The masters had removed themselves to the all-seeing tower, named so for its shape, height, and choice of material. It was built to look like an eye from a topographical point of view and it dwarfed all the buildings in the capital and boasted 24 floors, with 4 standing out from the rest.

Although all the floors afforded their occupants a clear panoramic view from them, the special 4 edged the rest in terms of dimensions. The first was on the sixth floor and from there the rest appeared every 5 floors. When it came to materials, the 12 lower floors had translucent-paned floors interleaved with tinted ones, whilst the 12 upper floors were all tinted.

The tower's biggest highlight was a bulbous shaping of glass that sat atop it, giving it an overall phallic image. Due to this last feature, many male Taurs, young and old, would use it for baser forms of humor that required a form of pay to play. Gambling.

That imagery, often paired with low humor; would be used to test a challenger’s fortitude as bets were placed on how long the challenger could last before chuckling. Today though, no chuckles were to be had anywhere near the tower, much less inside it, for only the evaluators occupied the tower and none of them would fine humor in the activity they were gathered for.

The evaluators occupied one of the spacious rooms, one floor shy of the shaft's midpoint, and it is here that they awaited the conclusion of the extended rites. The junior archivist still manned Calf's statuette, reporting on the conditions reflected on his likeness and the supporting platform.

Though the statuette was limited in what it could illustrate, it had been good enough to show glimpses of most of the objects Calf had interacted with. He’d wielded a bow, done a lot of climbing, and fashioned a collection of artifacts he'd used, modified, and was now carrying with him on his way back. Some looked obscure and incomplete, but the archivist had managed to make out three complete artifacts on his first stop.

They were all weapons that brokered interest from the watchers due to their glowing shafts, but two stood out even more. These were the spear and the handle-less knife with the oversize hilt. Beyond the glowing wood, they were topped with points the color of congealed blood. Surprisingly, only the shorter point was represented with a halo over it, whilst the spear's point remained plain, as if already bound to another entity.

By the end of his trial by fire, and water; he’d bound both items to himself and had had time enough to acquire even more trinkets before making his way back to the capital. All the events that were illustrated by the statuette were met with differing reactions. Some were seemingly detached, like the Head Archivist’s quiet contemplation; whilst others were loud and obvious like the Head of combat’s interest in Calf’s haul. Between these two extremes were the Warden’s and Head of Craft’s reactions, which both seemed slightly anxious, but for different reasons entirely.

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The Head of Crafts had been none-too-pleased about today's events. Though the fact the Garbs had been involved should have been enough of a hint, he'd hoped against all hope that those above them wouldn't interfere. When those hopes had been dashed, he’d found a perch for himself in the conference room and hawked over the statuette. He'd been pleasantly surprised when he saw Calf's prizes, displeased upon noticing the missing halo on the long spear and extremely pleased at Calf's ingenuity and diligence at crafts when he fashioned weapons for himself mid-trial. He had no doubts the weapons would hold. His only worry was whether Calf's body could hold for the duration of his challenges as well. Hoping the statuette would provide him with that answer, he continued to watch it.

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The Warden on the other hand was preoccupied with his own thoughts as the others continued to watch the statuette. He’d been compelled to act by those above them and had had no choice but to interfere in Calf's 8th Trial. This had resulted in the prince’s 8th failure.

Knowing in advance what direction his machinations would steer things in, he'd caught and poisoned a two-tone hare for his part of the standard rites. This way, he could increase the chance that Calf would step out of bounds, triggering the extended rites as he had been commanded to ensure.

He'd had two motives for poisoning the hare, the first being to benefit his reputation no matter the outcome, and the second to bolster the hare's illusory abilities. The bolstered abilities would strengthen Calf's blood lust, making it almost an inevitability for him to step out of bounds. Should the hare escape, there wouldn't be evidence of his foul play, but should it be captured and examined after the trial, the poisoning would appear to all as an interference in Calf's favor, and hopefully the prince would construe that as a show remorse on his part.

All that planning had seemed sound to him, but ultimately it had been for naught, for those-above had decided to interfere in person. He'd watched the first challenge and had been impressed by the results, but now all he wanted to do was wait for the final outcome. Awoken from his preoccupation by a change of atmosphere in the room, he turned his attention back to the statuette. It seemed he wouldn’t have to wait too long.