Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 217, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 70 –

Terry looked at the mossy wall with narrowed eyes and whispered: “Impressive.”

If he were to trust his eyes, he would still think this was a normal wall. This alone wasn’t that impressive, honestly, but the fact that even his mana sight failed to pick up anything was enough for Terry to think highly of the illusion.

No matter how impressive the illusion was, two aspects had tipped Terry off. First, Terry had been following a weak trail of mana that was reminiscent of what he had sensed in the dao chamber cavern. He was already expecting something.

Second, the prickling sensation in his mind was telling him that something was off. His mana touch wasn’t tricked by illusions, no matter how well they had been cloaked.

Terry retrieved a cheap spear from his storage bracelet, a spear he was mostly using as a barbecue skewer. He stabbed the spear forth into the illusion.

Nothing happened. He felt no resistance either.

Next, Terry retrieved the vampire bat spirit projection ring that the mayor of Syn City had given to him. He circulated mana into the ring and sent the translucent bat ahead to scout.

Just another tunnel.

Terry mustered his resolve and stepped into the hidden passage. The passage forked shortly after and he got the impression that he had walked into a labyrinth.

“Rookie shit.” Terry retrieved his five-point inscription ring and relied on his mana touch to scout the different paths at once. Just in case, Terry also documented every fork he encountered and the path he had chosen in one of his notebooks.

He made sure to never touch the floor with his feet and to always keep the bat spirit projection in front of himself.

“Welcome, challenger.” A high-pitched voice echoed from the tunnel walls. “You have chosen the Trial of Overcoming Fate.”

“Have I?” Terry frowned.

“Overcoming fate means overcoming your own limitations, facing an opponent stronger than yourself and coming out ahead. We will take your cultivation as a baseline and will confront you with increasingly stronger opponents. You can yield, but you only have a single chance to challenge this trial. The more realms you are able to jump and the longer you hold on, the bigger the reward.”

Terry returned the bat spirit ring to his storage item and shrugged.

If it’s annoying, I can just give up, I guess. Might as well try to see what this is about.

Terry didn’t care that much about the inheritance of this supposed legendary senior. He just wanted to survive, get out, and return to Arcana.

It’s not even clear if whatever the reward is here would be compatible with me anyway. For all I know, it’s just going to be some stupid jade token with a martialist technique again.

Wait…

Terry puckered his lips. “Take my ‘cultivation realm’ as a baseline?”

I don’t have a cultivation realm. If they are going to judge my strength based on my acupoints or some shit, then… I have none.

What if they have a fallback for weird cultivation styles? Some of these people mentioned heretical cultivation before, is that what they meant? How might they— Mana?

Mana.

The longer Terry thought about it, the more he was certain that the will guiding the trial would fall back on judging Terry’s strength by the amount of mana in his body. He puffed his cheeks and pondered the implications. Before long, he grinned and instantly dumped all of his mana out of his body. He had a lot of practice with this thanks to his disruption field.

Terry kept his mana naturalized at a distance in case he needed it, but he made sure to not hold so much as a single speck of mana in his body. He was dumping his mana as quickly as he was regenerating it.

After bottoming out, he watched the tunnel in front of him curiously and waited with bated breath.

“First challenge.”

Terry could not help but laugh at the brittle earth warrior that rose from the floor. He was delighted to discover that his ruse had worked. Even though the golems were getting progressively stronger, the trial had begun at such a low starting point, that Terry crushed his artificial opponents without much sweat.

“Perfect achievement,” praised the high-pitched voice. “Jumping more than four full cultivation realms is the limit of our trial. Taking the speed with which you passed the trial into account, you have earned an additional reward.”

A blue stone disc materialized in front of Terry.

“Uh, okay?” Terry picked the disc up. He could sense mana from it, but that was all he could make out.

“Collect three different tokens and you will have proven your worth,” declared the high-pitched voice. “You may proceed to the Dao Hall now.”

“I knew it.” Terry grinned when the voice confirmed what his mana sense had picked up before. Somewhere in this hidden tunnel system was a dao chamber.

Only… if I can already sense the time accelerating mana, then I’m not the first one here.

There might be other entrances or different trials…

Terry retrieved his barrier spear and put on his vampire bat spirit projection ring before proceeding further down the passage.

It did not take long until he reached the hall connected to dao chambers. He had been right to suspect that there would be company. Just as Terry stepped into the chamber, someone else was leaving it.

“Apex?” Terry halted in his steps.

“You again?” The woman with a tightly-tied ponytail stared at Terry. Her expression turned harsh. “I’m not done here. You can scram now. I intend to continue using the dao chamber.”

The traces of darkwater are gone but there is still that other thing…

Terry was momentarily distracted by examining Apex’s mana signature.

“Oy!” Apex raised a fist. A small layer of azure fire surrounded by golden lightning flared up on her knuckles. “Are you going to fight me or not?”

“No thanks,” replied Terry indifferently. Truth be told, he wasn’t that eager to step into another time-diluted mental experience. Even though it was admittedly a great help for improving his proficiency with the divine hammer inscription, it was also mentally draining and very risky considering the vulnerable state he would be in during meditation.

I’m more interested in the time-accelerating atmosphere to improve my physique.

Terry held Apex’s gaze and waited.

Apex clearly didn’t expect Terry’s response and eyed him suspiciously. “Then why aren’t you moving?! Scram!”

“I have other business here,” said Terry without flinching. “I’m not going to compete with you for the dao chamber, but I still have something that interests me here.”

“And what would that be?!” Apex demanded to know.

Terry smiled and shrugged.

Apex stared at him. “I’m going to put up several wards. If you so much as put a toe into the chamber, you’re going to be very dead.”

“Thanks for the unnecessary warning,” said Terry without caring much.

Apex continued glaring at Terry suspiciously while returning to the dao chamber. Before she stepped through the door, she thought of something and looked back.

“If you see an Azure Spirit Lotus, you better don’t touch it.” Apex glared at Terry. “I need that and if you— What?”

While Apex was speaking, Terry had scanned his storage items and discovered there was a light-blue lotus with spirit-aspected mana among the stuff he had looted in the Hall of Wealth. He had thrown it over before Apex could finish her threat.

Apex was visibly confused at his actions and Terry had to work hard to suppress a snicker.

I believe I understand why Aunt Sigille enjoyed teasing the battle maniac so much.

Terry blinked and waited for Apex to continue talking.

“...why are you giving me this?” Apex asked with bewilderment straining her voice.

“You would have threatened me to give it to you, right?” retorted Terry.

“Naturally, but…” Apex stared at Terry with narrowed eyes. “You didn’t seem like that much of a coward before. So why?”

Terry shrugged. “Perhaps because you helped us in the Libra Outpost.”

“Bullshit, I didn’t help you little puffballs.” Tiny specks of fire were escaping from Apex’s furious eyes. “That had nothing to do with—”

“Whaka Sigille was my aunt,” interrupted Terry. “Whaka Matteo is my cousin.”

“I did not help Matteo!” Apex forced through gritted teeth. “The old hag deserved better than— It doesn’t matter! What’s it got to do with you? I did what I wanted. It’s none of your business.”

“I’m free to do what I want as well.” Terry pointed at the lotus. “So take it.”

“Of course, I’ll take it!” Apex had already stored the lotus in her storage item.

I need to tell Matteo about this.

Terry had to suppress another snicker because Apex looked clearly uncomfortable. It was plain to see that she would have been much happier if she could have beaten the snot out of someone to get the lotus.

Apex eventually clicked her tongue. “I don’t like owing any favors, so here is a warning in exchange. You should be careful outside.”

Terry furrowed his brow.

“If you’re related to the old hag, then the little shitstain is most likely going to come after you if he sees a chance.” Apex turned around to leave.

“‘The little shitstain’? Who?” Terry shouted.

“Vicious.” Apex shouted back before disappearing in the passage leading to the dao chamber, which immediately closed behind her.

“Vicious.” Terry repeated, slightly paler than before. “Eric. Crap.”

Great. As if a bunch of lunatic martialists wasn’t bad enough, now I have to worry about a slimy channeler too?

Wait, is that why Apex carried traces of darkwater before? Is that why she was injured?

Should I tell her about the weird mana that still lingers? Or is that her own? She managed to get rid of the darkwater, so perhaps that other mana really belongs to her. If it is her own mana and I comment on it, she’ll probably get pissed again. So…

“Nope,” mumbled Terry and followed the trail of time-accelerating mana to locate the perfect spot for his own seclusion.

***

A man in white-golden robes jogged over. “Terry, wait!” Shen shouted. “I have a question.”

Terry turned around without replying.

“What did you find?” asked Shen.

Terry tilted his head.

“I’m gathering information about the different trials in this area,” explained Shen.

On the one hand, Terry didn’t know why he should share. On the other hand, he also didn’t know why he should care.

“Just a weird character infused with mana.” Terry shrugged. “No idea why that would count as a reward.”

“Character?” Shen scrambled to retrieve a scroll and unfurled it. “Any of these?”

Terry scanned the scroll and then pointed. “That one.”

Shen inhaled sharply. “Someone left behind sword intent.”

“Uh-huh.” Terry had no idea what sword intent was supposed to be, or how that could possibly help anyone with anything.

I guess me not being a martialist cultivator comes with both advantages and disadvantages here. Sometimes I manage to cheat the trials but sometimes the rewards are complete duds.

“Thanks, are you still gathering food?” asked Shen. “I have some hunted beasts to repay you for the information. Or do you want more of the elixirs? Or some basic books again?”

Terry pondered what he should ask for. He had traded with Shen and some other martialists several times already, but he was still wary of dealing with any of them.

Asking for a book was quite harmless, but asking for anything Terry would consume was risky. Therefore, he honestly preferred hunting and collecting his own food. At least then he could be sure where it came from and that the food hadn’t been poisoned.

Even taking someone’s storage items was less risky than a trade, mostly because people didn’t plan for their storage items being taken.

Terry looked at Shen and decided to pick something he had never chosen before in a trade. He figured there was less risk of Shen preparing a trap if he asked for something unexpected.

“I’ll take some concentrated alcohol and a…” Terry had to search his memory. “Constellation Breakthrough Pill.”

It was one of the pills whose description Terry knew from a book. He had tried one before and while its primary purpose was completely useless to someone without a dantian, it was still a pill with tons of easily absorbable mana. This fit perfectly with Terry’s body aging attempts.

“Of course…” Shen took out a bottle and a small box with three identical pills.

“One is enough,” said Terry. He did not expect to get a tip and wasn’t sure how to interpret such an action.

“Actually, I had another trade in mind.” Shen seemed to hesitate. “I’m looking for a battle technique called the Big Dipper Sword. Have you heard of it?”

“Maybe…” Terry rapidly moved his consciousness over the jade tokens in his possessions. He had mostly forgotten all the ridiculous names from the techniques he had collected in the Hall of Knowledge. “...yes.” He took out one jade token and held it out for Shen. “The Big Dipper Sword for the two additional pills then.”

“Great,” exclaimed Shen. “Thank you. See you soon!” He sprinted back to his group of followers. He was greeted with inquisitive eyes.

“And?”

“I’ve confirmed three things,” said Shen with a grave expression. “First, Terry is basically entirely ignorant of the value of the items he is handing out.”

“If he’s really from Arcana, that would explain it.”

“Or he’s just extremely spoiled and never had to pay for anything.”

“Or…” A more cautious voice added. “...he is not as simple as he seems and he might have forgotten the value of items he considers beneath himself.”

“That crap again? An elder in disguise? Really?”

“Bah. I’ve never heard of anyone cheating the tomb.”

“Well, what of it, Shen? What was his bone age this time?”

“That’s the second point,” said Shen. “His current bone age is close to twenty-five.”

“See?! I told you he is an elder that found a way to temporarily hide his age to step into the tomb of trials!”

“What do you think, Shen?”

“I think we should not jump to conclusions,” replied Shen. “The more interesting point is number three: Terry is an incomparable treasure trove.”

“Why? Because he took out a Cleansing Firestalk Bamboo and the Big Dipper Sword?”

“Don’t forget the stuff he gave to the Immortal Tigress and the Outcast from the Ironbark Fist Sect.”

“And? Sure, these things are valuable, but not that valuable, right? I mean each one of us probably has at least a handful of items like that in our storage items.”

“And the talismans he used as if they were nothing?”

“I mean, you and I also have—”

“The point is not the value of the Big Dipper Sword technique itself,” interjected Shen. “The point is that he had the technique with him. I asked for it specifically. The techniques and treasure Terry handed out before were ideally suited to the elf and the felan. The items themselves might not be of incomparable value, but consider the implications of him handing out all three.”

Shen looked at his group as if he was holding a lecture. “The same with the Cleansing Firestalk Bamboo. He was asked for something valuable, but more importantly, something rare, specific, and nearly random. It would be an extreme coincidence for Terry to be able to fulfill several such requests. Unless…” He waited for his friends to finish the thought.

“...unless his storage is filled to the brim with similar items.”

“So the test wasn’t about this technique specifically but about him being able to satisfy a specific request out of the blue?”

“Yes, and to verify the two other points while I’m at it,” affirmed Shen. “I would put Terry into the top ten most worthwhile targets in this secret realm.”

“Easy pickings.” One of the people in the group grinned.

“Eventually perhaps,” said Shen. “Not now. First, we focus on the tickets. We are still missing some for a few of you.”

“But there is still so much time, do we really need to tackle this immediately?”

“Yes,” insisted Shen. “Now, we can focus on it. When the exit deadline approaches, everyone will scramble for the tickets. That will be the perfect time to go after treasures instead, especially if we can comfortably wait people out. Tickets first.”

***

“Welcome, challenger,” a deep non-human voice growled. “You have chosen the Trial of Life Preservation.”

“Sure I have,” mumbled Terry while absentmindedly looking towards the tunnel. He was scouting ahead with his mana touch.

“You will be facing increasingly powerful attacks. You can choose to yield after each attack, but you only have a single chance to challenge this trial. The more attacks you withstand, the bigger the reward.”

“No baseline this time, huh?” Terry shrugged. “Let’s see if this is enough.” He transfixed several tertium slabs in front of himself.

He was fully counting on his Immovable Object spell, but he chose to have two backups. He prepared the barriers of his inscribed spear and helmet, as well as a layer of divine mana in front of himself.

Terry almost regretted his pointless efforts when he saw the kind of attacks smashing into the immovable wall of tertium.

Purely kinetic force. Sharp but nothing that would threaten my spell.

Even though the incoming attacks eventually carried mana aspects too, none of them were a threat to the immovable defense.

Terry relaxed and waited for the trial to finish.

“Perfect achievement,” praised the deep growling voice. “You have earned an additional reward.”

A green disc appeared in front of Terry.

“Collect three different tokens and you will have proven your worth,” declared the deep voice. “You may proceed to the Dao Hall now.”

Terry picked up the disc and walked through the tunnel that led to another dao chamber. It was the fourth one he had visited since he had arrived in this secret realm.

Compared to the others, the first one was special in many ways. It was accessible for more than one person at a time and the time dilation was more extreme. Furthermore, there was one important thing that all the later dao chambers had in common…

The moment he sensed the familiar mana signature, Terry could not say he was surprised anymore.

“Apex.” Terry snickered.

“Again?!” Apex stared incredulously at Terry.

Every single time that Terry had followed the time accelerating mana, Terry had found Apex there. He had encountered other people too, but only when he was revisiting the chambers he already knew.

From what Terry could detect in the change in mana, he guessed that the dao chambers in the current area were intended for sequential usage. Many people could use them in succession, but the time dilation was weaker for later users.

Terry had spent some time observing the order of arrival. He had discovered that many of the earliest visitors were people he already knew. Shen, the duo from the Blazing Sun Sect, Guillermo, Hom, even Zhang and Rafael.

However, they were all second at best. Terry did not count himself because he believed his own approach was different from the martialists. His approach relied on his own exquisite mana sense and the fact that someone else had discovered the chamber first.

Terry was certain that Apex was always the first to reach the chambers. There was not much doubt, because he always caught her in the middle of it.

“Are you stalking me?” Apex looked at him with a flicker of disgust.

Terry chuckled. “Not really, but I can see how it might look that way.” He shrugged. “I haven’t seen Vicious yet.”

“The shitstain is a coward,” spat Apex contemptfully. “Even with his newfound powers.”

Terry wanted to ask for details about the powers, but knew better than to simply ask Apex straight… Mostly, because he had asked before.

Apex had first demanded another item before answering. Afterwards, she had described some abilities in a way that Terry still had no idea what she was trying to convey. When Terry had voiced as much, Apex had gotten angry and challenged him to a fight, which he had declined, much to her confusion.

“How do you always find these places?” Terry asked instead.

“Do you have some Lifegold Jade?” returned Apex with crossed arms and waited.

Terry searched his storage items and then held up an intensely life-aspected jade stone with golden markings.

“...” For a moment, Apex glowered at him suspiciously and silently. “Hand it over.”

Terry threw the weird jade to her.

“Stupid question,” scoffed Apex. “Same way you do.”

I doubt it. Terry thought to himself.

“I look at the celestial bodies above.” Apex talked while examining the Lifegold Jade. “I look at the geography. The positions of the mountains and the lakes. The moss on the trees. The angles of the rock formations. I calculate the…”

While Apex rattled off an endless chain of complicated calculations, Terry stared at her with mouth agape.

Could it be that Apex is secretly a huge nerd?

Terry worked hard to keep his thoughts from showing on his face.

I have to tell Matteo.

***