Nate stood on the deck of the Solaris, easel in front of him as he painted two paintings simultaneously. The first was taking shape on the canvas before him. The second was being shaped slowly within his Regalia as he created replacements for the self-portraits he had been forced to destroy as he transferred his injuries to them to make himself whole.

Kiri flopped down next to him, sunbathing on a deck chair he had shaped for her as they both took a moment to relax. Behind them, at the wheel, dressed like a pirate captain was Frick, the little Spirit guiding them through the blue skies. Nate could sense that Wulfgar was below decks, meditating as he tried to grasp the first hints of how to create a Divine Vessel.

Nate didn’t envy the Bloodborne Executioner. Without some lucky finds in terms of Blood related High or Peak Divine Artifacts, Wulfgar would be waiting years or even decades before he had built up enough Divine Artifacts to bridge that gap. In Nate’s mind, it was just one more thing to be thankful for. Not everyone had an ancient dragon take them in and open up their cultivation chamber to help them force a Divine Vessel in the space of months.

“I wanted to say I am sorry,” commented Kiri.

Nate glanced at his sunbathing sister who was wearing some fashionable black sunglasses that Nate had crafted for her out of some sand and stone.

“What for?” he asked in confusion.

“For Jemima. I knew it made you uncomfortable, and yet, I kept her around because she was helping me advance faster. I could’ve cut her loose or gotten rid of her at the first sign of your discomfort, and I didn’t. So, I am sorry, little brother.”

Nate was quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

“You don’t have anything to apologise for. By not asking you to get rid of her, I was giving my tacit approval of the whole situation. Even now that she is dead, I am not sure whether my thinking about the whole situation was right or wrong. I’d go back and forth on it every time. She deserved to die for her crimes, but giving her the choice to serve or die… is it slavery? I mean, it’s definitely coerced, but at the same time, she had never seemed to reject the idea that she deserved to die. She chose to serve instead of being executed. The same decision I imagine almost everyone in the same position would make. Is it still slavery at that point? I don’t know… I just don’t know.”

Kiri remained silent, leaning towards him. Nate loved her for that. For just letting him say his thoughts out loud without trying to offer solutions.

“And… and I feel bad that I am glad she is dead. But not because I wanted to spare her. Because deep down, I know a small part of me is glad because I no longer have to be uncomfortable. And I hate that. I hate that I felt that, even if my first thought afterwards was that it was wrong to choose my own comfort over the life of someone else.”

Nate finished in a rush and took in the painting he had been working on. He’d wanted to create something personal. This painting wasn’t a preparation, it wasn’t to gather Divine Energy. It was because he was filled with emotions and his preferred method for dealing with them was putting them on canvas.

His own green eyes stared back at him from the picture he had created. A self-portrait with a twist. Cut down the middle, he was split into two halves. On the right he was robed in white and purple, with portals swirling behind him, a small golden dragon in the background and a picture of the Artist’s Emporium. Things that he had created that had made life better for people. Things he was proud of. On the left he was robed in black and red and behind him was a mound of corpses. Mostly demons, but not entirely, and in there, if one looked closely enough, they would find Jemima.

As he put the finishing touches on his painting Kiri glanced at it before smiling gently at him.

“Feel better now?” she asked.

Nate took a deep breath, “I’m starting to. So, what’s next?”

“Frick says, even with you boosting the runes on the Solaris, it’ll be a day before we get to the next System Challenge.”

Nate nodded. He already knew the details that the Starbreaking Guild had shared about the next System Challenge. It was apparently a mainstay of World Reapings, called the Challenge of Balance. The System Challenge would test each of the three Stat types. Physical, Mental, and Magical. Each test would have at least two possible Stat solutions as it cycled through the three Stat types.

With each successfully passed test, points would be awarded based on the difficulty, and then the difficulty of all tests would increase by one increment. If however you failed the test, then the difficulty would increase by two increments. If you failed all three Stat type tests in a row, the System Challenge ended. That, or it automatically ended after two days.

The challenge was basically designed to punish specialisation and reward a more balanced approach to Classes and Stats. Nate knew that his Physical Stats were well and truly below average for a Lesser Divine. His highest Physical Stat was Constitution and was only one-hundred-and-fifty-two. A tiny value when compared with his over fifteen hundred Intellect Stat, which doubled when he was using Concepts. That meant his gameplan needed to be not failing the Physical Stat tests early. And he had a way to do it.

“Have you been practising while lying there?” he asked Kiri.

“Of course,” she replied with a smirk. “That and quietly celebrating that you’re an immortal now like me. Even if the idea of you keeping around those paintings of your gruesome wounds feels a little macabre!”

“Well, we’re supposed to be siblings right? Seems like we should have some similarities. And I kind of like the paintings. They’re kind of like reminders of our exploits.”

“Creepy reminders!” said Kiri with a laugh. “Couldn’t you just paint the exploits instead?”

“Is it creepy to show how badly I was wounded and still survived? It’s more like a trophy,” teased Nate, enjoying teasing his sister for a change. This gave him a few good ideas for some pranks, since, after all, he also controlled Space. Maybe gruesome portraits appearing in random places for his sister could be a little friendly payback for all the teasing about older women.

“That look on your face… you’re planning something!” Kiri accused, her voice laced with amusement.

“Maybe. But you’re avoiding the question. How are you doing with it?” pressed Nate, trying to bring the topic back to his original question.

“It’s hard,” harrumphed Kiri. “I’m so bad at mana control that it’s hard to redirect the processed mana, even with my own Divine Energy laced through it. I’m Enduring my own disappointment.” She said with a grin. “It works fine when I swap most of it to Magic Control, but what happens if the Magic test targets other Magic Stats. Splitting myself between Magic Control and something else is going to be hard.”

Nate nodded. The solution they had come up with to maximise their points from the Challenge of Balance was to redistribute the processed mana they had from their Divine Vessels. Effectively moving Stats around to meet their needs.

“Just keep practising it. I’ll see if I can make some simple items to boost your weaker stats.”

Kiri just shrugged where she lay, “Doesn’t matter. It’s you that needs to do well. I’m just the backup this time. You’re the one that needs to crush the test so that we can get what we came here for. So, the better question is, if anyone starts closing the gap with us, what are we going to do about it?”

Nate considered the question. They needed to win this World Reaping to get access to Worldhammer’s Vault so they could scoop up the Lesser Divine Spatial Spirit that Arikanvil wanted. If they failed to win the World Reaping, it wasn’t the end of the world. It would however mean they would have to somehow break into Worldhammer’s Vault. A Greater Divine with a reputation for being one of the strongest of his strata. Nate definitely suspected that Worldhammer was stronger than the Greater Divine Demon Lord they had defeated. Much easier to win the World Reaping,just grab what they needed, and move on. Which meant potentially killing their competition.

“You don’t think we can just keep taking out anyone who comes after us while going around doing System Challenges?”

“Maybe,” replied Kiri with a smile as she shifted a little and relaxed back onto her foldout chair. “Suppose we’ll see how riled up our points got them.”

*************

Perenthia ignored how the wind streamed through her short, pink hair as she flew through the sky on a flat sword that was wide enough she could pace back and forth. Her assistants kept glancing at her as she let Nascent Mind and Probability Assessment read the information from Fated Confluence.

Her finger shot out pointing and her assistants adjusted their direction. That annoying Starbreaking Guild merchant had given her the impression that her beloved Nate would be at the team challenge still. Some might have thought that incorrect information provided was an honest mistake, as it seemed her beloved was capable of far faster movement through the sky than she suspected. As fast as her, in fact, and she was riding a Severing Blade artifact that literally severed some of the space in front of it, reducing the distance they needed to cover. Some might have taken the dwarf’s words as a simple misunderstanding. Fated Confluence and Probability Assessment told her differently. That squat bastard had known and sent her in the wrong direction anyway. If it wasn’t for her abilities she might have arrived at the team challenge only to find that her beloved was already a few days in a different direction. That would have left her endlessly trailing in his wake and that, simply, would not do.

Thankfully Nascent Mind had informed her that they were headed for the Challenge of Balance. Unfortunately, even at maximum speed, she would arrive after her other half had already entered the Challenge. On the positive side, she had one less competitor for her beloved's time. That silly little alchemist was gone. Good riddance, even if her perfect Nate had not liked the woman at all.

Perenthia just wished it had been Kiri that had vanished. Even now she couldn’t get a good read on her. Not directly anyway. The information she got from Nate and the old warrior that followed them around was secondhand and not as useful. The little firsthand information kept coming back with the same warning from Nascent Mind over and over again. If she attacked Kiri, Kiri would not die. It should’ve been an impossibility, but then, running into second-evolution Divines in the possession of Divine Vessels should have also been an impossibility. She just needed to get her Nate and leave. If she took him back to the Severing Blade Sect, her Father would have to accept him into the family. Then she could have her Natey with her forever!

She rocked back and forth with a gleeful smile on her face, not noticing the worried glances of her attendants.

*************

Kalin Silverscale stood across from his counterpart, Kole Darkscale, each with their respective teams at their back. The mood was tense, after all, this was a perfect opportunity for each of them to betray the other.

“That’s not possible,” complained Kole for the third time.

Kalin sneered internally, not letting his face show his distaste for his fellow member of the Dynasty of the Heavenly Serpent. Even after being beaten in the crafting tournament, and now with the evidence before his eyes, Kole refused to accept that Nathaniel Weber might be his superior. Foolish. Kalin could use that.

“You know what we have to do. You’re just too afraid to suggest it. He was already keeping close to us in the rankings. With the lead he now has, he could spend the next few months following a more relaxed approach and still likely claim first place and the prizes from The System. That’s ignoring whatever prize one might be able to wrest from Worldhammer’s Vault. And we’re not even factoring in his teammates yet. If they go on the offensive and start dividing the points between the three of them they could take all three top spots. All the best rewards, leaving us with the scraps.”

Kalin paused, letting his words sink in as his Silver Tongue made his voice carry more weight, making his ideas more clearly conveyed as though they were flowers blooming in his compatriots’ minds.

“The only way to contest for the top positions now is to kill them. The Risen Sun Sect needs to die. But, let’s be honest with ourselves. We are two of the strongest teams from the Dynasty of the Heavenly Serpent. Who here thinks with our two teams combined we could defeat them? Raise your hands.”

Kalin looked around at the faces of the other elves, a few with signs of the Dynasty’s history of interbreeding with wyverns, though none as obvious as Kole and himself. His team looked angry, but none raised their hands, nor did any of Kole’s team.

“Exactly. I agree with you. We must swallow our pride and make alliances. We must gather a force that is strong enough to put the Risen Sun Sect in the ground where they belong. We are the Dynasty of the Heavenly Serpent and we will not be out done by some backwater Sect that no one has ever heard of. We will not lose our rewards to them! And when we are done, the Heartlands will be reminded that our faction is one filled with power, strength, and a new generation with high potential. Are you with me?!”

Kalin waited again. Having appealed to their pride and greed his own team roared their approval. Kole took longer but he capitulated, just as Kalin had known he would. With the first team sorted they would need to reach out to other Seeds. Those who had been supplanted by the Risen Sun Sect. Perenthia Illari’Svell was not an option. She was rumoured to be highly unpredictable and was as likely to try and kill them as she was to join them. That meant the first person they should approach should be Drim Hall of The Eternium. And to get in contact with him, the best method was the Starbreaking Guild.

As they flew on flying carpets towards the Southern Starbreaking Guild market, Kalin couldn’t help but glance again and again at the Leaderboard. A small ember of worry burned in his chest. Just how had they gotten so many points anyway?