163 Entering the Blood Tower

Jayde found herself in a large circular shaped room. The room was empty except for a stone pedestal that stood in the middle of the room. Standing still with Thorn in her right hand Jayde looked around her. Seeing no exits beside the doorway behind her she walked up to pedestal. Glancing down she noticed that a large hand print was engraved into the pedestal.

Guess I am supposed to place my hand here, Jayde thought, as she moved Thorn to her left hand. Jayde then put her right hand into the engraved print. Jayde felt a small tingling sensation as the small pedestal began to glow softly. Jayde lifted her head and looked around her. Her forehead furrowed as she noticed no change to her surroundings.

"What the fuck!" Jayde exclaimed, jerking her hand away from the pedestal as a sharp pain stabbed her fingertips. Turning her hand over Jayde looked down as saw beads of blood on her fingers and thumb. Raising her eyes, she looked at the surface of the pedestal as noticed that five droplets of her blood being absorbed into the pedestal.

"Welcome young mage to the Blood Tower," a disembodied voice rang out.

Jerking around Jayde looked around her. She saw no difference around her.

"State your name?" the same disembodied voice said.

Raising her right eyebrow, Jayde cocked her head to the side. "Jayde," she called out clearly.

"Jayde proceed through left entrance to begin your ascension. After completing each level you will be given a reward based on your performance, and at such time will be given a choice to leave the tower or carry on with your training. Be aware that the tower resets when you exit."

A slight swooshing sound echoed through the room at the end of the tower's explanation.

Jayde noticed that a small doorway appeared to the left of her. "Hey hold on, do you mean that I have to start at level one each time that I enter the tower?"

Dead silence greeted Jayde's question.

After waiting for nearly a minute for the tower to answer, Jayde decided to bring up the resetting of the tower with White later. Jayde entered the small doorway and found herself in front of a stairway, walking up the stairs she came to a door. Jayde paused outside the entrance to collect her thoughts and to mentally prepare herself for what she would face when entering the first level of the Blood Tower.

Opening the door, Jayde stepped through the open doorway. Heat blasted Jayde as she stared at the scene in front of her with an incredulous look. A vast ocean of yellow sand stretched out as far as Jayde could see. A few sun-bleached skulls and skeletons picked clean by scavengers dotted the landscape.

The heavy silence was broken by the displaced sand as Jayde walked forward. Overhead the vast blue sky was dotted with faint white puffy clouds. Looking over her shoulder, Jayde noticed that the door she had entered had disappeared, unsure what she was supposed to do now, Jayde checked if she could still access her spatial ring. When her consciousness entered her spatial ring, she let a relieved breath, at least she had access to food and water.

Jayde retrieved two lengths of cloth that she had bought at the Golden Thread for testing out some ideas. The smaller piece she used to create a turban to protect her face, while for the other larger piece, she cut out a hole in the middle and slipped it over her head to cover her body from the harmful sun overhead. Jayde decided that the only cause of action was to continue forward and try to figure out what she was supposed to do to pass this level.

It didn't take long before Jayde noticed a faint movement beneath the sand. Standing still Jayde observed the rippling the sand, her body tensed as she gripped Thorn with both hands. A couple of seconds later a geyser of sand erupted as a huge body burst out of the sand.

The creature in front of Jayde was shaped like a giant worm, it's body was flat and a pale ivory beige color. The beast let out a thunderous roar, its large reddish orange mouth opened wide, Jayde could see that the creature's mouth was filled with rows of razor shape teeth. Two tiny eyes lay to the side of its large mouth.

The creature lunged at Jayde, its mouth opened wide as to swallow her whole. Jayde leaped to the side as she channeled her magic into Thorn. The red runes down the side of the thin black blade glowed brightly. Jayde swung her sword in a sweeping arc. The finely-honed blade ripped through the creature's flesh, a fountain of blue blood sprayed through the air as the beast roared out in pain.

Jayde leaped into the air aiming for the creatures head, her sword swung in a vicious arc, cleaving the neck of the creature, separating the creature's head from its body. Jayde stepped on the body of the falling animal, bending her knees slightly she jumped off the beast. Somersaulting away she landed lightly on the sand, as the creature dead body thumped to the ground, it blue blood coating the sand in a brilliant display of color.

Observing the dead creature, Jayde contacted Isha, Yinxin, and Reiko to ask if they had any idea what the animal was.

[It's a desert sand wurm,] Isha answered.

[Oh, does it have a beast core?] Jayde asked.

[Yes, it should have.]

Jayde walked over to the head lying on the sand, taking out a small dagger Jayde dug out the sand wurm's beast core. Jayde was happy to see that the beast core was red, as she had used up all her fire stones and fire beast cores previously. Storing the beast core away in her spatial ring, Jayde set off to find more creatures.

Jayde battled numerous sand wurms and strange beetle like monsters, that had large white bodies, their armor-plated exoskeletons were no match for Thorn who magic infused blade sliced through their hard chitin armor like it was butter.

As the sky slowly turned to crimson, with streaks of maroon, soft pink and majestic purple signaling twilight Jayde came upon a small oasis. The lush green landscape was a welcome break from the harsh yellow sand.

Deciding to set up camp Jayde retrieved her strongest ward stones from her spatial ring. Laying out the ward stones Jayde activated her ward before setting up her tent and a small campfire. Removing a small bucket from her spatial ring, Jayde walked over to the spring. The clear water sparkled in the setting rays of the sun. Filling up her bucket Jayde walked back to her campfire, removing a large pot from her spatial ring, she filled up with pot with water before placing the pot on her fire to boil.

While waiting for the pot to boil, Jayde removed her handmade turban and robe. The heat of the desert had dried off her sweat, but her skin felt, and Jayde lips were already feeling slightly cracked. Returning to the spring, she dipped the small cloth into the spring water then using the damp cloth her washed her exposed skin. Jayde was tempted to strip and soak in the spring water, but the spring looked very deep, and she was nervous there would be deadly monsters hidden within its depths.

Walking back to her fire, Jayde removed the boiling water from the fire, placing it on the ground to cool, Jayde stared at the fire while eating an elven wafer bread.

[Isha, can I teleport the Pavilion?] Jayde asked, she was worried that the water in the spring was going to attract creatures and monsters during the night, and she had no idea if her ward would be strong enough to keep these creatures out.

[Yes, you can teleport any time, but if you do you will fail the level and have to restart.]

[Oh, the tower said something about the tower resetting each time I leave, does that mean I have to redo this level each time I enter?]

[Yes, the Blood Tower was designed that a mage has to complete the all the levels in one go, this is one of the main reasons no one has ever completed the task. Didn't White explain this all to you?]

[No, he explained very little to me,] Jayde said bitterly. [Can you tell me a little more about this Blood Tower?]

[Sure,] Isha said. [The Blood Tower was created by the Proteus as a testing and training artifact for young mages. Each level is different. Some levels test your magic, others your fighting prowess. Some levels have arrays that you have to break while others will have puzzles to test your intelligence. To complete a level, you have to earn a certain number of points, once you have obtained the points required a door will appear which will lead you to a comfortable resting area. At this point, you will be giving your reward based on the Blood Tower assessment. After you receive your prize, you will then be given a choice to leave the tower or to carry on to the next level.]

[So I have to earn points to complete each level? Isha do you know how many points I need to complete this level?]

[Sorry, Jayde I don't. Each level has different requirements, all that I know is that the first level is about your fighting ability so it will be based on how many creatures you defeat.]

[Shit, so if I don't kill enough creatures in the four days that I have available I will fail this level?] Jayde asked, upset that she could still fail this level as she had no idea just how many points were needed to pass.

[Jayde you should have more than enough time,] Isha replied reassuringly. [The time in the Blood Tower runs differently from the Proteus artifact.]

[Really?] Jayde asked, cheering up after hearing Isha's comment. [Do you know what the difference is?]

[Quite a bit, in fact, a month in the Tower is equal to a day here,] Isha said.

[What! I have four months here?] Jayde exclaimed, shocked that the time distortion was so significant.

[Hmm, really White should have explained all of this to you,] Isha grumbled.

[Jayde, let Yinxin and me out so we can help!] Reiko interrupted.

[Isha may Reiko and Yinxin help?] Jayde asked, thinking that Reiko's suggestion was a really great idea.

[Yes they can, but Jayde if you use battle pets then the tower will increase the number of points needed,] Isha cautioned.

[Hmm okay, thanks Isha.]

[Isha, if I send Reiko or Yinxin back to the artifact, would that be considered a failure?] Jayde asked, thinking that she would need to return Yinxin to the hatchlings, they couldn't spend four days without their mother.

[No it will have no effect, only if you leave will it be considered a failure.]

Smiling Jayde contacted Yinxin and asked her if she was interested in training with her. Yinxin was excited to enter the Blood Tower, while she had enjoyed her time lazing around in her cave with her children she was becoming bored, so she was happy to jump at a chance to finally leave the artifact.

Jayde made plans to summon Reiko and Yinxin in the morning, which would give Yinxin enough time to drop off the hatchling with Isha to babysit. Happy that she would have Reiko and Yinxin besides her for the next four months, Jayde retrieved the fire beast cores that she had dug out from the creatures she had killed during the day.

Cupping one of the cores in her hands, Jayde noticed how dry the skin on her hands had become in the hot, dry desert. Such a pity I don't have any cream, she thought, this climate going to play havoc on my skin. While Jayde wasn't vain at all about her looks, she was worried about how she was going to explain this damage to Nova, Ash, and Raven when she got back.

While thinking about it, Jayde realized that nowhere had she seen any shops in Aeris where women could buy cosmetics, making a mental note to bring up the subject with Raven, Jayde wondering if this was something that all female mages had to make for themselves.

Thinking about having to create her own cosmetics made Jayde think back to the time when she had been on a reconnaissance mission for Xi Corporation. It was on a dirt poor planet on the far reaches of Federation space. During Jayde's life in the Federation, she had little to no interaction with humans, but on X3HY7, she had rented a small room from an old blind woman.

Jayde smiled remembering how shocked she had been when she realized that the old woman was blind. Blindness was incredibly rare in the Federation due to the advances in medical science, but on X3HY7 the people living there were too poor to afford decent medical care, and Mrs. Presley had been even more unfortunate than most of the citizens on X3HY7.

She had made a living by renting out rooms in her house and by making home-made cosmetics to sell. Jayde had spent many evenings helping Mrs. Presley with her creams and makeup. The old woman had been happy to have someone to talk to and had shared all her knowledge of various cosmetics, oils and fragrances passed down through her family for centuries.

Jayde had been sad when she had finally completed her mission — eliminating a pirate cell operating out of X3HY7 and had to leave. She had returned a couple of years later to X3HY7 to check on Mrs. Presley, but the old woman had been brutally murdered shortly after Jayde left. Jayde had always suspected that the Xi Corporation had been responsible for the death of Mrs. Presley, and since then had never allowed herself to become too friendly with anyone else.

Jayde smiled sadly as she gently stroked the beast core in her hands with her thumb. Shaking her head slightly to dislodge her memories she took a deep breath before accessing the Qi stored in the best core. Absorbing the Qi from beast cores as well as various Qi stones was one of the best ways to cultivate, Jayde spent half the night absorb all the Qi stored in all the cores she had harvested during the day.

A couple more days like today and I will be able to advance to Knight of the 8th Class, Jayde thought happily. Looking around her Jayde was surprised to notice that no beasts had come to the oasis, tired Jayde entered her tent and climbed into her sleeping bag. Yawning, she snuggled down in her warm bedding — the temperature in the desert had dropped sharply, and Jayde was happy to have warm bedding to sleep in, it wasn't long before Jayde drifted off to sleep.

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