Five days had passed since Seth had conquered the first peak. Taking aim at a makeshift target in his practice room, he let a spray of tiny ice shards fly. They smashed where he aimed, and he started the next incantation. His qi moved sluggishly, but he felt invisible bands form around his arms and smiled. He charged the wall and smashed his fist into it as hard as he could. It stung, but his bones didn't shatter.

  Finished with his exercises, he strolled out of his room. The main hall was empty except for the leaderboard, which now read:

  Therus - First Peak (27)

  Seth - First Peak (26)

  Matrim - 19

  Xiaobo - 17

  Aaron - 17

  Jalon - 12

  ...

  Their countdown timer had twenty-five flames remaining. His excursions into the trial had all been low difficulty ones for the purposes of binding spirits. He reached into his robes, and felt the ten small gems, humming with power.

  Seth wandered into the meal area. Therus and Aaron were the only ones present, sitting at opposite ends of the room. He waved to Therus and went to get some food, and Therus waved back. They hadn't spoken much recently.

  Seth sat by Therus and started to eat. Bland stew, bland bread, bland vegetables. Bland, but nourishing. He imagined most would be frustrated with the boring, repetitive meals, but he was grateful. It kept him fed. Kept him focused.

  "How's things on your end?" asked Seth.

  "Slow, but have uncovered some worrying facts." Therus' mouth tried to pull up into a smile that gave way to a yawn.

  "Like?"

  "The ones that mention a ritual for five people are the most worrying. I think we may have to find a group of five in order to conquer one of the peaks."

  "Where did that conclusion come from."

  "The ritual is a ritual for power. Five people open a gate to the spirit realm as soon as the sun sets. If they're still alive when the dawn rises, they're supposed to be blessed beyond compare."

  "That's interesting, but I don't see—"

  "It's also the protocol for selecting new leadership of a cabal. Think about it. If someone's going to collect an inheritance, they'd need to be familiar with important rituals and be able to complete them."

  That...made a depressing amount of sense that became more depressing when he started thinking about the other attendees. Besides Xiaobo, he couldn't think of anyone he'd want to depend on for a trial. Before too many people died for it to matter. Thankfully, nobody had died yet. Still, it was just a matter of time. The last two trials had been way too close for comfort, and Seth refused to believe he was especially unlucky.

  "Any ideas on group members?"

  "Not really. I was thinking of asking Xiaobo. He seems to be on friendly terms with everyone here, and knows them better than we do."

  "Something bothering you?" The whole time they had been talking, Therus hadn't met his eyes once, looking straight down.

  "The one thing I'm supposed to be good at..." Therus said, shaking his head. "I'm supposed to be making connections and alliances for my family. Was trained to do it since I was young. Now I'm here, the only ones who will talk to me with any civility are you and Xiaobo. And I'm sure you're the main reason Xiaobo talks with me."

  "Are you saying making a connection with me is not doing your job?" Seth asked, chuckling.

  "Politically, yes. Don't get me wrong, I love you like my own brother. But our family has enemies, and 'the house of Perkins,' isn't exactly a daunting foe."

  "Well, not with that attitude..." Seth flashed Therus a grin as he said it.

  Therus stopped and stared at Seth, mouth hanging open slightly. Then, he started laughing. And kept laughing. The laughter was contageous, and soon Seth was laughing as well.

  "Hey, what's so funny?" Xiaobo walked over to their table with food in hand, and sat down.

  "Apparently, Therus doesn't believe in the deterrent that is the great house of Perkins," Seth declared. Xiaobo's lost look prompted Seth to continue.

  "Inside joke. Perkins is my family name, but my family is about as far from nobility as anyone's can be."

  "Oh." He shrugged and started eating.

  "On a more pertinent topic, Xiaobo..."

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Just Bo, please," said Xiaobo between bites of food.

  "Bo, then. If you needed to form a team of five to tackle a trial, who would you invite?"

  "If I had my way, it'd be you two, Aaron, and Jalon." Xiaobo didn't hesitate in his answer at all. "I know there's some bad blood between you two and Aaron. If I had to choose, it'd be tough. You two are monstrously strong against people, but he's much more versatile."

  Seth clenched his fists under the table, but kept his mouth shut. He was painfully aware of his weaknesses; the trial they did with Bo made sure of that. While he had some ideas for how to overcome those weaknesses, he was still working out specifics.

  "Not that I should be talking, considering you both handled more golems than I did. What a shitshow that was."

  "For some completely unknown reason, the sect that refines people seems to focus on techniques for fighting and killing people," Seth said as drily as he could.

  "True, but you should have seen Aaron deal with some of those golems," said Xiaobo. "He makes fighting them look easy. Then again, he did get a nice weapon here..."

  "What weapon is that?"

  "A huge fucking hammer," said Xiaobo, "and an earth manipulation technique. He trips the golems up, and smashes 'em when they're down. Makes it look so simple."

  "Well, if it makes you feel better, I personally have no issue with Aaron," said Therus. "He is simply doing as he must as a loyal retainer to his liege. I cannot fault him for that. I am equally aware that it doesn't solve the problem."

  "That's good to know. I take it that your question was more than just idle curiosity, then?"

  "Yes. Based on some research, I believe that at least one of the peaks must be conquered in a group of five. Do you need details, or...?"

  "I'll take your word for it." Xiaobo said, throwing his hands up. "I can't make any promises, but I think I can get Aaron and Jalon on board. If you have anything that can sweeten the deal, however, it would make things easier."

  "I learned some things about conquering peaks during—" Seth felt his mouth keep moving, but it felt like he was trying to talk with a live rat inside his mouth. Fortunately, no sound was coming out. He took a deep breath, and continued.

  "Looks like I can't talk about that. I believe I can share some things I learned over the course of the trial, though. For example, peaks can only be conquered at trials at or over a difficulty of seven."

  "That's super helpful. And you say you know more?"

  "Yes. Not too much, but enough."

  "Count me in, then. Let's meet by the trial entrance in twelve hours. Sound good?"

  Seth went to the library, and did research on techniques to defend against spirits. Based on what Therus said about the five person trial, it was most likely going to require them to defend themselves against spirits. He was not about to bet his life on his ability to bind enough spirits to make a challenge for five people difficult.

  Thankfully, a number of spirit related combat techniques were readily available. Most of them boiled down to creating a skin-tight barrier of qi for defense, or forming a thin layer of qi just under the skin for offense. Against flesh and blood, the amount of qi required to make such a barrier work was prohibitive, but against spirits, it was supposedly much easier. It just needed to be "tuned" to the spirit. It showed an illustration of this tuned qi, and it just looked weirdly spikey. Still, he had a few hours to figure it out. And sleep, he still needed sleep.

  Seth focused as the qi formed a layer on his arm. Focusing, he slowly bent the qi until it bulged. Good, it was holding. Now all he needed—and there it went. He had pushed too hard.

  He'd been at it for four hours, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't seem to figure out how to replicate the pattern, with little success. Rubbing his temples, he tried to figure out what he had missed. Sighing, he formed the qi on his arm. The song "Hero" popped into his head, and he smiled. He remembered his son Mark blasting that in his car one time. He started to hum the tune, mentally preparing himself to start trying again.

  That's when it spiked. It wasn't exactly illustrated in the books, but the pattern matched. He started humming from the beginning, slowly. Eventually, he found the note. As long as he held it, the qi held that shape.

  He practiced for an hour more before taking a quick nap. During that hour, he found a couple more notes that worked. It reminded him of old cartoons where characters yelled their attacks. Except instead of yelling, he was humming his attack. Putting it that way, it felt kind of silly. He'd need to find a way to do it silently. Definitely.

  These thoughts were still circling his mind when he went to meet with Therus and Xiaobo. Aaron and Jalon were also there. Seth had seen Jalon around, but never really paid the short, stocky, bald man any attention. Well, the normally bald man currently had thick stubble on top of his head. That, combined with the sour look on his face, made him look like a monk who was just coming down from a week-long alcohol binge.

  "Bo, you seriously want to work with these...ruffians?" He had to give Aaron one thing; he was honest. Bo's ever-present smile dropped off his face as he turned toward Aaron.

  "In case you haven't noticed, these two 'ruffians' are the only ones here who have made any progress with this trial. They need help progressing, and will help us in return by giving us information. If you don't want that information, I'm sure Matrim would be happy to take your place. All I need is a fifth person..."

  Aaron put his hands up in a motion of surrender while glaring at Therus and Seth.

  "Now, let's not be too harsh on Aaron," said Therus. "I definitely don't begrudge him his loyalty. It's a quality that is too often lacking in retainers. However, for the time being our interests align. I would like to propose a temporary truce, just until we get out of here alive. What do you say?" Therus held his hand out to Aaron.

  "I do not like this one bit," said Aaron, grasping Therus' hand.

  "I appreciate your honesty, and I also do not like this. But from what I hear, turning you away over our grievances would be profoundly foolish, given your competence."

  Aaron released Therus' hand, and had a strange look in his eye as he turned away. It may have been a trick of the light, but it seemed as if Aaron was standing taller after that exchange. His head held just a hair higher.

  They had a quick discussion about the plan. They would challenge the trial until they conquered a peak. Therus would determine which doors they challenged. Once they were finished, Seth would share what he knew. Simple, in theory.

  "Let's get this over with," said Aaron.

  "Any objections?" Xiaobo asked.

  Nobody said anything, so they started their quest to conquer the next peak.