Leo’s vision blacked out for a brief moment as he stepped through the portal, only for it to return just as quickly. What greeted him was a cosy little room.

And by cosy, he meant small.

Very small.

The walls were plain white, the whole place looking less like a reward chamber and more like some kind of padded psyche ward.

Not exactly the best thing to see after being mentally bombarded by a storm of emotions. It was almost enough to make someone think they’d dreamed the whole tutorial.

Wait.. have I been dreaming this whole time?

A small-ish dragon popped out of his chest with a goofy smile, instantly dragging his thoughts from whatever blue pill, red pill crisis his brain had been trying to spiral into.

“Blue pill all the way!” Leo declared, grinning right back at his bonded partner.

A system notification appeared before him almost immediately after.

Congratulations!

You have cleared the Trial of Endurance!

Calculating rewards..

Time taken: 1 Hour 33 Minutes 45 Seconds

Time spent in safe zones: 4 Minutes 8 seconds

Gold rank reward achieved

All subsequent rewards from bronze and silver tier will be granted.

All wounds have been healed. All cooldowns have been reset.

Bronze reward:

10 F-grade Essence Crystals

1 Weak endurance elixir (Basic)

Silver reward:

1 E-grade Essence Crystal

1 Lesser Endurance elixir (Basic)

Gold reward:

Random class based equipment (Uncommon)

1 Endurance elixir (Common)

Please take your rewards from the chest.

Afterwards, you may continue with the next trial or choose to leave. Choosing to leave here and re-entering the tower will bring you to the same location.

“Sweet lords of loot I love you,” Leo breathed, almost drooling.

A golden chest appeared before him, and he could barely stop himself from Spark Dashing the short distance to it in the cramped little room. Ellie looked just as excited, clearly inheriting his love for loot through the bond.

Although, considering dragons in old tales had a habit of being greedy little hoarders, maybe that was all her.

Shaking that thought aside, Leo opened the chest.

Inside, he could see three bottles—more like flasks, really—all filled with similar looking green liquids but varying in clarity. Beside them sat eleven crystals, with the single E-grade crystal standing out much more than its F-grade companions. Resting beside it all was a necklace set with a small green shard.

Licking his lips in anticipation of the elixirs, he identified them first starting with the lowest;

Weak Elixir of Endurance (Basic)

A barely worthwhile elixir of the lowest possible grade and clarity. Grants the consumer a permanent increase to the Endurance stat

Effects: +1 Endurance upon consumption

“Alright, so not great,” Leo muttered. “But this confirms stat-boosting elixirs are a thing.”

He rolled the little bottle between his fingers as his mind immediately ran ahead.

“I wonder if there’s a cap. There has to be, right? Otherwise someone could just stack infinite stats at level one.”

Leo had a habit of talking aloud whenever he was thinking through system mechanics, and right now there wasn’t anyone to judge him for it except Ellie.

Looking at the next two, he was unsurprised, but definitely pleased.

Lesser Elixir of Endurance (Basic)

An almost complete Elixir of Endurance that is one step away from achieving proper purity. Grants the consumer a permanent increase to the Endurance stat
Effects: +2 Endurance upon consumption

Elixir of Endurance (Common)

A complete Elixir of Endurance, while the common rarity may seem basic, creating a perfect elixir is nothing to scoff at. Grants the consumer a permanent increase to the Endurance stat

Effects: +5 Endurance on consumption

So a potential +8 to his Endurance for an hour and a half of work. A fantastic deal, if you asked him.

The thought immediately led elsewhere. Could Ellie consume elixirs? Could she equip armour, for that matter? Iskarion wore his gilded robe, but in his dragon form Leo hadn’t seen any armour on him at all.

“One way to find out I suppose,” Leo said, lifting the Weak Elixir of Endurance out of the chest before crouching beside Ellie.

She tilted her head at him curiously as he uncorked it.

“Hey Ells, wanna try this? It’s supposed to raise your stats and I want to know if you can use them.”

He gave the contents a cautious sniff first, but there was no scent at all. Ellie, meanwhile, looked more than willing to help with the experiment. She opened her mouth wide, and Leo poured the elixir in, hoping he wasn’t wasting it. It was only one point of Endurance in the end. Not exactly a make-or-break loss.

She gulped it down quickly, the bottle small enough that it was gone in seconds.

Leo waited for a system message or some kind of sign that it had worked, and then suddenly a screen appeared before him.

Ellie has consumed a Weak Elixir of Endurance

Due to her nature as a Dragon, elixirs have limited or no effect

No stat bonuses granted from consumption

“Welp, that sucks.”

He tossed the empty bottle aside with a sigh.

The result left him more disappointed than he expected. It would have been a good way of helping her catch up in certain areas. He was ahead of her in a few ways, though now that he properly thought about it, she was maybe already on par with the average human around her level. Maybe even a little ahead.

She was only level twenty, and some of her stats were already pressing surprisingly—or unsurprisingly—close to his. Add in her natural advantages, her breath attack, and the whole not truly dying as long as he lived thing, and she could more than hold her own.

Another thought struck him. This room apparently granted him a thinking helmet.

What if elixirs still affected the stat inheritance she received from him?

That possibility had him downing the other two elixirs without a second of hesitation, the extra +7 Endurance settling into his body almost immediately. When he checked Ellie’s stat page after, her own Endurance had risen by one point.

His eyes widened as he smiled.

Doing the quick maths, it looked like she inherited ten percent of his base stats, level-up gains from class, free points, and now elixirs too. It didn’t include the gains from his companion bond or his equipment, but it still meant the system recognised those permanent increases as a part of him.

If that percentage ever increased, Ellie would turn into an even more terrifying monster than she already promised to be.

Not that Leo had any intention of slowing down his own growth just to keep things fair. Sadly the percentage boosts he had from other sources still didn’t seem to pass over to her.

Moving on, Leo turned his attention to the crystals, specifically the E-grade Essence Crystal. The F-grade ones were swept into storage without a second thought. He had no use for them right now.

Essence Crystal (E)

A crystal containing the power of raw essence. Can be consumed to awaken an essence skill in an E-grade Essence. Has many uses in crafting and alchemy

Would you like to use the Essence Crystal?

Yes/No

Leo saw no reason to delay unlocking his first Wind Essence skill. He crushed the glowing crystal in his hand and absorbed the power immediately.

It felt like a million tiny blades dancing across his skin, shaving at the surface of his Stoneskin without ever quite cutting deep enough to deal real damage. The sensation passed quickly, and he looked up just in time to see the message appear.

You have unlocked the Wind Essence Skill: Cloak of Wind (Uncommon)

Cloak of Wind (Uncommon)

You channel wind mana around your body, forming a shifting current that trails behind you like a loose cloak. Your weight lightens as resistance fades. Your movement flows with the wind rather than against it.

While active, weight is reduced, mobility is increased and control in midair is improved. With focus, falling momentum can be redirected or softened.

Scales with Endurance

Constant mana consumption once summoned

Cooldown: None

The air around Leo stirred, faint at first, little more than a tremble in the still white room. Threads of wind began curling around his body, tracing pale silver lines until they gathered behind him in the shape of a cloak.

The pressure in the room shifted. The world felt lighter.

His hair lifted as though he were underwater, and behind him the translucent veil rippled in slow, restless motion. Every small movement of his body was met by a current that seemed to carry him with it rather than resist him.

When he stepped forward, the wind followed.

“This feels surreal,” Leo said.

Then he jumped and immediately smashed his head off the rudely low ceiling.

“Ow.”

Ellie looked delighted by the whole thing, half impressed and half ready to laugh at him.

Leo narrowed his eyes at her, then lunged.

He scooped her up into his arms and started leaping around the room with her, each jump carrying him further than it should have as the wind softened every landing and slowed every descent. Ellie was absolutely thrilled, tail lashing wildly as the two of them bounced around the tiny chamber.

She loved going fast, and now that he thought about it, he hadn’t carried her like this since he’d first met Ruby.

That thought made him pause a little inside the fun of it.

Ellie’s life was strange, maybe stranger than his in some ways. She’d been thrown into this world with barely any understanding, same as him, and while she seemed to be taking to it with excitement and almost reckless joy, there was still a part of him that worried.

I’ll need to show her something besides fighting at some point. Leo thought, though even as he did, he had to wonder whether that was something he wanted for her more than something she wanted for herself.

He hoped one day she could speak to him in a way he could actually understand. Surely if Iskarion could do it then she could one day—hopefully before godhood.

Letting her settle comfortably across his shoulders, Leo reached back into the chest for the final item. He lifted it out carefully, wary of scratching or dropping the delicate-looking jewellery.

Amulet of Steadfast Resolve (Uncommon)

An amulet granted to those exceeding in the Trial of Endurance. The green crystal in the centre contains condensed energy borne from raw stamina, granting the wearer benefits.

Enchantments: +8 Endurance, +4 Vitality

+15% stamina regeneration

Requirements: Level 20+, E-grade class or profession

The stat gains alone from this amulet were incredible, completely dominating his current equipment in terms of raw stats—most likely due to the amulet requiring E-grade. If this was what he received from just the first trial then he couldn’t wait to see what was to come.

Speaking of which, after he had removed all the items and equipped the amulet—briefly enjoying the stat boost—Leo had a system message appear before him;

Your climb may continue should you wish it.

Please select your next trial:

Trial of Strength

Trial of Agility

Trial of Intelligence

You may leave at any point during this climb and retain progress between trials.

That was unexpected.

There was no information beyond the basic titles themselves. Leo could guess the broad outline of what each trial involved, but not much more than that. The real question was which one to choose.

Agility was his highest stat, but what could that trial really teach him that Endurance hadn’t already started to?

He considered Intelligence for a moment, especially since his Intelligence wasn’t exactly low, but in the end he dismissed it. If he was being honest with himself, the quality of the rewards mattered. If the Gold reward for Endurance was this good, then he wanted the best chance possible at doing similarly well again.

That narrowed things down. If he was purely reward-focused, Agility probably made the most sense.

But his Agility already felt where it needed to be for now. Strength, on the other hand, had begun to lag behind both his Agility and his Endurance. If there were elixirs involved again, more Strength would be a welcome gain.

“How about it, Ells?” Leo asked, glancing up at the dragon perched across his shoulders. “Ready to test our strength?”

She answered him with a sleepy yawn.

Leo blinked, then frowned slightly.

She really hadn’t had any proper rest since the bond had evolved, and maybe it was taking more out of her than he’d realised. She had still run a fair amount during the Endurance Trial too, even if she’d looked like she was having the time of her life.

“Alright,” Leo said softly. “How about you go have a nap in my hopefully comfy soul-space.”

The sleepy little dragon vanished so quickly she may as well have been recalled into a Poke Ball. Leo stared at the space she’d left behind for a second before a grin tugged at his mouth.

He had just realised that she was, in a very strange way, sort of his very own.

With that childhood dream suddenly feeling a lot less fictional than it used to, Leo selected the Trial of Strength.

~

“Have we any new information about the hatchling’s tutorial?” Caldrin asked.

“Yes, sir,” Pyronis began, but his expression darkened almost at once. “I’m afraid it’s insect-based.”

Caldrin exhaled slowly, his eyes hardening as the runes woven through his tattered grey robes pulsed faintly in time with the shift in his mood. Insect-based tutorials were among the worst the system could produce. Hard. Bloody. Brutal on the scale most initiates never truly understood until they were trapped inside one.

“What was the average survival rate of tutorial participants in the last Era’s insect based tutorials?” Caldrin asked, already half expecting the answer.

Pyronis sighed. “Roughly ten percent.”

Caldrin’s gaze sharpened. “That low?”

He folded his hands together, his thoughts already turning ahead.

“Do we know anything more about the human it seems to be with?”

“Nothing concrete. Only that he has some kind of connection to a god who has apparently entrusted him with the hatchling. We won’t know until the system grants us access.” Pyronis hesitated, then added, “My blessed in the tutorial is a bit… odd.”

“But useful,” Caldrin said.

Pyronis inclined his head.

“It will be another few days before we can observe directly,” Caldrin continued. “And for now blessings can only be offered if new initiates develop skills tied to our legacies, as you already know. It will be weeks before we can invite him to the Arcanum.”

His eyes dimmed slightly.

“That is, if he survives.”

“I will try to learn more from the initiate I have blessed, sir.” Pyronis paused, anger beginning to simmer in his expression. “Has that devil Cindralus begun moving yet?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Caldrin replied. “He will likely act through a proxy. The snake that he is.” A flicker of distaste crossed his face. “Vera has already enlisted the services of the Silent Ledger.”

Pyronis drew in a sharp breath through his teeth, the gesture reflexive more than necessary. It had been a very long time since he’d needed air to survive.

“That is quite the step.”

“A necessary one,” Caldrin said. “We can bear the cost. It is the least we can do to honor Iskarion and his brood.”

In truth, Caldrin hoped it would do more than that. He hoped it would mean something. But hope was dangerous when it was built on whispers.

He would not let himself believe the impossible.

Not yet.

~

Ashley kicked the silver-coloured chest again, still angry at herself, at Leo, and at the world in general.

Why had she blown up over something so stupid?

She’d caused what might have been irreparable damage to someone she lo—..

Cared for.

When she got into the Tower, she’d been planning to blow up at him again, let him apologise, and then act like everything was fine.

But she couldn’t even do that.

Because the stupid system had shoved her into a stupid trial without any stupid Leo in it.

She glared down at the silver chest in the middle of the tiny white room. She’d already drunk the two Wisdom elixirs it had given her and stored the Essence Crystals away in her ring.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Ashley shouted at the blank walls.

No answer came.

She nudged the chest again, this time with less force.

“You better still be okay after this. Idiot.”