Luke’s vision was swallowed in darkness as he was transported to another world. When he came back too, he saw the portal behind him. It was an exit; one he could take if he wanted to take another trial. However, he felt a connection to the place. Something about the area drew his attention, and he looked far into the distance.

He was on a grassy plain of some kind. The grass was yellow almost gold in the light of the sun. The image looked as if it were a painting, the setting sun illuminating in a magical beauty. The stillness of the moment dawned on him, and he found himself just staring at the image. Focused entirely on the setting sun, he watched until the sun descended from view. The sun had a hold on him, and he only felt like he could move once it was gone.

As the dark of night ran over the plains, the golden grass seemed to become white. A reflection of the moon itself. All around him, the grass rustled. Something dawned on him as he heard the noises. He didn’t feel any wind. Instantly he snapped his head downwards, a little scared of the shadows he saw lurking in the grass. The beauty of the previous moment was gone, and he felt his hairs stand on end as shapes began appearing among the grass. The darkness seemed to become deeper and absolute. Instinctively, he tried to call for the others. His voice carried in the emptiness, but no one was around to hear him.

It had been a long time since he last had to fight by himself. He relied on their presence and felt a surge of fear pass through him as he realized that he was completely alone. Feeling like he should try another dungeon, he took a step backward, and found his back colliding with something hard. Turning around, he found himself staring at a large castle. A metal door twice as tall as he was stood before him.

The castle that housed the doors was even more impressive than the elaborately engraved doors. The door itself told a story, and he could follow the engravings as if it was a page of a book. The first drawing was of a man who fell from a blade in his back. He rose again, finding power and new purpose. Rather than seeking revenge, he saved others by building himself up. Eventually, he became a king a lord, of those he helped. Those he returned. This castle before him was his, and Luke knew what he was looking at. This was a lich’s castle.

He considered running away, trying a different trial but knew that his skills were most suited for dealing with the undead. He couldn’t just run from the dungeon because he was afraid. There wouldn’t always be people around who could save him, and he needed to get over his fears. They had been bubbling up ever since Red’s death against the demons. He brought her back out of fear rather than friendship. Her death had frightened him more because he knew he would’ve been left alone. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about her, in fact, he cared about all three of them quite a lot. However, at the time he had been acting on instinct, his base emotions driving him to action. Fear and loneliness had led him to use forbidden magic to bring Red back from the dead.

All of those things had made him worried. He knew what class he would probably get from this trial. Despite his intentions, he had brought someone back. Turned Red into an undead. He only knew of one class that could do something like that, and it was something he had a proven affinity for. What would he do if all of his options were lich classes? He couldn’t help but worry about it, and trade to shake away the fears. The others wouldn’t worry about their class, and he bet that Mash would be eager to get a class that was so strong. For someone who tried to help most people he met, Mash seemed to have no morals when it came to his class selection. Mash was persistent, and Luke noticed his attempts to get him to use his soul-stealing skill more.

Mustering up his courage, he made a silent prayer before entering. He brought his hands together, one a fist the other an open palm. Then he slowly raised it to his head. The prayer wasn’t directed towards any god, rather it was to those who watched over them. His ancestors were looking upon him and guiding his path.

With that, he pushed against the door. It didn’t feel as cold as he expected it to and wondered if it was just his nerves. The door was heavier than he expected. He could open it, but most people at his level would struggle with just that. He didn’t enter immediately and instead hid at the side of the entranceway. He looked inside, a strange lighting system illuminating the space inside. The light felt weirdly artificial, and he was surprised to see that the building was designed lavishly. There was a long red carpet that led from the entrance to a central staircase. The staircase ran up to a back wall before splitting and heading to an upper floor. The walls were made of stone brick, and it was well kept too.

There were doors along the walls on either side of the carpet, and he could even see some rooms on the second floor. There were two archways on the ground floor which probably led to other sections of the building. The castle was closer to a mansion, but it was still incredibly large and would have many different sections to it. He still didn’t enter immediately and watched to see if anything would happen. After a few minutes passed, he entered. As soon as he stepped inside, he felt a shift in the building. The door shut itself, behind him the loud closing noise making him jump a little. It was stereotypical, but it still got a jump out of him. He was glad that the others weren’t there. Despite having skills so heavily related to undead creatures, he still had some fear about them. He blamed his parents for scaring him with stories of liches as a child.

Once he was inside, he got a better look at the lights. They were glass spheres on the wall, and they seemed to contain lightning. The light it released was bright, but it felt artificial. It lacked the same warmth of the mana crystals they used back home. This building was cold, and he shivered a little. It had felt warmer outside. He looked over the empty entranceway and waited for something to happen. Nothing moved, the only sound coming from his own breaths. There were easily a dozen doors that he could see, and none looked particularly special. The staircase ascended to a higher section of the building, and he could see that there was another staircase to reach an even higher floor.

He decided against checking any of the doors at the moment. It felt like it would be a mistake, and he was a little frightened of something jumping out at him. Logically, he knew that most things would be able to seriously harm him with his healing. His anxiety was driving him down the path that he could actually see down. The stairs were almost completely visible, and he would be able to see his surroundings, well in advance of something jumping out at him. As he walked up the stairs, he was surprised to hear the creak of wood. The rest of the building was made of stone and metal, so a wooden interior was surprising. There was carpet everywhere too. This building was nicer than Mash’s brother’s home. Although it lacked any art or sculptures. Plus, it didn’t really have a garden, however, the golden fields outside were better than any garden could be.

The only thing he saw up the stairs was more stairs. Feeling somewhat sure of the fact, he ascended the staircase. The steps grew a little narrower after he passed the second floor, but he could easily climb them. he noticed an opening along with one of the walls. The stairs didn’t stop there though. The kept climbing up turning gently so that it could crawl all the way to the top. At least that was the feeling he got as he climbed them. He peered into each hallway he passed, more doors filling every single one. This building was some kind of mix between mansion and castle and would be able to house dozens of people easily. It seemed empty though, and he wondered what the trial would even be.

He just kept climbing the stairs, eventually, they stopped before a wooden door. One that was far less elaborate than most he had seen on his way. However, the door practically radiated mana, or at least whatever behind it was. Luke guessed that he made the right decision by passing up on the diversions along the way. Part of this dungeon probably involved ignoring meaningless distractions. Searching a house like this would have taken days otherwise.

He approached the door and stopped, unconsciously waiting for Mash to tell him what was on the other side. There had been a few instances of him acting like that since entering the dungeon. While he wasn’t the most talkative among the group he was used to their presence and found himself speaking aloud only to remember that he was alone.

People like Mash and Jill were probably struggling a lot more with keeping their mouths shut. Thinking about the others, worried him. He was the only one with a real healing skill, and Mash especially was the type to get hit. While they joked about Jill’s arrogant attitude, Mash was more worrisome. He trusted too much in his durability, and Luke had seen him take more than a few attacks that he could have avoided. Jill was probably the one in the least danger. A creature would basically need to be a god if they wanted to harm her.

He placed his palm against the door carefully, waiting for something to happen. When nothing happened, he activated his buffs, seeing if the mana would react to his skill. There was still no response. There was one more thing he could do, and he bent over to try and peak underneath the door. He couldn’t see inside though the door actually perfectly fit the entrance. If only he had a domain skill like Mash. Taking a deep breath, he focused his resolve as much as he could. He pushed his buffs to the maximum, the marking appearing on his skin as he gained stats. As another precaution, he preemptively started healing himself. This wasn’t something he had done in a long time.

The others, Mash especially, were people who did very little preparation. Even Red, for all her experience and intelligence, did most things with complete confidence. She rarely second-guessed her decision, but he knew that would come back to bite her eventually. Jill was the only one who seemed aware of the risks, which he found interesting considering that she was the least likely to ever face any. That was probably just a result of her family’s old debts and the fact that she needed to deal with them. It was ok though, no matter what mistakes they made he would be there to patch them up. That thought made him realize that he was delaying for no reason, and he pushed the door open.