That having been said, there wasn't much we wanted to talk about, or I should say there wasn't anything Jue Zhu wanted to talk about that I was willing to talk about. Fortunately, it was only a couple hours before Jong joined us. With him getting things rolling, a much more friendly atmosphere was waiting when Shokoya and Quan arrived, Shokoya first and Quan within minutes of him. Jue Zhu and I passed out the supplies everyone had asked for, and I walked everyone through the process of using our Academy badges to transfer the summer credits to us both.
"All right," said Quan, once we had finished, "let's go. I assume Jue Zhu is taking point?"
"Eh?" Jue Zhu gestured to the sun, which was almost finished setting, "isn't it a bit late to start? We have lots of summer left..."
"I'm nowhere near needing sleep," said Quan, "it's almost become habit by now to only sleep once every few nights."
"Yeah," I put in, "I don't often hunt at night, but at this level I don't need sleep more than that often either. Unless any of us haven't slept recently enough, we should be good to go."
Jong and Shokoya both confirmed they hadn't gone too long, and Jue Zhu sheepishly admitted that he'd slept last night and was raring to go himself. "Old habits, I guess."
The entrance to the volcanic caves had been marked with torches to either side. After cautiously walking along for a few minutes, we entered a large chamber, empty of any magical beasts. I could make out three large doors at the other end, and a large stone tablet in the center of the room.
Wordlessly, we went over to examine the tablet. I wasn't the only one surprised to see that rather than some kind of mysterious, arcane or archaic symbols, plain writing was carved into it. Jue Zhu read it aloud:
"Below is a massive, complex maze. One person alone would need many months to find its end. Companions may enter, but they must be tested.
Beyond this chamber are three Ascended Beasts. On the left, a Beast of Body. On the right, a Beast of Mind. In the center, a Beast of Soul. Companions of the Jade Ox Trials, you must separate and battle each. Once you choose your opponent, there is no retreat. He of the Jade Ox Trials cannot join you.
Once all three are overcome, the path below will open."
"Well, once again, my decision is easy." I went over to the right-hand door. "Of course, I'll take on the 'Mind' beast."
"I wonder how this place will stop us from retreating, or Jue Zhu from entering?" said Shokoya. I had just stepped into the corridor beyond the right-hand door, so I turned around to continue the conversation—and saw the answer. "Oh."
"Oh, what oh?" said Quan.
"What, you don't see them? Maybe they're not visible from this side. There are bars made of red light blocking the doorway. But like the tablet said, I guess they only stop someone from going back."
"No, I see them too," said Jue Zhu, "no doubt they're also supposed to stop me from taking this challenge."
The others opened the other two doors, and Jue Zhu confirmed he saw more sets of bars of light across the other two doorways. "I think it's time to finish deciding what we're going to do," said Jong, "Zuhui, you'll be fine on your own, right?"
"I'll do my best," I said, "the obvious way to split us up is for you to take on the Beast of Body, and for Shokoya and Quan to go for the Beast of Soul."
Jong nodded. "That's exactly what I was going to suggest. Someone especially suited to taking on what such an opponent will probably be like is extremely rare, after all."
"I'd be a little more assured if Wang Jing was here," said Shokoya, "but we were hardly going to force her to come with us."
"Maybe we could look for her?" said Quan, but then he shook his head, "nah, her cultivation base is behind ours too much."
"We'll just have to be extra careful," said Shokoya, stepping forward toward the center door. Quan followed.
I took a few breaths, steeling myself for another fight against an elite enemy. "Hey genius, what're you waiting on?" I looked up at Jong, who'd spoken. "Flatten 'em. You got it in you."
"Tch." I'm getting too comfortable with this bunch. "Just don't blame me when I finish my guy off before you do yours."
The corridor beyond terminated in a perfectly round chamber. The ceiling was low compared to the entry cavern, and from the look of the walls, they'd been rounded off by people. "Arena fight, eh?"
Then I saw the Ascended Beast, and it was definitely the freakiest one yet. A glowing, floating sphere, covered in luminescent tentacles that swayed in a way that reminded me of a sea anemone.
Immediately, I felt strange, a little dizzy and a little forgetful, but I'd expected an Ascended Beast of Mind to try to mess with my head. I concentrated as hard as I could, and went on the attack. It was very, very slow but I got an impression that was strong enough to cut through the odd feeling that if even one of those tentacles so much as brushed against me, I'd be dead before I could open my System Menu to get the distress totem out.
My shots were definitely doing damage, some tentacles had fallen off after a while, but if this thing even HAD vitals there was no way I'd be hitting them aside from sheer luck. Still, more of the actual sphere was exposed, and I'd always been aiming to hit it. However, it was getting a little harder to move my body. Something it was doing was making me tire much, much faster than usual. I had to push myself quite a bit, but as I kept going on, it finally started showing signs of weakening.
I started counting my shots to help keep concentration and to persevere, and right when I counted 20, the fog in my mind lifted, though I still felt nearly exhausted. In the same moment, the sphere's glow left it as though switching off a languishing lightbulb, and it dropped like a stone. "This is starting to make sense," I mumbled, "that felt like a test."
I dragged myself out toward the entrance cave, and sure enough the glowing red bars had vanished. Looking back toward the other two entrances, I saw red bars blocking them now. It was only once I'd gone back near the tablet and sat down that I noticed only Jue Zhu was still there. "Wow, that was fast," he said, "but you look like you've been fighting for a week."
"It had an effect that made me tired really quickly, and I kept pushing myself the worse it got. Being spent is pretty much to be expected."
"Must have been an impressive effect," said Jue Zhu, "it hasn't even been five minutes."
"Really? It felt like a lot longer."
Not long after, the bars over the left-hand door vanished. A minute later, Jong came out. "Son of a—haha, you really did beat yours first!"
"Hmm," he continued, after joining us at the tablet, looking over at the center door, "I hope Quan and Shokoya are ok."