This place was insane.

Maiz had thought it before, but… why wasn’t the Temple of the Sands the most popular place for combatants in the world? The Warrior Monks didn’t seem to worry about letting people challenge the Path, and the sheer amount of training to be had here alone should have had it swarmed with combatants of every rank, each using the incredible facilities here to advance.

Maiz gripped the smooth wood of the staff, facing the thing across from him. It was a wooden dummy, with a featureless face and limbs connected by steel pins. Every inch of it was covered in complex enchantment markings, but a quick peek with Mana Sense had shown a solid sheet of pure white mana, obscuring any of the mana formations that animated the dummy’s form.

Golem, he corrected himself. It was funny. This place constantly reminded him that, though he hadn’t done much to deserve it yet, he was a living legend. But here was another one, right in front of him, used as a training aid. Golems were, as far as Maiz knew, one of the Master-level works of all types of Enchanters. There were said to be three massive ones guarding the Royal Palace in Corunti’s capital, and a full nine that did the same for the Ulterion Emperor. Yet even those golems were simply vehicles of stone, requiring a person to direct its movements effectively. This one was acting by itself.

Maiz had to cut his astonishment short though, because the impossible golem stepped forward with a strange, slightly inhuman motion, and swung its oversized arms towards him. Fast Feet. Maiz hopped to the side, throwing a single strike into the creature’s midsection as its momentum carried it forward. The blow seemed to do nothing but hurt his hands slightly from the rebound. Ow.

The creature turned again, not particularly fast or nimble, and struck at Maiz with a foot. Holy hells. The blow was avoided easily enough, but this thing could actually balance itself on one foot! It was incredible. Focus. He stood in a stone chamber, doors closed at each end, with no discernable unlocking mechanism. Defeating the golem would likely be the way out, but how to do that?

The creature attacked again, and while Maiz dodged almost lazily, he prepared a Flaming Strike. He formed the entire pattern himself--though he was still about as slow as the talent’s automatic casting time--and allowed the spell to naturally begin its flow, shifting into fire magic. He occasionally dodged strikes from the golem, but it was slower than most Novices and required only a little of his stamina to avoid with Fast Feet. When the spell was completed, he swung his staff at the golem’s midsection again, prepared for the concussive blast of fire and force.

He still didn’t quite expect the thing to literally fly away from him, clattering to the ground after hitting a wall. Nice. Maiz walked over to the golem It wasn’t moving anymore, though he noticed that a few circles on its torso that had been dull before were now lit up, glowing a soft white. There was a dim one dead-center in the middle of the torso, as well as similar ones higher up and to the sides, just underneath where the ribs were on a human. There were a few more brightly lit circles as well, though they were smaller: points on the neck flared brightly, as did some on the upper thigh.

Those smaller circles triggered painful memories for Maiz--not emotionally, but physically. Those were some of the weak points Lila was fond of using to disable him in fights. The bigger ones were also things he’d picked up from sparring matches as good spots to target for wounding or incapacitating an opponent. So the idea is to hit those spots to disable the dummy? Maiz’s Flaming Strike must have delivered enough force to the golem to activate most of the points by itself, but Maiz could see how Warrior Monks, who did not specialize in Strength or power attacks, would have to learn to pick their targets carefully.

The door to the next room, a simple thing of gray stone, opened with a whisper. Despite being extremely old, the craftsmanship was frankly astonishing. Did the Warrior Monks maintain these parts of the Path? And what of the golem he’d just damaged? THough he didn’t quite know the answer, he’d stopped underestimating the level of skill and power this place displayed, as well as the sheer amount of resources that had been dedicated to its creation. With a last look at the fallen dummy, Maiz moved on to the next room.

Walking through the open doorway, Maiz was momentarily startled--the room looked exactly the same as the previous one, and as the door shut behind him, Maiz could detect only one difference: in this room there were two dummies, each standing motionless a shoulder length apart. As Maiz registered their presence, they animated, magic clearly having just run through their enchantments. Oh. Well this shouldn’t be too difficult.

Indeed it wasn’t. Maiz formed a Flaming Strike as the golems moved towards him, their gait between a lumber and a normal walk. Lumber. Heh. He danced around the dummies, then lashed his staff out at one of the wooden heads. The resulting blast momentarily lit the small room brightly, and caused the dummy to blast down and backwards in an amusing fashion. Maiz almost missed dodging the second golem’s attack as he surveyed the damage with interest. He had decided not to engage Fast Feet, as these particular opponents didn’t require it. However he still caught the motion of the wooden arm and skipped backwards, reflexes trained by the Warrior Monk skill.

It was a simple enough matter to lead the second golem on a chase around the room, which culminated in a second Flaming Strike, this one to the side. Maiz chose the spot mostly out of curiosity--this was, after all, an opportunity to learn about the weak points that were so devastating when Lila used them in combat. He took note of the few brightly lit circles in both dummies, finding one behind each ear on the first dummy and a few dimmer ones on the second, he continued.

The next room had just one golem, but instead of simple wood sheathed in steel pins, this one was dressed in a leather jerkin and leggings, of the sort a Cobrakin in the City Watch might wear. It was mostly meant to deaden the impact of blows and maybe stop a weak cut from a noncombatant.

He still had no trouble sending the golem flying. He was getting a little too fond of seeing the things go flying, but, well, it made him feel good. Powerful. There had been precious little of that in Maiz’s life, both before and after he got his title.

The next room contained two jerkin-clad dummies, which Maiz dealt with just as easily as the others. This whole exercise seemed like it was tuned a little too low in comparison to the earlier tests, but then Maiz was probably a little better at fighting these things than the average person. He moved through the next doorway, expecting to see a single, more heavily armored golem waiting for him.

Instead, there were three dressed in the jerkin. Oh. Well, this shouldn’t be too difficult.

Indeed, it wasn’t. Maiz could manage only two consecutive casts of Flaming Strike before needing to wait for his mana to regenerate. But the last dummy was still just as slow as all the others, and he decided to take the opportunity to practice a little non-magical combat. After all, what if this actually happened in a fight? Instead of dodging the dummy until he could cast his spell again, he slipped forward and passed a lunging attack, and delivered a solid whack to the midsection, leveraging the length of his staff and his two-handed grip for maximum damage.

He’d been aiming to hit the large circle in the center of the body, but even though he saw a momentary flash and the dummy stumbled, it did not freeze immediately. Interesting. Skipping back from another blow, Maiz tried another attack to the same area. This time the flash was more noticable, and the golem paused for a longer period of time before continuing towards him. Another blow following that one caused the circle to finally remain lit, and the dummy fell to the ground.

Maiz realized he was panting slightly, mostly out of habit. It was an odd feeling, not using his Flaming Strike. It made the challenge quite a bit more, well, challenging. Maybe it’s worth getting a little practice in like this. After all, this was likely where Lila got most of her exceptional combat ability from. That and pretending to be lower ranked than she actually was. Why had she done that? Moreover, why had she bothered training with them at all? The Path was many times superior to anything they’d done, save the Dungeon runs. Just focus.

Maiz resolved to only use his Flaming Strike against multiple opponents. He would use the last dummy to practice his non-magical combat, and hopefully gain some insight into how to use his weapon more effectively.

When he entered the next room however, he thought about revising that decision. Whereas the earlier opponents had been wearing what amounted to a leather vest and no other protection, this one was clad in a full set of leather armor, covering most of the large vital areas in a thick layer of protection. Of course. Maiz stepped out of the way as the thing attacked.

Maiz wasn’t unduly worried at first. Even without magic, this was not a threatening opponent. It simply wasn’t fast or dextrous enough to hit him. But when his first blow to the midsection failed to elicit any response at all, despite being quite powerful, he felt a bit of concern. What were those weak points again? Maiz thought briefly about what he’d seen on the dummie’s he’d already seen, and what Lila had done to him in the past. The dummy was well protected around its torso, but its limbs seemed to be covered by less leather. Remembering the last sparring match he’d had with Lila, he acted as the golem took a ponderous step forward, staff swinging down with all his strength at a spot right above the inner knee.

A light did flare briefly on the dummy, and it stopped much as the previous one had, but Maiz knew what to do. In the moment of hesitation elicited by his attack, Maiz drew his staff up and took another swing at the same point. This time the light stayed, a single small circle that seemed unimpressive in comparison to all the ones he’d lit up before while using his Flaming Strike. But his opponent stopped moving and the door opened, so Maiz assumed that it was still enough.

As he walked into the next room, Maiz was already preparing a spell. As he’d expected, there were two enemies wearing the same set of heavier armor. He moved to attack the first almost as soon as it began to move, landing a solid blow to the midsection. Instead of flying away, the dummy simply collapsed backwards, though the explosion from his spell was the same. Maiz caught sight of a single dim circle on its toes before he was forced to the dodge the other one.

Even without magic, it only took a bit of effort to dispatch the last dummy. This time he targeted the weak point on the inside of the arm, above the elbow. It was simple enough, with how often the golem swung its arm out in wide arcs, and after two hits, he was finished and ready for the next room. This is getting to be pretty fun.

*******************

Maiz panted, staring at the open door in front of him. He knew what would face him, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready. Moreover, he was afraid of what would happen if he succeeded.

Four dummies lay on the ground before him. He thought they were still made of wood, but it was difficult to tell--almost every inch of them was covered in steel plate. Many of them sported scorch marks around the legs and arms, and one had them on it’s head, behind the ear. It had been a true ordeal to dance around the swinging arms of each golem as he constantly recast his spell and waited for his mana to regenerate. His enhanced blows no longer defeated the opponents in one shot unless he aimed for a critical point, and that became increasingly difficult the more enemies he faced. Only one more room to go. Or would there beeven more after this one? It was impossible to tell.

Either way, his mana and stamina were both completely full, and his breathing had returned to normal. It was time to go.

Entering the next room, Maiz was reminded of the story of Golian the Conqueror, who’d won a kingdom at swordpoint with the help of his armorclad confidants, all of them Knights. Knight was a Northern title, and Maiz knew little about them besides what was said in those tales. Still, the five plate-clad golems seemed to fit the description, and the way they stood motionless in a semicircle facing Maiz was theatrical enough for any story.

All five came to life as the door closed behind Maiz, and as ribbons of fire began swirling around his staff. Immediately, Maiz circled around the opponents, attacking the one on the far end. He’d learned against the three armored golems that being surrounded was a recipe for disaster.

His Flaming Strike struck the dummy’s helmet where the hollow behind the ear would be on a person. After the light faded, the golem was already on the ground. Maiz stepped to the side, turning so that he was facing away from the door to the next room. The four remaining golems were lurching towards him at the same speed as all the others. He thought it was a little unfair that they weren’t slower from the extra weight. He also thought that the sight of the four faceless enemies shambling mindlessly towards him was more than a little terrifying.

He dodged around a few attacks, holding off on Fast Feet even as he continued to cast Flaming Strike. Best to conserve the stamina. The mana sped up and ribbons of flame danced around his weapon again. The golems were almost in a line now, only two of them within striking distance. Could he get around them without running afoul of the other two? Maiz saw another steel form step into view, and acted in a half panic. He ducked under two attacks from the enemies before him, and took a swipe at the opponent’s knee. His swing swept around and--

The fourth golem stepped into its path, catching it on the shin. The explosion of heat and light was impressive, but the golem barely moved, the blow having missed any weak points. Oh hells. Fast Feet.

Maiz ducked, twisted and dodged three attacks, but each move brought him closer to a corner. When the fourth golem went for a kick, Maiz Jumped, his Fast Feet forcing him to twist in the air, and smacked painfully to the ground. He was forcibly reminded of the many times he’d done that in the Trial, and how many times Riala ad healed him as a result. He wasn’t untitled anymore, though, and he recovered quickly from the fall.

He was out of the corner now, and all four golems golems were still turning to face him. Maiz began directing his mana once more, forcing it through the spell even as the very last drops required entered his mana pool again. The spell snapped into place as he sidestepped a clumsy blow from the nearest golem, and his staff caught him on the weak point above the knee with a flash.

It was over. Maiz dodged easily around the remaining golem’s blows, their reduced numbers insufficient to corner him properly, and let his mana pool refill slowly and taking each one out carefully. He even took the time with the last dummy to defeat it without magic, though the effort of delivering the full five blows to the side of the head left him momentarily drained. He stood over the fallen dummy, chest heaving and eyes a little wild.

Then the door opened, and as he looked towards it, he returned to himself. A smile split his face. He’d been worried that he’d find some even greater challenge waiting for him past this room, but instead all he saw were stairs, leading to the next floor. It was time to see what his efforts here had earned him.