Mira and Maria were laying right next to each other, unconscious. It took them a while to wake up after their injuries had fully recovered, but they both woke up at about the same time.

Mira slowly opened her eyes and felt every part of her body aching. It felt like she just got crushed with a boulder, but was pieced back together again. Mira held her head as she had a terrible headache.

“Fuck, this sucks. Did I pass? I guess if my injuries have been healed and I’m not dead then I’ve passed. That was a rough trial.” Mira said out loud and tried to look around. She noticed that Maria was laying down next to her and watched as Maria slowly opened her eyes as well.

“AH! I’m alive! I guess I passed! Hehe. I guess it’s time to find Mira and tell her abo-” Maria was joyfully talking out loud when she noticed Mira was sitting right next to her.

“MIRA!!” Maria screamed and went to hug Mira. Maria was laying right next to Mira and was able to hug her before she could move away or hit her.

“Long time no see, Maria. It seems you were able to pass the trial as well. I guess you aren’t a total failure after all.” Mira said before pushing Maria off of her.

“Jeez, Mira. It’s been 2 years since we last saw each other! Couldn’t you be a little nicer to me? I passed the trial! You should say, ‘Good job, Maria! I’m proud of you!’ or something like that!” Maria complained to Mira.

“Heh. This was the least you could do for all of the efforts that I put into training you. Why the hell should I be proud of you for what was to be expected? The only thing that I’m surprised about is that you passed the unarmed combat stage. I know that you know nothing about unarmed combat and you probably used did something stupid and got lucky. I will be teaching you this method of attack later when we have time. It may come in handy in the future.” Mira said as she casually brought up the unarmed combat training.

“Ahaha. How could I have gotten lucky? My Dad showed me when I was younger so of course, I could hold my own at that stage. Haha. There’s no need to teach me that!” Maria awkwardly tried to play it off, but Mira just smirked at this.

“Hehe. Is that so? I guess I will have to spar with you Dad in unarmed combat and see how good his skills are. Of course, I won’t be holding back since he’s a lot stronger than me. I need to make sure that he didn’t teach you a load of crap!” Mira snickered as Maria stiffened as now she brought her Dad down with her.

‘I’m sorry Dad. Hopefully, you know how to fight bare-handed.’ Maria thought to herself.

“Anyways, I guess we just need to wait here for the Caretaker to come back and distribute the rewards. It also looks like you made some decent progress in the trial. I can feel you are close to Stage 8 Qi Condensation and your body exudes strength. You also look much better than before. I guess that Lightning World Stage was very beneficial for both of us.” Mira said as she looked at Maria. She had to say that Maria looked extremely beautiful even with her clothes all bloody and her hair a mess. She still radiated light. She seemed like a Goddess of Light.

Maria was a bit surprised by the comment and wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Mira didn’t say ‘pretty’ or ‘beautiful’ she said she looked better than before. Was this a compliment? It didn’t feel like one. Maria then scanned Mira and noticed that Mira seemed to exude a chilling aura from her body. It gave Mira a sense of being untouchable. She then got a good look at Mira and could safely say that Mira looked more beautiful than a Goddess right now. This was perfection! Maria’s nose started to bleed as the sight in front of her was too captivating. She soon wiped her nose and spoke to Mira.

“You look perfect, Mira! The most beautiful thing in the Universe! I think you should wear a mask when you walk into cities though. I feel like your beauty may cause a calamity if you were to show it in a city. OH! You reached Stage 7 Qi Condensation too?!” Maria commented back. Mira just nodded as she was already going to do that before.

Soon the caretaker walked in after it heard them talking.

“Congratulations on passing the trial. I will now take you somewhere to distribute the rewards. Follow me.” It said as it started walking off.

Maria and Mira got up and started following it.

The caretaker soon led them to a large vault and opened it. He gestured for them to follow him inside. They were impressed by what they saw in the vault. Treasures, treasures, and more treasures! Weapons, Spirit Stones, equipment, pills, eggs, various cultivation, and weapon art manuals. There were also things in there that both Mira and Maria didn’t know as well, but they gave off an intimidating aura. They knew that those things were far from normal.

“First, we will start with the rewards for completing each stage. Not all of the stages have rewards upon completion, as the stage itself is the reward. I will just hand you a list that tells you the rewards as that will be much quicker. After we settle that, I will provide the rewards for completing all 20 stages of the trial. Here you go.” The Caretaker spoke and handed them both a sheet of paper.

The paper read:

Stage 1- 200 Hundred Spirit Stones

​ Stage 2- N/A

Stage 3- N/A

Stage 4- N/A

Stage 5- N/A

Stage 6- N/A

Stage 7- N/A

Stage 8- N/A

Stage 9- N/A

Stage 10- A Rank 4 Basic Bone Tempering Pill and a Rank 4 Basic Organ Tempering Pill

Stage 11- Poison Bath

Stage 12- Elemental Art Manual

Stage 13- Bare-Handed Weapon Art Manual

Stage 14- A Weapon Art Manual

Stage 15- 300 Hundred Spirit Stones

Stage 16- N/A

Stage 17- N/A

Stage 18- 500 Hundred Spirit Stones

Stage 19- N/A

Stage 20- Rank 4 Pill or something of equal value

Mira and Maria looked at this paper and were happy with the rewards. They were surprised by the poison bath though. 1000 Spirit Stones, 3 Rank 4 pills, 3 Arts, and a Poison Bath. This was rather good after getting all of the benefits from the trials, but it was nothing amazing. Rank 4 Pills weren’t crazy rare. All you needed was enough currency to purchase one. The 1000 Spirit Stones were nice, but with how much Qi they need to advance, this might not last them a year. The weapon and elemental art manuals were nice though. But the poison bath and Bare-Handed Art manual are… Meh at best.

The Caretaker then spoke after he saw they were done reading.

“I will hand these out after I tell you about the rewards for completing the trial. The rewards for completing the Trial vary for each person as they are specifically for that person rather than a set reward, but you will generally get the same thing. For Mira, you will get a bloodline, a magical beast egg, and a Rank 3 Energy Gathering Pill to help you break through to the Foundation Realm after you reach the Peak of Stage 9 Qi Condensation. For Maria, you will get a bloodline, a Light Elemental Essence, and a Rank 3 Energy Gathering Pill. I know this may sound like not a lot, but trust me when I say that the bloodline alone is worth more than everything on the paper I gave you combined.” The Caretaker took a short break to let them digest the information then began talking again.

“The bloodline Mira will get is from an ancient Ice Serpent Race called Kuraokami. They were the rulers of Ice and were an incredible force in this world in ancient times. These magical beasts would ascend to become Immortals when they reached adulthood, but it took them hundreds if not thousands of years to reach adulthood. I have also prepared an Ice attribute magical beast egg for you. This was the egg of a Kuraokami that my Masters have kept here, waiting for someone to inherit the egg.” Mira interrupted when the Caretaker said this.

“Actually, I want a Lightning Attribute Magical Beast. A Kuraokami would be great and all, but our interests would contradict. But a lightning magical beast would synergize greatly with me. Do you have a lightning beast egg?” Mira explained to the Caretaker. He nodded slightly as this was a great opportunity for her.

“There is a lightning beast egg here, but I’m not sure what species it is. But I can tell you that it is incredibly powerful. It is definitely on par with the previous egg I mentioned. You will just have to find a source of Lightning instead of Ice to help hatch it along with feeding it your energy. You can have that one instead.” The caretaker explained and Mira nodded.

“For Maria, you will inherit the Chalkydri bloodline. The Chalkydri is a Light Attributed Hydra that existed in ancient times as well. They were on par with the Kuraokami and were the rulers of light in their time. They have all either died or ascended by now. Now, I’m sure you are also wondering what an Elemental Essence is. An Elemental Essence is a spirit that was formed by an abundance amount of a specific element. They have a bit of intelligence when they are born, but it basically consists of looking for more of their element and running away from danger. If a person absorbs an Elemental Essence into their heart, then if that person were to use that element in battle, it would be stronger than before. How much strength is gained depends on the quality of the Essence. The quality of an Elemental Essence generally depends on how long it has lived, but this is not always true as some Elemental Essences are born incredibly strong. The one you will be getting could be said to be a step above the worst. You can also nurture this Essence as well, with specific resources or you can absorb other Elemental Essences into your current one, increasing its power.” The caretaker explained to Maria and Maria nodded happily with sparkles in her eyes. Mira then spoke out.

“I was wondering if I would be able to trade out a Rank 4 pill for an Ice Elemental Essence?” Mira asked.

“Sure, but it will be the worst and least powerful one we have. It will probably be no benefit to you right now as your Dao is already incredibly powerful with only your limited understanding.”

“I see. Well, that doesn’t matter. If I can nurture it or find more, then this will be a good start. Much better than a Rank 4 Pill.” Mira said.

The Caretaker nodded and waited for any more questions. They both didn’t have any questions, so the Caretaker walked off to gather all of the rewards. Meanwhile, Maria looked through the Rank 4 Pills that she wanted to take with her.

The Caretaker soon came back with each of their rewards.

Mira got her 1000 Spirit Stones, a Rank 4 Basic Bone Tempering Pill, a Rank 4 Basic Organ Tempering Pill, a poison bath that seemed that it could instantly kill her if she touched it, an Ice Elemental Art Manual called Ice Prison, a Bare-Handed Art Manual called Earth-Shattering Fist, a Scythe Art Manual called Double-Bladed Scythe, the Lightning Beast egg, and the Rank 3 Energy Gathering Pill. She wasn’t able to trade the Scythe Art Manual in for anything as that was the only scythe art they had. She still decided to take it though as she might be able to learn something from it.

Maria also received her rewards and got 1000 Spirit Stones, a Rank 4 Basic Bone Tempering Pill, a Rank 4 Basic Organ Tempering Pill, a poison bath, a Light Elemental Art Manual called Light Boots, a Bare-Handed Art Manual called Earth-Shattering Fist, a Sword Art Manual called Sword Wave, a Rank 4 Energy Gathering Pill that she chose, and the Rank 3 Energy Gathering Pill.

“Go and rest for now. Tomorrow, I will help you inherit the bloodlines and absorb the Elemental Essences.” The Caretaker said. Mira and Maria nodded and walked off to find a place to sleep.