When the brilliance faded…
Achilles found himself standing in a garden.
Not another evaluation floor with forests or mountains designed to test candidates through environmental challenges. This was an actual garden…a cultivated space where vegetation grew according to careful design rather than natural distribution.
The plants filling this domain shone with green-gold radiance that suggested they weren't ordinary specimens but carefully nurtured treasures. Unfathomably potent fruits hung from branches that pulsed with concentrated authority…each one radiating enough power that consuming it might elevate an entire cultivation base by multiple tiers.
Herbs grew in organized sections, their colors spanning spectrum from brilliant gold to deep crimson to pure verdant green. The ambient authority emanating from these specimens suggested they were Sacred Life Herbs…the exact resources Xar'vantheon had mentioned coveting, treasures worth substantial Living Contribution Points.
