Nate stood at the prow of the Solaris as the flying ship made its descent towards a meadow in the huge forest of trees spread below them. They had crossed into the red expanse over four hours ago. The leaves of the towering trees were shaped like droplets of blood as though they were about to drop onto the ground. During their approach, Nate had found that his sensory ability couldn’t penetrate the canopy. Each time he had tried, he’d felt like there was blood trying to push into his body through the ability and so he had withdrawn it.

The same was true of the meadow below and it wasn’t the first they had seen. Nate had a feeling this entire redleaf forest, as he was calling the trees, was some sort of networked ecosystem. Venturing into its depths should have reeked of danger. Instead, Wulfgar was basically vibrating next to him.

“We can search for it after the System Challenge, right?” asked the old warrior for the third time.

“He already said yes!” yelled Kiri from the wheel where she had taken over from Frick.

“First in, best dressed,” teased Frick.

“The fuck does that mean, you little shit?” growled Wulfgar.

“It’s an idiom from my world, Wulfgar. Frick is saying if he gets the Peak-Grade Divine Artifact of Blood first he is keeping it.”

Before Wulfgar could continue the argument, Nate continued talking to make sure cooler heads prevailed.

“He is, of course, mistaken. If he tries to steal it, he might find that his little hole in the ground is suddenly coughing up all sorts of treasures, including demonic hearts.”

Frick licked his blue lips like he was considering the risk before smirking at Wulfgar and vanishing back into Nate’s spatial realm, probably to go rub his hands all over a certain demonic heart in a way that was far too erotic in Nate’s opinion. Frick had always been a bit crazy but the focus of Chaos within his Path had definitely made the little lunatic even more insane.

“You sure he won’t steal it?” asked Wulfgar quietly as the old warrior sidled up next to Nate.

“I am sure. He just likes getting a rise out of people. Usually, it’s me. Seems he’s found a way to annoy you as well.”

“But not Kiri?”

Nate snorted.

“He takes a different approach with Kiri since she can make him pretty uncomfortable. He plays along with her games, having a laugh that way.”

Wulfgar nodded.

“You’re okay with me entering the Challenge after you both?”

“Of course.”

They had agreed that Wulfgar would enter the System Challenge a day and a half later. The Bloodborne Executioner was not as confident that he could last as long in the testing and didn’t want to be spat out of it early into what could be the waiting arms of any pursuers. Frick, as a connected entity to Nate, was bound to exit with Nate so there were no issues there. Kiri didn’t care if she popped out early. In her own words, if they were waiting to ambush her, she’d just ‘collect all that free Divine Energy.’ Nate couldn’t fault her thinking. After all, he would do the same, in the form of working out all their Concepts and then fashioning counters to them.

The Solaris finished its descent and Nate did one last sensory check before floating down to the red grass below. It squished beneath his feet like a gel rather than blades of grass, as though each little piece was a small globule of blood.

Kiri and Wulfgar joined him a moment later and Nate made the Solaris vanish back into his spatial zone. The walk across the meadow was a short one, less than a hundred metres which, at their level—even with Nate’s abysmal Physical Stats—only took them a few seconds. Then, after a one-minute jaunt beneath redleaf trees that looked ready to rain down viscous liquid onto their heads, they arrived at the entrance. The gaping hole in the trunk led down underground a short way and, just like the last System Challenge, they found a circular portal waiting for them.

Nate took a moment to carve some runic barriers into the walls behind them before turning to Wulfgar.

“Just in case anyone comes, it should buy you enough time to enter the Challenge. After that, it’s on you to drag out the Challenge for as long as you can.”

“Appreciate it, kid.”

Then, with a final nod, Nate flooded the portal with mana and stepped through the spherical portal. The Concept of Space caressed his skin and Nate took a moment to draw it to him, pulling with his mana as much as his Divine Vessel. A small amount seeped into him and, far in the distance, he sensed faint disapproval. He’d likely just stolen something from The System and, though he hadn’t known, he felt a small loss in the debt owed between them. Fortunately, he didn’t want whatever it was he had taken that much and The System didn’t care too much about the loss. Still, he made a note not to do it again as the spatial tunnel spat him out into a faintly bluish cubic room.

Nate opened part of his Status the moment he determined that there was no one about to attack him.

Just as he suspected, whatever he had taken from the spatial tunnel had advanced his Divine Vessel. In addition, he was working with ninety-eight Divine Energy that he could temporarily sequester into processed mana, meaning he had a massive total of almost two-and-a-half-thousand Stats he could distribute to specific Stats. His enemy in this Challenge would ultimately be time, as it took ten minutes to shift the Stats around for himself as he redistributed the processed mana. It was why Kiri was complaining, as with her Magic Control, it took her even longer.

As he was going over his plans, a cuboid-looking humanoid appeared. It was made of a similar blue structure to the room Nate had found himself in and, with his senses, Nate suspected that he was looking at an almost pure Mana Spirit. Almost, because while Mana was the dominant Concept, Nate also sensed a couple of other Concepts within the being. Knowledge, Information and, unless Nate was wrong…Existence. As he felt the last one, Divine Energy rushed into him and Nate smirked. His available Stats had just increased a little.

“How interesting. You gained insight by evaluating me? Statistically within bounds but still an outlier. We will review this experience after you leave and mine all available data to improve our statistical model of living beings.”

The voice was monotone but the being seemed friendly enough to Nate.

“Did I come to the right place?” he asked.

“You have entered the Challenge of Balance, a repeating Challenge that The System puts in place at every World Reaping as a method for rewarding those who follow a more balanced Path under its watchful gaze. You may only enter once per World Reaping and the price of entry is twenty points.”

“No System notification or status message?” Nate asked curiously as he looked around the faintly glowing blue room.

“As part of my contract of service with The System, it allows me to convey the terms and any other details I see fit to share. These interactions with living beings are valuable data points for my ongoing research and help improve future statistical models.”

“I see,” agreed Nate slowly. “What are the terms, then?”

“After acceptance, you will be deducted twenty points. Then, the timer will begin. You will have two standard days of twenty-five hours, totalling fifty hours, during which you will complete tests that will focus on at least one Stat at a time. These tests must be completed by utilising the corresponding Stat block, be it Physical, Mental, or Magical. Attempts at using other Stat blocks will be prevented. Each test can have multiple solutions. Upon success, the test difficulty will increase by a threshold of one and you will receive points for successfully passing the test. If a test is failed, either due to poor performance or through your own volition by informing me, the difficulty of subsequent tests will increase by a threshold of two. This will award no points. The Challenge ends after fifty hours have passed, if you choose to give up, or if you fail three tests in a row. As I have been told that last part is unclear, I mean that if you fail a test of each Stat block—Physical, Mental, and Magical—in a row, you will be ejected from the Challenge of Balance.”

Nate nodded along, “What about rewards? How many points can I earn?”

“The tests reward points on a sliding scale. As test difficulty increases so do the points awarded. The initial value is one for the first round of tests.”

“What’s the maximum number of points someone has achieved at a Lesser Divine World Reaping and are there any bonus rewards for achieving similar results?”

“The highest score completed at a World Reaping was four-hundred-and-twelve by a very balanced individual exactly three-hundred-and-seven years nine months eighteen days thirteen hours and twelve minutes ago. As for additional rewards, they are possible for exceptionally high performers.”

Nate nodded, “What about Familiars, Beastbonds, or Summons?”

“Unfortunately, while such contracts and Skills can help you balance your weaknesses with your strengths, they do not balance your Path. It is your Path I will test. As such, Familiars, Beastbonds, Summons, or similar contractual Skills will be sealed for the duration of the test.”

Nate felt a hint of disappointment. He’d hoped he might be able to rely on Frick to handle some of the early Physical tests, allowing Nate to blitz through the Magical ones by boosting all his Magical Stats in the early rounds. It seemed that would not be the case.

“Alright. I accept. I’m ready to begin.”

“Excellent. You have fifty hours. Starting… now.”

The Challenge Custodian—as Nate had decided to call the interesting Spirit—vanished. In its place appeared a large blue block half as tall as Nate.

The Challenge Custodian’s monotone voice echoed through the room.

“Physical Test One - Move the block from the red square to the green square.”

Nate had already been distributing his processed mana semi-equally across his weaker Stats. As such, his Strength was currently just below five-hundred. With a heave, he braced himself against the cube and began pushing. With processed mana enhancing him, it took him seconds to move the cube. The moment it was over the green square, the room flashed green and the cube vanished.

“Mental Test One - Solve the following puzzle.”

Nate had completed it before a second had passed and, once again, the room flashed green. In its place, a barrier of blue mana appeared around a target.

“Magical Test One - Hit the target with your mana.”

Nate’s lance of destruction obliterated it within a second. A new blue cube appeared with buttons on top of it.

“Physical Test Two - Match the sequence provided by pressing the buttons in order in under five seconds.”

A ten-character sequence appeared on the screen. Nate sighed and settled in for dealing with a lot of different tests.

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

Kiri growled in frustration as she attempted to match the shape with her own mana before the timer ran out. It was a winding thing that looked like a sphere as big as her head with tunnels connecting its internals in a way that left her brain confused. Thankfully, this wasn’t a test with a failure component and she could keep trying as much as she wanted.

She’d hoped to last longer before she needed to start moving her processed mana around but, after the early simple tests that focused on a single Stat, these later ones had started requiring two. Her last Physical test had been Strength- and Endurance-based. You had to hold out for one minute, preventing the cube from moving, meaning you not only needed the Strength to hold it back but the Endurance to do so for a whole minute. Then had come the Mental test that had required both Perception and Intellect: spot the problems as they appeared and then solve them in time. She’d passed both of those. Now the Magical Test was requiring both Magic Control and Channelling Speed.

But, she hadn’t failed a test yet and she wasn’t about to start now. Sitting down, she spent the fifteen minutes she needed with her already boosted Magic Control to distribute more of her processed mana to Magic Control and Channelling Speed before focusing on the task in front of her. With the added Stats, she managed to complete the test in time.

A new cube appeared.

“Physical Test twenty-five - Avoid getting crushed by the cube for one minute.”

Then the cube was rocketing towards her and Kiri let it impact her as her Constitution and Endurance soared with a burst of Willpower infusion. A hint of Divine Energy wafted in the air as Kiri settled in to be bounced around the room for the next minute.

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

Wulfgar roared in frustration as he swung his Regalia of the Executioner at the puzzle wall.

“Should I interpret this response as a desire to move on to the next test?”

“Yes, you fucking bastard,” growled Wulfgar.

“As you wish. Mental Test fourteen is considered failed. Threshold has increased by two. Magical Test sixteen: Fill this mana gem in under thirty seconds.”

Wulfgar held out his hand, already suspecting he was going to fail this one too. He just couldn’t keep up with the kids. Not yet, anyway. But they had freely offered him the Path to joining them and he’d be damned if he was going to let them down. The kids deserved that much and more. They were going all the way to the peak, whatever or wherever that was. Wulfgar didn’t care about that. He cared about Galle. And the kids had shown they did too. So, he’d be around to support them for as long as he could. After all, they had given him everything he had worked centuries for on a silver platter and had asked for almost nothing in return. They may not see the debt owed, but he did, and he was honorable enough to follow it through to the bitter and bloody end.

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

Perenthia settled in outside of the System Challenge portal, sitting down on a chair provided for her by one of her attendants.

“You will not enter?” inquired Murmur.

“And risk missing him? No. We will wait for my beloved to present himself and make our will known,” stated Perenthia with more confidence than she felt.

Nascent Mind muttered worriedly in the back of her head and Perenthia could feel how turbulently probability tumbled as she waited for her Nate. This meeting might not go as she hoped, but, if she was forced to do so, she would change the outcome.

“As you wish,” muttered Murmur and slipped back into the background.