Tower of Heaven

"Well…"

Atlas was ready to put his mind to work again. The dynamic between the two of them was already established, so he didn't expect Horus to help much in the beginning stages of this trial.

However, to his surprise, Horus stepped up and put his arm out.

"Stay back for now. Let me handle this one."

Atlas raised a brow curiously. Did he feel like he needed to prove himself? It was true that Atlas had done more to aid their progression, but his role was just as important.

Nevertheless, it was irrelevant. If Horus wanted to take care of this trial, Atlas wasn't going to disagree.

The bird-headed man smiled and turned his head. He directed his attention at the raging flames, but not for the reasons Atlas assumed.

In fact, the moment he appeared in this trial space, Horus knew exactly what this trial meant.

His golden qi was mysterious. It did not easily reveal its identity to anyone. Atlas was able to perceive some traces of what was contained within, but even his eyes could not yet pierce its veil.

In simple terms, the power in Horus' body was deeply related to vitality. This room was the same. As the forest burned, its vitality went up in smoke and merged into the Spiritual Energy in the air.

He pressed his hand forward and released a small burst of qi into the fire. As he observed, the qi made contact with the natural element and sunk into it.

'As expected, the fire can't be quelled.'

Naturally, he didn't make that assumption because his qi disappeared. That amount of qi was never going to put a dent in the storm of flames overrunning the forest.

Rather, Horus used his qi to determine its properties.

The flame was growing stronger as it absorbed the forest's vitality. Since it had already devoured more than half of the once beautiful landscape, it was now supported by too much power to be extinguished by people of their caliber.

Just like the tree golem, it was not meant to be handled by them in the first place.

'The goal was never to put the fire out. That's just a trick to confuse people and weed out those who do not consider all factors before acting. The solution can be judged by the pattern of the trials thus far.'

He wasn't the best thinker, but he wasn't stupid. There was never a straight answer. "Wood" couldn't be a symbol that merely symbolized trees.

So, the very basis of this trial was vitality itself.

Was it a lesson about fate?

The forest was always going to burn down. Nothing and no one could change that outcome.

But, nature always operated in a cycle. That cycle was the basis on which cultivation was originally created, so it was like a crime to be unaware of it.

A new forest would grow where the old one was destroyed. The only thing necessary to stimulate that growth was vitality.

Horus once again summoned a ball of qi. This time, he did not send it out but instead kept it in front of his body.

Surrounding it with his hands, he closed his eyes and concentrated on moving the power within him.

The properties of his qi changed. The ball of energy became a vacuum, sucking in every ounce of vitality that it could consume.

All of the grass around Horus rapidly wilted. A circle of death spread around him, but, it was accompanied by the stabilization of the atmosphere.

The heat of the flames died down just slightly. Their height fell just barely below the forest's canopy.

Sweat dripped down Horus' feathers and beak as he strained himself to hold the vitality he stole from the atmosphere. His body shook uncontrollably. This was originally not a task that he could complete on his own, but what was the point of a trial if one didn't use it to challenge oneself?

Slowly, gradually, the circle of death spread. The forest began to wilt and the fires began to die down. The ball of qi that Horus controlled was no longer a small mass. It was as large as his entire upper body, and it weighed down on him like a boulder.

'I can do it.'
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He assured himself in his mind, trying not to take his focus off of his task.

'I can do it.'

He affirmed himself, but how much did it mean?

Horus had the right idea. Certainly, in the few meters around him, there was a noticeable change for the better taking place.

Unfortunately, that was it.

Horus, as a Core Formation Realm cultivator, was not able to contain the vitality of an entire forest.

That was where Atlas came in.

'This was never a trial to be challenged alone.'

Not this one, but the three together. Whether it be the statues or the tree golem, neither would have been possible if there weren't at least two people working together.

Atlas allowed Horus to do as he pleased, but he had been waiting for his own role to appear. Now that it had, he was already at work.

'I must do one of two things.' He concluded.

'Either I must aid him in controlling his qi and risk our combined strength still being unworthy of completing this trial…'

'...or I must create a container for the vitality he absorbs. This way, he can continuously use his power without being overwhelmed.'

Of the two, Atlas preferred the second option. There were too many variables in the first for it to ever be viable.

'Then, a container…'

Atlas nodded his head. He knew exactly what needed to be done.

'I will also need to strain myself for this.'

Objectively, this was the easiest of their three trials. They needed to do nothing more than collect vitality.

However, in this objectively easy trial, they were challenged in a way that the other trials could not challenge them.

Atlas approached Horus and stood in front of him, placing his hands around the same ball of energy he struggled to contain.

Closing his eyes, he did not focus on the vitality in the air. His mind went to the element that he was most familiar with.

The surrounding flames swelled. Their essence did not become stronger, but they were forced to respond to a calling they received.

Atlas' will made its way into the surging wave of fire and enforced its dominance.

Right, to contain energy, a physical container wasn't enough. There had to be a stronger energy present to suppress the force.

Usually, this was done through the use of arrays or formations. A physical form could be used to define the borders and the energy of the formation runes could make them impenetrable.

However, there was a rougher but more accessible method present in the environment itself. A more dangerous outcome that presented massive risks if one were to fail to properly achieve it.

The flames that devoured the forest were molded into a unit to protect its vitality.

It was surely hazardous, but this was also the first step to the duo's success.

Their time to proceed deeper into the tomb was approaching.