“Are you serious?!” Liam exclaimed as his thoughts started to swirl.

Liam’s thoughts started to jumble as new questions popped up one after another.

How many groups have died? Was there other groups facing the same problem my team and I were in the other dungeons? Were they from the same dungeon? Were any of those groups of people that died from Jude’s and the other two we were talking about earlier today? Liam thought as he stared at Nabal.

As his thoughts fought over one another, there was one that stood out. He looked at Nabal and asked, “How do you know that groups have suddenly died in one of the dungeons?”

“There is a feature on the portals that shows how many groups, and people in each group, are currently in that dungeon,” Nabal stated.

“When exactly did this happen?” Liam questioned.

“Yesterday while you were taking on the fifth floor,” Nabal replied.

Liam grew a concerned look as he started organizing his thoughts even more. He had one more question he needed answered to be able to start organizing his thoughts. Without hesitating, Liam continued to ask, “Which dungeon did this happen in?”

Nabal stared at him for a moment before answering, “The Black dungeon.”

Liam’s body tensed as he heard the answer. He stared at Nabal and questioned if what was going on was due to the Forbidden Path they had found.

He remembered Galin’s reaction when he asked about the Forbidden Path. He didn’t know how Nabal would react if he told him. However, from the way things were looking, he might not be able to hide it anymore.

Hesitant at first, Liam opened his mouth, but then closed.

“What’s wrong?” Nabal asked as he watched Liam.

“I was just wondering…,” Liam started, still not sure if he should say anything.

He wasn’t sure if them going down that Forbidden Path triggered this or not, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure if there were consequences for not saying anything about it to anyone.

“You were just wondering what?” Nabal questioned as he eyed him.

“I was wondering if a Forbidden Path cause this?” Liam asked.

Nabal stared at him, confused at what he had just heard. “I’m sorry, could you repeat the question?”

“I said…I was wondering if a Forbidden Path caused the deaths of other groups adventuring a dungeon?” Liam repeated.

“How do you know about Forbidden Paths?” Nabal asked as his eyes narrowed.

“I’ll answer your question after you answer mine,” Liam said resolving himself.

Nabal’s eyes narrowed even more as he continued to stare at him. He didn’t say anything for a minute before finally saying, “If a group found a Forbidden Path then there’s a possibility, but it would only affect that group not the whole dungeon.”

Liam let out a breath of air he didn’t realize he held while waiting for the answer.

“Now tell me how you came to know about Forbidden Paths,” Nabal inquired with a hard and strict tone in his voice.

Liam looked at him and tensed as he felt the seriousness in his voice. He thought about making up a lie, but felt it would be useless in front of the stoic man in front of him.

Summoning back the resolve he was losing, Liam said, “My team and I found a Forbidden Path while taking on the dungeon.”

Nabal’s eyes widened. He then swiftly grabbed Liam’s shoulders and asked with a slight panic in his voice, “Are you sure? How many floors have you guys been facing this?”

Liam was taken aback by his sudden change of demeanor. He had never seen Nabal frazzled before.

Liam nodded.

“We found it on the second floor,” Liam replied.

“The second floor!?” Nabal shouted. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“When we first came across it we didn’t know anything about it. We thought it was just a strange path,” Liam started to explain. “When we got back from the third floor and I brought the materials I harvested from the monsters, I received weird looks from my other two mentors, but then I heard about the possibility of what we found being one. Galin had experienced a Forbidden Path and told me about his experience on it.”

“However, we thought that since we were in the Tutorial Area, the magic that is placed on the dungeons limited the monster’s abilities and strengths bringing down their true power. Which it did…to a degree. And since that magic was working we thought we wouldn’t die while taking on the floors.”

“You experienced something that made you change your mind,” Nabal guessed.

Liam nodded. “It was during the fourth floor,” Liam answered.

Nabal was about to ask about it, but Liam put a hand up and said, “I won’t tell you how I came across the information so please don’t ask.”

Nabal narrowed his eyes but didn’t ask the question he wanted to. Instead, he asked, “Have you told the Overseers?”

Liam shook his head. “Galin asked the same thing, but since Nalia has been acting like a bitch to me I wasn’t sure if I should trust them.”

“You can trust Adva and Phorge,” Nabal stated. “They only have your best interest in mind.”

“I hope so,” Liam said with little hope in his words. “So, if a Forbidden Path wouldn’t be able to do this, then how did this happen?”

“I don’t know how it happened, but the Overseers are looking into it right now,” Nabal stated as he watched Liam. “I don’t know what they are going to do about it since this is a major concern. I don’t know if they are going to let you continue or stop you from completing the sixth floor.”

Liam looked at him and realized why he wanted him to see him here in this isolated room. “Not everyone knows about this, huh?”

Nabal nodded.

“The Overseers are concerned about this, but they don’t want the news of this to spread. It’ll create chaos since there is supposed to be magic to protect you from dying while in the Tutorial Dungeon,” Nabal explained. “Since they don’t know what’s going on and how this happened, they are trying to figure out if they are going to let those who are still alive finish the last floor of the Black Dungeon.”

“So, there are others still alive?” Liam asked.

Nabal nodded before saying, “Including your team, there are a total of four left.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“So, then what are the Overseers going to do?” Liam asked.

Nabal shook his head. “I don’t know. They are trying to figure that out right now. If I know a certain someone, she’ll probably push for you guys to continue since she could care less what happens in the Black Dungeon, but the other two I’m not so sure.”

“How do you know about this?” Liam asked as he grew curious.

“I happened to overhear Adva and Phorge talk about it when I went to see if you came out of the dungeon,” Nabal replied. “I have an ability that lets me hear better and I happened to hear them talk about it when I saw something was bugging them.”

Liam’s brows scrunched. “Why didn’t they say anything to us when we came out then?”

Nabal shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe they didn’t want to scare you?”

“That’s stupid. If something is going on then they should say something to those who it could effect,” Liam frowned as he started feeling irritated.

“They will tell you. However, it might be after they figure out what to do,” Nabal said.

“So, then what should I do now?” Liam asked. “Just wait around for them to figure something out? We don't have much time and I don’t think they’d let us just leave after not finishing the sixth floor. Isn’t that the requirement to be able to leave here?”

Nabal gave Liam a look of pity as Liam started getting frustrated. “You’re not just going to sit around. I’m sure the Overseers, well at least Adva and Phorge, will figure out a way for you to get out of here. However, in case you do get sent back into that dungeon then I’m not going to let you just sit around and do nothing while waiting for an answer. I will continue your training here.”

Liam stared at him.

“Why train here? We could do that at the Training Hall,” Liam questioned.

“We could go train back at the Training Hall,” Nabal said as he brought his hand to his chin. “However, I want to show you something. You can think of it like an advanced Daggers technique.”

Liam’s eyes lit up hearing what Nabal said. “Okay!”

Nabal shook his head before turning to the wide open room. He then walked over to the middle of the room. Before doing anything else, Nabal looked at Liam and said, “Okay, watch what I’m about to do.”

Liam stared at Nabal and watched as he pulled out two daggers. He then felt a pressure start to build up around Nabal.

Liam activated his Mana Sight and saw a milky-white fog color start to outline him. He then watched as the mana started to pour into the daggers in Nabal’s hands.

After a few seconds had passed, Nabal start to juggle the two daggers.

Liam watched as the two daggers go from one hand to the other. Then a third one appeared, then a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, then finally a seventh.

Liam was confused about where the other five daggers came from. He didn’t see Nabal pull any out from anywhere. It was almost like they appeared out of thin air.

After juggling the seven daggers for a couple of minutes, Nabal let out a soft grunt before swiftly throwing two of the daggers that passed over to his right hand.

The two daggers soared towards the wall in front of him and sunk into it.

Liam looked back at Nabal to see that the amount of daggers didn’t decrease. He still had seven daggers juggling in his hands.

Liam looked back at the wall and saw that the two he had thrown were still stuck in it.

Then, as quickly as he could, Nabal tossed five more daggers around the two that had pierced into wall.

Liam looked back to see he had seven daggers still juggling around in front of him.

What the hell is going on? Liam questioned internally. Where is he getting more daggers from? And how is he getting them while still juggling?

This really confused him. No matter what he thought or how hard he tried to come up with an answer, he just couldn’t figure it out.

Nabal grinned as he watched Liam stare at him with that confused look. He then threw the rest of the daggers into the wall, spreading them out as much as he could.

Liam looked back at Nabal and this time he didn’t have any more juggling.

Nabal looked at him and asked, “What do you think?”

“Where did you get so many daggers from?” Liam started as his questions rolled off his tongue. “I didn’t see you pull any out while you were juggling. Also, what was that milky-white colored mana?”

“So, what I just showed you was something you’ll learn how to do later when you get better with your daggers and your Magical Fields,” Nabal started.

Liam’s brows scrunched as he tried to process what he was being told. “What do you mean?

“It’s an Advanced Weapon Art skill where you channel the mana of one of your Magical Fields into your weapon or weapons and then use a Weapon Art skill tailored to you,” Nabal started to explain.

“Channel the mana of one of your Magical Fields into your weapon?” Liam repeated as he started thinking. “Is that similar to controlling and manipulating one of the mana types you know from your Fields? Like Fire or Gravity?”

Surprised, Nabal asked, “Oh? So, you know that you can learn to control and manipulate different types of mana?”

Liam nodded. “I just learned how to recently, but I’m still learning.”

Nabal gave Liam an appraising nod. He didn’t think Liam would pick up how to do that so soon.

“Learning how to control and manipulate different types of mana that you have is the starting point to be able to do this,” Nabal continued. “When you get it to a certain level, along with your Weapon skills in daggers, you’ll be able to learn how to make unique Weapon Art skills suitable for your use called Mana Weapon Arts.”

“Mana Weapon Arts?” Liam repeated. “That sounds pretty cool.” Liam’s eyes suddenly furrowed before he asked, “What do you mean by suitable for me? Is it not something that is teachable?”

“Yes and no,” Nabal started back up again. “There are beginner techniques that can help you to understand and get a better feel for it. You have used one technique during a fight when you first learned how to manipulate mana.”

Confused, Liam tried thinking about what he meant.

“Forgotten already?” Nabal asked as he shook his head. “Hear, maybe watching this will remind you.”

Liam watched as Nabal looked back at the daggers on the wall. He then made a motion with his hands like he was reaching out and gripping something. After his hands clenched he pulled them back.

As his hands made the motion, two daggers that were on the wall suddenly shot backwards and sailed for the wall behind him.

Liam’s eyes widened as he watched.

“You meant that?!” Liam questioned with disbelief.

Nabal nodded as he looked back at Liam. “The version you did was a basic one using Arcane mana. It is used to practice getting a handle on controlling and manipulating mana. After a while you’ll be able to do this.”

Liam watched as Nabal made the same motion he did before, however instead of two daggers, all twelve daggers that were sunk into the wall in front of him shot out and flew towards the wall behind him.

Liam was shocked and stunned at what he saw.

“Amazing right?” Nabal asked.

Liam nodded.

“Well don’t get too excited, you haven’t seen nothing yet,” Nabal stated as he turned around and pulled the daggers towards him with his mana. However, instead of them flying towards the other side of the room again, they stopped and hovered around him.

“After plenty of practice you’ll be able to do this,” Nabal said. “Once when you get here, you’ll be able to do this as well. After that you’ll be able to add in different styles depending on the mana you use.”

“That is so bad ass!” Liam exclaimed with some excitement.

“And to answer your other question,” Nabal started again. “Once when you get to the level of using different types of mana, you’ll have to figure out how to utilize it with your own fighting style.”

Liam’s excitement dimmed a bit as he grew confused. “What do you mean?”

“You said you saw a milky-white mana color right?” Nabal asked.

Liam nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve seen that color before.”

“That’s because you normally wouldn’t if the user of this Field is any good,” Nabal stated. “The Field that mana color belongs to is the Field of Illusions. I used that field to create illusions of daggers to appear.”

The daggers floating in the air around Nabal suddenly disappeared as their forms waved and winked out of existence.

Liam grew more confused as he looked at the walls the daggers had sunk into. There were holes showing that the daggers had pierced through.

“So then, are those holes illusions as well?” Liam asked.

“No,” Nabal answered with a cocky grin. “My Field of Illusions is pretty high so the effects of it can manifest daggers that can do real damage.”

“You can do that?” Liam asked.

“The mind is a powerful tool if you work it hard enough,” Nabal said with mischievous grin.

“So, was that why I couldn’t understand how you got so many daggers when you were juggling?” Liam questioned.

Nabal nodded. “By channeling my Illusion mana into my two daggers, I can create illusory copies of my daggers that can do real damage. However, there is a drawback. I need to make sure I have real daggers and have channeled enough mana into them so I can do this. The plus side is I don’t have to worry about cleaning up so many daggers.”

Liam nodded as he understood what he was saying.

“Can I ask something?” Liam inquired.

“Sure,” Nabal said.

“Why juggle them?” Liam questioned.

“I don’t think I ever told you what my current class is. Have I?” Nabal asked.

Liam shook his head.

“My class is Wild Card Slayer,” Nabal informed. “It is a class heavy in Illusions and Assassin techniques. Theres more to it, but due to certain rules, I can’t divulge more.”

That’s right, he is part of that Suite Clan. Liam thought. His body tensed slightly as he felt a cold chill run down his back. An assassin type class that uses Illusion magic would be nasty to go up against.

“I understand and wont pry into it,” Liam said.

Nabal nodded. “Good. Since I have shown you a sneak peek of what you get to look forward to in the future, it is time to get your foot on that road. And to do that, you are going to need to work on the weapon arts we have been going over.”

Liam let out a groan.

“That’s right,” Nabal said with a laugh. “Got to start with the basics before you can grow. We’ve got plenty of time to use this room so be ready to train till you’re ready to drop.”