Uru's Third Temple

(These summaries have been taken from the author's website with permission]

# Uru's Third Temple - Summary

Trapped in the Spirit Realm, Ruwen and his friends quickly learn that death doesn’t exist there, but pain still does. For the first time, Ruwen can actually see his Center and the Core that resides there. Snaking out from his Center like roots are pathways that connect to his Meridians. All twelve of them.

Rami, the bookwyrm soulbound to Ruwen, tells him anything over six connections allows you to become a god. Having all twelve means he has the potential to become the most powerful being in the Universe Rami explains the Mana people use to power their spells is just a combination of all twelve Meridian essences given to them by the gods, and that Ruwen could cast any spell if he knew the proper combinations of essence to use.

Ruwen takes advantage of not dying by experimenting with his Harvesting risk free. He starts by taking the Spirit in his Core and routing it through each Meridian, extracting its particular essence. Using a handful of essences, he creates basic fire, ice, and healing spells.

Four strangers appear, and Ruwen learns they are the four Champions Naktos had successfully placed in the Spirit Realm before Ruwen. Three of them were previous Uru Champions, and their leader, Kaylin, believes Ruwen is their path to return home. Kaylin is an Observer and Order combination and the first Champion to be trapped in the Spirit Realm. Mica is a Mage and Merchant dual Class, and lastly Una, an Observer and Fighter combination. The last Champion is Jagen, the Champion of Izac, Uru’s divine brother. Jagen loves armor and is a Fighter and Healer combination.

Rami believes there might be a way out of the Spirit Realm to the south, so they leave the dungeon. They encounter a Plague Siren, an Infernal Realm demon currently at peak Diamond level, with a full Core, and almost ready to transition out of the Gem levels and into the Divine Harvesting levels. She attacks their group and Ruwen defeats her by shoving his Core into hers, shattering her Center because it couldn’t expand to hold both Cores.

Ruwen reabsorbs his Core as well as the Plague Siren’s and they investigate her lair. Sift finds a small thumb sized turtle he names Shelly and the others find a fortune in terium coins and bags of loot. They divide everything equally, leaving three Aspects, sets of armor that protect Spirit users, as the only remaining items. Ruwen forces Sift to wear an Aspect that looks like a Falcon, and Ruwen takes the one that looks like a Scarecrow because it has a hood and completely covers his body, hiding his glowing Meridians and Core.

Ruwen uses his newly discovered essence spells to create a raft of ice, which they use to float down the coast. During the trip, Ruwen uses Rami’s ability to speed his thoughts along with the Spirit Realm's inability to die, to condense four and a half years of constant Step training into a few hours. When Ruwen emerges from Rami’s time compression, he almost mirrors Sift’s abilities, and can now fight like a Step Master.

A miscalculation causes their raft to drift into an essence storm and Ruwen absorbs the entire storm, using the fact he has access to all twelve Meridians to survive. They move inland and soon encounter a group of Cultivators, who believe Ruwen, because he wears the Scarecrow Aspect, to be responsible for killing many of their Clan members. To pass safely, they only need to see Ruwen’s Core, and test it for Infernal Realm contamination. Ruwen can’t show them his Core because it would reveal he is an Axiom, a person with all twelve Meridians connected to his Center. In addition, he absorbed the Plague Siren’s Core which was full of Infernal Realm Spirit.

Because Ruwen refuses to reveal his Core, the Cultivators give him the choice to fight for his innocence. He accepts and battles Phoenix, a powerful Diamond level Cultivator. Blapy and Sift’s parents attend the match, along with thousands of other Cultivators. Ruwen uses every trick he can think of to survive the match. As he fights Phoenix, Ruwen realizes that portions of the Bamboo Viper Step forms are hiding another form. This hidden form appears to target the Meridians of Cultivators.

Ruwen survives the match only to face the greater danger of being interrogated by Sift’s parents, Madda and Padda. They want to know how Ruwen discovered the hidden form and make him swear a soul oath to not reveal or use it until the Bamboo Viper and Shadow Clan approve it.

After finishing with Madda and Padda, Ruwen thinks the worst is over, but Blapy grabs him. When Blapy had arrived at the match, Ruwen learned she was the One True God’s Companion, and a being of unbelievable power in her own right. Something she had seen here in the Spirit Realm had forced her into a decision on his fate. Blapy asks to see his memories and Ruwen agrees, knowing he has nothing to hide.

But this trip to the Spirit Realm had revealed other secrets about Ruwen, and he didn’t have any idea how Blapy would respond to them. He had learned Uru had brought his parents here, that she had operated on him while in his mother’s womb, and that he’d been born here. After viewing his memories, Blapy wanted to know why he’d mentioned protecting the harvest when speaking with Phoenix during the fight, and why he’d chosen to wear the Scarecrow Aspect. He answered honestly and Blapy spares his life, but it feels like Blapy decides something of even greater importance as well.

Blapy had given a Wyrm Coin to everyone at the match, allowing them to speak or request anything within reason of her. Rami uses her coin, and Ruwen uses Sift’s, who said he already sees the seven-year-old far too much, to gain two books from Blapy. When combined with the books in Rami’s memory already, they provide a way for them to get home.

Using this knowledge leads them to a lake surrounded by gigantic iris plants. After a battle with a giant squid, Ruwen figures out how to utilize the petals of the iris plant as a gate portal using the portal chalk Tremine had passed him during his betrayal. Ruwen uses the gate runes that Bliz had seen when he stuck his head inside his Void Band, killing himself for the view. The portal that opens leads them into Uru’s Divine Realm.

Everyone is overwhelmed to finally be free of the Spirit Realm, but the arrival of Jagen, Izac’s Champion, in Uru’s Divine Realm triggers a violation of the Pact and Blapy, as the adjudicator for the gods, arrives. Jagen and Una are in love, and Jagen doesn’t want to return to Izac, but Blapy tells him Izac has already sensed his return and it is impossible to hide. Uru is concerned about what Jagen saw in the Spirit Realm regarding Ruwen’s Spirit use and can’t let him live. Lylan uses her Wyrm Coin, requesting Blapy to remove Jagen’s memories of the Spirit Realm, and return them when it is safe for Jagen and Una to be together. Lylan tells Jagen he will feel empty and depressed until the memories return.

Blapy takes Jagen away and Uru tasks her four Champions with defending the country against an invasion. Uru assigns Ruwen to defend the southern border along with restoring Uru’s third temple. Ruwen, unaware that Uru had a third temple, is surprised, after Uru teleports him and his friends there, that the abandoned temple lies in the same valley his parents disappeared in a year ago.

After locating the temple and the ruined city that surrounds it, Ruwen and his friends fight one of Izac’s Bone Sculptors, who uses the immense number of skeletons surrounding the city to fuel his creations. After defeating him they explore the temple and discover over seven hundred thousand people are in queue to revive, all but three of them having died over ten thousand years ago. The three recent additions are both of Ruwen’s parents, and Hamma’s father, who disappeared when she was a baby.

Ruwen learns he needs the Architect Role and the only way to get it is to die. Ruwen kills himself, and Uru meets with him as his body revives. She transfers her Architect Role to him, making her a divine apostate, and giving Ruwen the power of a god. Ruwen uses the new Role to speak with the Temple, an entity that calls himself Lir, and together they restore the temple. Bringing the temple back into operation extends Uru’s Blessing, her area of control, for hundreds of miles in every direction.

They begin the revival process of Hamma’s dad and Ruwen’s parents. Blapy arrives and asks Ruwen where he wants his new portal to Fractal, and the book ends with Bliz and Tremine on their way to meet Ruwen in his new city.