Endings create voids in our souls that aren’t easily filled. We panic and struggle to let go because we are forced to face that emptiness and try to fill it with new meaning. Embrace the change with positivity, and you’ll see a beginning worthy of chasing.

~Manannan, God of the Sea & Weather

The fifth and final challenge was a unique experience. Crow took on the persona of Duke, a general of a small army. They invited him to a dinner party as one of the fifteen big names throughout this imaginary kingdom.

Even Crow wasn’t sure who he was supposed to be in this world and had to piece together his own backstory through conversation and context. That wasn’t the actual challenge, though. Half a day after he arrived at the private manor and an hour before Crow stepped into his avatar, a murder occurred.

The object of the challenge was that he had ten hours to solve the murder before the sheriff of the kingdom arrived. It became even more muddied when Crow figured out that one of the fifteen significant people in attendance was the actual sheriff. And he was now a corpse…

The second the mysterious rulers of this place discovered the murder, the manor went into complete lockdown. Crow couldn’t even open a window, much less exit through an exterior door.

It took two hours before Crow realized he might be the murderer, which didn’t make any sense. In his nervousness, he kept chasing down clues and interviewing people, making himself look even more guilty. At that point, one guest even accused him of murder, so only the staff would talk to him.

Crow took a step back from the scene, analyzed all the data he’d collected, and realized he wasn’t the murderer, but it was highly likely that his avatar was. The clues were piling up and implicated Duke leaving little doubt. Six hours into the murder mystery, Crow had to convince himself to accuse himself—or at least his avatar, Duke.

A Mind test like this could cause a person to go insane because it wasn’t just about putting the clues together. There was also a heavy emphasis on willpower and conviction because it was hard to disassociate and accuse himself of murder. Part of that came from fear of the unknown.

It’d be a lie to say he wasn’t nervous accusing himself. His hesitation was because he wasn’t sure if it was a trick. Challenges could kill people, and if he was wrong, there was a chance that these ‘guests’ would kill him in retaliation.

“I’m the murderer,” Crow told the room, laying out the clues. It felt weird explaining the crime like a detective while accusing himself. It was so bizarre that he hadn’t realized when the challenge ended until he felt a cold draft.

Colossus shuddered, and his five challenge gates crumbled to the ground before getting absorbed by the giant stone golem. The gate to Sanctuary activated, but Crow ignored it since he could exit through the guardian’s mouth.

“You are the first to succeed in the impossible task set by the founder,” the golem said. “You’ll find your reward in the Temple of Awen, master.”

“Understood,” Crow said and walked down the long narrow throat before stepping out of the giant mouth. With his windfall of points, he went directly to the points store.

He hadn’t expected such to receive rewards this significant and planned on using up the points on some lesser things he’d wanted to acquire. However, he changed his mind. Instead, he looked for gifts for each of his wives. Mostly, he browsed the techniques to see if he could find something that could help them. He also checked over the beast cores sold because he didn’t intend to keep Myriad of Beasts to himself.

He hadn’t taught them the spell yet because he wanted to find a worthy beast core to use for them. That first core set their beast form and abilities. It was possible to expand capabilities by merging other cores of a similar beast type. However, once the primary beast was set from the first absorbed beast core, it was fixed permanently. This was why Crow could use this ability inside this realm because the physical changes were something that couldn’t be undone or blocked.

Crow didn’t have a specific beast core in mind for his companions. Instead, he thought of the animals he claimed represented his people and their elements. That was the combination he looked for when deciding on their first core.

Surprisingly, Crow found one suitable for Song Lin—the Dark Crystal Owl core. He had never heard of such a beast, but it was a dual mana type that used ice and dark. While Song Lin might not benefit from the Dark Mana, Crow wondered if it could aid her poisons. There wasn’t much listed about it, so he wasn’t sure how much it’d benefit her. Either way, it was his first purchase.

There was a wolf that might be appropriate for Song Xue, but it was just a Snow Wolf, and Crow didn’t feel it was anything special. Instead, he found Song Xue a dagger called Cold Snap. Mara was a tough buy. Eventually, he found a shield that could resize called the Boundless Tower, which at its smallest size turned into a bracer. The others were harder to decide since there wasn’t anything relevant.

In the end, he used the remaining points to buy Scholarly Talent books. He targeted the topics that seemed to be rare.

***

Hooligan managed her events similar to Crow, except Body was her last event, and Spirit was the second to last. The one she got stuck on was Mind, and unlike Crow, hers was a series of progressively complex logic puzzles. They weren’t impossible, but it took time to figure them out.

Her Body event was also a gauntlet. Instead of an aerial event, she had to run through a labyrinth avoiding monsters while essentially using acrobatic-type movements to get over walls or scale things. It was all about agility and speed, but the key to completing the event was to never stop moving. If she stopped even for a second, she’d get swarmed by beasts.

She stepped over the final threshold and faced the golem again. The five gates shattered, and she left through Colossus’s throat several hours after Crow.

Like him, she went directly to the store and used up her points to buy a technique, books on how to do inscriptions, and an inscription tool kit that looked ancient. Since she only needed to take care of herself, she didn’t bother buying stuff for anyone else because she had few allies and fewer friends. The disfiguring of her face had left her an outcast. Even her parents could only pity her, so they sent her away on various missions so she wouldn’t face all the criticisms.

The problem was that Hooligan felt like her parents were just ashamed of her, which is why they kept her away. Crow knew most of this, but besides giving some minor advice, he didn’t say anything else. It was a scenario that, if meddled in, would cause resentment between the two. It was best to advise and let her make her own decisions. Provided no harm came to her, he wouldn’t interfere.

After choosing her rewards, she went to Crow’s room and found him showering. Her clothes fell to the ground in a heap before she stepped in with him and pressed her soft breasts against his back while hugging him from behind. Her hands wrapped around his waist, the tips of her fingers curling slightly as they gripped to pull him closer.

As her hand slid down to grab his semi-erect cock, he reached behind with his right hand to grab her round, shapely butt. A slight moan escaped her mouth, and a long lovemaking session lasted until morning. The way they devoured each other felt desperate and needy because they weren’t sure if they’d have a chance to play again once they entered the temple.