As the white light dispersed, the trio found themselves inside a massive castle which was filled with the sanguine stench of blood and a small gargoyle on the wall, bearing its fangs towards them.
It seemed as if it would pounce on them the next moment. Beneath it was a passageway leading to an unknown chamber, but he didn't dare to randomly walk in.
'A.I. chip scan the surroundings.' Tirus ordered the A.I. chip, and it soon finished the task.
[Beep! The density of energy particles is 10% lower than the outside world. No formations or traps detected] The A.I. chip loyally intoned.
"Hm, follow me, defend me if we get into a trap." Tirus ordered the elf pair. It wasn't that he didn't value them, but it was just that his life came first. Even if they couldn't help him in battle, he could still use them as meat shields.
They entered the passage way and kept walking for a while. Tirus thought that there would be some traps which the A.I. chip could have missed, but there really weren't any.
Soon, they entered a garden, it was massive and one couldn't even see where it ended.
In the middle of the garden was a giant tree with lush green leaves and a human like face, but the radiation it was emitting was only at rank 3 vapor stage, so Tirus didn't need to worry about his life.
"You have come, oh fated one."
The tree spoke in a hoarse voice, leaves falling like rain as it moved its mouth.
"Show me the mark that you obtained, and you shall survive."
The tree spoke in a commanding tone, it didn't know that the man in front of him didn't need its mercy for his survival.
"I have the crest with me, but will you kill anyone else present here with no crest?" Tirus inquired out of curiosity.
"… If they don't have the mark, then, no matter who they are, I shall kill them."
"Oh, I see, but… It's pity I can't let you do that, they were expensive, after all." He replied while making a grabbing motion in the air, his magi robes fluttered as a massive semi-transparent hand grabbed the tree.
"What are you doing?! Don't you want the inheritance?" The tree giant roared in fury as it felt its roots leaving the ground.
"Do I look like a retard? What inheritance would be so easy to obtain? Especially if the first monster we encounter is a rank 2?" Tirus tightened his grip as the tree soon started wailing in agony. It couldn't use any of its spells, it felt as if it lost its ability to use its own spiritual force.
"Wait, wait, please don't do this, I'm willing to let you go!" It pleaded in its unpleasant, hoarse voice.
"No need." Hundreds of fireballs emerged in thin air and shot towards the giant tree and soon, even it was reduced to ashes.
*Bam*
After the giant tree was burnt, it revealed a passage way to the next floor on the ground.
When Tirus got the inheritance, he was given the basic information that there were 3 floors in the inheritance, so how could he believe that tree?
Although he didn't show it, he was still a little hesitant to destroy the tree and so he used his Dark prophetic heart to decide whether it's a good idea to do it.
"Let's go." He said as he jumped into the hole which was the entrance to the second floor.
...
All three of them were hovering in midair, slowly going deeper into the bottomless pit. They had been going on for about 2 hours now.
'What is happening?' He pondered as he commanded the A.I…chip to inform him of any abnormalities.
After a few seconds, the A.I. chip gave him the signal.
[Beep! Detected projectiles coming to towards the host in 3, 2, 1…]
*Shii*
An arrow brushed past his head, fortunately, he dodged in time.
"Stay alert!" He roared as he increased his pace and shot towards the end of the pit at a rapid speed.
'This trap must've been set to deplete the spiritual energy of those who enter.' This thought flashed through his mind as he dodged countless arrows. It was quite bizarre because it felt as if the arrows were only targeting him.
*Grrr*
The sound of a thunderous roar resounded in the entire pit as he spotted a plant monster which had a head of a lion, fangs of a wolf and a greenish mane.
A fireball of intense destructive power formed in its mount as it aimed at Tirus.
*Shuu*
The fireball struck Tirus's semi-transparent defensive shield. It was his rank 1 innate defensive spell, but since it was powered by his rank 3 spiritual force, it could easily defend against attacks of at least 300 degrees of destructive force.
'Hm, impressive, well, somewhat at least.' He thought.
The lion monster was closing its mouth, preparing for another attack, but Tirus was no fool and he'd never give his opponents any chances in battle.
"Rank 3 innate spell…" Tirus chanted an incantation within ten milliseconds and transformed into his dark giant form.
*Bam*
He used his momentum gained from the gravitational force while falling and smashed the lion monster in a single punch.
*Bam*
*Bam*
*Bam*
He kept punching without stopping even for a second, soon, he crushed it into bits and pieces.
'A.I. chip, scan.' The A.I. chip soon scanned the remains of the monster and soon it was confirmed that its dead.
'Hm...'
"E1, E2, are you alive?" He said in a calm voice after landing on the ground at the bottom of the pit.
"Yes, master, we are." The two replied and soon landed in front of him, kneeling.
Within a few seconds, a white light enveloped all three of them.
When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in midair.
"Use flight." He ordered his slaves as he activated a flight spell.
"This water…its acidic!" He didn't even need to use the A.I. chip since looking at the boiling hot seawater with a green hue in it, even an idiot would be able to tell that it's acidic just by looking at it.
"There, master." E1 said while pointing in the south-east direction. There was an altar erected in the middle of this seemingly boundless ocean.
Tirus rushed towards the altar, and the elf pair soon followed. After landing on the altar, they saw a blank golden crest in the middle of a small mound.
"This should be it." He murmured as he saw the mark of his hand brighten up.
He soon stepped forward and placed his hand on the golden crest. Soon, the mark from his hand disappeared and was printed on the crest.
"The one who inherited this crest, you have now become a candidate for my true inheritance. I am the morning star magi, Plaguemancer."
The message resounded in the ears of everyone present, and large amounts of information entered Tirus's mind.
"… Haah." After a while of silence, he finally sighed in relief.
This was an inheritance set up by an ancient morning star magi, this was just a test in order to find a suitable inheritance candidate. Each candidate represented a region.
The eastern continent had one, and so did the other continents of the surface world.
Each candidate would be given a crest and all five crests needed to be used together in order to open up the door to the semi-plane where the true inheritance was.
Tirus had concealed his central continent's aura and thus, he was able to obtain the crest that was meant to be inherited by a native.
*Rumble*
The whole secret realm started trembling as spatial cracks started to appear everywhere.
"Hurry, follow me." He transformed into a ray of black light and so did the elf pair, though their speed was a little lower than his.
....
In the Northern continent,
In a certain part of a barren wasteland,
"Lord Aimon, we have captured a few human slave traders." An elf with a fair skin kneeled before another elf in submission.
These were the members of the wood elf's kingdom in the western continent. Their leader, Aimon, was a genius who became a peak rank 3 magi within 400 hundred years.
"Hm, soul search them, and then put them in one of our secret planes, we will rear these humans in great numbers and then use them for experiments." He gave the necessary instructions to the elf mage prostrating himself in front of him and gestured him to leave.
After the elf left, Aimon looked outside the window with a dazed expression.
'If I can reach rank 4, then I can take all my people away from here, from this dammed forest.' He thought, tightening his grip on a crest with a green symbol on it.
'I've heard that the ones who reach the morning star realm can travel to different worlds, if that's really true, then I'll take all my people there…someday.' Ever since he was born, he wanted his people to live like those humans, the ones who owned everything, but he knew it wasn't possible because he was simply too weak.
"Someday…" He murmured in a soft voice, glancing at the clear blue sky.
To be continued...