"What?"

Everyone stared at Arboria with wide eyes.

'The seal is broken?'

"You mean, someone has entered Gaia's tomb?" The old man asked, recovering quickly from the initial shock.

The dragon lady pinched her forehead slightly before nodding slowly.

"Let's hurry and hope that the Fallen haven't managed to steal the artifact yet." She said, quickly making her way into the tomb."

The others quickly followed her in. As they entered, the mana density surrounding them increased drastically. So much so that Draylen had to hold back the urge to sit down and cultivate. Aria, the dragon lady's daughter, also seemed to be having this trouble, however her mother turned and quickly shot the two of them a warning look, causing the urges to disappear immediately.

The walls around them were made of navy blue crystal with glowing green veins which zigzagged wildly just beneath the surface. The floor looked like thousands of different roots and stalks twined together like coiling snakes. Draylen followed at the back of the group whilst gawking at his surroundings, it was just too surreal for him not to.

Since his earliest memory, he only remembered the barebones of comfort. Stone walls, wooden furniture covered in splinters etc. This place felt more like an emperor's palace rather than a tomb. That's right, it was a tomb, not a palace.

'Gaia must have been a powerful dragon to have received this as her tomb. Also, why did Arboria call her a 'true' earth dragon? What's the difference?'

However, just as he was about to ask, they reached a crossroads. There was a stone plaque in front of three paths with huge bronze doors. Arboria quickly moved forward to inspect it.

"The path of evolution is a cruel one. Many times, one is given an unfavourable situation, which one must overcome in order to continue onwards. The door on the left contains a hundred Frenzied Treants, the door in the middle contains a thousand starving Ancient Wyverns, and the door on the right contains a deadly virus which spreads through air and nullifies magic and physical resistances. Choose wisely, there is no going back." She read aloud.

Each time the contents of one of the doors was revealed, everyone's face got darker and darker. The old man stepped forward slightly.

"Arboria, you have been here before have you not? There must be some sort of loop hole, as even I can't defeat a hundred treants in one go, let alone the both of us." He said with a tinge of nervousness.

The dragoness simply shook her head.

"I have been here once, in the past, when I took the position of valley guardian. At the time, I was given a different test, one that was significantly easier than this. My guess is that it changes each time someone else enters the tomb."

After she finished speaking, the tunnel was filled with silence. The old man went up to the stone plaque and investigated it, before sighing. He then searched the plaque for hidden switches or other secret loopholes, but to no avail. As everyone was contemplating whether dying to treants, wyverns or a deadly virus was better, the old man's face suddenly lit up.

"Wait a moment, this is a one-way entry point right? That means we can simply wait for the Fallen to come out and then kill them!" He said.

Draylen nodded quickly.

'That does seem to be the best option, instead of tiring ourselves out or possibly dying in those rooms, we should wait for the Fallen and defeat them easily, since they also had to pass similar trials.'

Arboria sighed once more whilst shaking her head.

"The Fallen most likely came here via portal magic, don't tell me you didn't notice those surges of energy, Horatio?" She asked snappily.

"I thought that was you practicing some magic or something." The old man shrugged helplessly.

"Well, which door should we choose then?" Draylen asked hesitantly.

The tunnel descended back into silence. Eventually, the boy got fed up and walked over to the plaque to read it himself.

'The path of evolution is a cruel one. Many times, one is given an unfavourable situation, which one must overcome in order to continue onwards. The door on the left contains a hundred Frenzied Treants, the door in the middle contains a thousand starving Ancient Wyverns, and the door on the right contains a deadly virus which spreads through air and nullifies magic and physical resistances. Choose wisely, there is no going back.'

'Hmmnn.'

'Well, treants are well known to have iron-like bark and formidable magic casting abilities, going into a room with a hundred of them is pure suicide.'

'Wyverns aren't as powerful as treants, but the pure number of wyverns isn't something to be trifled with. Especially since they're starving, hungry monsters are always more ferocious than normal.'

'And lastly, the virus. Considering the fact that it nullifies all defences, it may actually be the deadliest of the bunch, but not much is specified about it, what if it's something that only infects dogs?'

Draylen had a thoughtful expression on his face as he was considering different factors and he read the plaque a second time just to make sure he didn't forget any important details.

"Wait a moment, considering how old this tomb is and the word 'starving', wouldn't the Ancient Wyverns be dead by now?" He said aloud.

The sudden sound caused all heads to turn his way and what he said caused everyone to mull it over again.

"No, that's definitely the case. If Arboria's trial was much easier than this and she can't pass it with her current combat abilities, why is this test significantly harder?"

He then turned to Arboria and asked her a question.

"What exactly was your test? How long ago did you take it?"

"It was a test of strength. I had to defeat a single Frenzied Treant in under 10 minutes to pass. You see why this test is so much harder? As for time, I think it was a few hundred years ago" She said with a helpless shrug.

Draylen nodded, as if he had figured everything out.

"What if this test was not one of strength, but wits instead? If it was, then everything would be different. First of all, an army of treants is a terrible idea, a smart person would ignore that option entirely. Secondly, the virus. Considering how little is given about the virus other than the fact it ignores all resistances and how it could be a harmful virus or not, that's staking one's life upon a random chance, which a smart person would also not do."

Everyone nodded, whilst digesting the information.

"And lastly the wyverns. Why would the plaque give the extra detail about them being starving? Considering how little detail is given about the virus, why would it tell us much more about the wyverns? And normally even though a starving animal is more dangerous than a normal one in certain circumstances, it will die if it hasn't eaten or drunk for a few weeks, let alone the hundreds of years this tomb has been in existence for."

"Of the three doors, the middle seems to be the best option. At worst, we'll be facing half-dead Wyverns, but at best, there won't be any enemies at all."

Putting it this way, nobody could refute him. It was simply too logical and the fact that Gaia put tests testing not only strength but also wisdom was completely feasible as well.

The old man hastily made his way over and patted Draylen on the back.

"It's a bit late, but I've been truly impressed with you these past few weeks. Not only have you managed to defeat enemies stronger than you, you can even solve this puzzle which has left this old man stumped!" He praised.

"Hold on." Arboria cut in.

"What if Gaia managed to create some sort of spell which increased the wyvern's lifespan by large amounts? There's simply too much we don't know about the trial." She said sceptically.

"Not really. Even if their lifespan is increased, it doesn't negate the fact that they still need to eat to survive. They'd probably end up resorting to cannibalism or something like that, the one thousand wyverns may only be a single close-to-death wyvern which is in no condition to fight." Draylen responded quickly.

"Also, considering how difficult this test would be if it was a trial of brawn? Why would Gaia randomly design a test that would shoot down her successors? Then the next valley guardian would either have to be lucky with an easy test, or die in this outrageously difficult one. What would happen if an incompetent person became the guardian?"

For some reason, Arboria couldn't help but feel that the last line was aimed at her, but even so, she couldn't ignore the facts.

"For a 5 year old, you sure have a sharp wit and tongue. Lead the way then." She said.

Draylen nodded, whilst the old man shot a grin towards the dragon lady, as if saying 'My kid's better than yours', before following after the boy. Aria also followed with no questions, perhaps being quiet was just her personality.

Arboria went in after them unwillingly, after hesitating slightly. Draylen placed his hands on either side of the large doors and held his breath as he slowly pushed them inwards.

'What if this really is a test of strength, not intelligence? What if Gaia was bipolar and deliberately set up a single unreasonable test? Well, it's too late now. We'd lose either way, if those previous things were true.' He thought to himself.

-Creaaaak

Dust fell from the door frame, as the dark interior of the room was revealed. Draylen waited for a moment, for his eyes to adjust before letting out a relieved sigh. The others, who had also held in their breaths grinned in relief, before striding confidently into the room.

Skeletons lay everywhere in a disorganised mess, Draylen's leg brushed against one causing it to disintegrate into powder. The dust cloud lingered in the air before slowly settling on the brown floor.

Whilst their bodies and health were fine, their noses were not. A pungent rotting smell invaded their noses, making them feel nauseous and sick. Arboria hurriedly cast a wind spell, blowing away both the smell and the wyvern remnants.

"I suddenly don't want to go in anymore."

Surprisingly, it was Aria who had said that. Draylen hurriedly covered up his laugh upon seeing her disgusted face. Acting as if nothing had happened, he walked further into the room, looking around curiously.

The room was extremely large, perhaps longer than the tunnel which had led them here in the first place. Not only that, but it was incredibly tall and wide as well, making one feel as if they were a group of dwarves.

The group hurriedly walked toward the bright light at the other side of the room. As they got closer, Draylen could see what it was.

"The exit!"

As soon as he said that, they began to run, eager to leave the filthy place. The moment they passed through it, the world became bright again and the musty old smell was replaced with that of extremely refreshing, pure air.

They sucked in large breaths of air with joy, but just as Draylen raised his head, his eyes widened in surprise.

"It's you!"