The difference between faith and science? Easy, if they both jumped off a cliff, science dies. Faith is rescued by a rainbow hippopotamus with a unicorn, wings, glorious buck teeth—something that has no right existing, except faith willed it into existence to save its life.

~Ogma, God of Eloquence and Inspiration

Opening his eyes, he stared into her gold ones. Nin’s soft, full lips and body pressed against Crow’s, and their lack of clothes was never more apparent. The shape and contour of her body, as well as the way she straddled him, left him shocked and unsure of what to do.

Finally, she broke contact, but left her body tightly pressed against his. Crow knew she only did that to keep her private bits hidden.

“Shall we keep going? You stole my first kiss, so you’ve already ruined me. No reason to stop now.”

“Pfft,” Crow nearly spat blood but choked it back when her eyes narrowed. Instead, he changed tactics. His hands slid down the skin of her smooth waist until he grasped her pert butt.

“Umph,” Nin gasped, and her eyes went cold. “You are a pervert.”

Despite her red face, she didn’t knock his hands away.

“You can’t lie to me. I saw your soul,” Crow said matter-of-factly.

“If you dare overdo it, I’ll break your legs, meanie. Am I lying?” Her glowing eyes narrowed, and he gulped while slowly moving his hands back up to her waist. However, he couldn’t hide the hint of satisfaction in his eyes. Despite her last comment, Crow knew he’d won because he forced her to back down.

“Are you able to enter my Soulscape now?” Crow asked, changing the subject. Time was running out, and he had to get to the checkpoint. The reasoning had nothing to do with Nin’s father but his desire to reach the second stage of this competition.

“Yes. However, going forward, I cannot leave your Soulscape. It is actually dangerous for me if other dragons sense me. As a female dragon that hasn’t lost her purity, male dragons will try to force themselves on me.”

“Why?”

“The bond between me and the one that takes my vital yin is something that cannot be undone. Producing a clutch with him will breed more powerful dragons too. So, you can understand my unwillingness to be taken by just any random man—”

“Weren’t you just—”

“Don’t finish that. From here until we go back to your world, I cannot physically assist you, but I can provide you with guidance.”

“That is fine. I honestly didn’t expect to pass this first trial anyway.”

Nin frowned at that comment. She’d been able to sense how horrifying Soul Burn was and thought back to his previous comments. He had suffered, and Nin felt it when she tried to soothe away his inflammation. It wasn’t until now that she worried about her actions. Her dad wasn’t wrong. Humans were vicious creatures, even unto themselves.

“How can you give me guidance if you can’t leave my Soulscape?”

“I can see through your eyes and hear with your ears. Just like Lily, I can communicate telepathically with you from inside your Soulscape.”

“And what if I’m with another woman?”

“I’ll come out and eat her. Dragons are very possessive.”

“I can spank dragons just like human girls… ”

“What the hell kind of person raised you? Oh, dragons need to sleep to recover their mana, so we sleep a lot. If I’m sleeping, try not to wake me up unless your life is in danger. Now let’s get you through this trial.”

On their way north, Crow attempted to use his mana and activated Ghost Steps. There was a significant difference in his mana, which now flowed more easily. The burn was still there, but it had decreased significantly. Between Scarification, Qi, and now his Soulscape, he felt he could suppress eighty percent of Soul Burn’s pain in another year.

It would take a few months just to come to terms with all the changes Soulscape had done to his body. It wouldn’t be a lie to say he’d grown a few centimeters and increased his overall muscle density. It was strange because he was here in spirit, and it was his soul that experienced growth.

“You’re welcome,” Nin broke into his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“I was in your Soulscape, and you used my Dragonfire to temper your body. It is why your affinities changed so drastically, and your body has seen so many benefits. You’ll still struggle to use techniques for now, but your body should recover much faster.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Nin grabbed Crow’s arm, and they continued walking toward the exit like that.

Crow's thoughts turned toward frustration when he thought about how his body, mind, and soul were a wild mess of ideas and concepts. He had to figure out how to combine all these various concepts into something more comprehensive. It would take time and a lot of research to find some way to synergize his abilities.

“Time for me to hide. The barrier is just ahead,” Nin said, and he could feel or sense her entering his Soulscape.

Minutes later, he found the barrier. Crossing over the line, there were more than a few contenders that eyed him suspiciously. It boggled their mind seeing that even a cripple passed the event, and he looked so casual doing it. Crow could practically read their thoughts because it was the same thoughts he would have had. The implication was that he cheated.

However, luck was part of a person’s power. So they could make accusations all they wanted, but in the end, they can only accept that their luck wasn’t adequate enough. Still, he couldn’t blame them. Nin really did give him an unfair advantage.

Crow ignored them and looked around. Passing through the barrier had deposited them inside a cavern. It reminded him of the Subterranean Shores only without the lake. There were a few buildings scattered around and placed looked to like a haphazard camp. There were stores of food and water, so everyone was resting and trying to recover their strength.

“Nin?” Crow muttered under his breath.

*Project your mind, idiot!* Nin replied.

*Whatever. What is the next trial, do you know?*

*I know all of them. This one is about collecting coins, and once you have enough, you can buy passage to the next trial. Before you ask… coins are found, stolen, acquired from beasts, or given for completing quests. Quests are usually resource-gathering-type things.*

*Oh, that sounds easy enough. Where is the barrier?*

*It is in the nearby town. Finding the barrier is easy. Just a warning, this trial is arguably one of the toughest. Acquiring a thousand coins isn’t easy, especially if you can’t fight for them.*

After talking a little more, Crow found a spot to rest and cultivate. This trial world had an abundant amount of mana, and it was purer. As an experiment, he tried to cultivate using both Druid and Martial methods. It seemed possible, but Crow’s mental strength currently lacked the power to multitask cultivations methods like that for more than a few minutes. Either way, in concept, it worked.

Changing up the method, he used passive breathing and actively cultivated as a Druid. It was a success. He could cultivate that way for hours, but the benefits weren’t as good as doing the two separately. Hours later, he realized he’d bottlenecked his concept. The only thing he could do is drop it for now and hope inspiration came to him later.

Suddenly, lightning bolts as thick as a man struck down over a thousand times. Thankfully, it was happening outside the barrier. It was the screams that followed the loud thunderclaps that put everyone on edge. Before anyone knew what was happening, a disembodied voice echoed throughout the cavern.

“We have eliminated all those that have failed to reach this point in three days. Contenders remaining, this next event is a treasure hunt. For this challenge, we grant all of you DarkVision, which will allow you to see in the caverns below…” the voice said, and then explained the rules that Nin already stated. “… Stone Dragons are the smallest of our kind, but we are also the toughest. I do not recommend you try fighting one of us, no matter how many coins they offer you. Besides, none of you have that ability.”

*Hmph.* Nin snorted. *What he isn’t telling you is that they are stupid, smelly, and gross.*

Comments like those made Crow question his reasoning behind helping her. Well… other than the fact she could kill him, and he felt coerced into it. It was true that her green metallic hair was alluring, and she had an exotic face, but he wasn’t someone that cared as much about looks as he did about talent.

The barrier into the next section shuddered and then dissipated. Crow tried to inspect it previously, but the formations were too profound and not easily accessible for him to analyze. Whoever designed it had been extremely powerful, so Crow had no chance of deciphering it at his level.

Shalestone was the small village almost directly outside the first barrier, and Crow could see the new one almost immediately. It wasn’t a massive place, only a few dozens of homes and shops. It had no walls, but Nin explained that was because no beasts dared approach the barrier.

*Those aren’t people, or at least they aren’t human or dragon. Remain respectful and contain any arrogance, or you’ll regret it. Daddy said they are immortal people from ancient times.*

While Crow’s curiosity was piqued, he knew there wasn’t much more he’d get out of Nin. She didn’t seem like the overly curious type.

After entering the town, Crow felt a shiver descend his spine and turned to look behind him. All he saw was a stone wall. It was as if Crow had walked through a mountain and arrived in an underground cavern. The barrier at the end of town was actually at the end of a bay. The town was a port town, which made the fact that it was in a cave interesting. He could see sunlight peeking through a giant hole in the mountain.

*Water dragons are pretty, although they are more in line with what you’d call a serpent or wyvern.*

*Good to know.*

The townsfolk were just as Nin described, humanoid, but unlike anything he’d ever seen. Their direct, no-nonsense way of communicating took some getting used to, but getting information was easy. If Crow had to pick a feature that unified them as a people, it was their hairlessness. Not a single hair existed on their bodies, not even eyelashes. It reminded him more of an automaton than a living being.

*Is DarkVision something you can teach me?* Crow asked out of the blue.

*You don’t need it, stupid.*

*What? Why?*

*Aren’t you the Three-Headed Crow? Just learn to control your Present Vision, and it’ll be better than—*

*I want to learn it for research.*

*You are so weird. Most dragons have a type of DarkVision, so there is no technique. There is a spell, but you wouldn’t be able to learn it yet. It is called The Weeping Onion.*

Crow stopped moving. *Are you messing with me?*

*Nope. It uses your tears to create a lens that magnifies sight. Rumor has it, the guy that developed it was a mortal chef. Now stop bothering me with dumb questions. Also, now that we are Soul-Linked, you have to feed this princess rare metals, and they better be good ones.*

*What do you mean by ‘princess’?*

*You finally decided to ask me about my social status.* Nin laughed inside Crow’s head and didn’t respond to him no matter how many times he asked. It was one thing to steal away a dragon from her father, but it was suicidal to take a princess away from a king.

After checking out the inn and looking through all the various requests, and finally talking to all merchants, vendors, and Scholars, Crow had a good idea of what he needed to do. Only one gate left town, with the only other exit being the port. However, once he stepped out of the gate, he found himself in a massive cavern with jagged stalactites. At a glance, he saw at least a dozen tunnels heading deeper into the mountain.

It was time to go spelunking.