Three Days.

Three Whole Days.

Nothing but snow and ice for Three Whole Days.

By the end of the third portion of this place Michael was just about sick of this stupid place. If he never saw another snowflake he'd be perfectly happy. The only good part of the experience was that he'd had plenty of time with nothing to do but train his skills. He'd raised his Beginner Camping and Beginner Mana Manipulation by a level and his Spell Arsenal finally got to level two letting him place a second Permanent effect on an item. He'd gone for putting a Boulder Throw on his Barkskin Armor. The armor was a gift from Sam and had almost the exact same properties as his Barkskin Boots, likely coming from the same dungeon. When placing a spell with an additional effect like Boulder Toss on an armor piece it created an opposite defensive effect. In this case the armor gained 20 points of Earth Defence and a 25% resistance to knockback effects. The Earth defence would counter-intuitively increase his defence against Wind element damage and decrease his defence against Earth damage. If he was right about what came next the armor would prove invaluable.

After Three Whole Days the pillar descended with a rumble and a door appeared in its place. With the cold suddenly rushing back in Michael and Hazel went through the door, Hazel leading the charge. The other side of the door was very much different from where they had just come from.

Michael emerged the door to find himself in bright sunshine. The change from gloomy blizzard to bright sunshine blinded Michael for a second but when his sight cleared he found that Hazel and himself had been transported to the top of a mountain. They were currently standing on a smooth layer of stone, twenty meters in diameter, with nothing but empty air surrounding them. There was a bit of wind but otherwise the mountaintop was quiet. Michael walked over to the edge and looked down to discover the mountain descending straight down, the sides as smooth as the top.

He was busy staring down when he heard the rumbling sound that he'd come to hate. From his vantage point he saw several holes open up on the Mountain side and shapes burst from them, moving too fast to see. He quickly backed up to the center of the circle, Hazel joining him in the center. From the below the lip of the mountaintop several dozen shapes flew up before hovering in the skies around them. Michael quickly identified one of the shapes which had revealed itself to be a large bird with a brilliant blue and green plumage.

Razor Madrihawk

Tier 2, Level 20

130 / 130 Health, 13 Health Regen

610 / 610 Mana, 61 Mana Regen

Strengths: 80% Wind Resistance, 50% Sound Resistance

Weaknesses: -50% Earth Resistance, -25% Lightning Resistance, -10% Water Resistance

Most of the info was pretty standard but Michael was a bit worried by the inclusion of Razor in the name. Unfortunately he didn't have a lot of time to worry as the first Madrihawk started attacking.

Michael was right to worry.. Common Madrihawks are used throughout the universe for a great many things. Easy to tame and easy to breed they are often used as messengers, flying mounts or, in places such as the eastern region of the M'xtralooan continent on the planet ph'rethorgan, simply as food. Razor Madrihawks on the other hand, are on of the most vicious Monsters one could meet. This is due to a racial trait of theirs simply called Razor. The trait is a deadly one as it allows for every single one of their attacks to carry the Razor Sharp effect, allowing it to completely ignore almost any armor, magical or physical.

Being on a sheer mountaintop without any escape while being surrounded by dozens of Razor Madrihawks would be the equivalent to a death sentence to almost any creature below the fourth Tier. Even the dreaded Chihuahua wouldn't survive.

Fortunately for Michael, he happened to be standing next to one of the few creatures that could stand a chance against a Razor Madrihawk in a fair fight, though as usual he had absolutely no idea. Nyo Bears are one of the rarest and most unknown creatures within the Universe. This is not because they are too weak or too powerful or anything of the sort. They are simply new. Hazel is in fact the first, though not the last, of her kind. This is often the case when a Soul Companion egg hatches, the creation within being the result of a mix of a living beings soul, pure Mana and diluted Chaos. Once the system takes note of the creature it then enters the Systems database and gets spawned with the same regularity as any other creature.

In the case of the Nyo Bear, it would eventually become known throughout the universe as the protector bear due to its own hidden trait; Absolute Defense. Neither Michael or Hazel knew it at the time but every one of Hazels barriers, such as the ones they were currently wrapped in, was unable to be negated or destroyed in any other manner other than pure damage. This meant that the trait that made the Razor Madrihawks so deadly was completely useless.

Sadly, there was no one around to inform them of the extraordinary nature of Hazels barriers, making the battle seem difficult but winnable rather than the death trap that it really should have been.

The first attack came in the form of a wind blade, the strike moving too quickly for either of them to react. The blade landed on Michaels chest dealing 61 damage to the barrier Hazel had placed on him. The attacking bird seemed oddly surprised by something so Michael, not one to miss an opportunity. fired an arrow at the bird. The arrow struck true thanks to his Archery skill and the bird froze, thanks to the imbued Chilling Touch. The bird, unable to flap its ice-encased wings, plummeted downwards, Michael receiving the notification for it's death after a surprisingly short 7 seconds. Either the bird fell a lot faster than physical laws would normally allow, or the ground was a lot closer than it appeared.

The battle was somewhat frantic after that. Hazels barriers let them escape the worst of the damage, though she went through a half dozen of their Mana potions, but the barriers failed to stop the physical force of the blows. The sheer mountaintop completely failed to provide any sort of grip and the two were often sent sliding this way and that. Hazels claws let her dig into the stone, providing a grip for her, and Hazel provided a physical barrier for Michael. Despite that there were still far too many close calls and Michael ended up using his Vine Trap on Hazel several times in order to prevent them from sliding off.

In the end they made it, Michael having killed a grand total of 45 Razor Madrihawks. As soon as the last Madrihawk fell, literally, there was another rumble and a door rose from the floor. Michael decided to wait and Regen his Mana. Besides, he had managed to level from that fight and he had some AP to apply. Pulling up his Attribute screen he went ahead and placed the two Unassigned AP into his Agility, he'd seen what a low Agility to Perception ratio could do and it wasn't fun.

Attributes

Unassigned Attribute points : 0

Strength 25 Agility 33 Vitality 25 Dexterity 31 Perception 46 Magic 65 Luck 16

Michael smiled, he had finally broken through 1,000 Mana. Once he finally managed to get out of this place he was going to open a portal straight to Benneton and enjoy a decent burger, a mug of beer and proper bed.

Once Hazels Mana was full the two of them went through the door. The other side of the door was pitch black, as if all light had fled that terrible place.

Michael was unsure of what was going and was about to pull a torch from his inventory when a fire blazed to life behind him. Looking back Michael saw a torch imbedded onto a wall five feet from them. As soon as he laid eyes on the torch two more burst into life either side of the first. This apparently set of a cascade as torches burst into flame, pairs at a time, revealing the arena around them and, finally, their opponent.

A gnarled, twisted monstrosity of a man stood opposite the pair, his head down and a staff as twisted and gnarled as him clutched in his right hand. With his head still bent, a voice boomed from the man.

"Greetings, Fools! You have passed my trials, but if you think you will be rewarded ... you are correct. Your reward ... is ... DEATH!"

The man lifted his head, a face that matched the rest of his body in hideousness looking at them with eyes that glowed in a swirl of light.

"Look upon me and dis- wait. Where's the rest of you?"

Michael had been about to fire an arrow, ready to release his arrow-y might on the Boss, but paused. "It's just me and Hazel."

The terrifying and monstrous parody of a man ... deflated. His shoulders slumped, the staff he had raised was lowered as he asked, in a much less fearsome and booming voice "Seriously? Just the two of you?"

Michael stood there, the arrow on his bow forgotten in sheer confusion. "Uh, yes?"

The Boss asked "How did you get here then? Did the rest of your group die during the trials? I could have sworn there were no deaths during the trials."

By this point Michael had lowered his bow, though he kept the arrow nocked. "No, just me and Hazel."

The Boss squinted his glowing eyes. "Do you really expect me to believe that you managed to get through all the trials on your own. How would a couple of Tier 2's who haven't even gotten past level 11 possibly get through all my Trials?"

Michael smiled. "Well, it all started when I ate some mushrooms that were completely fine and didn't cause any issues whatsoever ..."

"So the reason you got through all that was a Path that basically lets you cheat your way through life?" Strumen the Elemental Warmonger asked.

"Oh come on! Weren't you listening? I had to spend a whole year fighting Monsters daily just to get here. I didn't exactly cheat." Michael said. The two of them were now sitting on chairs made of surprisingly comfortable dirt, courtesy of Strumen, as Hazel played around with some elemental constructs.

"Yeah, but the only reason you could do that in the first place was because you got a whole bucket load of AP from your Path. And because you went through the trial you got that ridiculous bow which basically means you never have to look for another weapon ever and you have that quiver which means you never have to look for arrows either. You basically solved two of the biggest issues with levelling an archer could ever face. All because of your Path. Cheat." The Warmonger had a grin as he took another pull from his beer, courtesy of Michael.

"Okay, you have a point. But I bet since I have the Path I'll have to face bigger and badder challenges than the average person with my level." Michael countered.

"True, that does tend to happen." Strumen replied.

"Wait, has this sort of thing happened before?" Michael asked, curious.

The Boss smiled. "Sorry, there's little I can tell you as a Boss character. All I'll say is that the System will help you get stronger but it won't make things easy, it never does. Look, you seem like a smart kid, and as long as you don't do something stupid like go into a Mysterious Ruin with only one underpowered teammate, then you'll be around for a long time. At some point your Civilisation will reach Tier {Censored} and you'll be able to hire {Censored}, at that point remember me. I'll put a {Censored} on you so when you get there I'll be able to send you a {Censored}."

Michael rolled his eyes. " A good chunk of that was censored but I think I got the jist of it. I'll make sure to remember you, but won't I have to kill you to get out of here?"

Strumen the Elemental Warmonger smirked."Nope. If you defeat me you can go through and I formally declare that you have defeated me with your quick wit and your stupidly unfair story has disarmed me. Go now, and claim your prize. Besides, you couldn't actually kill me, this isn't even my {Censored}.

With that Strumen dissipated into swirling motes of light, and a door appeared on the wall behind him with a rumbling that still sounded ominous to Michaels ears. With Hazel joining him the two made their way through the door.

The next room contained five items on pedestals. Strumen had warned Michael that he could only take one item from this room, whichever he touched first would stay with him after he left but if he had any of the other items then they would be transported back here.

Michael was still going to try, but he was definitely going to be careful which one he would take first. Looking through the items he identified each one in turn.

Shield of the Elements

Tier 2, Epic Quality, 500/500 Durability

Effects:

Passive effect 1: Gain 15% resistance to all elements.

Passive effect 2: Increase Vitality by 10 and Strength by 5

Active effect 1: For 15 seconds Nullify any non-Physical damage and reduce Physical damage by 33%. 2 Hour Cooldown.

Ring of the Elements

Tier 2, Epic Quality, 100/100 Durability

Effects:

Choose between one of four effects. Effect can be altered once every 24 hrs

Fire: Increase Strength by 10 points, Fire spell strength increased by 20%, Gain temporary use of lvl 10 Fireball spell.

Earth: Increase Vitality by 10 points, Earth spell strength increased by 20%, Gain temporary use of lvl 10 Earthen Wall spell.

Ice: Increase Magic by 10 points, Ice spell strength increased by 20%, Gain temporary use of lvl 10 Frosty Aura spell

Wind: Increase Agility by 10 points, Wind spell strength increased by 20%, Gain temporary use of lvl 10 Wind Blade spell.

Sword of the Elements

Tier 2, Epic Quality, 250/250 Durability, 180-200 Damage

Effects:

Passive Effect 1: When attacking the Sword of the Elements counts as the most favourable element.

Active Effect 1: Strike an enemy with the full force of the elements, dealing additional damage equal to your total Affinities. 1 Minute Cooldown. (A/N the percentages under the Affinities section of the Status added together e.g. Michael would deal 164 extra damage)

Armor of the Elements

Tier 2, Epic Quality, 300/300 Durability

Effects:

Passive effect 1: Increase Strength,Vitality, Magic and Agility by 5 points each.

Passive effect 2: Increase Fire, Earth, Ice and Wind Resistance by 10% each.

Passive effect 3: Choose to gain either Fire Armor, Earth Armor, Ice Armor or Wind Armor spell at level 5. Choice can be altered once every 24 hrs.

Potion of the Elements

Tier 2 Potion, Unique Quality

Imbiber gains an increased 10% affinity in Fire, Earth, Ice and Wind elements. Warning, causes Extreme pain.

After he had identified each one Michael went and sat against a wall, Hazel coming over and lying next to him, resting her head on his lap so he could give her head a scratch. The two enjoyed a few moments of peace before Michael started t really focus on the problem at hand; what item to pick.

After relaying the information about the items Hazel had straight away picked the potion, despite the warning. Since she gained skills based on her elemental affinities it made sense, but Michael was still worried. He'd never seen a warning like that before and he'd been through some pretty painful stuff. If the System was willing to acknowledge the severity of the pain, and even give a warning, it was going to be hellish. Hazel still wanted to do it though, she wanted to get stronger so that she could protect her idiot.

Michaels choice wasn't as easy as Hazels. The sword was out straight away. It had a lot of power but Michael neither had the skill or the desire to wield it. The shield almost went the same way, but the effects on it were simply too ridiculous. The attribute increases were nice, the active effect was amazing, but the resistances were off the charts. Specifically as it said all resistances, which meant an added 15% to every damage type under the sun. If there was ever an overpowered shield, this was it.

In the end though, it was out. A shield was simply not useful enough for an archer. If he was in the position to get hit then he had already failed. Besides, there were far more useful options available. The Ring and the Armor.

The Armor made sense, it increased his survivability as well as increasing his Attributes by 20 points. Just because he wasn't planning on getting hit doesn't mean that he should forgo all thought of defense, the Armor was the smart option.

The Ring on the other hand was far less useful in terms of survivability, the Earth effect and maybe the Wind effect being useful in that aspect. The fire and Ice effects seemed to be pure damage though. Worst of all, any time he changed effects he'd have to wait a full 24 hours to change it again.

Of course, he was obviously going to choose the ring, the use of the spells and the flexibility the item brought was just too good. Michael grabbed the ring and Hazel grabbed the potion bottle, careful not to break it in the process. She didn't need to be, the items were all unusable and invulnerable until they were brought out of the Ruin, but she didn't know that. Once they grabbed their chosen items Michael went ahead and grabbed the rest, hoping against all hope that they could keep them.

As soon as they grabbed the items a door appeared with a rumble, making Michael jump. After a quick check to make sure they hadn't missed anything, they left the room and returned to the world.