“It’s a little serendipitous that our first and last Trial together are wave trials,” I commented as we headed toward the Trial portal.

“It is,” Zavira agreed. “I only wish we encountered a Trial on the fourth floor, too. It’s disappointing to have missed out on an opportunity to gain a new skill or growth item.”

“Maybe this will make up for it.” I handed Zavira the growth talisman I’d made with a grin.

“Really?” she asked, eyes wide. “I would have thought you’d keep your first growth item as a memento.”

“You can give it back after I make a new one for you. You know,” I grinned, “once I become a Master Enchanter.”

“You don’t have to do that. You should at least let me pay you for it.”

“We can talk about that later,” I said dismissively. “For now, you can test it out for me. I designed it to automatically recharge from the user’s mana whenever it blocks an attack, so keep an eye on your mana if that happens. The drain shouldn’t be excessive, but it’ll probably exceed your mana regeneration.”

Offering the item to Zavira wasn’t completely altruistic on my part. I really did need the enchantment tested, and there was no better place to do that than in a Trial where death was not permanent.

Further, a part of me felt guilty about progressing beyond Zavira, and gifting her a growth item that would keep her safe in perpetuity felt like a good compromise to make if I was going to leave her behind.

Granted, it wasn’t like we were able to help each other in the labyrinth now, but that was just another reason to ensure she had something to help her stay safe, both now and after she eventually left.

After decades of progressing together, I considered Zavira one of my closest friends – if not the closest.

It sucked that Zavira had no plans to remain in the dungeon once she reached the eighth floor since it would have been nice to reconnect with her there.

I didn’t plan on leaving right away since I wanted to get a good feel for the floor first. While it would have been nice to have someone to share that with, I understood her desire to leave. The seventh floor had been particularly rough for the sociable half-dwarf.

I didn’t necessarily want to delay my departure either, but after doing the calculations for how long it would take to finish the rest of the dungeon… Saying I felt a little daunted would be an understatement.

Regardless, as long as I made it back in time for Amie’s awakening, I’d consider it a win.

----------------------------------------

[Welcome, Challenger!

Complete the Trial and be rewarded.

You may practice this Trial 0 times.

You may challenge this Trial 1 time.

Would you like to:

Practice, Challenge, or Exit the Trial?

* NOTE: You may reenter if you exit without challenging the Trial *]

“This looks like a repeat of the fifth-floor Trial,” Zavira commented after she probed the dungeon for more information. “We get ten minutes between waves and can quit anytime using the orb.”

“We’re not going to quit, though,” I said confidently.

Since the dungeon was supposed to prevent actual death in trials, it made sense to push ourselves as far as possible. Giving up early seemed like a horrible waste of opportunity.

“We’re not,” Zavira agreed before lamenting, “I wish the other challengers had been more open about what to expect.”

“It’ll probably be like the last one,” I hypothesized. “If the Researchers want to compare our performance, we should be able to expect a slow and steady increase in difficulty, just like last time. We should be prepared for a quick jump with each wave, though, just in case.”

After taking a moment to prepare ourselves for an attack, we entered the trial.

“This looks exactly like the last wave trial,” I said as I looked around.

We stood atop a hill next to a pedestal holding a glowing orb. I could see farther than before, but otherwise, the barren landscape seemed identical to the one we fought from so many years before.

It took less than a minute for the first pair of creatures to emerge from the dense, swirling fog surrounding the hill.

[Pyroavis – level 61 – Fire – Quick-flying avians with ranged fire attacks. High regeneration when enflamed.]

I loved the additional information provided by Assess now that I’d leveled the skill close to its next evolution.

“It looks like we’re starting at the bottom of Tier Seven for opponents, just like last time,” I commented. I didn’t bother calling out the mobs’ information since I knew Zavira had already examined the creatures with her own version of the spell.

Since mana had been the limiting factor the last time that we challenged a wave trial, Zavira and I had already equipped ourselves with manatech weapons that primarily drew from mana cores instead of our personal reserves.

We’d worked together to craft our arsenal, mostly because Zavira refused to put any real effort into learning how to enchant beyond copying and transferring existing enchantments, and I felt similar about Smithing.

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The waves took the same format as before, except the numbers didn’t slowly increase by two. Instead, they doubled until capping at thirty-two. That was a lot even against weaker mobs, but we managed with a few strategically placed wards and enchantment-built walls.

Another change from the fifth floor’s Trial was that the dungeon didn’t wait until the fiftieth wave to start mixing attackers. Instead, those came once our opponents reached level sixty-four.

“I hate when we have to fight flyers and strong ground mobs,” Zavira complained when the last of the creatures fell.

I didn’t bother attempting to collect any of the downed creatures since they weren’t worth the expended mana – even with my new enchanted ring making things easier.

That would change once we started fighting Tier Eight opponents. I wasn’t using much mana against the weaker mobs, but it was still enough that I didn’t want to expend any more.

I chewed on a sandwich I’d stored in my ring as I waited for the next wave to start. Even without spending much mana, the strain of fighting so many mobs was starting to wear on me. It was too bad the dungeon wouldn’t let me take advantage of Time Dilation during the challenge.

“How are you doing?” I asked after a moment.

“I’m fine,” Zavira replied grumpily. “I wasn’t paying enough attention and one of the bats took a few points off the [Barrier] with a Wind Blade. The talisman has already recharged, so it’s fine now.”

“Just a few points?” I asked curiously.

“About a tenth of the charge, I guess.”

That wasn’t too bad, considering our opponents were roughly equivalent to our level. The real test would be when the mobs reached Tier Eight.

Though we’d never reached that point in the previous wave trial, I expected we’d get the opportunity to challenge ourselves against higher-tier mobs soon enough.

----------------------------------------

When we’d whittled down the last wave of the set to only two opponents, I darted out of the makeshift shelter and ran to the largest pile of dead mobs. Injecting a steady stream of mana into my secondary ring, every dead creature within ten meters disappeared, making me smile in satisfaction.

Not wanting to waste the mana necessary to Teleport, I retraced my steps and helped Zavira kill the last of the attacking Tier Eight mobs.

“How many?” Zavira asked with a hint of strain.

“Twelve,” I replied with a smile.

“That’s good. We can do a lot with that.” She looked relieved.

“I hope the next wave doesn’t have any humanoid creatures,” I commented with a sigh. “Those are such a pain to defeat in groups, and it always feels weird harvesting them. It wouldn’t be so bad if there wasn’t always a couple of spellcasters mixed in.”

“Are they really any different from other creatures that can cast spells?” Zavira asked.

“Not really,” I admitted. “It’s probably psychological. The orcs and grenolians in the high-tier zones are such a pain to fight, and nobody would ever even consider using their meat as food.”

“We use it in the MealMaker,” Zavira reminded me.

“That’s different.”

“It’s because they look too much like us,” my companion said knowingly.

I nodded. No matter how edible such dungeon-made creatures may be, actually cooking and eating them was incredibly unappealing. Transmuting them was infinitely better since it changed the actual composition of the ingredients into something else – something not humanoid.

“The perceived increase in difficulty has little to do with their actual offensive capabilities and more to do with their methods,” Zavira surmised. “I’m just glad they don’t speak Common.”

I agreed. It was bad enough that the dungeon-creations were smart enough to scheme. It would be a lot worse if they were capable of communicating with us.

I knew that orcs, hobgoblins, and grenolians were sapient outside of the dungeon, as were several other monstrous races. I wasn’t sure why the dungeon – or whoever controlled it – had decided to incorporate such beings as mobs, but I supposed it was better than adding monstrous versions of Alliance races.

There were natural rifts that did such things, but those were normally destroyed whenever they were found. Nobody wanted monstrous humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, or demis breaking out of rifts and spreading.

That had actually been an issue for demis when they were first discovered by the Alliance since people just assumed they were monsters like their rift counterparts.

The next wave started a few moments later, but with only two mobs this time, it didn’t take us long to defeat them. We didn’t even bother standing since it was just as easy to spam spell effects while seated as it was to do it while standing.

I was glad that each wave was comprised of different creatures since the variety of materials was helpful.

“How far do you think we can go this time?” I asked Zavira as I pulled out a small snack.

We’d shifted from eating the basic food to items we bought or transmuted to those we’d purchased on the previous floor with imbued effects. While they were all a tier weaker, the effects were still worthwhile.

The mana rejuvenation was particularly helpful as we progressed through the trial. Though the manatech we’d crafted didn’t take much mana to use, it still wasn’t free. I also needed to cast the occasional Pause or Slow to keep us from getting overwhelmed, especially now that we were fighting stronger mobs.

While the trial hadn’t limited our arsenal like the previous one, there were only so many types of items one could craft from the same four bosses. We’d held those weapons in reserve so far, knowing I wouldn’t have time to craft once we started the trial.

“I’m not sure,” Zavira replied. “We should probably start using the Tier Eight weapons soon. The higher-tier mobs are taking a lot more attacks to defeat using Tier Seven weapons. We’re going to drain the rest of our mana core supplies at this rate.”

With a sigh, I said, “Okay. I really wish the dungeon would give us a chance to craft between waves.”

While we could probably get away with having only one person deal with the first two or three waves of a set, thirty minutes wasn’t nearly enough to harvest and process the materials, much less craft a viable weapon.

“As do I,” Zavira replied.

Using the higher-tiered weapons, the next several waves were easier. I collected as many carcasses as possible during waves with sixteen or thirty-two opponents, but even with the added mana cores, we weren’t able to extend the use of our arsenal by much.

Even so, I estimated the small addition allowed us to extend our fight by a full five-wave set.

I was careful not to fully expend any of the weapons, which slightly shortened the amount of time I could use them. However, doing so ensured the expended mana cores could be refilled once I reached the next floor.

“I don’t think we can make it much farther,” I said when I slotted my last Ice core into the weapon I was using. Zavira had already switched to fighting with her telekinetically-controlled enchanted blades.

“I agree. I’ll try to grab as many bodies as possible before I go down.”

“Me too,” I said with a resolute nod. “But we can probably make it through another wave or two.”

I felt confident that even without the manatech weapons, I’d be able to hold out for a while.

“My [Barrier] is gone,” Zavira said while shaking her head. “I already swapped it out with the old one since I can’t afford the mana it takes to keep it going. I don’t think the one I have now will last more than a hit or two.”

I winced slightly. “I was torn on whether to have it automatically recharge or not, but figured it was better to block damage than take a fatal hit,” I said apologetically.

“That’s definitely a valid point. It wasn’t a bad decision,” she said supportively.

The fog darkened slightly, a sign that the next set of mobs was being generated. I stood and slowly stretched as I watched the swirling fog in the distance.

With a deep sigh, I said, “Alright, let’s get this over with.”