18 || Beyond The Fourth Floor! Low Tier Blood Directing?

The first two levels are Skin Igniting and Blood Directing beasts, so their patterns were predictable. The third floor had more powerful foes in Blood Crystallization with more numbers but they fought too individually to pin her down. That changed as she went against the six Billowing Muscles low tiers!

They work together in pairs of two with one stopping her movement and the other attacking. As she fights off a jian user, the hook sword user strikes while she's distracted. Sunny Dance allowed her to create some distance between that pair, only to have the longsword and ax wielders attack at the moment her dazzle faded.

Tara had realized early on that of her aural energies she had only access to psychic energy. Body and weapon arts were being tested here, so an aurator's aural abilities were sealed off. At least that's how it was supposed to be. Tara's white aura flashes into existence with splashes of amber and turquoise! The blades can't break through and Tara gives an impish grin.

The fox animus wanderer girl, Raij Frae is the first to exit the Tower, sweat pouring off her body! She had fought against the three Bone Crystallization low tiers and won! But without her aura, against the four mid tiers, her mental form quickly became wounded and couldn't keep up. On her screen the first two sections, fire red and cyan blue, are lit up.

Alian nods in satisfaction as they help her down, handing her a recovery pill that even the higher families had never seen before. For a wanderer like Frae to reach the third level hadn't happened in a while. If she were to find a good teacher within the academy, she'd surely turn out to be a good seedling.

Within the next ten minutes, the nobles and Neijin clear the fourth level! This wasn't surprising though to those watching. Alian suspected as much but he also feels that this would be the noble folks last level. Neijin is harder for them to gauge, as they could sense he was hiding some of his strength.Tara, however, still had their intrigue despite all of this. The fact that an eleven year old girl could make it to the fourth level and last this long was unheard even among historical prodigies.

"Ember Gather!" Tara cries out as she hits the final two Billowing Muscles high tiers squarely in the stomach as they jump toward her. With her Twin Sphere formed aura in place, they couldn't strike her but she could easily pierce through their defenses.

Tara knew from her training that both Twin Sphere energies could be replacements for any of her aural energies! With that in mind she's able to use a fake version of aura in this mind space.

Tara takes a moment to center herself. Fighting eight Billowing Muscles high tiers was a lot and many times she almost brought out Sun Claw and Moon Fang. What lay ahead is Vein Plating, the level her mother was currently at. Tara is well aware that all of those she had faced so far had only used combat arts. This was why she was able to succeed as she had thus far.

If Tara were to face a true Billowing Muscle aurator, she'd have been crushed before she could blink. After all, the only reason she had defeated the Spark Lion was because many people had assisted her and the beast didn't have human tactics.

This thought causes her to pause. Then she thought about how Neijin had likely taken the next trial right now. While she was stronger, he had more experience that she couldn't make up for.

Fighting spirit suddenly roars from the two Souls Beads within her spiritual and psychic ports, the two spirits wishing to partake in battle! Any hesitation Tara has fades away.

"You two sure are impatient. Fine, we'll see what's ahead together," Tara laughs, finding it funny she is talking to spirits. Sun Claw and Moon Fang appear in her hand as she climbs the next set of stairs, humming with energy.

As she enters the next room, instead of a simple white room, she walks onto an arena square. What greeted her was not a formless figure like before but a stout kid her age in a light green and black salwar kameez, sitting in the middle of the arena. This person has spiky short red hair just barely visible from underneath their headscarf and sharp amber eyes. Their sandy-toned skin has freckles with a smile accompanied with rows of fangs and large green feathers flickering behind them from a reptilian tail.

"Y'know, the old fogey who controls this tower really doesn't like it when people break his rules," The person speaks, catching Tara off guard. This being has some intelligence as well as a proper persona, "Though I suppose this might help move some things along?"

"Who are you? What's going on?" Tara asks, confused. It's then that she notices an Vitality bar and Spirit bar over their head. Another player?

The person stands up, even shorter than Tara, cracking their neck before flicking their wrists. Two large chakrams blades of a phalto green metal with silver handles at their center appear.

"The old man of the tower, or rather the spirit that controls this and similar ones like it, is already irked that he had to lower the level to match your age. The rules of the test were simple: only rely on combat skills. You found a way to go around this rule--good on you by the way--so the System asked a few of us if we could even the odds. Apparently, I was the least busy. Weird having to be adjusted to your Story's rules but being set at a higher phase even temporarily is a perk I couldn't ignore."

The other player steps forward and vanishes but Tara's eyes can't track them! Tara looks around her but even with extending her senses, she can't find them. A whistling sound catches her attention and she immediately blocks a disc of bright green energy. The sound of wind collides with her ears as Tara is pushed back. Tara finds she can't cut through the disc, only deflect it.

"Huh," Came a voice floating in the air, "Guess those daggers are made of hardy stuff. Wonder how many you can block before you pass out?"

Several of these discs came out from different directions. The ones Tara's could block used her full Twin Sphere induced strength to divert. The rest shredded her makeshift aura and cut into her.

Tara's true body at that moment hacked up blood, catching Alian off guard. The nobles and Neijin had just exited the tower after losing to the mid tier level Vein Plating enemies. It made sense that Tara would quickly follow.

However her spitting up blood was unaccounted for! Alian can't help but panic as this was something they hadn't dealt with before. Tired bodies from the mental exhaustion was a given but coughing up blood was different! They quickly went to scan her aural energies only to find a barrier of psychic energy had been placed around her.

"What's going on?" They whisper. What was happening?

Within the arena, Tara's psychic energy form was heavily wounded but still standing. The person appears from thin air, eyebrows cocked in awe.

"And here the old man thought you wouldn't be able to stand against elemental skills. You definitely did better than I thought you would! Well, until we meet again, kitten!" They laugh, swinging both of their weapons in Tara's direction.

Tara raises both her daggers at this person in defiance, close enough that the blades could almost press them together.

"Tiger Claw, Sun Piercer! Tiger Fang, Moon Cleaver!" Tara tiredly announces. Her aura concentrates on the tip of the daggers before shifting from white to amber and turquoise.

The Soul Beads spark with life shooting out images comes an amber lion and turquoise tiger. The two beasts valiantly charge into these wind discs, tearing through them and into Tara's opponent. The two phantoms were met with a cyclone of wind energy before fading away.

"That right there is why the tower master only allows combat arts in these towers. Otherwise you all would pass his test easily. Can't say why he's trying so hard even though you broke the rule. It's not as if you're the first nor will you be the last according to him," They take several slow steps approaching Tara, who unceremoniously drops her daggers to the ground. Before they're even inches away, two roars bellow into the air.

These were not phantoms or illusions this time, as an amber Spark Lion cub and a turquoise Bubble Tiger cub manifest, but material representations of the spirits within the weapons.

As the other player begins to fight off her internal guardians, Tara painfully repositions herself into a meditative position, mimicking her physical body. Alian and the others watch as Tara shifts her hands forming a sun and moon symbol with her fingers. The Gaste Trio and Neijin, though worried, can't help but smile at this.

The seal could only block Tara's own aural energy, not the Twin Sphere energy. Amber and turquoise energy rapidly swirl around her physical body, her bracelets glowing brightly. Stirred by the Twin Sphere energy and sensing Tara could not use her own aura, wisps of ancient aural energy exit into her body and begin to circulate.

Tara was already at the peak of high tier Skin Igniting. All that was needed was a push in the right direction. Alian watches the impossible happen as this faint yet powerful energy revolving through her body is more than enough to serve such a purpose.

Though she was only a mental apparition, Tara feels her blood beginning to wax and wane like the waves of the ocean. This was a sign she had stepped into Blood Directing! Once she reaches high tier, she'd be able to completely direct her blood as she'd like!

"Oh, so I was just the final push then. I see." The person rolls their eyes. Tara's two guardian spirits are doing their best to fend off the opponent, who isn't pulling their punches and now annoyed they've had to fight these persistent beasts. "A level up is good and all but you're too wounded and there isn't a way to heal yourself here!"

The ancient psychic energy transmits a thought to Tara. It was only a small peek beyond the next curtain of memories but it's enough to make Tara rise. Picking up her daggers, her two internal guardians return to their Soul Beads without a word.

"Lunar Stability." Tara says with a smile as turquoise covers her wounds and closes them up a little, the mental fatigue fading away just a bit. Tara dashes forward and the person throws one of their weapons at her. Tara easily dodges and closes the distance, striking the figure.

"I'll put in a good word with the old man to give you something special. The experience is going to be worth it for me but this is as far as you go." The person replies with a cheeky grin. Tara's confused as her weapons plunge into this person. Then a sharp pain hits her back, the blade her opponent had thrown lodged within. The sudden shock from the boomerang effect was unbearable causing Tara's vision to turn black.

Tara gasps for breath as she's shunted back into her body! Her muscles wrack with intense pain thanks to her breakthrough. The barrier over her fades as she passes out and Alian immediately scoops her up into a princess carry.

"The next five of you may take your positions. If you can pass the third floor then you can move onto the final test." They tell the group. Shepi Char was one first to step forward, brimming with confidence since that brat Tara had spat up blood and still passed the fourth floor. How hard could the third floor actually be?

With recovery pills only able to do so much, especially when someone was unconscious, Tara is left in Hadwisa's care. The High Priest immediately places Tara within one of the rooms to rest, using Ithembe's teachings of Water manipulation to assist the young girl's healing.