My Servant System

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Double checking everything I was preparing to take in, I listened to the others go over the final warnings and potential dangers that we would likely face in this upcoming trial, especially since it was a more loosely defined trial that we would have to undergo.

What we were certain of though was that four of us would need to go in to what was apparently an active war zone for some particular reason, and the reward was one that we were certain of compared to the task required to acquire it.

Chunks of extremely pure Mana Crystals were what was promised to us, and while that didn't sound as impressive on paper when compared to the slight boosts to their mana efficacy and efficiency it was still quite fitting as a reward.

It also helped us understand that these trials could offer us tangible items that we would take from the inside of the trials back out to our world, and while we knew that was already possible thanks to the monster we had eaten last night, this was on another level.

All in all, this was a trial that might not give us a reward as flashy as the one that Jahi and the others had gotten from their trial, but it was still a good reward that would potentially find incredible use if we ever found a trial that had any ore veins or gave us a reward of potent metals.

It wasn't too likely that we would prioritize a trial that offered materials as a reward, but sometimes those might prove to be more worthwhile than the power ups that we were going to be looking for primarily.

Either way, Mom, Anput, Leone and I were all getting ready to head into this trial, the Vampire being the first to 'double dip' thanks to the requirements being two single elemental magicians and two dual elemental magicians; Mom and Leone were both Fire Mages, and Anput and I had combination magic.

Bidding our goodbyes to everyone for now, we focused on the mark that I had put down two days prior and entered the city, slipping from normal time to altered time as we began to make our way through the maze of perfect, empty buildings.

There was something eery about a completely empty yet impeccable city that apparently existed for quite a long time thanks to the time bubble around it, and yet there was no sign of anything wrong at all within the city besides these trials.

There was just nothing at all that I could sense that caused me to feel wary of anything besides my own shadow, which was worrying in and of itself... but that was it, even as we flew through the streets towards the door that had moved on its own accord; there was nothing I could sense, and when we found our trial door we took a moment to look around before pushing the door open and heading inside.

Of course the door didn't open to an actual building, and Leone was the one to convince us that the swirling vortex of mana that existed between the doorframe was in fact safe by simply stepping through it, and when we followed her we experienced a range of... fascinating things.

Your feet didn't land on anything when you stepped through, so it felt like you were falling as you entered the vortex of mana, and yet after a second that feeling of dropping was replaced instead with a warmth that permeated your entire being - body and mind - to the point of inducing an odd relaxation.

Suddenly slipping from one space to another was quite the experience, and my stomach did a flip before my head began to ache as the swirling colors that assaulted my eyes sped up, only to settle into a single hue of brilliant emerald green.

Then the colors faded and I was standing on solid ground once more, but this time the ground was made from countless grains of sand instead of brick and mortar; gone were the random buildings of the city, replaced instead by an expanse of sand that pulsed with heat.

Around me the others popped into existence silently, and when we were all accounted for and no longer felt a tad queasy and unsteady on our feet we began to look around and take in our new environment, our weapons already in our hands as we anticipated a battle right away.

"For a war zone this is rather peaceful."

I wanted to glare at Mom for that, and yet that sort of jinx was something we needed considering our goal was tied towards that war zone, so finding it was our first priority; the other was figuring out how we would survive here for however long was needed of us.

Yes we could sustain ourselves on mana alone if need be, but the difference between doing that or eating, drinking and sleeping like a normal person was something I didn't want to figure out myself just yet, so locating food and safety was paramount.

"Well... You said it was about the same size as the island, right? These trial spaces? Or was that just a guess?"

Leone hadn't had too much time to rest, but thanks to last night and the blood I had supplied her she was almost back to normal, so for now we were keeping her in the middle of our formation so that she only needed to support us whenever we got into a fight.

"Not entirely a guess but not exactly fact. We didn't have a way to measure it, after all, but it was clear there was no leaving this particular biome. We tried, kind of..."

It wasn't a complete answer, but it was enough for me as I got us to begin moving through the desert, avoiding the particularly hot spots and taking us towards a part of the biome that was raised, hoping to look out over everything and figure out where we needed to go.

My first trial would be in a hot, dry desert...