Ordeal

"What does all of this do exactly?" Nyx asked as she leaned over the open valise.

"Most of this stuff is only useful to Earth standards," Rakna said. "Jammers, decoders, lock picking tools, etcetera. There are also a few practical kits. But the most important things in here are the knives and the valise itself."

"Why is that?"

"These knives are Eion Knives," he replied and showed her a small button that was located on the handle of one of them. "You press that once; it will explode after ten seconds. You press it twice; it will explode on impact. You press it thrice; it will cancel it."

"…explode?"

"Yes. Eion explosion. The most destructive invention from Earth. It's far stronger than TNT. One of these knives could probably blow up this entire apartment." Rakna paused. "Well, only if it's not magically reinforced."

"That is quite powerful."

"For sure," he snorted. "I was thinking of teaching Pronos how to create Eion Explosions. It would be an incredible asset to have. He might even make something far, far more powerful when he gets strong enough…"

"I see… what about the valise?"

"It's a generator," Rakna said as he put all the knives he had inside his storage. He then closed the valise and opened a hidden pad where there were several types of energy sockets.

"As long as I have this thing, I can make as many Eion Systems as I want. I can use it to make more of these knives, or even forge weapons and armor. I'll have to test it at some point."

"Hm… speaking of weapons, could you forge me one?"

"You too?" Rakna asked whilst storing the case. "What kind do you want?"

"Have you ever heard of Urumi?"

"Uru… oh, you mean whip swords?"

"Yes."

"Hm… if that's what you want, I can always try to make one. But are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yes, I know very well of how unwieldy they are. But what I'm used to isn't anything like what normal humans have. I want it to switch from whip to blade through mental input and both states must not be weak in their tension. I do not want the sword to break off whenever I use it to parry a strike for instance."

Rakna nodded. "I get that. It's basically what people back on my planet would find in fiction. That was nearly impossible to do mechanically. Maybe Eion might have worked… Though I don't think anyone has ever tried. Regardless, I could make one for you. I can easily make it work with runes and suitable materials. As for the structure itself… I might need time to learn how to do it."

Nyx smiled. "You don't have to rush it. I can perfectly handle myself without a weapon for now."

"Got it. I will undeniably have to practice a bit more for that kind of work. Once we get to a Plateau that I find nice for a house, I'll set up a forge with the terrain claim I got from Eva and then I'll be able to comfortably practice as much as I want."

"That sounds like a good plan," Nyx said and checked the time on a digital clock on the wall. "Are you going to go out now or wait until the others wake up?"

Rakna mused. "Both. I will go do an Ordeal, to see how it is, and then return. I remember that you, Allan, and Flavia got through one, right? How was it?"

"Yes. It was a Survival-Type Ordeal. What I get from Ordeals is that they're quite similar to Trials in how they are designed. The only difference is that they have far more generous rewards based on how well you do in them."

"Can you tell me where it was?"

She shook her head. "There is no point. It disappeared after we completed it."

"So, I'll have to get to a new one… it should be fine. I spotted a few in the Tenth Plateau when we were trying to regroup. I have them mapped so I can get there fast enough… All right," he breathed in and stood up. He quietly went back inside the bedroom to retrieve Sonata, using the same trick he used on Flavia to not wake up Pronos. There was no need to bother the little guy for this.

"Let's get this thing on again, I guess," he muttered and pressed a side button of his watch. In the blink of an eye, the energetic material of Allegro shrouded him.

Scherzo emerged and formed from under his sleeve. He put it to his face shadowed by the hood and the two purple ellipses blinked open. He faced Nyx who was already comfortably positioning herself to read a book.

"See you later. If I don't come back before they wake up, tell them not to worry," he said through the voice distortion.

"Don't worry. I'll relay the message," she said and he nodded before leaving the room.

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Rakna directly teleported to the Tenth Plateau. Since it was nighttime, there was no one around at the spot he appeared. He flash-stepped into the sky, feeling his coat flutter, and stood in mid-air for a moment.

'I missed the feeling of wearing this…' He thought to himself as he opened up his map.

"{I assume you have used this outfit a lot in the past?}" Fray spoke up curiously. "{It looks quite a bit intimidating. The design is very well done too.}"

Rakna snorted in amusement. 'The old man used a video game as inspiration for it.'

"{…}"

'But I don't fault him at all. I also think it ended up looking quite good,' he said and marked a few of the random structures he had on his map. 'More importantly, did Higure tell you about it yet?'

"{You mean that wind riddle and the mountain of crystal? Yes, she did. I saw it myself as well since it is right outside the library at the moment. It did not move when you left the realm. Now, as for the clue you might have hoped from me… I am not sure.}"

'What do you mean?'

"{I will be frank; this does ring a bell to me but I cannot put my finger on it. It is certainly something that I have read in the past but I fail to remember what it was about.}"

'Lovely.'

"{Hahaha, that's exactly what I said,}" Higure chimed in.

"{Let me finish,}" Fray grunted. "{As I said to the lioness, if it is something I have read…}"

'It's in your library,' Rakna finished the sentence. 'Then get to it.'

"{I am. But this might take a long time. There are many texts recorded here. Even if I were to search through them mentally, it would take weeks.}"

'As long as you get it done, I don't care.'

"{Aah… oh well, call me if you need me. I will be focused on that otherwise,}" Fray said and cut off the telepathic connection.

Rakna then looked in the direction of the waypoints he set and invoked his aura. He then thought of something and inspected his outfit. "It should work fine…" He muttered and transformed into a werewolf without taking off Allegro.

As he expected, the armor changed shape to fit him. Even Scherzo was perfectly matching his face and the design had been altered to fit better as well.

'The old man truly made it intelligent in its adaptation. It doesn't even matter if it's not human, it will still find an appropriate fit. It might even work as a normal wolf.'

"{That's good news since it's an armor you have to wear if you want it to work,} Higure remarked and then continued with an odd tone. "{But… other than the mask, I don't think it suits you a lot in this form. It looks silly.}"

Rakna snorted. 'I agree,' he responded and pulled out the watch he put in his storage. He tapped on it and put his mouth close to it. "Talpa Scherzo Zero," he said out loud and Allegro turned wholly invisible. It was concealment without flaw, as if there was truly nothing on him. He then inputted a few more things on his watch and put it away.

"There. I programmed it to activate camouflage whenever it's not a humanoid shape."

"{That thing can do anything, huh?}"

'Of course. That's to be expected when this entire thing is made by the old man with cutting-edge technology. To be honest, I've seen things even more impressive. Some people had literal armor suits with built-in rail guns back on Earth.'

"{You sound as if you personally experienced it.}"

'I did. The guy almost killed me.'

"{…}"

'We're getting off track. Let's get to that Ordeal,' he said and coated himself in mana. He constructed the magic formation in his head and opened his mouth, "[Natcattiram Viḻuntatu.]"

This time around, the spell was activated with cold star energy. The cocoon was entirely blue and it shot off into the sky with an implosion pulling it forward. After about four minutes, the comet had considerably slowed down and Rakna dispelled it.

He came out of it with his wings deployed and this time, he managed to not lose control thanks to their support. He barreled toward the ground and spun right before landing on the ground where he turned back into a therian.

His now visible mask kept the sand cloud from blinding him and the eye ellipses narrowed as he observed what was in front of him. It was a massive rectangular structure made out of sandstone with only one big entrance.

'That's not very explicit. Am I supposed to just go in?' He thought as he approached it.

"{It seems like it.}"

Rakna mused and as he got close to the entrance, he saw some unclear words carved next to it. He dusted the words with his gloved hand and read them.

"'The fearless will die… the cowards will live… the weak will win… the strong will fall...' Well, that doesn't help much now, does it?" He deadpanned.

"{Hah, they're saying that you will die and fall, devourer,}" Higure jested.

He very subtly snickered and went through the entrance. "We'll see."

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You have entered the Deep Sand Labyrinth!

Ordeal Initiated!

Objective: Find the exit.

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