Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 218 - 217 - Limits of Understanding

Lind reached the center of the dias where many old bloodstains had been left unchanged.  The pressure increased as the stone doors slowly closed.  Lind looked out one last time to see the lioness straining a bit against Dan but it was futile.

He extended his staff and readied several elixirs in a pouches at his waist.  He had learned not to rely on the storage ring as the concentration needed to transfer items could equal death or destruction in the few moments it took to accomplish.

Lind looked up and was stunned at what he saw.  Rather than smooth walls, he saw massive flows of darkness and earth.  The raised area that would normally be full of seats had slots of stone pieces being manipulated in front of his senses.

The aura of the Relic was far above the one in the Silver Peaks.  Lind felt fear in his heart but he controlled it and readied himself.  He knew Altair favored combat expertise and the Relic must be tied to such a mentality.

A shift in air pressure came from the first row of stone objects. It was a sword!  If flew at Lind at what he would consider low Sand Tier power but before it was even halfway across the open area, 2 more shifted from the same level and speed.

Lind deflected the first and moved to deal with the other 2 but now there were 3 more on the way.  The sequence continued but it was far below a worry for him as he grasped the basics now.  The timing was not impossible but he doubted that would remain true.

If the first level was low Sand Tier, Lind looked and frowned deeply.  The attacks did not stop but the speed was steady.  He assumed it would finish a cycle but then noticed an oddity.  Despite deflecting the attacks, there was no pile of stone swords around him or in the empty space between the dias and the first wall.

Lind used his Eyes and saw bright arrays that nearly burned him so he had to look away or up where it was merely the movement of earth and darkness once more.  The difference in complexity was odd but the effect was easy to witness.

Once a sword was deflected, it would melt into the floor and the slot would eventually refill.  Lind frowned as to survive a week of such attacks would be difficult, but not impossible.  So why was the Regent so sure this would be his end?  What had he done?

Lind had just realized the full circle of low Sand Tier swords had come back around to the start when the next row launched.  As expected, it was mid Sand Tier but it was faster than the first row.  Also, the first row started over.

He now actually worried as the rate was faster than originally believed.  Going by the first row, Lind had calculated that in a week he would only be up to the mid Iron Tier in strength but with the speed increase, he had to recalculate and it was not good.

He might, just might still be safe within a week but it would be just shy of low Gold Tier strength.  The swords were only on the first layer as well as the next layer was a simple spear.  Lind began to understand that the Relic was different from what he expected.

His arms were still quite visible to him but he was now having to use more Qi of the world to defend himself.  Considering how far the other Relic pushed him, this was not terrible but there he had only faced starting over, here there was only death if he stopped.

He also frowned as he found it impossible for even an Iron Tier to keep up with the rate the Relic was attacking.  Lind also found the very idea of the Relic made no sense.  He had to figure it out if he wanted to survive.

His mind was used to focusing on several different points of making an elixir or fusing elements into a Forged item.  It was not a simple thing and he had vast years of training but there was no way combat techniques alone could achieve the same.

A master of combat had to not only hone the control of their body and weapon, but develop an almost 6th sense of their surroundings.  A person can only guard so much with their eyes.  They needed the instincts to keep their lives on the chaotic battlefields.

Lind saw the day end before the 3rd row engaged but he now began to question his assumptions.  At the current rate, he would go beyond his abilities even though the Relic was only in the Sand Tier in power.  The sheer number was becoming a problem.

The third row was shields, oddly enough, but when combined with the swords or spears, it could be deadly when he tried to deflect it.  The increased mass was also becoming a problem.  The swords and spears were sharp but fairly light compared to the shields.

"This is not how it works."  Lind felt it in his bones.  The Relic was not meant as an endurance test.  It was how it was described in any description he could find and interpret from the Regent's expectations.

Lewis, his son, was not dumb but Lind had not felt like the man was that much more impressive than himself.  Could he have been so wrong?

Lind felt like he was back in the bottom of the elemental stream vault.  His preconceptions were traps that lead only to death if he let them guide him.  Lind closed his eyes and began to rely more on his Qi.

He let his senses flow and his once reactive staff moves became more fluid as he felt like he connected to the Relic in a way.  He could not pierce its secrets but he got a better hold of the flow of Qi as it launched the projectiles at him.

He also realized he had been looking too narrowly.

The first 4 rows were darkness and earth but the next 4 rows were darkness, earth and air.  Lind began to comprehend what exactly the Relic was doing.  It was not random.  It was not simply putting pressure on him.

Lind felt like it was misunderstood but no one could grasp it since it was isolated from the Inheritance and Ruin that brought it into existence.  Without context, they had to go on survivors and results from attempts to use the Relic.

Unlike the Silver Peaks, this Relic was nearly dead as it did not have a core energy generation area but many arrays to use Qi stones to activate its abilities.  Lind knew Altiar only had World Stones at best and those were likely only at mid grade for the best quality.

"They filled it to the brim."  A grim look crossed his face as his eyes snapped open and began to dissect the timing.  It was not just about deflecting with his staff or Qi he channeled around him.  It could not be.

A Relic was never a simple thing.

The third day had passed before Lind began to sweat.  The mid Stone Tier ring had just begun and he had consumed several elixirs from his storage ring while he could but was incredibly glad he had made the pouches in advance.

It was so wrong.  The entire assumption was wrong in the title alone.  It was not a trial at all.  The issue was the limits of the people that examined it until that moment.  They looked at the world as obstacles and benefits.

A Relic was known to be left over after a Ruin collapsed but many assumed they should offer some benefit by overcoming any mechanisms left behind or treasures that survived inside a Relic itself.

The Silver Peaks' Relic was contradictory to such a thought.  It was meant to educate and the reward was a new understanding of primary World Realm elements that would pave the way for future comprehension and cooperation.

Lind began to feel like the Trial of Stone was similar.  It was not about improving the quality of Qi, however, but something else.  Lind realized what the Relic was likely for but he would be on a knife edge if he was right.

Lind changed his tactics.  He adjusted his body to dodge some swords and spears while using his staff to knock others up into the shields.  It started a cascade effect once he got it going but he had to strain his body to pull it off.

It took far more power to change the direction of the incoming weapons but once the pattern was started he smiled wide as breathing room began to open up for a short while.  The stone weapons cracked open or shattered the shields and themselves while the impacts deflected the higher rows as well.

The other change, he noted, was the broken weapons were not absorbed as they had been before.  He was right!  It was but the first step as there was a sudden loud thunk sounds coming from behind the rows of the Sand Tier.

As he expected, the pattern started over but the Stone Tier rows did not stop with glaives and 2 handed broadswords coming at him.  Unlike the Sand Tier, the Stone Tier rows could change direction but they stopped doing that while the disruption occurred.  It only affirmed Lind's suspicions more.

"You are not a trial at all!"  Lind began to laugh as he infused all 6 elements into his body as he was going to need every ounce of his strength going forward.

The swords came flying out faster than before but there were less by exactly how many he had destroyed by changing course into the higher rows.  Lind's staff began to twirl but he noticed a strain in his channeling of elements into it.

A quick glance with his Eyes made him lose all joy.  The arrays were fracturing under the constant strain he was putting on it.  The staff was never meant to be used as a true weapon but Lind had been hitting it against the stone projectile weapons constantly while ever increasing the quality of World Realm quality Qi into it.

"I think we will part ways here, my old friend."  The staff had been the key that allowed him to come so far but it could no longer come with him.  Lind focused on staying alive and pushing his body.  It had been only 4 days since he started but the Sand Tier rows were now sparsely populated while the Stone Tier rows had reached high Stone Tier power.

The piles of broken weapons were rising but Lind just became a machine.  He could not stop nor could he let himself worry about anything other than comprehending what the Relic was teaching him.

The simple Sand Tier was coming to an end quickly but Lind was having to fine tune his moves to achieve the same results in the Stone Tier.  The pattern also repeated.  Low Stone Tier was a larger broadsword, followed by a glaive, followed by a much smaller shield than previously released.

It was all much more agile weapons in one sense and far heavier in the other.  He was still going strong when a loud crack came from the staff in his hands.  Lind could not stop and he just kept nearly dancing on the dias as he sent one sword into 2 glaives and so forth when an explosion of emerald light nearly blinded him.

The shockwave actually knocked back all the stone weapons while Lind swiftly summoned more elixirs from his ring to supplement his dwindling supply.  After he recovered he held the shattered ends of his staff in his hands.

It was crumbling away as the metallic decorations representing each element fell to the ground.  It was gone forever.

"Thank you for all you gave me.  I will find my own way now."  Lind looked up with a firm face as the attacks resumed and he enhanced his fists.  Many would think the loss of a weapon would be the end of Lind but, as a 6 elemental, he had always relied more on his body than the staff or other weapons.

He whipped off his robes and exposed his muscled body covered in a sheen of sweat.  His dark green eyes had only determination as he began again.  The stone weapons were insanely heavy but Lind smiled as he actually found it easier now that he could attack 2 at once!

The battle continued as the 6th day came to an end.