Maximilian looked at the timer for another moment and then pushed it to the back of his mind. He had hoped for a bit more time, but this was fine. He removed his bag and handed it to his mother. “Use any of the stones inside for the array or anything else you need. You are authorized to make any purchases or decisions that need to be made while I am gone.” He didn’t need to tell her that, but it was good that the others saw and heard it. He hoped it would further solidify her position. Especially with him gone. He had initially planned to bring things with him, and part of him wanted to do it, anyway. The message didn’t say he couldn’t carry anything. He could stuff his robes with pills, but he decided against it. Part of him felt like he was reliant on healing items. Reliant on his emergency measures. This trial was a chance to test himself again. There was also a smaller part of him that wanted to enter the same way he had in the tutorial. Just the clothes on his back. He looked at the other warriors. He wanted to speak to them all, but there wasn’t enough time for a speech. Instead, he decided to keep it simple. “I wish you all good luck.” Almost as if the stone waited for him, it shattered. A familiar pulling sensation grabbed hold, and he was teleported away.

  A strange white void replaced the world. He could feel the Dao of space around him. His vantage had changed, which allowed him to better appreciate it. The dao around him was much further than a lesser dao. What he used felt like a small candle flame compared to the sun, though it did make him feel better. There was a comparison, which meant he could learn to do this. He could learn to do similar things, anyway. His gut told him his dao was deeper than just destruction. He also assumed the Dao of space was more than teleportation. Before he could think about it too far, a screen opened. He nodded along as he read through the scrolling text.

  Welcome to Nystal City

  Trial Parameters:

  All participants have received a token. Collect additional tokens to complete the trial.

  The trial will last a month. Participants can shatter their original tokens to leave early.

  Participants may keep any and all treasures found during the trial.

  Leaving early forfeits any treasures found.

  Staying in one location for too long will result in all tokens emitting bursts of spiritual energy.

  Rewards:

  1st. Peak Quality Treasure or Manual, 250 million System Credits

  2nd High Quality Treasure or Manual, 200 million System Credits

  3rd Middle Quality Treasure or Manual, 150 million System Credits

  4th Low Quality Treasure or Manual, 100 million System Credits

  5-10th: 75 million System Credits 11th-100th 50 million System Credits

  He focused on the parameters to begin with and had to admit they weren’t as brutal as he expected. It wasn’t until he read them a third time that he realized the hidden part. There were no protections. You only needed the other person’s token, but you didn’t have to accept a surrender. You could slaughter everyone else in the trail if you wanted. At least he assumed so. The Network might step in to stop the whole trail from dying. He would assume that wouldn’t happen. Since he had a path forward, he would do what he could to not kill anyone. The rules didn’t say what happens if the person flees. Would he keep the token? Or would the person escape with it? If it were the former than his strategy would work fine. If it were the latter, he could have a problem. He knew not everyone would even bother taking the risk. Outright killing was easier. Not even hiding would help since the tokens would reveal your location. Despite the questions he had, he turned his attention to the rewards. He had to admit they were good. Just the money alone would be enough for most people. When you added the treasures for the top four? He wondered if he would get to choose or if the Network would make the call. He wanted something for his physique, but he was curious about the other cultivation types.

  He wanted the top four at minimum, though he would try for the top spot. His class skills were all peak quality from what he saw. When he compared them to the skills he got from the tutorial, it was night and day. He couldn’t begin to imagine the difference between low and peak. He was forced back to the present when the endless white was replaced with darkness. He closed his eyes to adjust his vision. When he opened them, he was somewhere else. He was inside a pillar of white light. One that made him think he was being kidnapped by aliens. He slowly descended toward the ground in a display that he was sure the Network arranged. He wasn’t sure if it was trying to impress them, but it worked. He saw countless other pillars spread throughout a massive city. The city was ruined. It looked a bit like an ancient Aztec city. He thought the place was several centuries old, but he couldn’t be sure. The multiverse was likely millions of years old.

  The city had clearly seen better days, and not just because of its age. There had been a battle here. He wasn’t sure if it was one battle or many. Regardless, the place had been a war zone. From what he could tell, the energy was at the same level as on Earth. Which meant it was a rank three world. Assuming it worked the same way. He pressed a hand against the light and found it hard. He had assumed as much, but wanted to confirm it. He couldn’t enter the trial grounds, which meant he was stuck. The other trial takers disappeared as he sank behind a large rectangular building. He cracked his neck as the light pillar slowly faded. It was still too hard for him to leave, so he tried to form a mental map. He doubted he could make it to the opposite side of the city, but he could make something for this area. Something he could use to explore.

  Two things happened when the pillar faded. First, a new bag appeared on the ground. It was identical to the one he used on Earth. Only the strap was a bit shorter. Second, a feeling inundated him. It wasn’t quite a killing intent, but it felt like ancient sadness. As if the world were upset at the current state of the city. The feeling wasn’t enough to hurt him, but it made him pause. He was at the intersection of two roads. One led off to his right and then the other to his left. He decided to head right. The mental map he had told him it didn’t matter. They would both lead him around the same building. He looked into the bag as he walked and found his token.

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  It was identical to the one that had brought him here. He pulled it out and paused. He half expected the thing to glow and unleash radiant light to reveal his location. Yet, that not only didn’t happen, but the palm-sized token was inert. If he hadn’t known where it had come from, he would’ve thought it was just a paperweight. A fancy one but still useless. He sent a bit of energy into it and confirmed what the screen said. He could break it and leave. He put the thing into his bag as an interesting thought came to him. If he broke someone else’s token, would they get sent back? What if they held it when he broke it? It was an interesting idea, but he wasn’t going to play around now. The last thing he needed was for someone to snipe him out. Instead, he turned his attention to the city.

  He stepped onto the steps of the building and paused. The building lacked a door, and he could see inside. Most of the room was empty, though he could tell it hadn’t always been that way. There were scraps of fabric on the walls and a small trough. Though he couldn’t tell if it was there to feed something or if it served some other purpose. Despite seeing all that, he decided to stay still. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about the entrance was wrong. It wasn’t quite his danger sense. It was more like a bad feeling. He formed a small bullet of electricity and sent it inside, but nothing happened. He did the same with wind and rain, but there was nothing. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling. Once again, he was disappointed by his lack of defensive skill. He wasn’t sure he would have enough time to react if he stepped through. He shook his head and started up the stairs. He would’ve preferred waiting, but he couldn’t. He didn’t want to get caught just standing there. He hesitated for a moment before he stepped through the doorway. As soon as his foot touched the ground, it crumbled. He flooded his foot with spiritual energy, but it was too late. Everything around him crumbled like an Indiana Jones movie.

  He formed a stair made of wind beneath him, only for the darkness to drain his energy. Panic grabbed hold of his heart like the icy grip of the reaper. He turned to run back to the entrance, only to find it gone. A sea of absolute darkness surrounded him. The drain on his energy doubled. It didn’t make any sense. He hadn’t felt the Dao of space. Nor had he felt any other—as soon as he had the thought, the panic rose like a flood. Despite his fear, the seed of an idea formed. The situation had made no sense. He wasn’t an expert, but he should have felt it. Between his affinities and his physique, he should have. Which meant something else happened. The energy drain and panic increased. Which prompted him to flood his body with the Dao of rain. His dao replaced the panic the same way the rain replaced what had come before. There was something there. Something he could incorporate into his dao, but now wasn’t the time. He focused the effect on his mind, and the world changed. Pieces of it disappeared as if they were being washed away. He cocked his head as he pushed more of the dao. A few moments later, the world shattered, and he was back in the room. Maximilian fought the urge to jump away and instead searched his surroundings. He found an array engraved in the stone.

  He waited to confirm it wouldn’t reactivate before he moved to check it out. The array was fascinating. The best comparison he could make was calligraphy. The symbols differed from those used in his skills. Those were akin to a typewriter or a computer. Very uniform and boring. Whereas this stuff reminded him of human writers who wanted to be impressive. Like they wanted to make art in their weapons. He was somewhat sure that the array didn’t intend to kill you. Instead, he would have just fallen forever. Or rather, until someone came along and freed him. Only whatever faction that lived here was gone. He would have died. Either by starvation or a trial taker. Now that he knew what to expect, he braced himself. He expanded his dao field of rain five feet in all directions. He doubted it would stop them from activating, but it might weaken them before he was affected. If not that, then it might break the array sooner. He stepped back and forth across the threshold to test it again. When nothing happened, he shrugged. Either the same person couldn’t trigger it, or he had broken it. Either way, it didn’t matter. He would have to experiment a bit more. He turned his attention to the building, and it disappointed him. The room was some sort of workshop from what he could tell, though he had no idea what for. The troughs were mostly empty. The bottoms held a bit of dried dirt. Which made him lean toward some kind of plant storage. The skylight above further supported that theory.

  Someone had carved an array into the stone there as well, but it was broken. A piece the size of a basketball was gone. Despite that, he was somewhat sure that the damage was accidental, or rather not intentional. This building lacked the damage of some of the others. He was about to leave when he thought better of it. There wasn’t much in the room, but he saw no reason not to take a few things. It would give him a chance to test his new bag. He stepped to one of the troughs and tried to pick it up. He grunted as he lifted the stone into the air. He then willed it into his bag the same way he had done countless other things at this point. When it disappeared, he sighed. He wasn’t sure how heavy that thing was, but when he considered his now inhuman strength, he was worried. Worried that the item would be useless for his people.

  He tried to access the trough again, only for him to be rebuffed. As if his willpower hit a wall. He tried two more times but failed each time. The Network’s warning was still in his mind, so it wasn’t too big a surprise. He could take what he wanted, but he couldn’t use it. He glanced back at the other troughs and raised an eyebrow. One part of him said it was unlikely, but the more fanciful part was curious. Were those things heavy because they were heavy, or were they heavy to stop them from using them like weapons? Maximilian doubted he was the physically strongest person around. He had focused on Intelligence, obviously, so it’s possible he just wasn’t strong enough. It was also possible that it would scale. They were meant to rely on themselves, so it could make some sense. It would make the Network even more frightening, but he had gotten used to that by now.

  He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and focused on the rest of the room. He wasn’t sure which parts were valuable and which weren’t, so he decided to loot everything. Nubia needed well, everything. He felt a bit like Superman. The old-world stuff might as well have been made out of cardboard. He would keep an eye out for proper furniture and a nice bed. He doubted things like that would survive for long, but he could dream. He looted mindlessly until a group of voices pulled him out of it. He looked, took note of the now-empty room, and looked toward the entrance. There were four, from what he could tell. He considered his options and landed on diplomacy. He withdrew his killing intent until none leaked out and turned to face the group. What he saw wasn’t what he expected. The group was human. Only he had never seen them or their clothes before. There were four of them, and they had dark brown skin with vaguely Indian features. They were armor. Proper armor, though it had no design that he recognized. It was black leather armor that only protected their torso. Their lower bodies were covered in a skirt-like thing with pants that descended below it. The armor was impressive and uniform, so he assumed they all came from the same place. They each had swords sheathed on their hips

  Maximilian smiled as they saw him. The group reached for their swords, and he offered them a wave. “Hello. I hope you all are going well.” Three members of the group turned to the man in the lead, who took a step forward. His eyes scanned the area before they settled on Maximilian.

  “Who are you? What province do you hail from?” The man asked.

  Maximilian cocked his head at him. Without trying, he had just gained a valuable piece of information. He seriously doubted anyone on Earth had a territory large enough to divide into provinces. Nor did he think they would have an organized military. He hadn’t managed that. Which meant they were from a different world. They were aliens. The last piece of information was arguably more valuable. Since it meant they hadn’t known about Earth. Maximilian considered how to use that information, but decided against deceit. He knew nothing about them, nor did he know enough to make it up. “I am afraid I don’t come from any province.” Before he could continue, the man was interrupted by drawing his sword.

  “Barbarian? All noncitizens had to hand over their entrance tokens. As an imperial soldier, I sentence you to death for violating an imperial decree.” The soldier swung.

  The man must’ve expected him to accept his death. When Maximilian not only dodged but slammed a fist into his chest, he looked shocked. As if he had grown two heads. Once again, he tried to explain, only for the other three guards to draw their weapons. He avoided their first round of attacks. He was pretty sure his punch had damaged his diplomatic efforts, but he was also sure it didn’t matter. The trial was designed to provoke a fight. They were using whatever decree they had to justify it. He tried one last time to be peaceful, but it failed. Electricity arced from his hands as they rushed him yet again.