The Inheritance Ground I

It felt as if his whole world had spun, as Peter groaned and grasped his head.

As he was falling downwards, through the pitch-black hole, that had formed in the ground moments ago, a portal had suddenly appeared underneath him making him pass through.

He fell to the ground with a loud thud; the side effects of the dimensional crossing immediately hit Peter, making him groan from the pain he felt all over his body and in his head.

It was a similar feeling to when he passed through Miss Granger's portal. However, this time the effects were much worse and the headache he was suffering from was causing intense spasms of pain.

'Where am I?' Peter groaned, standing up when the side effects of the dimensional travel had subsided. He scanned around with his senses but couldn't find a single living being near him or where he was.

"Welcome candidate [#3419E7], to the Abyssal Tyrant's Inheritance Ground. Please step forward on the altar, to allow the scanning process to take place.

"I must warn you any attempts to escape this place will result in death as a connection to your body has been made with mana. You have to either clear all the trials or die trying.

"Now please, step on the altar." A monotonic female voice played in the hallway.

'Inheritance Ground? Aren't they like tombs left by powerful cultivators who never had heirs. They'd set up trials to test the most suitable person to pass on their legacy to. Why did I have to get picked? Just my luck.' Peter kissed his teeth in annoyance.

'Noah. Noah. Can you hear me?' Peter asked mentally but there was no response.

Peter sighed, realizing he might be on his own here. Whatever happened in that incident before must have affected Noah and Peter had a feeling he still didn't know anything about Stigmas. That devilish voice in his head still caused shivers to go down his spine.

Stepping on the altar platform in front of him, he stood up straight.

"State your name and age." The female monotonous AI voice stated.

"Peter Magtris, 11 years old."

"Scanning process shall take place now."

Immediately, a warm blue light appeared from the altar Peter was standing on, it scanned through his body several times till it was finished.

"Name: Peter Magtris

Age: 11 Years old

Cultivation Rank: 2nd Stage Novice

Element: Darkness.

Body traits: Sensitive senses, Blind.

"Please enter through the doors in front of you to face your first trial. Each trial will be suited to your capabilities but will get harder after every successful completion of a trial. There are 10 trials to complete. After every trial, you will be allowed a 30-minute break. Good Luck!" The monotonous female AI voice spoke. 2 large doors suddenly formed in front of him and opened up.

Peter got off the altar and pulled out several potions, chugging them down and throwing the bottles away. It was important he was in peak condition.

'Here goes nothing.' Peter sighed, walking onwards into the large trial hall.

**

-After Peter had fallen through the hole-

The earthquake resounded throughout the whole enchanted zone. Emanuel and his friends carried on running, sending a distress signal to their teacher.

"This is Professor Granger, I repeat this is not a drill. The Enchanted Zone has abruptly exploded with magical beasts. Please, keep running to where we first all rendezvous, there seems to be a sudden outburst of peak tier 1 and low tier 2 beasts.

"I'm busy suppressing these beasts with the help of the officers here, so I won't be able to help you all escape. There are numerous officers being deployed, they will guide you to the portal that is being set up, gather all your friends and take the portal back to school. Stay safe kids." Professor Granger's voice commanded.

Her voice called out in all of the rushing student's bracelets, making them worry. Hearing that even tier 2 beasts were in the woods with them caused them to all run even faster.

"Here! Hurry!" The sight of a federal officer came into view. He held a mana gun that could shoot inscribed bullets.

The students sighed in relief when they had made it to the officer.

"Follow my colleague, he will do a final headcount, before sending you guys through the portal." The officer commanded through the ruckus of spells exploding and guns blazing.

Emmanuel and the others nodded hastily, following the other officer to where their other classmates were.

"Okay, gather round. From the trackers we placed on your bracelets, it seems that all of you are here. However, one of you is missing. Has anyone seen Peter Magtris? The tracker signal on his bracelet disappeared shortly after the Earthquake shook." The officer announced, scrolling through his tablet's digital screen.

Emanuel and his friends looked at each other with cold sweat running down their foreheads. They knew what had happened all too well but they didn't want to speak up about that monster; the memory of Peter's transformation into some fiendish demon was fresh in their minds.

"I'll put him on the missing list then and send out a search party to his most recent position. You all will head through the portal we set up and head back to school, while we take care of things here and go find your missing classmate." The Officer commanded, pointing to the large blue portal that had been set up to their right.

**

Peter breathed slowly, shaking his limbs and cracking his neck left and right. He couldn't see anything unlike Noah, his eyes only seemed to work when Noah would take control so he was all in the dark here against something he didn't know.

"Trial 1 beginning in 3 seconds. Number of enemies: 1 Tier 1 Magical beast. Trial commencing in 3…2…1…"

Beep!

A loud horn blew and the sound of a gate opening resounded followed by an angry bull's roar.

'Judging by its shout, it seems to be a (Tier 1) 2 horned bull. Their attacks are as powerful as peak Novice Rank Mages when they've had enough time to charge through. Their skin and defense are tough but they're also extremely slow to react. Their attack patterns are linear, so all I need to do is stay calm and use the shadow steps to maneuver.

'I got this… I got this… Just stay calm and trust your wits.' Peter took out the black blade from his bracelet's storage space and unsheathed it. He gripped it tightly in his right hand, waiting for the 2 horned bull to charge at him. He thanked himself for reading ahead in the Magical beasts class.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The ground shook as the 2-meter tall bull charged forward toward Peter with full force.

Peter focused on all of his senses, the changes in the air particles as the bull moved, the vibrations every step of the bull was causing on the ground beneath him.

'Now!'

Peter swerved to the right using the shadow steps spell when the bull was already 1 meter away from grinding him to dust. He activated the shadow steps again, moving forward and slashing down towards the bull's neck but to his surprise, the blade only went through half an inch.

He desperately yanked the blade out of the bull's tough skin before leaping back to safety.

The bull roared again in anger, getting ready for another powerful charge.

'Sh*t! How the h*ll am I meant to cut through that tough skin. I can't imbue my blade in darkness like Noah.' Peter thought for a second before dodging the bull's charge one more time.

'What if I aimed for the wrong spot. It's a tough beast with extremely thick skin, what areas on its body would be the softest?'

'Forget that brother! You need to learn how to manipulate the mana in your mana core and augment your body with it.' Suddenly, Noah's voice played out in his head.

'NOAH!' Peter couldn't help but smile.

'We'll talk in that 30-minute break. First, let me show you the basics of mana manipulation; this is the perfect time to teach you.' Noah said.

Peter nodded, deciding to leave the sentimental talk for later and focus on learning the important lesson his brother would teach him. They both switched control, and the grayish view of the large bull preparing for another attack came into view.

'Don't focus on the bull. Focus on the feeling your body is feeling right now and imprint it in your mind.' Noah instructed.

Peter stretched his focus to his body's senses ignoring the bull. A chilling and tingling sensation spread from his lower abdomen - where his mana core was - and moved towards his right hand. It left his fingertips and could feel the mana wrapping around his black blade.

'What amazing control.' Peter couldn't help but gasp.

'Peter. You have to command the mana, imbue your will into it and move it and shape it the way you want. As long as the mana is from your mana core, you will be able to manipulate it at will. It just takes a lot of concentration. Your strategy from before was good, evasion then execution of the beast but I'll show you a more fun way.' Noah said.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The large 2-meter beast charged forward at an incredible speed and momentum but instead of evading, Noah also charged straight on.

'Are you crazy? That bull has the strength of a peak Novice stage cultivator. We'll get pummelled.' Peter cried.

Noah smirked, activating the shadow steps spell, forming two pads of darkness under his feet. He leaped up and over the bull's head at the perfect time before spinning down and slicing its head perfectly. The tough skin that Peter was struggling to cut through was cut through before like butter, expressing the power of mana manipulation and augmenting.

When the body had disintegrated into blue particles, the female AI voice played out again announcing the end of the first trial.

"Trial 1 complete. Your 30 minute break starts now…"