Chapter 308: Chessboard
The presences weren’t the only traces of Qi. That energy was everywhere, even in the very air Liam breathed, but there were locations that held it in far greater concentration.
Those locations obviously were the hundreds of Churches scattered below the perimeter of hills, and their power increased toward the city’s center. Initially, those buildings resembled rank 1 items, and weak ones at that, only to reach levels that alerted Liam’s survival instincts.
And further beyond, at the exact center of the city, the huge, tallest Church radiated a power that Liam had felt less than a handful of times in his life.
’Rank 4,’ Liam thought, suppressing an instinctive gulp. ’The spirit told the truth. This is far, far more than what the trials could have given.’
Liam didn’t know how that place worked or what rules it followed, but its overall power put it far above everything he had witnessed earlier. The two sides of the inheritance were simply incomparable.
Liam threw another glance at the black shadows waving over the central building before moving his attention to the outermost Churches, even descending the hill to approach them.
Reuniting with the team could take priority in that foreign environment, but Liam was pretty sure everyone would have the same destination. Also, he wanted to learn how that place worked and whether he could get more rewards for himself first.
Initially, the exploration didn’t lead anywhere. The outermost, weaker Churches were empty, their doors open to reveal large halls, white altars with more of that organization’s emblems, and simple seats.
Liam had never seen a Church’s insides, but the novelty waned quickly. Those buildings were as simple as they came, bordering on barrenness. They weren’t identical, but they were all similar in their simplicity.
Yet, by the time Liam’s wandering through the streets of flowers brought him to the third row of Churches, he finally found something that tickled his perception.
To Liam’s right, a few blocks away, Liam saw a Church with closed doors, its presence slightly different from the others.
Liam didn’t hesitate to head there. He didn’t know what to expect, but merely touching the white door stirred it into action. It opened on its own, revealing an environment he had seen over a dozen times by then.
A hall made of white tiles and painted walls, partially filled with wooden seats, expanded from the entrance. A rectangular, elevated altar with the stylized man made of copper stood on the other side, and something occupied the space between them.
That was another first for Liam. Previously, the space between the seats and altar had always been empty, but a stone table stood there now, alongside a single stool.
The table also carried more distinct Qi than the rest of the place, so Liam approached it, finding a chessboard carved into its grey surface. Some squares were black, while others were white, hinting at some kind of puzzle.
’This is a game, right?’ Liam thought, scouring through his memories. He was pretty sure he had occasionally seen something similar in Krosstoen village, but had never shown any interest in it.
That Church was still among those resembling rank 1 items, and Liam’s survival instincts also gave the all-clear, so he explored the matter with some wary confidence.
Namely, the single stool seemed to be inviting Liam, so he sat on it.
Something happened, or rather, was activated once Liam sat down. Qi flowed through the table, and an additional square turned white.
’Does it want me to play?’ Liam wondered, not really knowing what to do, awkwardly touching squares at random to see what would happen.
One square eventually turned black, only for both the latter and the white one that had just appeared to vanish, resetting the chessboard to its previous state.
’Did I fail?’ Liam guessed, but another square promptly turned white, so he tried again.
And Liam didn’t seem to get it right because the chessboard reset every time he made something happen. The process repeated itself five times. At the sixth, the stone table earned itself a punch.
’Does breaking it also work?’ Liam wondered, inspecting his knuckles stabbed into the chessboard, cracks expanding from the hole his punch had carved.
Something Liam had already witnessed unfolded. The hall’s white surfaces blinked while the stone table and stool evaporated into Qi.
Meanwhile, intricate inscriptions brightened on several tiles, lifting and twisting them while amassing them in a single spot that built something familiar.
An automaton similar to what Liam had faced in the Trial of Greed formed before the altar. It was far less polished, its jagged surfaces showing the edges of the tiles it had been built from. The same went for the broadsword it wielded.
The hall’s surfaces stopped blinking, regaining their natural white colors, and the living armor darted at Liam at that point, swinging down its huge sword.
Still, Liam merely lifted his hand, and a metallic sound unfolded. His palm easily blocked the makeshift blade, which failed to cut through the skin he had enhanced through the Metal Hand’s training.
After all, unlike in the previous trial, the automaton was just a peak rank 1 item, while Liam’s hands were almost rank 2 weapons in their own right.
The automaton tried to pull back the blade, only for Liam to close his fingers, which shattered that makeshift weapon. His other hand darted at the breastplate instead, carving four deep cuts.
The living armor endured the damage and jumped back, but Liam was already before it, both his hands stabbed in its breastplate again.
Liam spread his arms, and the whole automaton just gave in. The breastplate broke open, its pieces flying away alongside the puppet’s arms.
The automaton flopped lifelessly on the floor afterward, shattering even further, its pieces moving on their own to refill the areas that had created it, restoring the missing tiles.
Meanwhile, a wooden stand grew where the stone table had once been, a single flask resting on its basin.
’Meridian-Cleansing elixir?’ Liam identified even before seizing the flask. That was a precious resource, one that could help cultivators with lower talent control Qi better. Sadly, it was its rank 1 version.
’I see,’ Liam understood as the flask vanished in his ring. ’I must have triggered the punishment and increased its reward.’
Liam stopped in his tracks as another realization hit him. If he were right, all the Churches in the area were trials, and he could cheat on them all to trigger their punishments and higher rewards.
And for a moment, Liam forgot about everything the spirit had said, only greed sparkling in his eyes.
