Unlike the last gate, Myles Chase did not find himself landing on his rear. Instead, he continued to walk through the gate as if nothing had happened in the momentary blank. This had a twofold effect on Myles sense of reality.

The first outcome could be considered a good thing. Myles didn’t stumble as his foot hit the ground as he expected of it.

The second outcome… not so much. Everything Myles held as reality from the last trial was shattered as the new reality assaulted his senses when everything changed in less than the blink of an eye.

Gone was the open world of sky and white, endless abyss below.

Gone were the tiles and grass.

Gone were the remains of his trusty post.

That last one hit Myles the hardest. Well, he’d been warned about anything that wasn’t class essential vanishing, but he was going to miss that pointy piece of wood. Despite its betrayal, it had served him well.

Before him now was a small, stormy-blue stone room. It wasn’t quite a closet as he couldn’t touch the sides when he put his arms out, but it was close.

The ceiling of his room was low but not overly so. He could walk without his hair brushing it, but anything more would be about as painful as the halfling’s office had been. He was also boxed in on all sides by the same grayish-blue stone bricks, minus open doors on either side of the room.

The lack of freedom in the small room made him a little nervous as he finally gave his attention to the only non-stone brick item in the room, another lovely sign. Sadly, this one was part of the wall, so he couldn’t try to replace his impromptu weapon in case of another slime attack.

Written on it in clean, easily read silver lettering was a greeting:

Welcome to the Trial of the Mind.

Think Fast.

Myles chuckled a bit to himself at that. At least the dungeon seemed to have a sense of humor he could tolerate.

Looking away from the message, Myles looked beyond the doors and found another set of stone walls. Unlike the ones in his current room, these rose beyond where he could see, and the flicker of soft orange lights from beyond the walls told him that some kind of fire lit the stage of his next trial. He was used to the soft flames of candles and ovens. Before his father became a [Royal Baker], Myles had read and worked by firelight every morning— well, candlelight anyways.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Myles took the words as law, moved out of the room, past the tall walls, and into the light.

It wasn’t as impressive as an entire pocket dimensional void, but it was something to behold.

On the far end of the room, a huge statue loomed, crafted from the same blue bricks and stone but carved with all the love and malicious intent of a sociopath. It was like something out of his worst nightmares — a true unrelenting monster with the cruel face of a hound, hands— no, pincers as wide and deep as a dire crab, a body like an shelled, armored insect, and furred legs ending in hoofed feet like a satyr or demon.

it was a true horror without any other reason or logic other than murder put out into the world. The worst part of it was how it seemed to watch him with it’s unmoving sapphire eyes, sending a deep uncertainty though him.

Was that it?

Was he going to die?

No, there had to be something. It was a test of his mind, not an outright slaughter. If the dungeon wanted him dead, he’d already be.

He hoped.

Thankfully, inspecting the room further brought him back to reality. The stone monster wasn’t the only thing around. A door was clearly visible at the far end of the room between the statue’s legs. The glow was a gentle green-white that was almost the color of the mint cream they used back in the bakery, and just as before, a soft mist wafted out from it like steam off cooling crust.

That’s when he noticed what was directly in front of him — another sign, what looked like a pool of mud or clay, and what could be best described as an oven. Of course, nothing was normal here. The familiar tool was warped and disjointed like nothing he’d ever seen. It grew larger as it stretched away from him before opening wide at the other end.

The words on the sign made the tool’s purpose clear at least.

Craft your champion.

Cook up your plan.

Challenge the Guardian.

Reach the Gate.

Survive.

That seemed simple enough. All he had to do was make a creature out of the clay, fire it in the oven, and it would fight the giant dog-bug-crab-demon-satyr-thing.

Yeah, this was completely sane.

Reaching down, he scooped up some of the clay, weighed it, and considered how best to use it as he looked back at the gate. What would be the best way to fight the monster? For all that it was, the biggest threats were those massive crab claws. Those hooves could do some damage as well, and Myles wasn’t ruling out those teeth. The creature could easily have magical potential as well to be able to move. If he had to craft something to fight it, how could he account for it all?

Could he even?

Maybe he could just make something big and bulky, something that wasn’t meant to win. Something that was just meant to buy him time enough to get to the exit…

Suddenly, he stopped. His mind stuck onto a single idea, and that thought froze him solid.

What if…

No…

It couldn’t be that easy…

Then again, the Trial of Body had been as straight forward.

The clay dropped out of his hand with a wet plop, rejoining the pool of its kind as Myles took the risk and walked across the room. His eyes never left the horror statue’s. The feeling of its gaze didn’t leave him either, but it didn’t do anything else. The stone legs were planted firmly still. The shadow of the beast flickered slightly from one side to the other in the crackling firelight, but it didn’t so much as twitch in a new direction as he reached the gateway.

Disbelief flooded him as much as relief as he stood between the creature’s massive legs.

Before he had a chance to second guess himself, Myles reached out his hand, and the portal surface bent inward, letting him pass through it with just a bit of reluctance this time. It wasn’t much, but it was enough so that Myles didn’t leave the room right away. Instead, he just managed to catch another update before the world shifted.

Trial of Mind - 1/3 [Completed]

26/30 Possible Traits Awarded Towards Class Selection

Cunning: 11

Wisdom: 5

Reasoning: 10

Other: 0

Trait Perk Unlocked: Mind over Matter, Toss of a Coin

Trial Perk Unlocked: [Keen Eye]

Cheating isn’t cheating if it isn’t against the rules.