It was obvious what I had to do to make a choice. Each pillar had a symbol carved into it and a place for me to put the token to indicate my choice. I went over to examine the pillars.

The first one was a dog/lizard creature with a spear. Probably Kobolds. Kobolds are known for their traps, so that is a good option for me. My Traps are maxed out. The second was a winged creature, probably some type of bat. The third was also winged but different, maybe a moth creature? I think I would find winged creatures very annoying,

The fourth was a snake, so there would be lots of poison. The Fifth was a mushroom of some sort. I am not sure what this meant, but mushrooms often had airborne spores, etc. The final pillar had what looked like a Goblin but was probably a Grak. They were similar in size, used simple weapons, and looked humanoid. Goblins were a cursed race, and Graks were monsters. It will be a Grak.

For me, the best choices were the Kobolds and traps or the Graks, which would be a straight-up sword or knife fight. I think I was pretty much done with this Trial and its stupid growth conditions. I pulled out Lightreaver and Shadowbane. A straight-up fight is what I need, and then I am not going to set foot here again.

I put the token on the Grak pillar, and the opening to the new floor appeared. I read the Quest, which looked like the last one.

Quest.

Clear the new floor to assess its strength.

Reward: New Trial Clear Rewards, +5000XP, Trial Keeper Confirmed.

Failure: Trial Keeper Replacement. Trial turns Dark.

I dropped to the new floor, and two things were soon obvious. Firstly, it was Graks and Greater Graks. Secondly, it wasn’t just a straight-up fight. It was a bloody maze. This is a nightmare and is going to be hated by everybody. This will be a major time sink, and I am not sure I can get to the end in six hours, even with Map stopping me from backtracking. At least I didn’t pick the kobolds and had to look for traps as well.

I was running and fighting as I turned corners and came upon Graks. I was an hour in, and I realised I was doing this all wrong. I stopped. I am an idiot. I have a Pathfinders skill and Seekers Intuition.

I stop and take a breath. I am seeking the final Guardian, and my intuition says I missed a turn. Pathfinder is assessing the maze I have covered so far in my map, and I am using it to plot the optimal path and work out the maze logic to predict it. It confirms with my Intuition that I missed an optimal turn. This is not how I thought Pathfinder would work, but a maze is a very specific environment, and in the absence of other environmental clues, this is a way to find the path. The more of the maze I uncover, the better it will get.

I decide to trust the Pathfinder skill and switch my Seeker Intuition to finding hidden things. I won’t stray off the path to get them because I am on a time limit, but maybe I will come back and explore the maze. Bloody, sneaky Trial tempting me back. I am not helping you grow again!

Of course, Incorporeal Shadow and fire creatures are appearing here as well just to mix things up, as well as the crystal Iron rugrats. What is the story with them? They can come down but not go up?

I send out my Mana Web (Sensing) looking for crystals and hidden anomalies. There are occasional crystals in the walls/floor/ceilings here, too. I mine a couple, and they are the same crystals. I then leave them, as I am on a timeline, and I don’t want to trigger some obscure growth condition.

At least the Graks are easy to defeat, even the Greater Graks. They are randomly in small groups, or sometimes there is a bigger open space for a larger group and a Greater Grak. Pathfinder levels, making it easier to work out where to go.

I find a hidden cache high up in a wall. I am pleased I have the ladder. It has a good knife and a skill stone with Basic Small Blades on it. Basic Small Blades is fairly easy to learn with practice, so it is not very valuable.

The next cache has the skill of Mining in it, with a pickaxe sitting next to it. I keep the pickaxe because it is better than the one I have, and the mining skill will sell well among the students.

Another cache had Camouflage skills, I assume, as did the spiders and lizards. I will decide whether to keep it for my bond or sell it. This is one I don’t need with my Spectral Cloak.

The final hidden cache I found has Nightsight in it. I have a copy of Nightsight from Ranar, as he thought my bond might need it. It may not, but it might, depending on what it is. If I bond with a shadow element or something, it won’t need any of this.

I have always wondered if I should learn Nightsight. I use Spectral Vision (See-thru) to see in the dark, but if I want to use the Heat version, I can’t see the solid things around me. Mana sight has covered the slack to date. All living creatures have Mana, so I can’t think of a time when I might not… too bad. I have a spare copy, and I am just going to learn it.

Ok, that was an unexpected synergy. Nightsight works with Farsight, which Spectral Vision and Manasight do not. Observant Eye also works with Farsight.

I had half an hour left on the clock when I found the Guardian Chamber. There is a horde of Graks and six Greater Graks. Well, I wanted a good, solid fight. It will be a challenge to get through this lot in half an hour, but let’s not waste any of it.

I equip Lightreaver and Shadowbane and get to work. Graks are dumb and have poor eyesight, so my images easily fool them. It is just methodical work. Fast, methodical work. I start with Nights Embrace and Umbral Cold. I make two copies of myself to move around and cause confusion, and I get to work with Purifying Dance. Slash, Longslash, Thrust, Chop, Parry, Quickstrike, Death strike, Burning strike. All the while, my Helping Hand is Throwing Death Darts. It is a slaughter, not a fight. Yes, I am churning through the Mana and the Stamina, but a clock is ticking.

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I finish my grisly work with a couple of minutes to spare.

Quest Complete.

Fifth floor was cleared. Guardian Confirmed.

+5000XP Earned

You may Collect your reward.

Trial Floors Adjusting.

Trial Entrances open in Three minutes.

Fifth Floor Guardian: Recommended Group of Six at Level 25.

Additional Rewards are available for 60 hours.

I see the reward chest there. I move over to it, and there are four attribute stones. But instead of Skill Point stones like last time, there is a large token with the symbol of a lizard on it. That is different.

I feel the Trial changing as the floor adjusts.

This is a summoning token. It is required to be used before I leave. That is not always the case, but I guess this trial is going to give me a summons, and I can’t sell it.

Summons are different from bonds. There is debate about whether a summoned creature is really alive, and the people I have seen with summons treat them like tools. You get a summoning tattoo, and they can be absorbed into the tattoo. I saw a guy summon a horse once, and I have seen a summoned sabertooth cat. I had to run from that one.

It looks like I got a lizard. I'm not sure what to do with it. It will probably be like the lizards on the third floor and can help me with ambushes and stuff.

A summoning is easy. You hold the token and inject your mana. The better the mana control and Mana manipulation the easier it will be. I hoped I wouldn’t get the boss lizard. That thing was ugly. All the lizards had some regeneration capabilities, but the Boss was strong in that, so there would be some benefit in getting the Boss.

The Lizards had camouflage, but they had no poison. I kept getting visions of long, sticky tongues. The Lizards on the third floor grabbed prey with their tongue and had a strong bite. They also had no problem walking on the ceiling, so I could use it to check out and loot difficult places. They also had quite a sprint on them.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. It is better than summoning a rat and definitely better than a spider. It is infinitely better than summoning a smelly, dumb Grak. I wouldn’t have minded a flame or shadow creature or even an iron crystal rug rat, though. What I have is a Lizard.

Before I started, I tried my Seekers Intuition on it. I was not sure what I was seeking, but I suppose it was getting something useful.

My Intuition gave me a mad idea. I have never heard of anybody doing anything besides the basic summoning I have never heard of anybody wasting attribute stones on a summons or in a summoning ritual. Should I? Would it waste them? How would it even work?

There is nobody here to tell me I am being stupid, even though I am probably wasting attribute points. This is stupid, but it is an exciting sort of stupid. I place all four attribute stones on the summoning token in my hand.

What is this going to do? Attributes Stones hold the potential to raise one of my attributes, such as strength or agility. I could use it on any attribute; that is the potential of the stone. What effect will they have on a lizard summons? I have no idea.

This is stupid and a waste, but I am going to do it anyway. Then, I have an even crazier idea.

I have an acidic, poisonous saliva stone in my storage. What would happen if I added that? The lizards in this trial are not poisonous, but maybe my summons could be? Is that what I want? I was saving it for my bond, but there will be other stones… Yes? No?...

Oh, I am just going to go all in. I will trust my Intuition and do it all.

I placed the acidic poison stone in the centre of the token with the attribute stones balancing on the edge.

Then, I start the Ritual and feed the mana. My Lore reminds me of some rituals I read about that were slightly different from the ones we are taught, and I alter things slightly. Then, mana starts pouring into the token. A lot comes from me, and some comes from the trial, and I watch as all the stones melt and are absorbed into the ritual.

My whole arm is suddenly in pain as a tattoo imprints itself on my skin, up my entire arm from wrist to shoulder.

A flash of blue light comes from the ground inside the circle of symbols that appear in front of me. When it clears, I see a wall of scales. Then, an eye blinks open. Then, a huge lizard uncurls and gets on its feet. A tongue flicks out and tastes the air.

This is my lizard. I can feel it connected to me through the tattoo. It is long. It stands on its feet. It is low to the ground, but because of its size, it comes to a low chest height on me. That is about 1.2m off the ground. The body is about 1.5m wide, and tip to tail it is about 12m long. The scales are dark green, but I know it can change them to suit the environment and blend in.

“I can ride you, can’t I, you beautiful boy… girl… do you have a gender? You need a name.”

I used Identify on it and, “Oh, you are sweet. You can be called Rob. With your adaptive Camouflage, I can see us moving without being seen. You will help me Rob a lot of places.

Summons

Name: Rob

Race: Greater Lizard

Health: 800

Stamina: 800

Mana: 510

Night Sight

Adaptive Camouflage

Acidic Poison Saliva

Sprint

Crushing Bite

Viscous Tongue

Suction Paws

Tail Smash

Regeneration

It seemed to me a Summons was like a soul-bound piece of equipment. It would grow with me in power, and it had its own abilities, like Lightreaver and Shadowbane worked with light and shadow best. The abilities won’t change easily, but it will grow.

“Do I need to get a saddle made for you? Yes, if I want to be comfortable.” Those attributes and poison stones were not wasted.