Liam stared at her, waiting to tell him what she wanted him to know.
“First, I will inform you that the issue with not being able to see what your second class is along with the abilities it comes with, will resolve itself in time,” Eri started.
“How much time?” Liam asked.
“It could be days or weeks or even months,” Eri said. “It all depends on what is going on with it.”
“What do you mean?” Liam asked, a bit alarmed. “What is going on with it?”
“I won’t tell you,” Eri said firmly. “If you were my Champion I would reveal everything, but I will wait patiently for you to accept.”
“You mean if I accept,” Liam corrected.
“No, when you accept is right,” Eris corrected him with a wry smug look. That smug look returned into a serious one as she continued, “I will say, one of your abilities is hard at work fixing the problem.”
Liam raised a brow as he looked at her.
Fine, keep your secrets. He thought.
“The other thing I will go over with you has to do with your question from earlier,” Eri said. “Why you were told no one has more than one class if Geminis have dual classes. That is because… large groups are hunting down Geminis every day.”
“What!?” Liam shouted as he felt his blood run cold. “Why? Is it because of their dual classes?”
“Yes and no,” Eri replied. “There are some who are jealous of that, but the real reason is something completely different. It’s an ability only a small handful of Geminis will get.”
“What ability is that?” Liam asked.
“That…,” Eri started, but hesitated. She looked at him for a moment before saying, “I won’t say.”
“How come?” Liam asked.
“Because it won’t matter if you do or do not know it,” Eri bluntly stated. “Regardless of if you were one that had the ability, the ones hunting Geminis down won’t care. I will say that the ability is one that even Gods fear.”
“An ability even Gods fear?” Liam whispered to himself.
Is there even an ability that can do that? If there is, then no wonder Geminis are being hunted down. Liam thought while he was coming to terms with the situation he was in.
“Do not reveal your Zodiac to anyone you do not trust or believe can not keep a secret,” Eri repeated. “I would advise you not tell anyone. And for those that know what your Zodiac is already from your previous world, avoid them at all costs.”
Liam was about to say something, but was interrupted as Eri cut him off, “I mean it, just because you were friends with someone back in your old world doesn’t mean they wouldn’t hesitate to turn you in to save their lives.”
Liam was about to argue again but stopped as he thought about it.
He had friends he trusted, but it had been a couple of years since he last saw them. They could have changed. He wouldn’t know though until he saw them.
“Alright, but what about family?” Liam asked.
“Do you trust your family?” Eris questioned.
“My dad, brothers, my older step sister, aunt and her two daughters yes. Anyone beyond that, nope,” Liam answered honestly.
“Then you know the answer to your question,” Eri stated.
Liam nodded.
Liam stared at her, wanting to know more, but then decided to take another approach to the topic.
“Are there any libraries out there that would have knowledge on the topic?” Liam asked.
Eri stared at him for a moment. She then look up as she started to think. After a moment she looked back at him and said, “Yes, there is. But not accurate information.”
“What do you mean?” Liam asked.
“There is information, but it’s tailored to make the genesis of the Geminis look to be more noble than what it is,” Eri explained.
God damn corruption. Liam thought. He then had another thought as something popped into his mind. “If the books do not hold the correct knowledge then does that mean the Gods are allowing it?”
“Some are yes,” Eri responded. “However, not all of them are. Just like not all people are out hunting Geminis. You can tell just by how they react or treat you if someone is actively hunting or protecting. It’s a nature they won’t hide easily.”
“So, are you saying that I should mention the word Gemini in front of someone and see their reaction?” Liam asked, not liking the idea.
“Sure, if you want to get yourself killed,” Eri replied. “No, I’m saying watch a person’s demeanor. Body language and attitude can tell a person a lot about them.”
Liam nodded, agreeing with her on that.
Eri looked to the right of her and watched as a piece of the wall slid down into the ground.
“It looks like our time is up,” Eri said with a sad smile.
Liam noticed a hint of loneliness appear in her eyes.
Regretful that he couldn’t stay for much longer, Liam stated, “How do I get in contact with you if I decide to accept?”
This question brightened her a little bit before saying, “Since we have made contact with each other, I will be able to sense your presence on any of the floors and can communicate with you mentally.”
“Mentally huh? So, you’re saying you’ll be in my head each time I enter the dungeon?” Liam asked before sarcastically adding, “What is with crazy women trying to get up in my head?”
Eri let out a laugh as she responded, “Don’t catch the attention of crazy women if you don’t want them running around in your mind.”
“Fair enough,” Liam said as he made his way to the opened section of the wall.
Before he made it to the opened section he remembered something she had asked earlier that made him want to ask a certain question.
“Before I go,” he started as he turned back to her.
“Hm?” Eri asked.
“You were curious how I found myself on this path,” Liam began. “What exactly is this path and why are the monsters different and so much stronger than the normal path? Is it truly a Forbidden Path?”
Eri stared at him.
A moment passed before she replied, “I guess you can say this is a forbidden path, but at the same time it isn’t.”
“What do you mean?” Liam asked, confused by her answer.
“Technically it is considered a Forbidden Path since the monsters are stronger, but they are that way because this is a Deity’s Trial Path. A path to see if you are worthy of becoming a Champion of the Deity or to gain a blessing depending on who finds you interesting,” Eri explained.
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“The monsters are stronger than normal to test your will power to see if you have the will to face challenges that are beyond your abilities. If you are deemed worthy then a Deity will reward you with a Blessing or the chance to be their Champion.”
“So, something like this is common?” Liam asked.
Eri shook her head. “The monster would normally be slightly stronger. How strong or hard it is to kill the monster shows what kind of Deity finds you interesting.”
Liam stared at her.
“The monsters we’ve fought have been nothing but a pain and have been hard to beat,” Liam stated. A thought popped in his head. “If the monsters are strong then the Deity is…”
Eri gave him a sly grin. “I’ll let you decide if your thought is right as you face the last two dungeons. However, this is considered a Forbidden Path because of two reasons. One is because no one was ever supposed to face my Trial Path.”
Liam stared at her with his mouth slightly opened. Curious to know the other, he asked, “And the other reason?”
“Someone has tampered with this path and connected it to a path that should never appear in a Tutorial. The Path of the Forgotten Realm.”
Liam felt the serious tone in her voice and shivered slightly. He was about to ask what Path that was, but couldn’t as Eri continued.
“Be careful when you face the final boss on the sixth floor. If it goes well do not, and I repeat do not enter the floor after that. You are nowhere near ready for it.”
“The floor beyond the sixth? I thought there was only six?” Liam questioned as more questions started to form.
“I can not speak on this anymore,” Eri said.
“One more question then,” Liam said as he felt this one was really important.
“What is it?” Eri asked.
“Due to the nature of the Tutorial Area, we are not supposed to be able to die,” Liam started but then gulped before finishing, “Is there a possibility we can die on this path?”
Eri stared at him. She gave him a sad smile before answering, “There is no possibility of Death. Only guarantee.”
Liam felt a cold sweat run down his spine.
“Be careful out there. Get stronger and survive,” Eri encouraged. “I want you as my Champion and need you to live.”
Liam turned his body and slowly walked away, taking in all that he was told.
After he left the area, the wall started to slowly slide back up.
“He is one fun guy,” Eri said as she watched the wall. “I really do hope he’ll accept, even if it costs him his mind.”
She shook her head at the thought. “No one has been able to withstand the pressure.”
“Still, what nerve he had,” Eri then pouted. “Telling me, a Primordial Goddess, no. Not once, but twice.”
A thought suddenly formed in her mind.
Making a faux look of shock, she stated, “I forgot to warn him about the physical changes he and his friends went through after having the Info Block dispelled and letting their races change their appearances.”
After a swift moment of silence, Eri formed a wicked grin and said, “Oops…let’s see how that plays out.”
Eri’s translucent body then started to phase out as she walked away. As her body began to disappear, her voice whispered, “I hope he’ll accept and then become my friend.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the wall closed behind him, a faint whisper echoed in the air making him turn around. The whisper was so quiet he wasn’t able to catch it. However, what he did catch was how dark the hall was now.
“Plunging into darkness once again, I guess,” he commented as he placed a hand on each wall, helping him guide which way to go.
As he walked, he felt a strange tingle across his body. It was faint at first, but as he continued to walk the sensation got stronger. He felt the hairs on his arms, legs, neck, and head start to rise as the sensation grew to, what he felt like, its maximum point.
He stopped as he waited for the worst static shock to happen, but nothing came.
He continued to stand there waiting for it, but after two minutes of nothing, he decided to take another step.
It was at this moment he realized he fucked up.
The sensation that was tingling throughout his body suddenly shot straight to his eyes as flashes of light flashed over and over in the hall. Pain exploded in and around his eyes. It was so sudden it caused him to quickly throw both of his hands to his face, smacking him hard. He dropped to his knees and let out a loud agonizing howl.
Liam endured as the pain in his optical area pulsed. He had no clue what was happening. All he could do was grit his teeth and release a cry of pain when it pulsed stronger.
During this time, Liam couldn’t see it, but his shadow that appeared between the flashes of light started quivering as if it was alive. A pair of red eyes opened, blinked, smiled, then closed their eyes not opening them again.
Liam continued to fight the pain, until it suddenly subsided.
He gasped for air as spit spewed out his mouth between gasps.
“What…the fuck…was that?” Liam said between breaths.
After his heart had calmed down and his breathing evened out, Liam realized the pain that pulsed in his eyes had disappeared as if it was never there.
He slowly opened them and was shocked.
The completely dark hall was no longer dark. It was as if a very dim light was on in the hall. It wasn’t much, but it was still better than how it was moments ago.
Liam looked around to find the source of light but couldn’t find any.
“Is this some sort of magic?” Liam questioned as chime sounds echoed in his mind.
Confused, Liam opened his notifications.
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“Congratulations! Your races Cait Sith and ???????? have fully integrated with your body and have transformed you to give you the appearance you were supposed to have according to your DNA as well has changed some of your body’s structure and gained more affinities.”
“The following changes have been made to your body. Thanks to your Cait Sith race your eye sight, hearing, smell and touch have boosted your perception by 10%.”
“Thanks to your Cait Sith race your reaction to danger has given you a 5% boost to your agility, reflexes, and fine motor skills.”
“Thanks to your Cait Sith race your love of crafting has given you a 10% boost to any crafting sub-stats and crafted items.”
“Thanks to your ???????? race, Field of the Shadows has been unlocked. Please look at your Mystic Landscape to choose which Focus Points you want to invest in.”
“Thanks to your ???????? race you have received a 10% boost to all Shadow magic.”
“Thanks to your ???????? race you have received ability Dark Sight.”
“Dark Sight –Ability to see in the dark. Ability is only active when in a dark area. Skill Type – Passive. Level 1. Progression to level 2: 10%.”
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“A passive ability that activates when in a dark area? Yes please,” Liam said with a grin. “That also explains why I can see better in the dark. But was this the reason why my eyes were hurting?”
Liam thought about it and concluded that it couldn’t be it.
“I’ll have to see if something weird happened to my eyes when I see the others,” Liam stated before he started looking himself over.
As he gave himself a once over, he noticed…nothing. Nothing about him had changed.
At least not the areas he could see.
“I’ll also have to have them give me a once over to see if they could spot any changes I couldn’t.”
He went to take a step but then stopped as an idea formed in his head.
“I wonder if the Dark Sight works with my goggles on,” Liam stated as he pulled them down over his eyes.
It was slightly darker than when his goggles were off, but he was still able to see around him a bit.
Before he went to take them off and say something, a chime echoed in his mind with a notification following behind it.
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“Congratulations! Dark Sight has reached level 2! Progression to level 3: 10%!”
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“That leveled quicker than I thought it would,” he said, a bit shocked. “Hm, I wonder how much of this I can exploit?”
A grin formed on his face as another chime echoed in his mind. “Let’s see how much I can exploit this level raising cheat.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After forty five minutes had passed, Liam saw a light that led out of the hall and into the next room.
As he approached the door, he felt accomplished. He had exploited the dark area and using his goggles to help raise his Dark Sight ability to level ten. After it hit level ten, the speed of it leveling slowed by a lot.
He wouldn’t complain though. His sight made the dark room a bit lighter and gave him the chance to peer into dark areas from a well-lit room. It was a win-win for him.
As he came out of the hall, he suddenly jumped back as figures caught his attention.
Each individual had beast or monster-like appearances.
Liam swiftly pulled his daggers out from their sheathes and took a defensive stance as he looked all around him.
Six figures turned to look at him and were shocked to see him pull his weapons out.
“Who the fuck are you guys!” Liam shouted.
Each of the individuals gave him a laugh.
Liam looked confused as they laughed.
What the hell is so funny? He thought as he readied himself in case they attacked. Are they laughing at me because they think I won’t put up a good enough fight? I won’t go down that easily. I’ll just hold them off until the others get here. Then we can take them out.
A sudden chuckle echoed in Liam’s mind as Eri’s voice mentally said, “Put your weapons away. They aren’t what you think they are.”
Eri? Liam thought as he remembered her saying she could speak to him while he was still in the dungeon.
“Yeah, it’s me,” she responded.
It feels weird talking to you mentally. Liam thought to her. Almost feels invasive.
Eri let out another laugh as she told him, “Get used to it. Once when you become my Champion there will be times where I can talk to you like this. Anyways, put your weapons away. If they are here, then that means this is the team you came in here with.”
What? Liam thought as he took another look at them.
Each person within the room did have the same equipment his team wore.
As he stared at them, he frowned and said to her, Why didn’t you tell me this would happen? I could have avoided looking so stupid.
Eri gave him another loud laugh before saying, “And what, miss your hilarious reaction? Nah, this was great. You should have seen your face when you entered the room. It was priceless.”
Ha, ha, ha. Laugh it up. Liam thought as he eased his body and sheathed his weapons. You’re a real jerk, you know that?
“I can be yes.” Eri agreed.