Realisation dawned on Drake.

Strength is second only to courage and wit…

‘We have faced tests of strength and wit, so this is the test of courage? Overcoming what you fear the most?’

Drake smiled to himself, finally understanding what was happening.

One of the branches of the shadow element was magic that could directly target one’s mind and emotions. It could be used to bring out a person’s worst fears into reality.

‘And my worst fear is myself? What I’d become if I were to start acting like everyone else in this world?’ Drake chuckled.

After coming to this world, Drake had been faced with numerous challenges, and thrust into various life or death situations. Many of them he managed to escape purely by luck, but not without suffering losses, betrayals, and more along the way. The more he suffered and the more suffering he witnessed, the more he began resenting it all – resenting this world, and its way of life.

He hated how people only cared about power and were willing to do anything for it, even betraying their own friends and families if they felt it was necessary. And once people obtained power, they looked down on everyone below them. Even at the lowest levels of society, ordinary mortals who weren’t cultivators still looked down on slaves and treated them like trash.

Seeing this, Drake had subconsciously resolved himself to never become like them. Even if he lived in this world, he would not subscribe to its way of life. He didn’t want to become power hungry, only to use the power to oppress others, using and discarding people in that process like nothing.

Hence, Drake decided to keep his actions as closely aligned with his actions back on Earth as possible, and feared what he would become if he deviated too much.

However, that was quite naïve of me…

Drake’s sword had reappeared in his hand so he used it to push himself up.

The clone watched him closely. Once Drake stood up, he made direct eye contact with his clone. It looked at him with complete calmness, but seemed to carry an unfathomable depth and power.

‘This is what I fear I’ll become, if I go against my old way of life?’ he wondered.

The figure raised its hand and held it in front, palm facing down. Dark mana gathered from the surroundings underneath its palm as the figure began walking towards Drake. An unbelievable amount of mana began condensing, more than Drake had ever felt in his life.

“You cannot beat me,” the figure spoke once again, walking towards Drake.

In response, Drake sheathed his sword and smiled.

“Why would I want to?” he asked.

The figure didn’t respond and instead picked up the pace. Once the black sphere of mana condensed, it began running towards Drake and jumped in the air.

Drake watched the figure rise high above ground, before flying towards him, palm outstretched, ready to attack. Waves and waves of an unbelievable amount of power radiated from the black sphere, but Drake wasn’t afraid.

Why would I try to defeat a naïve imagination? I just have to let it go…

Drake opened his arms, closed his eyes, and smiled.

The figure crashed into Drake. But instead of obliterating him, the figure began disappearing. It warped and faded away, inch by inch, until the whole thing vanished.

BOOM!

Cracks formed in the air and the surroundings shattered like glass, returning Drake to the underground passage.

However, Drake still had his eyes closed as he was enjoying a new sensation.

A sense of complete calmness.

Let it go, accepting it for what it is – a fear born out of my naivety.

Not becoming power hungry, didn’t require him to live exactly like he did back on Earth, right? After all, this world was very different. If he didn’t adapt to it, sooner or later, he would end up getting himself, or someone else killed.

At the very least, I should do what is necessary to protect myself and those around me, otherwise…

Drake closed his eyes and the images of Holt dying, Hazezel betraying and stabbing him, his village being raided and destroyed, and Helen almost dying at the hands of Theo, all played in his mind again.

If I had been strong enough, then none of that would have happened…

‘If I’m going to live in this world, I need to seek strength. Not to use it against others and live callously, but, to be able to protect myself. So that I don’t get used by others in their agendas…’ thinking so, Drake opened his eyes.

He was standing in the underground chamber again. In front of him was an opening to the mirror maze.

‘Was I sent back to the beginning?’ Drake thought for a second then shook his head. ‘Or maybe the exit…?’

Drake turned and behind him, was a large treasure chest. He smiled and looked up, noticing on the other side of the treasure chest was Kurt who also just turned around and looked surprised to see Drake and the chest.

‘This boy was the first to finish in their group?’ Kurt thought curiously.

‘So, we finished at the same time…?’ Drake sighed.

Kurt laughed rubbing his head and spoke while walking closer to Drake, “Congratulations for completing it brother!”

“Thanks, and you as well,” Drake smiled, wondering what Kurt’s worst fear was.

Once he was close, Kurt suggested that they wait to open the treasure until everyone else had arrived. Naturally, Drake had no objections.

Over the next half an hour, everyone arrived one by one. Sylvia was the third person to complete it, followed by two Silver Crane Sect disciples, then Blaze, Farisa, and the rest of the Silver Crane Sect disciples.

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The group stood around the treasure chest and tension slowly began filling the atmosphere again as everyone wondered what to do. At that moment, Farisa made a suggestion.

“Why don’t we all rest for a while before opening the treasure and deciding how to split it?”

“Yes, we should do that,” Kurt agreed and pointed towards a set of stairs close to them, leading up to the ground. “Let’s move the chest above ground, rest for a while, and then decide how to split it. There’s no doubt that all of us have been through some difficult battles here.”

When saying the last sentence, he looked at Blaze and Farisa specifically, who carried the most bruises and scars of battle, especially Blaze who had a significant portion of his armour torn by the lightning beetle’s fractal strike.

Everyone agreed.

They moved the chest above ground and placed it in front of the stone building – the entrance to the maze. Since it was located in a clearing, they all decided to spread out and sit around it.

For a while, no one spoke. Drake observed the Silver Crane Sect disciples and noticed that some of their armour was also torn and they carried visible marks and bruises.

“Seems like you guys have had a rough time here,” said Drake, nodding towards one of the disciples who looked the most battered.

“Yea,” he chuckled. He looked at Kurt and they seemed to come to a mutual understanding. The disciple then turned back to Drake and continued. “We actually fought some dark mages. Four to be precise.”

Sylvia’s ears perked up, and the expressions of all the members of Drake’s party changed.

“Really?” Drake asked, curious. Seeing the marks on the disciples, he had a vague idea of which dark mage they might have fought. “Was one of the dark mages young, with red hair, and fought with a sword and chains?”

The disciple’s eyes widened. “Do you know him?”

Drake chuckled. “We’ve had our… encounters.”

“I see,” he replied, and then looked at Blaze and Farisa. “Were they responsible for those injuries then?”

“No,” replied Farisa. She stared him dead in the eye and said, “All this was caused by one man.”

“What?” All the Silver Crane Sect disciples gasped in shock. “Just one man?”

Farisa nodded. “He could summon numerous rank two and even rank three spirits. We’re pretty sure he’s a grand mage. I don’t know how, but he’s managed to sneak in somehow.”

“What!?” Kurt was stunned, along with that disciple.

Drake continued. “With his strength, there’s a high chance he and his dark mages would take the main inheritance, and most of the other inheritances as well.”

“That can’t happen!” Kurt exclaimed worriedly.

“Ahh…” Drake sighed. “What can we do? The grand mage is very strong, and if he rejoins with all the other dark mages, there is probably not a single group in the inheritance grounds who could match them.”

“Well…” Kurt’s voice trailed off as he fell into deep contemplation. After a few seconds, he continued. “In that case, we need to pick them off one by one before they all regroup.”

For a split second, Drake’s lips curled into a smirk, before reverting to normal.

“Indeed, we were also thinking the same, however…” Drake didn’t finish his sentence, but the problems with this plan were quite obvious.

Firstly, it was a huge risk for anyone to seek out such powerful dark mages. Secondly, in doing so, they’d be wasting time and energy chasing after them which they could otherwise be using to get more inheritances. They would end up losing their opportunity to get inheritances in exchange for defeating dark mages, which would then end up helping the other cultivators in the inheritance grounds.

Who would want to do that?

“There is one way,” Syliva spoke up.

All the Silver Crane Sect disciples turned towards her, and she continued.

“We can work together,” she explained. “The ten of us can split into two groups of five, three from your side and two from ours to keep it even. One group will chase after the dark mages while the other can continue getting more inheritances. When we regroup, the second group can share the treasures they found with the first.”

“This…” Kurt fell into contemplation again. With their strength, a group of five would still be much stronger than the average cultivators in this inheritance grounds, allowing them to fight for treasures in the other village ruins. And, they’d probably also be strong enough to fight against the dark mages. Since both groups would contain individuals from both parties, they don’t have to worry about betraying or taking advantage of each other either.

Overall, it seemed like a good plan.

“But how will we even find the dark mages?” Kurt asked.

Sylvia smiled. “I have been using my spirits to look for them and I managed to find one group of dark mages, the group that you fought actually. They are resting in a place not too far from here at the moment, maybe an hour or two away.”

“Really?” Kurt asked in disbelief. ‘Did they already plan this from the start?’ He wasn’t sure, but there was no reason for them to lie. If they could dispatch off that group of dark mages, especially that young man, it’d be a huge loss for the dark mages. It was too good of an opportunity to lose.

“We need to discuss this,” Kurt said after a few moments.

“Sure, take your time,” replied Sylvia.

The Silver Crane Sect disciples stood up and started walking some distance away to chat in private.

Drake and Sylvia shared a glance and smiled but didn’t say anything. They closed their eyes and began meditating to recover their strength.

A couple of minutes later, the Silver Crane Sect disciples returned.

Kurt stepped forward and spoke. “We agree to your plan, let’s work together to kill the dark mages.”

“Great!” Sylvia smiled. “We can rest for another half an hour first. Then, we’ll share the inheritance, and then split up.”

Kurt agreed, and the disciples sat back down.

Half an hour later.

Several hours were left for sunrise, so the blood moon was still hanging high in the sky, shining its red rays onto an open treasure chest, filled to the brim with thousands of mana stones.

Drake and the others huddled around the chest and decided to split them equally. As they cleared out the mana stones, several artifacts which were buried underneath were revealed.

They were all rank two – one sword, boots, robes, and dagger type artifacts.

As Drake and Kurt finished first, they were given the first pick. Kurt took the sword while Drake had his eye on the boots. It was a lightning elemental boots that could increase his speed a lot more than his current one and could also encase his legs in lightning which would increase the power of his kicks. Drake thought it could help boost the strength of his metal leg, as well as give him a much-needed boost to his speed, so decided to take it.

After Drake and Kurt took their picks, one of the Silver Crane Sect disciples took the dagger artifact, and Farisa took the robes. No one had any complaints.

Once they distributed the treasures satisfactorily, the tension eased from the atmosphere. They no longer had to be on edge, worrying that the other group might secretly conspire against them to take all the treasures for themselves.

Just as they relaxed, the village ruin started shaking. Everyone quickly dashed out of the gates and returned to the cold, dark, outside world.

After leaving, they decided to split up into two groups of five as agreed. Blaze, Drake, and three Silver Crane Sect disciples decided to chase after Theo and his dark mages, while Sylvia herself would move on to the next inheritance with Farisa, Kurt, and the other two Silver Crane Sect disciples.

Sylvia wanted to fight Theo too. However, Drake and Blaze were faster, so they would be able to reach the dark mages and return to the others quicker. Hence, Sylvia agreed that it made sense for them two to go and summoned a pixie spirit to guide them to Theo’s location.

With that done, the two groups ran off in different directions.

One and a half hours later.

Farisa and Sylvia were fighting through a horde of demons, accompanied by three burly men.

“I can see the next inheritance! We’re very close!” exclaimed Sylvia.

Hearing her confirmation, everyone fought with renewed vigour, defeating hundreds of demons every second as they relentlessly marched towards the next village ruin.

At the same time, in another location, two groups were facing each other under the dark sky.

The first had four figures standing next to each other. Three of them were wearing black, hooded robes masking their faces, but the last was wearing a dark-red leather armour covered by a light red overcoat. He was a young man with red hair and a lean physique, holding a sword in one hand with his other wrapped in chains. He was eyeing the other group with a serious look.

The second group had five members. The biggest of them was also a young man with red, scruffy hair, but he was more than six foot tall and was holding the hilt of a gigantic sword, planted into the ground on his side. Next to him were three large men with menacing expressions, and finally, was a short and unremarkable boy just over twelve years, but was covered head to toe with powerful artifacts.

Blaze lifted his sword and pointed it forward towards the dark mages before speaking in a low voice.

“Theo… you won’t get away this time.”