Karl settled in to sit by the damaged System Stones, where nobody could actually reach him to bother him, and where he could try to compare the inscriptions on the damaged stones to the ones that he already knew.

If they were largely similar, he could just translate the old ones to the new language and get most of the benefits for no extra work.

The crowd gasped as Dana walked through the barrier to come sit by Karl, and then laughed as one of the Elders ran into it like a solid wall.

"Well, that settles it. The barrier hasn't failed. It's just decided to let the Avatar and his wife in."

"We're soul bonded. It's only natural that it lets us both through if it allows one." Dana informed him.

"Right. Didn't know that."

Dana set out a blanket and lay with her head in Karl's lap while he studied. It was the perfect spot to meditate, as Karl constantly radiated power, especially here where he didn't restrain his aura.

No, that wasn't right. Karl did restrain his aura. He tried to make it less threatening, which reduced the intensity to near the level of everyone around him.

It wasn't quite as comfortable as his Cat Demon form, but Karl's hand massaging her head wasn't half bad, and Dana was asleep only minutes later.

Meditation was overrated anyhow.

The sun in her eyes woke Dana up later in the day, and she found that she was still lying on Karl, but now she had a small white dragon curled up in her arms.

"Brother Chin? When did you get here?" She whispered.

The little dragon opened one eye, made a vague claw gesture, then fell asleep again.

"He came in on Cara's back earlier while you were sleeping. He was upset that I left him outside the barrier when I went exploring the ruins."

The little dragon snorted in annoyance and cracked open an eye again.

{This is the only place safe to hide. I live in the temple.}

Dana waited for him to continue, but the dragon was back to napping, while Karl chuckled.

"The temple has dozens of Green Dragons, and Green Dragon Clerics. Plus, Min has been coming by every half hour to see if he's still here. They're all obsessed with the tiny dragons."

"And so he found a loophole to let him hide in the one spot they can't get to him?"

"The rooms at the temple aren't private to other Clerics." Karl agreed.

Dana smiled. "You know, you could let him hide in the Tiny World."

"And let Lotus and the others loose on him? He's even smaller than Button."

"But he's immortal. That's got to count for something, even if he's rebuilding his power from nothing."

Karl shook his head. Being in the Tiny World would just make him a target for an entire group of baby starved nature god followers, as well as the dragons of the orphanage, who were still eagerly awaiting their first hatchlings.

That was the opposite of what Chin was trying to accomplish by hiding in Dana's arms.

"Did you learn anything while I was asleep?" She asked, changing the topic.

"Quite a bit, actually. The Immortal Realm System of this world is both very similar to the one that we're familiar with, but somehow completely different. There are no shared portions of the runes at all, other than the ones that invoke System Access.

So, I'm quite sure that I can make a Trial Instance to access the System Changes, with a bit of Divine help. But actually recreating these System Stones is going to be virtually impossible for me, unless I have a complete copy of them to work from and duplicate."

"That makes sense. It might be related to the same God, but it is not the same system. I recall that the Immortals at our wedding said the same thing. They all had different Systems, and they were even in branches of the same Guild. But their systems were entirely different."

"Good point. They really did have nothing in common.

That makes me feel a bit better about not being able to understand this one. Fortunately, the language for accessing the Divine Trials is fairly universal, so I'm going to start on a set of Instance Stones tonight, and I should have them ready by morning."

"The same way that you made the towers for the Academy?"

Karl nodded. "Exactly like that, but with different instructions. Actually, that's not a bad idea. The problem is that I'm not strong enough yet. Perhaps I'll make one when I get closer to peak Immortal, to train the children in."

Dana settled back into meditation holding the tiny dragon, and Karl returned to his work, creating layer upon layer of the obelisk that would activate the Class Advancement Trial.

That was specifically what he designed it to be. Activating and advancing Classes.

But he did make it a proper instance, and didn't just try to have it activate the System interface. That way, they would be safely inside where nobody else could mess with them while they were distracted, and if the System wanted to give them a trial to prove that they could have the Class, it was a possibility.

What sort of trial it could give them was questionable.

If it relied on Karl's own strength, it likely wouldn't be a combat trial. Most of the Immortals who would want an advanced class were stronger than he was.

Well, if you looked at it through pure energy throughput, most of the Immortals in general were stronger than he was. But that didn't mean they were better fighters.

By the time that he finished, Karl had created a hundred layers of stone, carved inside and out on each layer, and then bonded them to a large square base.

That would not be knocked over by accident, though he did put a defensive barrier on it as well as a mana gathering runic formation, so that it didn't need outside protection or energy to activate.

Now all that was left was to put it out so that others could reach it, and to find a volunteer to test it.

[Finding good volunteers is always the hard part.] Remi agreed.

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