Elune spent her time thinking about baby names and just relaxing around the beautiful landscapes of the temple or just sitting around listening to the birds tweet. Elune tried to stay away from the training areas that for some reason increased the rate at which the unborn child kicked her belly, she discovered that the kicks even conform to the rhythm in which the shouts from the monks came in.
"You are just like your father aren't you?" Whispered Elune to her Belly.
The Temple of the Rising Sun was truly a good place to have a child, as it was alienated from the rest of the world and the struggle between the good and evil. The Tempering War ended but the competition continued as the forces of Blackrock and Silverwing scrambled to search for the other pieces of the avatar sets.
The Realm belonging to the alliance was literally turned upside down and even the entrance to the Fifth Gate Rahz and the others used was discovered by some adventurers but without the energy necessary there was no way to activate the translocation tunnel a third time.
In the Temple of the Dreadnought Rahz's disciples were thriving in the use of the energy of the realm while the poor performance during the war boosted the other chamber's drive to become strong and represent their race in the future.
Mount Doom was very quiet and the conflict between Barash and Annihilus seem to be history on the surface but the struggle was even more intense in the shadows. If there was somebody very adept at skimming it was the insidious naga Race Barash belong to, so the time of peace was just the calm before the storm.
The most quiet of all the factions were the followers of the God of Justice that took the biggest blow during the War, they had no chosen and lost two pieces of their own avatar set. This pieces were recreate it for a third time by Odos through gritted teeth and given to Ivan to wear for the War against the Dragonkin.
The craziness of the outside world didn't reach the temple above the clouds and when Rahz least expected it, he saw Bato approaching him while the spirit inside the Pearls of Enlightenment appeared and in a very enthusiastic manner said, "I have come to fulfill our promise Chosen. We will help you increase your levels without the need to sacrifice the creatures of the realm and consume them"
"About time Old man" Said Rahz
"The Supreme Elder calls it, Illusionary Training, and the key to the training are the orbs in possession of the Celestial Beast. The orb was used by Xiao Niu to test the worthiness of Bato before the soul contract was established between the two of them. The environment created by the Celestial Beast inside the orb can replicate even the laws of the realm and provide adventures that you can repeat over and over to gain the energy necessary to increase in levels. This energy is absorb by the orb and then it is giving to you as a rewards for clearing the challenge. At the beginning we thought that the celestial creature was the one creating the challenges but then we learned that it was actually the spirit of the realm that tested the strength of its children".
"Where does the Energy come from?"
"The energy comes from the realm itself as a reward, sort off like when Bato gains enlightenment on a skill or helps the realm in any way, he gets a boost to his level. Apocalypse should have the same ability but maybe a little bit different".
"Hmm… I do get extra energy when it devours items created by the gods but the amount of energy I need is huge"
"That is no problem at all, the orb can even provide energy for the supreme elder to continue moving up in levels but the challenges get exponentially harder. The orb does have a down time after each use but if it is left in an environment with a high concentration of energy, the activation time can be shorten"
"So you use that Elementium statue in the main temple" the voice of Springsocket came from the bracelet.
"That is correct"
"Xiao Bai also has one so we should be able to use them back to back. How many people can come inside?" asked Rahz
"As far as we know 5 is the limit but the reward will be split among all the people that participated in the event"
"That sounds amazing, when can we try it?"
"That is the reason we came to see you, Xiao Niu's Orb is ready to be use so we can take it for a spin, whenever you are ready"
AHEM!
Elune cleared her throat and looked at her husband with a serious expression before turning towards Bato and asking, "How many days do these adventures of yours last? I need my husband with me during the birth of our child and it is coming soon"
GULP!
Rahz realized that in his excitement he completely overlooked something very important and that going into the adventure meant leaving his pregnant wife for a couple of days.
"Whether we are successful or not, the adventure will last 5 days at the most but if we are fast then we can return earlier but either way we would improve our levels a lot faster than in the outside".
"Sigh… Alright but only one!! then you better not even think of leaving my sight"
The happiest person was Jazz that jumped at the opportunity to leave the temple and his strict rules.
The group looked at Jazz and Bato couldn't help but asked,"Are you sure? If you get injured inside, it would be for real"
"Sure! Anything to get some fresh air" said Jazz while thinking that as long as he stuck close to Rahz and Riddick nothing would happen.
HAHAHA!
"Great! Let's Go. Don't worry Rahz I already assigned two apprentice to help Elune with anything she might need"
"Thank you"
Riddick, Jazz, Rahz, and Bato made their way towards the back of the main temple where a stream of water seemed to run off the mountain. The little waterfall seem to be the end of the mountain peak but the closer they got to edge, the easier it was for them to see that a little trail seem to be going down the side and into a small cave.
"This is amazing" said Springsocket while scanning the walls of the cave where many stones shone with bright light. This cave is full of Elementium stones and by the looks of it they were naturally form.
Bato's eyes opened wide, this was the second time listening to a weird voice that seem to know all of the temple's secrets and the most enigmatic part of all was that it seem to be coming from a bracelet.
"That is an amazing item Rahz, Where did you get it from?"
"We found it in the ruins of an ancient Dark Elf Empire but I am afraid it is one of a kind"
"That is too bad, I could make a lot of money with an item like that".
"How?" Ask Riddick, his success in the auction house through his treasure hunting had developed a new hobby.
"That is easy, by having the item appraised items from the bazaar and then reselling them at an auction house".
….
Rahz never thought about it before, it was a great idea that he decided to steal the next time he was at a city market. There were many items that were sold cheap by adventurers because nobody knew their true value but with the kinetic cube in their hands, there were no mysteries in front of them and if it the cube couldn't appraised it, then it was just that much more valuable.
The orb belonging to Xiao Niu stood in the middle of the cave with an aura that radiated energy on the outside but in the inside all that anybody could see was a something like a black gas that swirl around erratically.
"At the count of 3, we all need to touch the orb at the same time. You ready?"
Bato confirm that everyone was ready and then started to count backwards.
Three...Two...One
Go!
Four hands shot out towards the orb and the moment they touched it, the group became similar to a liquid version of themselves that was absorbed into the orb.
The four liquids started solidifying inside the orb and when their sight was restored, they were standing on top of teleportation platform in floating island. The team could see in the distance other floating islands but they were too far away to distinguish anything about them, all they could see were the different colors of the land against the blue sky.
Rahz looked down from the edge of the platform and he could see that the face of the floating island looked as if a huge creature had dig into the earth and took out a chunk of land and then put it in the sky.
Rahz stepped away from the edge and looked around before his eyes landed on little road by the face of the island going up where lushious green could be seen.
The moment his eyes swept passed the road a person materialized in front of the team.
Rahz and the rest of the Demon Squad gasped but Bato had been in adventures before so he had expected a guide of sorts, sometimes it came in the form of Xiao Niu but other times it was a Ghost or other type of creatures.
Rahz stare at the person and to his surprise it had the same features as the owner of the Fair Lady in the town Naas, it was an Erudite.