Sam and Silva stood in the Silva temple.
Silva looked at the still open secret door and was pleased to see that. He went to the central statue and started rotating it back and the secret door slowly started closing.
It took around a hundred or so turns to do that and after the secret door is closed, the statues started moving and slowly disappeared into the slots that are replaced by pillars similar to that of the ones in the Silva city.
Sam was surprised.
"It seems like you did this accidentally, you didn't know that you should close the temple back."
"Not exactly accidental. I saw that there is a resemblance between the temple here and the temple in the city, so I wanted to see if there is anything hidden and it seems like it is real."
"You really are our boon. I will come straight to the point. We want those books. What do you want in return?"
"Before we discuss further and come to a decision, tell me something. Why didn't you guys open these earlier? From the information I gathered, you cannot enter the path, but you could send a beast, an undead creature, or something else. There are other options for you.
Why did you wait all these years?"
"It is not like we wanted to wait. We were forced to wait. First of all, every person that was born on this planet is bound to follow the rules of Goddess Nike, they are trained and bred in such a way. Only after we leave this planet would we learn the real truth.
We are not actually the descendants of Nike. She is just like any other feathered. In fact, she didn't belong to any of the six main branches.
We don't know how she managed to become what she became today. But after she attained those heights, she didn't want another feathered to attain the same heights, so she stole the secret arts of the six main branches, but the ancestors who are on the verge of death after the battle with her managed to use their bodies and souls as a sacrifice to seal those arts within the planet.
To prevent Nike who can take over any feathered body with the possession just like she did with me, to get these books, they made sure that anyone from the feathered race wouldn't be able to take it.
As for opening it. We were brainwashed since childhood and even though we knew that there is something hidden inside, we are not allowed to go there and in fact, for the children and youngsters, the secret rooms are actually the prisons for the spirits of the demons that tried to annihilate the Feathered race.
That was what we were taught.
The people who left this planet after reaching the transcendent stage peak will learn what exactly is happening but it is already too late.
Once we go there, we would be fed with Pill of servitude to not talk or do anything about this and only one from each generation will return to this place as a Consummate and I will wait for the next Consummate level feathered to appear in my city and go back to that place.
This is what happens.
Nike is not our goddess, she is just a petty self-centered woman who wants to feel revered and validated constantly.
Once a consummate level person appeared from each of the six branches while cultivating this technique, they would be able to unseal the curse that is making Nike able to access this place.
Even though the wormholes and portals connecting this planet to the other are destroyed, at least we won't die if we break through the Consummate level in this place."
Sam was surprised when he heard that.
"You don't have any other transportation methods to other realms from here?"
"No."
"Well, it seems like we can really make a proper deal. But there is one condition to proceed."
"What is it?"
"You guys have to wait until our test is over. It will start fifteen days later and it might take a few days to few weeks, I want you to wait until then and we can discuss it after that. I have all six books and the rest of the players don't need to get involved in this mess.
You can discuss with the rest and come to a conclusion."
"There is no need to discuss. Since it is with you, we will wait for now. But we take our temples as the residence."
"Sure, but for the next week, the battle would be intense. So, don't let your youngsters get in the way, those guys wouldn't hesitate to kill."
"Okay."
With that, the discussion is over and the battle went on and on.
The last week was pretty intense and the players destroyed a good portion of the temple properties. Most of them are Nike's things so there is no problem for the feathered.
Even though the youngsters wanted to stop that and retaliate, but the kings and queens stopped them from doing anything stupid.
By the end of the week, everyone stopped.
Now from the count, the six people that have the fragments are Arkiv, Arman, Donner, Dayus, Noah, and Akhil.
Akhil actually went after the trio to get the fragment at first, but they came to a truce for a while where the trio took it from Kumar.
As soon as they did that, Akhil went and got that one, then the trio had to move to another batch to get the second one.
If possible they wanted three. But Agun has to compromise as he doesn't have a lightning element and it is not as beneficial to him as it is for his teammates.
For the next week, everyone is healing and recovering from the whole commotion.
And finally, their entry badges which are in their spiritual sea started reacting on one day.
The Palace of Inheritance appeared and the badges are guiding them towards the entrance of the central temple.
Everyone who has a fragment walked towards it. But when they saw Sam walking towards it, they are a bit surprised.
"Where are you going?" Agun asked from the rear.
Sam took out a weapon fragment which is actually a piece of the shaft of the spear and said.
"I have one so I am going."
Everyone else was surprised, but the one that was most surprised is actually Donner. He took out his own fragment and took a look.
It looked exactly similar to the one Sam has in his hands.
"How is that possible?" Donner asked as there is a faint sense of dread in his heart.
"It is possible because the fragment you have is fake," Sam answered nonchalantly.
"Fake?"
Donner looked at Queen Rata who is standing in the back far away.
She just shrugged which made Donner feel a bit helpless.
"You guys were in on this?"
"No, actually. It was their plan to put a fake instead of a real one in the exchange, but too bad they didn't know we two are there until the last minute and they also don't know we already got the fragment from Silva city and we know where it is hidden.
So, when we are escaping, I noticed that the mechanisms in the temple are not active, so I went on check while I was checking something else.
Too bad, you fell for the act."
The act Sam is talking about him trying to attack Donner all the way back to the temple.
They battled constantly as if they are really trying their best to get the weapon fragment from him.
Donner became angry and threw the piece of metal at Sam.
It was surrounded by the blue-colored lightning. Sam's hands were covered with silver lightning as he caught the metal piece.
"Better luck next time."
With that he walked forward with the fragment in his hands along with the rest of the players.
When they entered the temple's main door, they went through that familiar feeling and reached the main hall of the Palace of inheritance.
But as soon as they did that, the weapon fragments disappeared from their hands.
The Avatar stood there and said.
"You don't have to worry about too much in this Palace of inheritance.
The tests are direct and easy to understand and they are directly relevant to your strength.
Pick a room and go in.
You have to stay in there for two days to get over the first round. Then four for the second round, eight for the third round, and ten for the fourth round.
If more than one person finishes the fourth round, then you will have a final battle.
Until then you wouldn't have contact with anyone.
You can use any form of medicine and standard weapons. You cannot use special weapons, consumable weapons, and even the formation flags and inscription ink are banned inside.
You can only battle directly. Even your beast pets and companions are not allowed.
All you have to do is fight and endure the circumstances.
All the best."
