------

”Why is it always a desert?” Karna grumbled as she flew over the dull terrain.

“You know exactly why. It’s called karma.” Gem retorted smugly while hitching a ride on her shoulder.

“Look, it was only a couple of planets! That shouldn’t be so bad? Why does that have to carry over so many lifetimes?” She kept asking in a sulking tone.

“If by couple you mean couple dozen, then yeah, sure.” Gem joked.

Karna gave a frustrated sigh. “It’s a self-actualization thing, isn’t it? I keep ending up in deserts because I think that’s where I should end up. That’s it isn’t it?”

“Yep. Like I said, karma. And considering who you are, you should know exactly how that works.” Gem agreed with an easy tone.

The two kept flying onwards for several hours without seeing any change in terrain. It was actually the simple boredom of the terrain that made Karna suspicious. Even though huge deserts were not rare, Karna could fly really fast, and having a desert this large and this uniform was odd, to say the least. "We aren't really in a proper desert, are we?" She suddenly stated, and it was like they both heard glass breaking and a spatial force seemed to suck them through a crack in space that had suddenly appeared.

"I'd say that's a no," Gem argued while feeling a bit queasy. “I hate tests like that. Shouldn’t you be immune to illusions?” They found themselves in a stone room with rune-covered walls.

"I pretty much am, though nothing is absolute. No, the reason that one worked was because it wasn't really an illusion. We were in a desert of sorts, though one that was conjured up by my own mind. And illusions that I create myself work even on me. A rather intricate test that, required a sudden realization to pass. It would take someone really strong and skilled to make it." Karna speculated. The room only had a single exit, a hallway made of the same stone leading forwards.

“And yet it had no real creator as it was spawned by the Expansion. I’d really like to find out one day how that works.” Gem was a little vexed by the oddity of the situation as well. “Well, only one way ahead so we might as well.”

“Wait. If the previous desert was all a test, then was the feeling I got about the teleportation being random also a suggestion planted by the test? And is father still within the test?” Karna realized several things at the same time. “He might actually wind up being close enough to be within range of the communicator.”

She pulled out the glowing orb that obediently started floating around her head. She had hidden the device earlier to protect it from the storm, but now there was no need to do so anymore. As it twirled around her head, the orb gave off nothing but static in the start but as they walked along the completely straight corridor, the orb seemed to make a connection and Arjuna’s relieved voice could be heard. “Karna! Thank the gods I was worried. Finally, you got through the first test.”

“Finally?” Karna wondered. “I admit it took me a couple of hours to realize what was going on in the test, but I refuse to believe you realized it that much faster.”

"I didn't, my spirit did. Apparently, if you put a powerful darkness spirit into a world of shadow, they can sense something wrong pretty quick." Arjuna's relieved voice explained.

“Your spirit huh?” Karna looked meaningfully at Gem. “So you’re saying a spirit could’ve detected the problem immediately?”

“That’s not the problem. The problem is that the first test has a variable time dilation effect as well. You may have experienced a couple of hours, but I’ve been here for a week and a half already. And I’m not alone. I’m already on the sixth test, and there are at least four people ahead of me.” Arjuna dropped the bomb.

“Well. Shit. What a waste of perfectly good cultivation time.” Karna’s mouth twisted as she made an annoyed sound. “I think it’s time for me to put my heart into it and catch up.”

"Watch for the third test. Other people will be able to attack you during the test! The tests also have time limits. I have no idea what happens if you fail, but I heard anyone that fails disappears. What exactly that means, I don't know." Arjuna warned her quickly.

As they exchanged information, Karna found her way to another room identical to the one she’d come from, including the fact that the only path in or out was the one she’d just come through. The runes around the room seemed inactive. Her eyes flashed deep blue as she traced all the runes making up the formation. It didn’t take her long to figure out that the formation was incomplete, and that there were actually three solutions to the problem. “Well, I hope they’ll continue with tests like these.” She muttered. Solving magic puzzles like this was extremely easy for a prodigious mage like her. Even if her power was not at the peak, no one could rival her in pure knowledge.

She tapped the floor three times as three runes appeared around the room to complete the formation. She idly wondered if there was any special prize for providing the perfect solution. Her answer came quickly as not only did the path forward open when one of the walls crumbled to dust, but a small door at the side opened as well. Inside she found a small vial of reddish-blue liquid. She pulled the vial to her with a wave of her hand. “Hmm? Seems like some sort of blood.”

“Want me to test it?” Gem asked. The spirit had long ago tested Karna’s blood as well and was very good at it.

“Not yet. We might need you fairly soon.” Karna replied before moving on.

The path towards the third test was a fair bit longer. The stony corridor started to grow damp and the air boggy before the two of them were greeted by a pair of wooden doors. Rays of light shone through the cracks around the door, and they could smell the nature outside. As she easily pushed the rickety door open, she had enough time to recognize the terrain around her as some sort of lightly forested tundra, mixed with a fair amount of swampy terrain. Her eyes also fell on a stone stele with writing on it, but she didn’t have the time to read it before she sensed imminent danger drawing close.

She instinctually erected a pair of barriers in the direction she sensed the approaching danger before both barriers collapsed under the assault of a hail of arrows that moved at speeds that were easily hypersonic. As the first two arrows were deflected by her barriers, which also collapsed under the attack meant to punch through any barriers, she took a more active defense. A blade made of pure Qhaysh swung on the path of the remaining two arrows, intercepting them. At the same time, her skin had already turned to reflect her Titan bloodline.

To her shock, while the first arrow was struck down relatively easily, the second seemed to explode on impact. Except calling it an explosion would've been wrong as the space around the arrow seemed to collapse as everything in the vicinity was pulled towards the head of the arrow that seemed to have been turned into a miniature black hole. She tried to take distance immediately, but even with her speed she wasn’t quite fast enough. Although she got out of the affected area, not all of her did.

The same arm she had used to strike down the arrows was now shredded and ended up in a stump just below her shoulder, and clothes on that side of her body were torn to ribbons despite the powerful defensive enchantments. “Gem!” She called out while preparing to regenerate her arm. Even the skin granted by her bloodline hadn’t been enough to protect her from the attack.

The spirit assumed the form of an angel with an enormous shield on her arm, while the fires of a phoenix consumed Karna’s damaged arm. “Why aren’t they attacking again?” Gem asked after another attack didn’t immediately follow.

“Because whoever attacked is the sniper type. They know that as soon as their first attack failed, the chances of success went down too much to try again. They also realize that I’d be able to retaliate if they don’t move from their previous spot. How vexing. Not only are they dangerous, but they’re also competent.” Karna sweated a bit as she noted how slowly her arm was regenerating despite her powerful bloodlines. Both her vampire and phoenix bloodlines should be helping her, yet it seemed the damage would take hours to recover fully.

“What about the spatial rings you had hidden in your sleeve?” Gem suddenly asked.

"Of course I protected the loot." Karna scoffed as if insulted Gem had even doubted her.

“Your pillow hoard was in that sleeve, wasn’t it?” Gem asked, suddenly realizing why Karna would rather sacrifice her arm than the rings.

“I had the hoard inside my bracelet.” Karna grimaced and pulled out the slightly charred bracelet that she’d pulled away with magic. “The real problem is that.” She pointed at the rather sizeable crater placed right where she had been standing earlier.

“The stele. The damn thing had the instructions for this test.” Gem also realized the problem.

“We’ll have to ask Arjuna and hope we got the same test. Or that we can find another stele.” Karna nodded. “I’d also like to know how the attacker spotted us so quickly.”

------

He flung the bow back on his back as he ran through the sparse cover offered by the terrain. Even with the lack of cover, his ability to hide in even the smallest dips in the terrain made him almost impossible to spot. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that mere distance to his target was enough to keep him safe. The moment the arrows had left from his bow, he had felt something powerful lock on to his position, and it was only the surprise and the damage wrought by his arrows that had allowed him to elude the notice of his target.

His attack had failed. This was only the second time since being reborn in this universe that his first attack failed him, and he could count the times in his previous lives on his fingers. Even if he could tell his target wasn’t on the same rank as him, he would not make the mistake of thinking the target was not a match for him in a more direct confrontation. The last time he had failed, the target had been someone several ranks above him in power, and his arrows had still claimed most of the target’s body as a price. He had managed to subdue that target with his second attack, although barely. Yet now that his new target seemed to be of lower rank than him, he had no delusions about winning a fight in close-quarters, or that his arrows would do the trick without the element of surprise.

He'd fired three shots with the singular purpose of bringing down any defensive barriers his target might have, and those three arrows were specially handmade for that very purpose from material he'd gathered himself. Yet the hastily erected barriers the woman had created had almost managed to withstand two of his shots. That wasn't the scary part though. In a fraction of a second, the woman had made the judgment that further barriers would be futile and had struck his other two arrows with a hastily created weapon. The strike had managed to intercept his arrows perfectly and had rendered his third shot useless. It was also the exact wrong response against his kill-shot, a technique he'd developed personally from fragmented old texts left behind by old masters in several lifetimes.

The shot he'd rather smugly named 'Heavenly Collapse' borrowed the celestial energies to create a phenomenon that nearly all mages and warriors were unable to defend against. The power of the moon, the sun, the stars, and the other celestial phenomenon didn't create a unified magical element, yet most mages would agree that the associated powers were some of the most powerful in existence. Once someone was caught in the effect of his arrow, they were fated to die. Except the woman hadn't. And unlike his previous quarry that had managed to survive, the damage she had taken had been rather minimal. Even with his extremely sharp eyesight, he had not quite seen what she'd done. Yet the fact remained. She was alive, and even relatively unhurt.

Considering he had managed to catch the woman almost completely by surprise, yet she’d not only survived but located him so quickly told him that he’d really kicked a wall this time. Leaving behind live enemies was bad, but leaving behind potentially very dangerous enemies was much worse. His companions had left him here to stall all newcomers, and to eliminate anyone he judged dangerous for their group, as they knew how good his archery and his senses were. Unlike everyone else in his group, he was capable of traversing the enormous space used for this test in mere moments, as well as spotting anyone with even a shred of Divinity just as easily. Maybe it was time to move on?

He pulled out a communication charm, which he activated. “Yao, I missed. It’s time I move on. I hope you have made enough headway.”

Soon another talisman appeared in a burst of flames that he hoped didn’t draw the attention of the dreadful woman. “Since when have you missed Hou Yi? Anyway, we’ve managed to create some distance so you can join us now. Heng’e is eager to see you again. We’ve run into some trouble though. There’s some annoying shadow magus as well as a group of really vexing Leonid here that we’re having some trouble dealing with. Your assistance would be welcome, so run like the wind. I know you can catch up.”

Hou Yi gave a small shudder. Heng’e was a persistent woman. He’d turned her down several times now, but she just kept trying, talking about fate. He pulled out a small stone that glowed with magical glyphs before crushing it between his fingers. As he did, a light came from the ‘sky’ to bring him to the next test. He would need to use all his speed to race ahead, as he had the feeling that the dangerous woman would not be far behind.

--------

“Finally. I think I know how the test works now.” Karna’s face was split by a smile. The archer that had shot at her, or someone before that, had destroyed the other stele with the instructions for the test. She could sense that they would be automatically rebuilt eventually, but she wasn’t entirely sure how soon that ‘eventually’ was exactly. So, she did the next best thing. She asked Arjuna. It had taken her a couple of hours, but she'd finally found a magical stone in the gullet of some tiny lizard. Once she'd known what to look for, she'd noted that only one in a thousand lizards had them, and the tiny creatures were scattered all over the place.

“Why would they make a test to hunt some tiny animals?” Gem asked, still in her protective form. Her eyes lingered on Karma’s hand that was still regenerating from the earlier damage.

“That’s not really the point. It’s a test of senses, luck, and brutality. You only need to kill one to find the stone if your senses are sharp enough, or if you’re lucky enough. Or you could steal the stone from someone else, as everyone in a group needs their own stone. There’s a reason why this test allows you to fight with other test-takers. There simply aren’t any around yet. That, or our little assassin took care of any competition.” Karna explained.

"So, what are the chances of him lying in wait, ready to take another shot at you?" Gem was fully prepared to make sure her master didn't take another hit like that.

“Not very high. Arjuna mentioned that the next test is a long one, took him over a week apparently, but it shouldn’t be shared with other scavengers. Still, I’m not going to let my guard down and I’ll be sure to return the favor in the future.” Karna promised. She wasn’t really all that vengeful in nature, but she wasn’t in the habit of handing out forgiveness willy-nilly either. And she could get a bit petty when someone really got under her skin, like by putting her hoard in danger…