Adonis' alarms went off and he immediately ducked, dodging a slipper sent his way.
Looking at the furious Uncle Seth that stood a few metres away from him, he felt a cold chill run down his spine.
"Wait uncle I can explain-ARGH!"
Another slipper zipped across the air.
"Stupid brat! Seems this uncle is gonna have to beat the nonsense out of you!"
***
After a rather thorough beating from his Uncle, Adonis was finally given mercy.
Sat around the same table they'd been at earlier, the two spoke.
"Well done, brat. This could've been very dangerous. You're lucky you chose the Sovereign trial and not any of the others."
"What-"
"Nope. I will not be elaborating."
Adonis' brow twitched in annoyance but he was beginning to get used to his uncle's eccentricness so he let go and sighed.
"Anyway, you are the [True Heir]."
As soon as those words were spoken, a gust of azure energy gathered from the surroundings and the pillars around them shook as upon Adonis' backpalm, a mark began to be etched.
It was an intricately woven insignia of runes and ancient writing that looked like a dying star in the midst of a grand sea full of worlds and wonder.
As soon as the energy in the surroundings died down, the mark finished the etching process and Adonis felt a strange power flow through him.
On his index, a beautiful metallic ring manifested.
"For becoming the [True Heir] via one of the foundational trials you've been rewarded."
"The mark represents your ownership over the Mansion and your level of authority. Normally, at such a stage you'd have Zero Ground level authority but you got lucky and were awarded with Tier One authority."
"The ring is a spatial ring. It is a- wait, do you know what a spatial ring is?" He asked.
Adonis had a vague idea but in the end, he shook his head.
"A spatial ring is an object forged by skillful crafters that either contains or is connected to a foreign space. The ones that contain separate spaces are usually more expensive and useful due to their overall security."
"…another space?"
"Yes, it's as if they contain a world of their own. To forge them, you either need a forger with a high spatial affinity or rare ores blessed with specific qi veins."
"Anyway, as I was gonna say, to use it, you just have to will it and your mind will be projected inside the space and you'll be able to take in and out whatever you see fit."
"Within the ring are the rest of your rewards; a set of robes and boots personally crafted by his lordship. The Boundless Set."
Adonis smiled. Though he was excited and happy by all of this, it did feel quite underwhelming.
'Maybe I expected too much.'
Seeing this, Uncle Seth spoke again.
"Don't be mistaken, the real reward is your access tier. You have no idea of the amount of things you can do with tier one authority."
"The mansion has pretty much anything you can ask for as long as your authority is high enough."
Uncle Seth waved his and a holographic projection manifested before him, showcasing multiple cubes that swirled around a grand tower of dark blue steel.
"You see all these boxes? These are all the Cardinal facilities of the mansion."
"So far, you've unlocked the [Training Hall], the [Library], the [Reforging Hall] and the [Analysis Hall]. These are perfect for your current needs. Also, for each level of authority, you'll be able to get one gift of your choice from the mansion."
Hearing this, now, Adonis was truly excited.
'Brat.'
"But before we get into any of that, how about we test your talent and get you started on your path of cultivation?"
***
In a room of pure white, Adonis and Uncle Seth stood before a grand statue of a roaring dragon. Along the dragon's long snaking body, runes and jewels found themselves etched, only adding to the statue's beauty.
"Before we test your talent, I need to explain a few things."
Adonis focused.
"First of all, all you need to cultivate are spiritual roots but beyond that, everyone's talent is measured across eight aspects."
"These aspects are; The Bodily Pillar, The Soul Pillar, The Qi Pillar, The Lineage Pillar, The Racial Pillar, The Affinity Pillar, The Gift Pillar and The Talent Pillar."
"I'll give you a quick rundown of it all via examples. All these pillars represent aspects of your talent because they can all be different."
"Someone born with a Fire God body, has a powerful Bodily pillar while someone without any special bodily constitutions is considered to be blank."
"But it's more complicated than that. Beyond the usual special physiques we hear about in legends, you have what most cultivators have, elevated bodies. Meaning they don't have bodies that grant them special abilities but their body, overall, is leagues beyond the average mortal's."
"The concept is pretty much the same across the board. Now, another factor that has to be known is that these pillars have grades. There are seventeen grades."
"The grades are; Mortal Grade, Earth Grade, Sky Grade, Heaven Grade, Empyrean Grade, Supreme Grade, Chaos Grade, Origin Grade, Transcendent Grade, Eternal Grade, God Grade and finally, the Sacred Grade."
"From there, you have a huge gap, a gap so huge these grades are in a category of their own."
"They are the; Myriad Tribulation Grade, Boundless Grade, Immemorial Grade and lastly, the Immeasurable Grade."
"Obviously, each grade has a meaning behind its name and there's a massive gap between each grade but it'd take too long to explain it all. Just know that the higher the better and from the Origin Grade and up, it gets nonsensical and I mean that from the bottom of my heart."
"You really don't wanna meet an entity born with all Pillars at the Immeasurable Grade. They're beyond Gods and Immortals alike."
Adonis gulped as he saw the seriousness in his uncle's gaze.