The main Vault was on the next level. My Mana Sensing web found it, and it was huge, but it couldn’t get past the enchantments and mana-dense material. I worked my way around the floor, avoiding the main entrance to the vault. I managed to get a taste of what was in the Vault, and it was a High-level Infernal Monster of some sort. Just one, I think, but it seemed to sense the mana web and moved, so I withdrew in a hurry.

I found some hidden caches. One was just an indent in the wall the Spectral Vision (See-thru) and observant eye found. Mana web did not sense any mana from it, and I almost didn’t check it. Fortunately, I did, as there was a small bar of gold and two of silver. Not everything valuable had mana. This was especially true when it came to armour and weapons. Most were common materials, and they were still worth a lot.

The floor was almost all storerooms. They were big, and there was a lot. They must have been preparing for a long siege. Most of the rooms had been looted already, but there were things they missed that added up. My storage was full, and the spatial bag was full. I started dropping eyeballs and brains to fit other things in.

When I had swept the floor, excluding the vault, I went upstairs to clear that floor. I would clear the entire keep before venturing into the vault. There was something in the vault that was a high-level Infernal. The Trial looked like it was going to make me fight it, so I would collect as much loot as possible first. If I died, it wouldn’t matter, but if I lived and the Trial ended, I would leave nothing behind … except some brains and eyeballs.

There were a lot of storerooms. My Spectral Vision (See-thru) found another hidden vault, which was protected by wards. They were nothing like the wards on the door below, but I had skills that needed levelling. I am sure my motivation had nothing to do with there being valuables behind it.

I first mapped the ward with Manasight, and I made a huge discovery. I was mapping the keep with my Map skill because it automatically mapped where I went and what I saw. The Map Ability kicked in with my Mana Sight and mapped the ward for me. I would have a permanent record of what I could see with Mana Sight and the Wards. This was incredible. I could bring up the map, and it would help me reproduce the wards with my skills.

My knowledge has just started with Wards, and these were not as complex as the ones on the door. I carefully mapped these in three dimensions and then worked on Unravelling them. That was not as easy as just activating the skill. The Skill guided me, but I had to use most of my mana skills actually to unravel it.

The vault had smaller valuable items, including bags of gold coins. The real find was a Spatial Backpack. This only had thirty slots and a 50% weight reduction, but that was still good. I transferred lighter and lesser-value items to it.

There were also skill and Ability stones. I picked up a number of duplicates to sell: Dash, Dodge, and Climb. Appraisal and Indentify would get good prices. They had the Create Arrow Skill, which was a bigger version of my Create Dart. I learned it, even though Archery was not really my thing. I did learn the skill Charge, which is a quick movement skill that gives bonuses to a weapon or shield strike at the end.

There were several Charms, two or three versions of the ones I had. I learned Mend, which fixed small tears in the cloth. I also learned Trickle, which creates a small stream of water. I drank some, and it was clean water that appeared to be at room temperature.

Ability stones enabled me to get another copy of Storage to sell. I discovered that I was no Ice Mage, even though I had once known the Ice Spike spell. Maybe the Spectral Slayer Class is restricting me from learning these things? It is light-focused, and I know I lost Firebolt and Ice Spikes when I specialised in Illusionist. That is a distinct possibility. It might be suppressing things that are not light. I had to store Fire Manipulation to sell as well. I do have to remember that even though I can learn a spell in Fire and Ice that doesn’t mean I will be especially good at it. It does not indicate a high affinity.

The last Ability Stone was when my swords and I did another little happy dance. Shadow Manipulation immediately went onto my Status. The sneaky classes took shadows, and I had also wanted them for a long time. Then I learned Light Manipulation, and I could create shadows by manipulating light. People think they are opposites, but they are not. They are simply two sides of the same coin.

There are still a lot of shadow abilities I couldn’t learn with light manipulation, but I could imitate a lot of them. Light and Shadow go together. It is like this has completed me. Who needs Fire and Ice? I have Light and Shadow.

There are a few things I need to try right from the start. Things I have been doing with Light Manipulation that a Shadow Skill would make easier.

First, I find a dark corner. I would usually use Light manipulation to expand and deepen the shadows to hide in, but this time, I use Shadow Manipulation to cover the corner. My Status immediately says I have Learned the Spell Shadow Cloak. The Mana used for the area cloaked is about the same as when I used my Light, BUT this Spell is only Level 1. It will get better.

The second thing is my Flash Skill. It blinds with a Flash of Light, but I have always wanted to do the opposite. I would do this with Light manipulation and remove the light from someone's eyes so they can't see, but that takes concentration as well as mana, especially as foes don’t stand still. There must be a Spell that uses Shadow to do the opposite of Flash for an area.

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I send out my web to find the nearest infernal enemy and head out to experiment. Shadow Manipulation takes a bit of work at level 1, but eventually, I learned Eclipse. It is the opposite of Flash and will plunge an area into darkness for a short period.

What I am looking for in looting this place is not just loot but something that will give me the advantage against a high-level Infernal. Undead are weak to purification, but Infernals are not. With Infernals, I can use my light, though, and therefore my Shadows. Shadow Cloak and Eclipse are not enough. They are just extensions of what I already have.

Before I go any further, I head back down to the basement door and carefully and in a lot of detail map the wards with Mana Sight. It takes me hours, but this is my only chance. It is going to take a lot of study for me to work them out, but there are some parts that match the wards upstairs, and I can tell what they are for. At least I have a permanent copy now. If I had the Scribe Skill I could have drawn them, but I guess I can’t be good at everything.

When I head back, I see several Undead and Infernals repopulating the corridors, but not nearly as many as before, and the Revenant is not there. It is time to keep looting and try to find something to keep me alive.

The ground floor had the main barracks and the officer's quarters. All the goods and stuff were gone, but I happily dumped some brains for the bottles of wine that were intact.

I went room to room and floor to floor, and my map kept me on track. In the upper levels, I was fighting a lot of flying Infernals.

There was nothing that stood out as a fight-winner against a high levelled Infernal. My Storage finally levelled to 4, and I could fit more stuff in.

My hardest fight was against an Infernal Griffon, a lion/bird hybrid. The feathers on the Griffon's wings deflected my weapons, and its claws burned with fire rather than death. It had a bird beak that went right through my chainmail and Hide combo. I would have lost a leg if it hadn’t been for the bone reinforcing in my trousers.

I Flashed, Eclipsed, and Cut Light. I Slashed, Chopped, and Holy Struck. The only way I could think of to do some real damage was to Light Speed onto its back. I thrust Lightreaver into the back to use it to hold on and braced my legs like I was riding. I Chopped at the wing with Shadowbane, but those cursed feathers negated most of the damage. Then, the Griffon flexed its wings and took off out of the opening in the building.

Shadowbane was knocked from my hands and lost somewhere below. I pulled out an axe with bonuses against Infernals and started Choppig at the Wing, and we circled the building as the Griffon tried to get rid of me.

I Eclipsed it and finally damaged the wing enough to start it falling from the sky. It clipped the stone keep as it struggled to stay in the air, but we finally crashed into the road that circled the inside of the wall.

I let go at the last minute and used Acrobatics and Cat Reflexes to try to stay alive. They both Levelled, and I stayed alive but not without breaking an arm.

The Griffon wasn’t dead, and a zombie patrol was coming. I drank a Greater Health Potion to support Regeneration. I had lost the axe, so I got out another one and attacked the Griffon with my good arm while Regeneration moved the bones in my other arm to try and fix it. I flashed it, and it attacked the image of me instead of me. The neck was covered in those feathers that were resisting my weapons so I chopped at the legs where the lion hide was. I followed it up with Cutting Light and thinking I needed Shadowbane. Then I realised I could just call Shadowbane back. It was quite a way away from me, so it was not instantaneous.

Then I had to distract the griffon again while I dealt with the zombie patrol, who were not fooled by my images.

Then Shadowbane arrived, and I Charged at the griffon with a Holy Strike, and landed a precision cut to sever a leg finally. Then I charged back to the last zombie and decapitated it, and then I Eclipsed the Griffon and charged back at the other leg on this side. This didn’t sever it, but Holy Strike cut deep.

It couldn’t fly and now was severely hampered on the ground. It was a matter of avoiding the beak and weaning its health down until it died.

Harvesting such a large animal one-handed was very difficult. I had to take a break and deal with another zombie patrol.

I Harvested a lot of feathers. I was really hoping I could get those made into something for me, as they were very strong against cutting weapons. I also harvested teeth, claws, hide, and, for some random reason, the liver and the intestines.

The loot included silver coins, meat, a large core and a Greater Health potion. The core was empty, of course. For all the benefits I had received here, the Trial is still out to kill me. It is making me fight the monster in the safe and not giving me anything to help.

Can I get out of there now? No. If I let go of the Shadow Cloak, I will be swamped with Imps, and I can see two more Griffons.

If I want to get out of here, it looks like I have to fight the Infernal Monster and try to end this Trial.

I check my Status again. I have the kills and experience to Level Spectral Slayer again, so I do so.

What attribute am I going to need to fight this monster? It is in a confined space. I will have limited dodging, so I am going to take some hits. My Strength was barely enough to damage the Griffon. Do I need more Strength or rely on skills? I will rely on Skills. This beast might have Death Poison. I need all the help I can to live. I put all five points into Constitution.

The Trial is not going to give me anything to fight the monster, so what can I create? I have a new class, Wardweaver and the Create Traps Skill. There must be something I can do.