The rumbling and shifting of the ancient tomb completed, leaving them standing there in front of an impressive fountain. It had multiple levels and various miniature statues of people and creatures alike standing within, but at the top were two familiar ones: Nick’s parents.

Thankfully, the people were not where the water was being shot from, or he would have to really question their choices. They stood in a small layer of water, while beams of water shot in arcs around them from within the fountain.

Taking in the barrows once again, it really felt like Nick was standing in a food court or other major entrance of a mall. 

More importantly, he had been here as a child, and that was almost exactly what this was. Except within his memory… this mall was contained on what should have been a spaceship. It was actually an indoor city, complete with apartments and other places to live in its many branching paths, and that was simply how they chose to arrange this place–like a mall.

Kaya was looking around with wonder. “Now what? Oh! There’s a slate thing there.”

She pointed over to what Nick could only consider from his time on Earth as a mall directory. Next to the fountain was a large stand with a slate, that was currently blank. They walked over together and Nick touched it with his hand.

[Welcome to your Heritage, Nicholas Noblefrost! Completing the Trial within the Havendale Ordeal, you have now earned access to your Heritage. However, you have only earned yourself an opportunity to earn more benefits and restore part of your fallen kingdom to its former glory.

Within these underground ruins lies various Tests and Trials, which unlock special kingdom structures and knowledge. Remember that with great risk, comes great reward! Orion requires that anything provided should be balanced with challenges against the benefits it provides.

Your family wanted you to enjoy earning your Heritage, so there are structures within not meant for your personal or kingdom’s progression, and meant for just fun or relaxing. Orion considers these structures as nearly worthless in the balance, so they should be happy surprises.]

The message continued, providing him an overview of how they could earn usage of structures, and how to begin. Thankfully, there was much to be earned within the first stratum–the entire first floor.

But this was not meant to be just a benefit for Nick. This was meant to be a benefit for his entire kingdom, his subordinates able to gain from being Tested in various ways. In truth, the archways were not meant for him. 

He was meant to unlock different sections of the Heritage itself, through amped up challenges.

Eirwen looked over at the many archways. “They have glyphs like the one you activated to wake the place up. We just need to stand on them to activate the Test.”

Rebecca frowned. “The idea that it always balances the test based on the entrant is more than a little intriguing. The Ordeals provide this, but it always has a certain leaning for how it Tests you, based on the Path.”  

Nick definitely wanted to know how this went. While he could benefit from these, his girls would definitely benefit a lot more than himself. He couldn’t currently earn essence, and he really needed to spend some time thinking about how he wanted to alter the way he wanted to fight or progress.  “Who wants to run through one first?”

Kaya cleared her throat. “I should go first. If I die, you can resurrect me. Besides, I have the most to gain here, needing the most essence to level.”

Nick nodded. He knew Rebecca was close to himself, in terms of having her essence filled and ready to form her core. “Alright. Go for it, just be careful.”

Kaya walked over to a nearby archway, bringing her axes out and getting ready for battle. She stood on the glyph between the arches on the ground, and it lit up before she received a notification from the Orion system. Kaya shared it with the group to include Rebecca, but Eirwen and Nick had already received it.

[Choose your Challenge]
[Test of Strength]
[Test of Class]
[Test of Imperfection]
[Test of Weakness]

Kaya asked, “What’s a Test of Imperfection, and Weakness?”

Rebecca gasped. “Oh! Those are very useful. They try to align a challenge tailored to you, in that it helps you overcome yourself and become better. A Weakness is something you are specifically ill-suited to accomplish, but is something you could improve on to be successful. An Imperfection is a minor area where you could use improvement.”

Eirwen nodded. “This means the ill-suited to accomplish choice balances the challenge with this in mind. If someone selects Weakness and the person is poor in combat, it would not throw a difficult enemy for someone that is strong in it, but instead work towards building someone up. For example, knowing I am poor at combat, it should not pit me against something difficult like an ogre, but maybe several goblins. Just enough to give me a challenge and improve.”

Nick was intrigued now. Just what would be his Weakness? In truth, Nick thought he was pretty much decent at everything, at least when it came to fighting. Perhaps, if there was an area he was most currently lacking, it would be a role like Eirwen’s. But was that really a weakness that he should focus on eliminating?

Kaya hummed. “Hmm… I’ll do Class, which… shouldn’t be that different from Strength for me, probably?”

As she made the choice, a shimmer of blue light surrounded her, and she was moved into the room. The room filled with the same blue light, as a landscape appeared within. Grass covered the ground and a blue sky was above her as if she were outdoors. The space in the room had become larger, even to Nick, as he peered through the arches. 

A man appeared next to Kaya, but it was a nondescript figure, an odd statue.

She received a prompt.

[Test of the Beast Warrior]
[Protect your Lord, and defeat the enemies arrayed against you. Enemies will spawn throughout the battle. Do not allow your charge to be destroyed, or your Test will be considered a failure.]
[Time Remaining: 5 Minutes.] 

Nick almost groaned in annoyance on Kaya’s behalf. He hated escort quests in games with a passion. The statue looked like it could take more than a single blow before it was destroyed, but its durability was a bit dubious.

Essence coalesced into six figures that were flapping their wings as they flew through the air in the distance: harpies.

Each were holding spears, and they began moving in Kaya’s direction. Thankfully, the creatures looked small and not very intelligent by how they nearly crashed into one another and didn’t fly in formation, but their loud cries hurt Nick’s ears. 

Kaya gathered her essence as she shifted into her bestial form, growling as her red essence swirled around her. Two harpies dove toward her with their spears, where Kaya side-stepped and timed her swing to cleave into one of their chests. 

Her axe cleaved right through the wooden spear and into its chest. Her Feral Strike then reached out and clawed the other harpy’s wing and sent the small bird woman tumbling to the ground.      

More began to spawn in the distance, the other four arriving nearly all at once. Kaya spun and twirled, sending a wave of red energy cutting into two harpies next to each other, before using Leap and slashing at the others.

Those six killed, Kaya settled into a rhythm of slaying the oncoming harpies with her axes, and using her throwing knives to cull others. A few of them began throwing javelins, which required her to protect her lord by defending the statue against these attacks with her feral essence, but she ended up taking a javelin in her shoulder and leg throughout the battle on its behalf.

In the end, she killed a little over two dozen, the harpies spawning periodically throughout the fight. In all, she didn’t come all that close to dying, but it certainly pushed her capabilities to her limits. 

She was required to use Roar to direct the attacks onto her at one point, or else the statue would have been hit by a diving harpy. Then, she had a few scratches, aside from the two places where the javelins pierced. 

The battle complete, she received her reward.

[Test Complete! Earned: Essence, 9 Development Points, Stall: Butcher’s Automaton.]

Kaya was teleported back out of the room, arriving right in front of Nick’s party. Essence coalesced around her, allowing her to absorb the victory reward. For five minutes spent, Nick thought the amount earned was substantial.

Rebecca and Eirwen were quick to remove the javelins and cast their restorative spells. Nick felt Rebecca’s purity wash over Kaya, closing the wounds and restoring some blood as Eirwen removed the javelins. Then Eirwen added her shamanic healing, rebuilding some lost flesh.

In all, Nick thought that Kaya shouldn’t be able to fight again soon. She’d need hours to fully recover her essence and from her wounds, and so taking on a challenge or two per day should be someone’s limits.

“Nice work, Kaya. You protected your lord there quite well, even taking a javelin for him.”

Kaya mock sighed. “Wasn’t he a great lord, though? He was such a good listener. Some other lords out there forget that they only have two ears to hear, but only one mouth to speak.”

Nick acted like he was punched in the gut. “That’s cold, Kaya. Why you gotta do me like that?”

Kaya chuckled. “Of course, I’m only playing. I’d take a javelin for you too, though it’s hard for me to picture us getting into a situation like that.”  

Before Nick could comment, inside the room, things shifted. Mass quantities of essence, white lights, gathered and shifted the room into a store. Within were various display cases for meats, and at the back a very clear register and counters with cutting boards and other contraptions. In addition, what looked like a metallic golem with blue lights running through it stood behind it. 

It held a giant cleaver, and had a white apron over its body. To Nick, it looked like a bit like a futuristic robot. It had an electric blue core in its chest that shone through the apron, with lines of the same-colored energy running through its mostly-humanoid body. It had a nearly-spherical head, with lights for eyes. 

Nick and the girls looked on with interest. From Nick’s senses, this felt like this space was basically his now. The entryway had a sign written in common language, that simply said: Butcher. Another stated that coinage could be traded for butchery, the essence preserved and enhanced.

He sent Jasmine inside first, and the butcher did not react at all to her entry. “Huh, looks like we just won a shop or something.”

Kaya was next, and then Nick, Eirwen, and Rebecca entered. There was a large tray on the counter for placing their meats or monster carcasses, of which Nick knew that Eirwen had a few in her pack.

When she looted enemies, essence provided some enhancements to storing the meat provided. It was almost as if the meats were dried out slightly, and salted and even packaged for storage when she received the results. It was much better than simply receiving meat cut from the creature and could last a few days in travel, as far as Nick could tell.

But there were ways to get more out of the meats aside from cooking them using essence skills. The meat already had essence coalesced inside of it, but these skills could increase the effectiveness for consumption when cooked.

Eirwen removed her backpack and dug inside of it, then placed some meat on the tray. A slate nearby provided a price in coinage, to which she once again reached inside and grabbed the required coins, placing them on a smaller tray next to it.

There was a note that a discount could be made for the butcher keeping different components, such as the bones or hide, and Eirwen made the selection to keep all. 

The robot whirred as she made her selection and the coins dropped into a hole, and it picked up what looked like a giant chunk of drake haunch, still with its scales on. The golem placed it on a hook hanging from the ceiling and switched its knife to a curved blade that looked much more suited for its purpose.

It then removed the drake’s skin expertly, the blade shimmering with red essence. Carving the meat from the bone, it created several steaks of different cuts rather rapidly, and Nick was surprised at the speed of its movements. Eventually, it placed the result on the output tray, the hide, bones, and meats separated and packaged in different wrapped papers and boxes.

Eirwen looked over the results, opening one of the wrapped meats. Some sort of skill had been used on the meat, and Nick could tell with his sense of essence it was somehow improved. Eirwen smiled.

“Wow! I really like this! And that was cheap, at only a few silvers for this second stratum meat. This can save a lot of time.”

Nick frowned, as he thought of the implications. “This is cool, but won’t this put any butchers in town out of business?”

Rebecca hummed. “Hmm, it could, but I don’t believe it used skills that could fully match someone that worked deeply on their craft. This construct could never use a Concept, and it probably didn’t use all the skills that could be used. This is more like a baseline for all butchers to compete with.”

Young Nick sort-of knew the answer to this, but old Nick couldn’t help but be surprised at this and raised his brow. “Wow, you’re telling me some guy is out there, with a Concept of a butcher? It’s not just folks that fight with those?”

Rebecca nodded, but then looked a bit sad for a moment. “That’s right. In truth, to progress in the third stratum, eventually, you must have a Concept. Many never accomplish this, and may spend a significant amount of time in the second wanting to succeed before then, to ensure they are prepared or on the right Ideal or Path.”

Kaya and Eirwen were interested in this detail, but Eirwen said, “That’s interesting, we didn’t have that much information on Concepts here in Havendale. If it weren’t for Kaya’s mom telling us about them, we’d be completely lost. I really need to find an Ideal that works for me soon, but the Path of Kings does utilize Supports, and provides us with challenges to grow.”  

Nick now understood that the difference between Ideals and Paths was not all that significant. In truth, Concepts were borne of essence and a person’s connection to it, having reached a threshold within their Mind, Body, and Soul. 

By attuning themselves to a portion of reality, the essence, they would have special control over it. At the most basic level, this was a Concept, and it could be nearly anything: just like essence itself could be.

Paths and Ideals were merely methods in which to attune one’s Body, Mind, or Soul, or combination thereof, over time. It was the same for the Bottled Concept. The last that Nick was aware of, was to form a Core.

Nick was already thinking about what he wanted for his Concepts, at least within the ballpark of what he wanted to work towards. To some extent, this was very much like choosing his build for a character in a game.

But it was not as simple as choosing something just because it was powerful. It had to resonate with him, and be compatible with his actions, race, and his class.  As someone that swore an oath to walk the Hero’s Path, he would absolutely have to pick Concepts that were compatible with this. 

The Bishop’s Divine Usurpation was indeed extremely powerful, to the point where it was absurd. He balanced tainted priests with pure priestesses, draining their essence into his special core formed of Rebecca’s mother’s soul and his own evil efforts. His beam attack and ability to drain the essence from the much weaker, attuned priests and priestesses was so strong that Nick wondered if he could somehow utilize this. 

Nick’s research for the day was primarily on these topics because young Nick only had that fifty thousand foot overview of Concepts. It was early in Nick’s development, but this was the best time to start, especially when forming his Core.

The books Nick read had made it clear. True elites should form their core in the first stratum. What Rebecca had said about compressing the cores not being a weaker path was true–for people aiming for only one Concept.

They could form a Concept Core after establishing their Concept, and in the end, may end up even stronger for it. This was because their Concept Core would be more pure from only having the essence related to their Concept, and it would simply be easier for them to progress in this way.

However, Nick needed to form not just two Concepts, but to be a true elite: he needed to form three. Because of this, it was even more important for Nick to establish working toward his build immediately. 

Nick looked over to the next archway, and was thinking about giving it a go, when suddenly, the lights shifted on the large pillar nearby. Alarmed, Nick’s party got ready for combat, Jasmine and Jerome ready in front of the elevator with Kaya and Nick with their weapons ready.

The elevator door opened, and out came Andross and the wolfling girls, wearing their equipment for fighting. The girls gave off soft barks and yips as they took in the mega mall with wide eyes, looking around with interest.

Andross was much more vocal. “Boss! This place is crazy. Where are we?”

Nick was more than a little alarmed–he was pretty sure he would have to allow them inside his home for them to enter, let alone his study. “How did you get here, Andross? I’m pretty sure our front door is locked. Then, is something wrong?”

Andross scratched his head. “Another door appeared on your Crown Sanctum, and of course, the Mayor immediately sent his guards to check it out. It wouldn’t open for them, but it opened for us. I left the wives behind just in case, but looks like all is fine here. What is this place?”

They took a few minutes to get Andross caught up, letting him know to keep the place a secret for now. For now, he would claim it was just Nick’s private receiving area for guests. 

It was clear only Followers could enter it currently, but Nick would likely be able to change this in the distant future.

He mostly only planned on Followers being allowed to enter the Ordeal, and as the owner, he could set this. Those that entered his city wanting to climb the Ordeals would need his personal permission.

Andross looked at the many archways with interest, and a bit of longing. “This is a big boon, Chief. We’re only able to attempt the Ordeals once per week, but being able to fight down here will be amazing. There looks to be hundreds of archways in total.”

Nick was excited about the possibilities here. In addition to the development points they earned, the unlocked stalls would allow for different utility.

Fang barked and yipped, asking for permission to fight. The other wolfling girls joined in their gestures, and it was clear they were excited about this opportunity.

“Alright, but one at a time only. If one of you gets injured, I don’t want to stretch Eirwen or Rebecca thin on resources. I’m sure they want to take on their own attempts too.”

Eirwen nodded. “I’m not in a hurry, but I’m excited to give it a try! I’d like to overcome my weaknesses and imperfections, and become a better Supporter. At the same time, I can benefit a lot from study and practice of more shamanic spells, with Agatha when she arrives instead.”

“Hell yeah, Winny! I like that. We have a lot of things to look forward to. Alright, Fang–let’s see what you’re made of. Go get ‘em, girl.”

To Nick’s surprise, Fang wielded a shield to go along with her spear. She triggered the Test of Strength, and she was teleported into the room.

A simple arena was formed with a dirt ground. A short wall in a circle outlined the arena, tall enough that Fang would have difficulty leaping out to escape, but it appeared to be possible for her to climb out.

Inside, a creature spawned–what looked to be a tall, furred humanoid, wielding a spiked club.

Eirwen knew what it was. “It’s a bugbear! Those are usually pretty strong.” 

The creature was aggressive, and dashed right for Fang. It stood taller than Nick, so with Fang being two heads shorter than him, it looked like a bad matchup.

But Fang barked and growled, and lowered her stance with her shield in front of her. As the bugbear swung its club, she angled her shield and side-stepped it, deflecting the blow off of it. This enabled her to give a fierce jab with her one-handed spear, jabbing into the monster’s leg before she retreated with a backwards dash.

The monster growled in annoyance, and glowed green around its wound before it charged again. This time, it used a skill with its swing of its club. Filled with red essence, the blow was mostly deflected by Fang once more. Only this time, the spike on the club pierced into the shield, and the bugbear began trying to pull it from Fang’s arm. 

She was quick to retaliate with three fierce stabs in the monster’s chest, but the bugbear kicked out and landed its large foot on her chest, sending her flying despite some red essence gathering around her. This wrenched the shield from the club’s spikes, the shield firmly wrapped around Fang’s arm. 

She was quick to roll and get back up, but it was clear the blow still staggered her. The bugbear continued its aggressive approach as it chased Fang down, swinging its club with ferocity.

But Fang held on, countering its powerful blow with good shield work. She angled her deflection even as she moved out of the way of a direct blow, and continued her efforts to wound the bugbear. Nick knew that Fang was used to facing enemies much larger and stronger than her, practicing with the orcs. It had merely surprised her with its ability to pierce into her shield.

She continued to block and return the bugbear’s attacks with cunning counters. Knowing what the creature was now capable of, she darted in and out, and kept more on the move. It tried its special swing again, but she leapt back, too quick for it to land its piercing blow.

The bugbear did heal its wounds, but it could not keep up with her damage. The monster eventually slowed with its many wounds on its legs, and that was when Fang went for her own offensive. Landing several thrusts in its chest, and eventually, the monster’s throat. It died, essence gathering around Fang before she was teleported out once more.

Eirwen and Rebecca were quick to heal Fang, helping her recover from her bruises. They also gave her happy pats and scratches.

Kaya called over to Fang from where she was sitting. “Good job!”

Andross commented, “She has gotten good at keeping on the move, and handling the enemy’s ire. Among her brethren, few can handle the enemy’s attention well without help.”  

Nick knew that many of them relied on pack tactics to defeat the larger enemies, but she had held up well against the bugbear. He was happy for her, but he noticed something else. 

“Huh, it looks like she didn’t win it over?”

The little circle beneath the archway was still present, and the insides of the room had not yet shifted. 

Eirwen nodded. “It appears it may take a few attempts to win ownership in some cases. Kaya may have won hers over because of her level or her class rarity, or even that her equipment was better. Either that, or it’s because this stall will simply be worth more.”

“Alright! You girls heard Winny. I need your help to win over these places. I wanna see how you girls improved, so let’s see what you got. I wanna see how you do as well, Andross.”

Sable and Luna both yipped and barked, their eyes narrowing on the challenge. Andross chuckled. “Thought you’d never ask, boss. I felt a bit left out when you reclaimed Havendale, and I’m ready for a good fight!”              

Nick was excited to see what kind of places they unlocked next. They had some time to kill before Trial Closure tomorrow, so this was a good task to keep them busy. He was excited to see what else his Heritage would have in wait for him.