The next day, he returned to the training hall that was still filled with people training, of course. He was met near the doors by one of the workers. He was wearing the same undershirts that the people were wearing yesterday. He flexed at Sam, in what he would say, recognition, then with a simple motion gestured at him to follow.
Sam glanced down at his body, sighed a little sadly, then followed the man while dodging around the people clashing with each other with a variety of weapons.
Finally, they arrived at the side of the building after traversing through a few corridors. There in the open was the trainer, dressed in light leather armor, with a sword at his side. Sam’s guide flexed, and it was returned by the older man.
He then turned to Sam and gave him a respectful nod. Sam watched the man walk away and said a quiet thank you, to which the other guy responded by raising his hand in a wave without looking back.
Sam then turned back to the trainer.
“Hello, sir.”
The older man didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he took a good look at him and then nodded.
“Good. You’re going to take the test.”
It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Seeing as Sam was exactly after this test, he simply nodded in understanding.
The man, seeing this, let out a small smile.
“Excellent. You know what’s important. Follow me.”
With that, he turned around and started for the door at the end of the corridor with Sam on his heels.
After going through the door, they appeared in an alley behind the training hall. After that, the man headed towards the gate, Sam recognizing some of the streets they took.
Over the course of the next few minutes, they left the city through the north gate, with the guards greeting the older man with cheer and recognition (though some threw pitying looks at Sam) and entered the tamed nature around the city of Ironwood.
Sam looked around as they stood on the lightly worked road leading out of the city and turned to the man.
“Where to, sir?”
The man cast his gaze around, then tensed a little.
“Follow me!” With that, he launched himself forward, running with impressive speed towards where Sam knew some of the mining sites were.
Sam just sighed, activated Shadow Burst, and shot off after the trainer.
They weaved through the trees, following the road, but every time that Sam felt like he was catching up to the man, he sped up and Sam was once again using every ounce of his knowledge to gain even more speed.
Sam would have complained, but honestly, he rather enjoyed the challenge. The other Sam only took this test way later, when it was much more streamlined due to the huge influx of people to the world of Magic Unbound.
They were simply led through a very easy gauntlet, that granted everyone a basic skill, that while good, was nothing on the original reward of the test.
Soon, they left the trees and reached a heavily deforested area.
It was one of the massive mining sites around Ironwood. There was a small shanty town built from reclaimed wood and stone from the mines, with a few ironwood decorations here and there.
Aside from that, there was a throng of people going to and fro, with a rather sizable and very visible guard detachment that glared at anybody and anything that even blinked suspiciously. They didn’t enter the shanty town but instead walked by the robust gates with the guards saluting Sam’s guide and approached an area that was devoid of anything aside from remnants of past mining operations.
Sam could see several mining shafts that led to the depths of the mountain range. They were, of course, barren of anything valuable. Occasionally, one could find a minuscule vein and mine for a day or two. Aside from that, industrial mining was not profitable in those shafts. Most people would only enter when somebody commissioned them to clean out some kind of monster that had decided it would be its new home.
As Sam’s eyes panned over the entrances shrouded his darkness, a memory came to the forefront of his mind.
‘The treasure!’
There was an actual quest line where the patriarch of an old family hid their treasure in the mines when it was decommissioned, and now the last descendant was an old man. They would actually willingly give up the entire treasure if the player returned one item. Thankfully, Sam had no need for that item.
The problem with the treasure and why it became famous was that people only got to know about it after the Fracture. One enterprising drake decided that it wanted to be a big boy dragon and claimed the mine shaft and the treasure on its own.
Thus, people couldn’t acquire the entire treasure, just the drops from the boss monster. The item that the quest-giving NPC desired became an ultra-rare drop.
There were many ways that people devised to get the treasure, but sadly, the way the Fracture worked nothing stuck, and just like that, an enormous treasure was left to forever taunt the players.
Fortunately, Sam knew exactly which mine shaft hid the treasure as the other Sam had gone up against the silly drake several times in the hopes that he could do what countless others couldn’t and change his life with the wealth that was hidden there.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t just go up there and find it, as that would be beyond suspicious. He would have to do it the old-fashioned way.
Finally, after some more running, they reached their destination. A much more cared-for section of the mining area with two mining shafts blocked by enormous ironwood doors with a little shack sitting between the two doors.
The trainer stopped, looking no worse for wear, while Sam was lightly panting from the exertion. He gave his thanks for his stamina consumption decreasing skills, took a big breath, and turned towards the trainer, who watched him with an approving eye.
“Where are we, sir?”
“Training gauntlet. We run through every graduating student. One door in, one door out.”
“And what do I have to do inside?”
The man smiled, somewhat sinisterly.
“Prove you are ready.”
‘Ready for what?’ Sam thought, but instead of speaking it out loud, he just nodded. Then he gazed curiously at the many mine shafts dotting the side of the mountain.
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“If you use these for the test, what are those used for?” he asked, pointing at the mine shafts.
The older man followed his eyes, then chuckled a little.
“Nothing. This gauntlet is here because it is convenient for now. We are currently building one under the Training Hall. When it’s done, we’ll be moving the entire thing there.” Sam opened his mouth to ask another question, but the man continued. “However, I suppose if you’re really interested in them, you could ask Old Thomas.”
“Old Thomas?” Sam asked with a twinkle in his eye. ‘That’s the NPC!’
“Yes. He has been the one maintaining the catalog of the decommissioned mine shafts. Useful, but boring work.” He turned back to Sam and clapped his hands together. The sound it made lightly echoed off the mountain. “Now, let’s return to the task at hand!”
Sam unconsciously straightened up and focused on the man. Seeing this, he was rewarded with a small smile and several flexes of the man’s impressive pectoral muscles.
“Your task is the following: Go in. Do the challenges. Prove your mettle. Then get out.” He then pointed at the shack between the gates leading to the mine shafts. “I’ll be watching as well as measuring the time.”
Sam nodded in understanding.
“Anything special I need?”
“No. Just your body and your sword. And iron will. Good luck!”
Then, without saying anything else, the man walked away toward the shack. Sam shook his head and made sure his sword, Moonlight, was in order, rotated his mana a few cycles to get used to it, and with a heavy swallow approached the door that was marked with a simple, painted arrow pointing inside.
The moment his hand touched the rather large door handle, a notification screen popped up in front of him.
[Congratulations, your trainer found you ready to attempt the Gauntlet of Body!]
[Warning: All Status point gains, Experience point gains, and Skill gains will be frozen the moment you step into the Gauntlet. You will receive the accumulated gains after finishing the Gauntlet!]
[You receive a 10% bonus experience to experience gains related to Body skills.]
[New quest acquired!]
[My body is my temple. Enlightenment is exhaustion.]
[You have been granted the opportunity to enter the Gauntlet of Body. This Gauntlet will test your body with varied challenges. Your reward will depend on how much work you put into it.
[Time limit: None, but the faster you go through it, the better the reward is.]
[Bonus:
1. Go through the Gauntlet of Body without any help. That means no pets, minions, summons, followers, or anything similar helping you.
2. Finish the Gauntlet of Body in under 3 hours.
3. Finish the Gauntlet of Body without taking any damage.]
[Hidden Bonus: ???]
[Penalty: Your teacher will be disappointed. You won’t be able to try the Gauntlet of Body again until it gets relocated.]
[Reward: Based on your performance.]
Sam read through the quest description and smiled a little.
“Lucky!” he called out.
The silly wolf immediately jumped out of his shadows and began to nuzzle his face. Sam laughed a little, then gave him a few pats on the head. He then pointed towards the shack.
“See that building? Go there and wait for me,” Sam said while looking directly into the eyes of the wolf.
Lucky let out a little whine, but after a small encouragement in the form of a bag of jerky, he happily trotted towards the shack. Sam watched as the wolf sat down in the shadows of the building, almost vanishing into them, and happily pushed his snout into the bag and fished out a lone jerky to munch on.
Sam turned back to the door, and with a mighty heave, opened the door.
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The moment he stepped inside, a bright light lit up the room.
Behind him a thin line of runes flashed in green under the door, signaling that the gauntlet had begun.
With mana brimming under his skin, Sam stopped and closed his eyes.
Before he started meditating to activate the Active Meditation skill as he knew from his other memories that it was one of the hidden achievements to complete the quest with the skill active. And it would also be a good chance to level up the skill with the bonus from the Gauntlet.
The moment he sensed the Active Meditation suffusing his body, he opened his eyes and took a look around the room for the first task.
The Gauntlet was separated into different rooms, with each room giving the player a different challenge, mostly something to be done with the body. Lifting weights, running, and so on…
He didn’t have to look long, as in the middle of the room were three waist-high poles with the first pole having six levels of circular weights on them, made from some kind of metal. Starting from the bottom the weights got increasingly smaller, indicating their purpose.
“Hanoi tower… And I left my medigel at home…” he muttered, then with a small sigh, approached the tower. He took the top weight and lifted it off the pole. Instantly, another set of runes blazed to life on it. And Sam knew that if he put it anywhere but a pole, he would be punished in some way.
“Well, I wanted this…” he softly exclaimed, then placed down the weight on the second pole and went to pick up the next one.
It was definitely heavier than the first one. Sam saw how big the rest of the weights got and let out another, deeper sigh.
After finishing the tower puzzle, a section of the wall opposite the entrance door lit up in a door-sized square, and with a grinding noise, it slowly rose, allowing Sam to pass through.
The next room contained an unadorned long corridor with a running man symbol at the beginning and a white line next to the symbol. He walked up to the line and got into position. The moment he stopped moving, a red light showed up at the end of the corridor. Then another. And another. And finally, a green.
Sam shot off, making sure to enhance his body as far as possible. He could have used his Shadow Burst, but he knew that another hidden achievement was not using any of the active skills aside from mana manipulations to enhance the body.
After an intense burn, he reached the end, and instead of slowly opening, this door shot up so fast that Sam could feel the shaking in the walls as the slab of stone came to stop. All this to allow him to launch himself through the door.
Briefly, he felt as if he was gliding, then suddenly he was stumbling forward in a sandpit.
He didn’t have time to reorient himself as suddenly he was attacked.
Managing to get his sword out in time, he somehow parried the incoming blow, only to see a very nicely made stone golem wielding a basic steel sword.
Hearing a small thud, he glanced behind him and saw it was another golem. Thankfully, after the second one showed up, that was it. Though he knew later, there would be more. There was a moment of silence then both golems charged at once.
----------------------------------------
After defeating the golems, he went forward.
Sam then moved even more weights. Run bursts, run some long distances, climbed walls, jumped down into holes, swam in pools, and fought even more golems throughout the gauntlet.
It was backbreaking, exhausting, and plain annoying. Running after taking a swim in full armor wasn’t the most pleasant experience (though he made a note to get some anti-water enchantments).
But despite all of this, the pain, the shakes, bone-deep weariness, and fatigue Sam found that he was enjoying himself.
It was exhilarating to see how much the game allowed him to act like a superhuman from the movies. And he knew without a doubt that later he would be capable of much more.
Facing off against first three, then four, then five and then an even dozen golems just caused a giant grin to appear on his face.
By the time he reached the room, he was drenched in water and sweat in equal amounts, as well as the sand and other debris that stuck to him after his tumble through several arenas.
The room was circular, with only one thing in it.
A simple slab of stone with a circle and a small sentence on it.
‘Your best punch’
Sam, familiar with the task from his inherited memories, walked up to the stone slab and took up a stance that was now rather familiar to him. Ignoring his exhaustion, he closed his eyes and grabbed the remaining mana in his body. He slowly got used to moving it around; moving it faster and faster until he could barely follow the mana with his senses granted to him by the game.
With deliberate slowness, Sam moved his body into a punching position, his arm ready to deliver his best punch.
He slowly saturated the arm, then his entire body with mana, while keeping up the fast-paced rotation of his mana. Letting the mana pool into his body for a while, he then slowly began to thicken the mana in his right arm and shoulder, making sure that it was ready to deliver a punch.
Finally, he took another part of his mana and pooled it into the tip of his fist, ready to be released at the moment of the fist hitting the stone.
Sam had two objectives with this action. One was to protect his arm and hand from the blowback of punching a heavy stone slab, and the other one was to increase his punching power. He knew that monks learned something similar, but as the other Sam never really got that familiar with monk skills, he didn’t know how they worked. He hoped this was enough.
For a moment he just held everything in place, feeling the strain on his body and mana, the entire thing feeling as if it would burst and the mana would flee from his grasp. But with the sheer force of will, he held it there.
‘One…’
‘Two…’
One last rapid rotation, and he let it go.
‘Three!’
BAMMM!