In the four days that he waited for Takis' arrival, Lucian saw one other person appear in the mountain valley's clearing, but didn't recognize him. An elder from one of the sects, but he wore no identification.
'Perhaps he has enemies within The Maelstrom.'
The older man looked around for anyone else, and made a startled double-take when noticing Lucian sitting a distance away watching the clearing.
'So he couldn't sense me at first, good.' With a small smile, he nodded to the unknown elder who returned the small greeting before running off to the second mountain, the one with average height.
As he was now, Lucian was half a foot in the World of Shadows, learning to walk the line between the two. If he could master this, he would be capable of hiding completely within a cast shadow, disappearing from sight and sense, but still not in the world of shadows beyond. That was his goal for now.
He'd also achieved one other thing of significance as he waited. In what felt like the final few days of his wandering through the labyrinth, his soul had finished recovering from the last spiritual anchor he pinned to it.
And now, he had forged another. Where before, two blazing suns could be found within him, binding his soul to the mind and heart, another could be found within his core. This third spiritual anchor was positioned where a dantian would be on a Daoist but had no relation to that. The core was an important location and a place from which power flowed.
With his soul anchored to his mind, heart, and core, power flooded from his cultivation into his soul, strengthening it. It would continue to do so for a while, and until it had finished improving his spiritual power, his soul would not fully stabilize and accept the anchor. Until that was done, he could not forge another safely.
A distant explosion caught his ear, and Lucian turned to look in the direction of the middle mountain. The elder had met some kind of trouble trying to scale the long and winding stone stairs up the rocky hills and cliffs.
'This is the fourth day. Hurry Takis, or I'll be gone by the time you show.'
Yet despite his thoughts, the prince never did show up, even as the 4th day came to an end. There was no sun here, but the red sky seemed to darken every night, granting the sweet mercy of consistent time.
With a sigh one part reluctance and resignation, and another of relief, he stood from the shadow of a tree and strode back to the clearing of the mountain valley. There were three sets of stone stairs to choose from, each winding their way up a different mountain of varying heights.
'If I had to guess, it's a test of ambition? Or greed? If it's the former, most would consider it positive to choose the highest peak, it shows confidence and determination. But if it's the latter… Perhaps whoever or whatever made this place wanted to weed out the greedy.'
He turned to look at the middle mountain, the one the elder was battling his way up currently and shook his head.
'Then again, if it's still a test of will, then taking the middle road is a cowards way. Really, can't they just make a bloody sign?'
His eyebrows perked for a moment with an idea, but he put it aside for now.
'If I can't guess what's being tested, I'll just go with my gut.' His eyes returned to the highest peak once more. He was pretty certain that someone or something built this place intentionally. It was too orderly and structured for a natural spiritual region, like the valley of mist. There were certainly naturally occurring inheritance grounds, at least according to legends told in cultivation hall.
Like natural treasures that had to be earned, or heavenly wills passing on incredible knowledge to chosen mortals. But those were things of legends that always seemed so closely tied with the spirits, and Lucian felt this place was more… human, than that. It was cruel, it inspired greed, and spoke of incredible grandeur in the most artificial ways. It was not how he imagined the spirits of the Dao.
'Ambition it is.' he decided. With a flick of his hand, a drop of blood shot out behind him and expanded, forming a literal 'bloody sign' rooted in the earth, harder than steel.
It read:
Irina is safe
I've walked the tallest.
Good luck.
- LV
Happy that the sign did not give away anything of importance to whoever else may read it before Takis' arrival, he moved onto the first step on the long winding path of the highest peak.
The moment he stepped onto the flat stone stair, a soft pressure pushed against him, like the feeling of a soft breeze pushing on him from every direction.
'What's this?' he thought with curiosity and wariness.
Another step and the pressure became harder, then again, and again with every step he took on the path.
'So it's a physical pressure? To test endurance? That can't be all, the elder sounded as if he was battling on the middle mountain.'
He continued up the path, the pressure growing with every step. The path wound about for thousands of steps before disappearing above the clouds, but Lucian did not worry. If it was just a physical pressure, then he had nothing to worry about.
Picking up speed, he started to sprint upwards, conjuring bloodplate armor in case of the worst as the pressure grew. 50 steps, 100 steps, 300 steps. He had started to frown now, not because the pressure was hard to endure, far from it. But he knew that he was a special case. Even among Augmentors, few his stage could boast defense like his. But then, how were Daoists expected to pass this trial?
Looking up at the cloud-shrouded peak, he wondered how intense the pressure would become. Could a Daoist really handle it? Maybe Takis could, but he was again, a special case.
He shook his head to dispel the answerless questions and continue when a loud roar echoed down the mountainside from ahead of him.
Cold blue eyes, now devoid of any needless considerations flicked up to meet the frenzied gaze of a large lizard-like creature. Red scales and harsh white fangs, as if made to inspire fear.
Another hissing roar and the bulky lizard moved with shocking speed, sharp claws cutting and breaking stone as it descended on him.
Having tired of using weapons so frequently, Lucian readied his armored hands for the lizard's attack. The moment it stopped outside his range, twisting the rear of its body and repositioning legs as if to bring its long tail around in attack, Lucian stepped forward quickly.
With his right hand held high to the left, he slapped to the right, his palm hitting the side of the lizards huge head, and his fingers digging in through broken scales to hold the creature, pulling it's head to the right as his left hand, outstretched like a knife, pierced through its neck with a sickening squelch.
The lizard flailed about in defiance, still very much alive as it's left claw swiped at him, but Lucian used his grip on the lizard to jump off the ground and pull himself onto it's back. From there, he stabbed two hands into its neck, one on each side, and started to pull upwards.
It was gruesome work, after so many months or years or… after so long of nothing, his whole body shook in eagerness for combat. Even as his mind was cold and detached, his body reveled in it.
'All things dread an exposed neck. Take a hold of its mind and you control the battle.'
In his slightly glowing eyes, fear and dread were overcoming rage and desire in the Lizard's mind, and he capitalized on that. Entire handfuls of flesh were rent from the creatures neck and it tried flailing to remove him from it's back, but that just made the matter worse.
When it became obvious the creature had no fight left in it, he released Lightness, and let his heavy body pin the creature down, as if an ocean pressed atop it. Then, with a thrust of his right arm, he drove a final knife hand into the top of the creature's head, stilling it.
Blood splattered the ground, and his armor, but before Lucian thought to take it, the crimson liquid shifted to a type of fog. The body too, began to break apart into a very faint red fog, all of it collecting into a single point as Lucian jumped back, ready for another fight.
Yet after a few seconds, only a small ball of red fog remained.
'What on earth?' The tranquility seeped away as he relaxed somewhat.
Stretching out a hand, he formed a stick of blood to poke at the thing. Immediately, the red fog invaded the stick of blood, but then ejected from it and again floated in the air.
He moved close, but it did not seem to react. Not until the moment he touched it with a finger no longer armored.
In one swift motion, the small ball of fog disappeared into his body, filling every inch of it as Lucian's internal defenses remained primed to dispel the thing. Yet as it spread, a warm and strong feeling surfaced in his body, the kind he felt after he had made improvements in the Steel Body technique all those years ago.
'It strengthens the body?' Shocked eyes flicked to the top of the mountain, still hidden behind thick white clouds, and a smile spread on his face.
'In that case…' With a sprint, he shot his way further up the mountain, his eyes searching for another of these creatures.
If others have already walked this mountain, how many of these things are left? Whatever there was, they were his.