The day of relaxation came and went by far too quickly. The hot tub was beyond comfortable especially with the simple array. It allowed for fine heat control that was like heaven. I was pretty sure that this kind of area would helpful for cultivation as well. If I replaced the water with something more helpful. The spiritual water for example. All that was a problem for another day though.

Xerxes and I waited in the boardroom to go over the final preparations. The token I earned so long ago was on the table. We hadn't learned more about the token or rather where it would send me which was by design. The System would send me to any random Inheritance trial for my realm. I considered not going briefly since I had no way of knowing how strong people would be. If they were at my level there were no worries if they were people who were at the peak of the realm for years though?

Either way I decided to do it. I wasn't a bitch and there was no way I would run from something because it might be scary. There were some things that made me feel better about it. Outside of my own ego. The System was unlikely to waste the energy to pull people from all the universes and dimensions. It was more likely that the trial would include people on the frontier. Meaning it was unlikely I would have to fight the descendant of some ancient monster.

The biggest question on my mind was what would happen with Xerxes. The status screen was clear that he was my companion. Which should mean he would come with me. Both Desbera and Azariah were confident that would be the case. The only hesitation was if the System would count him since I didn't have him before I got the token. We had discussed the issue at length before we decided that there was nothing to do. Nothing to do but break the token.

I looked up as the various members of my council poured in. Each member took their seat and each with a slightly different look on their faces. Some like Christopher and Keshaun felt it was too risky for me to go. As I had effectively become the city's nuclear deterrent. Azariah, Desbera and Xerxes took the opposite position though for different reasons. Azariah and Desbera knew that the multiverse was anything but safe and kind. Which meant I needed to keep going. If the System provided a path forward I had to take it or else the System would leave me behind. If that happened than we might as well be dead.

"My objection to this plan has been noted but I must insist. We still haven't come up with a proper plan for the non-cultivators." Keshaun began but the look on his face made it clear. He knew his words weren't going to change anything.

"The Young Master must prove himself to the System. He should be fine. From what I have seen he is more than capable." Azariah said with only a slight smile on her face. She chose to not mention the potential wealth to gain. Wealth from either other trial takers or whatever the reward would be.

I held up a hand to prevent the group from arguing over it again. We had gone over it already and I had made my choice. "I am not sure how long I will be gone. Aaliyah I am leaving the trips out of the city to you. Use your judgement on what threats to face. Retreat back to the city and activate the arrays if danger comes." I turned and locked eyes with Christopher. "Use whatever modern or I guess old world weapons you need if it gets really bad. Levels aren't as important as survival."

He nodded his agreement and I looked at the merchant. "Use any of the money I have with you to buy whatever they need. Don't go crazy but my people's lives come first." She nodded and I passed my gaze over everyone again. "I look forward to seeing you all when I get back so don't do get yourself in trouble."

I laughed which earned me a few eye rolls and a couple of smiles. With that everything was decided. I looked over at Xerxes who raised his head. The movement causing both Keshaun and Christopher to flinch. "Ready to go?"

"Finally, humans speak too much." The irritation in his mental voice made me chuckle. I picked up the token flashed everyone a smile and cracked it. The room around me was replaced with darkness. The absence of light lasted less than a breath before it was gone. I found myself in a forest. Trees that reminded me of skyscrapers reached toward the sky. Only for the canopies to blot out the light. I couldn't tell if this was a world without a sun or if it was just hidden.

The only illumination came from flying bugs. Each one glowed a soft white light. I couldn't tell just how many of them there were. Even after I opened the *Eye of Heaven*. With my eyes open the world was bathed in light. Or rather it was based in Spiritual energy. Most of it was natural earthy color though green was second. The density of the energy felt heavenly.

It was like the energy on the second continent only multiplied by ten. My gut told me to sit down and draw it all in only my danger sense told me not to. It was like the entire forest was a passive threat. I took in the environment for a bit before I turned to the only other living thing here.

"Looks like we were right. You got to join me."

"Of course I did. You worry too much." Xerxes said while his eyes followed a handful of the small bugs.

"Yeah maybe. Do you sense anything? This feels a bit like some sort of survival thing. I didn't bring anything that would help us deal with the environment."

"You brought the food right?" He finally turned his attention to me. His big eyes looked genuinely concerned which only made me laugh.

"Yeah, there is enough both cooked and uncooked for both of us." I turned my attention the trees but there was nothing. Outside of the streams of energy and bugs it was empty. I wasn't sure if that meant we were safe. Or if it meant we were in even more danger. "I guess we should get to walking."

We only made it a couple minutes before a golden barrier stopped us. The barrier gave off no energy yet it was as solid as steel. I tried to push through it but it was impossible. I tried for a few minutes before a count down timer appeared. "So I guess we can't leave the starting area for another twenty minutes?"

"Sounds boring."

I shrugged and we walked back to where we started. I took a seat and circulated the *Ethereal Codex*. I settled into myself as pure energy flowed into my body. I quickly noticed a handful of problems. Mainly the method wasn't efficient. The threads of energy that flowed into me left me 40% outside of my body. Once inside my cells drained some of it away before it got to my dantian. The problem wasn't major and with a slight bit of effort I was able to fix some of it.

The initial spill over was reduced by around 5%. A far cry from perfection but it was pretty good. I was pulled out of my trance by a prompt. I still didn't get how the System did that but I didn't care. I opened my eyes and checked the timer. There were less than ten seconds remaining.

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Welcome to the Chimeric Forest

Forge yourself in the Flame of Battle

1. The Trial will last until all ten spots are taken or one month has passed.

2. Each Participant is teleported to a random location on the outskirts of the forest. Each participant has a token.

3. A person must collect an entire set of five tokens to unlock the pagoda

4. A person can crush their original token to flee the trial.

5. People who leave early lose any Standing rewards.

6. Trial ends once ten people have entered the pagoda.*

7. Title earned at the end is dependent on performance.

I let out a low whistle as I finished the rules. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. If I understood the intent correctly. Anyone that didn't want to be here could run away. Which meant anyone I came across was ready to fight and potentially die. The System blood thirst was clear. It didn't sound like people would just give up their tokens since they were their route home. If I assumed that people could break them in the middle of a fight than a second problem emerged.

If I wanted your token I would have to kill before you could break it. The more I thought it about the more my opinion changed. The escape clause seemed more like a trap. Like the System was technically allowing us to be merciful but that mercy might destroy us. Once again I found myself wondering what the System actually was.

That being said the rewards were more than interesting. The title sounded amazing if I made the top ten. If I remembered right a pagoda was kind of like a tower. Chances are anything in their would be worth just about anything on earth. Rather it was a weapon or cultivation resource it could catapult me further. I was practically salivating over the possibilities. The world would literally be my oyster.

Even that was a major assumption though. The notification said nothing about potential treasures. For all I knew the forest itself would hold the best items. A place like this had to be filled with amazing natural treasures.

I was pulled out my musing when a small black and red token appeared in front of me. The token was a pentagram with a stylized tree in the center. The whole thing was the size of my palm and was around three inches thick. The token had a complex looking array spread through it that was lit up like a Christmas tree. When I tried to put it in my ring I noticed a new problem. I couldn't do it. The stone heated up like it was a hot piece of coal whenever I tried.

I summoned a fist sized chunk of cooked meat and put it back. Which confirmed that the ring still worked. "So I guess the token can't be hidden?" I placed the token into my robes and nothing happened. Which was nice. It meant I wouldn't have to carry it in my hand. My guess was that it was meant to allow theft as an option. If someone sneaky enough got close they could take it and be gone before you knew.

I turned my attention the forest as a wave of power washed over everything. The wave of energy was clear and caused the world to come alive. The sound of the forest washed over me like a cascade. The wind blew through leaves, howls and cries of animals joined together in a cacophony of noise. Even the air felt different on my skin. "I guess that means the barrier is gone."

"Are we able to leave?" Xerxes asked with only a slight hint of irritation.

"Yep lets go and see what we can get ourselves into. Try not to eat anything unless we know what is though." I expanded my Tao field to cover both of us. Just in case we were surprised by something. It would give us at least a slight warning.

"I make no promises."

I rolled my eyes as the Qilin practically strutted along. I still wasn't sure if the attitude was natural. Or if it was because of me. Either way it was pretty cute. "Whatever just stay close. The last thing we need is to get distracted by nonsense."

We walked for half an hour before I decided to stop and check out a few of the trees. They were the strangest things I had ever seen. The bark was black almost the color of obsidian but with a slightly wavey texture. The tree lit up emerald green which made me hesitate to touch it. An instinct that was proven correct as soon as I got within ten feet.

A scream of danger filled my mind and I had leaped nearly fifteen feet away as black needles fell from the tree's canopy. There was enough of them to leave me full a holes. "Well got damn." I shook my head at the thin things. They were about the same thickness as the needles you would use at the doctor's office. Which only made me more nervous. Just how much poison would something like this have? And what would it do to you?

There was very little chance that these things were designed to hurt you. They were so thin that unless they got you in the eyes or some other vulnerable spot they would do nothing. I carefully picked one up and placed it into the ring. When it worked I collected five more. I wasn't sure if they would be useful but on the off chance they were why not have some.

I started to walk only to make it another fifteen more minutes. The thing that stopped me this time was much more interesting. There was someone hid in the trees. Or rather behind them. They were about twenty feet away and if it wasn't for the *Eye of Heaven* I probably wouldn't have saw them. It was hard to make out any details about them. It was more like I could see their nervous system or rather their spiritual channels. I could tell that they were shorter than me probably closer to five and a half feet.

"Master?" Xerxes's voice filled my mind as I watched them inch closer.

"I see them. Do you smell or sense anyone else?" I spoke through our connection.

"No one else."

"Good, good lets see what they want." I did my best to pretend like I was enthralled by the forest. The trees and grass became the most interesting thing in the world. Somehow who ever followed me was fooled. We continued this cat and mouse game for another twenty minutes. I was ready to just turn around get the battle started when they made their move.

A blade imbued with energy shot for my throat at a speed that would make MLB pitchers green wit envy. My Tao field slowed it down for less than a second. Despite that my danger sense stayed quiet. I ducked backwards and brought my hand up. I caught the blade by its handle and less than an inch from my robes.

"Damn nice knife." The blade looked a bit like a Kunai only smaller and thinner. I twirled it around my fingers for a moment just as another two shot for me. I was just about to block them with my Tao when Xerxes moved. The small Qilin bit down on the first, shattering it like it was made of glass before while blocking the second with its scales.

Genuine panic shot up my spine as I saw the knife hit. Only for the beast to let out a roar of anger and charge into the forest. I shook my head and chased after him. Our attacker tried to flee but there was no chance. If we weren't in the forest they might have been able to get away but between avoiding trees and us? Xerxes slammed into their back less than three minutes into our chase.

The person yelped and fell to the ground. Xerxes kept the figure pinned and I conjured two psychic blades to make sure they didn't try anything. When I saw who or what it was I paused. They were a dwarf. Like a literal dwarf from a fairy tale. He was short and stout with a long black beard. He even had a hammer on his back. He had a holster on his right leg with one kunai left.

"Don't kill me!" He called out and part of me wanted to show mercy but of course he tried to kill me.

I knelt down next to him and searched his robes. It took me a moment ot find his token and when I did I sighed. He had the exact same one as me. I tossed it back to him but didn't make Xerxes move. "Empty out any storage items you have. If you do you can leave. If you try to kill me again though I will take you out. Same if you attack Xerxes here."

The dwarf looked like Christmas had come early. He reached for the bag that was slung across his body. I had to place a hand on Xerxes' head to calm him down. I wasn't sure if the growling was serious or if little buddy was doing his best bad cop impression. When the dwarf was once again reassured he dumped everything out.

Most of it was food and a few healing pills which didn't interest me. What did draw my attention were the small pile of spirit stones. They were all first realm but beggars couldn't be choosers. I took all of those and placed them into my ring. I decided to let him keep the healing pills. I already had plenty and the guy would probably need them more than me. The meat I gave to Xerxes who completely forgot about the dwarf. I was pretty sure he was scared shitless so it didn't matter. That and the pair of psychic blades were in place to take him out if need be.

"Now before I let you leave I need you to answer a few questions."