Aimless Ascension



"That white-haired old lady with a high pitch and condescending voice?" he sighed. "I met her a few months ago, like you, she suggested that I come to this town as well."

Ai's face changed as she heard that. Her shoulders sagged instantly, understanding her master had been playing her a fool for some time now.

"That doesn't change anything," Ai said. "Will you let me come with you?"

"I guess there's no harm." Gale shrugged. "And I fear I can't stop you if you want to join the trial. It's always better together than to suffer alone."

"Thank you." Ai's face softened as she let out a breath. "I think I should try to divine as much as I can about the trials. I have a feeling that I won't be able to after we enter the trial."

The others waited as Ai lost herself in burning her replenished fortune. A little while later, her body shuddered as she coughed out blood. Her divination broke.

Wang Li came forward to support the girl.

"I'm fine," Ai said, coughing the last bit of blood. "I guess I shouldn't have pushed forth, but it's all worth it."

"What did you find out?" Gale asked, throwing a minor recovery spell at her.

"I saw ourselves walking in the third trial," Ai answered. "There are others too. A lady of two worlds, A man who sees too much, the maiden of the Sun, The blessed child, and a lost soul."

Gale groaned again, not a fan of cryptic. He chose to ignore what he couldn't understand and stood back up.

"I guess, after we return you to the farm we can enter the dungeon," Gale said, turning to Wang Li, who clearly seemed that she wanted to disagree with him, but lacked the confidence to do it.

"No, I saw her with us in the trial," Ai told them, to their surprise.

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"Are you sure?" Gale asked.

Ai nodded.

Wang Li is clearly torn between delight and anxiety. She was delighted that she would be able to see Xiaolin, and anxious that she would be a burden on them if she went on into the dungeon with them.

"We each have our role to play in there," Ai said.

Wang Li turned to Gale again, hope kindling in his eyes.

Gale shrugged. "I guess it won't be a problem in intermediate difficulty. Oh wait, will the difficulty level affect the possibility of reaching the final trial?"

[Unlikely,] Saraya said something after a long day.

"No," Ai answered next.

"Then it's settled then," Gale said. "Hopefully, you can get something useful out of this."

"I only wanted to see Linlin safe," Wang Li said.

Gale nodded as he chose the intermediate difficulty, and entered as a Group tab, and immediately they were transported to a different location.

A chill ran down from Ai's spine as she questioned, "What just happened?"

"Gale," Wang Li answered, as Gale was mostly busy checking on the new location. "He chose to enter the dungeon right away before we could prepare."

Ai groaned, spouting out something in frustration. "Can't you even give us a little time for us to prepare?"

"What is there to prepare?" Gale asked as a dark premonition dawned on him. "Oh shit!"

"My iron rank power is sealed," Ai said, her voice solemn. "Even my fate lock powers."

"Mine too," Wang Li said, her voice similarly panicked.

"Don't act surprise, you're an oracle for all that mattered," Gale reminded her.

His power too was sealed, almost all of it. Like them, he wasn't even a copper ranker, and barely had much Qi to work around. All his fate locks were sealed as well along with his physical strength. . .

Wait, no, he could access little of the Radiant power. And perhaps the void lock as well, though he would have to check more to see how much he could exert.

"I'm only an apprentice," Ai said in her dilemma. She was literally shivering in the cold environment that surrounded them. The icy cold air, let her out visible puffs of steam with her every exhale.

[Welcome to Trial One

Difficulty: Intermediate Type: Survival/Treasure Hunting

Participants: 4 Time: 12 days.

Descriptions: Great danger lurks in the surrounding wilderness, but opportunity comes hand in hand with the danger. Survive the wilderness for twelve days and complete the following tasks.

Tasks:

1. Collect 100 Copper rank beast cores.

2. Locate the lost temple of A'ian.

3. Will be updated later.]

"Now that's a proper RPG quest," Gale said brightly.

Ai and Wang Li gulped as they read the context of the quest.

"Don't worry, I'm just brilliant at this," Gale said. "Also, we have Vale."

"Woof!" The hound barked cheerfully, which did better to cheer up the girls than what Gale managed.

"Thank the good that we get out of the darkness though," Gale said, glancing around.

Wang Li agreed, but the blind girl only shook her head, as nothing changed for her.

All he could find was that the world blanketed in a thick layer of pristine and pure white snow, while much of the sunlight obscuring through the thick mist. The snowflakes fall gently from the sky, swirling and twirling as they dance their way to the ground.

"Okay, with only me being experienced in boy scout, I'll take the role as the leader," Gale told the ladies and his friend. Seeing nobody disregarding him, he continued. "To survive in this environment, we need three things. Water, a safe place to sleep, and food." he paused to added, "And fire too. Well, that makes four things, and turns out there were exactly four of us here."

Gale turned to Vale. "Buddy, you're in charge of collecting food. Go hunt down whatever animal you can find, we'll deal with the other problem."

"Woof!" Vale barked, bending his head as if saluting. He rushed out of there, his form vanishing in the similarly white environment.

"Aren't you worried about him?" Wang Li asked. "Like us, his power should be sealed as well."

Gale shrugged. "Still, he's more powerful than the most of us. Also, this playground is advantageous for him." Gale then directed to the other things they have to collect. "Water should be easy to get with all this snow. Which left only a safe place and fire. Fire would be a little tricky, but I can manage that. So let's build an igloo first."

"A what?"

"A house of ice," Gale explained. "You guys probably have that in your world as well. Anyway, let's get to work, it'll keep you warm."

With that, they moved around for a bit to find a right spot to build the igloo. It was on the opposite side of a slope, which obstructed most of the cold wind. There were plenty of trees around, so he sent Wang Li to collect some dry branches while he built the igloo.

For four individuals, he needed to have it spacious enough, also not too spacious that the snow would crumble on top of them. He guessed they would have enough space to make a fire, and rest. And they still be with a little free space.

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This first trial can possibly be longer than I intended.