Do you wish to enter?

Yes, thought Nicolai.

Preparing to enter… time left: 4:59

He frowned. Five minutes? This was trouble. Or was it? The text said combat was not possible within the circle. Since he'd triggered the Inheritance some kind of faint barrier had become visible around the edge, delineating the circle.

He heard a whistle from above, and turning saw the silver arrow shooting through the air, ahead of the Cultivators. Nicolai slid to the side to avoid it, but this proved unnecessary. It puffed into harmless Oma the moment it passed through the faint barrier of the circle. He breathed the Oma in, refilling his Nodes a little, and reached for a crystal to continue the process.

His focus moved internal as the Cultivators landed, settling onto the ground around him. Ignoring them, he began a systematic process of attacking and destroying the red energy that had infected his Node and Symbiotes. His Soul incurred damage and Oma was drained at great speed while he worked, but he was making headway. This was an issue that could be solved given time to sit and focus on it, and now he was in the circle he was safe to do so.

Safe-ish, at any rate. Threat Analysis kept watch on the Tier 2 Cultivator, who was stepping into the circle. The man was frowning. First at Nicolai with his angry dark eyes, then his gaze rose as his own Mark flashed, looking at words invisible to any but him.

The other Cultivators arrayed themselves around their leader, just outside the circle. Nicolai watched them and they watched him. Including the leader, there were five total.

'This Inheritance is quite good,' said the Tier 2. He gazed at Nicolai. 'He has triggered it.'

The others jerked with shock, eyes wide and angry.

'It dares?' scoffed one.

'The trash should be executed,' gushed another.

'Young Master, please allow me the opportunity,' frothed the next, stepping forward and raising his hand, fire forming in his palm. The one who'd thrown those irritating balls of fire which had damaged Nicolai's Skin Suit… but also allowed him to escape the Tier 2's spiritual arm.

'No, me! Let me be of service to you, young master!'

Nicolai raised an eyebrow as they all broke out into some of the most excessively exuberant brown-nosing he'd ever witnessed. Quite a group. Four of them were more concerned with thoroughly licking the leader's arse than anything else. They gave him little cause for concern.

But their leader was a different story. The Tier 2—Young Master as Nicolai was coming to know him—was gazing down at him carefully and ignoring the others. His face tightened, like he'd seen something.

'Can you understand us?' he said, speaking for the first time to Nicolai.

Nicolai considered. How had the man realised? He was wearing the Skin Suit helmet, his face covered. It could only be via leakage of thought and emotion from his Soul. While he was focused on destroying the red infection, it was harder to stop such leakage than usual. The Tier 2 therefore didn't need him to confirm it—he already knew.

Nicolai shrugged. 'Yes.'

They all stirred at that, expressing that he was Marked with surprise.

'Of course he is,' spoke the leader, who now wore a smile similar to many Nicolai had worn before. False friendliness. 'Barbarian, I am going to help you. You need to hand over that Artifact and leave this place. It isn't safe for you.'

'Sorry, I can't do that.'

The Young Master paused. He sighed, and shook his head as though disappointed by Nicolai's stupidity. 'When I say it isn't safe to you, I mean hand it over or I will kill you.'

'Okay, go ahead,' said Nicolai, remaining where he was sat, and the Culivator's face twitched.

Nicolai had decided to say, and do, as little as possible. He wasn't sure what the best play was, how best to act. For now, he just wanted to get into the Inheritance. In the meantime he'd observe these people, learn more, and leave his options open. The less he said, the less of an idea of him he gave them, the freer he would be to reinvent himself later.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

In his mind, the timer on the Inheritance was ticking down. Four minutes to go. The only concern was that the Tier 2 might have some kind of method to circumvent the protection.

'You imagine you are safe here, don't you?' said the Cultivator, smiling. The smile disappeared. 'You are incorrect.'

A sudden dread pressed down on Nicolai, coming from everywhere at once. The Cultivator's face was swarmed by thick shadows, clustering under eyes and nose. His pupils darkened into black orbs, glinting with ominous light. He looked moments from attacking, and Nicolai felt a sudden certainty that he was about to die.

The Cultivator took a step forward, and the earth trembled. He extended a hand down towards where Nicolai sat. 'Give it to me, and I will spare your life,' he boomed, gazing down like a god from on high. The world darkened as the clouds above loomed heavy and dark, flickering with lightning.

Nicolai considered the novel feelings and the faint hallucinations. He'd immediately recognised them as false, some kind of mental attack. Paxolnaz had done something similar, and that had been significantly harder to overcome than this Cultivator's attempt.

Feeling for it carefully, he felt a kind of invisible spiritual influence around him, extending from the Cultivator. The moment he saw it, it broke apart. The Cultivator showed only a faint twitch of his lip. He now looked entirely normal, if a little annoyed. The dark clouds and every other oddity was gone.

The Cultivator had attempted to play some mental trick on him. Nicolai considered this a good sign. If the Tier 2 possessed actual physical means to harm him, he would be using them.

So, Nicolai was probably safe, though Threat Analysis remained on high alert in the back of his mind, tracking the Cultivators, looking for signs of imminent attack.

The mental attack itself had immediately drawn Nicolai's interest, along with that of Cyberwarfare, who felt the attack bore some resemblance to its own capabilities. The Cultivator had shown no signs of Symbiote activation when using that ability, which suggested to Nicolai it was an innate spiritual skill.

Did that mean he could do it, too? He was making good progress removing the Red Face infection. Now he'd settled down and had his Soul free, it was easy. The infection had been pressed into his leftmost kidney and lung, where he was working to cut it apart. No immune system had ever moved so viciously as his Soul—marshalled by Cyberwarfare—moved, chasing the red sparks and clawing them apart.

Seeing no signs of impending attack as the Tier 2 scowled down at him, fists clenched with frustration, while the rest of them were busy gibbering more threats and insults, Nicolai attempted to find his own invisible spiritual force. He had sensed a kind of higher mental realm during the Cultivators attack, one that reminded him a little of the Local.

His mind prodded and poked around, Soul and Soul Sense moving with it. It was like unfocusing your eyes, a muscle that was made to stay tense for your whole life going relaxed, allowing you to see different.

He sensed a kind of invisible world around him, one that lived in the Aura. In this world he sensed the vibrations of others. Four of them were vague, muddy, mostly dark. One of them was awake, watching him. An awareness represented by a singular eye. There was a kind of impression around that thing. And it had no thoughts, only a sense of… intent.

This was world where intent was reality. Cyberwarfare had finished off the spiritual infection now, and joined with him as he considered this new world within the Aura. They could feel their own intent around them, which shifted and changed moment to moment. They decided they wanted to dominate the enemy, and so twisted their intent into a dominating one and threw it at the Cultivator. But the attack broke apart as soon as it approached, as the Cultivator's eye saw it.

Nicolai refocused on the physical, observing his opponent. The man let out a scoff.

'Like a child,' he told Nicolai, tone more contemptuous than ever.

Nicolai wasn't bothered by the man's demeaning manner, focused on what he'd learned. He'd broken the Cultivators first mental attack by simply perceiving it. Did that mean that because the Cultivator was focused on him, "seeing him," he couldn't do his own similar attacks? But at the same time, neither could the Cultivator? Cyberwarfare told him this made sense. Much of the time a Cyberwarfare attack became useless the moment it was detected.

Something to think on later. The timer had only thirty seconds to go.

The Cultivator raised his hand decisively. 'We are going into this Inheritance. Everyone, step in.'

They all entered the circle, and their Marks flashed.

'See you inside, barbarian,' said Young Master, and smiled.

Nicolai smiled back. He felt an urge to step backwards and leave the circle, wondering if that would cancel his entry. Timed well he could step away in the last second and send them all to the Inheritance while he stayed here. Effortlessly escaping them, and continuing his journey. He would be willing to pay good money to see the looks on their faces if he did so.

Threat Analysis was all for this route, because there was no way for he and the Modules to know what the Inheritance would bring. It might be a situation that would see him dead without recourse. But Nicolai had learned a little of these Inheritances. Kleos had mentioned them occasionally in his stories. They were a kind of competition where people either competed with others, or took on puzzles and challenges singularly, in hopes of earning treasures left by an ancient Cultivator.

Kleos had told him that if the Inheritance was activated via his Mark, it was generated by Heaven and thus should be relatively fair. If it was a "wild one" then it was far less safe. This one was Heaven sanctified. Threat Analysis disliked the idea of "relatively" fair, but to Nicolai, it was good enough; especially considering the note that combat was not permitted, with Symbiotes and Soul Sense bound. It seemed to be a non-combat type of Inheritance, which suggested death wasn't likely. Either way, this would narrow the gap between him and the Tier 2.

So, as the moment came, Nicolai remained where he was. The Inheritance seized him along with the rest of them. A spiritual pressure that gripped him and held him tight.

Light built around them, brighter and brighter. Nicolai watched the Cultivators, and they watched him.

He thought: Why run, when I can win?

Doubtless they were thinking something very similar.

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