As Skylar, Karo, and the golden monkey entered the grand corridor behind the stone door, stone lamps lining its walls lit up sequentially, bathing the corridor in soft bluish-white light while also revealing its end far on the other side, where the exit was.

  Skylar observed.

  The floor below his bare feet was white and glossy. On the white walls at both sides, murals illustrating monkey communities living happily on clouds were drawn. And finally, the ceiling, about a hundred meters from the floor, was also white but bare.

  They proceeded, and with eyes slightly narrowed and his gaze fixed, Skylar trailed behind, dragging his luggage behind him toward their destination—the exit ahead.

  Moments later, just as he, like the two before him, entered the space the corridor led to, his jaw dropped. He was stunned by the ridiculousness of the heavenly chamber that felt both ancient and holy.

  He recovered from his dazed stupor and observed.

  On both sides of the city-wide passage they stood on, like a wall of tiered seating, a tiered stretch of white clouds rose beyond the sky of curly white clouds. On each cloud tier, meditating giant monkeys sat side by side in the lotus position. They were like beings suspended in time.

  "That statue is kind of familiar, like I have seen it before," Skylar claimed.

  Far ahead of them—the other side of the passage—a colossal monkey statue that rose beyond the drifting curly clouds stood on a pedestal. It was silver, and it looked as though a fur wrapper had been tied across its waist.

  "That's our progenitor," Karo enlightened as he and the golden monkey rose from the bow they had offered the statue.

  "Idiot," he hissed as he turned around, facing Skylar, who was straining his neck trying to get a view of the statue's face beyond the clouds. "How do you know you have seen them before when you have never seen their face?"

  What is he talking about?

  Skylar turned his head. He focused on him.

  It's just a feeling, and this guy is also very annoying, like that golden guy.

  He beamed at him, giving him the response he had been waiting for before he turned to the golden guy, who had his arms folded as he watched them from one side.

  "Guy, what's your name?"

  "Why are you asking? He doesn't have one yet," Karo butted in sharply.

  Skylar beamed. "That's good. I have a name and a gift for you. You should like it."

  Though I couldn't beat you… and I won't be able to anytime soon... you helped me a lot...

  While he was being watched, he brought out from his large baggage a polished stick with carvings on it, moved closer to the golden-furred monkey, and passed it to him.

  As the golden monkey collected it, holding it at its midpoint and raising it toward the clouds, he turned his wrist, rotating it left and right.

  "What about the name?" Karo reminded.

  "Sun Wu," Skylar replied. "It's a great name, right?"

  Karo looked away. He did not reply.

  In response, Skylar chuckled. His gaze then returned to the statue—or rather, its giant feet standing on the pedestal situated at the center of an enormous circular space bounded by a very low wall on the glossy white ground.

  He traced up the statue, and as his gaze paused on one of its hands curled by its side, his green eyes narrowed slightly.

  "Shouldn't your progenitor be holding something?"

  Prompted by his observation, Karo and the golden monkey both turned to look at the statue.

  Meanwhile, as Skylar felt multiple gazes on him, his head snapped and his gaze sharpened as he seemed to see a monkey on the tiered cloud close his eyes sharply.

  That guy closed his eyes just now, right?

  "Fellow, where did you get this staff?"

  Prompted by the golden monkey's inquiry, Skylar quit his mental speculation and turned to look at him. On the golden monkey's face turned toward him was an unusually serious look.

  Also, at the side, Karo squinted his eyes at the staff.

  "Do you like it?" Skylar chuckled. "I thought of carving it, and I did." He shrugged.

  The golden monkey paused for a while, then after throwing Karo a knowing glance, he turned around and continued toward the colossal statue.

  At the same time, Skylar, who found the situation quite amusing as reflected by the smile on his face, followed. Karo also followed, but with slightly narrowed eyes and instinctive steps.

  Not long after, they reached the circular low wall that contained a lake-sized pool, at the center of which was the large pedestal that held the giant statue. The water was clear and glittering, and its surface reflected the clouds.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Without delay, the golden monkey leaped. He dived into the water and was swallowed by it without leaving a splash or ripple.

  This guy is annoying as always.

  As Skylar threw his luggage into the pool of water, he too dived after it, leaving no splash or ripple behind.

  Inside the water, which strangely did not wet him or resist motion, a bubble formed around him and his luggage as they descended through it.

  Shortly after, the water layer changed and the bubble slowed down despite falling freely through a waterfall. A few seconds later, it landed with a splash into a pool alongside the water of the waterfall.

  As it rose back up to the surface of the pool and followed the current, Karo, in a similar bubble, also fell through the waterfall and into it.

  As the bubble reached the end of the pool where it met ground, Skylar, with his luggage held, emerged from it and stepped onto the black floor of a hall about ten kilometers wide, with black walls and a ceiling a couple kilometers high.

  Not long after, Karo, with his two sacks, also emerged from the drifting bubble that stopped at the pool bank.

  Close to him, Skylar examined two colonnades of carved pillars—one was invested, hanging upside down from the ceiling and the other standing tall on the black floor. Their pillars corresponded as they both encircled a large space at the center of the city-wide hall, lit by glowing stones floating below the ceiling—but not the space they enclosed.

  They must serve a function.

  Skylar lowered his head and focused his senses on his feet standing on metallic black floor.

  This place is really made of black gold.

  "That's where the trial will take place," the golden monkey said, calling his attention to the center of the colonnade he pointed at. There he saw a circle outlined in white.

  Karo moved closer to them.

  "You will battle a creature that will appear when you enter the circle, and if you win, an exit will appear that will lead to the next floor."

  "There are a thousand floors in total, but only a hundred of them will be challenged. So at the end of the last floor is the exit that leads out of the mountain," Sun Wu added.

  "Okay. Let's not waste time," Skylar responded.

  He sprinted at hyper-speed and came to a halt at the center of the circle.

  I guess as much.

  He inhaled deeply.

  Meanwhile, his view changed. He was standing at the center of the circle one moment, and in the next he was in the middle of a vast endless desert. It was extremely foggy due to the sand in the air carried around by the wind.

  He squinted. He could barely see a thing, and he could hear nothing. The sound of the wind was deafening.

  Suddenly, he jumped meters high, barely able to avoid a giant golden pair of shears coming from underneath the sandy ground.

  Interesting, the creature is the stealth type.

  He peaked midair; however, in the next instant, sand dust rose as he landed at hyper-speed with his feet boosted by natural energy.

  It's slow and can't take a hit.

  The dust cleared moments later. He stood at the center of a crater. His leg was half-buried in sticky sand. Around him, four giant pair of sheers emerged partly from the desert sand.

  His gaze on the giant shears in front of him softened as he smiled.

  "This trial will be very interesting..."

  Before the tenth challenge

  On a floor of black gold, Skylar sat facing Karo. He was eating from a wooden bowl, and a couple of meters from them the golden monkey was meditating.

  "So, you are saying my stealth is poor?"

  "Idiot, you should be proud; unlocking a combat realm is not an easy feat," Karo scolded. "In just a few years, you have unlocked hyperfocus, spirit vision, instinct, anticipation, stealth, hypersense, and one of the flows. Even this brat is not as monstrous as you..."

  "What about that sheathing thing you talked about?"

  "How strong do you think Sun Wu is?" Karo questioned.

  "I have no idea," Skylar shook his head.

  "That's sheathing," Karo claimed. He dipped a hand into Skylar's bowl and picked from it. "Sheathing is actually advanced stealth, or advanced restraint. When you gain more mastery of it, you will understand."

  "Okay."

  Before the ninetieth challenge

  Skylar sat on the floor of black gold and leaned against one of the pillars of the colonnade.

  "Fighting these guys has become boring. They no longer pose any threat," he grumbled.

  "You really have it easy. When I had my trial, I had a lot of trouble passing these levels," Karo chimed in as he sat beside him, his back to the pillar as well.

  "These are the levels that test one's mastery of combat," Sun Wu added. He stood close to the pillar. "Aunt… fellow finds it easy because fellow is the instinctive type unlike you. You are—"

  "Just shut up. Who asked you?" Karo snapped.

  Sun Wu froze briefly. He beamed as he began softly.

  "I saw in my dream a black castle floating atop the cosmic sea..."

  "You?!"

  "I saw my dearest riding a weird celestial clarion come for me and take me away..."

  "Sun Wu, shut your mouth..."

  "His back as he leads me was like a pillar between heaven and earth..."

  "Sun Wu, do you want to die?"

  They are really close brothers.

  Skylar smiled and stood up.

  After defeating his opponent that vanished along with the illusionary world, Skylar left the outlined white circle that is rumbling and approached Karo and Sun Wu, who were standing close to a pillar of the colonnade.

  "Do you have to go?" Karo questioned in a pleading tone.

  "Yes, I have to," Skylar replied.

  As he reached them, he picked up his stuff and faced the duo.

  "Let's go. The exit has appeared."

  Sun Wu sighed.

  "Fellow, this is where we part ways."

  "Oh..."

  Skylar's eyes widened in realization as he caught Karo's last sack that he threw at him.

  He paused. The atmosphere became a bit strained as he engaged his mind while Karo looked at him with steady focus.

  He smiled, then he shook his head and turned around.

  "She has done it," Sun Wu smiled wryly.

  He watched as Karo appeared behind Skylar like a ghost and hugged him from behind with his feet off the ground. Having untied the mummy wrapper concealing his feminine and glossy lips, he kissed his cheek from behind, after which he parted from him and kicked him flying into the pool of water at the center of the colonnade before he could turn around.

  Plop.

  Skylar fell into the water of the pool, and his luggage followed as he sank to its depth, disoriented for a brief moment before he stretched his arms to secure his luggage.

  He didn't have to kick me.

  A bubble encased him, which fell through the waterfall of the next floor, sank into a pool below, and emerged before drifting toward ground.

  "This is just an underground cave," he muttered.

  He came out of the bubble and swam out of the pool, standing on the glittering sandy floor of a large cavern a bit larger than the other floors above it.

  Standing with the pool behind him, he looked around at the lifeless white cavern. Hills with pointed peaks spread out all over its floor, and the hill-sized stalactites on its ceiling glowed, producing minimal illumination.

  "The light ahead should be an exit..." he muttered. Far in front was an horizontal stretch of white light.

  Then, dragging his luggage behind him, he set out, navigating the hilly ground.

  On his way, he paused briefly and turned around.

  "Bye-bye, Flower Mountain..." he bid farewell, and turned around, resuming his march toward the exit.

  Shortly after, he passed through the exit, leaving the ancient and desolate cavern—and finally leaving the mountain.