Tower of Heaven

As a sane person, he couldn't reasonably ask Horus to throw himself into the golem's arms without reason. This kind of baseless assumption couldn't be voiced, as it would only lead to tragedy if he was incorrect.

However, in a trial where the literal didn't seem to be the answer, he was forced to trust his view of the figurative.

The answer he came to was not unique to himself. As someone who was living his second lifetime, his perspective on time was completely different from the norm.

Instead, he thought from the perspective of the masses and found the answer that was easiest to reach. He had to start here. Whether he was right or wrong, he would only learn the method to move forward by acting.

"Horus, pulled back!"

Atlas yelled as he charged in towards the tree golem. He extended his chain sickles and slightly tweaked the chains so that their ends wrapped around the being's neck.

The only thing left to do was pull.

Atlas was catapulted towards the golem. The force around its neck turned its attention to him, giving Horus a chance to back away.

The chains receded into Atlas' sleeves as he came closer to his target. Eventually, only he and the tree golem were left, staring into each other's eyes.

The golem raised its weapon as if to attack, but Atlas did not avoid it. He walked closer to the being until they were separated by just a few inches and placed his hand on its bark.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

Horus' panicked yell could be heard, but he paid it no mind. He maintained his gaze, staring directly into those soulless glowing orbs as if to dare the golem to wield its weapon.

Contrary to Horus' worries, the minute hand never came down. Atlas put another hand on the trunk and closed his eyes. His aura reached a state of peace with the golem, almost as if they had come to some sort of unspoken understanding.

They had not. Atlas was not at a level where he could communicate with non-living objects.

However, the golem's positive response was just as good of a sign. The fact that Atlas was not dead meant that he was on the right track.

"Come," he said, addressing Horus.

"Rid yourself of hostility and approach it. Treat this being as time itself and embrace it as if to say that you will not waste a single moment of your life. I believe that this is the answer we are searching for."

It was only natural for Horus to frown in disbelief, but he was forced to believe Atlas' words. The situation supported him, and through these days of working together, he had determined that Atlas was at least not the type to stab him in the back.

Horus hesitantly approached the golem. Its eyes switched to him, and its weapon changed its aim. Every nerve in Horus' body was telling him to do something, but he forcefully resisted their influence.

He reached out to the tree golem from the other side, putting his hands on its surface.

Suddenly, he was able to feel what Atlas felt.

Indeed, it was better to view this golem as an incarnation of time. It was nothing of the sort, but if they allowed their imaginations to run wild, they could see the point of this trial that its creator wanted them to understand.

Time was a finite resource.

Even for immortals like the man who this floor entombed, time was finite.

Cultivators at their level were still at the beginning of their long, long journeys. It was common for people like them to take it slow and easy because they believed that the things they were doing were not important, but that was simply wrong in every way.

These first steps were the most important. These steps had to be made with precision and intention, because they were the foundation of everything else they'd ever achieve.

Even when taken from a perspective outside of training, it was a valuable lesson. Because cultivators tended to be consumed by their training to the point where they ignored all else, it was good to have a reminder that spending time enjoying life properly was also vital.

However, perhaps the message came too early.

Atlas and Horus both understood it, but it was a question of whether they'd truly follow it or not.

Nevertheless, this trial was not able to judge those qualities. It only wanted them to reach the proper answer, and they'd done exactly that.

As their hands softened and their minds embraced the finitude of time, the tree golem kneeled on the ground and returned to it.

The roots of its arms and legs returned to the ground. Branches grew out of its twisting trunk and the color green began to shine brightly.

The tree was like new life, bursting with vitality.
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That vitality flowed into the two men and filled them with energy as well. Their stamina was replenished, their small wounds were healed, and most importantly, their dantians were fully refilled with qi.

The roots of the tree spread through the floor and expanded. When they reached the ends of the chamber, they pressed against the walls, causing the backmost of them to crumble.

A new path was revealed to their eyes. They glanced at each other and walked into it cautiously in case their trial still wasn't over, but to their delight, what they found was yet another crossroads.

Only, both the clock symbol and statue symbol were slightly glowing, indicating that they had been completed.

"Phew…that one was much more difficult than the statues," Horus commented.

"Can we expect the next two trials to be the same?"

The question was clearly rhetorical, but Atlas answered anyway.

"If it makes you feel better, it seems that only one of them will be a real trial."

Judging by the look of the "eye" room they visited earlier, it wasn't much of a trial. It was at most going to be another battle.

The two of them agreed that the eye was the last room they wanted to visit. They didn't wait long before walking into the "wood" corridor either. The tree golem gave them everything they needed to finish these trials without worry.

The corridor was longer than most. It was damp at the beginning, but as they arrived near the end, it suddenly became far drier.

The air was rancid with the smell of burning wood. It was a strange mix with the smell of rain.

Thus far, though it was hard to imagine what the exterior of this tomb looked like, it was easy to imagine it as some sort of pyramid.

However, this area completely threw off that assumption.

After all, how could there possibly be an entire forest inside of a pyramid?

The sky was nonexistent, replaced by the same stone ceiling that existed everywhere else. Somehow, though, the trees were thriving.

Or at least, they had been for a long time for them to grow so big.

The problem at hand was that the forest was actively burning.

And…

Had it been made their job to stop it?

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