Jack materialized in a different hall. This one was also made of stone, but was noticeably far smaller. Barely a hundred feet separated the floor from the ceiling, while another hundred spanned between the right to left and front to back walls. The entire room was a box a hundred feet to each side, giving no indication of its position inside the pyramid.
Jack’s perception failed to penetrate the walls, while his ears caught no sound. Wherever he was, it was completely isolated. This was probably a separate fold in space, yet the flow of spacetime around him indicated no such thing. An exquisite application. His mind returned to the statues of the Space and Time Gods outside the pyramid—could they have participated in the creation of the Hall of Trials?
“Greetings, young monster,” a voice welcomed him. Jack turned to its source—the single other thing in the room besides himself. An entity of stone stood against the back wall, patiently waiting. Jack took the time to inspect it as he walked over—it seemed like a living creature yet wasn’t. In fact, it reminded him of Sparman, the sparring robot he’d interacted with during the Integration Tournament. Sparman had later become an important guardian of the Forest of the Strong.
“Hey,” he replied, stepping up to the automaton. “How do you do?”
“I’m fine, thank you,” the thing replied. It was humanoid and made of black stone, enchanted to endure the infinite flow of time. It wore no clothes and had no facial features, except for a single white eye in the middle of its face. Its voice was produced through vibrations—oddly smooth and pleasant to the ear.
“The name’s Jack. Who are you?” Jack asked.
“I am the automaton assigned to this hall. I will be the overseer and conductor of your aptitude tests. Are you ready to begin?”
“Wait,” Jack said quickly. “Can you give me some information first? Who created this place? For what reason? What exactly will I be tested on, and how?”
“I am not allowed to divulge information on the tests before you face them,” the robot explained in an even voice. “All I can tell you is that this is the Hall of Trials: a training place for the new generation of soldiers.”
“Soldiers? Against what?”
“More information will become available based on your results. Are you ready to begin?”
Jack sighed. “Sure,” he said.
“Good. The first test concerns your understanding of the Dao, and will be adjusted based on your current cultivation level. Please stand in the middle of the room and release your Dao aura.”
Jack followed the instructions. He took position in the very center and released his aura to the maximum—a powerful gust blew out, smashing against the walls and shaking them. The entire hall was suffused with the aura of power, of Life and Death, of Space and Time. The robot, though carrying no aura itself, didn’t seem to mind.
Jack waited. A moment later, a strange feeling came over him—it was like the hall itself fell silent to listen, exploring his aura. The feeling disappeared as quickly as it came, and shadows manifested in front of Jack, quickly coalescing into a humanoid shape. Nothing was visible of it except its white eyes. Jack looked at it expectantly.
The shadow raised its hands. Jack braced himself, waiting for an attack, yet none came. Instead, the shadow deftly moved its fingers, dragging them through the air and leaving trails behind them to form what resembled ancient runes.
The shadow accelerated, but so did Jack. Their runes turned faster and more complex—yet, every attack of the shadow was perfectly neutralized, Jack matching it in speed and grace. Its smile widened.
Life and Death runes crept into the battle. A mess of concepts now launched itself at Jack, each attack a question, each defense a perfect answer. Jack realized he was grinning. This was exhilarating. To meet someone who could match him and battle them in such a way... It was like meeting a soulmate. Someone who walked the exact same path as him. He wanted to keep going until he dropped, no longer caring about tests and floors.
His hands accelerated. His Fist shone through, igniting his fighting spirit. Jack could sense the creeping difficulty, but he wasn’t satisfied. He accelerated further, going all-out against the shadow. Facing its barrage of questions, not only did he draw perfect answers, but he incorporated his own testing questions and shot them back. The moment the first such rune reached the shadow, it paused for a second, stunned—and then its smile turned into a full-on grin. Its hands blurred as it accelerated to match Jack’s pace, the previous slow scaling all but forgotten. It accepted his challenge.
The stream of attacks turned two-way, Jack actively fighting back against the shadow. Questions and answers clashed in mid-air, the runes turning constantly more complex, constantly more complete. They were operating not on a surface level, but in deep concepts wrapped around each other, testing their opponent on the most hidden nuances. Jack was feeling genuinely challenged by this level, but all he knew was that he loved it.
Adjusted to my cultivation level my ass, he thought. No other B-Grade could do this. But fine. Let’s see what you got!
As the shadow jumped to a new level of complexity, Jack had to really zone in. Everything else disappeared as he went completely all-out, pulling from his arsenal concepts he didn’t fully grasp. A question about Death headed his way. His fingers flashed, drawing a perfect answer and a question furthering the subject, then shooting it right back. There wasn’t only Death in his question—he’d included an aspect of Space, gradually combining the two concepts, using his understanding of black holes to foil the shadow.
The shadow opened its mouth and laughed out loud—the first sound it made. Death and Space entwined, jumped from its fingers. They met Jack’s question, answered it, and pushed through. The shadow kept going, fusing Life and Time in the next question. They were now discussing the deepest secrets of the universe, an area where Jack wasn’t fully knowledgeable, but neither was the shadow. Both were struggling now, reaching for more than they could grasp. Jack felt his genuine joy mirrored in his opponent, and he could sense his understandings skyrocket through this battle, missing pieces falling into place.
Their answers turned imperfect. Light washed over Jack every time he failed to defend, and the same happened to the shadow, the shockwaves of Dao pushing back its darkness to reveal a pale face, featureless except for its eyes and mouth, which sported a creepy, abnormally wide grin.
Runes flew back and forth. Time, Space, Life, Death, all combined into an imperfect mess glued together by Jack’s understanding of the Fist. He charged through any problems he couldn’t solve, while his own attacks pierced deep, threatening just like a fist. Their runes were so many and so complex that they spread from floor to ceiling, from wall to wall, every rune a soldier in a massive battle. Ethereal blue light filled the entire hall.
The shadow finally showed signs of exhaustion, its finger light sputtering as if attempting to draw concepts more complex than it could muster.
Jack saw his opening—and knew he was also reaching the end of his rope. He forced his hands to move faster. Exquisite runes appeared, the crystallization of Jack’s understanding into black holes. The shadow’s runes began to collapse. The two-way battle turned into a single-sided barrage of runes, against which the shadow desperately tried to defend, but most punched through its resistance. Flashes of light now covered it constantly. Jack had gained the definitive advantage.
Finally, the shadow raised a hand, using raw energy to disperse the runes. Everything came to an abrupt pause. “I yield,” said a voice, tinged with both joy and frustration. “Good job.”
“Well fought,” Jack replied, nodding deeply at the shadow. It may have lost, but it had provided Jack’s most enjoyable battle ever. His Dao and heart were soaring.
A chuckle escaped the shadow’s lips as it dissipated, turning into thin air, leaving the room as empty as it once was. The flying runes might as well have been a dream. Jack struggled to cope with the sudden lapse in action. He fell to his knees, panting, the tension still not completely out of his System.
“Congratulations,” the automaton at the far wall said. Its voice was slightly deeper than before. “Dao test result... Eternal!”