Eternal Dungeon POV

It seemed that Ava’s own had finally finished the Royal Woods Event. This would let them do the questline to unlock the 3rd floor and it now freed up the Royal Woods for another group. I had intentionally designed the Royal Woods in such a way that only one group at a time would be allowed to attempt the Event. Other groups could still go into the woods and fight the monsters, they could even find and fight the Princes, but they would never make progress on the event. If you didn’t have the event prompt than the Princes and any mobs you killed would simply respawn, you couldn’t make a permanent change on the Royal Woods if you didn’t have the event active. In the future I planned on expanding the area to allow 2-3 groups to do the event at once. I continued to go over my floors before I felt two sudden pulls on my attention. Two of my dungeon denizens had created a powerful link with me and were currently trying to draw a lot of mana. I investigated these links further to see what was happening.

Spiritkin POV

Aika was excited, today was the day that she would finally get to choose a role. She would pick her place within Lord Eternals great tapestry and finally become a part of his plans. She knew that she was destined for greatness, she refused to settle for anything less than a place by Lord Eternal’s side. Others had received the Guardsman role, but what Aika wanted went beyond that. Lord Eternal had given her people life and given her the ability to fight, she could think of no better use for her Kinetic Manipulation innate ability than to defeat the enemies of her lord. She wanted to be a protector of both her people and her lord and she made sure to direct all her thoughts in this direction in hope of being offered a role that would fit her desires.

“Aika! Sweety, are you ready for your ceremony?” I hear the voice my mother call to me from downstairs. I give my cheeks a good slap to focus my thoughts and move away from the mirror I had used to finish my hair styling. My mother agreed to let me choose my outfit myself for once since I was finally becoming an adult and wouldn’t be able to rely on her as much. After today I would need to be responsible for myself and my role, I would be an adult. I quickly moved downstairs so that my mother could finally look at the first of the choices I had made for myself, my outfit.

“Aika!” My mother exclaims upon seeing me, she looks me over with a critical eye “It’s certainly . . . fierce'' she eventually says. Close enough to a compliment that my fluffy fox tail wiggles back and forth. My outfit was designed with combat in mind, I had taken much inspiration from the many token bearers who passed through our town. I was wearing a sleeveless dress that went just past my knees with a slit down each side to allow for ease of movement. A pair of shorts helped to both keep my modesty as well as provide a boost to defense due to their enchanted nature, in fact all my underclothing was enchanted for defense with my outerwear being enchanted to boost my innate ability. It took a lot of trial and error on the part of the town's enchanters to figure out how to boost my innate power, but the right mixture of mental focus and mana conductivity enchantments allowed me to use my innate ability 16% more than normal. My dress used a triadic color palette that went with the orange of my fox ears and tail, making the dress an eye-catching combination of purple and green. My current outfit was my combat gear and I was wearing it because it was tradition for each Spiritkin to give a display before and after their Role ceremony to show the difference in ability Lord Eternal’s blessing brings. I had planned on doing a spar against some of the guardsmen as a show of my combat ability, after all the role I desired was a protector and one must have strength to protect.

I moved from the stairway to the hall, walking past my mother now that she was done looking me over. Our family would arrive at the ceremony site together and the others would arrive as the day ended. It was tradition for the one receiving their role to wait at the altar from sunrise to sunset in a show of devotion, the family waiting with them was optional but often done as a sign of solidarity and respect for the new adult. Only once the sun went down would the ceremony begin in earnest and all the Spiritkin would gather to watch on.

I arrived with my family at the sacred site, located on the top most floor of the World Tree Wyla’s interior space, a space that was hidden from outsiders. This place was the closest one could get to Lord Eternal without first being given permission. Somehow the outside world could be seen from this place looking out past the branches to see the entire second floor spread out below us. In the center of this sacred place was the shrine to Lord Eternal, a pylon of dungeon stone engraved with his power, one even more potent than the one the token bearers had access to. 5 perfect circles were drawn around the shrine, each equidistant from one another and getting progressively larger the farther they got from the shrine in the center. I took my place kneeling in prayer at the edge of the outermost circle, not daring to cross the threshold without the protection of the ceremony. The mana was already so dense that I could feel its weight simply by being in the room. If one looked close enough they would see the mana was so dense within the very center that tiny drops of liquid mana condensed onto the outside of the pylon before dripping down into a pool below it. I was unable to even use my mana vision within this room or I would go blind from the stimulus.

I waited with my family for many hours. It was part of the trial as patience was considered one of the virtues of adulthood and one who couldn’t wait for a single day was unfit to be an adult. I filled my head with thoughts of what I wanted and what I wished to accomplish and pushed all those thoughts towards Lord Eternal. I put my all into my devoted thinking hoping and praying to be given a special role that would fit my ambitions. I did my best to not only push my thoughts towards my Lord but also to open myself up to him, to simply allow him to read me so that he could see the earnest desire in my heart to protect him. I spent the whole day going through my cycle of thoughts trying to form a deeper connection with Lord Eternal. Slowly, without my notice, the other Spiritkin trickled into the sacred site one by one as their roles no longer required them to be present within the town. The area around me filled up with the many Spiritkin who called our town home, the entirety of our species was present, all made by Lord Eternal himself.

I finally moved, standing from my kneeling position as the Sun finally sets and the moon starts its journey through the night sky. I turn to face the crowd of Spiritkin and watch as the Mayor approaches me with a smile on his face.

“We gather once more among the branches of the World Tree Wyla to elevate the status of one of our own to adulthood. Today Aika, daughter of Sumiko will perform the rites of adulthood and receive her blessing from Lord Eternal in the form of a Role. She shall join us as an adult, as a member of the great Lord's tapestry.” The mayor begins the ceremony with a speech, as is tradition. His speech continues on but I zone it out for now, I already know that it will end with him giving me the floor for my demonstration of skill. I began to mentally prepare myself to give the best showing I could. I went through every mental exercise I could to reinforce my ability and prepare myself for the spar.

“- and now I will turn over the spotlight to Aika, so that she may demonstrate the skill she has achieved as a child before undergoing the changes of the ceremony” The mayor finishes his speech and moves back to sit with the crowd. I slowly stand up and turn to look at the crowd, I see my parents and friends in the front row along with the mayor who just sat down. Behind and around them I can see the rest of the Spiritkin all watching on. I motion to the guards who agreed to help with my demonstration and they stand up and start moving towards me.

“The path I have chosen for myself shall be one similar to the guards who keep the peace of our town. I wish to be a protector of all that is precious to me. Lord Eternal gave to me a gift for combat and I wish to be recognized for such.” I say as I pull out my weapon, a whip crafted from hundreds of small blades segmented together into a flexible coil of razor sharp metal. The internals are crafted from mithril to allow my mana to conduct easily with the outsides made from Earth Steel which is an incredibly heavy metal for its size. I had to train my strength stat up for weeks to even be able to move the weapon properly without using my ability. It was worth it though because when I do use my ability on all that mass it makes it a highly destructive weapon.

The eight guards step forwards and one of them uses the role skill to mark this as a sparring session. By using his role skill to do so it ensures that Lord Eternal will stop any true harm from happening to those sparring, it will allow both sides to go all out. All of us wait for the feeling of the skill snapping into place and once it comes we all burst into motion. Four guards draw blades and charge forwards while the other four draw bows and move back. I begin my dance. My bladed whip twirls around me in smooth motions allowing me to deter all four of the close range guards. Anytime they attempt to get closer they quickly find themselves assaulted by several bladed segments. As I focus on keeping the melee guards back I feel a sudden movement coming towards my back. I focus my ability and the second the arrow makes contact all of its kinetic force is drained from it and sent into my weapon causing several segments to whip erratically towards the guards engaged in melee with me. I landed a solid hit on two of the guards scoring a deep cut to an arm and a lighter one to a leg, the other two guards managed to avoid the wild movement but were forced into a worse defending position. I continue my assault as the arrows fly, it takes all my concentration to redirect the energy from the arrows into the bladed whip. If I take too little energy the arrows will pierce my defensive gear, take too much and I drain my mana too fast. It’s a delicate balance I hold as my dance continues, my bladed whip now moving like a living creature as opposed to an inanimate weapon. It isn’t long though before I’ve made a mistake, I realize that I’ve lost track of one of the guards who was shooting at me. I scan my surroundings as best as I can but my inability to use my mana sense cripples my perceptive abilities. I find where he is a moment before he strikes the movement of the air giving away his position. He’s in a blindspot to my back right and is aiming a sword strike for my shoulder, an attempt to force me to drop my weapon. I ready myself for the true test of my ability as his mana infused strike lands on my shoulder. I pull as much energy away from it as I can. I can feel my mind straining under the pressure of my ability but I manage to redirect away enough force that the sneak attack leaves only a light cut on my skin. I force the power I redirected into my weapon causing it to suddenly change directions and smash into my attacker with incredible force. The guard is practically bisected before the sparring skill flashes and ends the bout. In an instant all injury has vanished, but the fatigue is still there. I collapse to all fours breathing heavily, trying to vent my brain which feels like it's on fire. I lost again. Sure it's impressive that I would’ve killed one of them but I won’t be happy until I can beat all eight without breaking a sweat. That’s the level of power I need if I want to protect Lord Eternal and the Spiritkin.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“A well done demonstration, I doubt there are any other Spiritkin here who could’ve put up such a fight to eight guard roles.” The mayor has stood back up and moved to take the spotlight, allowing me some much needed rest before the next part of the ceremony. I can tell that he especially drags out the normal speech just so I can be better prepared for what’s to come. I try my best to relax my body while refocusing my thoughts onto the true trial. If I want a truly unique role I need to make it through as many rings as I can. The farthest anyone in my generation has gotten so far has been three rings out of five, I want to make it at least four, maybe even five if I can manage the pressure. The mayor is running out of speech and I know that soon I’ll have to go into the rings. I take a deep breath and clear my head of all thoughts unrelated to my goal. Reach the next ring. That’s all I think about as I’m helped to my feet by my mother and father. It’s tradition for the young to be thrown into the first ring to eliminate any hesitation. All I can do is prepare for it.

“Now let this girl begin her trials to join us as a young woman. May you be judged by Lord Eternal and find his blessing!” The mayor finishes and I feel myself thrown into the first ring. The minute I pass that insignificant line on the floor I can feel the mana crushing my body. The density of the mana has already doubled and each ring only gets worse. I take several minutes slowly crawling forwards on all fours as my body acclimates to the pressure of the mana. Reach the next ring. Don’t stop moving. These two things are the only thing I focus on, slowly inching my way from the fifth ring to the fourth ring. It takes me ten minutes to cross the 30 foot space and when I finally do I feel the pressure of mana increase yet again, now it's three and half times what it was outside the rings and I feel my arms and legs shaking. I focus my mind and keep moving. No hesitation, don’t stop. Reach the next ring.

As I cross the halfway point towards the third ring I feel my mana core forcefully expanded by a stage, I just leveled up from the ambient mana alone. Keep moving. Reach the next ring. I continue my crawl and after half an hour I make it across the boundary to the third ring. I instantly collapse down onto my chest as the pain of my core being once more forcefully expanded hits me. The mana pressure is six times higher than outside and I already feel like my organs are being crushed. I feel like my very soul is slowly being squeezed to death. Reach the next ring. I refuse to give up here, all I need is to keep moving forwards. I have plenty of mana, USE IT.

I force my ability to activate sucking the kinetic energy from the air around me causing it to rapidly cool as I redirect it into an outwards force on my body giving my muscles enough reprieve to slowly move forwards again. I’d try and fling myself to the next ring but I’m worried that an unacclimated body would just explode from the pressure. Reach the next ring. I continued my crawl using my ability to relieve just enough pressure to allow me to move, while still allowing enough to slowly acclimate my body. It takes me 2 more forced level ups, 8 more collapses where I once almost fainted, and a full hour just to inch my way into the second circle. I refused to stop moving the entire time, always inching just a little bit closer, I feared that the moment I stopped my body would give out and the blessing would begin. I refused to give up. I would rather be forced unconscious by the mana pressure than give up on myself. I could do this, one more ring to go.

I crawl my way into the second ring and feel the pressure once again flatten me, all the air I’ve desperately held in my lungs is forced from my body. I’m literally being suffocated by my own weight. The mana here is ten times more dense than the outside. Beads of sweat instantly freeze on the surface of my body as I force more of the energy from the air into myself to counteract the pressure of the mana. My focus is almost broken by another forced level up but I can feel myself becoming numb to the pain. After the level up comes a different feeling that eases the pressure on my mind, I think my ability just leveled up. After being stuck at level zero for my whole life my ability just leveled to one. The relief is instant and I use this second wind to move from a flat on the ground crawl to moving forwards on all fours. My knees and wrists ache from the forces I’ve been subjecting them to. Reach the next ring. I still have more to give, more than ever. My body is brimming with mana and I’m the highest leveled I’ve ever been, I can do this. My mind is nothing but determination and pain warring for control over my body as I force myself forwards. I stumble every time my level is forcefully increased but I recover faster every time as my mind and body get used to the pain of my core expanding. In my fugue state I suddenly find myself collapsing once again.

Is this it? The end of my journey I’m not even sure how far I’ve come. The mana pressure feels like it's squeezing harder than ever. My core is trying to expand but it can’t, I’ve hit Lord Eternal’s level cap. My eyes feel like they’re being pushed out of my skull, my brain is nothing but fiery pain, a slew of system notifications are pinging in the back of my mind but I ignore them. Reach. The. Next. Circle. I will not give up. Not so long as I can move even a single muscle. Not so long as I can think a single thought. I will not give up even in death for I am a Spiritkin, blessed one of Lord Eternal. KEEP MOVING FORWARDS. I pull all the energy within range of my ability and force myself to keep moving. No longer am I using my strained muscles to move but I am utilizing my ability to directly stimulate my limbs. I slowly crawl my way forwards the frozen sweat sealing my eyes and ears. Suddenly everything comes to a stop. My hand is placed upon a cold, rough, vertical surface the texture of stone. I reach farther up, climbing my hand upwards along the surface. I faintly hear the sound of grinding stone and the movement of air forced away by something else moving within it. My hand finds a smooth surface, it’s round and I can feel the mana pressure is somehow even more immense. I feel a connection form with my racial ability and my mind is taken away to a place free of my body.

“Why do you fight so hard? You are an immortal, undying so long as you hold my favor. What goal do you seek to achieve with this struggle?” A powerful voice, one of warmth and kindness, one of creation and destruction, one of death and life. The Creator. The Lord Eternal. My, our, God.

“I want to protect you. I want to protect all of them” My meek voice says into the void of the space my mind is in and I use the connection to lay bare my entire being. I hide no thought nor emotion from the Lord. I still remember the day I was born, into the body of a small child with remnant memories of a time before. We all remember what it was like to be nothing more than a construct of soul and mana to have no biology or physicality with which to interact with the world around us. Our kind had been summoned by dungeons before, to act as lieutenants and generals in their wars. But to be called into being and given form simply to live, free of any purpose we did not desire, was a new experience. We had been given a chance to truly live, free of the eternal mana hunger, free of the lack of stimulation, our minds opened once more to higher thought. How could we not be thankful? How could I not wish to protect that at all costs?

A chuckle ran through the mindspace I occupied, one of amusement and joy lacking any mockery. “So pure are the feelings of the young. I truly underestimated Spirits it seems. Very well, I shall grant your request.” A feeling of power rushes through me and I can once again feel my connection to my body. Mana is being forced into my body at a higher rate than even the innermost circle accomplished, yet this mana has intent and order to it as opposed to the chaos of normal ambient mana. I could feel my connection with Lord Eternal being reinforced as it grew into something new. Through every stimulus I was experiencing a single system notification made its way through.

Unique Conditions met. Evolution in progress.

Those words were the last thing I saw before my mind finally gave out from the stress of everything I had put it through. Blissful sleep took me away from the built up strain I had forced upon my body. As I slept my entire being was being slowly restructured.