

For another two hours, we sped through the forest without a break until we entered the area, which looked even more incredible up close. The stones looked like they belonged in Utah, with towering spires that were wreathed in clouds. There was no vegetation whatsoever.

“Why do you think that there are no plants here?” Thea asked.

“There are two explanations I can think of,” I pondered aloud. “Either this area is highly toxic, or something inside this mountain is sucking the energy out of things. Mana crystals are known to do that.”

Mana crystals siphon energy like plants siphon water to their roots. If there’s a plant that has wide roots near the top, it can prevent all plants below from gaining water. As a result, they die. It’s the same concept, only it's uncertain where the water and nitrates were going, leading to more mysteries.

“Keep your eyes peeled.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Thea nodded and walked forward, weaving between rocks and jumping onto faces from time to time. It was super convenient that she could get bigger and smaller as needed, allowing us to traverse the imposing mountain range.

As we moved up, something strange happened.

“Do you feel like we’re being pulled toward something?” Thea asked, sniffing the air with her ears twitching.

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s like it’s calling out to us…. Still, I don’t sense any malicious intent… can you?”

She shook her head. “Not at all.”

“Okay, then leave your guard up.”

Thea nodded, and we continued until we entered a plateau. The second we stepped foot there, the entire atmosphere changed, creating a crushing pressure that felt like gravity had multiplied tenfold.

“What is this?” I growled. It wasn’t enough to slow us down. However, it was uncomfortable. That was a grim fact, as we were around the level of archwizards. If a regular human tried to do this, they would get flattened.

“I don’t know, but it’s strange, don’t you think?” Thea asked. “This isn’t soul pressure. There’s something else.”

“It’s a ward….” I muttered. “There are magical stones all around us. But why… A hermit?”

The only explanation was that a hermit mage had made the area their home. Still, it seemed strange. I looked into the cave’s entrance and didn’t sense any life in the area.

Realizing I wouldn’t get answers, I looked for the ward’s catalyst by jumping off Thea and moving to the plateau's center. When I got there, I was in for a surprise. Written in the ground was a message in carved letters, preserved by a magical spell:

Trial of Strength: Those who pass through this archway must do so by virtue of their own strength and without interference.

I smiled bitterly. “Well, so much for dismantling the ward. Assuming I could.”

“What does it say?” Thea asked, walking up.

“It’s a trial; whoever lived here left behind a legacy, a trap, or both—and they were damn good, too. Anyone who can set up such intricate conditions for a ward must be.”

“Do you want to go?”

I turned to her frowning face and then to the entrance. “This is obviously for people who are strong enough to survive Nightshade Forest and still be questioned for their strength. So yes.”

Thea bit her panther lip, and I gave her a half-sheepish smile. “No chance you’ll stay out here and wait?” I mused.

She turned to me with a vicious frown. “Not on your life.”

“Thought so,” I chuckled, walking toward the entrance. “At least let me lead the way.”

As we walked into the mouth of the cave, stones lit up, creating even stronger pressure.

Uncomfortable? Yes.

Untenable? No.

So we continued until the fourth ward flickered into life, and everything changed.

“Mana extraction….” I muttered, turning to Thea, whose ethereal body was melting off. It was made and run from mana, not a natural frame of being, so it was drained away quickly. “Here, take this,” I said, throwing her a robe. She immediately caught it and covered up.

“What was that?” she frowned.

“A mana deprivation ward. Apparently, ‘strength’ means physical, not relying upon magic whatsoever.”

“How annoying,” she growled, throwing on more clothing underneath the robe. I nodded and continued forward, moving through the halls.

It only intensified as we journeyed through the cavern, lit by various stones. “I’m stealing all of you on the way out. I’ll at least hit my quota.”

While I was being serious, it couldn’t be that easy. My muscles were strained already, and moving was limited. If we got attacked right now, it would cause a severe problem. More importantly, it would be far worse if anything could attack us under this pressure. Everything about our situation screamed danger, but the thought that an ancient mage had set up a trial of this scale—using these types of magical stones and crystals—was proof whatever reward awaited us could be worth more than any amount of training in Elderthorn. So we trudged on.

After thirty minutes of crushing pressure that got increasingly intense, we came to a T in the wall with a large sign on it. The moment we stood before it, all the pressure magically disappeared, the stones lighting the way blacked out, and new stones activated down two hallways.

In front of us was a simple set of instructions.

Trial of Confidence: One of these three hallways leads you to the subsequent trial, and the other leads to ruin. If you retreat from this trial, there is no ability to return. Choose wisely.

Thea swallowed and looked around. “Where’s the third hallway?”

I pointed backward with my thumb. “Retreat.”

“Oh….”

My lips pursed into a straight line. “This trial is simulating real life. There are two choices with high stakes with unclear outcomes, and an option to retreat. Moving forward is dangerous, as we’d be chasing an unknown reward with a 50% chance of death. Those are some terrible odds.”

Thea sucked her teeth. “The worst…. I’ll follow you, no matter what you do.”

I frowned, feeling the weight of having Thea here. If it were just me…. I’m not sure. These were some terrible odds.

“If this were a real-life decision, there must be concrete payoffs!” I yelled through the cave, causing my voice to echo. “No one would make a life or death decision without knowing the potential rewards.”

After a few moments of silence, an array lit up under our feet, illuminating in orange light. With it came Sylandish calligraphy with the words:

True power.

The message carved a frown into my face.

“Can we trust it?” Thea asked.

"Of course not. But do we have a choice? How many guardians do we have left before harvesting stops supplying us with strength?" I turned to her. "Our only option for strength now is to harvest soul mana from archwizards—and I’m not sure that will be enough."

At this point, A-class mana meat barely tickles my soul core. Now that I’ve healed my body, I’ll finish my Rorsaka meat, and hunting beasts will be pointless. Then what? I’m not confident I could fight Edikus, let alone face a calamity. Right now, our only opportunity to face these challenges is through new skills, magic, or ancient secrets. That’s what this trial might have.

"I want to go," I declared. "And I’d rather you stay."

"Not happening," Thea frowned, crossing her arms.

I sighed. "I said it was an ideal. Since that’s the case, what do you want to do? If you don’t want to go, I’ll stay behind with you. These odds are bad, and I don’t want to lead you to your grave."

Thea made eye contact. "As I said, I’ll follow you wherever you go."

I frowned but nodded. "Then let’s go right."

She looked in the right tunnel. "Why right?"

"If you want a guaranteed solution to a labyrinth, put your right hand on the right wall and don’t lift it," I smiled. "Well… unless it has spikes or lava. Don’t be an idiot."

Thea giggled and walked down the hall before me. "Well, we should get started then."

She put her hand on the wall.

I stepped in front of her and put my hand on hers. "Then let’s go."

Thea smiled, and we began walking.

And kept walking.

And kept walking.

And kept walking.

And kept walking.

And kept walking.

The passage followed a simple pattern of orange glowstones in even lines without variation. I wanted to find variations in the wall to cross-check to see if we were in a loop, but the walls became a smooth, uniform sandstone, and the floors became even early on. As a result, we kept walking and walking and walking without any indication of there being an end in sight.

"Are you sure that we’re not in an illusion spell?" Thea asked after an hour of walking.

“There’s no magical presence….”

Aside from the glowstones, that is. Beyond that, there wasn’t any magic I could feel. I was certain of it… right?

"This is probably why it’s called the Trial of Confidence. We must be resolute in our ability to perceive magical presence, to keep walking despite the road being bleak, and blah, blah, metaphors, and some other bullshit. Don’t you think that we’ve already experienced this shit?"

Thea smiled wryly, watching me speak to the ceiling, lashing out at it. It was obvious that I was frustrated, and I knew I should reign it in. Still, it was annoying me.

"Doesn’t this need to end at some point?" she asked. "Mountains are only so far."

It was my turn to smile wryly. "There’s a slight curve and downslope. We’re going in a massive circle down underground."

Her eyes widened. "That means that the chances of escape…."

"Are little to none," I smiled. "Makes you question, doesn’t it? What if the other hallway slightly sloped up or went across."

“There can’t be two hallways that go down, right? Not at this gradient, right?"

I shook my head. "If it was sharper, it could have an inner circle while we’re on the outer circle. So it could go down as well. Or it could go up? Through? Stop? Go to a massive spike pit? We don’t know."

Thea smiled bitterly. "So we can retreat or just have confidence?"

"Exactly." I frowned and looked ahead. "So I’ll choose to have confidence.”

And so we walked and walked, and walked through hell like Orpheus traveling out of the underworld without the ability to look back, lest his wife Eurydice die forever.

I’m not Orpheus. And I already had someone important standing beside me, so we cracked jokes and sassed the halls and walked endlessly down that road—

—for fourteen hours straight.

"I don’t suppose we can be confident in our desire to turn back, right?" Thea asked, her eyes drooping.

I smiled. "I don’t think so. Let’s set up camp so we can continue with our mental health intact."

She smiled weakly and reached into her bag. However, as she pulled out a tent, a strange wind flew through the hallway that was unmistakable. It made the hair on our arms stand up and her tail bristle.

It wasn’t an evil force—it felt healing.

"We’ve made it this far," I said.

Thea nodded. "Let's go."

We continued walking, and walking, and walking until we started doubting our ability to feel magic.

‘Doing this alone would’ve been impossible,’ I thought. If Thea didn’t also feel it, I would’ve doubted it. Still, I pressed on for another two hours until there was a distinctive end to the lights in the distance, followed by green stones.

Thea and I exchanged excited glances. "We made it!" she said, pulling out a massive sword.

"We did!" I grinned, pulling out my Mythril blade.

Fuck this trial.

As we approached, the area developed a cool breeze, and the cave’s walls moved, a sign of water reflecting off the surfaces.

That’s exactly what it was. There was a full underground lake, lit by stones underneath the clear water that smelled like the purest water I had ever smelled.

A blue array lit up near the water, and instructions in blue letters wrote themselves on the ground.

Trial of Self-Control: Spend six hours in the water. No more, no less. You must get in within 30 minutes of entering this room. Outside interference is prohibited.

An icy chill crawled down my spine. "This is going to be brutal…." I looked down at my legs, which burned from nonstop walking, and felt my tired eyes drooping.

"So it’s going to make us want to sleep?" Thea frowned.

“I have a feeling that it’ll be worse than that.” I stripped off my clothing and put one foot in the water. Once I did, my entire body felt like it was getting pulled into a black hole of healing, pleasure, and relaxation. "Yeah. We’re fucked."

Thea’s eyes sharpened with resolve, and she stripped down to her underwear. "I won’t let you spend more time in there than necessary."

I turned to her with a weak smile. “Put a foot in here.”

She frowned at the implication that she couldn’t protect me but didn’t look down on my judgment either. So she stepped forward and dipped a foot in the water. The instant it happened, the fur on her straight tail bristled and warlike, dropped like dominoes. Then it snaked down to the floor as her eyes became weary.

"This is going to be a problem…." She swallowed.

"Yeah." I sighed. "Well… we have no choice. So let’s—" I slowly put my left leg into the water—and promptly fell face-first as an overwhelming sensation overtook me. It only got more aggressive with my whole body in the water. Without a better explanation, it was like every inch of my body was simultaneously in the maximum amount of gentle pleasure it could experience.

Thea screamed my name, and I heard a splash, but I couldn’t really care. I couldn’t even breathe, and that didn’t bother me one bit. Without the mammalian dive reflex humans are born with triggering my nasal and laryngeals to close off, I’d probably have lungs full of water. But that felt irrelevant.

I just wanted to sleep.

And let the healing feeling building my muscles take over…. It wouldn’t be bad to die like this. So I just relaxed, soaking for an unknown period, enjoying every second of the warm feeling. No, dying like this wasn’t bad at all.

Wait, there was a splash. Once that thought hit me, it made me realize that—while I didn’t have any problem dying—I did mind if Thea did!

My fight-or-flight response triggered, and adrenaline hit my veins like gasoline in an engine, driving me to look around in the ambient turquoise water. When I saw Thea sinking, I forced my jello-like arms to swim toward her.

Unlike me, she hadn’t snapped out of it and was just floating into the abyss. ‘That’s right!’ I thought. ‘She ran all day before getting to this damn cave!’ I internally exclaimed. ‘She’s been hiding that she’s twice as tired as me!’

It was a horrifying revelation. If this trial broke down your muscles and made you walk for fourteen hours before getting here to make the trial difficult, what would it be like for someone who was worn out before showing up? This trial was dangerous.

Adrenaline alone fueled me as I got her in my arms and slowly pulled her to the surface, fighting my desire to just give in to the temptation to relax again. Thankfully, I got to the surface and took a big breath.

"Thea!" I coughed out water when we got to the top.

Unresponsive.

I looked at her dripping face, in a comatose state, with a horrified gaze. "Thea! Wake up!"

Nothing.

I put my ear onto her chest—not beating.

My mind went into overdrive, and I immediately acted, opening Thea’s mouth and breathing air into it. Then, wrapping my left hand around her back, I pumped her chest in an awkward form of CPR.

Minimal results.

Thea’s body was sturdy and resistant to force as is, and the water had drained most of my strength, leaving me weak.

"I refuse to accept this!" I yelled, using a full palm strike underwater to hit her in the chest. With my weakened condition, the pressure was only a fraction of what it would’ve been, but it still caused a massive splash in the water and Thea’s chest to cave in, making me panic. "Did I just kill her?!" I panicked.

However, something remarkable (or perhaps even expected) happened. In only a few seconds, the water mended Thea’s shattered ribs and caved in her chest—and her damaged heart with it. She coughed out water, leading to a sickly coughing fit that left me trembling.

“Thea….” I whispered.

She turned to me with wide eyes, sheepish and apologetic. "I-I’m sorry. I told you that I would protect you, and then—"

I interrupted her words with a bear hug that would be oppressive if I had my full strength. "I’m so glad you’re alive…."

Thea burst into tears and held me back.

That’s how the Trial of Self-Control began—and it only got slightly better from there.

That is to say, better than death.

Staying awake was a serious problem. There was no "let’s take turns sleeping," because we were worried that sleep might lead to a legitimate coma. Moreover, even if it didn’t land us in a coma, not speaking to each other would all but guarantee we’d both fall asleep.

I couldn’t imagine doing this trial alone.

On the bright side (if there was such a thing this close to death), the water was extraordinarily healing. I thought my muscles had reset and wrapped around my new bone structure—but I was wrong. Perhaps 75% percent had readjusted, but the rest was firmly rooted and might have taken years to fully reset naturally. I know because the healing water pierced my muscles, helped them snake around my bones, and even grew muscle to compensate for the deficiency. It felt like I had a brand-new body.

If that weren’t enough, the water expelled a putrid-smelling gunk through our pores, which left us glowing and pure. It left us baffled, as we thought that soul mana would have cleared out all impurities from our body—especially the amount we had. But then again, we were wrong.

Both of these things made our bodies even more relaxed, making it easy to stop kicking our feet in the water and just float, which was dangerous. Still, we were nearing our limits until something remarkable started happening.

"This feeling…. Are you feeling this too, Ryker?" Thea asked, looking at her hands.

“I’m not. What’s it like?” I asked.

“It’s like… I can feel my spirit network….”

I blinked twice in amazement. Every mage has spirit conduits, which help circulate mana to different parts of our bodies for spells. However, it wasn’t something you felt unless you were actively circulating mana through your body, much like an engine doesn’t rev if you’re not adding fuel to it.

"That’s strange, are you sure that…." My eyes widened when I felt it, too—my spirit network lit up, allowing me to feel the mana flowing through my body at all times. It was an extraordinary feeling as if I was now connected to the world itself. With this, I was certain I could have exponentially more control wielding magic! "This water…. Perhaps this was the treasure all along…."

And if it wasn’t, there was something even more remarkable in-store—assuming, of course, we made it to the next trial. We still had two more hellish hours to survive.

Still, this water proved that this labyrinth could give us True Power, and that’s what we needed if we wanted to face the other reincarnators in Antigua.