Dexter waited for Alina to return with the rest of her group. He stood beside George, who grew more irritated with each second that passed.

"Want a plum?" Dexter offered the fruits identified as rosha berries. "There's plenty to go around," he gestured at the countless fruits hanging from the surrounding trees. Alina had told him their name, but he continued to view them as plums due to their shape and taste. "If you're going to attempt the Heaven's Fury, these will help your connection to the element. Even now, I can feel them working."

George reluctantly grabbed one of the fruits, took a large bite, then tossed it away. "Doesn't work," he said. At the look on Dexter's face, he shrugged. "I don't feel anything."

"More for me," Dexter said, when Alina rounded a corner with a group of two newcomers. To Alina's right was a petite female a bit shorter than her, while the other was an African bodybuilder who towered over them all, including Dexter. On his shoulders sat Anna, who took great joy in rubbing his bald head.

"Looks like I spoke too soon," Dexter muttered, "he can eat an entire harvest."

"So you're the one we've been waiting for?" the bodybuilder said, surprising Dexter with a French accent.

"The one and only," Dexter bowed.

"This is Kwame," Alina introduced. Then she pointed to the Indonesian woman with a red twin tailed cat sleeping in her arms. "This is Nyo and her companion Asha."

"An attuned beast?" Dexter said.

"You guessed it," Kwame said. "But don't get too close, it's a feisty little rat." He lifted his sleeves, pointing to a set of scars on his forearms.

"Nyo, can Asha learn skills?" Dexter asked.

"Why do you ask?" she nodded.

"I just might have something to bribe her with," he smiled at Kwame. "Up for a trade?" He pulled out the skill stone he received from the awakened and watched all of their eyes widen.

"Razor Claw?" Nyo said, identifying the skill stone. "That's a Bronze ranked skill, I don't have anything worth its value."

"I was planning on selling it at the Safe Zone," Dexter shrugged. "You can take it off my hands for 5000 Essence Tokens."

Once again Nyo shook her head, turning to Alina. "Do you want it?" she asked.

Alina nodded, opening up her status page.

[ Tokens received - 5000 Essence! ]

"Catch," Dexter said, tossing over the awakened skill stone. He had received five times as much Essence Tokens that slaying the creature awarded him.

"Thank you," Alina said.

"Jesus, Dexter, what did you sacrifice to kill an awakened by yourself? Even Alina needed our help."

"Sacrifice?" Dexter questioned.

"For your attunement?" Kwame added. At the look of confusion on Dexter's face, Kwame continued. "During the introduction, you could offer something of value to raise your Renown, thus gaining a stronger attunement. I sacrificed my muscles," Kwame ended with a sniff, wiping away a tear.

Dexter explained how he obtained his attunement and the Sage Title he received for leveling during the introduction, while keeping his ability a secret. "But I don't suspect you can learn to absorb natural energy without having an affinity for an element," he added. "I lucked out by draining the pure energy in the Nullification Zone."

"I know my affinity," Kwame said, "it's Earth. I sold my hair to obtain the knowledge, and then sold muscle mass to raise my Renown cap. Tributary offering gave me a skill for it. Gaia's Punch."

Dexter still didn't believe the bodybuilder had sold his muscle mass, the man was pushing seven feet and was sculpted like a roman god. But as he thought of ways to help Kwame connect with the Earth energy around them, an idea blossomed in his mind and he began to think of ways to merge elemental energies. Perhaps if his second affinity was water, he'd be able to conjure a typhoon.

"Hello? Dexter? Does he often tune out like that?" Kwame asked George, who grumbled in response.

"Give me a second," Dexter said, sitting under a rosha tree. His shoulders relaxed, and his energy spread out of him, seeking the elements that rejected his nature. Apart from wind, they were all messy and unproductive, but there was one element that belied them all. It carried their weight with stoic strength.

A pillar that holds up the sky. Dexter found himself thinking, when he sensed a nurturing side to the element. It was the aspect that birthed the very tree he was sitting under. Unfortunately, with all the insights, there was no music to his ears. No understanding that would help him mold his energy to the element's properties.

"Nothing?" Kwame asked as Dexter returned.

"Basically," Dexter shrugged, informing him of the impressions he received. "I can sense the element, but I can't connect to it the way I can with wind energy. You're better off trying yourself."

"Might as well give it a go," Kwame tried to put Anna down so he could sit under the same tree as Dexter, but the little girl refused and started picking rosha berries from his shoulders, as Kwame gave in and started meditating. It was an odd sight.

"We should leave him here if we're going up," Dexter said to Alina, "the aura up there will interfere with his perception."

"I'll stay," Nyo said, "my element is fire." She pointed to Asha, who purred in agreement.

"Do you know your affinity, Alina?" Dexter asked.

"No," she shook her head. "But if what you say about those fruits are true, I think I may have the same as yours."

Alina called out to Anna, when Nyo spoke up. "I'll watch over her. You have to focus on the trial, and he'll have to focus on keeping you safe."

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Alina looked to Dexter for reassurance. "She has a point," he said. "And if there's danger, they will protect her."

An hour after Alina kissed her sister goodbye, Dexter ushered her into the mountain. Munchkin was kept at the ready just in case he misjudged her, but his assessment was accurate thus far.

As they continued walking, Dexter tested Alina's sense for natural energy using the wind flowing through the tunnels, but her sense was blind as a bat. By the time they made it halfway to the garden, he was sure a miracle would have to occur for her to mirror the element in her aura.

"What's your attunement?" Dexter asked. "I noticed you didn't say it."

"I noticed you didn't tell us yours either," Alina replied."

Dexter looked at her, knowing she couldn't see the expression on his face. "Maybe, but it sounds like you're the one hiding it."

After a second, she finally spoke up. "Lesser Giant Strength. A tributary skill gained by selling the vision in my left eye."

Dexter almost tripped, but his high Dexterity diverted the accident. "Are you insane?" he muttered. Such a sacrifice was beyond unreasonable for a normal person, and it made him question will power.

Alina laughed. "I had to protect my sister. Wouldn't you do anything for those you loved?"

Would I do anything for those I loved? The question triggered a memory for Dexter, but it faded leaving behind a scar of regret. What was that? He frowned, trying to recall the memory.

"Dexter?" Alina said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Indeed," he finally answered, wondering how her sacrifice hadn't pushed her into the Bronze tier.

"I was a chess player before all of this," Alina said into the dark, speaking as if she had to remind herself rather than telling Dexter. "My father died a week before the eclipse. Before the world broke and reformed into this wasteland. I needed to do something because I'm the only one who can protect her. You saw the dangers out there, that's why I must face this trial you spoke of."

"So you sacrificed a pawn in order to gain the strength you needed to protect your queen?" Dexter said, "yup, that sure sounds like a chess player.

"What does that mean?" Alina asked.

"That you're a champion, strong-willed, I suppose," Dexter said.

"And do you play chess?" Alina asked.

"No, I'm more of a checkers, tic-tac-toe, rock paper scissors kind of guy."

Alina laughed. "Oh? And what about that guitar on your back?"

"This old thing? It's nothing special. Works when it wants to."

After a bit more small talk they continued on in companionable silence, when Dexter inquired about the skill stone they received from the awakened police officer, and learned that the skill it held went to Kwame. The bodybuilder had attained a Constitution skill that was perfectly tailored for him, reforming his physique past what he had apparently sacrificed.

"We're here," Dexter said when the familiar blue light entered his vision. Alina's eyes grew wide at the hieroglyphs on the walls, and she noted the robes of the priests, only to back away from Dexter after remembering his warning.

"This place is amazing," Alina said, marveling at the statues, and bladed pillars that extended into the sky.

"Can you sense the energy now? It's the same when you activate your skills, search for the spark driving it."

Alina's face frowned. "I think so."

Dexter told her to eat the rosha berries she had brought with her, stating that it was important to eat the seeds and stems as well. He felt personally attacked when she told him they discarded those parts.

After swallowing the stem, Alina began to cough. "Yes, there's something there."

"What's there?" Dexter said. "What's the sensation you felt?"

"It's, it's… it's gone," Alina sighed.

"Eat," Dexter said, tossing her another berry.

Alina's face was slick with juice as Dexter helped her through her understanding of the energy. For him, it was like music, but as he explained his method the understanding she had been building crumbled, and they had to start from scratch.

An hour went by as she finished her stash, relying on the one's Dexter had brought for himself. "I don't have an unlimited supply up here," he said. "As you can see, there are no trees around."

"How was I supposed to know how much I would need? You're the expert." Alina said, annoyed at her own failing.

"Whatever," Dexter said, tossing over two rosha berries. "That's all you're getting, make it last." He heard Alina mutter under her breath, but decided to let her get the last word and went searching for his helmet. When he returned, she had regained control over herself, and he noticed her tense posture had dissolved.

By now it was clear they both held the same affinity, but Alina's was far weaker than Dexter's. If he had another of the affinity stones, he was sure it would help her control the energy, but he wasn't that virtuous to give it to her. Even if she had offered 10,000 Essence Tokens. Trading the Razor Claw skill stone had been an act of goodwill.

If humanity was to rebuild what was broken, they would need strong leaders. He wasn't sure if Alina was that, but her group was at least acceptable enough to accompany them to the Safe Zone. With strange and mystical powers accessible to the average person, it became more important than ever to align yourself with good people.

Dexter watched Alina as the sun set. "You fight for your sister to live, right?"

"Yes," she said with a frown.

"Is that all?" Dexter said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you have obtained enough power for her to live. Now you need to obtain enough for her to thrive. If she doesn't reach the Safe Zone, she will die, and your sacrifice would have been for nothing."

A resolve spread across Alina's face that Dexter had never seen before. He suspected that she had become full of herself after killing and dealing the most damage to the awakened. Arrogance was a tough emotion to crack, but Dexter's comment had shifted her perspective without bruising her ego. Yet even with her new goal, he doubted it was enough.

Removing Munchkin from his robe, Dexter hid the skill behind his back and gave the garment over to Alina.

"I thought you said it was dangerous?" Alina said.

"It is, but I think it will help. I should have thought of this sooner," he shrugged.

Alina hesitantly put on the robe when her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Oh, wow."

"You have to do that without assistance, the robe by itself won't help you pass the first set of blades."

Two hours passed where Dexter became one with the wind, absorbing the natural energy around him. After a day he would reach level 14 becoming ever closer to linking Healing Pulse. Occasionally he watched over Alina who had trained by herself near the circle array of stone pillars, staring up at the distant heavens.

"What do you think, Munchkin? Can she control a blade like you?"

Dexter ran a finger alongside the scythes edge, looping to press against the side weighted like an axe head. Before his finger trailed across the entire wind blade, it dispersed in its usual manner, drifting in a dancing haze to once again reform with a keen edge. "I guess that's a no—"

"I did it!" Alina screamed.

Dexter moved like a breeze, appearing by her side. She looked at him with astonishment, surprised at her own accomplishment.

"Calm down," Dexter said. "Your heart is about to burst and I don't want any blood on my clothes."

Snorting, Alina took the robe off and tossed it at him, and then she walked into the trial. The runes at the base of the array lit up, and the vortex began to turn. Sounds of blades being drawn mixed into the whirling wind, causing her new bout of confidence to falter. She was but one step from the center and hesitated to take it. But with a wave of his hand, Dexter conjured a gust of wind and pushed her forward.

"I suggest you sit down," he said. "And close your eyes, that helps."

"Okay," Alina said.

Two minutes passed. Then three minutes passed. Then five minutes passed. And just when Dexter was about to consider it a fluke, he saw her weight adjust to the rising currents. Her aura had shifted for the briefest of instances, but she was distracted by a notification.

[ The doors to the void have opened, beware of the Aberrations. ]