Eirwen Looted the chimera, and then they dragged themselves through the portal. Once again, only Jeffrey and Irene would gain much from the Boss Essence at the moment, and they were provided plenty to work through.
Arriving in the next floor’s Safe Zone, Nick let out a happy sigh as his party walked in and he looked over where it put them for six hours of rest. It was as if the Ordeal were rewarding them by giving them a taste of their home.
There was no place he’d rather rest than in their own house, though he knew it wasn’t quite the same.
Vi wasn’t available, after all, and the fridge was empty. The hallway was cut off, and they only had access to his room and shower, along with a guest room for Irene and Jeffrey, but it was still a home-shaped-place.
Everyone shrugged off their equipment, switching to their at-home clothing. For Rebecca and Irene this just meant removing the inner layer of leather armor, but for the rest either wore sun dresses or workout attire.
Looking over what his girls had gained from the Heroic Test of Might, the idea that his Wolfen girl’s Mated trait was the one that was improved felt a bit silly. Still, it was a good trait, and being enhanced had boosted what was already there.
The trait reinforced their actions with ambient essence when they were near Nick, their mate. Then, it had also improved their proficiency with soul and ice magic, so that was also improved by the enhancement.
But there was a little more–it seemed the slight connection Luna or Eirwen had was now one that Fang and Sable would now enjoy, and Luna’s had been improved further.
Eirwen’s Soul Pact Connection upgraded as well, and now it was like he could always feel her and Luna just like Jasmine. For Winny, the special single spell per day that could even be cast from outside the Ordeal would now be boosted, so her ability to aid him had improved yet again.
Rebecca looked over how happy the Wolfen girls were, bouncing as Nick laughed and rewarded them with ear scratches, the girls beaming about their improved pack connection. She touched her ice lotus necklace. “I feel a little left out. I too would like this…special connection to you.”
“Aww, Becca.” Nick hugged her from behind, and held her hand in his, which he knew would remind her of their many dates and their night together. It scrunched her wings a little, but he knew it didn’t make her uncomfortable. “You and I got our own special things, we had our moments together. You don’t need to compare, do you? They are different, but no less special.”
“You’re right. I did just get this Devotion Core… perhaps some day.”
Jasmine started removing her armor, getting changed into her Maid outfit. “Do not worry, Becca. I do believe once Master learns what’s possible with his Soul Magic, he may be able to improve your connections at will. I know there is an assortment of spells that he is currently unable to use. Soon, he should have a lot of utility, once he learns what’s possible in the Ancestral Archives.”
Irene perked up at the mention of the Ancestral Archives. “Oh, goody. I can’t wait! Do we really have to do another floor? Getting 11 to 16 done in a single run is good enough, isn’t it?” Irene laid down on her side with her head propped up by her hand, floating a few inches into the air above the couch, already relaxing as she flipped through her aura book again.
Nick chuckled–to think the daughter was the more diligent one. “The 17th was the low-end of my goal. If the next stage takes more than a week, I think heading back after its completion will be the plan, though. We’ll simply train more outside of the Ordeal prior to our assault on Shadowvale.”
Irene pouted. “Aww. I guess that’s why you’re the hero–so hard-working! It’s no wonder you’ve progressed so quickly. You’re Tested on a higher level, thanks to your personal efforts, the Path of Kings, and the three other Ordeals in Frosthaven. I’m a bit worried about Tribulations, but I can tell you are working hard to prepare for those as well.”
Kaya replied, “Orion’s Tribulations matter little if Blackthorne and a large army of bandits shows up. Everything Nick has done has been in preparation for that. If a Tribulation comes before then, it’ll be risky for us, but it’ll only help us prepare for Blackthorne even more.”
Rebecca seemed a little worried, her wings fluttering. “I worry about innocents being harmed in Frosthaven if a Tribulation happened, but you’re right. The one that hit Zura had many casualties, but those who survived had gained a lot. We’ll just have to do our best to protect those who cannot defend themselves.”
Kaya shrugged. “The people of Frosthaven are used to hardship at this point. But Renzou will help with that, and so will the orcs and the wolfen. We have quite the wide variety of people in Frosthaven now, and many of them are quite capable.”
Rebecca nodded with a smile. “It is reassuring, the allies we’ve gained. Zura used to be a singular people, but now they’ve joined a much more diverse community.”
Eirwen brought out snacks, and Jasmine, Eirwen, and Luna worked to heat up some food. They recovered their essence, and Nick was a bit surprised to see that Jeffrey grew larger as a result of the Boss Essence, and perhaps his trait being improved.
Jasmine and Eirwen had spent time repairing their equipment, so after eating, Nick and his wives used their time relaxing and enjoying one another’s proximity until they headed to bed to rest. They didn’t have that much time for much else.
They needed to be at their best in the Ordeal, and that meant maximizing their rest.
As they prepared by the exit portal, putting back on their equipment, Nick couldn’t help but sigh. “The Ordeal has gone quickly, but they sure haven’t given us that much time to rest.”
“That’s probably a large part of the challenge, but you’re not usually meant to persist past the 15th Floor. Normally, it’d be expected you do it all in one go from there. In some cases, it might prevent you from entering earlier or later than an intended floor. Other times, it will compensate for the difficulty, keeping in mind that you should be fully rested.”
The party entered the portal, coming out on the other side.
A wave of memories and details washed over the party, as they were deposited at the top of a canyon, overlooking a stunning landscape covered by a transparent domed barrier.
Suddenly, a small pouch appeared on each of their belts.
[Test of Supremacy. Four warring kingdoms historically came into Conflict over the Valley of Resplendence. Your party has replaced one of the four kingdoms. Your goal is to win the Conflict by scoring the most points in the challenge before the end of a single month. Gain points by defeating monsters, competitors, collecting special resources, and most importantly, the final prize released near the end of the challenge in one month’s time at the center of the valley. Collecting this treasure does not guarantee victory, but the competition for it often will. Treasures will be collected within a limitless spatial pouch, and when competitors are eliminated, their points and contents will be gathered within your pouch.
A weekly leaderboard will display the current positions, and Conflict is recommended and encouraged–you will be unable to communicate with the other kingdoms in any way, and defeating members of the enemy kingdoms will provide substantial bonuses. Should you become the victor, you may keep the treasures collected, to be withdrawn from your special pouches. If you are forced to flee and leave the valley or lose, your treasures will be significantly reduced. Becoming the last kingdom standing will release the final treasure early.]
[Competition begins in 5 minutes.]
Nick looked over the prompt with interest, even as he scanned the diverse landscape, the valley beneath them. There were lakes and rivers, mountains and caves on the cliff faces, and even a swamp.
It was massive, and his new memories told him that the valley was hundreds of miles long and wide. It was an odd pocket realm, which was meant to only open once every few decades, gathering abundant essence from the surrounding areas.
Orion had created the treasure-filled valley for the neighboring kingdoms to fight over it, a unique event where the kingdom’s people would be Tested and rewarded with access to unique resources.
While the valley was chock-full of unique treasures and opportunities, it was also teeming with monsters. Like the dinosaur of the mists they faced previously, natural treasures and special environments would attract monsters that benefitted from it. Often, they would form symbiotic relationships with the natural treasure, until they reached a point where they could consume it and ascend.
“The 17th Floor sure is something else. Will our other climbers that reach here get a level like this?” Nick was a bit stunned by the scale and scope of the level, along with what it might mean for his kingdom once he won, and returned home with many unique objects.
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Irene replied, “Since you’re the Lord of the Ordeal, you get the special treatment in terms of a challenge’s risk versus reward. Others will get a watered-down version, likely a different conflict altogether. But it will still be a Test of Supremacy, so they will be forced to face other mirrors of ancient cultivators for rewards and victory.”
Kaya hefted her axe onto her shoulder. “This sounds valuable. A whole month, huh? That’s a long time to be keeping one eye open when we sleep. It’s a good thing we need less now.”
Sable noted, “The essence is dense here, too. In a whole month, we may be able to gain two whole levels if we focused on it. But there’s also a way to win early.”
Rebecca crinkled her face. “It helps that they aren’t truly real, but I would enjoy it a whle lot more if a more peaceful path was possible.”
While they had been given light details in their minds, they were not given enough knowledge about how they might convince another kingdom to work together. The only options for this Test were likely avoidance through stealth or inaction, or facing the enemy parties.
Jasmine chuckled, as she began taking out chairs from her pouch. “Sorry, Becca. But this Test is definitely set up to be a PvP match–which means player versus player, though it would be Kingdom versus Kingdom in this case. It’s clear that those that focus on hunting other competitors are going to come out ahead in this one.”
Irene said, “Orion’s many Tests and Trials don’t always provide a path to peace. I’m interested to see how our hero finds it when given the chance. Seraphara would prefer you seek victory through non-aggression if our competitors were alive and not just echoes of the past.”
Nick thought about it for a moment. “I think it would depend on the cost or risk of those participating. In general, I would rather rob the robbers and kill the killers. Those that don’t contend for the limited competition resources directly, I’d be fine with leaving alone–so long as a loss of the competition does not mean death for me and my people. Otherwise, I’d have to go hard and defeat and rob innocents if I must. I’d be quite angry at Orion for pitting me against them like that in a zero-sum game, though.”
Rebecca shook her head. “In a competition between cultivators, Orion always leaves a path to retreat. Even in this one, you can see what it provided. In Frosthaven, once our Control Radius grows, we will be pitted against different kingdoms, even Silverbrook.”
Nick didn’t think much would change quickly on that front. “We’re a bit away from everyone on the frontier. After we’ve dealt with Blackthorne, our borders can spread far and wide. I suppose with him gone, we may see other kingdoms pushing their borders toward us, or new kingdoms appear altogether. At that time, I’d be happy to work with others rather than become a conqueror–provided they can be worked with, like with Silverbrook.”
Fang’s tail had been wagging, looking over the valley through the bubble. “This thing goes down soon. So, what’s the plan, Boss? We going to fight everybody?”
Nick chuckled. “It’s as Jasmine said. The focus is definitely going to be on hunting others. But hunting others in the first week is likely a waste. If we take them out early, then that means more work for us–we’ll have to collect what they didn’t, or we’d never collect it at all and run out of time.”
He continued, “It seems we’re being released on the South end of the valley, and each Kingdom will enter from the other ends. Let’s explore as we head toward the center, and get the lay of the land first. After about a week and a half, we’ll go on the hunt instead. Searching such a vast wilderness will take time, but with Winny and Sable’s scouting, and Jasper and Jasmine’s mobility, we should end up on top quickly.”
Jasmine finished constructing her carriage at the top of her spider body for Nick, Kaya, Eirwen, and Rebecca. Irene had actually joined Rebecca without issue, the two cozying up beside each other in the back. Jeffrey would be able to fly on his own and keep up.
The barrier disappeared, and Eirwen immediately began casting her spells, speaking with the elemental essence of the area.
“My, there sure is a lot going on down there. Not as busy as that elemental jungle, but there’s quite a bit of special areas, and a lot of monsters. Let’s head over to that small mountain over there first? There’s something there.” She pointed into the distance, a craggy rock that overlooked the jungle, and birds could be seen flying to roosts high up on the rock.
Nick nodded, then hopped up on his spot on Jasmine’s back. “Let’s do it. First treasure, coming right up!”
Jasper and Jasmine made their way down the canyon with their riders on their backs.
Sable didn’t join Birdy, Luna, and Fang on Jasper’s back. She skated on the shadows, leaping through the air and continued on tree branches just the same, effortlessly. They followed Eirwen’s guidance, heading down to the mountain.
It took time to travel several miles to reach the base of it, and they were forced to stop and fight multiple times as territorial beasts came out of the woodwork to stop their trespass.
When Winny looted them, Fang noticed something.
Fang pointed, “There’s a number on your pouch now, Winny.”
Nick saw the number, a green 12. His own read 2, but it was a different color, red, he assumed his split from the killing of the monsters. “Ah, this must be that score. So we’ll be able to know at a glance who has loot to be stolen, I guess. Either way, we get a person’s points when we kill ‘em, plus a bonus, it sounded like.”
But the beasts were just added to the loot bags as they provided no difficulty, and they eventually arrived at the location of the treasure Eirwen had detected.
Irene said, “I can feel something special here. It’s not within a cave underground, but up the mountain instead.”
Sable appeared from the shadows beside them. “Yes. It smells like life… I see numerous special flowers growing on this mountain.”
They ascended the mountain, Jasmine and Jasper climbing the cliff faces with their passengers with relative ease. As they climbed, the birds began to flock together, circling the mountain at its peak. It made Birdy mad for some reason, to the point where Nick wanted to tell it to shut up. It was squawking angrily, and looking over at its face, he was a bit shocked.
Birdy was jealous of their flight. Having the body it wanted.
As they neared the summit, the birds began their attack. But Jasmine blinded much of them with her light, before Birdy sent a powerful ray of frost. Even those not struck by the beam began to freeze over, and went tumbling to the ground.
Nick was a bit surprised at the efficacy, but it was only natural that the demon continued to get stronger. Jasper had gotten even larger as their delve through the Path of Kings continued, and he was getting a bit excited about what would happen once it reached the third stratum.
When they reached the summit, Nick was surprised to find an angry hippogryph waiting there. The horse-eagle creature stormed forward covered with wind just s they did, ready to blast them off the cliff.
But Nick’s party was not easy to get rid of. Fang had leaped in front of them with her ice armor, anchoring herself to the mountain with her cleats, and creating her ice shield in front of them. The hippogryph crashed into the shield, and the vortex of wind around it was like that of a hurricane, sending blasting winds around them.
Jasper had locked itself down with its claws and ice, and Birdy squawked angrily once more.
Jasmine had anchored herself with webbing and dug in with her eight legs, while everyone had no issues holding on to their seats until the wind passed. Sable similarly anchored herself in the shadows, and started building up iceshadow, preparing her spear to wound and take down the large monster.
The dangerous winds relented, Nick leaped off his seat and pushed out his Frost Aura with his will, including his Dominion of Frost and Fealty, followed up by sending several Blade Waves at the creature.
The hippogryph cawed in anger, and sent wind like bullets in counter as his party split up, preparing to take on the monster. As Nick’s Blade Waves were destroyed by the wind bullets, Luna’s totems pulsed, granting them protection from the winds and the strength of the earth. Kaya sent a powerful swipe of her axe, her Essence Carry sending it through its barrier of winds and cutting into its wing.
It screeched in anger as it was wounded, and the wind on the summit changed once again.
“So many birds incoming!” Sable shouted.
Luna, Eirwen, Birdy and Jasper all began to build up a wall of ice to hide behind, using Nick’s created ice and plenty of their own.
The birds began swooping down the vortex created by the powerful wind, the birds becoming like bullets fired from a gun…and crashing into the hastily formed barrier, while some managed to veer away in time. Some chunks of ice were removed by their talons, but the four ice users replenished the barrier.
Sable appeared in the monster’s shadow, erupting as she pierced into the monster’s chest. It then released an immense amount of life energy, healing the damage and barely surviving as it kicked out at Sable in retaliation.
Fang’s shield met its blow, followed by Jasmine stabbing into it with her spear, arriving. She wrapped it with her stonelight webbing, and from there, the monster was taken out in short order. The remaining birds were shot down by arrows or fled, leaving dozens of the bird’s corpses littering the summit.
Despite the monster and the efforts of the birds to defend their home, Nick’s party took them all down effortlessly.
Rebecca looked at the corpse of the hippogryph. “It’s a real shame we had to kill it. Hippogryphs are such noble creatures.”
Nick couldn’t help but feel a little bad about all the destruction. He felt like quite the bully, busting into the creatures’ homes. The fight wasn’t challenging for them at all, either.
Irene looked a little down as well, looking at all the destruction. “Such is the nature of a Trial, but it is also simply the law of the jungle at play. It chose to fight rather than flee, after all.”
Eirwen Looted the hippogryph, and took out the resulting monster’s cores. “Wind and life. These are definitely valuable.”
Throughout the summit, there were a ton of bell-like flowers of various colors, drawing up energy from the earth beneath them. Nick could feel the immense amount of life energy trapped inside each one.
They collected the special life flowers, and gained several hundred more in points. There was an especially powerful plant that appeared to be the oldest, which was placed next to a small cave–the hippogryph’s den.
When Eirwen placed it in her spatial pouch, her points jumped up by several hundred all at once.
Nick couldn’t help but voice that the challenge was low. “Hm, that wasn’t too tough. Will the rest be like that, I wonder?”
Eirwen noted, “It was easy for us, but many others might have had trouble fighting that monster in its den, with a bunch of its friends. A big part of the battle is discovery of these special resources. Maybe there are some hidden things even my elemental spirits can’t find–you never know.”
Nick hopped back up on Jasmine’s back. “Alright then. Let’s move out, lead us to the next one for now, but be on the lookout for anything special!”
The girls joined him, and they moved on. They had up to a month to find vast amounts of treasure, and they were going to make use of it and win the challenge.