The beast kings happily welcomed Genji's return, but their excitement soon turned into disappointment when he left minutes later. Upon meeting up with Astros, the ferret hopped onto Genji's shoulder and waved his tiny paw excitedly. After a few minutes, Genji realized Astros was pointing in a certain direction and decided to follow his guidance. Apparently, the ferret had found something and wanted to show it to Genji.
With no other plans for the remaining day and a half, Genji decided to indulge Astros on this field trip. They traveled for half a day before arriving at a plateau of red rocks.
Reaching the top, Genji spotted an inconspicuous shrine in the distance. This was strange considering it was the only structure in sight. It shouldn't be possible to overlook, yet for some reason, Genji had a sudden tendency to ignore it, as if it were just another rock.
Something was subconsciously influencing him, similar to how Astros's passives worked, which only piqued his interest further. As he approached, this urge grew stronger and more blatant, but his steps never wavered. His willpower was too strong for that, though it did take a good amount of mental strength to remain focused.
As he stepped into the shrine, he felt a membrane brush over him and the space around him distorted. The next thing he knew, he was suddenly teleported to an underground room at an unknown location.
The walls were made of bronze metal with a shiny coating, and the ceilings consisted of evenly spaced grooves that emitted sunlight. It was a magically high-tech room, two qualities that should not exist under the world's laws. Yet here they were, fused to create this unique room.
'Looks like I got involved in something big again. Just how many more surprises is this world hiding?'
A stone golem popped out of the wall and projected several lines of runic text. EverRealm had no trouble translating it, whatever this language was, much to Genji's convenience.
Welcome challenger, to the Titan Trials. For every level you pass, you will earn better rewards. The rewards will accumulate until you either pass all the trials or decide to stop. In this place, every four levels mark a spike in difficulty. Tread carefully, as you are responsible for your own life. If this is acceptable, you may step through the door and begin. Otherwise, press the button on the golem's chest to return.
On this cue, the door at the end of the room slid up, revealing a dark passageway. Genji didn't need to be told twice and stepped through. The hallways lit up and guided him to another room.
This one was similar to the previous one, but it had a golem in medieval armor at the center, its hands resting on the hilt of an upright sword. As he walked through, the doors between both rooms slammed down, locking him in.
The slits of the helmet glowed a light blue on his approach and the golem pulled its sword out of the ground. Its body creaked and shook off a thick layer of dust, evident that it had been a long time since it last moved. The golem pointed the sword at Genji, indicating that this was a combat trial.
Genji summoned his daggers and stepped forward, ready to probe the opponent. The golem swung at him, but Genji easily sidestepped it. The swing was slow, even by the natives' standards. Genji stabbed out, only to realize the opponent couldn't withstand a single blow. Even the sword collapsed into dust under his cutting intent.
'It wasn't faking it? I thought it would be harder.'
The room glowed a light cyan, and a side chamber opened to clean up the dust. Then, another golem dropped into position, and the door to the next room opened. Genji confirmed the new golem was simply a replacement for the one he destroyed and that it wouldn't attack him, so he moved on.
In the next room, he found three similar golems and more complicated runic lines on the walls. He didn't know what these lines were for, but he easily forced his way through.
The next room had four golems but was missing the runic patterns. This told Genji that he'd missed a key component in the previous room, but he didn't dwell on it for long. In the face of absolute strength, all plots are pointless.
The fourth room held a single golem 30% larger than the others. It was stronger as well and dual-wielded two axes, but it still posed no threat. After defeating it, two rectangular columns extended up from the ground. The left one had an orange button on top and had the runic meaning "return," while the right one had a cyan button with "continue."
Genji pushed the right one and entered the next room. The opponent in this room was like an upgraded version of the previous one, capable of more complex strikes and combos. By Genji's estimation, this golem had around 40 stat points and posed an actual threat of injuring him.
Once he confirmed this, Genji summoned Bruce and had him fight this battle. Given the golem's strength, it was the perfect training partner for Bruce to adjust to his new strength.
The two of them tussled back and forth for a few minutes before Bruce inflicted enough damage to pass the test. Since the golem wasn't completely destroyed, it went through another chute instead of the vacuum chamber from before.
Genji allowed Bruce to continue through this set of levels as he watched from the side, ready to interfere at any moment. During this time, Genji also figured out what the runic lines on the second level were for, as the sixth level had a similar gimmick.
They were like puzzles for the challenger to solve. If they succeeded, they could drastically hinder the opponents and turn the tides in their favor. Genji discovered this when Bruce accidentally knocked a golem into an intersection point, briefly slowing it and breaking the golems' formation.
This was also why the third level hardly increased in difficulty compared to the second. The seventh level followed the same pattern, leading Genji to suspect that all the sets were like this. This conjecture was further tested when they entered the eighth room, which consisted of one strong golem.
This golem had stats rivaling Genji's, but it didn't prove to be much trouble for Bruce. That was the problem with these inanimate guardians. They had the body strength but lacked the techniques to make the most of it.
However, this all changed on the next level, where the golem's stats reached the third tier and it employed an energy ability. The technique was crude, but it still amplified its combat power multiple times. Genji had to utilize a significant portion of his strength to pass this level.
On the tenth level, Genji was forced to solve the puzzle within the room to conserve stamina. It didn't help that the complexity had increased exponentially compared to before, but he still managed with some luck and Astros acting as a third pair of eyes.
At this point, Genji was offered another choice between leaving and continuing, which was quite considerate of the designer. He pushed onward and the 11th level had him fighting six such foes with better techniques and team composition. It took everything in his normal state to pass this level and Genji rested for the first time since starting the trials.
Bruce joined the fight on the 12th level against a foe with enough strength to toss beast kings around like children. Genji was surprised the walls held up under this barrage, as every hit shook the earth and shattered the air.
The corners of his eyes saw the walls vibrating at immense speeds, which he attributed to the reason behind the durability. After an hour of combat, they eventually whittled the boss down and entered the next room.
This room saw a huge increase in technique standards, but a decrease in brute strength. However, there were two golems and the difficulty increased by almost 80%, pushing the team to their limits. In the end, Genji was forced to use Quantum Barrier to create an opening and burst down one of the golems while grinding the other one through a battle of attrition.
Genji almost blew up his leg in the 14th room, as the rune puzzles began incorporating magic traps along with the disruption mechanisms. One wrong step and Genji would die by magic instead of golems. Genji had a difficult time dodging within this space, but everything became easier once he mapped out the room. Using Berserk, Genji threw the golems at these traps as the main source of damage.
Once the last golem blew up, Genji got some rest before moving on. Interestingly enough, the door on the other end was closed and Genji heard sounds of battle from the other side. There was another challenger in the trials and they'd started before him.
Genji knocked on the sealed door and confirmed its durability. It was impossible to break through unless one could exert more force than the world's limit. Whoever created this place had far stronger fighters in mind when they did so.
The person inside heard his knock and picked up the pace. In a matter of minutes, heavy thuds sounded, and the door opened. Judging by the lack of blood, Genji determined they'd successfully passed the level. A similar knock came from the other end of the room, signaling their position to Genji.
Genji guessed the other party wanted to team up for the next room, which made sense, given the increasing difficulty. Genji was reaching his limit and would soon need to use his legacy liberations to progress.
The other party was likely in a similar state, but neither knew how many more rooms there were. So it was in their best interests to form this partnership. And nothing was stopping them, as far as Genji could tell.
Genji tossed a rock at the door in response and engaged the team of eight. After some probing, he used Dance of Death, bursting down three golems with his strongest attacks. He needed to prove his worth for this upcoming cooperation, and the best way to do that was with a fast clear.
Then Genji endured some stabs to the chest to bring down two more. He minimized these injuries by shifting his body right before contact, but the impact was still substantial. Luckily, his high health helped with the situation and he destroyed another one by trading injuries.
Bruce held the last two at bay as Genji recovered and whittled them away. The entire fight took only 34 minutes, a considerable decrease from his previous fights.
When the door opened, Holster, the champion from SagaRealm who entered the world by limiting his stats, threw a parchment scroll at Genji.
"We're both smart people. Let's not waste any time. If the terms are acceptable, sign it and we'll cooperate," Holster said as Genji unfurled the document.
[You have obtained Inter-Realm Contract (Epic)]
As the name suggested, it was a binding agreement between members from different realms. Genji didn't know such an item existed, but it made cooperation between strangers considerably easier.
"I don't need much. I only want to have the first pick when we select our rewards. You can have the rest," Holster continued.
The conditions of the contract were very loose, stating a temporary truce and that each person was responsible for their own safety. They would work together, but there was no obligation to help the other party if they were in danger. It was a very standardized contract as many people had refined it over the years.
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However, Genji didn't rush to sign it and considered the possible loopholes. Holster didn't pressure Genji since he understood most 2nd steps hadn't encountered such an item. It was perfectly justified to be cautious.
As this was happening, Holster's eyes went to Astros, who was perched on Genji's shoulder. Recognition and understanding dawned on him as he realized this was the same ferret that had watched him enter these trials days prior. 'So that's why there's another person here. I didn't realize it was associated with another realm member.'
Genji scrutinized the contract for a few more minutes before speaking up. "I'm fine with these terms, but I would like to clarify some phrasing."
Genji took out a fountain pen and awkwardly scribbled his modifications before tossing it back to Holster for review. There were two main changes Genji made.
The first put Holster's words into text, the one about him taking only one item while the other rewards were Genji's. The second clause was stricter, specifying they couldn't directly harm each other after signing the contract.
Holster was fine with these modifications, though he found it strange that Genji outlined the second term when it was already covered in a previous clause. However, he dismissed it as Genji being overly cautious and gave his perspective on the changes. "If you're worried about betrayal, I can add a harsh punishment as a show of sincerity. Is that fine?"
Genji nodded and soon obtained the updated version.
Clause 19: Any breach of these terms will result in a deduction of 5 stat points during settlement, and a random legendary item will be transferred from the offender's inventory to the affected party.
Genji raised an eyebrow at this clause and asked, "Since when can contracts deduct stat points?"
"It's possible as long as no one benefits from it. There's a history of scammers taking advantage of unsuspecting victims for extra points so that restriction is added," Holster answered.
"In that case, let me add some protective clauses. I don't want to lose a legendary item and five stat points because of an accident." Once Genji finished, he pressed his thumbprint on the signature section and passed the scroll back one last time.
Clause 20: If party A takes any actions that would indirectly harm party B, party B will lose 1 coin, and vice versa.
Clause 21: If clause 19 is intentionally breached, then the victim can retaliate without repercussions.
Although clause 20 sounded strange with the victim losing coins, its true purpose wasn't compensation, but a warning. If one of them did something that would unintentionally endanger the other party, the coin deduction would alert them to their partner's carelessness. It was honestly ingenious and had Holster marveling at the phrasing.
'I'm going to use that in the future,' Holster thought as he pushed down on his section. A light force deflected his thumb and both of them received a prompt from their realms.
[Due to the complexity of this contract, 2 tokens will be required as a monitoring fee.]
Genji immediately brought out the payment and Holster soon followed. The contract burned up into streams of light and entered their bodies, declaring the establishment of the contract.
Under this teamwork, the two of them easily breezed through the next level as they overwhelmed the opponent with a barrage of weapon intents. Genji sensed at least three weapon intents from Holster, making him a powerhouse to be reckoned with. Just from this, Genji felt that Holster would have eventually cleared this trial, albeit at a slower pace and with more injuries.
Upon dealing the finishing blow, the room projected another holographic message and presented them with the same two options as before.
The next five rooms are known as the Gauntlet 5. They are the last rooms in the trial and are the hardest of them all. Every level will ramp up in difficulty like the sets before. Choose wisely, for there is a high risk of death.
Holster didn't hesitate for a moment before pushing the continue button. As the columns descended into the ground, the doors opened, welcoming their next challengers.
The message wasn't lying when it said the difficulty would ramp up. Just the first level of the gauntlet had them fighting four opponents with the same specs as the previous rooms. That's four boss-level units!
In the end, Holster had to use a powerful ability to group them up and cripple their defenses before taking them down. From how much his muscles quivered afterward, Genji knew that ability wouldn't be reusable anytime soon.
The next room was a long hallway filled with traps covered in runic symbols. The lines were so entangled that it was hard to find a spot without these markings. Luckily, this room had no guardians, so they wouldn't have to worry about outside influences.
The bad news, however, was that this room was timed. The moment they stepped through, an hourglass full of sand was projected overhead, accompanied by the ticking of clock hands. There was a sense of urgency in the air, and they instinctively felt something unfavorable would happen once they ran out of time.
Astros poked at the floor's boundary, but nothing happened. Emboldened by this safety, he took a small step forward. Still nothing. One step after the other, and he was soon halfway through the room. Genji was on guard the whole time, ready to swoop in at any signs of danger. However, this was unnecessary as Astros reached the other side of the room without trouble.
Seeing this, Holster attempted to replicate Astros's path, but he immediately triggered an explosion on his first step. After falling back, he used a rock to test the path, to no result. It seemed like the object needed to be of a certain weight to trigger these traps, which explained Astros's ease.
Genji tried his weight reduction skill next, but he was still bombarded with attacks. These sensors were more advanced than they gave credit for and had no loopholes they could exploit. If they wanted to pass this level, they would have to do it the intended way.
They spent half the allotted time attempting to decrypt the room's pattern, but their progress was abysmal. Realizing this, they began taking riskier actions, testing the path with volatile attacks.
They triggered a lot of traps during this time, filling the narrow hallway with dangerous attacks. But no matter how powerful these traps were, they endured everything with a firm stance. They couldn't afford to dodge since a single misstep might start a devastating chain reaction. The 20th clause also went off numerous times since the realms categorized these triggers as indirect attacks.
They were not even a third of the way through when the sands of time turned red and the ticking grew more hurried. Time was running out, and they needed to move fast. Genji's eyes darted around the walls, and he decided to take a gamble.
Untraceable Movement and Like A Feather activated, and Genji vaulted forward. This action triggered its own set of traps, but Genji forced his way through with Solid Core.
Injuries accumulated like raindrops in a storm and Genji bounced around like a rubber ball. He tried his best to maintain control, often twisting his body in unimaginable ways to preserve his forward momentum. After a while, the attacks gradually died down and he began gliding toward the ground. Right as he was about to land, Bruce stabbed out with a thin pike, boosting him upward again.
More explosions and sharp projectiles skewered the air, but he eventually reached the other side. His entire body had become a bloody mess, bleeding from more wounds than humanly possible, but he'd done it—he had passed this level. Genji applied a few potions and turned around to wait for Holster.
The champion wasted no time after Genji burst forward, immediately following his trajectory and taking advantage of the brief delay as the traps rearmed. However, his speed was lacking compared to Genji's, and he had to face his fair share of traps.
Time quickly counted down and soon, the ticking of the clock grew hurried like a racing heart. At this juncture, Genji prepared to leave Holster behind and enter the next room by himself.
Suddenly, Holster leaped into the air and stretched out his hand, pointing at the vacant spot beside Genji. The next moment, he teleported to that position, right as the ticking sounds stretched into a long, ear-jarring reverberation and the door began dropping. Sensing his sudden appearance, Genji grabbed the still-recovering Holster and dived under the heavy door.
As they slid, Genji saw the last grain of sand empty from the hourglass through the narrow gap between the ground and the door, followed by the projection shattering. Then the gate dropped shut, and a volcanic explosion sounded from the other side, shaking the room like a magnitude nine earthquake.
"Close call," Genji commented, splashing another potion on both of them.
"Yeah, thanks a bunch," Holster said, his heart pounding with trepidation.
They got up from the ground and observed the room, which presented them with another choice between retreating or continuing. They rested for some time before pressing the obvious choice, causing the room to spin like a merry-go-round.
Slots opened on the walls and released a swarm of golems. These golems were weaker than before, reaching only the levels of a beast king, but they showed no signs of stopping. This was an endurance battle.
Genji and Holster each took a side and fought with their backs to each other. Attacks flew through the air in high densities, but the besiegers kept pushing the encirclement inward. Nothing they did seemed to slow this outpour, and soon, they entered a gruesome melee.
The two combatants exchanged injuries for injuries, doing everything they could to hold back the line. If either of them fell, they would be buried in the wave, and the other would quickly follow. Bruce used the blood they spilled as various projectiles and sweeping attacks, covering their blind spots to minimize the damage.
Genji's potions worked overtime to repair his constantly breaking flesh and wildly fluctuating health bar. Unfortunately, these golems were inanimate objects and provided no feedback recovery for slaying them. However, his daggers played a crucial role in this battle as they carved through the hardened bodies like tough wood. There was still considerable resistance, but it was enough to finish the opponent before those behind could swarm him.
Genji would occasionally pull out potions for both of them, allowing Holster to save his trump cards. They spent the next few hours in this state before the stream of units finally stopped, and they collapsed in exhaustion.
"I'm counting on you in the next room. I've used almost everything already," Genji said, lying down spread eagle.
"Sounds good," Holster replied between heaves of breaths.
When they entered the next room, they were confronted by two intricately crafted golems. The golems had six arms and three heads, resembling the legendary Asura from Buddhist mythology. Each hand also held a different weapon, totaling twelve, and they wielded each one with deadly proficiency.
Genji pulled one aside and instantly felt the pressure. The barrage of attacks was relentless and extremely forceful, as if he was facing a team of six grandmasters with impeccable teamwork and timing.
It also didn't help that the weapons were carefully selected to cover all short, mid, and long-range attacks. Genji had no way to break through the golem's defense, but he luckily didn't need to. As he held the opponent in place, Holster went all out and dismantled his opponent limb by limb.
Eventually, all the arms were scattered throughout the room and Holster delivered a roundhouse kick to the head, detaching it. Soon, both golems dropped dead, and they were presented with the buttons again.
"Do you have your legacy liberation available?" Genji asked after recovering from the battle, his hand hovering over the right column.
"Been saving it for this moment," Holster replied.
"Then let's both use it." Genji pressed down and approached the rising door.
The moment they entered the hallway, they immediately sensed something different about this last room. Not only did the door remain open behind them, but the ceiling lights also stayed dark, as if the power to this part of the building had been cut.
This didn't seem natural to them and immediately put them on high alert. Astros felt the same way and backtracked to the previous room, preferring to stay in the brightness rather than the dark. There was just something about this darkness that unnerved the little guy.
The feeling only grew as they reached the other side and discovered the room was empty. No, that wasn't quite correct. Rather, there weren't any intact golems to greet them. On closer inspection, they found many pebbles and broken chunks strewn across the room. Something had destroyed all the backups in this room and the power grid along with it.
The room was bigger than the others and resembled a colosseum with a round dome, giving them an inkling of the intended purpose. Yet all of this lay barren before them, filled with stale air and rock dust. Everything indicated that this was the first time the room had been opened in a long time.
'Hold on! If this is the first time, then is it possible that whatever is responsible is still in here?!'
Realizing this, they immediately separated to different sides of the room and warily scanned their surroundings. As if responding to their actions, a pungent odor assaulted them, followed by the dripping of warm fluid in their previous position. Looking up, they saw a red octopus sludge monster slipping out from behind the ceiling's support arches.
The body solidified into a more aquatic form, and multiple dark irises opened around its body. The creature opened its mouth, revealing jagged, uneven teeth that drooled with the same liquid as before. It was everything you would expect in the style of a certain American author[modern_footnote]H.P Lovecraft[/modern_footnote].
The creature dropped down onto the ground and eyed them with ferocious hunger. If their theory was correct, then this grotesque being hadn't eaten for a long time. Genji and Holster paid no mind to its actions and instinctively used their scanning items.
[Special stat is below the target's. The target is of a higher step than you. Obtaining 21% of the target's information.]
[Trivial Remains of Abomination (Weakened Immensely)]
Health: 105,250/105,250
Abyssal Decay: 8,850/8,850
Con: 61
Str: 57
Dex: 42
Int: 59
Spc: 60
Skills:
- Overlord (Passive): +50,000 health, 3x energy
- Essence of Undying (Passive): +40,000 health, health can't fall below 50% from normal attacks.
- Undying Body (Passive): Recover 10% of maximum health every second.
- Abyssal Corrosion (Passive): All injuries inflicted by you will experience an extremely weak abyssal corrosion (250 points/sec). Stackable and scales with injury severity.
- Immeasurable Regeneration (Downgraded passive): Lost body parts will recover within seconds.
- Endless Vitality (Downgraded passive): Regeneration consumes 80% fewer resources.
No other skills can be read
Warning: Run!
Warning: Do not engage!
Warning: Danger!
'I don't think we can. I don't think we can,' Genji thought with a resigned smile, for the abomination had slammed the exit door shut on its descent, trapping them inside with it. The only way out now was to confront this monstrosity and win, or die trying.
"I hope you're ready to risk it all," Genji said to Holster, priming both his liberations.