Seth stared at the silver eyes in the void, his mind racing, yet empty. He couldn't move. It may have been an external force, or it may have just been fear.

  "Come now and focus, darling. We have a lot to get through and not a lot of time." The voice blasted him from everywhere.

  "Wha..." Seth started to ask a question.

  "Just think your questions. Asking them out loud takes too long. This is the reward for ascending the first peak. Yes, I can read your mind. No, you aren't dead or dreaming. No, I'm not human. Well, I was, a long time ago."

  Seth floated in the void, dazed and amazed. Questions were being answered before they even finished forming. The void pulsed, and the sea of purple gave way to a throne room where everything was made of translucent crystal. The throne in the center towered over him, and he had to tilt his head back to see the top. On the throne was an amorphous blob of light. A blink, and it was a beautiful woman. No, it was a statue of perfect crystal. The form kept morphing. Only the silver and blue eyes remained unchanged.

  The floor, walls, and ceiling were almost perfectly transparent. Outside was a sea of stars. They swirled and twinkled, fading in and out of existence. The room was brightly lit, though he couldn't find the source.

  Seth blinked. He was seated in a crystal chair. The edges looked razor sharp, and he half expected to be cut if he shifted wrong. Despite that, it was the softest, most comfortable chair he had ever sat in.

  "Take some deep breaths and listen. I'm not going kill you. It's amusing that you are a cultivator in a sorcery inheritance, but I'm far too old to care about such trifles." Seth took some deep breaths, and was surprised to find it actually helped. Then again, holding his breath out of pure shock was probably not helping.

  A purple crystal goblet appeared in his hand, filled with water. The woman-statue-light-whatever held a similar goblet, except it was clear and filled with a brightly glowing purple liquid. She raised it in a silent toast, which Seth returned before they both drank. He didn't hesitate. If she wanted him dead, he'd simply die. The water that flowed into him was the cleanest, most refreshing he'd ever tasted. Qi flowed into him from that water, completely refilling his reserves. It even expanded his capacity by a tiny, tiny amount. He could feel his tumors greedily clawing at the energy, but for once, they couldn't grasp it before it nourished him.

  Is this water the reward? Wait, what should I call her? This is a her, right?

  "No, the water isn't the reward. The reward for the first peak is guidance. Something you desperately need, not that watching you and your companions flail around hasn't been absolutely adorable. And if you need something to call me, you can think of me as the hostess." The hostess said with a wink that was trying to be cute, but was unnerving coming from a skeleton morphing into a muscular man.

  The hostess waved a clawed, scaled hand. An image of a generic human male showed up to Seth's left. The figure started off empty, then filled with a glowing blue-green liquid that Seth somehow knew was qi. When it looked like it was full to bursting, it gathered around the base of the dantian and settled. While settling, it also punched through...something, creating a stream of qi flowing into the body.

  From there, he saw the various organs getting destroyed and re-created with perfected versions. These versions had attuned qi, and the whole being felt significantly "heavier." Several versions passed in quick succession. One had all the organs attuned to a reddish qi. Things went fine until it tried to form something in its dantian, when it unceremoniously exploded. Five more iterations flashed by just as explosively, until a balanced version finally managed to put a small dot in the dantian. That small dot kept expanding and expanding through a fourth dimension until it became large enough for a person to curl inside of. The core became translucent, revealing a spirit curled inside.

  "This is the path of cultivation that you are currently walking. You were truly unfortunate to land in a place where your survival depends on something you have zero talent in."

  Seth's fists clenched, and he took a deep breath to settle the rising anger in his chest. The lack of progress was the cancer's fault. Once he figured out a solution, he'd be able to cultivate without issues. The hostess smiled gently, her face now an elderly woman's, and continued.

  "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings," she said in the least apologetic tone he had ever heard. "But when barely sentient clumps of cells can cultivate better than you can, well, what would you call that? Imagine someone making the same excuses, except for working with electronics?" He saw an image of a couple of tentacles of cancerous cells trying to work on high voltage wires in his mind. When they electrocuted themselves, Seth laughed in spite of himself.

  "When you put it that way, it's kind of pathetic. However, are you suggesting I just give up?" Seth said, surprised he was allowed to finish.

  "Absolutely not. All I said is that you have no talent."

  Then what, exactly, are you trying to say? Seth glared at the hostess. It may have been stupid, but she probably knew how angry he was before he did. If she intended to kill him for it, it would have already happened.

  "Dear, sorcery was invented by people who had even less cultivation talent than you. We've developed several tools over the years, to create the talent we lack. Or steal it, if the opportunity presents itself."

  How does that even work?

  "A variety of ways. Some, like myself, have meticulously forged a completely new body. Others work on modifying their body. Forging a new body is the surest path to the second realm, but that assumes you survive long enough."

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  Second realm?

  "We don't have time to go into detail. To oversimplify, cultivation and sorcery both end at the edge of the first realm. Other than me, you haven't seen any beings beyond the first realm. Now we must move on."

  A blink, and Seth was standing in a ritual circle. The hostess was nowhere to be seen, but he could still feel her presence all around. On the ground, he saw the ritual used to capture the second spirit in the trial. He then saw the formation he drew appear around it, glowing.

  "You should be getting another technique as a reward. However, I believe this will be more useful for you. Right now, you are stumbling around without understanding. Your solution was creative, and given your limitations, was a far better performance than anyone could expect. However, if you truly understood these patterns..." the hostess' voice trailed off, and the outer array disappeared. The inner pattern slowly twisted through several adjusting steps, until it ended at the correct configuration. She did the same demonstration on the first ritual. It wasn't a complete explanation. Instead, it was like seeing an expert work through a problem, showing their work thoroughly. It filled his mind with questions he needed answers to, as well as ideas for things he could try. His heart started to race along with the possibilities flowing through his mind.

  "Next is a technique that you need to know, but you won't find in any book in that trial's library. All those books assume you already know it."

  The shadow Seth was holding a crystal with a trapped spirit. The shadow version of himself dug a couple of spikes of qi into the crystal. Then, through those spikes, breathed the qi in, channeling it into a technique. He could immediately see the upside, given his limited power.

  "The main downside of sorcery is the need for trapping spirits to power our abilities. Most methods of obtaining spirits tend to be frowned upon. However, there are plenty of spirits here at the trial that you can use."

  Where? Seth asked himself.

  "In the trials themselves, of course."

  But doesn't that complete the trial faster?

  "No. You only have the opportunity to ascend peaks at room difficulties seven through thirteen. And, as you've seen, ascending peaks is more than simply completing a trial. It's not unheard of for entire trial cohorts to fail to ascend a single peak before the deadline."

  So I can just farm these crystals? That seems like it makes things too easy...

  "Why do you think we have time limits?" The hostess was laughing. Then, her face went serious. "Now, one of my abilities is to see possible futures. In this trial, you will encounter a solo trial marked by a red triangle. The right side will have a thirteen-sided shape. The trial will show you this door only once. You must enter immediately. If you do, you will curse me, but have a shot at life. If you don't, you will not leave here alive."

  That's...ominous.

  "Finally, a question. What are you struggling for?"

  To stay alive, of course

  "But why? From where I'm sitting, you're thrashing around aimlessly. Let me ask more directly. What do you want?"

  Seth was about to answer that he wanted to go home, but hesitated. If he really just wanted to go home, he could have taken Johan up on his offer and abandoned Therus. Besides, was there anything for him back home? If he were to deal with his cancer and make it back home, what would he do? Or, more to the point, if he reached the level of strength the hostess had, and he went home, what would he want to do? He saw images of himself dragging his family into his own throne room. They would make excuses for how they treated him. Then he would...what, exactly? A flash of his wife's horrified face as her body was torn limb from limb flashed through his mind. Still in his mental world, he fell to his hands and knees and threw up. He shook his head, half shaking the thought away, and half trying to deny that there was any part of him that wanted this.

  "Our time is up, dear. For what it's worth, I hope you find your answers."

  If you know so much, why don't you just tell me?

  "Where's the fun in that?"

  Her voice trailed off into a distant whisper. The chamber and the purple void started to flicker between the two. A smile stretched across the hostess' face as she faded from view. Then there was nothing except the void, and the feeling of cold sweat forming on his skin. He closed his eyes, and anchored his consciousness on his breathing.

  Eventually, the feeling of solid ground under his feet returned. He opened his eyes. They were back at the entrance to the trial. Therus was also there, with a bewildered expression that perfectly matched how Seth felt. Seth tried to shake the fog from his head, and failed. Sighing, he walked into the main area to see if anything changed.

  The first change was the "leaderboard," as Seth had taken to calling it:

  Seth - First Peak - 13

  Therus - First Peak - 13

  Aaron - 6

  Matrim - 6

  Jalon - 6

  Xiaobo - 5

  ...

  The more startling change in the room, however, was the new portal to the right of the trial entrance. The new portal was the same inky void they had seen in other trials. He looked at Therus, pointing at the new door. Therus nodded, and they entered the portal with no hesitation.

  The new room was the same simple stone as everything else in the trial. Seth walked to the other end of the room; two-hundred steps to cross. In the corner was a bed, and along the wall was a small, empty bookshelf. Next to the bookshelf were fully stocked supply shelves for formations and rituals. The rest of the room was empty practice space.

  He turned to Therus, only to realize Therus was not there. Before he could wonder what happened, he felt a gentle pinch in his brain. Along with that pinch was an image of Therus requesting entry. He mentally approved, and Therus walked in a moment later.

  "Well, this reward is nice. On top of everything else," said Therus, a grin on his face.

  "It would be perfect if it came with better food."

  "Like we have time to enjoy meals in this place."

  "True. Seriously, this is great. I was getting tired of practicing in the hall with everyone else watching."

  "Same. I know I need to come up with some new strategies for non-human enemies here," said Therus.

  "I also need to work on that. I was also just shown firsthand how little I understand rituals and formations."

  "Really? Just curious, what was your reward?" Therus had his head cocked to the side, confusion plain on his face.

  "Just a lot of advice, nothing concrete. You?"

  Therus pulled up his hand; a shiny copper ring was on his finger. Before Seth could ask, Therus pulled out his staff. Turning to the side, Therus' staff grew shorter, and then returned to its normal length. As Seth watched Therus, he wondered if the hostess had screwed him out of an actual reward.

  "Thats incredible."

  "What kind of advice did you get?"

  "Some general stuff about the trial, like how you can only ascend peaks at difficulties seven through thirteen..."

  "Wait, that's super important. What are the lower difficulties for, then?"

  "To get resources for more difficult trials. Like those bound spirits."

  "Makes sense. Anything else?"

  "Just some advice on rituals, and some personal advice." Seth didn't want to elaborate. He wanted to dismiss the images he saw as fake. Products of the hostess toying with his mind. She probably had the power to do that, after all. But even if it were planted, he couldn't deny the part of him that screamed for joy as the life left his ex-wife's eyes.