After explaining pretty much everything I’d learned about evolution to Ben, he’d said that he’d pass the information along and made sure as many people knew about it as possible. I’d even shared everything about my new class and subclass, seeing absolutely no reason not to share it. The look of jealousy I’d gotten from him had been quite entertaining when I’d mentioned that I get 22 stats per level now as opposed to the eight he was still getting.
With that out of the way, I went to the staircase and teleported straight to floor three. I was glad for the fact that I could skip over the second floor now that I’d cleared it, because it sounded like a real hassle going out of my way to find another goblin city to clear. It would be completely pointless too, since only the goblin warrior would actually award any experience to me now.
Upon entering the third floor, I’m given a brief introduction, only to be thrown for a loop when I find out that this floor wouldn’t work at all like the previous one had.
Welcome to floor 3: Trial by Trials!
Floor 3 is the first of several instanced floors within the tower of Nixtias. Instanced floors can only be attempted solo, and any individual that enters will be challenged in such a way that suits the path they walk. It is highly recommended to have reached level 5 before attempting this floor.
To progress to the next floor, complete the 10 trial gauntlet. The gauntlet will consist of various challenges that have been tailored to you specifically. You may leave the third floor at any point by simply willing it.
It was beginning to seem like floor two was not meant to be one taken on solo, as the system seemed to deem it very possible that anyone making it to this point hasn’t reached level 5 yet. I was almost certainly over leveled for this floor, but that just meant it would probably be pretty easy. It would at least be interesting to see what challenges the system comes up with me. Would it take into account my higher level and adjust the difficulty?
Trial 1: Trial of Growth
Prove you are better than you were yesterday. Rematch the toughest monster you have taken on up to this point.
Well, that was one way to say no it was not. As the environment around me shifted to a forest nearly identical to the one on the second floor, I manifest a small dagger in my hand while I wait for my opponent to appear. Soon, a goblin warrior was standing in front of me, wielding two short swords and wearing leather armor. It also had the same metal helmet from when I’d last faced it.
The goblin rushes towards me, and in a quick motion swings it’s sword at me. I quickly parry the strike with my dagger, surprising myself with my reflexes. I guess that is the power of an evolution for you. The goblin had of course been evolved as well, but it was still just a goblin. Weak for its level, especially when it was alone.
I didn’t even have to pull the same trick I did last time with sticking my wand in its helmet to land a lethal blow. I was able to kill it by sinking my dagger into its chest a few times and letting it bleed out.
As it died on the ground in front of me, I begun wondering how this type of trial would work for others. If they had fought this thing in a group, would they then have to fight it alone? Probably not. The system had mentioned each trial was tailored to the individual, so they’d probably get something they could manage.
Once the goblin had died, the environment shifts once more and I find myself standing outside of a large stone wall. I wasn’t in a forest, but a large field. Taking a few steps back, I got a better view of the wall. It didn’t appear to have anything within it, but it did have a single wooden door acting as an entrance.
Trial 2: One man Siege
Find a way within the walls.
I guess I was getting this trial for having turned a wall into splinters after Roderick and his group had cleared a goblin city. Simple enough. I might be able to climb over the wall if I really tried. It was only about 6 meters tall and had plenty of handholds in the form of loose bricks, but why do that when I could take an easier route?
I walk up to the wooden door and place a hand directly into the middle of it. I cast mana blast, and the door flies open as whatever had been holding it shut snapped in half. The doors themselves seemed to have taken quite a bit of damage too, but they were still on the hinges. That was more than the gates the goblins had used could ever say.
I walked into the walls, and the environment shifted again. Instead of leaving the field and the wall disappearing though, I am simply placed outside of it once more, with the wall stretching into the sky for an unknown distance. The door this time was made out of metal, and had a keyhole directly in the center.
A quick attempt at using mana blast confirmed that it would not be sufficient to get me past this this obstacle.
Trial 3: Trial and Error
Find a way within the walls.
It seemed pretty obvious what this trial was for. It wanted me to make a key to open up the door. Problem was, I didn’t know what shape the key needed to be. The point of the trial was probably to test how creative I was when it came to using my mana-festation skill.
At first I tried pushing my palm up to the key hole and trying to just make a generic key. Some part of me had hoped that would work, but it hadn’t. I’d then spent several minutes trying to look into the lock and figure out the shape, but that proved to be equally as fruitless.
Eventually I actually managed to figure it out, and the solution was so obvious I almost wanted to slap myself. All I had needed to do was draw my mana out and feel around the keyhole. That let me know the shape of the key I needed, and from there it had been as simple as visualizing the shape while using my skill.
Once the door was open and I was done grumbling, the environment actually changed this time, taking me somewhere completely different than the forest and plains. I was instead in complete and utter darkness. Not a single thing was visible except for the screen in front of me.
Trial 4: Blind Faith
Navigate to the exit of the cave system
It was at this moment I was beginning to thank god I wasn’t afraid of the dark or tight spaces. Feeling around made me realize that the cave wasn’t very big. My arms could touch both sides without even needing to fully extend them. After a few minutes of walking around, and feeling the walls. I found a branching path that split off in three different directions.
Despite the trial being called blind faith, I wasn’t about to rely on pure luck to navigate. First of all, I wanted a way to see. Hopefully that would allow me to figure out where to go next. I held up my wand, focusing mana on the tip. Using my mana conversion skill, I had the mana convert to light, allowing me to see. The conversion had actually been way cheaper than I’d expected. The drain was much less than what I naturally regenerated, and a drop in the bucket compared to how expensive it was to convert mana into kinetic force.
It only took a second to spot the arrow on the floor pointing towards one of the three directions. I grin, realizing that learning to use my skill to make light had likely been the point of this trial. After about 15 minutes of walking and following a dozen or so other arrows, I am soon at the exit to the cave, which leads straight into an icy cold tundra.
Nothing about my environment changes this time, but the entrance to the cave does disappear. I shiver slightly feeling the biting cold. This was definitely a tundra alright. A damn cold one too. This cold felt unlike any I could remember feeling throughout my life, which began to make me think it wasn’t a natural kind of cold.
Trial 5: Chilled to the bone
Navigate to the edge of the biosphere. Beware, the further from the center you are the colder it gets.
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I have never been a fan of the cold. I’d always preferred the summer warmth to the coldness of winter. I was probably a little biased on that given that I’d grown up in a pretty warm area, but god forbid somebody who doesn’t live in an icy hellscape call somewhere cold lest the citizens of said icy hellscape say “you haven’t seen real cold yet”.
I begin walking to the edge of the “biosphere” as the system called it. If it really is a sphere then any direction should work just fine, so I pick one and begin walking. The point of this trial is pretty obvious after having just done the previous one. I needed to warm myself up with my mana conversion skill.
Despite the clear goal, it had taken longer than it should have for me to realize that converting the mana stored within my cloak would be a much better way of warming myself up than trying to create a shell of warmth around me. My cloak couldn’t store very much mana. It had been a significant amount back when I was level 1, but after my evolution it was just not very noticeable. That did mean it filled up pretty quickly with my natural mana regeneration.
The drain of creating heat was greater than creating light. Not as much as creating force, but probably right in the middle of the two. I was beginning to get a better and better idea of how the skill worked as I was using it, and it gave me a couple ideas as to how I could use it effectively.
After a while of walking, and after the temperature had reached a point that no standard human could have hoped to survive, I reached a large barrier. I assumed this to be the edge of the biosphere, and placed a hand against it. As soon as I did, the next trial began.
Trial 6: Fine Control
Manipulate your mana to reach the end of the maze.
I found myself in a small enclosed room. The walls were all grey, and in my hands was a small cube maze constructed entirely out of glass. It was transparent, but probing it with my mana revealed that it was completely impenetrable to my magic. On one corner of the cube was the entrance to the maze, and on the opposite corner was a small black square that I assumed was the finish to the maze.
I made a small string of mana and began pushing it through the cube. I couldn’t see the path of the maze with my eyes, which meant that I had to entirely focus on feeling around the cube with my string of mana. To say it was difficult would be an understatement. This was by far the hardest trial so far, and it wasn’t even close. This one wasn’t focused on my ability to use my skills or how strong I was, but purely on my control over my mana and how well I could use it.
After a few failed attempts where my control over my mana slipped, I sat against one of the walls and closed my eyes. If they wouldn’t be helping me here, I had no reason to keep using them.
Ever bit of my attention was dedicated to the small string of mana moving through the cube as I searched for the correct path. Every time I had failed so far, the layout of this maze had changed, so I couldn’t just memorize it. I would have to retain my control until I found the right way.
Every time my mana brushed against a wall, I could “feel” it as if my finger had brushed against it. The feeling was odd, like having an extra limb. It did allow me to navigate through the maze well enough to eventually find my way through. I let out a deep breath when I am teleported again. That had been frustrating and very tedious. Thank god that was over. I did not like mazes.
Trial 7: Combat Labyrinth
“No!” I shout into the empty room as it changes around me. The walls around me all change into different hallways, each with two numbers marked on them. I read the description of the floor, just wanting to get out of here as quickly as possible.
Reach the end of the trial. Each path has varying difficulty in length, with the more difficult paths being shorter. The first number on each path is the number of monsters you will face on that path, with the second being the highest level of the monsters you will face.
I quickly read each of the numbers on the various paths. One of them had 50 monsters each being level 2. Another had 20 monsters at level 5. The third had 5 monsters at level 9, and the last had just a single monster at level 10. I immediately walk into the last path. I already knew I could handle a level 10 monster. I wouldn’t have too much trouble with this.
When I reach the end of the hall, it opens up into a larger room. On the other side is a large wolf that stand as tall as my elbow. I shudder seeing the creature. I’d played enough games to know that was almost certainly a dire wolf. As soon as I was fully in the room, it began charging towards me. I quickly fire off several bolts of mana, each landing in a different place on the wolf. None do any meaningful damage, and I quickly dodge to the side as it lunges for me.
I recover quickly enough to remember my mana shield spell and cast it. Instantly a shell of mana surrounds me, and I get to work creating a weapon to use against the wolf.
It’s big, which means more protection against it’s weak spots than the skinny goblins I’d fought before. Instead of a dagger, I manifest an entire short sword. It drains a lot of mana from me, and I stagger for a moment as the loss hits me.
The wolf takes advantage of this, lunging once more for me. I manage to get the sword between me and it quick enough that it stabs into the creatures leg. In turn, the wolf manages to lock its jaws around my arm. I am about to scream out in pain, but right then I realize it doesn’t actually hurt. My mana shield had prevented the bite from actually hurting me. I take advantage of this and quickly retrieve my sword from the wolfs leg. I few quick stabs to the head later, and the wolf is dead.
The sword disappears as soon as I confirm the wolf is dead. I didn’t want to waste the mana to keep it around. I wanted to conserve my mana just incase the next floor also needed a significant amount. The fight with the wolf had already drained half of my total mana pool in the brief fight. That was really my biggest drawback as a mage. I couldn’t fight for an extended period of time. At least, not in any serious capacity. The only reason the goblin city had fallen to me was because nearly every single monster within it could die to just a single use of mana bolt.
I resolved myself to find a better item to store mana than my cloak at the next opportunity as I was teleported to the next floor.
Trial 8: Escort
Protect the caravan on the next leg of their journey
In an instant, I find myself walking along side two carts drawn by horses. Apparently my goal is to protect them, though I am not sure for how long.
Six hours later, I am getting pretty fed up with this trial. I’d managed to fend off a goblin attack, a wolf pack, and several thieves over the past several hours. Why couldn’t the system just recognize I was done already?
Almost as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I was blessed by the system removing me from the trial.
Trial 9: Walking Fortress
Survive the incoming attacks.
I am in the middle of a large field now. All around me are goblins with various ranged weapons, a few even seem to have wands. I was about to try and run towards one of them when I notice the thin chain tying me down. It was only a meter long, so I really wouldn’t have too much room to dodge.
I quickly refresh my mana shield as attacks come flying in from all directions. The arrows, rocks, and throwing knives sent my way all bounce off of the shield, harmlessly falling to the ground after draining some of my mana.
The spells on the other hand, well those are a different story. Each mana bolt that hits me leaves a hole in my robe and a burn mark on my body. I can’t dodge all of them, but I do my damn best to. When a particularly dangerous fire ball is sent hurdling towards me, I summon a shield to block the blow. My mana pool glares angrily at the expense, but now that I have the shield I can at least use it to block the other spells.
A few minutes after the attacks began, they come to an end, and I am brought to the last of the ten trials. I feel my body and mana completely restore as I read over the last trial description.
Trial 10: Duel
Duel an opponent created by the system. Your opponent will have the same level and stat total as yourself.
A colosseum sprouts up around me, and the floor turns to compacted dirt. A crowd fills the colosseum cheering as one of the gates gets raised. A man a bit taller than myself and significantly more muscular walks out and into the open from where the gate had just raised.
In his left hand was a sword, and in his right a shield. He wasn’t wearing any armor to speak of besides a gladiators helmet and some leather gloves. He did a quick flourish with his sword, and the crowd cheers even louder.
I’m not about to let him do whatever it is he needs to do to prepare, so I quickly send a mana bolt firing for his head at great speed. He notices and quickly slaps the bolt away with his shield.
My face drops as I come to a realization. This man had the same stat total I did. That meant this would be my first fight where I couldn’t rely on a significant stat disparity to carry me to victory. I would need to be tactical.
The man runs towards me with his sword held low and his shield raised. I quickly took a guess at what he would do and dodged to the right, avoiding the upwards sweep of his sword. As I slid to a stop, I summoned a long sword, using both hands to wield it. If he had the advantage of strength, that meant I would need to have reach on my side. He was certainly faster than I was given he probably had his stats more leaning towards body than mind, and he would pretty easily be able to catch up to me if I tried to make space for casting spells, so I needed to keep him far enough to not hit me, while being close enough to not have space to dodge any spells.
He seemed to realize this, and in an attempt to get closer he knocked my sword to the side. I drop the sword, catching his own sword in my hand. The mana barrier around my hand protects me, but I can tell almost immediately that this was not a strategy I would be able to use consistently. If I did I wouldn’t have the mana to spare for spells.
I send a mana blast directly into his chest, which knocks him back several meters and he falls onto his back. I quickly grab up my sword and begin the next step of my plan. I run up to the fallen warrior, stabbing my sword into his chest as he tries to get up. It only penetrates a few centimeters, as the beast of a man had caught my sword with his gloved hand and stopped the blade.
Luckily, I hadn’t needed the sword to penetrate very deep. In a flash the entire sword except for the last few centimeters disappears as all the mana within it is expended through what remains.
I wave of force erupts outwards from within the gladiators chest, and I have to look away to keep blood from splattering on my face as his chest explodes open. The man doesn’t live for more than a few seconds as he tries to process what just happened.
The gladiator falls to the ground dead, and the crowd starts cheering. I look back at the mess of a man, but look away again when I see the pool of blood. It was starting to occur to me that I actually just killed another human. I wasn’t particularly bothered by the idea, as he had been trying to kill me, but it was still something I wasn’t exactly used to.
You have slain Human (level 10)!
You are now level 11
Floor 3 cleared. You can now teleport to floor 4 from any floor entrance or exit. Would you like to move on to floor 4?
“No.” I say. “Floor 1.”
And with that, I am back on floor 1, covered in human blood and exhausted from having spent a large chunk of my mana pool. I was also just exhausted from having been awake for... actually when was the last time I slept? Thinking about it, I haven’t slept since before the system came around. There was just no way that was good for me.
After walking down stream from the camp to clean my clothes and myself, I return to the camp and find Ben. After asking where people are sleeping, he points me towards an area where people are making bed rolls from deer skin for everyone to use. After grabbing one, I use my mana-festation skill for the most useful purpose I’ve come up with ever since getting it.
As I slowly drift off to sleep, I mentally high five my mana for having managed to make such a comfortable pillow.