Aaron opened his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He couldn't figure out why exactly, but an odd sensation coursed fervently through his veins. It wasn't necessarily a bad feeling, but it made it difficult to think straight.

He hadn't felt like this since he was a little kid. It was like a mixture of excitement, nerves, and adrenaline. Looking into the cave's darkness only enhanced the sensation. In an attempt to calm himself down, he told himself that it was just a game and this was the easy quest you had to clear at the beginning, but a glance back at the forest sent him horrifying flashbacks of the creature he'd run from in the training chamber.

However, as he kept taking deep breaths, a new feeling rose within. Aaron focused on the vague mental image of the multi-eye and multi-legged thing; this time, he didn't run from the image.

Filled with resolve, he fixed his eyes on the thick canopy of trees and declared to the creature. "If you're somewhere out there. When I find you, I'll be ready. So you might want to start running."

Having steeled himself, Aaron didn't waste another second. The cavern had multiple entrances, but he didn't bother taking the time to pick one, instead striding into the closest one.

As he headed further in, it became harder to see. The light creeping in from the entrance barely illuminated his path ahead, and Aaron considered using the torch on his phone. However, upon reaching a turn in the tunnel, he found a glow coming from deeper within. It illuminated the rock walls in a vibrant, mystical violet light. Moving towards it, he found the source.

Glowing runes spiraled around the tunnel in a corkscrewing pattern, softly illuminating the way. Aaron couldn't read them, but he couldn't help but feel bad for anyone who might, as they would probably get dizzy from all the spinning around. Every couple of revolutions around the tunnel, the runic engravings repeated in the same order, suggesting to Aaron that it might be a sentence, constantly repeating itself. The most fascinating part, however, was that the runes were slightly different every time, just like someone's calligraphy isn't perfectly consistent. He wondered if something or someone had taken the time to engrave them.

Aaron continued to move along the tunnel, running a hand absently along the wall as he admired the glowing runes. After a couple seconds of walking, he was startled by a screeching squeak that didn't sound to be too far away. Aaron slowed to crawl, prowling silently as he approached the noise.

When he reached the next turn, he kept his body close to the wall and peeked around the corner, trying to remain hidden. About 10 meters away, he could see a floating white figure. It appeared to be a sphere of sorts, only slightly larger than Aaron's head, and hanging from it was a singular white tendril measuring about a meter long.

As Aaron inspected the strange creature from a distance, it suddenly spun around in a violent motion. That's when he realized it wasn't just a sphere but a floating eyeball. Locked on him, its pupil dilated, almost completely covering the iris. Simultaneously, red veins sprung from the center, pulsating rhythmically, which made the creature look angry. Next, its pupil shifted from black to red, and Aaron's gut screamed a warning.

He quickly ducked back behind cover, and just as he did so, a laser burst forth from the creature's pupil, grazing his cheek and blasting a hole into the opposite wall.

Before Aaron could reprimand himself for his carefree attitude, the creature burst forth, screeching angrily as it turned the corner to face Aaron. Once more, its veins started pulsating as the eye locked steadily on him. Knowing what to expect and with nowhere to hide, Aaron moved fast, rushing towards the monster and slamming it from underneath with a clean uppercut.

Not bothering to dodge, the eyeball took the hit directly, getting sent flying toward the tunnel's ceiling. When it collided, it bounced off unharmed and still locked onto Aaron. As its pupil started to glow red, Aaron cursed under his breath before diving to the side into a roll, narrowly avoiding the attack. Realizing it missed, the eye screeched eerily before charging its next attack.

But Aaron was already back on his feet, ready to deliver another blow. He sent the eyeball flying against the wall, and before it could stabilize itself, Aaron followed up with a second punch right before the monster fired. The blow caused the laser to go wayward, slamming into the ceiling above him.

Smiling, Aaron's attacks intensified against the eyeball, which continued to bounce around the tunnel seemingly unharmed. As it prepared to fire another shot, Aaron delivered a quick jab right onto the center of its pupil, which to his pleasant surprise, disabled the attack.

Having figured out how to safely maneuver around the creature, Aaron was just enjoying a boxing session at this point. His punching bag was a little moody, and would sometimes scream at him, but in turn, it was also more fun than what his gym had to offer. Sometimes it flew close to the ground, and Aaron had to kick it, which was by no means his strong suit, but he was managing alright.

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After about five minutes of fruitless sparing, Aaron started to feel tired and realized it might be a good idea to try to find a way to end the creature.

It appeared to have taken absolutely no damage so far. Aaron's guess was that it was resistant to blunt attacks, much like a basketball. You could punch it a thousand times, and it wouldn't have a scratch on it.

Aaron didn't have anything sharp on him, and the cavern walls were naturally smooth. Though, looking around, he realized their fight had changed that. The multiple laser blasts that had smashed against the tunnel's surface damaged it, leaving sharp edges of rock here and there.

He smirked at the eyeball. "I'm sorry, buddy, I had fun, but I think this is where we end things."

Aaron interrupted the monster's attack once more and then grabbed it by the back, using its tendril for grip. It screeched in protest, but Aaron held on. Without hesitation, he whacked the eyeball repeatedly against a jagged edge until it stopped screaming.

Aaron had to admit he felt quite barbaric after that, even feeling a bit bad for the eyeball. He let go of the creature, dropping it to the ground unceremoniously. They'd only known each other for five minutes, but he'd hoped it had as much fun as he did.

While he mourned the monster, a green light started to glow from it, and then a hologram of sorts appeared above it, displaying the following:

x5 Soul Shards

Aaron looked at it, surprised. "Huh, that's pretty neat." He noted.

Wanting to see just how much five soul shards was, Aaron sat down and entered meditation, waking up in his soul hub.

Before checking out the shop, he waved at the receptionist. "Hi, messenger! Trial's pretty easy so far. You sure I went into the right cave?"

"You'd be wise not to temp fate, child." It solemnly replied, not caring for Aaron's attempt at small talk.

Stepping into the Soul armor shop, Aaron started to look at prices for the first time. The movement speed boots he's already tried on cost forty soul shards, pretty cheap all in all. But it appeared that the cheapest pieces all cost twenty soul shards, though the stats were garbage compared to everything else, and they provided no additional perks.

Aaron would rather die in the trial than walk out with that. Though he had to admit, some of the forty-cost stuff, which was still low-end, gave some pretty valuable skills.

Browsing through the gauntlets section, he found a pair that made all punching attacks deal piercing damage. That sure as hell would be nifty against the eyeballs, and they only cost thirty-five.

Aaron wondered if he could buy some of this stuff temporarily and then get better gear further into the trial. "HEY, MESSENGER!" Aaron screamed while still browsing through the equipment.

It replied, and Aaron heard its voice as if it was coming from behind him. "How can I be of help?"

"IF I BUY THIS SHIT, IS IT PERMANENT? OR CAN I GET BETTER STUFF WHEN I EARN MORE SHARDS?"

"You need not scream. I am right behind you." The messenger replied calmly.

Aaron turned around and jumped in surprise. "WHAT THE FUCK, WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?"

"Please stop screaming."

"Right, sorry. But yeah, is this permanent?" Aaron turned and continued reading multiple item descriptions.

"No, it is not permanent. In fact, you will receive a fifty percent refund upon returning an item and replacing it with a new one."

Aaron smirked, now looking at the gear with more interest. If he couldn't switch out the equipment, he would have saved up for the most expensive stuff from the beginning. But this way, he could invest in some starter stuff, allowing him to earn soul shards faster.

After browsing around for a while, he found some items that drew his interest, not necessarily because they fit his style, but because he just thought they were cool. A couple of which were Soul cores. These didn't have as apparent functions as the others but instead gave bonuses that affected the whole body rather than a specific region. For balance purposes, these gave fewer stat points or no stats at all.

There was a 'core of weak regeneration,' costing fifty soul fragments. It increased regeneration speeds for wounds throughout the whole body. This would probably be one of his purchases if the fights started to grow more challenging, as it would allow him to fight more frequently.

Sitting around and waiting for wounds to heal was by no means part of his plan.

An intriguing core that Aaron had no interest in buying was the 'mana core.' This one was a little pricey, at seventy-five soul shards, allowing one to use spells. Magic was great and all, but Aaron simply couldn't be bothered to deal with mana sustain and all that garbage, so he would try to find another way to do cool shit without it.

Some of the other items that Aaron found interesting were along the lines of stuff like armored gauntlets, which would allow him to punch much harder, as well as block while taking reduced damage. It was pretty basic, but it would definitely do the job.

And then there was some funky shit, which Aaron had to admit he kind of wanted to buy. Among these ridiculous armor pieces, one of his favorites was the 'uno reverse helmet.' It allowed one to momentarily absorb all the damage directed at their head, which they could then deal back to their opponent at double the power by headbutting them.

As far as Aaron was concerned, it was a work of art. Sadly it cost a hundred soul fragments. Otherwise, he would have considered it for his first build.

Aaron was about to continue browsing, mesmerized by the variety of perks available, when an ear-piercing alarm went off.

He screamed at the messenger to see if it knew what was happening. "MESSENGER, THE FIRE ALARM IS GOING OFF. ARE YOU SMOKING INDOORS?"

Teleporting next to him, the messenger appeared a little distressed. "That's the alarm, sir. Your body is in danger."

The realization hit Aaron like a truck, and he snapped his eyes open instantly.

The noise of alarms disappeared, but it was replaced by the horrid screeching of a group of eyeballs coursing toward him through the tunnel.