Somewhere between Quartsel and Horenon, in an abandoned ruin 3 adventuring cultivators could be found exploring its depths. A buff half naked worrier who appeared to be in his early-thirties, a delicate looking man who seemed to be in his late teens or early-twenties, and a big breasted scholarly looking woman in her mid-twenties reading an ancient and decaying book.
"You sure this is the right place?" The bulky, and for some reason shirtless worrier, said.
"Yeah, it's definitely this one. It says so right here." The scholarly looking woman with a rather large bust said.
"You're absolutely sure this time? If you suddenly discover another clue in that scrambled journal and tell us we're in the wrong place again, then you can have fun exploring the next one on your own." The delicate looking young man said, while occasionally glancing at the woman's chest every now and then.
"It's not easy translating this ancient text, especially with how withered the pages are. Anyone would have made such a common mistake."
"Yeah, but not just anyone would search every inch of 3 separate ruins in 1 year." The bulky one said as he also started giving her some looks.
"How mean! You're going to make this young lady cry." She said while giving her two companions her best puppy eyes while squishing her bust up against the delicate looking man as she grabbed him by the arm. The sudden contact made the young man blush and stumble backwards in a panic, accidentally stepping on a pressure plate that opened a hidden room.
"Whoa, what is that."
While the buff man was glaring at the delicate man in jealousy the big breasted woman entered the secret room. Inside was one big red button standing in the middle of an empty yet very futuristic or sci-fi looking room. With dark metal plating and flashing lights covering the walls.
"Omg, what is all this."
"I don't know, but I don't like the feeling of this."
"Maybe we should leave this room for later! I don't like the look of that big red-"
"Boop. *click*"
The 2 guys who just entered the sci-fi room were awestruck by the unfamiliar décor, but what shocked them the most was that their big chested friend had pushed the big red button without consulting them first. And soon after the entire ruin began to shake violently.
…
A few minutes earlier, a kilometer away from the ruin, a certain run-down carriage pulled by an earth golem (basically a robot made with magic) could be seen.
"Hey, I've been wondering for a while, but where did you get all this stuff?"
"What do you mean?"
"What else could I'm mean? The portable barriers, the high-quality carriage and the glowing ball you casually threw on the ground that grew into a two-foot-tall earth golem."
"I made It."
"You made the golem?"
"Not just the golem. I made all of those things you mentioned."
"What are- Ugh"
Just then, the ground beneath the carriage opened, as a seemingly bottomless hole appeared beneath it.
"WHAT THE HEEEELLLLL!" The dark lords words could be heard echoing down the dark chasm.
…
A while later.
All I could see was pitch black darkness. My night vision was significantly dulled after the injury to my core. Hence, it took my eyes some time to adjust. I could feel something soothingly soft and squishy on my face. Whatever it is, I should consider bringing it back home as this is rather comfortable to lay down on. It was then that I heard a voice with an irritated tone.
"If your awake! Then get the hell off of me!"
As my eyes adjusted, I saw what that squishy thing was, which brought all my stray thoughts to a close. Apparently while we were falling, Nox jumped back and grabbed me by the head, then used the carriage as a platform to jump headfirst into the earth golem that had changed its shape to envelope us, cushioning our fall as we plummeted to the ground. However, there was only so much space inside the golem, hence this handsome face was defiled by that barbarian's weirdly soft stomach.
"If your done blushing like the virgin you are then could you get off of me already?"
"WHAT!? I'M NOT BLUSHING, YOU ARE!"
I said while hurriedly remembering to get of this crass woman.
"You know. You seem pretty inexperienced for a playboy right now."
"SHUT UP!"
"Hey, what happened to all that 'why don't I repay you with my body' crap you were going on about a few days ago."
"I SAID SHUT UP"
I could feel my face getting hot from anger as she kept teasing me. It was definitely not because I was still feeling embarrassed over my earlier thoughts, or the fact that this is the first time a woman has actually made contact with my face. I swear when this is all over and I regain my strength I'll pay her back tenfold.
After she finished her little game of teas the dark lord, we started inspecting our surroundings. We were in a dark enclosed room with a solid roof making us wonder how we fell in here in the first place. The only thing of note would be the big elaborate jigsaw puzzle, complete with a number of levers and buttons placed right in front of us. The puzzle itself seemed to depict a hallway.
"Who would place this here?"
"It could be an inheritance site." I said.
"Inheritance site? What's that?"
"Oho, could it be? This great lady Nox couldn't possibly be implying she doesn't know what an inheritance site is?" I said sarcastically hoping to get back at her for the earlier teasing.
"I sure am. So, what is it?"
"Your no fun."
"Just tell me already, or do you want another beating Playus Boyus the 3rd."
"What the hell, and why am I suddenly the 3rd?"
"Because you're a 3rd rate playboy, now hurry up and spill the beans or else."
"Fine, fine, you win. So how much do you know about cultivation exactly?"
"That it's basically just mutating your body by channeling highly concentrated elemental energy through your body."
"So practically nothing then. Well, it's your lucky day as this gracious lord will personally give you a lesson on cultivation."
"I'm listening Lord sensei Playus Boyus the 3rd."
"Would you stop with all those weird titles already?"
"Anyway, a cultivators journey can be divided into three parts. You have the first part consisting of three separate stages:
Body refinement
Qi refinement
Golden core.
Then you have the second part which is the nascent soul realm, which are divided into six stages based on color:
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Then we have the third and final part, the immortals, which can be divided into 3 parts:
Human Immortal
Earth Immortal
Heaven Immortal
Once they have reached the heaven stage they move on to the divine becoming martial gods."
"And what's that got to do with this inheritance site?"
"Well, as a cultivator progresses to bigger height's their lifespan increases, while they will find that certain bodily functions start to deteriorate making it more difficult to.. ehem make a successor to inherit their will. As such if a high-ranking cultivator doesn't find a successor to pass on their teachings too, they sometimes create an elaborate trial for future cultivators to inherit their will."
"Oh. So basically, we're here because some lonely old dude couldn't crank one out and resorted to kidnapping some strangers instead."
"Your mind is as dirty as ever I see."
"So is there an emergency exit or something."
"Maby, but I wouldn't count on it. It's all up to whoever designed this trial, but most would require you to acquire their inheritance before leaving."
"That's such a pain in the ass though."
"Would it kill you to say one sentence without any crude remarks."
"Probably. Now let's break out of this dump."