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As soon as he had passed the threshold, Jace saw a small line of text floating in front of him. Not a System message, but a magical message in the air.
[4:55]
And the timer was slowly ticking down.
Ollie was tucked inside his hood and point to the left, “Tripwire!”
Jace slid under it. Thanks, but I already spotted that. He didn’t want to say it aloud and let Ollie know that he didn’t really need help with a sprinting-based challenge with obstacles. He let his old courier talents come to the forefront, relying on years of running through the streets and letting his peripheral vision – greatly enhanced by the new eyes – to keep him safe.
He had already swapped the Dark Matter Shield to (Rank 3) so that he could easily utilize his grapnel arm, and had sheathed his blade as well – not concerned about the imbuement effect fading, as he could re-do it for free thanks to the Starstorm Sword’s innate quality. He was thankful he did, as he saw the walls begin to shift and move.
Metal bars began to jut out at odd angles, forcing Jace to dip, duck, dive, slide, and kick off the walls to keep going at his rapid pace. The environment began to change slightly as the stone shifted and became a darker, black hue rather than the brown color it had been up to this point. The slope down got more steep, and if not for the clawed feet, Jace would have lost his footing and begun to slide down.
The hallway evened out and the rocky pillars stopped jutting towards him – instead, they were replaced by magical blades. Jace had to pull on every ounce of his control over his body to avoid the whirring, light-green, slicing objects. And yet the floor continued to get steeper. There was an arrow up ahead that pointed downward. A free-fall section?
[4:03]
Jace let out a laugh at how easily he traversed the terrain. Even during the free-fall; which was something he wasn’t extremely familiar with, his training to kick off of walls back-to-back to get on top of buildings was paying off. The same principle – just going down, and with odd angles to avoid the scything blades.
Here he was, returning to his roots in a magic-filled world, and he was fueled by prosthetics he would have never dreamed of owning, and had literal Cosmic Power running through him. It made him giddy and the adrenaline coursing through him just urged him on even faster.
The Dragonclaw Devastation Legs were extremely handy, as he was able to launch himself at angles that he would not have been able to if he had shoes alone. If not for the extra mobility they afforded – he would have surely been sliced up by the blades.
“This is too easy,” Ollie stated. “Something must be waiting ahead.”
Jace couldn’t help but smile widely at the challenge he was breezing through. His years of risky courier work was paying in dividends now. But eventually, the fall ended – and a pit of spikes lay below. Firing off the Ghostlight Grapnel Arm, he swung into a tunnel entrance below.
[3:44]
The tunnel narrowed and Jace had to slip between the rocks, coiling his body around the crevices with every ounce of body control he had built up. At one point, the rocks were so close that he had to completely let out all of his breath and shove himself into the gap – trusting in his arms on the other side to leverage him through.
He popped out of the tight squeeze and saw a larger chamber beyond. There was a monstrous creature in the room. An enormous, horned creature with brown fur and piercing, maddened, red eyes that shone like orbs of malevolence given corporeal form. Jace drew his sword as the creature hefted an enormous battleaxe in its hands. “Bring it!” Jace shouted as he took up a stance by instinct – body bladed against the target with the hilt coiled towards his chest, and the tip pointed at his foe. The tiny, black dot of his Dark Energy Mine still lingered on the weapon. Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending]. It blazed with crimson and purple light.
The creature charged ahead, and Jace waited until the last second before ducking a horizontal blow and coming back with a slash across the creature’s torso. He gripped down with his claws. Detonate. The axe-wielding monster began to float up, and Jace performed a standing kick, sending the monster careening to the other end of the room.
He threw and recalled the blade over and over, stacking up the [Rending] and (Rank 5) effects, covering the monstrous body in the nebula that signified the damage over time and slowing effects, respectively. The monster put its feet against the wall behind it, and pushed forward – flying towards Jace.
He recalled the sword one more time and threw it a little under the creature. And release. The Dark Energy Mine ceased, and the axe-wielding behemoth thudded to the ground before skidding – right into the thrown sword that pierced its head. Jace recalled the blade to his hand once more as the door at the far end of the chamber opened. “Dust it,” he ordered as he ran by the creature.
<<<<<>>>>>
[Stardust Acquired: 300]
<<<<<>>>>>
“That puts you at 1680 – enough for that level up to hit Tier 3 once you decide to confront Double-A.”
Jace nodded as he kept running through the doorway and down another tunnel. Once more, the walls shifted slightly in hue and became a pale grey color like concrete bricks. Alright, thinking on my feet. What could come next? I had shifting terrain, blades, a vertical section, a fight. Jace was racking his brain and letting his body operate on instinct while he thought through every single form of media – granted he hadn’t seen many vids – to think of any type of trap he could come across. Maybe something chasing me from behind?
Sparing a glance back, he couldn’t help but chuckle. An enormous surge of lava was chasing him, filling the entire tunnel…but he was outpacing it extremely well. He sheathed the sword. Looking forward, he saw a slight, golden glow of another archway door. Dashing through it, he skidded to a stop before clamping down with his claws. The doorway sealed over with a golden film, and text appeared on it.
[You have defeated the gauntlet of Thellor.]
[New record: time to clear 2:56.]
[Congratulations! You have exceeded my expectations. Please, do not disturb my tomb. If you wish to know my story, there is a podium with a book. The contents of the reward chest are yours to take – and if there are none, my sincere condolences.]
<<<<<>>>>>
[Quest Completed: Run the gauntlet.]
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
[Time Limit: N/A]
[Reward: Legendary (Equipment) Boon.]
[Sender: The Cosmic System.]
<<<<<>>>>>
Jace looked around the chamber as he sucked in breath and put his arms above his head into a recovery position. There room was all pristine, white marble with silvery inlay that formed a variety of scrollwork that told stories about this Thellor. Ollie floated around the room and inspected the three major items – a podium with a gilded book, a chest that was made of black wood and chased silver, and a pristine, black sarcophagus.
Jace walked over to the sarcophagus. “Here lies Thellor, companion and ally to the Archmage until his dying day.” He looked over at Ollie who had his head buried in the still-closed book. “Can you even read that?”
Ollie nodded and pulled his head out, “It is just data in a different format. I read all of it. Thellor was a childhood friend of The Ascendant Archmage; turns out his actual name is Yholl Tristrus. They were both the most powerful magic user and martial user – respectively – during their lifetimes. When Cosmogenic Merging hit, the two chose Aspirant. The two survived, became Ascendants at Tier 4, and then returned home.”
“Let me guess,” Jace said as he leaned against the sarcophagus. “They disagreed on how to run things.”
“Yeah. Yholl wanted to rule the world as Ascendants and join the Planetary Independence Pact, whereas Thellor wanted to world to join the Star Council. They both got into a fight about it, and Yholl won. Thellor was given a burial here, and his lingering…essence? Crafted the gauntlet.”
“I wonder if Yholl knew it was here,” Jace commented as he went over to the chest. He knelt and examined the seams along the top, not finding any indication of a trap or locking mechanism.
“Probable, since he made the dungeons – Complexes – for this Dungeon Run. I would bet he had a hand in this whole tomb gauntlet.”
Jace pulled open the lid, holding his breath. Inside the chest was a single pillow, and on top of it was an ornate vambrace that could fit over his forearm. Pulling it out, he held it up, “Mind figuring out what it is?” he asked Ollie.
Ollie flew over and scanned it, grinning with delight. “Oh, it is called Thellor’s Everguard. it projects a magic shield on the arm with it equipped - just like your Dark Matter Shield (Rank 1) and (Rank 2). But The Cosmic System co-opts it differently. It will make any Shield Skill free, just like the Starstorm Sword does for weapon imbuement.”
Jace grinned and strapped it on his Anathema Arm over the armored suit. “I assume that (Rank 3) will still cost me energy each time I’m struck. It’s just the activation energy cost that is negated?”
“Yup!” Ollie flew back over and snuggled around Jace’s neck once more inside his hood. “Same with the [Reflecting] Evolution – you will not be able to negate that cost.”
“Noted,” Jace replied as he scratched Ollie’s head. The simple action filled him with a sense of calm, and Ollie seemingly enjoyed a spot right under the chin. “Now, how do I leave?” He turned around, and saw through the golden, glowing doorway that he could see the main chamber he had initially entered. “That answers that.”
He glanced back at the sarcophagus. Street folk code dictated that ‘the dead no longer need it’ when it came to anything scavengeable. “Ollie, how bad would it be if I opened his tomb and took whatever was inside?”
Ollie flew out of Jace’s armored hood and dipped into the stone tomb. He popped his head out, “Nothing I can see in here worth taking. Just old bones.” He flew back and settled into his new usual spot. “You would be willing to tomb raid?”
“I mean, if he had something useful. It is not like he needs it anymore.”
“It is pragmatic. Perfect for a Dark Between Stars Signer.” Ollie’s eyes went black for a moment before snapping back, “Speaking of…look at Priam’s hands.”
Jace looked through the doorway and saw the slight, purple glow around his hands. “Well, look at that. Looks like Xera found herself another Signer.”
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Priam looked up as Jace walked through the archway seemingly from out of nowhere. One moment it was empty, the next he was there. “Welcome to the club,” he said as he pulled his gloves off and flexed his fingers in front of Priam. They were the same purple color as his own, and he wiggled them for a moment before putting the glove back on.
Priam nodded and stood up, “Yeah! I talked to this Xera lady, and Bloopa filled me in on a lot of stuff. We have our own building?! And I get my own apartment! That’s awesome!” Motion caught his attention as a golden pylon popped out of the lava.
Jace walked over, snagged the dungeon core, and added it to his pack. “That makes it 52 dungeon cores, and 2 more Complexes on this volcano tile. Then, it’s off to the desert tile in the corner of the map.”
“Why?” Priam asked.
Jace looked at him and his eyes were inscrutable, but the facial features showed Priam that there was a deep resolve. “Double-A is really a guy named Yholl who killed his best friend, the guy whose tomb is down that gauntlet. Yholl did something to make himself practically unkillable.” Jace dug around in the pack and handed a cracked-in-half, stone, circle tablet to him.
Priam looked it over and mumbled to himself, “Its sort of like a soul-prism for our elders back home, but its really rudimentary. This guy had no clue about soulcraft and manipulating essence.”
“Soulcraft?” Jace asked.
“Ah, manipulating a person’s ‘innermost self’. If you don’t like the word soul, you can use consciousness, or life slash vital essence.” Priam handed it back to Jace, “I’m guessing the desert tile has the other half?”
“Yup,” Ollie replied.
Jace put the item back, “Well, I’ve got a few Boons to use. Ollie, let’s use the Common (Equipment) to get Priam a (Light) Venture Pack, and the Uncommon (Equipment) to get him one of these enhanced canteens.” He began pulling survival meal pouches out of his bag and dividing them up. “Just in case. I’d rather us both have a bag to keep supplies. Worst case scenario…neither of us is screwed.”
Priam felt his heart race a little. That’s…so kind. He really is a nice person. He looked over at Bloopa and felt the slight tickling of the light-blue energy cascading over him from shimmering starlight. Within a few seconds it faded, and he had a nifty, similar-to-Jace’s-but-smaller pack slung around his shoulders. He felt a little weight in it, and whipping it off, found another canteen inside just like what Jace had let him use. “You…used Boons on me?”
Jace smiled and helped him move his half – 14 – of the survival meals into his pack. “I don’t need Common or Uncommon rarity Equipment. I’m a bit past that.” He gestured to his arms, legs, eyes – and Priam couldn’t disagree in the slightest.
“What was it like? Replacing your body like that?”
“I didn’t want to do that for a lot of it,” Jace replied as he put on his pack and showed Priam how his straps worked to get it snug. “I lost my lower legs in an accident back on Earth. And my arm was lost during my Aspirant Trial – my right arm. The left was cut off by a Conclave Ascendant, and I had one of my eyes stabbed out by a Nebula mage who was killing other Aspirants on this…Nihil…Nihel-”
“Nihilethelea,” Priam corrected.
“Right, this world. And having one magic prosthetic eye was…jarring? It gave me a headache. So, I replaced my other eye by choice.” He chuckled, “Plus, I’ve got this cool stuff inside me called CIF that means my prosthetics feel like they are a part of me.”
Priam nodded, “That’s cool! I couldn’t and wouldn’t, but that’s neat that it doesn’t disrupt your soul energy.”
“My what-now?”