The Inheritance Ground III

Peter moved expertly in the air using the shadow step spell and augmenting his blade and body with the 'Mana Skin' technique.

He leapt over one of the Tier 1 Lion Beasts and sliced down expertly severing its head from its body.

It was already the 5th trial and he had almost completely mastered the 'Mana Skin' technique. Not only that his proficiency in the use of the shadow steps increased by leaps and bounds as he gained experience at a rapid rate. Noah had been using his laser-like focus to concentrate whole heartedly on getting stronger.

At the moment he was fighting 10 mutated 2 Meter tall lion beasts all at the same time. He had killed 4 of them already, if you compared the Peter from the first trial to the current Peter, his monstrous growth would shock anyone.

However, it was mostly thanks to Noah, without Noah's expert teaching Peter wouldn't have been able to fix his flaws.

'Good. Remember to keep an eye on your mana reserves.' Noah advised.

Peter nodded, feeling his mana reserves fall to around 60% capacity. He deactivated the mana skin technique and used the shadow steps to dodge the sharp and powerful attacks of 2 of the lion beasts.

'I'm running out of ideas. This is too much to handle without the use of spells.' Peter sighed, feeling his body beginning to tire. He hadn't rested properly in ages and had only used Health Potions to regain energy, which also had its disadvantages. They could only be used a limited number of times in one day before their effectiveness wore off; the person would have to thoroughly rest for a couple hours to reset this.

'Okay. Switch with me anytime you feel it's becoming too much to handle.' Noah replied.

Peter nodded; he wanted to keep going as much as he could to test out his capabilities but at the moment nothing was working. He had managed to use the hit and run technique 4 times already but the beasts seemed to adapt to his strategy very quickly and moved as a pack now.

Getting close would deem dangerous. Peter had to learn some spells.

'Fine. Let's switch.' Peter sighed, running out of ideas.

'This should be easy.' Noah smirked, exhaling as he took over Peter's body once more.

'Darkness entrapment.' With a single incantation the 6 Mutated Lion beasts froze in place unable to move, their shadows turned completely black and made them immobile.

Noah then swiftly used the 2nd form of the 'Ethereal Blades' finishing them off in a matter of seconds.

'Talk about overwhelming.' Peter scoffed.

"Trial 5 complete. You have fulfilled the unique conditions. You now have 2 options: Take 1 Spellbook/ technique of your choice out of the 3 available and leave, or continue with the inheritance trials." The female AI voice spoke.

Noah waited a couple of seconds gathering his thoughts and he could tell Peter was also thinking the same thing.

'They didn't say anything about rewards after the 5th trial, we must have fulfilled some special conditions for this offer. I kind of know what you're thinking Peter, I know it's dangerous but we should go forward. The rewards at the end will be hundreds if not thousands of times better than what we are being offered right now.' Noah said.

'Okay. Let's go for it!'

"We will carry on with the trials." Noah announced.

"As you wish. Your 30 Minute Break starts now…" The Female AI voice replied.

**

The 6th trial consisted of 3 shadow figures. They both decided that Peter would try to clear this trial to increase his experience whilst also helping Noah to stay away from using too much of the Stigma's reserves. Peter successfully was able to clear the 6th trial but suffered a few injuries; his execution of the 2nd form of the Ethereal Blades martial art wasn't as good as Noah's so it was a tough battle.

The 7th trial consisted of 5 shadow figures that attacked and worked together simultaneously. They all used swords and put up a tough fight but none of them were able to overcome Noah's powerful spells.

Noah spun his sword, cracking his neck left and right awaiting for the 8th trial to begin. Peter had meditated in his stead and filled up the mana core's reserves to the brim. Whatever was coming, Noah would be prepared.

Sha! Sha!

Several dark clouds appeared around the dome-like battle hall. 1…2…15… Noah counted fifteen figures shrouded in darkness mana appear all around him.

They all charged at him at the same time with their swords.

'Darkness Slash!'

He used the shadow steps to jump into the air above them before condensing darkness mana in his blade and slashing it horizontally. He knew he had to wipe out as many as he could with this attack.

An arc of dense darkness mana cut through 7 of the 15 of the shrouded figures severing them in 2. They immediately disappeared with a puff; however, that attack alone consumed half of all of Peter's body's mana reserves.

Noah executed the second form of his martial art right after battling with the remaining cloudy figures all at the same time. Surprisingly, their sword techniques were difficult to keep up with as the AI programmed their attack patterns to become stronger with each passing round.

'Darkness Entrapment.'

Noah managed to freeze them momentarily, before they snapped out of his spell and began moving again. However, this small time frame was all the time Noah needed to use the shadow steps spell to get close and kill off 5 more of the dark figures, only leaving 2 more.

"Friday. Give me 2 minor mana potions." Noah said, leaping backwards using the shadow steps spell, hence creating some distance between him and his targets.

"Yes sir." Friday replied in his monotonous voice. Two vials filled with mana rejuvenating liquid appeared in front of Noah; he didn't hesitate to grab them and chug them down, bringing his mana reserves up to the brim again.

'Great thinking brother!' Peter said ecstatically.

'Darkness Entrapment.'

Noah exercised his trapping spell one more time, this time keeping them frozen for a bit longer. He propelled himself towards them again, slicing their heads off swiftly.

"Trial 8 complete. Your 30 minute break starts now…" The female AI voice echoed.

Noah fell back on his bum, his eyes droopy and his body exhausted. He pulled out several potions and chugged them down but they only gave him a bit of energy; Peter's body must have been reaching its limits. He had been fighting non-stop with short breaks afterall, only relying on pills and potions to regain his strength.

'Your body is reaching its limits, After the next trial the potions will lose their effects.' Noah reported, feeling the fatigue still linger in the muscles even though he had drank several potions.

'Okay, let's switch control. I'll take a quick nap, just wake me up when the next trial starts. We'll switch again. This way we'll be able to delay the limitation of the potions.'

Noah nodded, switching control with Peter.

The blind boy curled up in a ball and dozed off to sleep immediately, having not slept in what felt like ages.

Now only 2 more rounds remained till the Inheritance belonged to Peter…