"So where are the caves?" Evala asked, and the other two looked at her while Ichtvar gave her the stink eye. "What?"

"I just said they're right here," Keith gestured to the cliff wall.

Nathan muttered something the other two were sure was, "At least Samantha knows how to pay attention."

"This seriously looks like a cliff," Evala said.

"Illusion," Keith said. "Nathan already said his familiar said it was concealed by one."

"I also don't hear any wind moving through," her ears twitched a couple of times. "No sound indicating it would be a passage. Our voices aren't echoing or anything."

"We are literally standing in front of magical barrier in a dimension frozen in time where select areas are unfrozen temporarily to allow for people to enter so that they can fix shit that's wrong," Nathan snapped. "Pretty sure the barrier can handle stuff like that, you fucking moron."

The two guys and their familiars all agreed upon seeing Evala's face that she had no idea about the Dungeons, so Keith explained it to her.

"And this is all theory?" She asked.

"No," Ichtvar said. "We're in another dimension from ours and yours. Sparky and I both agree it's the same one as all other Dungeons we've been in, as well as one Challenge Nathan was in. From our records of Dungeons others have done, all Dungeons have followed similar veins: multiple stages or simply slaughtering everything. This dimension is also a very real one, and not one of the artificial ones, such as those used in extended Survival Challenges and the Tutorial Game."

"We have other reasons for believing what we do," Keith said. "But the belief is there, and it's tangible for us."

"And one day," Nathan added. "We're going to destroy the game itself and murder the bastards who put us through this."

Without waiting for Evala to respond, Nathan stepped through the cliff wall, disappearing from her senses entirely. Keith quickly followed, his familiar soaring in with him, and Evala brought up the rear. The three of them read the notice in their visions, standing just inside the cave entrance.

Trial Entered: Trials of Light Complete the Trials of Light. Warning: Only one player may run the Trials of Light at a time. Familiars cannot enter. You must complete it to leave the caves it is housed in.

None of them were exactly sure what to make of the message. Looking at Evala's face told Nathan and Keith that she'd never heard of such a thing before, either.

"The fuck are Trials?" Keith asked.

"Hm," Nathan thought for a moment, then pulled out the System phone they all had and began looking through it.

"It's not a comprehensive guide," Keith said.

"It does update from time to time," Nathan said. "Sometimes based on things that occur or are awarded in-game. Remember? It even includes the bit about multi-Dungeon Dungeons. Found 'Trials'. They aren't Dungeons, but can be found in them.

"Often concealed through hidden entrances," he continued reading and summarizing. "They are 'normal zones', where we lose access to the System's stuff temporarily. No Item Box, no stats, none of that stuff. It happens as soon as you begin the actual Trial, not just when you step into the area. Upon completion, you'll acquire a special item and regain access once you exit the trial space and reenter the starting area. Under 'Trials of Light', it lists it as a weapon tailored to the completer.

"They can be completed by any number of players," Nathan continued. "But can only be completed one time by each player. However, once a Trial is completed, it becomes available to any player who has ever completed a Trial but hasn't completed them.

"It looks like," he pocketed his phone and looked back to Keith. "Trials are rare, and something outside of the System. They might be a remnant of whatever society was around, whatever the Overseers were, before they became the Overseers. We're also allowed to reveal the existence of the Trials, which backs them being rare."

Keith thought for a few moments, then nodded.

"Why didn't it tell us about them?" She asked. "If it's not a Dungeon, then this isn't the missing Secondary Dungeon."

"Because," Keith said. "It probably would have told whoever fully completed this island that there was a Trial Grounds hidden on it somewhere, or something. Or possibly whoever completed the final Isles of Darkness Dungeon."

"It's also possible," Nathan added. "It may have never informed anyone, had we not stumbled upon it. I'll go first."

The three of them walked through the tunnel on the other side of the cave, which led them deeper underground, until they arrived in another chamber, this one with a stone pedestal at the entrance of another tunnel with darkness on the other side, none of the islands' runes illuminating it from within.

As Nathan approached the pedestal, a message appeared in his vision.

WARNING! If you pass by the Trial Pedestal, you will lose access to the System until you return to this chamber after completing the Trial! You can only exit the Trial once you complete it, even if you have not yet begun it, as you have entered this area!

Nathan dismissed the message.

"Keith," he turned and faced the mage. "The System can tell if we're actually reading its messages or not."

"What do you mean?" Keith asked.

"It didn't let me," Nathan explained. "Dismiss the warning message until after I'd read through it. Skimming it didn't let me, I had to actually read every word, in order."

"That's somewhat disturbing," Keith said, and Evala nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," Nathan nodded, then approached the pedestal.

When he did, a notice appeared in his vision.

Trial Requirements: Naked, unarmed, and alone. Leave behind all possessions and familiars. If you have any form of spatial or dimensional storage, it will be inaccessible during the Trial. You may recover them once you complete the Trial. If you die, then you will have no need of them.

Nathan read the runes on the pedestal, which gave him the same information, and just as bluntly. He informed Keith of that, and the enchanter shrugged.

"I guess it was meant to test someone's raw ability?" Keith replied. "Where's Breezy?"

"Currently hovering above your head," Nathan removed his backpack, then began stripping. "Watch my stuff."

"Will do," Keith responded.

"Does he always fold his clothes when he takes them off?" Evala asked as Nathan sent his neatly-folded shirt into his Clothing Box, as usual.

"Yes," Keith answered as the shoes and socks were removed and sent in. "Nathan… is a bit of a neat-freak when it comes to clothes. You mentioned before that your people don't wear clothes except on certain occasions. How do you normally treat them?"

"We normally just take them off and drop them or toss them into the basket," she answered as Nathan finished stripping and folding his clothes to put into his Clothes Box. "They aren't that important to my people."

Nathan ignored their conversation and stepped into the tunnel, and he felt some sort of shift. Testing, he confirmed that he had no access to his menus, and his speed and strength were back to what they should have been.

Still greater than they were before the Tutorial, though, because of his additional training and awakening.

Reaching out with a hand, Nathan let one hand drag along the to his right as he listened for shifts in sound and the feel of the air. The tunnel twisted and wound, and several times, Nathan had to step across a small gap in the ground, or walk across a thin bridge, or get around some other obstacle.

He knew he wasn't Keith, and couldn't just learn a new spell, so he had to traverse the place in darkness, blind. Even great eyesight couldn't see where there was no light.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

After more than an hour, Nathan spotted light ahead, the flickering of flames. Cautiously, he continued walking. Not long after he spotted the flames, he nearly stepped into another pit, and felt around until he found the ledge against one wall.

Slowly and carefully, Nathan inched across the ledge, reaching the other side of the gap twenty feet later. After that, the next obstacle was a wall in his path with a gap big enough for him to see the flames through.

It took him a minute, but he located an open space in the wall on the left, a ledge a few feet off the ground, and he pulled himself up onto it, crawling through the brief tunnel that went around the path's block.

Carefully, Nathan lowered himself down, feeling for the ground before releasing the ledge.

The rest of the trip towards the brazier with a pedestal in front of it went smoothly, and he read the pedestal. Unlike the one at the entrance, this one had both words and images. The images were of a series of empty braziers, with one above them having flames in it. Arrows pointed from that one to the ones below. Even without reading, he could guess that it meant he had to light other braziers.

The runes above confirmed it. There were ten braziers throughout the room ahead, and he needed to light all of them to move on. A torch leaned against the brazier with flames in it, and Nathan picked it up and lit it from the flames.

Using the torch to light his way, Nathan walked along the right-hand wall, coming across the first brazier quickly. He touched his torch into it, and the flames spread into it. With that one lit, he continued walking around the wall. There was another in the corner, then halfway down that wall, and in the corner, then halfway to the passage to the next tunnel. The other side of the chamber was the same, and when Nathan finished, he looked around the room.

That wasn't difficult at all.

The path itself wrapped around the outer edge of the room, but there was also a path leading straight across from the entrance to the exit, as well as an additional path leading from the center of that one to each brazier.

He frowned, then shook his head and made his way across the center path and into the next tunnel. As he entered it, he felt the torch yank out of his hand, and watched as it flew across the chamber back to where he had picked it up, extinguished.

Sighing, Nathan began walking down the next tunnel, one hand touching the walls. Coming across no obstacles, he made it to the next chamber easily. This one was illuminated by runes along the walls and ceilings, allowing him to see the many posts set into the deep pit.

There were easily hundreds of them, spread out at uneven heights and distances, and the chamber itself stretched at least two hundred yards across. Some of the posts had the runes on them as well, in two colors. Some were red, while others were glowing with the same white-yellow light as the normal lighting runes.

Nathan knew that if he fell into the darkness below, his life was probably over. The platform on the other end of the chamber, where the exit should be, had nothing but a wall attached to it.

The warrior turned his gaze to the pedestal. As with the previous, it had both runes informing him of the challenge and images depicting it. For this stage of the Trial, Nathan had to land on every last post with the glowing red runes, and they would shift to the normal light. Only once all posts with glowing runes had the regular light would the other door open.

Looking at the posts, Nathan knew that he would barely be able to stand on them.

Keith might have a hard time in here.

Stepping past the pedestal, Nathan stepped onto the nearest post as he looked for the nearest with red runes. To make it over, he had to step and jump between posts. Grateful for his balance training as part of the martial arts training he spent most of his life going through, he began to make his way across the posts.

As he traveled, seeking out every last red post, he discovered on more than a few occasions that he needed to turn around or go a different path. Either the post he wanted to get onto was too low to make the next jump, or too high, or too far away.

The closer he grew to the exit's platform, the more frequently this occurred, to the point where he began having a hard time knowing which posts were good or not, even with his ability to judge the distances. A few were even a little bit thinner than the others, with a couple allowing him room for only one foot.

Nearing the final post with red runes, Nathan's foot slipped as he landed on a post, and he fell backwards. Reaching out on instinct, Nathan managed to grip the top of the post firmly enough to not fall all the way down, but it did result in him swinging straight into the post.

"Ow!" He winced as he crushed a sensitive area.

Hauling himself up, Nathan managed to stand on the post. Rubbing his sore spot, he winced again, then continue his journey, a little more carefully.

When he finally landed on the final post with the red runes, a section of the wall at the exit faded away, and Nathan carefully made his way there, needing to loop around to reach it. Once he finally landed, he followed the path to the next chamber.

There, the air felt moist, and the pedestal was illuminated by runes on itself. The room he was in felt cavernous, and he was unable to see its depths. The light on the pedestal wasn't enough for him to see the floor, even.

That one informed him that he was in a room with a series of 'lakes', with a wall sectioning off each part of it. Somewhere along the wall was a small island he needed to cross to reach the next lake, and the next stage of the trial was past the dark chamber of swimming hell.

At least, that's Nathan decided to call it, grateful that there weren't any monsters in it. If the Trial was protected, anyway.

Walking forward, Nathan carefully moved his feet until he felt nothing beneath it, then pulled his foot back and knelt down, reaching to feel the water. It was only a few inches below the platform.

Lowering himself into the cold water, Nathan began swimming until he reached a wall. Then, he followed it to the right, and found himself turning down another, then another, and he was back at the starting platform. Growling, Nathan pushed off and swam in what he hoped was a straight direction, aiming back for the wall he'd reached first. When he reached it that time, he swam along the wall to the left, until he came to a break in it.

It was a platform, and when he pulled himself onto it, runes along the bottom edge of it began to glow, just above the water.

At least it lets us know if the one we reached is the one we're coming from, he thought, collapsing onto it. How many more of these do I have to go through?

After the posts, he was sore. The swimming increased that, even if he had enough stamina to continue.

Growling lightly, Nathan made his way to the other side of the platform and dove into the water, swimming straight forward. When he reached the far wall, he swam to the right until he reached a platform, then pulled himself upon it.

In the next lake, the platform he needed to reach was not on the direct opposite wall, but the wall to the left of where he started. The next section, it was on the right-hand wall, and again in the next three, before he finally pulled himself onto the platform on the left-hand wall.

As its runes lit up, Nathan's eyes rested on the entrance to the next stage, cautious. Runes were lit up along its path when they lit up on the platform, and that was suspicious, since that hadn't happened before.

Nathan sat down and gave himself half an hour to collect himself, then he stood up and began walking through the passage. It looped around while leading him even deeper beneath the island. It was too cool down there for him to dry, and Nathan shivered more than once. He knew he'd catch a cold if he didn't find a way to warm up soon.

When it finally ended, he found himself in a chamber with a pedestal in the center and a rectangular altar behind it. Nathan approached the pedestal and read off of it. The image beneath it only showed a hand touching the altar, then a series of items. The runes were more helpful.

Touch the crystal on the altar to receive your reward and open the passage back to the start.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Nathan walked over to the altar and examined it. Set into the front of it was a yellowish-orange crystal, and when he placed his hand upon it, the surface of the altar glowed and barriers of golden light formed around it, rising from the edges. When the barriers faded away, his reward sat upon the altar.

A long sword, sheathed in a leather-and-gold scabbard. The hilt itself was both simple and elegant at the same time, and some sort of yellow-orange stone rested in the pommel, a sunbeam design on the crosspiece. The grip itself was made of strips of leather spiraled around it, allowing for a comfortable grip.

Nathan picked up the sword, and a passage opened up behind the altar. Before going through it, he drew the blade.

Crafted of a pale yellow metal, Nathan could tell just by touching the sword that it was powerful in some way. It was simple, yet elegant, just like its hilt, and he sensed something holy within it.

When he gave it a test swing, he both found it perfectly balanced and suited for him and discovered that the edges of the blade glowed as it was swung. Using his magic sight, he looked into the weapon and found enchantments layered so heavily, he couldn't make them out.

Nathan sheathed the blade, then hurried through the passage, shivering even more as he went. When he finally entered into the chamber with the others, he glanced behind himself as a pair of messages formed in his vision. No passage there.

Trial of Light completed. System access restored.

Would you like to buy fluffy towels and a thick blanket for 100 Points? Yes No

Yes, Nathan responded immediately, and a thick blanket and pair of fluffy white towels appeared in front of him as the other two turned to face him.

"Why are you soaked?" Keith asked as Nathan caught the items.

"Because it's too cool to just dry," Nathan answered. "And it's somewhat humid underground."

He began drying himself off, ignoring the fact that Evala was already naked and had approached him.

"Want me to help you warm up?" She asked.

"No," he finished rubbing himself down with the towels, making sure to get his hair before wrapping the blanket around himself and sitting down, pulling it over his head so that he was completely concealed. "The Trial changes between attempts. Evala, you go next."

It was only a suspicion Nathan had, but the room with the posts suggested that to him. Why would it have posts that had the proper lights instead of only ones with the wrong color, with instructions to land on all of the wrongly-colored lights?

"Alright," Evala said, then made her way past the entrance of the Trial as Keith gave Nathan's curled-up, blanket-cocooned form an amused look.

"You know you have a phoenix that could probably warm you, right?" Keith asked as Evala disappeared from sight.

"Right," Nathan said, his voice muffled by the blankets. "By the way, I think the stages themselves are the same, only with some variations to each one. So you both will probably have to do the swimming one, too. It is a lot of swimming, so keep that in mind and make sure to rest between each section of it. Can you bring me the backpack with Ichtvar in it? He's being stubborn and saying he's comfy where he is."

"Is it really that cold?" Keith laughed as he grabbed Nathan's backpack and brought it over.

"Yes," Nathan adjusted his blanket so he could sit up with it still wrapped around him, then opened up his backpack. "We go pretty deep beneath, and it gets damp and the air is chilly. The water we have to swim in is chilly, too. The only reason I don't have hypothermia is probably because of how much I was moving."

"What are the stages you had to do?" Keith asked as Nathan pulled the phoenix out and under the blanket, which he wrapped tightly around himself.

Nathan explained them, and the two began to wait for Evala to return.