I felt terrible. Like the kind of guy who’d just sucker punched a kid after telling them they were getting ice cream.

It wasn’t like I was in the habit of lying to people. At least, not for anything big. If I’d guessed that Aerion would bend over backward after hearing about my made-up plight, I might’ve reconsidered. Then again, he did really want to pay me back, so his willingness to help made sense.

I spent the next hour grilling him, and he held nothing back.

I learned a lot of useful stuff relevant to the dungeon and our immediate survival—and a lot of… less relevant trivia as well. Like how the world was called Axius, and that there was only one massive continent. Or that the god of Order was a total asshole, and Aerion wished upon him a slow, gruesome death. Something to do with destroying his family. It sounded like there was a lot of history there to unpack, and Aerion was light on the details. I felt bad for the guy, though. He’d had it rough.

The dungeon we were in was a jet-black pyramid where if you looked at it top-down, it’d look like a pentagon. It was also upside-down, floating an inch above the ground. How that worked, I had no idea, but it sounded like quite the sight.

It was made up of seven floors, but the size of those floors all varied, and didn’t necessarily get larger the closer you got to the top. How that worked, Aerion didn’t know, and I wasn’t about to fry my brain trying to figure it out.

The dungeon, or Trial World, was located in Dominion’s… er, dominion. Then there were the Celestials, a group of seven powerful gods, each with a country that worshiped them. They also happened to correspond to each of my stats.

Whether the stats were named after the gods or vice versa, was a mystery. I wondered where Cosmo fit into that pantheon, and if he was some minor god. I suspected it was the latter. It’d help explain why he could tell me so little.

Aerion did tell me that despite being considered a lower-tier Trial of Emergence Grade, it wasn’t the easiest, nor the most straightforward.

Trials took on many forms. From puzzles to death-defying obstacle courses to mortal combat against monsters. It all depended on the god’s personality. Dominion embodied the virtue of strength and power, so his tended to be more geared toward feats of physical prowess.

Like defeating giant obsidian trolls in single combat.

I could see what Aerion meant about it not being straightforward, though. Even the Obsidian Troll fight required the use of the stalactites to bring down. At least, for those as weak as I was. Which was, pretty much everyone who braved the dungeon, according to Aerion. It made sense—there was usually little to gain if you were already as strong as the strongest foes you’d face.

What’s more, there were even bailout points on the lower floors to let delvers exit early. Not only that, there were usually shortcuts that allowed you to bypass the floor bosses if you wanted to target a specific floor before bailing. Aerion said it was to let people target specific Boons within the Trial.

Aerion didn’t know what the shortcut was on this floor, though I suspected it had something to do with those oddly smooth river stones I’d found.

As for rewards, defeating Floor Guardians bestowed Boons, which got better the higher up you went. Though the best reward—the Blessing—always came from defeating the Trial Guardian. The dungeon boss.

I had to admit, this level of thought and consideration was unprecedented compared to the dungeons I was familiar with.

I can definitely work with this, I thought, right as a tremor shook the cavern. Or rather, the pyramid floor that only resembled a cavern.

“We’d best move along,” Aerion said, standing up and shaking off his legs.

“Um, hold up,” I replied. “I still gotta go over my level ups. I’m guessing you do, too?”

Aerion blinked at me, uncomprehending. “Level… ups?”

“Yeah. Y’know? From the fight. I’m guessing you got some experience from killing that troll, right? How many levels did you gain?”

Inexplicably, Aerion’s eyes flew wide.

“What’s with you?” I asked. “Did I just grow another head, or something?”

“W-what does your power do?” he said, his voice trembling.

“It, uh, lets me enchant stuff,” I said, thinking of the simplest way to put it. “So far, it hasn’t done a whole lot, but I’m excited to have it grow stronger. Think it’ll become quite powerful.”

Aerion, who was already pale to begin with, went completely white.

“A Boon? No. You said it grows? It can’t be. A Blessing!?”

“Uh, sorry?”

“D-did you obtain your powers by conquering a Trial?” Aerion asked, before shaking his head.

“You’ve lost your memories. Of course, you wouldn’t know. Was a god responsible for your memories, I wonder?” Aerion gnawed his thumbnail, running away with whatever fantasy he was cooking up in his head.

“Er, maybe?” I said, scratching my head. It was really awkward lying to him like this. “You mentioned it in passing before, but what exactly is a Boon?”

Cosmo had mentioned Boons and Blessings, but I bet Aerion would give me a better explanation.

“I should clarify. Precious few delvers receive Boons from the gods. Fewer still obtain Blessings,” Aerion explained.

“Boons are the lowest form of divinity, obtained only in dungeons. Usually, by defeating floor guardians, though I’ve heard there are other ways Boons might be granted. The weakest Boons grant temporary powers, ranging from a day to several years in some cases. Stronger Boons are permanent, though they are restricted to basic abilities or spells, such as [Magic Light] or [Flame].”

“I see,” I said. This sounded a lot like the systems I was familiar with. “I’m guessing Blessings are more powerful?”

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Aerion nodded. “Boons are unliving. They can evolve neither in strength nor character. Blessings, however, do. They are the most powerful divinity awarded to delvers. For conquering a Trial World and defeating the Trial guardian on the deepest floor. I believe you possess a Blessing.”

“Interesting,” I muttered. “Wait. Is that why the Sanctuaries exist?”

“Indeed,” Aerion replied. “The gods and goddesses recognize the difficulty in delving their Trials. They built the Sanctuaries to refresh weary delvers, to reward their progress, and to allow them to press deeper into their Trial’s depths.”

That was incredibly fascinating to me. It was like a game, but one that actual deities had curated, and where your life was on the line. I had a lot to chew on, even before Aerion started muttering something about a ‘cataclysm’ that occurred every century, led by an ‘Archon’.

I didn’t have time to get the details—a chittering sound interrupted our conversation, forcing us to move.

For now, I had most of what I needed. Most, but not all. Not even Aerion knew what foes we’d encounter on the next floor. Only that they’d be tougher, and the Sanctuaries less frequent. And that monsters could pursue delvers down to lower floors—and often did—but would never chase anyone up to a harder floor.

The goblins that had chased us had originally been from the sixth floor, apparently. That was good to know since I’d never have expected such behavior.

For now, we had a goal. Climb the shaft to the next floor, and rescue Aerion’s friend, before booking it out of here. As curious as I was about these Boons and Blessings, I knew I was woefully unfit to remain in the dungeon longer than I had to. I’d learn more about the world, level up some more, and only then reattempt it.

Cosmo hadn’t told me anything about what he wanted. Which was frustrating, but it also meant I didn’t have a deadline. I figured I’d take my time and ease into this world, nice and easy.

I figured now was as good a time as any to try out something I’d been curious about.

Initialize [Otherworld T-shirt]? 99% chance to successfully Initialize [Common] armor. Essence Cost: 6.

“Initialize,” I muttered, touching my T-shirt. I really should’ve done it early, but well, I’d been busy.

Otherworld T-shirt [Common]

A T-shirt! About as common as they come, and not even a design on it. Don’t show it to anyone in this world, though. They’ll mob you in envy. Machine-made is a sight to behold.

Essence Cost: 6

Condition: 10/10

Stats:

— Vigor + 2

Abilities: None

I just… stood there, gawking. Not only did the System count my clothing as armor, I’d finally gotten my coveted stat boost too. And all it took was Initializing my plain old T-shirt. It was interesting how it didn’t have an ability though. Until now, everything I’d Initialized did. Was it because items that gave stats didn’t have abilities? Or something else?

I mentally thumbed over to my stats page, and sure enough, it’d changed. But not in the way I expected.

The… hell?

Stats: Total: 60

— Vigor: 5 (Max: 7)

— Order: 1

— Wisdom: 13

— Passion: 12

— Grace: 16

— Cunning: 15

— Dominion: 8

My Vigor had gone up, and yet it hadn’t. It still showed up as 5, but now with a ‘Maximum: 7’ next to it, which was a bit weird. I’d been about to Initialize my pants, shoes, and underwear, but that felt like a bad idea until I understood how my stats functioned. The last thing I wanted was to run out of capacity and have to rip up my pants or shoes.

Which was probably exactly what I’d do if I were ever in an emergency, especially if they didn’t actually boost my stats. They’d be dead weight.

Sighing, I closed my Status screen.

“Are you ready?” Aerion asked. “Or would you like to spend another ten minutes staring at thin air?”

“Right. Yeah. Wait, no. I gotta smash some rocks,” I said.

I brought out my rocks and opened my status screen once again.

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

We breezed through the remainder of the fifth floor without a single enemy encounter, arriving at a giant chamber far larger than the one I’d fought the troll in. Scorched stone, broken stalactites, and a sea of tiny obsidian shards all indicated that a great battle had taken place here.

Aerion passed through, heading for the other end of the chamber, but I hesitated.

“What’s the matter?” Aerion asked the instant I came to a stop.

Sensitive, that one.

“Didn’t you say there was a powerful floor guardian here?” I asked. “One that watches over the gateways to the higher floors?”

How did you defeat it? I didn’t add. Aerion was weak. He should’ve had a hard time getting past even the first couple of floors, let alone the guardian that barred the way to the sixth. Knowing what I now knew about the nature of this dungeon, I doubted this god of Dominion was the type to incorporate exploits for those who failed his tests of strength.

“There was,” Aerion admitted. “I… er, followed another party of delvers through. They looked strong, so I took my chances.”

“Hang on. You snuck in after them, hoping they’d take out the floor guardians for you? That actually worked?”

Aerion nodded. “All monsters in Trials Worlds eventually revive, coalescing out of pure essence, but the process is not immediate. The stronger the monster, the longer it takes.”

“And you took advantage of that to follow them through the floors…”

I found it hard to believe such an exploit existed. These ‘respawn timers’ could sometimes be found in games, often to reduce player fatigue by allowing them to avoid an arduous fight every time they went back to an area they’d already visited.

That logic broke down when multiple parties could enter the dungeon, though. It allowed people like Aerion—people who had no business being in a dungeon at all—to proceed far further than they should’ve.

“Um, is something the matter?” Aerion asked, squirming.

I realized I’d been staring at him, so I looked away. “Nothing, sorry. Just thinking.”

There was no point thinking about that now. I knew so little about the powers of these gods. All I knew was what Aerion told me. Namely, that monsters eventually respawned. There were probably other restrictions in place preventing abuse of that exploit overly much.

“I’m guessing there’s an exit on the top floor?” I asked.

“Right,” Aerion replied. “The gods transport victorious delvers outside the Trial, though, I fear we may have to fight our way back down. The Trial guardian is much too strong for us. Although, retracing our path has its perils as well. Too much time has passed since they defeated the lower floors’ guardians, and I fear they will return.”

Great, I thought. Damned if we go up, damned if we go down.

I let out a breath. “Look, I like getting hurt about as much as the next guy, but how exactly do you intend to rescue your friend? The sixth floor’s gonna be tougher than this one, and this wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.”

Aerion squinted at me for a moment. “A walk in the… ah!” he said, eyes widening. “With your powers, we should have no issues defeating any monsters we encounter.”

“You’re sure about this?” I asked, unconvinced.

“Why don’t you see for yourself? We have arrived.” Aerion pointed to the other end of a room, where a cylindrical structure rose into the roof. The spiral stairwell to the sixth floor.

I set my face and made up my mind.

The sixth floor awaited.