Evie’s agonized cries filled the large room. It was her very first real injury, and the trauma of the harrowing experience of losing her legs had left her unable to do anything other than scream with unrestrained horror.
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Zaher was the first to react, diving into the shadows and rushing towards the struggling girl, health potions in hand. He reached her in mere seconds, a bead of sweat on his forehead from overexertion as he exited through her shadow. Not wasting time, he grabbed her face and forced the potion down her gullet.
Evie, who was still in a state of shock, fought back against Zaher’s assistance, punching and slapping him while trying to remove the bottle that was pouring its healing liquid directly to her stomach, yet he held firm, refusing to let go.
When the first bottle was running dry, he instantly pulled another one from his pouch, replacing the newly emptied bottle.
Evie’s erratic and panicked eyes were slowly gaining composure as the wave of relief finally hit her.
It was a state of mind first and foremost. The potion could be doing what it’s supposed to, numbing the pain and healing your body, but if your addled mind refused to accept it, then it wouldn’t matter. And Evie’s mind was starting to.
Zaher saw the look of realization in her eyes as she slowly began to calm down and rein in her emotions. He locked eyes with her before letting go of her face, grabbing her hand, and putting it on the potion bottle, removing his in the process. He gave her a reaffirming nod before letting go and disappearing into the shadows once more, ready to rejoin the fight.
Izzy saw the entire scene unfold in front of her. She couldn’t help Evie, but she could make the boss pay. Her speed increased to its absolute limit, covering the entire room in a few short seconds. When she was close enough, she jumped the last few feet separating her from the skeleton king, putting all her power and momentum into the only closed fist strike she planned on learning, her newly evolved skill, [Devastation].
She hadn’t had a chance to use it in battle yet since its evolution. The dungeon tunnels were narrow, and she risked harming her party by using the skill in such a tight space, but now, the skeleton king was about to experience its power firsthand.
Izzy’s hand glowed with an orange light as mana coalesced around her closed fist, making it look as if on fire. She was mid-jump, inching closer and closer to the king’s exposed back, before finally unleashing all the power held in her fist on the skeleton’s spine with a boom.
The force of the punch startled the king as it pushed him a foot forward before the shockwave made its exit from the other side, breaking a few of king Azar’s rib bones and crashing into Sedky who had already positioned his axe as a shield against the blast, suffering a few cuts and scrapes, and almost losing balance as he was pushed back.
The skeleton king stumbled forward half a step before steadying himself with his weapon. He planted his greatsword into the stone floor once again before spreading his arms wide open and letting out a bellowing roar of defiance, activating his aura skill and freezing the entire party.
He turned towards Izzy, arm shooting out as it aimed to grab the striker who had just dealt him a devastating blow.
Izzy saw the skeletal hand coming for her, but she remained calm. They knew about the king’s aura and had a simple plan for it.
The effect ended a second after it had started, with king Azar’s hand inches away from Izzy’s face before two booming explosions broke the silence.
A fireball hit the skeleton in the back of the head, and a spear-like arrow hit its extended arm, shattering it completely.
Izzy was relieved to know that Evie was back in fighting shape, since [Void Arrow] drained all that was left of Zaher’s resources, meaning he was effectively out of the fight, at least for a while. Now, it fell to them to finish off the boss.
Sedky didn’t waste a breath, charging with a shoulder tackle at the boss’s already damaged spine, pushing him a foot forward, right into Izzy’s range.
Izzy's [Devastating Strike] landed with a bang on the skeleton’s already weakened pelvic bone. He attempted to wrap his arm around her, crushing her with a bear hug, but she was able to dodge the grab by ducking under the arm before following with [Flurry Strikes] on the already damaged bone, completely obliterating it and sending shards of white flying everywhere, detaching the upper and lower halves of the boss.
The king grabbed the hilt of his sword, pulling it out of the stone as he attempted a low, unsteady sword swing at the backing Izzy. A desperate attempt before the two halves of his body were completely separated.
The swing held surprising power despite the awkward angle, yet Izzy was quick enough, jumping over and onto the incoming blade with both feet as she tried to disarm the weakened boss, but to her surprise, he let go of the blade, causing Izzy to stumble forward and towards him.
The skeleton king caught Izzy with his one good arm in an awkward bear hug, immobilizing her completely, before attempting to bite her head off.
Izzy, surprised by the maneuver, failed to react in time, finding herself in an iron grip that refused to budge, with a wide open jaw and rotten teeth coming for her face.
An axe descended on the legless boss’s head like an executioner’s blade, failing to separate the head from the rest of the body, but redirecting its teeth into Izzy’s shoulder instead.
She winced as teeth sank into her upper arm, but the strike had staggered the boss enough for her to break free and away from its body as it fell on the hard stone.
The party didn’t miss a beat as fireballs rained from the sky, hitting king Azar’s prone form, which were followed by an axe strike at the already weakened neck, finally severing head from torso.
Everyone held their breath as silence fell on the king’s throne room, before the expected notification finally appeared in their vision.
You have defeated Skeleton King Azar (level 12)
Dungeon Azar’s Tomb (Tier 9) completed.
100% completion rate, all mobs have been defeated.
Rewards increased.
Izzy let out a relieved sigh before wincing at the pain in her shoulder. She uncorked another health potion, drinking the bitter liquid before picking up the small pouch that had appeared in front of her. It was a temporary spatial storage holding her share of the dungeon loot. They couldn’t take the pouch with them, but it made things easier if you had your own since you could transfer your loot directly into it, which sadly, none of them did.
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She closed her eyes and took a peek at what the spatial storage held, a smile soon replacing her pained expression. Guess Christmas came early this year, she mused.
Dungeon Tomb of the Guardian of the Dunes (Tier 9) floor 4 complete.
Time to completion: 2 hours, 39 minutes, and 20 seconds.
Grade: B+
Congratulations! Dungeon Tomb of the Guardian of the Dunes Completed
Final evaluation will be displayed upon entering the reward room.
Proceed to reward room?
Yes/No
Matt wasn’t proud to admit that he had lost it before even reading the rest of the prompt, but after a 10 minute rest, when he tried going through the portal once more, he finally read the entire thing.
At first he frowned, then, as he kept reading, his eyes slowly started widening, before finally he asked a very important question, “The fuck is a reward room?”
Finally, he shrugged and mentally clicked yes. He was too over the entire dungeon to care anymore. If it was truly done, then he had nothing to worry about from the very intuitively named ‘reward room.’ Also, it was better to see his final grade before breaking into another rant.
He soon felt the darkness envelop him as he disappeared from the sandy terrain he had been in, appearing in the aforementioned reward room a breath later, which also happened to be filled with sand, yet in an incredibly different way.
He didn’t even get to appreciate the scene in front of him before he was bombarded with new prompts appearing in his vision.
You have entered the reward room for the trial dungeon Tomb of the Guardian of the Sands.
Hidden quest unlocked!
Quest:
Trial of the Pharaoh.
Created by Pharaoh Arjun, the trials of the pharaoh are the culmination of his life’s work.
In hopes of finding a successor, Pharaoh Arjun had spent a lifetime creating the trials of the pharaoh. Three trials disguised as dungeons were created for the sole purpose of finding someone worthy to lead the Ta-Neter Kingdom. And yet, during the eons when he reigned as pharaoh, none had ever managed to.
After the loss of countless of the kingdom’s best and brightest in the pursuit of the impossible task of clearing the trials, Pharaoh Arjun was forced to vacate the throne, yet his search never stopped.
Locked in the reward room of the final trial, the pharaoh yet awaits someone to complete his life’s work, so that he could finally crown a successor, and let his soul rest as it returns to the cycle.
Will you succeed where countless others have failed, or will you pay the ultimate price, becoming a mere floor guardian?
The choice is yours.
Trial dungeons complete 1 / 3
Item (Trial Compass) awarded as part of the ongoing quest Trial of the Pharaoh.
Trial Compass (Unique)
A compass that only points towards one direction, your next trial.
Final evaluation in process
Floor 1: 68 points
Floor 2: 69 points
Floor 3: 81 points
Floor 4: 89 points
12% modifier added to final score for completing the trial with an average level difference of 8.2 (1.5% per level difference).
5% modifier added to final score for completing the trial without the use of any consumables.
Final evaluation complete.
Final grade updated to: B+
Trial guardian has been notified
Access to the following subsections has been authorized:
Lounge of Recovery
Vault Room B+
Matt pinched the bridge of his nose as he squeezed his eyes shut. That was so much to take in that he felt both appalled and exhausted just from reading it.
First, there was the realization that quests were apparently a thing, which, once again, felt like a prevalent piece of information he should’ve had a while ago. Then there was the fact that this entire dungeon was a trial of some sort, made by a crazed pharaoh with unrealistic expectations.
And finally, high school grading system? Really?
Not only that, but with a quick mental calculation he came to the realization that his final score was around 89.8ish, which was 0.2 away from an A-, assuming it was the same grading system as Earth’s which so far seemed likely. Missing out on potentially much better rewards because of a measly 0.2% was… debilitating to say the least.
Many things he could’ve done differently that would’ve pushed him to a higher grade, but also, after 2 D+, he sort of stopped caring. He had no idea modifiers existed, and in his defense, the trial should’ve updated his grade floor by floor, instead of waiting till the end.
It was all in the past though. No point worrying about it now. It would only serve to demoralize him further.
With a sigh, he put the compass around his neck before opening his notifications in hopes he’d have some better luck there.
[Mend] (common 9) → [Mend] (common 10)
[Advanced Mana Control (passive)] (rare 5) → [Advanced Mana Control (passive)] (rare 7)
Skill available.
[Sense Mana] (uncommon)
While for most humans, the five senses were enough, to others, a 6th sense always felt missing. You now have a piece of what many have long wished for.
Provides the user the ability to send a spherical pulse that travels for up to 100 feet, alerting the user to any mana it comes in contact with.
Unlock skill?
Yes/No
You have defeated Guardian of the Tomb (level 18)
Level up!
Level up!
You are now level 12
You have 16 free stat points to distribute
Yep, that definitely didn’t help, Matt thought as he took in the new information.
The skill being offered to him was a no brainer. It solved many of the problems he had faced during his run in the dungeon. And while he would’ve loved to have the skill four floors earlier, he was sure it would see plenty of use in the outside world, and probably even the trials to come if he chose to continue with the quest.
With a mental command, he picked yes.
Skill unlocked!
[Sense Mana] (uncommon)
3 of 15 skills allocated
12 skill slots remaining
Matt felt something on his chest that prompted him to take a look. The familiar brand was forming in real time, similar to the one on his wrist, but this time with two arced lines starting from one end and converging on the other, like an eye without the iris.
It had a subtle blue hue that remained for a couple of seconds before the entire pattern dimmed, just like the one on his wrist.
The same thing had happened with both [Mend] and [Advanced Mana Control], and so far, he had yet to make anything out of the symbols/brands/patterns that came with every skill. He didn’t even know what role they played other than having something to do with their corresponding skill, since they always lit up in his soul whenever he willed one active.
Never have I wished for a user manual more than now, he thought with a sigh as he moved on, opting instead to give his new skill a test run.
He closed his eyes and focused on using his new ability. He instinctively knew that he had to have his eyes closed, which felt like a major flaw already. A buildup started in his chest for a few seconds before a pulsing wave of mana shot out, covering around twenty feet of distance a second.
What Matt saw wasn’t a radar screen like he had expected, instead, it was like the mana was sending very vague images of whatever obstacle it had come across. Apparently it couldn’t pass through things with mana, choosing instead to circle around it, but in a place similar to the one he was in, where a room was surrounded with walls infused with mana, he wouldn’t be able to see inside.
The wave kept going with Matt following the scan closely, trying to get used to the skill and the odd feeling of seeing shapes with his eyes closed.
Forty feet… sixty feet… eighty feet.
Matt froze, eyes opening wide in alarm.
His [Sense Mana] had pinged two distinct figures in the reward room with him. One was up to the right, seemingly facing either his direction or away from him, and one right in front of him.
He got up on his feet and squinted, focusing on the fairly small figure in the distance. Which seemed to be… licking its paws.
Is that… a cat? Matt thought in utter disbelief.
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