CH372

They could still hear the sounds of movement behind them as stone continued to rush by, not stopping just because they’d reached the end as all of them stared at the doorway to the last and final section of the tower, each preparing to face whatever was left to come.

It was Ben who spoke first, sounding more resigned than anything to whatever the final floor held for them.

“Well, let’s get this over with already,” And with that, he opened the door.

As they all stepped through they found themselves in a large room, nothing remarkable to say about it. It was circular with a tiled floor, and at its center stood a large slab of stone.

What it did have, what set it apart from the other floors, was the only other thing of note it contained. A sign, clearly telling them what they needed to do in the area they found themselves in.

It was large, easy enough to read from where they entered from, and while the main three who needed to do the trial read it in disbelief, Thera could only look to Ben.

“You really shouldn’t look so smug.”

“Do I?” He asked, touching his cheeks and feeling the grin stretched across his face. He couldn’t help it though. If the first section was made to test their problem-solving or reaction speed, the second their combat, third their endurance and fourth their power, then the final floor was made to test their technical skill, or at least it was supposed to, as Ben once again felt his eyes skim over the sign in front of them all.

CREATE A VESSEL TO ACT AS THE AVATAR FOR AN EARTH GOD.

TIME LIMIT: TWO HOURS

“So, Jake or Thera, which one of you want to handle this?” He asked innocently as the rest stared back at him.

“Ben-” Thera began, trying to move him along to how it was inevitably going to end.

“I mean, this is the earth tower, someone with an earth affinity skill really should be handling it. I guess that means Amy can too if she wants to cut away at the stone with her sword, me and Yuzu can watch from the back while you guys figure it out.”

“Ben, we’re on a pretty tight time limit, stop joking around and get to work already.”

“Haha fine, fine. I’ll need one of you guys to alter the consistency of the stone for me though so I can actually do anything with it.”

“Already started,” She told him. “Just let me know if you need me to adjust it or do anything else.”

“Sounds good,” And this is going to be so much fun!

“And no making a statue of Eneth to annoy him,” She said as an afterthought before he got to work. “I don’t need a god wanting you any more dead than they already do.”

…This is going to be slightly less fun, but fine, Helori it is.

With Thera altering the consistency of the stone to be more like a firm clay, Ben got started digging his fingers into it. It was obvious how the gods intended that floor to be completed, they wanted the earth mages in the party to be able to work the stone with a level of skill and detail to match the look of any god or goddess they worshiped to a great enough degree that it could act as a medium through which they could interact with the world, and while that might be a challenge for any person who found themselves tossed into a situation like that without the training, what it became for him was a stage to show off just how skilled he’d grown to be as every level of focus he had went into the challenge before him.

He’d seen Helori often enough that he needed no time to figure out the design he wanted to go for, one was already clear in his thoughts as he scooped away the softened stone, starting from the top as he focused on her head and face first. A part of him wanted to convey the excitability she could show when something caught her interest, but it wouldn’t suit the rest of the statue he had in mind so he needed to go for a calmer, more respectable look he knew she would wear, even if it wasn’t the one that first came to mind thinking about her.

Starting with her head also meant finishing up the one thing he would have wanted to put extra effort into if he could have, her horns. Constantly swirling with a rainbow of light and mana, there was no way to replicate the look with the material on hand, so he satisfied himself with just having the shape correct as he moved on to styling her hair, asking Thera to let the parts he was done with return to a more rigid stone and not hearing if she responded as he was engrossed in his work.

From there he went further down, his hands moving in a flash as each finger did exactly as it needed to, pulling away what wasn’t necessary and shaping what was, revealing the form of the goddess beneath the stone as he finished up with her torso and arms, elegantly crossed on her lap as he moved on to both her seat, as well as her legs dangling off of it, using his fingernails to create each of the finer details since he lacked the tools while carefully smoothing over other areas, trying to convey the gentle look of her skin that the statue of a goddess deserved.

It was only as it was done that he walked it over, doing a circle around it in a final inspection, asking Thera to soften different areas for him to touch up or to add some finer details before he was truly satisfied, turning to his friends with the intention to ask what they thought, only for him to see what had been hidden away by his tunnel vision.

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Most of the ground around them was simply gone, the tiles on the outer rim of the room falling away into an infinite void, leaving only a few meters of space for them to stand at the center as they each walked the careful balance of not getting too close to the edge, while at the same time not getting close enough to the safety of the center to get in his way, having given him all the space he could need to complete a masterpiece in no time at all.

The fact that the ground hadn’t fallen from beneath their feet seemed a good enough sign that he hadn’t used up his time limit, but seeing that the trial hadn’t ended there yet he had no clue what to do, so failing anything else he focused back on the statue and clasped his hands in prayer.

“Hey Helori, come on down already ‘cause if you’re going to say this isn’t good enough I’m calling you a liar.”

He didn’t know if that did it but it was only moments later that a light filled the floor, the endless pit disappearing, letting everyone breathe just a little easier before all but Ben felt a sudden rush of divinity from the statue, while he alone felt his sacrilege spike as it lifted a hand to its cheek, making it clear that they’d done it. They’d finished each challenge the tower contained and survived to the end, with the time to claim their rewards upon them.

Instead of congratulating them though, paying respect to their hard work and fought for victory, Helori opened with a question.

“Did you really need to set up a statue like this?”

“What can I say, when I think of you, this is what I see.”

It was a scene he’d walked in on many a time by now, the goddess before him perched atop a particular cube as the two talked before he would come to invade for the night, why would he pick anything else to show for a statue?