Ceres did not immediately step into the red door, especially since it was the first time he had seen it. For all he know he could suffer an instant death the moment he entered – the previous doors were not very nice to him.
“Hey! Where does this red door go?”
[Warning – Intrusion detected. Unauthorized command from unknown individual. Deploying countermeasures]
Monsters began to fall from the sky again similar to how it was in the maze, except this time it was at least twenty times more.
They fell in twenty columns that looked like pillars to the sky, flooding the forest as the howls and screams reached Ceres’s ears, never mind the earth-shattering tremors from the sheer amount of monsters. Ceres gulped at the sight. As strong as he was, he would be easily overwhelmed by the sheer quantity.
The red door creaked open to reveal a slovesa’s hand extended outwards, beckoning towards Ceres. “Come in quick! I don’t have much time!” A voice said hurriedly.
Ceres was in utter confusion, but he rather not face the seemingly unending horde of monsters. Still, he hesitated, until the rock golem hand did a flicking motion, flicking something small towards the monster hordes.
The small projectile whizzed past his cheek, rippling the air as it seemed to fly into the midst of them before a brilliant light burst out.
A huge explosion resulted, vaporizing more than half of the monster horde in a catastrophic display of strength. Ceres gulped, before deciding to enter the red door.
If that flick had hit him, he might have immediately ceased to exist. Ceres immediately determined that it was better not to go against such a person.
He stepped through the red door which immediately closed after him, cutting out the howling shrieks of the monsters. There was no weird teleportation effect this time, and he could clearly see his surroundings now.
Ceres found himself in a weird research lab, except instead of being made out of concrete and electronics, it was made purely out of crystal. It felt as though he had entered some crystal wonderland.
Everything here was a certain shade of crystal – the walls, the ceiling and the floor. Each step Ceres took caused the floor to emit a glow around his footsteps, energy somehow arcing through the crystal-like tactile feedback.
The surprising scene stunned him for a moment before he was grabbed by the same rock golem’s hand on the shoulder.
The hand was the size of a human one, but Ceres could feel the intense energy coursing through it like never before. He immediately stiffened up as the slovesa that was on the other side of the red door brought its face extremely close to his.
He had no idea what rank or class this slovesa was, but his body was screaming danger at the sight, despite the slovesa being the size of a human. From his experience over the last two months, a smaller slovesa was likely more dangerous to him.
The slovesa had three ‘heads’ adorned with crystals in all directions which seemed to act like its eyes. Crystals were engraved all over the slovesa’s body, even the tail. Inscriptions flowed through the translucent surface, ever-changing.
“You, what is your purpose in taking the trials?” The slovesa asked angrily, examining Ceres. The crystal eyes looked all over his entire body, making Ceres feel like he was a research subject under giant floodlights.
Ceres was stunned. To be frank, he entered the temple with the idea of saving the townspeople.
He was not entirely sure if the townspeople were outside the temple, but he was sure that no one was teleported with him, and he did not recognize any of the townspeople’s names on the ranking room.
He also recalled that when one of the more daring townspeople stuck his head through the barrier, he claimed that it was the temporary camp, so they must have returned.
So effectively, he had been simply using the temple as sort of a training camp. It was his training arc, right?
“Erm… no purpose really. I guess right now is to practice?” Ceres said with an air of hesitation. What was the right answer to give? Is this another test by the temple?
The slovesa stared at him weirdly, its crystal heads glowing unnaturally as the slovesa walked around him. He soon noticed that unlike many of the other slovesa he had been fighting, this one was actually wearing clothes like a human.
It wasn’t actually clothing per se, but more like dyed rocks that somehow looked as though the slovesa was dressed properly. Ceres wondered where the slovesa got the dressing sense from.
The slovesa brought one of his heads extremely close to Ceres’s black mask, staring into his eyes. Ceres tried his best to win the staring match, but he was about to lose when the slovesa finally chuckled.
“Good, good. You’re the new aliens, those humans, that are in control of Xerros now right?” The slovesa let go of Ceres’s shoulder, before walking off.
Ceres nodded before realizing something important, running up to catch up with the slovesa: “Wait, how are you able to hear my words? Every other slovesa I met needed me to write glyphs and…”
“Are all just weaker puppets of the aberrant temple? Fortunately, or unfortunately, both you and me are still alive and not just some useless copies. Follow me.” The slovesa strolled through the weird research lab. Ceres followed, staring in awe at a few of the crystal computers that had scrolling glyphs on them.
They walked in slience through the lab as they walked towards a door. The slovesa opened it to reveal a bright light that almost blinded Ceres’s eyes. He peeked out a bit to see an entire city made out of crystal. Naturally, they were still underground, but the cavern was humongous, most likely being more than twenty kilometres wide.
The ceiling was dominated by a white crystal that served as the primary light source akin to a star, illuminating the crystals below. Each of the ‘buildings’ glowed in various colours as well, and Ceres could even see some patches of what he could only refer to as ‘crystal forests’.
Large clusters of fungi grew and fed off the radiation from the crystals, while small radiation-hardened insects skittered about the floor. They scattered as the slovesa led Ceres through the city, though Ceres could not see anyone else. All he could see were countless dead slovesa cores littering the floor, their empty husk devoid of any signs of life and already half-cracked.
The buildings were destroyed in a myriad of ways, as though a major battle had taken place here between the slovesa themselves.
Ceres had a lot of questions on his mind but did not dare to ask a slovesa whose flick could devastate half of a forest, but luckily the slovesa was more than willing to talk to him.
“It is fortunate that you are not a slovesa, otherwise I would have killed you originally. Human, what do you think the purpose of the temple is?” The slovesa said as they walked.
Ceres pondered a bit, before replying. “To win honour and fame? It’s like a tournament of sorts. I’m more interested in who built it.”
The slovesa rapidly turned around, its expression unclear due to the lack of facial features on its three heads.
However, through Ceres’s vision, he could tell that the slovesa was angry. “Are you dumb? Of course, the slovesa built it! Have you even been paying attention? Everything is in slovesa glyphs, why would it be built by somebody else?!”
Ceres nodded in agreement hastily, afraid he would get flicked to oblivion. He meant more of which individual built it but decided not to push it too hard, recalling the sheer amount of strength this slovesa has demonstrated.
The slovesa relented a bit, calming itself down. “On the outside, the temple is a place to win and gain fame. But there’s a deeper purpose, previously claimed impossible, to this whole setup, and I can’t solve it on my own. This is why I pulled you out of the trials.”
“Why not another human? There was another one in here with me, Paska.” Ceres asked. To be honest, it felt like his detour was getting weirder and weirder. Wasn’t he supposed to simply rescue the expedition members? The training was good and all, but this sounded very dangerous to him.
The slovesa continued walking as one of the heads continued observing Ceres. “He’s too deep into the trials. He truly believes that reaching the top rank of the list would give him ‘God’s’ attention. In technical terms, he’s not wrong.”
“Wait, God is real?” Ceres was shocked to hear the slovesa admit that the Chosen were correct.
From Ceres’s point of view, the Chosen were similar to primitive aliens thinking humans were gods because of their technical gadgets.
“Depends on what you define as God. Besides, unlike you, he could not defeat fakes that are barely 30% of their original strength. You didn’t think you were fighting an actual middle-class or high-class slovesa right?” The slovesa shook two of his crystal heads before moving on.
Ceres was slightly taken aback. He had always assumed the slovesa was fighting him at their half-strength, so he naturally placed himself equivalent to a high-rank slovesa. 30% of their original strength made his original ego deflate a bit.
The two of them finally reached their destination. It was the centre of the city, where there was a towering crystal tower like a skyscraper. Ceres could not see how many levels there were.
“I can tell you know practically zero of how slovesa society works, so I’ll give you a simple easy story for your pathetic carbon brain.” The slovesa began to explain quickly, obviously rushing for time.
The temple was built during the reign of the first slovesa conqueror, also referred to as the Uniter. Under him, the slovesa’s control and territory expanded far into the stars, decimating nearby alien races and enslaving them.
However, over the centuries, the slovesa’s military strength weakened, waning over the years due to a lack of competent opponents and battles. They became complacent in their ways and relaxed in the plunders of their enemies. The focus became more on internal conflicts and disputes between the various clans as well.
“Sounds very human.”
“Oh, you humans always think aliens must be vastly different from you or some other weird thing.” The slovesa scoffed. “How do you think every other species made it into the stars? By playing nice? By being naïve? Of course, there are some things unique to you all.”
It was an uncomfortable truth that humans had to deal with in space. While there may be some unique species who somehow left their gravity well through diplomacy or symbiosis, most aliens dominated their local ecosystem through strength, winning out the evolutionary struggle.
This meant humanity always met other alien races with suspicion and vice-versa. The slovesa were a known species with particularly violent tendencies, so why should Ceres expect something vastly different? With this in mind, he listened to the rest of the story wholeheartedly.
Local internal conflicts threatened to divide the slovesa empire into pieces, leaving the first Uniter frustrated. Soon, however, he announced a large initiative that would take the empire by surprise: an empire-wide tournament.
Ranking monuments similar to the one Ceres saw in the temple were established across the empire, synchronized to show the rankings. The first emperor then promised that those who entered and obtained the top 10 ranks would earn prestige and honour for their clan and subsequent descendants.
For the slovesa who had always been warriors at heart and naturally warlike, this gave them a great avenue to fight, rather than fighting each other. The empire began to focus wholeheartedly on training for the tournament.
The tournament was so cutthroat that it was almost guaranteed death if they entered, so they had to prepare as best as they could. The various powers in the slovesa empire sent those who had nothing to lose, or everything to prove into these trials.
No one came out alive from the trials, but the slovesa expected as much of a grand tournament. Seeing their names on the ranking monuments was a good enough allure to hundreds and thousands of participants despite the inevitable death.
“Wait so why are you still alive?” Ceres couldn’t help asking.
“I’m getting to it, so stop interrupting anymore!”
The tournament lasted for centuries, even when the first Uniter resigned. At the time when the slovesa talking to Ceres had entered the temple, it was the reign of the fifth Uniter.
“I however did not care for glory nor prestige. I was sent here to die, as I was a potential rival to the then various successors of my clan. Even the guards sent to ‘escort’ me were actually there to make sure I entered the temple.”
“What is your name and clan? Were you on the ranking list?”
The slovesa pointed to a ranking monument that was erected next to the crystal tower in the middle of the city. “I’m ranked 1, at the top.”
Ceres gulped. Assuming that the fake slovesas that he had been fighting were only 30% of their strength, how strong was this slovesa?! He could not afford to piss him off at all! Luckily for Ceres, it seems that the slovesa still found value in him, else he might be dead, black armour or not!
Ceres squinted at the top, reading the glyphs slowly “Goras of clan Uyelr?! I met a slovesa called Grisao of clan Uyelr too!”
Goras didn’t express anything on his inanimate head, but Ceres could sense a feeling of joy from the slovesa. “That’s just one of the ‘successors’ that tried to eliminate me. My name appearing on the ranking monument must have spurred him to try and prove that he was better than me. Too bad he barely made it into the top 100.”
“Anyway, I’m getting off track. When I reached the 1st rank, I was elated just like any slovesa who participated in the trials. Proving that you were the winner of the most lethal tournament in the whole empire time was a pretty big deal, even for one who was forced into it. Naturally, I expected rewards, fame and fortune, and maybe even a way to get back at my former clan.”
The slovesa beckoned to Ceres, the two walking into the crystal tower. Each level was designed like a sparring ground, a dummy rock golem situated in the middle of the arena. Ceres could see the staircase leading up to the next floor, but it was fully blocked by the dummy.
Weirdly, there were something similar to a bed placed near the side, though its surface looked very uncomfortable to lie on. The floor looked like someone had lived in it before, though it was definitely not fit for human habitation, akin to sleeping on the floor.
“This is where it got weird. I was transported in front of this tower upon winning my rank 1 match. Instead of being faced with rewards – I was instead faced with yet another series of trials, this time in the form of the crystal tower.” Goras spoke as he walked about the room, sitting on the rough bedlike structure.
“Each level featured a specific disabling effect that took its toll on my body. Also, the effects stacked with each increasing level, made it harder to fight at my original strength. By the time I reached the top, I was barely able to fight.” Goras explained.
“What did you see at the top?”
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“Exactly. I don’t know. Every time I reached near the top of the tower, the effects would stack on me, rendering me unable to move or even fight properly. It would cause me to lose consciousness and I would find myself outside the tower.” Goras sighed.
“So I assume you called out to me because you think I can clear the tower for you?” Ceres finally nailed it.
“I like smart humans.” Goras grinned. “I believe the effects would almost be negligible on you – or if they are not, you would be able to overcome it. The effects are designed for slovesas, after all. I’ve been watching your fights since you entered and was impressed by your rational thinking and quick improvisation. I believe you have what it takes to clear the tower.”
Ceres remained silent, thinking about it first. He felt like the entire situation was a bit suspicious, but could not put his hand on what was the real intention of Goras. “Hold on, how were you able to view my fights?”
“This entire city is like a control centre for the temple. I’m not exactly an authorized personnel, but as you can see I am the only one here. I can hack the temple to operate it just the way I want, though only for a limited period of time. That’s how I got the red door open to pull you in.” Goras explained.
“You can’t surely be confident that I’ll be able to clear the tower. What if I fail? I’m not ranked 1.”
“You don’t have to be rank 1 to clear the tower, and even if you did fail the tower, at most you would end up outside here like me. You said you wanted training and practice, is this not the perfect setup for you?” Goras tried to convince Ceres for reasons unknown.
Ceres definitely felt suspicious of Goras. Surely there was something at the very top of this tower that Goras really wanted. However, he was not adept at reading slovesa’s core emotions, having no baseline to compare other than anger and hostility against him.
Still, this opportunity was really good to pass up. “What if there’s treasure or rewards at the top of the tower? Am I allowed to take it all?”
He could sense a sudden surge of anger within Goras, but it was suppressed immediately into a calm polite ocean. “Of course, of course. Why would I steal what is rightfully yours since you would be the one to clear the tower? However, as payment for bringing you in here and guiding you, you should let me take a single item from the top of the tower.”
Now, this raised alarms in Ceres’s head. Goras’s true intentions seemed to be to use Ceres to clear the tower and retrieve a specific item from him.
However, Ceres knew that Goras could kill him at any time, recalling the flick that blew apart half a forest. It seemed like he had no choice but to agree temporarily.
“But I need to practice first before entering the tower. Can you control the temple to set up fights like usual?” Ceres asked.
“Of course. You can fight anyone on the ranking list you want.”
“Do I have to fight more than one opponent on any of the floors of the tower?”
Goras nodded. “Don’t worry, I can manipulate the temple to set up a battle for you to fight multiple enemies as well as pick and choose the terrain. I’ll be your perfect training coach.”
Ceres still seemed a bit hesitant. Good things that came for free were usually too good to be true. Goras noticed this, leaning in a bit closer to Ceres.
“I know you want to learn how to absorb radiation energy from slovesa cores to feed your own body. I can easily teach you that as well. Consider it a gift from a friend.”
Ceres immediately stuck out his hand, shaking Goras’s hand vigorously. “You got yourself a deal!”
Ceres did not immediately step into the red door, especially since it was the first time he had seen it. For all he know he could suffer an instant death the moment he entered – the previous doors were not very nice to him.
“Hey! Where does this red door go?”
[Warning – Intrusion detected. Unauthorized command from unknown individual. Deploying countermeasures]
Monsters began to fall from the sky again similar to how it was in the maze, except this time it was at least twenty times more.
They fell in twenty columns that looked like pillars to the sky, flooding the forest as the howls and screams reached Ceres’s ears, never mind the earth-shattering tremors from the sheer amount of monsters. Ceres gulped at the sight. As strong as he was, he would be easily overwhelmed by the sheer quantity.
The red door creaked open to reveal a slovesa’s hand extended outwards, beckoning towards Ceres. “Come in quick! I don’t have much time!” A voice said hurriedly.
Ceres was in utter confusion, but he rather not face the seemingly unending horde of monsters. Still, he hesitated, until the rock golem hand did a flicking motion, flicking something small towards the monster hordes.
The small projectile whizzed past his cheek, rippling the air as it seemed to fly into the midst of them before a brilliant light burst out.
A huge explosion resulted, vaporizing more than half of the monster horde in a catastrophic display of strength. Ceres gulped, before deciding to enter the red door.
If that flick had hit him, he might have immediately ceased to exist. Ceres immediately determined that it was better not to go against such a person.
He stepped through the red door which immediately closed after him, cutting out the howling shrieks of the monsters. There was no weird teleportation effect this time, and he could clearly see his surroundings now.
Ceres found himself in a weird research lab, except instead of being made out of concrete and electronics, it was made purely out of crystal. It felt as though he had entered some crystal wonderland.
Everything here was a certain shade of crystal – the walls, the ceiling and the floor. Each step Ceres took caused the floor to emit a glow around his footsteps, energy somehow arcing through the crystal-like tactile feedback.
The surprising scene stunned him for a moment before he was grabbed by the same rock golem’s hand on the shoulder.
The hand was the size of a human one, but Ceres could feel the intense energy coursing through it like never before. He immediately stiffened up as the slovesa that was on the other side of the red door brought its face extremely close to his.
He had no idea what rank or class this slovesa was, but his body was screaming danger at the sight, despite the slovesa being the size of a human. From his experience over the last two months, a smaller slovesa was likely more dangerous to him.
The slovesa had three ‘heads’ adorned with crystals in all directions which seemed to act like its eyes. Crystals were engraved all over the slovesa’s body, even the tail. Inscriptions flowed through the translucent surface, ever-changing.
“You, what is your purpose in taking the trials?” The slovesa asked angrily, examining Ceres. The crystal eyes looked all over his entire body, making Ceres feel like he was a research subject under giant floodlights.
Ceres was stunned. To be frank, he entered the temple with the idea of saving the townspeople.
He was not entirely sure if the townspeople were outside the temple, but he was sure that no one was teleported with him, and he did not recognize any of the townspeople’s names on the ranking room.
He also recalled that when one of the more daring townspeople stuck his head through the barrier, he claimed that it was the temporary camp, so they must have returned.
So effectively, he had been simply using the temple as sort of a training camp. It was his training arc, right?
“Erm… no purpose really. I guess right now is to practice?” Ceres said with an air of hesitation. What was the right answer to give? Is this another test by the temple?
The slovesa stared at him weirdly, its crystal heads glowing unnaturally as the slovesa walked around him. He soon noticed that unlike many of the other slovesa he had been fighting, this one was actually wearing clothes like a human.
It wasn’t actually clothing per se, but more like dyed rocks that somehow looked as though the slovesa was dressed properly. Ceres wondered where the slovesa got the dressing sense from.
The slovesa brought one of his heads extremely close to Ceres’s black mask, staring into his eyes. Ceres tried his best to win the staring match, but he was about to lose when the slovesa finally chuckled.
“Good, good. You’re the new aliens, those humans, that are in control of Xerros now right?” The slovesa let go of Ceres’s shoulder, before walking off.
Ceres nodded before realizing something important, running up to catch up with the slovesa: “Wait, how are you able to hear my words? Every other slovesa I met needed me to write glyphs and…”
“Are all just weaker puppets of the aberrant temple? Fortunately, or unfortunately, both you and me are still alive and not just some useless copies. Follow me.” The slovesa strolled through the weird research lab. Ceres followed, staring in awe at a few of the crystal computers that had scrolling glyphs on them.
They walked in slience through the lab as they walked towards a door. The slovesa opened it to reveal a bright light that almost blinded Ceres’s eyes. He peeked out a bit to see an entire city made out of crystal. Naturally, they were still underground, but the cavern was humongous, most likely being more than twenty kilometres wide.
The ceiling was dominated by a white crystal that served as the primary light source akin to a star, illuminating the crystals below. Each of the ‘buildings’ glowed in various colours as well, and Ceres could even see some patches of what he could only refer to as ‘crystal forests’.
Large clusters of fungi grew and fed off the radiation from the crystals, while small radiation-hardened insects skittered about the floor. They scattered as the slovesa led Ceres through the city, though Ceres could not see anyone else. All he could see were countless dead slovesa cores littering the floor, their empty husk devoid of any signs of life and already half-cracked.
The buildings were destroyed in a myriad of ways, as though a major battle had taken place here between the slovesa themselves.
Ceres had a lot of questions on his mind but did not dare to ask a slovesa whose flick could devastate half of a forest, but luckily the slovesa was more than willing to talk to him.
“It is fortunate that you are not a slovesa, otherwise I would have killed you originally. Human, what do you think the purpose of the temple is?” The slovesa said as they walked.
Ceres pondered a bit, before replying. “To win honour and fame? It’s like a tournament of sorts. I’m more interested in who built it.”
The slovesa rapidly turned around, its expression unclear due to the lack of facial features on its three heads.
However, through Ceres’s vision, he could tell that the slovesa was angry. “Are you dumb? Of course, the slovesa built it! Have you even been paying attention? Everything is in slovesa glyphs, why would it be built by somebody else?!”
Ceres nodded in agreement hastily, afraid he would get flicked to oblivion. He meant more of which individual built it but decided not to push it too hard, recalling the sheer amount of strength this slovesa has demonstrated.
The slovesa relented a bit, calming itself down. “On the outside, the temple is a place to win and gain fame. But there’s a deeper purpose, previously claimed impossible, to this whole setup, and I can’t solve it on my own. This is why I pulled you out of the trials.”
“Why not another human? There was another one in here with me, Paska.” Ceres asked. To be honest, it felt like his detour was getting weirder and weirder. Wasn’t he supposed to simply rescue the expedition members? The training was good and all, but this sounded very dangerous to him.
The slovesa continued walking as one of the heads continued observing Ceres. “He’s too deep into the trials. He truly believes that reaching the top rank of the list would give him ‘God’s’ attention. In technical terms, he’s not wrong.”
“Wait, God is real?” Ceres was shocked to hear the slovesa admit that the Chosen were correct.
From Ceres’s point of view, the Chosen were similar to primitive aliens thinking humans were gods because of their technical gadgets.
“Depends on what you define as God. Besides, unlike you, he could not defeat fakes that are barely 30% of their original strength. You didn’t think you were fighting an actual middle-class or high-class slovesa right?” The slovesa shook two of his crystal heads before moving on.
Ceres was slightly taken aback. He had always assumed the slovesa was fighting him at their half-strength, so he naturally placed himself equivalent to a high-rank slovesa. 30% of their original strength made his original ego deflate a bit.
The two of them finally reached their destination. It was the centre of the city, where there was a towering crystal tower like a skyscraper. Ceres could not see how many levels there were.
“I can tell you know practically zero of how slovesa society works, so I’ll give you a simple easy story for your pathetic carbon brain.” The slovesa began to explain quickly, obviously rushing for time.
The temple was built during the reign of the first slovesa conqueror, also referred to as the Uniter. Under him, the slovesa’s control and territory expanded far into the stars, decimating nearby alien races and enslaving them.
However, over the centuries, the slovesa’s military strength weakened, waning over the years due to a lack of competent opponents and battles. They became complacent in their ways and relaxed in the plunders of their enemies. The focus became more on internal conflicts and disputes between the various clans as well.
“Sounds very human.”
“Oh, you humans always think aliens must be vastly different from you or some other weird thing.” The slovesa scoffed. “How do you think every other species made it into the stars? By playing nice? By being naïve? Of course, there are some things unique to you all.”
It was an uncomfortable truth that humans had to deal with in space. While there may be some unique species who somehow left their gravity well through diplomacy or symbiosis, most aliens dominated their local ecosystem through strength, winning out the evolutionary struggle.
This meant humanity always met other alien races with suspicion and vice-versa. The slovesa were a known species with particularly violent tendencies, so why should Ceres expect something vastly different? With this in mind, he listened to the rest of the story wholeheartedly.
Local internal conflicts threatened to divide the slovesa empire into pieces, leaving the first Uniter frustrated. Soon, however, he announced a large initiative that would take the empire by surprise: an empire-wide tournament.
Ranking monuments similar to the one Ceres saw in the temple were established across the empire, synchronized to show the rankings. The first emperor then promised that those who entered and obtained the top 10 ranks would earn prestige and honour for their clan and subsequent descendants.
For the slovesa who had always been warriors at heart and naturally warlike, this gave them a great avenue to fight, rather than fighting each other. The empire began to focus wholeheartedly on training for the tournament.
The tournament was so cutthroat that it was almost guaranteed death if they entered, so they had to prepare as best as they could. The various powers in the slovesa empire sent those who had nothing to lose, or everything to prove into these trials.
No one came out alive from the trials, but the slovesa expected as much of a grand tournament. Seeing their names on the ranking monuments was a good enough allure to hundreds and thousands of participants despite the inevitable death.
“Wait so why are you still alive?” Ceres couldn’t help asking.
“I’m getting to it, so stop interrupting anymore!”
The tournament lasted for centuries, even when the first Uniter resigned. At the time when the slovesa talking to Ceres had entered the temple, it was the reign of the fifth Uniter.
“I however did not care for glory nor prestige. I was sent here to die, as I was a potential rival to the then various successors of my clan. Even the guards sent to ‘escort’ me were actually there to make sure I entered the temple.”
“What is your name and clan? Were you on the ranking list?”
The slovesa pointed to a ranking monument that was erected next to the crystal tower in the middle of the city. “I’m ranked 1, at the top.”
Ceres gulped. Assuming that the fake slovesas that he had been fighting were only 30% of their strength, how strong was this slovesa?! He could not afford to piss him off at all! Luckily for Ceres, it seems that the slovesa still found value in him, else he might be dead, black armour or not!
Ceres squinted at the top, reading the glyphs slowly “Goras of clan Uyelr?! I met a slovesa called Grisao of clan Uyelr too!”
Goras didn’t express anything on his inanimate head, but Ceres could sense a feeling of joy from the slovesa. “That’s just one of the ‘successors’ that tried to eliminate me. My name appearing on the ranking monument must have spurred him to try and prove that he was better than me. Too bad he barely made it into the top 100.”
“Anyway, I’m getting off track. When I reached the 1st rank, I was elated just like any slovesa who participated in the trials. Proving that you were the winner of the most lethal tournament in the whole empire time was a pretty big deal, even for one who was forced into it. Naturally, I expected rewards, fame and fortune, and maybe even a way to get back at my former clan.”
The slovesa beckoned to Ceres, the two walking into the crystal tower. Each level was designed like a sparring ground, a dummy rock golem situated in the middle of the arena. Ceres could see the staircase leading up to the next floor, but it was fully blocked by the dummy.
Weirdly, there were something similar to a bed placed near the side, though its surface looked very uncomfortable to lie on. The floor looked like someone had lived in it before, though it was definitely not fit for human habitation, akin to sleeping on the floor.
“This is where it got weird. I was transported in front of this tower upon winning my rank 1 match. Instead of being faced with rewards – I was instead faced with yet another series of trials, this time in the form of the crystal tower.” Goras spoke as he walked about the room, sitting on the rough bedlike structure.
“Each level featured a specific disabling effect that took its toll on my body. Also, the effects stacked with each increasing level, made it harder to fight at my original strength. By the time I reached the top, I was barely able to fight.” Goras explained.
“What did you see at the top?”
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“Exactly. I don’t know. Every time I reached near the top of the tower, the effects would stack on me, rendering me unable to move or even fight properly. It would cause me to lose consciousness and I would find myself outside the tower.” Goras sighed.
“So I assume you called out to me because you think I can clear the tower for you?” Ceres finally nailed it.
“I like smart humans.” Goras grinned. “I believe the effects would almost be negligible on you – or if they are not, you would be able to overcome it. The effects are designed for slovesas, after all. I’ve been watching your fights since you entered and was impressed by your rational thinking and quick improvisation. I believe you have what it takes to clear the tower.”
Ceres remained silent, thinking about it first. He felt like the entire situation was a bit suspicious, but could not put his hand on what was the real intention of Goras. “Hold on, how were you able to view my fights?”
“This entire city is like a control centre for the temple. I’m not exactly an authorized personnel, but as you can see I am the only one here. I can hack the temple to operate it just the way I want, though only for a limited period of time. That’s how I got the red door open to pull you in.” Goras explained.
“You can’t surely be confident that I’ll be able to clear the tower. What if I fail? I’m not ranked 1.”
“You don’t have to be rank 1 to clear the tower, and even if you did fail the tower, at most you would end up outside here like me. You said you wanted training and practice, is this not the perfect setup for you?” Goras tried to convince Ceres for reasons unknown.
Ceres definitely felt suspicious of Goras. Surely there was something at the very top of this tower that Goras really wanted. However, he was not adept at reading slovesa’s core emotions, having no baseline to compare other than anger and hostility against him.
Still, this opportunity was really good to pass up. “What if there’s treasure or rewards at the top of the tower? Am I allowed to take it all?”
He could sense a sudden surge of anger within Goras, but it was suppressed immediately into a calm polite ocean. “Of course, of course. Why would I steal what is rightfully yours since you would be the one to clear the tower? However, as payment for bringing you in here and guiding you, you should let me take a single item from the top of the tower.”
Now, this raised alarms in Ceres’s head. Goras’s true intentions seemed to be to use Ceres to clear the tower and retrieve a specific item from him.
However, Ceres knew that Goras could kill him at any time, recalling the flick that blew apart half a forest. It seemed like he had no choice but to agree temporarily.
“But I need to practice first before entering the tower. Can you control the temple to set up fights like usual?” Ceres asked.
“Of course. You can fight anyone on the ranking list you want.”
“Do I have to fight more than one opponent on any of the floors of the tower?”
Goras nodded. “Don’t worry, I can manipulate the temple to set up a battle for you to fight multiple enemies as well as pick and choose the terrain. I’ll be your perfect training coach.”
Ceres still seemed a bit hesitant. Good things that came for free were usually too good to be true. Goras noticed this, leaning in a bit closer to Ceres.
“I know you want to learn how to absorb radiation energy from slovesa cores to feed your own body. I can easily teach you that as well. Consider it a gift from a friend.”
Ceres immediately stuck out his hand, shaking Goras’s hand vigorously. “You got yourself a deal!”
