The last three days had been eye-opening. At the sect, he had read tomes railing against the evils of sorcery. Here, they warned against the allure of immediate power that cultivation provided. Where cultivation directly brought energy into the body for refinement, sorcerers bound spirits to store mana that they could use for spells and rituals. He was starting to see the connections, though three days was nowhere near enough time to fully catch up.

  He rolled his shoulders as he re-read a section describing the theory of healing rituals. Emphasis on theory. There were no actual healing rituals in the text. The only ritual he had managed to find over the last few days was a qi gathering ritual, though the text called it ether. Either way, it was helpful. As were the techniques he found that used ether, though the books called those cantrips. One generated a sphere of light for thirty seconds before fizzling out. The other summoned and flung a finger long shard of ice faster than he could see.

  Not finding any further clues in the healing rituals, he left to the main hall. He went to an empty corner of the hall, and started practicing his ice shard technique. Standing a hundred feet away from the wall, he created an orb of light to use as a target. Then, he focused the qi into the pattern that created the ice shard. Letting it fly, the ice shard slammed into the wall five inches from the globe of light.

  "You're getting better with that." Therus walked over, smiling the whole time.

  "Still can't hit the target. Damn thing's fiddly with the aiming," said Seth with a shake of his head.

  "You just learned it yesterday."

  "If you already mastered it, I'd introduce my sisters to you for a chance to learn your secrets," said Xiaobo, having joined them.

  "Not interested in your sisters," said Seth.

  "Brothers, then? I have both," said Xaiobo, with a smile and a laugh.

  Seth and Therus laughed, though Therus' laugh sounded more polite than genuine.

  "How goes exploration?" asked Seth. Seth had yet to go into the trial itself, being content with learning as much as possible. Therus and Xiaobo, on the other hand, couldn't sit still after the first day. Looking at the ring of flames on the wall, he could understand their unease. There were only thirty flames left, with the inner ring slowly ticking down.

  "Slow," said Therus. "It's a maze."

  "No monsters or traps," added Xiaobo with a yawn. "The most dangerous thing out there is boredom. Can't even get lost in the place, with it teleporting everyone back to the start after a while."

  "Either of you make maps?"

  "Yes," said Therus.

  "Of course," said Xiaobo, "not sure I want to share, though."

  Seth could see his point, but couldn't bring himself to agree. On one hand, they were all technically competing for this legacy. At least, that is what they all assumed; Seth couldn't remember the ghost outright saying it was a competition. The more Seth learned about sorcerers, however, the more he became convinced that the inheritance was never meant to be attempted solo.

  "Not that it would matter," said Therus. "The layout's been changing every time. Have been making maps to see if anything stays the same, but..." The man trailed off, pulling several sheets of paper out of his robes. If Seth didn't know any better, he would have said these maps could not have been of the same place. The only thing they had in common was that the paths were entirely hallways. Some maps were going straight for a long way before branching, while others branched from the start.

  "Can we go out, the three of us?" asked Seth. Earlier today, he had read that sorcerers tended to work in groups of three. To these people, three was the embodiment of perfection, and of manifestation. Over the last couple days, he had heard the same complaints out of other cultivators, who had entered the trial solo.

  "Sure, but why?" Xiaobo asked.

  "Sorcerers don't work alone," said Therus, jumping in. "I asked you to go in with me today because I wanted to see if two would work. But apparently, we need three to get the trial started. Is that what you're thinking, Seth?"

  "Exactly. So, want to give it a shot?" Seth asked, looking Xiaobo in the eyes.

  Xiaobo pursed his lips in thought for a moment before nodding his head. Without wasting any more time, they went through the door and entered the trial.

  A straight hall of smooth grey stone stretched before them. It was lit enough for them to see, though there was no visible light source. Seth used his qi sight quickly, only to discover the hallway was just as boring as it appeared.

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  It was a ten minute walk to the first door. The doorframe and door were the same stone as the rest of the hall. There was no handle or knocker on the door itself. What drew Seth's attention them most, however, was the sign above the door. The left of the sign had four vertical marks. In the center was a green eye, and the right of the sign had two horizontal marks. Seth used his qi sight; the door was a bonfire of qi.

  "I'll check for traps," said Therus, pulling his staff out. Seth wanted to object, but couldn't think of a better plan. Therus prodded a section of the floor before stepping on it. He would step exactly where he prodded. Xiaobo and Seth would follow exactly in Therus' footsteps. Ten minutes, and no traps later, they were directly in front of the door.

  This time, Seth looked around the door. If there were any gaps between the door and the frame, he couldn't see them. He took a deep breath, and told himself that this was a trial, not a death trap. Seth put his hand on the door, ready to leap back at a moment's notice. When nothing happened, he released a breath he hadn't been aware of holding and pushed. Then pushed harder. It was no different than pushing the wall. He tried to slide the door left, right, and up, but the door refused to budge.

  "Should we check some other doors?" asked Therus.

  "Can't hurt," said Seth.

  They went to the next door, which has four vertical marks and one horizontal mark above them, connecting them like a T with 4 legs. The image was a red circle, and to the right was a square. Seth and Xiaobo tried pushing, and Therus even tried wedging his staff beneath the door to see if he could pull it. It was just as stubborn as the first door.

  Across the hall was a door that had three vertical marks to the left, a blue fist in the, and a square to the right. Therus put his hand to the door, and it slid to the left smoothly. Seth's legs tensed, ready to jump to safety.

  "The markings on the left are probably the number of people to open the door," Therus muttered to himself, a bit too loudly. Seth agreed that it was the most likely interpretation. As for what the other symbols mean, Seth had little more than guesses.

  "Does that mean that we're going to be locked out of parts of this trial if we don't work together?" asked Xiaobo. He didn't seem too keen on the idea, if the frown on his face was anything to go by.

  "Most likely," said Therus. "Not that the idea excites me. Having to work with some of the people here..."

  "I'm sure Aaron would be wonderful to work with." A smile tugged at the corner of Seth's mouth.

  Therus stopped talking and just softly laughed. Even Xiaobo cracked a smile, then gestured to the door.

  "Well, shall we get started?"

  "Let's do this," said Seth, stepping into the darkness. Several green flames sputtered to life in sconces that lined the large, square room. The space was as large as the courtyard back at the sect. Other than the sconces, the wall and floor were unadorned. He heard the door grind shut behind them. When he turned around, he couldn't even see the doorway they had came through.

  Therus was about to say something, but was interrupted by the five stone statues stepping out of the wall opposite them. The statues were the same color as the walls, and were completely identical, right down to the completely smooth stone where a face should have been. The statues advanced slowly, spreading out to try and flank them. Without saying anything, Seth and Therus had already begun spreading out, trying to avoid being flanked. Therus had already taken out his staff, and Xiaobo took up a fighting stance. Seth brandished his knuckles and stared, waiting for the statues to make the first move.

  As if reacting to a silent cue, the statues exploded forth all at once. Two of them were on Seth in a blink, and only his training allowed him to narrowly dodge both blows thrown at his head before it was turned into a fine red mist. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Therus engage with two other statues. Xiaobo fought off the last one with a dodge and a swift kick that made Xiaobo wince in pain.

  Throwing himself back, Seth launched ice shards at one of the rock monsters, throwing all the qi he could muster into the technique.. The first couple went wide, but the third one took a chunk out of the statue's arm. The other statue didn't leave him time to celebrate the hit. He hastily blocked as the other one charged in and swung. Even though he had re-enforced his arm with qi, he still felt bones cracking as the blow sent him hurtling backwards, slamming him into the stone wall. He tested his arm. Thankfully, it wasn't broken.

  Across the room, Therus was weaving in and out of the stone statues, chipping away at the monsters where he could. Xiaobo was somehow holding his own against the one, with some small chunks taken out of it. As much as Seth's mind spun, he wasn't sure how they could win. He was barely doing any damage, and the ice shards were draining his qi too quickly. Steeling himself, he flung himself at the one he had pelted with ice shards. The monster wasn't fast, so that part went according to plan. His brass knuckles slammed into the monster with all the qi he could muster. The force from the punch caused some cracks to form in the monster. It also made cracking pops come from his hand. He fought down the nausea from the wave of pain as he threw himself to the side. A blow slammed down where he had just been, cracking the floor.

  He heard a loud thwump, and saw Xiaobo flying across the room and smashing into the wall. A mouthful of blood flew from his mouth, and he started to slump to the ground. Shaking his head, he steadied himself into a fighting stance, a manic grin crossing his face.

  Seth dodged a kick from one of the monsters, and tried kicking the thing himself. He didn't break his leg, but it only seemed to launch him off the monster, back toward the wall. That suited Seth just fine; he needed to get some space to try and think for a second.

  The monster rushing him as he landed did not help matters. He set himself to receive the charge, ignoring the monster that dashed past him to the wall. If the monster wanted to ignore him, so be it. He slammed ice crystals into the stone monster from close range, before dodging the inevitable counterattack.

  The dodge allowed Seth to look behind him for a second.

  Behind him was the statue that passed just a second ago. It had a large boulder in its hand. Seth had already started throwing himself to the side as the monster pitched the boulder at Seth. It flew past Seth by centimeters, slamming into the opposite wall with a giant crash that shook, the room. Not giving him room to breathe, the other monster slammed its arms down, forcing Seth further back. Back toward the monster with another boulder in its hand, ready to throw.