Back at the pagoda's entrance, the air was heavy with groans and whispered complaints.
Cedric, Taryn, and Mei-Lin huddled a few meters from the jade door. Their wounds were bandaged, but their pride? That was still bleeding.
Cedric sat slumped against a rock, his frost-burned hands trembling as he clutched the broken halves of his staff. His Level 1 Primal Adept aura flickered weakly around him, barely visible.
Mei-Lin sat cross-legged nearby, her shattered fan-blade discarded in the grass. Her Level 5 Primal Adept wind energy pulsed faintly, struggling to stabilize.
Taryn on the other hand, leaned against the pagoda's outer wall, arms crossed, bruises dark against her skin. Her Level 4 Primal Adept frame looked battered. Her daggers were gone. And her scowl? Deep enough to carve stone.
The first floor had crushed them, but they had no rights to complain. Its trials had been fair, tailored to each person's level and abilities, but unforgiving.
