Myantha Dashes in there so fast it is hard to see her. She becomes a whirlwind of blades. I am not the only one holding back. Her dance is beautiful, but she is two swords against four, and the golem is just as fast.

I enter in full stealth, and Spectral Cloak makes me invisible to sight, not that the golem seems to have eyes.

Then the golem spits out six fire creatures six shadow creatures and a thin layer of dark blue crystal starts covering the Golen.

I Flash the Shadow Creatures and cover the golem in shadow and cold, and the air thins. Then my Spectral Vision (See-thru) spots eighteen small crevices in the walls of the chamber.

Shit. Intuition is telling me to move, and I place six Fire Crystals on one side and six Shadow Crystals on the other, leaving six empty places. Six more fire and shadow creatures emerge, but they are attracted to the crystals on the wall rather than us.

The trouble is that the crystalised iron armour is getting thicker, and we have no way to stop it. Well there is no Crystal clear way to stop it. There is the old-fashioned way.

I ignore the fire and shadow creatures that appear every ten seconds or so and put away Lightreaver and Shadowbane. I pull out two heavy maces and start smashing limbs with my Basic Blunt Weapons. I then use a skill I have not used since I got it: Crushing Blow.

I start chipping away at the dark blue crystal.

Myantha is definitely the better swordsperson. She can keep four arms busy with just her two.

I really hope the crystals on the walls don’t fill up with the creatures and then start spewing back out at double the rate. We have to kill this thing before that happens. How many shadow creatures were in a cavern?

The Iron crystal is tough. If I had found the iron crystals, this golem would have been easy to take down. If I had not found any crystals, we would be dead already. I searched the caverns. Where would they be? Well, that is blindingly obvious. They will be hidden in the tunnels. The tunnels are more than just a way to get to the caverns. They are part of the trial.

Why does this trial like the number six?

Crushing Blow! Finally! Four became three.

Shit. Shadow Phase. That hurt.

Cutting light, Crushing Blow, Cutting Light, Crushing Blow. Syphon Mana.

Myantha’s swords always seem to be where she needs them to be, but even her Skilled strikes don’t do a lot. Neither do mine. My Holy Strike and Death Strike don’t add as much damage as a straight Crushing Blow. This must be a function of the Iron crystal.

Cutting Light helps if I use it in the gaps made by Crushing Blow.

The second arm finally falls. The golem is very lopsided now, with only two arms, both on the same side. I attack the torso and Myantha the head.

The golem collapses with four minutes on the timer. We both collapse, exhausted after it. She has less endurance than I do.

“I thought you were going to lose your leg there for a minute. Was that an incorporeal shadow ability?” She asked.

Before I could answer, we both got a notification.

Quest Complete.

Fourth floor was cleared. Guardian Confirmed.

+4000XP Earned

You may Collect your reward.

There was a chest each.

Another notice appeared.

Trial Floors Adjusting.

Trial Entrances open in Two minutes.

Fourth Floor Guardian: Recommended Group of Six at Level 20.

Additional Rewards are available for 60 hours.

“That is going to cause a rush,” Myantha said.

I nodded and helped her up, and we went to look at the rewards.

Stolen novel; please report.

I picked up a stone I had not seen before. “Attribute stone?” I said to Myantha. She didn’t reply, but I noticed she had some as well. I had four.

“Skill Stones,” Myantha said in amazement.

I had four of those as well.

I went over and looked at the Guardian's remains. A couple of crystals were salvageable. I picked up the Crystal Swords.

“Two of those belong to me,” Myantha said. I tossed them over.

I also collected the crystals from the walls. They were now pulsing with energy.

“What are you going to do with those?” Myantha asked. “You found them. They are yours.”

“I will probably sell them to an academy to study. I have a lot of unknown dust as well.”

“I might know a girl who is interested.”

“That wouldn’t be the same girl who is in debt to a guy I know?”

She laughed, “No one of the other professors.”

“Let me keep one of each, and there might be a commission if you get a good price.” I handed them over along with most of the dust.

“I will let you know.” She turned to the exit. “It's time to let people know what's going on.”

When we exited the trial, it was late afternoon. I left the explanation to Myantha. She kept it short: a new floor, level 20, etc. A lieutenant was there and a lot of curious people.

The Lieutenant took charge. “Right, two squads of Guardsmen will clear it first. I will lead one, and the Sergeant will lead the other. We will assess the changes. Then, the Adventurers Guild will make a list. This Trial used only to handle four teams at a time, so we will do that until a Diviner comes to assess it. When one team exits, the next can enter.” There was a bit of grumbling, but the Guard was out in force.

I slipped away into the crowd with Spatial Cloak, but the Lieutenant caught my eye regardless. I had a feeling Myanntha, and I would be getting a visit. This was not over by a long shot. I had time, as he had a Trial to clear.

A bath and a nice meal were in order. I had a lot to ponder. It would take a while and a good amount of research, but I wanted to know what Wizard Class is. Myantha was fascinated by what I did.

I have a copy of each crystal, including two Crystal Iron swords of the golem. I don’t know what Myantha would do with the other two. The head and torso were too damaged. I also have a copy of each of the two crystals that have shadow and fire creatures in them. What can I do with that?

I also need to seriously consider my Skill Points. I need to spend them when I am not under pressure to solve a problem. I am not unhappy with Umbral Cold. In fact, I think it is needed in my skill set.

However, all the better skills were worth ten points or more, and I want something that will support my Seeker Class and maybe my Thief Class. When I am in a Trial, it is always fighting.

I am interested in the Diviner the Lieutenant said was coming. My Seekers Intuition is a diviner-type skill, so I can probably learn similar skills. I will look at those options as intuition is very powerful.

It was time to relax for a couple of days, except for student teams who wanted me to join them in the new trial. More coin and kills and XP. Especially the XP. My classes are starting to need a lot of XP. I got 3000 from the first clear, plus what we earned, and I can level Thief, but I want to wait until I choose a skill with my skill points as it might open up options. Meanwhile, I get paid and cruise through the new trial, which is giving out more XP per kill.

Except it is not such a cruise now. The first three floors are basically the same, except that Shadow and/or fire creatures might appear at any time, even during a boss fight, which can be disconcerting. I picked the better student groups. I was avoiding idiots.

There were now crystals that could be mined on each floor. Finding them was not the easiest task, and the miners had the skills to help, but there were few miners among the students. I mined a few but left a lot as they wanted to carry on, and I was not sharing—new rules for a new Trial.

The fourth floor was similar, but I could not find the hidden crystals, just normal mining crystals. The floor boss let out Shadow and Fire creatures, but they were less frequent and there were no crystals to attract them. They had to be killed. Only one of my teams attempted the boss, and I had to help them a lot.

I took the opportunity to practice different skills, which I should have been doing from the start. I did go back to mostly the Haladie and Lightreaver, but I broke out the maces for the boss. I need to level them as well.

Overall, the trial was still deemed suitable for students, especially on floors one and two. The mining skill was also becoming popular. Students were always looking for more coins.

I was browsing my Skill Points for something that would be useful. Divination skills are expensive. Precognition was 20 Points, but there was a much lesser version called Danger Sense for 10. Scrying was a lengthy spell, and I am not sure how useful it would be for me. There were several variations.

Clairvoyance was about searching for things you can’t see, and my Mana Web (Sensing) did that. Astral Projection was about leaving your body to search for yourself, but I was not comfortable leaving my body undefended. I had the same problem with Dream Walking and Prophecy—anything that put me in a trance-like state or left my body vulnerable.

Fate Weaving sounded interesting, but it was not what I was going for, and it was too expensive. Spiritual Communication was obviously communing with Spiritual entities. Not overly help ful to me. I wanted to find and connect with my bond, not random spiritual entities.

Then there were reading signs in various things: Astrology, the stars; Geomancy, the ground; Bone Casting; Chronomancy; Haruspicy, in the entrails of sacrifices; etc.

All in all I had not yet found what I wanted. I am not sure that divination is where I want to go. Some of that stuff is very weird.

I was looking at my Status, and the influence of the Slayer Class is crystal clear. Most of my new skills and skill growth are related to combat, and it also leads me toward combat.

The biggest exception is the Ward Weaver Profession. It has potential, but there are no books on it. I even asked the professor who owes me.

The time I spent in the Trial meant I successfully dodged the Lieutenant who was looking for me. He had a sight skill that could pierce my illusions. No skill is without a counter skill or skills. The fact he was looking at me right now meant I was not getting out of this one.