Lani walked into the dark room and the door immediately shut behind her, she didn’t even know how it opened and closed. One moment the red light was lighting up her arms and her club, but unfortunately nothing else, and the next moment she was covered in pervasive darkness.

Then the room bloomed in light. Lani instinctively shut her eyes but she did her best to maintain a defensive posture. Her protective stance did nothing to stop the power that struck her. She could feel an intense pressure that lifted her off the ground. Lani tried to resist but she was unable to move of her own accord. Her club dropped from her hand and didn’t even manage to hear it crash to the ground. The power lifting her started to press down on her from all angles.

Lani braced herself as best she could for whatever came next, but after a moment she found that the pressure did not hurt. In fact, she had started to feel better. The adrenaline from the power surrounding her made her momentarily forget that she was in pain, but once she started thinking about it, she realized that it was really gone.

Just as suddenly as she was lifted and covered by the power, it stopped and she dropped the foot or less to the ground.

Lani looked around and found herself standing in a room that defied her comprehension. It was completely white and lacked any definition. She looked down at herself and could see her body and feel that she was standing on something, but she could not see where it started. She also could not tell how far the room went in any direction. If she couldn’t tell that she was standing, she would have thought that she was floating in nothingness.

“Congratulations,” a female voice started speaking. The voice had a slightly tinny, robotic tone, but it was smooth and didn’t seem to hold any malice.

Lani turned to look for the source of the voice. It sounded as if it was coming from everywhere. She didn’t notice anything, but before she could call back, a large, black window opened in front of her and started to display words. If flashed through multiple colors before stopping on a blue background, like that of a computer.

The words that were displayed on the wall were the same that had just been spoken, and as they appeared on the wall, the voice spoke again in unison.

[Congratulations!] Lani didn’t respond.

[You defeated the first floor of the Monolith]

[Completion of any floor on the Monolith automatically, grants the participant help in core strengthening]

Core formation? Like a monster?

[Congratulations!]

[You completed the first floor of the Monolith with a 100% completion rate]

[Bonus awarded: Additional Core Strengthening help]

[Please stand by for scanning]

The black screen flashed through a few colors quickly before settling on red. Then, a thin red light shot forth from the top and raked down her body. Lani flinched in fear of an attack, but when the light hit her, she couldn’t feel anything.

[No core detected]

[Analyzing…..]

[Solution identified]

[Would you like to initiate core installation help?]

[Yes/No]

Core installation? Will that make me a monster? Do all Ascendants go through this? Damn it! Why can’t anything be simple or straightforward? Oh well, Screw it. I didn’t come here for nothing!

“Yes,” Lani said, sounding more confident than she actually felt.

[Confirmed]

[Please stand by…]

Once again the giant window in front of her cycled through the colors before stopping on a yellowish-orange.

Pain blossomed from the middle of her body. Lani felt like a swirling torrent of fire erupted inside her body. The pain was centered on a spot just above her stomach, but it felt like it was deeper inside her body, almost to her spine. Lani gritted her teeth and scream grunted as her body locked up. She could feel that her consciousness was slipping and darkness coming to take her. Just before she blacked out the pain abruptly subsided.

Lani fell to the floor, her body unable to support itself. She laid on the ground for a long while, her body periodically spasming and she freely let the drool leak from her mouth. She would have rather jumped into a dozen slime pools than experience the pain of core installation again.

Once her brain started working once more, Lani got off the floor and looked at the screen still hovering a few feet away from her. It appeared that whatever entity was helping her could tell what she was doing because as soon as she looked at the screen more words popped up along the screen and reverberates through the room.

[Congratulations! New core installed successfully]

[Core level – Grey]

[Core level – Grey: This is the most rudimentary Core of Power. It increases the basic physical, mental and spiritual parameters from those of a baseline species. Please note- The Grey Core only increases the participants' parameters based on their current abilities. For more advanced parameters, unlock a higher level.]

[Would you like to assign an Ability?]

[Yes/No]

“Yes.”

[Confirmed]

[Scanning…]

The red light on the window flicked on again and Lani was scanned.

[Warning! Naturally occurring ability detected]

[Analyzing…]

[Classifying…]

[Innate ability classified as {Minor Intuition}]

[Error]

[Ability upgraded with core]

[Innate ability classified as {Advanced Intuition}]

[Processing data to assign Monolith Assisted Ability]

[Ability granted: Point-Defense]

[To increase abilities of Point-Defense, increase Core level]

All that string of text flew by in a matter of seconds, then it just stopped.

“Okay, now what?” Lani mumbled.

[Would you like to initiate the bonus award?]

[Yes/No]

“Do it.”

[Please stand by for scanning]

“Ugh,” she grumbled.

The lights on the window flashed by and once again stopped on red. The same red light appeared and raked down Lani’s body, the only difference was that Lani didn’t flinch again.

[Core detected]

[Core level – Grey]

[Core progress – 0.01%]

[Would you like to initiate the Core Strengthening Assistant?]

[Yes/No]

Lani really didn’t want to go through the same pain that she had just experienced with core initiation. But she came to the conclusion that it was a different action, and the pain that she felt as a result, was due to the creation of the core. She hoped that strengthening didn’t feel anything like that.

“Yes,” she drawled sullenly.

[Confirmed]

[Please stand by…]

The room began to flood with a cloud of dense smoke that rose from the ground all around her. Before she could panic at the thought of being poisoned or suffocated, words filled the screen again.

[Absorb all the energy, and strengthen your core]

Lani stood still for a moment as nothing happened. “Um, how do I absorb the energy?” She called out to the void.

[Question received]

[Processing]

[Solution detected: Absorption of Nano energy into Core, requires the willful intake of energy into the core.]

Well, that didn’t tell me a lot. Nano energy?

Lani decided to take a seat and think about what that meant. She could still feel where her Core was, she would never forget that after the pain she went through.

Willful intake? So if I will it into where I know my core is, I guess it will just go. That feels like the right solution.

Lani took a deep breath and willed the energy into her Core. It was like she had a bucket of cold water splashed over her while she was sleeping. The energy invigorated her and actually soothed her aching Core, which she didn’t realize was hurting.

As Lani absorbed the energy around her, the screen lit up with words once again.

[Congratulations!]

[You absorbed energy into your core to strengthen it.]

[Your path to exit has been opened]

A door slid open to the left of the screen. Like the larger one she used to enter this room, and the monolith, it was completely void of light. Lani’s heart skipped at the sight of an exit from her ordeal. She moved to get up and head out the door, but before she got all the way up, she paused.

The air was still thick with the energy in the room. At least Lani assumed it was the energy. If it was the energy then there was still a lot left. She also noticed that the entity didn’t say that she absorbed all the energy. It just said that she absorbed it and then it opened a path for her to leave.

Lani, with her Advanced Intuition, got a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. She never went against her intuition before, so she decided to continue the trend. She sat back down and continued to will the energy into her Core.

The same feeling of cold water washed over and through her. Slowly the frigid feeling dissipated and she became used to the feeling. Even once she was used to it, the feeling didn’t stop being invigorating.

She didn’t know how long she sat there. With the influx of energy to her Core, she felt as if she could have stayed there forever. Her attention wavered as she absorbed the energy and once she slowly came out of what she thought was a trance, she noticed that she could not see any more of the smoke disguised as energy.

Yet, she didn’t quite feel like it was done. So she didn’t get up, she just continued to focus on bringing the energy into her Core.

A short time later, the words on the window changed.

[All energy has been absorbed]

Again, Lani moved to get up and leave but stopped. Her gut was telling her that she still had something left to do.

Lani thought back to one of the older messages.

It had said to absorb the energy and to strengthen my Core. What if those were two different directions. How can I strengthen my Core in a way other than absorbing energy? Maybe I should ask out loud again. No, it will probably just give me some stupid cryptic answer again.

Lani sat down and focused on her Core. It felt like it was filled to the bursting with the energy she absorbed. She could feel the energy though and that surprised her. She decided to experiment with the energy to see what she could do.

She found that there weren’t a lot of things that she could do with it, but one thing she could do was move it around. She swirled every which way, making it change directions and swirl in little pockets. However, that didn’t seem to make a difference.

Then she noticed that she could actually manipulate her Core by itself and that produced results. Lani tried to squeeze the Core while she was messing around. As she did a sharp burst of pain rippled out from it. She immediately stopped, but when she focused again on the Core, it wasn’t quite as large.

If something is condensed, then it usually becomes stronger.

That thought was accompanied by a feeling of correctness.

Lani began compressing the Core over and over again as much as she could. At first, she could only hold it for a moment, but the more she tried the longer she could do it and the less pain she felt. As she pressed it down, she focused on going as long as she could, then suddenly her Core began to flicker green. Intense pain and heat radiated with every flicker, but Lani just continued to press down.

Her Core became engulfed in a golden light that spread throughout her body. It sent pain too, so much pain that Lani passed out.

When she awoke sometime later, her vision was filled with the messages from the window.

[Congratulations!]

[You absorbed all the energy, and strengthened your Core]

[Your Core has increased in level]

[Core level – Green]

[Core level – Green: This is the second stage on your path to power. Your physical, mental and spiritual abilities begin to transcend that of mortals. Your abilities will become stronger and easier to use. Please be aware that if your abilities evolved, it would be wise to practice and train for maximum proficiency]

[You have completed the Monolith trial with 100% accuracy]

[Additional Ability granted]

[Additional Ability: Advanced Aim]

[Please proceed to the exit]

“Wait. How do I use my abilities?” Lani asked. She waited for an answer but the window didn’t change. “Hello!” She screamed. “I don’t know how to use them!”

There was no answer and Lani was too exhausted to care anymore. She walked to the exit and didn’t pause as she plunged into darkness. Lani didn’t find herself outside the Monolith though. Almost as if she was standing too close to the window that had all the words, a message hovered in front of her.

[Would you like to exit or attempt another trial?]