5 Trials

Ivan slowly analyzed the suggested ideas.

"If we are looking for a key then what is the keyhole? We don't know what we're even going to be looking for so that is not detailed enough to find an answer."

"If we're going around in circles surely we should have found this 'foe'. If either one of the groups moved in a faster pace then we should've already met. However after walking around we haven't noticed any traces of any 'foes'."

"Breaking the walls.... is actually not too bad. It's very simple and could be a possible answer for this test but the problem is... what are the repercussions? If the tomb of this cultivator were to have people breaking and destroying his cave there will be consequences. There might as well be a rune that will activate there is a certain amount of damage done that could self destruct the cave. For now... let's not try that"

"To check the walls and fire orbs... As long as we don't damage anything it should be fine. This is probably our safest bet so i agree with Christian's plan"

Christian took advantage of this to start displaying how great his ideas were but Ivan didn't waste time so he started to move people into positions.

Christian would still be in the middle but that is just to keep a look out for anything.

If they managed to find something and anything inside the cave changes then Christian should be the first to notice.

Dean, Pierre and Rose would be on the left while Ivan, Ayesha and Anne would be on the right.

Ivan and Dean's job is to check the fire orbs to see if there's anything special about them.

Pierre and Ayesha's job is to check the upper area of the walls while Rose and Anne's job is to check the lower half of the walls.

By gathering in this position they slowly walked down the cave to find anything discerning features that could be noticed.

Checking the Fire orbs one by one Dean was surprised to suddenly find that the fire orbs were very gentle. They felt like glass but had this durability that was as strong as iron.

However in this case that wasn't what surprised Dean. The reason he was surprised was that for some reason this fire orb suddenly detached itself from the

On the brink of crying Dean pointed towards the empty gap on the wall while holding the fire orb "Uhh guys, I think i broke something"

Christian was interested about the fireball so he was about to grab it but Ivan was faster as he snatched the fire orb.

Taking a better look at the orb there didn't seem to be any damage "I don't think you broke it, did you apply much force?"

Immediately answering him Dean responded "I didn't use much force, only when I grasped it properly did the orb fall off"

Taking in the new source of information Ivan was able to make a conclusion "This could be like a key. Rose, maybe you were getting to something. This is just a suggestion but maybe if we collect enough of this we can then escape this place."

Christian wanted to take the spotlight so he added his own insight "Nothing changed from what I have noticed around here so I agree that there may be more"

Ivan felt this could be dangerous so he mentioned "Don't use too much force or there may be an unpredictable mess."

With the discovery of the detached fire orb Dean shed a little bit of hope to everyone here. For a while now they were just wandering around without any hope of finding a clue but this fire orb was the biggest motivation that made them continue this arduous test.

Without rest they continued looking for any more clues an with enough hard work they were able to hear Anne suddenly scream.

Running towards Pierre she buried her head into his chest with her hands gripping tightly

No one wanted to take a closer look at their intimacy except for Rose that tried to show her concern for Anne.

Ayesha looked at Anne with a little bit of disdain but focused his gaze on the subject of the matter

What surprised Anne?

Taking a closer look at where she first screamed Ivan, Christian, Dean and Ayesha were also surprised.

But with Ivan's confidence and Dean's familiarity their surprise into a type of happiness.

Christian picked up their expressions and quickly ran to Anne "Nice, you found another one"

Pierre and Anne were confused but Ivan stepped in to explain "The walls have just crumbled. If you had that much strength I wouldn't be surprised if you were a Foundation Establishment Cultivator."

True to his words there was a large hole in the side of the wall with a few pieces of rubble beneath it. If one looked through the hole carefully they would truly notice there was a small slab of wood

Ivan taking the slab of wood out notice that the center was caved in and the sides had runes in a symmetrical fashion.

Everyone looked closely but they couldn't understand what the inscriptions were.

Ivan found the caved in center of the wooden slab to be interesting so he placed the fire orb on top of it and found that it fitted perfectly.

Ivan told Christian to look for any changes since they found another thing and jested with Pierre "When you said to break a wall... it somehow managed to work. Maybe the next one might be finding a foe."

Anne sighed "Please no, I have been getting a scolding from my aunty for not practicing my martial arts."

Ivan passed the fire orb and wooden slab to Christian since he was the one who had the most free time.

Christian felt a rage of hostility rise through him as he felt his leadership is being threatened and that Ivan was mocking him so he harshly grabbed the items away from Ivan.

Ivan knew there was something wrong but he shrugged it off as Christian being too tense.

It was not too long that someone would find another clue.

Rose was the one who found the next clue and took advantage of the situation.

Acting in a similar fashion to Anne she cried in surprise as she grabbed Dean and pressed her head against his chest.

Dean knew that he should prioritize Rose as he already took a glimpse of what had happened and predicted that Ivan would take control of the situation.

Dean patted Rose's head to calm her down but everyone else could tell that she obviously did it on purpose while Dean was left to be ignorant.

Ivan acknowledged their intimate moment and transitioned to the surprise "This.... isn't it the same?"

It was extremely similar to Anne's clue as the wall had a hole on the side and rock collecting into a small mound beneath it.

The problem was that the object inside was practically the same as Anne's due to it being a wooden slab with the same inscriptions.

Christian took a further look at the wooden slab and noticed something "No, it's not the same. The inscriptions are a little different if you look here"

Pointing towards the bottom half of Anne's wooden slab Ivan could confirm this. He passed this to Anne, Pierre and Ayesha to have a closer look

Ayesha"..."

Pierre"Wah, your right."

Anne "Really?"

Anne took a closer looked and confirmed for herself while Dean could just barely see over her shoulder to compare the runes.

Rose was still occupied with her business and clutched strongly onto Dean's arm.

Christian exuding excitement put both the slabs of wood together with the fire orb where the slabs had a caved in center.

Ivan asserted his ideas as he mentioned "We should start moving o-"

A flash of light surrounded the seven children as they disappeared from the cave.

When the flash of light was gone the sight of the cave was removed from their eyes and instead replaced with a well kept rug and wooden walls.

Dean couldn't help but comment "Eh, where'd we go?"

Rose clutched even harder onto Dean's arm and the same situation could be said to be happening to Pierre with Anne.

If Dean and Pierre payed attention they would notice they were winking to each other but they had to take care of a bigger matter.

""What happened to the fire orb?""

Taking a closer inspection of Christian's hand there were only two wooden slabs stacked on top of each other with the fire orb gone.

"Did you drop it when the bright light flashed?"

Having this suggestion made Christian thought carefully and for once started to doubt himself 'Did I really lost it?'

Instead of dwelling into more doubt he started to get angry at the thought 'it's all because of him isn't it. It's because of him that i'm being doubted.'

Dean saw that Christian didn't look too well so he was about to pat his back but Ivan started to inform everyone

"Welcome, I see that you have managed to pass the first trial. Congratulations."

Ivan spoke in an incredibly indifferent voice that made everyone a little bit worried.

"You have used your wits in order to succeed, at your age this already a prosperous moment."

"However that is not the final trial. This is the final trial. You have done a battle of wits against illusions. And now you will have a battle of strength."

It was then that everyone looked at Ivan to see him looking at a calligraphy painting on the wall.

Dean noticed that his hand was scrunched up with his fingernails digging into his palm.

Ivan imparted his thoughts to his group in a cold tone "This is nothing than a game, isn't it?"

"To you maybe, but to me it is my life"