Resolving the Mind before conflict gives the illusion of making an impossible task seem effortless.

~Syn, Goddess of Observance and Truth

“Munro!” Crow shouted and kicked him, so he slid across the ice trail and bumped against the Shrine’s steps. Only he underestimated the man’s mass and weight. While he saved the guy, Crow fell toward the water and had only one option for survival—activating Night Fire.

Hooligan had already reached the Shrine stairs, and Munro was now behind her. Both looked back to see Crow climbing out of the water, his flesh a mixture of blue and black. The clothes on his body froze solid and cocooned him, so it was hard to determine what was happening.

“Is he dead?” Hooligan asked in shock. Even Munro didn’t know what to feel because he despised Crow, but the guy had just saved his life. While they were contemplating what to do, the clothes on Crow’s body shattered into little pieces, and he expelled a turbid cloud of gas from his mouth. Another two minutes went by, and he finally opened his eyes.

“What? Why are you staring? Is there something on my face?” Crow asked while his hands rubbed his face. Nothing felt out of place, but the way they were staring left him uncomfortable.

“Showing off your cock every chance you get isn’t an appropriate method to get a woman into bed,” Hooligan snorted. Munro looked over at her with his mouth falling to the floor. Crow chuckled and walked toward them while holding his hand out to Munro, who handed him another set of clothes almost on reflex.

“Are you implying that if I kept it in my pants, I’d be able to bed you?”

*Hmph. I dare you to try it.* Lily said, and Crow felt a cold sweat beading his back.

“My clan values people with strength and intelligence, but… I’m complicated.”

“Okay, before you both make me vomit, how did you survive that?” Munro interrupted.

*I concur with the dummy—about the vomiting.*

*Lily, I’m afraid I might have to bed her. That little stint in the water forced me to use more of that heavenly fire than I’d like. I haven’t had sex in a while now, so that fiery energy is building. I need yin energy to temper it, so you’ll need to forgive me this once.*

*Why didn’t you sleep with that statue then?*

*There was no yin energy in her. It was a soul fragment, and even if I did bed her, it wouldn’t have helped. The last time I was inside my Soulverse with you, I checked to see if me and you… it won’t work. You need to be out here.*

*How much time before you become uncontrollable?*

*If nothing else forces me to use Night Fire, maybe a month.*

*You could leave at twenty Shrines, but I know you won’t.*

*I’ll resist as much as I can, and inside the water were loose fragments from the Frigid Starburst. I took them all, and they might be able to keep the yang energy in me from eroding my consciousness.*

*At least she isn’t from our tower. I can pretend it didn’t happen, but if she comes looking for us in the future… you’re on your own.*

*You’d toss me under the wagon?*

*Hmph, yes! You still haven’t made me your woman, so why would I care what about you getting thrashed by your wives?*

Seeing his two companions staring at him, Crow smiled awkwardly as if he didn’t just zone out on them. “I have my secrets, but I’ll give you a hint. The calamity your clan delivered became an opportunity.”

“What does that mean? Did you get rid of the curse?”

“Nope. It isn’t gone. A series of lucky encounters provided a method of resisting, but my soul still burns, and that fire is unquenchable.”

“You’re cursed? How is that even possible?” Hooligan asked.

“His father and friends tried to kill me before I had a chance to gain my Shield,” Crow explained and tapped his chest. At this point, they both knew he had a mutated Shield, but neither of them asked about it. “Every time I cultivated, the curse put on me would ignite and burn all the mana in me.”

“That’s too vicious,” Hooligan gave Munro a dirty look. “Is that why your Shield mutated?”

“Yes,” Crow immediately agreed. It was the excuse he gave those that discovered it and was a perfectly valid explanation. Anyone that managed to check his history would see all the details and wouldn’t second guess it. Crow knew it wasn’t just the curse, but his abilities and experiences were complicated. “It was cruel, but don’t blame Munro. No matter how much we dislike each other, I won’t blame him for the sins of his father. Munro had nothing to do with it. One of my wives was also unknowingly implicated—well, she wasn’t my wife then. But enough of that, look at the stone on the door of the Shrine. That looks a lot like a heliotrope or a bloodstone.”

“Combat?” Hooligan asked.

“If we assume the ones we thought were combat-related were Body-related challenges, then this could be a true combat challenge. Hard to say, but I feel there are definitely combat-related challenges. If that is a bloodstone, it is also known as the Stone of Courage, which would fit,” Crow explained his thought process. “Let’s assume that’s true and prepare ourselves.”

It didn’t take long until they were ready to enter. Munro was the only one not at a hundred percent because he was the least capable of preventing the Frigid Mana from invading his body. His shaking worsened as they readied themselves.

“Enter,” Crow said, and Munro stepped forward with his shield raised, and his mace rested on his shoulder. Crow followed behind with his bow drawn and an arrow nocked.

They appeared inside a square room with a ceiling about twenty meters up. The walls were made of thick stone slabs, and the floor had a strange, spiral-like pattern radiating from a metal ring encircling the center of the room. The ring gave off a slight golden light, and the three adventurers stopped, knowing that crossing that line would initiate the event.

Analyzing it with his Sage’s Mind, Crow saw the pattern resembled that of a sun. It didn’t seem to have any other purpose other than an artistic one and demark what he assumed was the arena. The circle was at least a hundred meters across, and in the center of it was a small stone pillar with a wooden pole rising from it. The pole disappeared inside the robe of a scarecrow figure.

“That’s creepy as fuck,” Hooligan said. Crow absently nodded and felt like the beady eyes sewn into the canvas sack head. A conical hat rested on top of its round, hay-stuffed head, and its wide brim left most of its face shadowed. Still, those eyes glowed from within those shadows. There was no energy coming from the thing, but they could sense its malevolence.

“What is that?” Munro walked toward it, but Crow grabbed the neckline of his armor and held him back.

“Don’t take another step,” Crow hissed and pointed toward the ground. Munro’s foot almost crossed the threshold of the ring, and he quickly pulled his foot back.

“What do we do?” Munro asked. He’d long recognized that he wasn’t the knowledgeable leader that Crow was. At first, he was resentful, but Crow never flaunted it nor deliberately attempted to make Munro feel inferior.

“It’s simple,” Hooligan said. “We beat it.”

“Altogether or spread out?” Munro asked.

Crow thought about it for a few seconds. “Spread out. On three, we attack all at once.” They moved to a spot on the circle that was far enough away from each other to prevent area attacks from hitting them all at once. “Three… two… one… Now!”

The Star Arrow rocketed forward the moment Crow stepped inside the ring. He decisively activated one of the charges because he never wanted to underestimate an unknown foe. The scarecrow only had time to activate and look up before the arrow slammed into its head, knocking the conical hat into the air. Night Fire billowed out and instantly turned the robe, canvas, hay, and wooden post to ash.

Hooligan was the closest to the scarecrow when Crow’s Star Arrow exploded, and she was knocked back a few steps from the concussion. Other than that, she remained unharmed. Before Crow could inhale and summon his arrow back, they were already inside the Shrine.

As the arrow materialized in his hand, Hooligan glared menacingly at Crow.

“What the fuck was that?” Hooligan asked.

“How the hell should I know? I guess we won?”

“Not that. What kind of fucking arrow were you using?”

“A Soul-Linked one called Saighead Rionnag–”

“Don’t know what that means.”

“Then call it Star Arrow. I can’t keep casting that, or it’ll destroy itself, so don’t get any weird ideas. You both sensed danger from it, right? Should it have been that easy?”

“Easy? You blew its fucking head off,” Hooligan grumbled.

“Maybe it didn’t expect us to be so decisive?” Munro tossed out. “We took it down before it mounted a defense or offense—or Crow’s arrow did. Even without that stupidly overpowered arrow, his archery isn’t normal anyway.”

“So the entire challenge is about knocking the dummy off its platform or pole or whatever?” Hooligan asked, her right cheek scrunched upward as if doubting, but she had no counterargument. “Blech, whatever. All that build up and that was it…”

“You know, you make facial expressions, but no one can really see them,” Crow told her.

“Then how do you know I’m making them?”

“I know.”

Hooligan chuckled and walked toward the portal. “I’m going back now. I want a hot shower and to sleep in a bed.”

“Agreed,” Crow sighed and entered Sanctuary. Once there, Crow didn’t go directly to his room. After they set a time to meet tomorrow, he went down to the Colossus.

“Are you there? I have some questions.”

The ball of light exited the statue and approached Crow. The energy from it wasn’t something he identified, but he was positive it wasn’t his consciousness speaking to him. The only reason he had for making that assumption was that he felt a source of vitality within it.

“If I can answer, I will,” The Colossus answered almost immediately. Crow explained what they’d just gone through and questioned if there was something wrong with the challenge.

“Each crystal type has tiers. The higher the tier, the greater the difficulty. You completed that challenge with a bit of luck. It was also the weakest combat challenge because they’ll get progressively harder—the other challenges as well.”

“So that dummy was weak, or was its intelligence and reaction time limited?”

“All of those things. For example, the next combat challenge might increase the construct’s armor so your arrow won’t one-shot it. Its improvement will be based on how you killed the previous ones. Next time, its armoring will be stronger, react faster, and be smarter. I’m not allowed to divulge more than that, but you should never go into any challenge assuming it’ll scale normally.”

“Thank you.”

“There is one more thing you should check into. Call it a tip for your polite attitude. You completed all the challenges in one region, which is the minimum requirement for opening the reward hall. Each solved Shrine will give you one credit, and completing a region will give you five credits. So keep that in mind before purchasing anything.”

“Oh? I’ll do that, and thank you again for the advice and knowledge,” Crow said and bowed to the glowing ball with a fist over Shield before returning to his room. After dinner, he’d take the other two and explore the hall. He doubted he’d buy anything at this point, but it never hurt to set a goal.