Dyon retracted his broadsword, holding onto its long handle as he rested it on his shoulder. But, that was when something unexpected happened.
The rhino suddenly turned into motes of lights, swarming his large sword.
After a few moments, the lights disappeared, and it seemed as though nothing had happened, but Dyon’s Perception was sharp. He noticed that his weapon’s weight increased by a fraction of a jin, and it seemed slightly less rusted now. In addition, he felt that he could use slightly more of his power now.
Dyon had entered his trials completely blind, not knowing anything about any of them. He could have probably asked his grand teacher about them, but he wanted to apply the most pressure to himself, so he felt it was better to not know anything. So, this sequence was actually quite a surprise to him.
Within his master’s memories, there was a bit of information about Life Stealing weapons that could grow stronger as they defeated enemies, and even share a portion of that power with its owner to also improve its wielder, but these weapons were exceedingly rare.
For one, materials capable of Life Stealing were extraordinarily rare, so rare in fact that even the Energy Core hadn’t produced any. If something on the level of the Energy Core couldn’t produce them, one can imagine just how ridiculous such materials were.
Secondly, this applied even for the lowest ranking Life Steeling materials.
But, what was even more shocking was the fact that this third trial had brought out weapons with this ability? And, if Dyon was right, every weapon along that ten-mile-long rack was capable of this very ability!
For the first time, Dyon began to wonder just what kind of treasure this Epistemic Tower was. It was supposedly his grand teacher’s creation, and quite clearly had his legacies within it, but from everything he knew and understood, when did the owner of a legacy ever place his own techniques on the bottom floor? By all logic, shouldn’t his grand teacher’s legacies be on the top floor?
Dyon remembered the very first time he walked into the Epistemic Tower. He found a round room with 10 doors around its edges, in addition to an oddly shifting golden statue at the center. According to his grand teacher, those rooms held his 5 legacies, there being two entrances for each.
At first glance, that didn’t seem odd at all, but the more Dyon thought about it, the odder he found it. And when he thought about how the entity was supposedly his grand teacher’s second disciple, Dyon only found everything even weirder.
Just as Dyon was about to become lost in his thoughts, two more metallic rhinos showed up, charging toward him ferociously.
Although Dyon knew that these martial beasts could only barely count as Earth beasts, he could tell that not only were there more to deal with, their auras were also slightly stronger. It seemed this trial would only get harder as time passed.
**
At this moment, four figures were gathered together in a room.
One was a fairly lanky boy who was still somehow almost 7 feet tall, yet had a vibrating vitality around him that made his seemingly disproportionate size very pleasing to the eye. He was currently avidly reading a book of plants as though it was the most interesting thing in the world, and he was sometimes wave his hand around, causing an illusory plant to appear in the air before disappearing and giving way to the next image.
Sitting beside this young man was an otherworldly beauty the likes of which only Dyon’s wives could match up to. She had full features and beautiful olive skin, and although her eyes were currently closed in meditation, anyone who saw them open would feel as though they elevated to a new heavenly plane.
Opposite these two were two young children.
One was a little girl as pretty as a fairy. She had to large, sparkling eyes that looked like they were carved from pink diamonds, along with long, flowing pink-silver hair that reached the back of her knees.
The other was a little boy who had a dark edge to him, yet whenever he looked at the three people around him, he would inexplicably flip a switch and show a tender and loving gaze. Clearly he cared deeply for the three individuals around him, but he seemed to be missing a few dearly as well.
These four were obviously Eli, Delia, Lyla and Zaire, four individuals Dyon was very close with.
Over the past 2 years, they had remained within the Epistemic Tower because it wasn’t safe for them to go out. Although Delia and Eli wanted to help with Dyon’s plans, Eli was constantly in danger of getting kidnapped, so this was the safest place for him. In addition, Delia wasn’t willing to leave him alone, so she stayed.
As for Lyla and Zaire, they were still much too young, as such, they remained as well. However, it would soon be Zaire’s tenth birthday, so things were about to change. In truth, he was actually only turning four years old, but in human years, he would be ten because he had purposely calculated the time he spent in his beast for so he would always be exactly one year older than Lyla so they could grow up together.
Suddenly, a voice filled their minds. “Are you ready, Little Zaire?”
Zaire’s little head nodded with a maturity far beyond his years. He always tried to emulate his Big Brother, so Zaire matured just as quickly as Dyon was forced to.
“Little Lyla, you’ll go with him. Dyon found a place quite suited to you, so you two will be able to watch out for each other.”
Lyla’s sadness was replaced by a clear excitement. She hadn’t been looking forward to leaving Zaire’s side because she couldn’t stand the idea of losing two big brothers, but it seemed that she didn’t have to now.
If others knew where Lyla and Zaire were headed, they would be shocked. But, it was the only place Dyon would ever send Zaire to… The second ranked quadrant… a place he was eager to return to for the sake of his late father’s name: The Drago-Qilin Lands. As for how Little Lyla would find a place in such a savage quadrant… That was a story for another time.