Ugh, what a pain in the as*. I just want to know what he meant by saying, ‘you passed the test’,
I thought; then I sighed inwardly and thought again,
I didn’t care for RE: EFO’s lore when it was a game, and I don’t care for it now when it is the reality. The same way I felt about history in school. That said, I still learned it as it was mandatory, and I feel like this is also mandatory, in a sense that if I don’t listen to him speak about his past and the ten legendary heroes, he won’t tell me what he meant by those words, ‘you passed the test’.
I forced a smile and nodded my head before saying, “Please, tell me.”
A rumbling sound sounded and a broad smile appeared on Shiuri’s stone face, “Listen and be amazed, young adventurer. More than 10,000,000 years ago, on one fateful day around noon, my mother went into labour. But as she did, something unbelievable happened. No! I take back my words! Since, she was going into labour with me inside her stomach, it was all very believable.”
I nodded my head slightly.
Shiuri coughed a few times, clearing his throat; then he continued, “
The sky darkened, becoming darker than the darkest night. The thunder flashed, illuminating the darkness multiple times. The volcanoes erupted, making lava rain from the skies. The temperature dropped below freezing, forcing the continent to enter the ice age. The earth rumbled, creating the earthquake so strong that it reshaped and split the one continent into many. The winds howled, forming tornados, so fierce, that no man, woman or beast would see anything like it in the next 1,000,000, no! 10,000,000, no! 100,000,000 years. And unfortunately, my mother passed away while I was still in her womb… But don’t worry that was not the end of me. I, like the amazing blade master I am, pushed myself out of my mother’s womb, and gave birth to myself – the legendary hero Shiuri. My tale is not a short one, young adventurer, but don’t worry, I won’t take too long.”
My right eyebrow twitched as I thought,
the hell?!
A rumbling sound sounded and the broad smile on Shiuri’s stone face broadened even more, but before a single word could leave his stone mouth, a voice that didn’t belong to Shiuri, a voice that was very pleasing to the ear sounded from every possible direction, “I am putting a stop to this right now. Shiuri, stop wasting his time and tell him the rules of the inheritance grounds, and do it in less than five minutes.”
“Who said that?” I said out loud and turned my head in all directions, looking around. But even as I looked around, I couldn’t see anything that could have spoken those words.
A rumbling sound sounded from Shiuri and I turned my head to him. I saw a serious expression appear on his stone face and I heard him speak, “Young adventurer, that was my comrade, and my leader, and the greatest hero of us all.” He sighed lightly, “It seems that I won’t be able to share my heroic tale with you as I only have five minutes to speak, and I do have to explain the inheritance grounds to you. As that is one of my duties as the first tester…” Shiuri looked at me in silence for a few seconds, “I am sure that Zai will do that in my stead, even the way he is…”
I nodded my head and I inwardly heaved out a sigh of relief as I thought,
thank you for stopping him, leader of the ten legendary heroes. I hope that you will stop Zai as well.
“This inheritance ground is one of the ten inheritance grounds that we have set up in our birthplaces. Also, this inheritance ground in particular is set up where I was born.” A rumbling sound sounded and a smile appeared on Shiuri’s stone face; then another rumbling sound sounded and his face returned to a serious one, “In each of these ten inheritance grounds there are ten tests. Each test was set up by a legendary hero, by my nine comrades or by me. And by completing a test in the inheritance grounds, you gain a right to inherit an inheritance from the hero that tested you.”
Hmm… Zi Yun was the only player with the blade master class. So maybe the other four players that were the only ones to have the blood mage class, the gladiator class, the necromancer class and the beastmaster class, got them from these testing grounds, just like Zi Yun,
I thought.
“You have completed my test by solving the puzzle to enter the inheritance grounds, and you have completed Zai’s test by declining my inheritance...” a rumbling sound sounded and a frown appeared on Shiuri’s stone face, “Why the hell would he even set up a test like that…” Shiuri mumbled with a voice filled with dissatisfaction; then he sighed heavily and a rumbling sound sounded, his face returned to a serious one, “Now pay close attention, the next part is the most important one. When you reach Zai’s statue, he will ask you a question. He will ask whether you want his inheritance or not. If you say ‘yes’, he will pass it to you and you will be sent out of the inheritance grounds. But if you say ‘no’, a path to the next legendary hero will open, and you will be tested. If you pass the test, the next legendary hero will ask you the same question. But if you fail the test mid-way, you won’t receive any inheritance and you will be sent out.” After Shiuri spoke out the last word, his eyes dimmed down and the two torches by his statue extinguished.
I furrowed my eyebrows and thought,
it seems, I won’t be receiving the blade master class, but I can still receive Zai’s class, whatever it was.
I walked into the exit that opened after I had passed Zai’s ‘test’ and entered a corridor. This corridor like the corridor before had torches every 5-yards and every time I passed by the torches they would light up.
After
passing more than 150 torches, I walked out into a medium sized room. This room, was identical to the room from before, and in the middle of the room, stood two torches and a statue. But instead of Shiuri’s statue, stood another statue. This statue was that of an old man with a long beard and long hair, with a staff in his right hand and a thick tome in his left hand.
Here goes,
I thought and I walked up to the statue. The two torches lit up; then the statue’s eyes lit up and began shining in a golden glow. A status bar appeared above the statue’s head.
<Zai, Level 100>
<HP:2,048,000/2,048,000>
Zai moved its stone eyes and a rumbling sound sounded, and It only stopped when he had his eyes on me; he yawned loudly and then spoke, “Do you accept the inheritance, young man?”
I furrowed my eyebrows, “What is your inheritance?”
A rumbling sound sounded and a frown appeared on Zai’s face, “You don’t know who I am?”
I shook my head, “I don’t.”
A rumbling sound sounded and Zai’s face returned to its normal one, “Well whatever, if you accept my inheritance you will become a blood mage. Do you accept?”
I furrowed my eyebrows
, blood mage? Another evil alignment class like the warlock,
I thought and said,
“
I decline.”