Karl managed to make it to the third step before the crushing weight of the mana test forced him to a stop, freezing his body in place and preventing him from taking another step.
There was an enormous amount of power around him, and he had very little clue about what to do with it. It wasn't the same as the energy in his beast spaces, but it was similar. It almost felt like an unformed magical attack, power waiting for guidance.
That was a concept that he understood a bit better. The energy that he used to form attacks came through the beast space, normally Hawk's as Karl hadn't tried really using any ability but Rend and Shred. He could use the Lightning Shield to a comfortable standard, and Offensive Optimization was more of a passive ability that worked all the time, so it was the one space where he normally got his power.
But if he reversed that path, taking the outside power and pulling it back into the space, would that improve them? There was one way to find out, and this trial hadn't hurt any of the mages who drew the power in, so it should be safe enough.
Karl stood motionless on the third step as the mages all walked past him with curious looks. The worst of them had made it to the fifth step yesterday, but Karl, who was much more powerful, was stuck on the third.
From their point of view, the test definitely favoured mages, and they had made the right choice to keep training their strengths before worrying about their weaknesses. Their strengths were still weak enough that they couldn't be neglected.
Karl managed to get a trickle of energy to flow into the three spaces, filling them with sparkling motes of light that slowly integrated themselves with the constructs that Karl had made to flesh the spaces out into their own small worlds.
He did his best to meditate as he stood there, frozen in place, and the trickle eventually became, well, it was still a trickle, Karl couldn't lie to himself and call it more than that, but it was a steady one.
The plant life was multiplying, improving the lake in Hawk's space, the grasslands in Thor's and the bushes in Rae's home, while also condensing a stronger energy inside. The expansion rate was still the same as it had been last night, but the quality of the space was actually improving now.
That hadn't really been the case before. It would improve a little when Karl focused on adding an element, but mostly he improved the size of it so that it would stabilize and allow the pet's energy to feed back to him.
Karl wasn't sure how much time had passed when the burden on him began to lessen, and he managed to move up another step. But he noticed that the sun was no longer overhead, and it was on the side of his face when he moved up to the fifth stair.
The team was going to be overjoyed when they got back home tonight. Karl's lake was an actual lake now, with small silver fish made of pure energy flitting about in it, Thor's grasslands had a number of solid stone pillars that he shouldn't be able to break and enough room to get a good run at them, while Rae's dark bushes now had a half dozen trees, placed so that she could spin a web between them all to create the ultimate nest.
The energy level was noticeably higher, and it was beginning to feel closer to the mana rich atmosphere of the mage training areas than the open training fields where the warriors worked at the Academy.
Karl continued right until the sun touched the horizon and the Golems kicked them all out, then went back to sit around the campfire, where the self-appointed cook was collecting ingredients for the evening meal.
"We're doing the beef stew packages today, if you could toss me yours." Their designated cook announced as Karl walked up.
"Yeah, give me a second, it's in the tent."
The clerics had collected a number of herbs while they were out, as well as some edible roots when the group stopped outside the cave, so although they didn't have any rations with them, they could still contribute to the pot.
The roots weren't very nutritious, but they were large, and they added volume to the meal, making it look even more impressive. The rations were supposed to be lightweight and easy to pack, but that meant calorie dense, not large and filling.
They were just about to settle down with the pot full of rations heating when the cleric girl seemed to have a flash of inspiration, and she began mumbling a spell while glowing with soft golden light.
Nobody dared to interrupt her. This was a World Dragon Temple, and she was a priestess. A trainee priestess without much power to speak of, but still, a priestess of sorts.
As her spell finished, she spread a cloth out in front of her, and a large golden orb began to form in the air in front of her hands. Then, it solidified, and a large ball of soft white grains fell to the ground, landing on the cloak that she had spread.
"I did it. I finally got the spell to work. That, my friends, is the sign of a true magical Acolyte of the church. Blessing of Nutrition." She declared in a tiny, quiet voice.
It was rice. Nearly five kilos of it, Karl was certain.
That was far more than they would be able to eat even in a few days, but Karl had seen this magic before. The priests who came to town to help the poor would use their magic to create a giant pot full of rice and beans that would feed hundreds.
This was just the rice, but it was more than enough for today.
Karl patted her on the back in congratulations, then scooped up a bit of the rice with the bowl that attached to the bottom half of his canteen. He poured a bit of water over the top and set it by the fire to cook, signalling the others to do the same.
"Good work. Now we don't need to worry about running out of food so quickly. Even an extra day or two here will be a great help to everyone's training." Karl congratulated her.
The boy beside her looked both jealous and proud, as if he was envious of her achievement, but unable to hold a grudge over it. Instead of trying to copy her to show off, he began to pray and created a soft golden glow over them all that soothed aching muscles and minds. It wasn't a fully formed spell, but it was close enough to a minor healing spell to refresh the students and allow them to fully relax as they waited for their aching muscles and minds. It wasn't a fully formed spell, but it was close enough to a minor healing spell to refresh the dinner to be ready, now accompanied by a large portion of rice.
"How is everyone else doing? Is the training on the temple stairs giving you real results?" Karl asked as his beasts finished their patrol around the camp and returned to the beast spaces.
"It is for the mages, for certain. The amount of mana that I can handle is up by nearly a quarter. But more importantly, I gained an insight into how to make it grow more quickly even after we leave." Dana agreed.
The other mages nodded happily, as they had been sharing the trick with each other on the stairs all day.
The warriors decided that flexing and posing would be more appropriate, though Karl couldn't tell if they were actually any more muscular than they had been a day ago.
"I can't say for certain how much of a difference it is without something to test against, but I've made it four more steps today than I did yesterday. If this pace keeps up, then I think that I will be able to pass the Awakened Warrior exam after another week at the most." One of them explained.
"Alright. Enjoy your dinner, we will be headed back to train first thing in the morning. Make a plan, I doubt that we will get another chance again, unless we can return here." Karl reminded them.
The cleric girl shook her head. "This is a trial ground. Most of these can only be accessed at set intervals, or worse, once in a lifetime. After we leave, it could be a long time before anyone can use this place again, but I will make sure that the clergy marks it off as a protected holy relic so that nobody destroys the crystals that operate the entrance."
That was what Karl was afraid of. There were other holy relics that opened only on certain holidays, and the serum could only be used once in a lifetime. But they had been able to use this one, and he was going to make the very best of it.
So far, he had tested his willpower, which helped him grow the size of the beast space while meditating, and his mana control, which helped him improve the power of his beast space, so tomorrow, he could either focus on the mana control, which needed the most help, or on his body, which was already strong, and improved at a fraction of the rate that the pets were improving.
The initial burst of power that he had gotten from the pets had been impressive, but after that, the feedback was limited and his growth was slow. He would need a lot of training to get physically powerful, but if he focused on the pets, his combat power would shoot up much faster, and eventually drag his body along with it.