Faint rays of sunlight danced around in the cavern as he woke up. Opening and closing his eyes several times to make sure it wasn't an illusion, he glanced around the cavern. His head felt like it might explode; he was dizzy, and his body was covered with cuts and bruises. He wasn't in the best condition and to add on to that, his clothes were completely damp. But strangely enough, the one thing he didn't feel was cold.

Grabbing his head with his hands, he sat up and massaged his temple as he observed his surroundings. His memories were fuzzy, and the last thing he could remember was running for his life from several devourers in the dead of night. He had stumbled and fallen, and then... Something happened. He knew something happened. Something important. But what? No matter how much he tried recalling what had happened, he couldn't remember. Giving up on it, he looked up.

There was a small hole in the ceiling of the cavern a few feet up, which was partially covered by dirt and roots. That's where the sunlight came from. While running for his life he'd been certain he wouldn't ever see the sun again. Seeing its rays now was relaxing.

Despite his groggy state, he forced himself to stand up. The cavern itself wasn't large. There were only a few feet from wall to wall, and there was no interconnecting tunnel that he could see. Calling it a cavern was too generous. Burrow was a more fit description. Except for some dirty roots that must have fallen along with him, there was nothing here at all.

This can't be right.

Something important had happened after he fell last night, he was positive. Why couldn't he recall what it was? Thinking about it, he remembered the test. Being this deep into the forest, he didn't know how to get back. If he missed the magical signal, then finding his way back to the clearing any time soon wasn't feasible. He looked up at the hole that he'd fallen through. There were several thick roots that he could use as handholds to climb up. The problem was that it was too far up for him to jump.

Luckily for him, the cavern wall consisted of hard-packed dirt with several stones jutting out. The stones weren't so conveniently placed that he could use them to climb up to the hole, but by using another stone he could carve out small pockets that he could use to climb.

It took him an hour of work and several hurtful landings on his bottom, but eventually, he succeeded in climbing up high enough on the wall to reach the roots that covered the hole. Then he slowly pulled himself up through all the dirt, ready to jump down the second he spotted a devourer waiting for him. Thankfully, they had left.

As he pulled his legs out of the hole, he dusted off as much of the dirt as he could from his clothing. He got rid of the worst of it, but because of how damp his clothes were, a lot of the dirt had become muddy and seeped into the fabric so he was still far from clean. It was much better than being dead, however.

Scanning the forest around him, there wasn't a soul in sight. The sun was still on the rise so he hadn't woken up too late. But he had no idea which direction he came from the night before. It would be a waste of time if he were to choose a direction at random, only for it to turn out to be the wrong one. The best option was to wait until the signal appeared, and pray to the gods he hadn't missed it. Looking around for a good spot, he found a fallen tree not too far away that served as a good chair for him to sit on.

He had to think about his next move. He nearly died the night before. If he continued taking part in this ceremony there was a high likelihood of him dying. The smartest option for him now would be to wait for the signal and return to the clearing and then use the first opportunity he gets to sneak off after that. From yesterday's events, he knew that staying was akin to suicide.

But, for some reason, he didn't want to give up just yet. All traces of the fear he felt yesterday while hunted by the devourers were erased, and left in its place was a strong sense of determination. It was unfamiliar confidence, with no real rhyme or reason behind it, but he couldn't give up when he'd come this far.

Thinking about the newly Summoned that were also taking part in the test, a strong wave of anger also emerged from inside him. It didn't matter if he couldn't get the same power as them. He didn't care what it took. He would still complete the ceremony and stand above them. He would stand above them all.

He kept thinking about what he should do survive the rest of the ceremony, and after a little under an hour, he saw a glimmer of red appear in the distant blue sky. It was further away than he thought, so he started moving at a brisk pace. After a while, he feared that he'd gone off course. Thankfully the flare was sent again several times at even intervals, helping him correct the direction.

Too tired and beat up to run the entire distance, it took him a couple of hours to reach the clearing where the other participants of the ceremony were. Clyde and the other administrators of the ceremony stood on top of the hill with many of the newly Summoned resting in groups on the grass. Everybody might not have made it back yet, but the number had lessened noticeably compared to the day before.

Next to the ceremony's administrators were several piles of different weapons. Many of the wooden crates at the bottom of the hill were open and empty. As he approached the hill, Clyde noticed him and called out. "Another one, huh. You see anyone else in the forest behind you?"

He shook his head as he answered. "I haven't seen anybody since last night."

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"The devourers sure got themselves quite the feast this time, hah," Clyde chuckled with his arms closed in front of his chest. "What was your name?"

"Al—" His thoughts froze.

His name? Why was he hesitating about something so trivial? He knew his name. It was a name sung by many and lamented by even more so. It was a name whispered of from the peaks of Winderfrost down to the shores of the Green sea. A name that once carried such terrifying power and purity that even the rain itself ceased to fall at its mere mention.

—Or that's what he would have liked. He was no one special, his name barely known by anyone outside the town where he was raised. Why did he hesitate? He knew his own name.

Belatedly, he shook his head and answered. "Lane Davenrish"

Clyde looked at him oddly. "...Right, I remember you. We'll be waiting for a while longer, so take a seat with the others." Clyde gestured at the bespectacled man next to him who jotted something down on a piece of paper.

Lane did as asked and sat down at the edge of where the other participants sat. Some of them gave him curious looks but returned their focus to their own matters not long after. Soon no one paid any attention to him.

Despite being hungry and thirsty from the previous day's events, he decided to take the chance to rest before the remaining Summoned came back. One after another, more people with disheveled clothing arrived at the clearing from different directions. After a couple of hours had passed he estimated that roughly 120 survived. Over thirty of the newly Summoned might have died in this first test. Thinking about how close he'd been to being one of them, a chill went down his back and his previous confidence was shaken. But his determination only wavered for a moment. He knew the reason he was doing this. He'd already made his choice, and he couldn't afford to hesitate now.

Not many more arrived in the clearing after that, and soon Clyde garnered everyone's attention once again.

"Congratulations. You all managed to survive one of the weaker monsters in Agartha. Some of you even managed to kill one. Color me impressed." Clyde didn't even bother to hide the sarcasm in his voice. "Don't get too full of yourselves. Devourers are the dregs of the barrel compared to the other monsters out there. Frankly, some of you are probably gonna wish those wretches had killed you when you see some of the shit out there." A grin that ill-fitted him formed on Clyde's face. "You must all be tired and hungry. We've got food and drinks ready, so make sure to eat till you're full. You're gonna need the energy. The entrance to the second test is set to open at midnight tonight, so make sure you're all ready. This is by far the longest out of the tests in the ceremony. Hell, it basically is the ceremony, so you don't want to waste any time."

Walking over towards one of the weapon piles, he moved his leg forward and lobbed a spear into the air with his foot, deftly catching it and spinning around his arm. "Also, make sure to choose a weapon to take with you for the test. Most of you haven't ever touched a weapon before in your lives, so just take whatever you fancy. If you're good you'll find plenty of weapons lying around in the testing area, so if you want to switch later it won't be a problem. None of you have your classes yet, so it doesn't matter what you use anyway." He spun the spear around in his hands one more time before forcefully thrusting it down into the ground, peering over the crowd with his gaze. "Any questions? No? Good."

With that he turned around and walked down the hill together with the other administrators and sat down on one of the empty crates, pulling out a silver flask that he took a few sips out of. It didn't take long for the first of the Summoned to stand up and walk over to a large iron container with smaller iron vessels and waterskins next to it. They filled the small vessels with food from the container and the waterskins with water from a large bucket. After grabbing their meal, they went back to where they sat before and started eating. Soon, every single participant had gone over to get food. When the container was empty one of the administrators carried over another iron container and placed it next to the first one like it was nothing. Lane doubted he could lift that for more than a few seconds.

By now, he had also joined the throng of people that lined up to get food. It was some sort of potato stew with meat in it, but he was surprised to find that it was still relatively warm, despite there being no traces of the administrators having cooked this recently. Chalking it up to magic, he filled up an iron vessel with stew and immediately returned to the edge of the hill where he sat down alone.

When he tried the food, his mouth was assaulted by a taste unlike any he'd had. He knew it wasn't luxurious by any means, but it filled him with a sense of warmth that spread throughout his body. He also felt some of his energy returning to him. it was unnatural. Was it magical? The taste itself reminded him of the time his father had managed to snag part of a deer that he had hunted together with a few other soldiers. At the time his family was still doing relatively well and the entire neighborhood had gathered together to cook the deer. They'd even spent extra on spices and seasonings to celebrate, and it had been rich in taste just like this was. It was nothing like the stale food that his family often clambered to gather enough money for now. If this is what the Summoned ate daily, then he was nothing if not jealous.

He ended up filling two more portions before he felt satisfied. By that time, most of the Summoned had started picking their weapons from the different piles. Some even already lay down on the grass and had gone sleep with weapons next to them.

Lane looked over the assortment of weapons there were to choose from. There were many different kinds. Arming swords, longswords, axes, spears, halberds, bows; most of the different kinds of weapons that he'd seen Summoned use lay separated into different piles. There were shields too, of course.

He didn't have much choice in the matter. He'd only ever trained with the sword, so it was his best bet. After trying out several different swords by swinging them around a few times, he finally settled on a medium-length arming sword with a large wooden grip. He was ashamed to admit it, but the quality of this sword was better than any other sword he'd held in his life. And these people could afford to just have them lying around in piles like this.

He could feel his anger rising again, but forcefully suppressed it and calmed himself down. There was no point in getting emotional now.

After picking a sword, he also picked up a wooden shield. He would have preferred one of the metal shields that lay around but realized that those were a bit too heavy for him to use comfortably.

He'd never fought using a shield before. He hadn't fought much using a sword either, but he had sparred against his father a few times. Using a shield together with a sword couldn't be too hard. Against monsters, it was bound to be better than the alternative for someone inexperienced like him.

After he'd chosen his equipment, Lane followed the example of the others and lay down on the grass to rest. The sun was still high in the sky, so there was still much time left before midnight.