The arena changed again.

The magma drained away and the pits filled with solid stone again. More importantly, a door appeared on the opposite facing wall.

I made my way towards it, then paused. My golem form was many times too large to fit through. I grunted in dissatisfaction. I guess I will have to leave it behind. In response to the thought, my spirit broke free from the metal body sheltering me.

You have de-possessed an iron golem.

In my more familiar spirit form, I opened the door, and as I crossed the threshold, I was showered by the expected Game messages.

Congratulations Michael! You have completed the third test, Mind over Body. You have gained experience and reached level 71.

Your chi has increased to level 45. Your meditation has increased to level 45.

Dismissing the alerts, I scanned my surroundings.

Once more, I found myself in a log cabin. But this time, it lacked any windows and had an additional exit. One of the doors was carved with the symbol of a howling wolf. The other was unmarked.

Two doors? I wondered. What’s this?

The familiar table lay in the center of the room, and eager to see if it held an explanation, I hurried towards it. A moment later, I slowed. Its contents were different too.

The table did not contain the expected three ability tomes. Instead, there was only one book. Beside it was a lesser attribute gem—which I used immediately—and a note. My surprise mounting at the deviation from the established pattern, I read the message.

Congratulations, scion of House Wolf,

You have passed the first three tests of the Mind Trial. This is an achievement in and of itself. Suffice to say, not many candidates make it this far despite extensive preparations.

However, you have not yet faced the First Trial’s true test. Everything you have undergone so far has merely been a precursor to the final challenge.

What awaits you beyond this cabin is probably the most important test, not just of this trial but of any trial. In the next chamber, your bloodline will be awakened—assuming, that is, you manage to survive the process.

But before you proceed further, there is some knowledge that I must impart. Most of it, you should know already, but given the gravity of the decision that awaits you, I feel it necessary to repeat some salient facts.

You hold within you an ancient bloodline, one potent enough to give you abilities beyond the norm. But no matter how concentrated the blood you carry may be, it is diluted and not as strong as it needs to be for you to evolve into a Prime.

Before your bloodline can be awakened, it must be strengthened. To do this, your blood will be infused with the spirit of fallen scions. This will be the first blood infusion you undergo on your journey, but hopefully, not the last. Survive them all, and you will become Prime and wield the power of your forebears.

The rituals you will undergo are ones that every Prime since the dawn of time has gone through, and it is at the core of what makes us who we are.

A Prime is more than an individual.

A Prime wields not just his own strength but the spirit and power of his ancestors too. If you become Prime, it will be your duty to continue our sacred traditions and strengthen the Wolf bloodline before passing it on.

If you fail along the way… well then, know that your efforts would not have been in vain and that your spirit will strengthen the next scion who ventures down this path.

So, scion, you are faced with a decision.

There are two exits from this cabin. If you pass through the unmarked door, you will leave the path you are on and forevermore be barred from the way of the wolf, but your spirit will remain your own.

If you go through the wolf-marked door, you will become an anointed scion eternally bound to House Wolf. On your final death, your spirit will not leave the Forever Kingdom but stay to strengthen the Wolf bloodline. Let me stress, fail or succeed on your journey to becoming Prime, once you are an anointed scion, you will be bound eternally to Wolf.

There is another consequence of binding yourself to House Wolf too. Hopefully, you know this already, but if you do not, be aware that all Primes straddle the Forces of Light, Dark, and Shadow equally.

We ancients do not favor one over the other like the so-called new Powers do. When you become anointed, any Marks of Light, Shadow, and Dark you bear will disappear—forever. To those who know the old ways, your absence of Force Marks will be telling…

Choose your course wisely, scion, and may darkness always shelter you.

Atiras.

I read the former Prime’s message with something akin to disbelief. Walking the path of Wolf required greater sacrifice than I’d realized. And was more dangerous than I expected.

Doing this will bind me eternally to Wolf. Not just in this life but forever.

The idea gave me pause but, surprisingly, did not bother me. The truth was that as dangerous as it was, the way of the wolf was the only path open to me if I wished to forge my own destiny in the Game and not become sworn to one of the Powers.

But even more than that, on some gut-deep instinctive level, the idea of becoming Wolf appealed to me. Perhaps that was just my blood talking, but whatever the case, binding myself to House Wolf did not trouble me. Thank you for the warning, Atiras, I thought, but I am doing this.

Turning away from the note, I focused on the ability tome on the table. Its title read, ‘Mind Shield, a basic meditation ability tome.’

My brows drew up at that. I’d not known the meditation skill had any abilities. But considering that I had not been given any choices, it was likely that the skill didn’t have many abilities. It didn’t matter, though. Dismissing further speculation, I laid my hand on the book.

You have acquired the basic ability: simple mind shield. This ability encapsulates the caster in a shell formed from psi. The shield protects you from all mental attacks, both those directed against your mind and those targeted at your nerves. While protected by a mind shield, you cannot use any psi abilities.

The damage that the mind shield can absorb is directly proportional to the size of the caster’s psi pool. This ability can be upgraded, and its activation time is fast.

You have 23 of 31 Mind ability slots remaining.

I frowned as I absorbed knowledge of the ability. Not being able to use my own psi spells while shielded was a significant drawback and made me wonder if I would ever employ a mind shield.

I swung towards the exit doors. There was one more matter I needed to attend to before leaving. Turning my focus inwards, I invested my new attribute points.

Your Mind has increased to rank 33.

With that taken care of, I strode to the wolf-marked door and passed beyond.

~~~

You have gained the trait: anointed scion. This trait irrevocably binds you to House Wolf. Your Marks of Lesser Dark, Lesser Shadow, and Lesser Light have been stricken from your spirit signature.

Your task: Pass the First Trial has been updated. Revised objective: Enter the crucible and survive the mental assaults of the spirits of the fallen scions until the blood infusion ritual is completed.

I paused in the doorway as I considered the latest Game alerts. The new trait did not surprise me, but the warning to expect mental assaults did. Was that why I had been given the ability?

Deciding it was better to be prudent, I cast mind shield.

The entire pool of psi at the pit of my subconsciousness rose out to reform into bands around my mind.

Your psi pool has been transformed into a mind shield. Psi abilities are unavailable.

Protected, I advanced further into the room and inspected my surroundings.

I was in a cavernous hall. Marble mosaics depicting wolves in various states of battle or play covered all four walls. Chandeliers hung down from the ceiling, bathing the chamber in warm yellow light, and the floor was polished stone. It was a room fit for a king.

Or a Prime.

Despite the rich décor, the room held only a single object—an enormous ivory throne sitting in the exact center of the hall. I guess that’s where I’m expected to go.

I strode silently through the chamber with only the floor’s reflection of my ghostly visage to keep me company. Reaching the throne, I took a moment to study it. On closer inspection, I realized it was formed not from ivory but bone.

Wolf bones? I wondered, a shiver of unease passing through me.

Two lupine skulls, complete with menacing fangs, formed the chair’s armrests. The eye sockets weren’t empty either but glowed a magical sapphire that seemed to beckon me. Feeling suddenly more anxious, I sat down on the throne, prompting another Game alert.

Commencing the Ritual of First Infusion…

Place your hands on the twin wolf heralds to begin the summoning.

Guessing the heralds to be the glowing skulls, I rested the palms of my hand on both.

Commencing summoning...

Warning: if you leave the bone throne or break contact with the heralds while the ritual is in progress, you will fail the First Trial.

I grimaced. The message was certainly ominous sounding. My trepidation increasing, I waited for whatever came next.

The seconds ticked by, and nothing else happened.

Then, the light in the heralds’ eye sockets began to pulse, getting brighter with each beat.

The first fallen scion of House Wolf has answered the ritual’s call. She will test you, and if she judges you worthy, she will gift you her essence to empower your blood.

A ghostly shape coalesced on the polished floor. I tensed, eyes fixed on the new arrival. It was a spirit. A fallen scion.

The spirit woman studied me as intently as I did her. She looked young, in her mid-twenties. Her features were sharp, her hair was plaited with military precision, and her eyes gleamed with intelligence.

Whatever she saw in me caused the scion’s lips to turn up in amusement. Advancing lazily, she raised both hands. A psi dagger formed in each. Her wrists flicked forward, sending both hurtling my way.

I braced myself, not daring to move. Both blades struck me dead center.

A fallen scion has damaged your mind shield!

A fallen scion has damaged your mind shield!

You have lost 10% of your psi repelling the mental attacks. Your psi is now at 90%.

I flinched as I felt my defenses shudder.

The woman smiled and summoned another pair of daggers to hand. Continuing her advance, she flung both at me.

A fallen scion has damaged your mind shield!

A fallen scion has damaged your mind shield!

You have lost 10% of your psi repelling the mental attacks. Your psi is now at 80%.

My worry grew. How many attacks would the woman launch? At the rate my shield was weakening, I could not take much more of this.

But what could I do except endure?

Wrapped in a mind shield and forced to remain in the bone chair by the ritual, the only course open to me was to trust in my defenses.

Unless… My shield was powered by my psi pool, wasn’t it?

While I couldn’t attack the woman in turn, I could work to regain my lost psi. Closing my eyes, I stilled my mind and began to meditate. My subconscious stirred, and energy flowed out of it and into the bands of psi around my mind.

You have replenished 4% of your psi. Your psi is now at 84%.

Another mental assault rocked my defenses.

You have lost 10% of your psi repelling the mental attacks. Your psi is now at 74%.

The attack almost broke my concentration, but with grim determination, I kept myself relaxed and maintained the outward flow of energy from my subconsciousness.

Settling deeper into my own mind, I ignored my foe’s further attacks and ever-so-slowly replenished my defenses.

You have replenished 4% of your psi. Your psi is now at 78%.

You have replenished 4% of your psi. Your psi is now at 82%.

You have lost 10% of your psi repelling the mental attacks. Your psi is now at 72%.

The fallen scion threw volley after volley at me, but as my focus deepened, the rate at which I recovered my psi increased. Soon I lost track of my surroundings entirely, barely feeling the bite of her blades as they struck my shield.

Eventually though, I noticed a change.

The fallen scion’s attacks had stopped.

Surfacing from the depths of my mind, I opened my eyes. The spirit woman was kneeling before the throne. A smile still played on her lips as she met my gaze and placed her hand on one of the heralds.

“Hail, scion,” she mouthed.

Before I could think how to respond, the herald’s jaws yawned wider, and the woman’s spirit was sucked within. The glow in the skulls’ socket expanded to encompass her entirety, and my palm, which had previously been resting lightly on the bone, was held fast by some unseen force.

Something—I’m not sure what—passed into me, and I could’ve sworn I heard a light feathery laugh.

You have absorbed the essence of a fallen scion. Your blood awakening has begun...