Before the chapter starts I’ve changed a few things when mentioning items and skills. All skills and weapons when specifically mentioned will be in italics. Enjoy.

Chapter 15- Trials of the Independent 1

The young chimera awoke with a slight hangover, nothing his Arcane Rebirth couldn’t handle. He stretched his legs and put on his leather armour ready for the dungeon he was about to enter.

Lighting a cigarette he was off to the dungeon, he stopped by a bakery to get some cheap loaves of bread in case he got hungry.

Making his way around the royal palace he was eventually at the dungeon. Five guards stood over the entrance. The entrance looked almost Greek, white stone with circular engraved pillars holding it up corners of the building. It looked like a grave house, except only larger and more beautiful.

“Fee is twenty-five.” the guard said, holding his palm out stopping Morpheus.

“Gold? I don’t have that much on me right but I’ll come back.” He joked.

An older guard in the back chuckled. Morpheus handed him the coin, and opened the door into the trial.

“Be careful in there young one.” The old guard said, his voice fading as the doors closed behind him. The entire room was pitch black, only a message appeared.

You have entered ‘Trials of the Independent’

Select which floor:

Floor 1

He mentally suggested floor one and a bright purple light surrounded him, he brought out his axe. Space seemed to twist around him and suddenly he was in a cave with torches hanging off the walls.

The cave didn’t have the best lightning so Morpheus concentrated on his night vision. He could see two goblins walking towards him, both of them holding a bow and arrow.

(Goblin, Scout, Level 11)

(Goblin Scout, Level 11)

One spotted him and let off an arrow, it hit his leather armour but stopped when it touched his skin. He didn’t hesitate, rushing forward the young chimera quickly disposed of them.

He quickly took off his chest piece, the armour was less useful than his actual body. Feeling the rush from his Spartan class, he set off at a steady pace. If all enemies were that low level he wouldn’t have a problem.

Morpheus didn’t even bother picking up the goblin bodies, saving it for enemies with more value.

Cutting through the goblins like paper he finally reached what looked like a circular room with engravings on it.

You have reached the second floor.

-Entrance

-Floor 2

Again, he suggested floor two and he was teleported. The feeling was still disconcerting to Morpheus but he trusted the dungeon.

The floor Morpheus was transported to was in a forest. He looked around, only seeing trees in every direction, the trees had a deep orange to them. Morpheus thought the trees were beautiful, but he could not be distracted. He shot up the tree next to him, using his nails. He wondered where this area was, his map was blacked out and all he could see was trees.

But he caught sight of something. About a mile in the distance he could see a black circular building, and so he set off in that direction. He encountered no enemies which Morpheus thought was strange. He assumed a trial would be only enemies but as such he was wrong, walking into the circular room he clicked on the third floor.

The third floor was the same as the second but with green oak trees. He turned to see a large boar with sharp tusks glaring at him.

(Boar Infant, Level 15)

“Come on, really?” He rhetorically asked himself.

Morpheus wanted a challenge, at least level seventy.

He slaughtered all in his path. Surprisingly, he killed a level twenty boar and the circular room appeared just before him.

Morpheus shot through the levels. attempting to find something worth fighting. On the eighth level was a jungle, hanging vines coming from enormous trees.

‘Tall Caprice Tree’ this tree often grows in high humidity weather. This tree is usually the home of the Vine Stalkers.

‘That sounds more interesting’ he thought to himself.

He enhanced his senses and homed in on Arcane Pulse. The ‘vine stalker’ could really live up to its name. He couldn’t sense anything, nothing was moving, it was a shame he had no sense skill where he could sense living beings.

Suddenly a creature dropped from above and clawed at Morpheus’s face. The cuts healed up in an instant, and he turned to see the creature.

(Vine stalker, Level 43)

The creature looked like a green monkey except with a dog-like face and nasty teeth and claws. The stalker was nimble, and by the time he tried to catch up to it, it was gone into the tree again.

Bringing out his elven side he climbed the tree, using the vines to propel himself up. He could not spot the vine stalker but he did have an overview of this level.

In the northern direction he could spot a large drop where no trees were. He hurried towards the location through the trees. The vines helped a lot and Morpheus couldn’t hold back from beating his chest and howling.

His Arcane Pulse picked up multiple movements ahead of him, all scattering out of his way as he progressed towards this drop. As he arrived it was a huge cliff face, dropping down a hundred metres into a raging river.

He spun around to see multiple vine stalkers eyeing him through the trees. One suddenly lunged at him with its teeth open. Morpheus caught its side splitting it half, a weird yellow blood splattered on him.

This action, fortunately, caused the others to back off from this powerful being.

His eyes darted along the cliff face trying to find some sort of crossing. Morpheus saw an old suspension bridge with broken planks and frayed rope.

“Just like the movies.” He said while shaking his head.

He jogged over to the bridge, keeping an eye out for any vine stalkers. The young chimera was careful, he didn’t touch the rope on the side nor did he put all his weight on one plank. As Morpheus was approaching the middle of the bridge he heard a large echoed howl.

A large vine stalker stepped out in front of the bridge.

(Alpha Vine Stalker, Level 65)

“That’s an Alpha? Pff.” He said to the dungeon.

What creeped out from behind the Alpha scared him more, hundreds of vine stalkers ran forward towards him.

He scrambled forward not caring so much about the state of the bridge. Three planks at a time he ran, all while terrified of the horde behind him.

He was nearing the other side when he heard the frayed rope begin to snap, each individual strain began to snap one by one until the bridge fell.

Morpheus leaped, the jump looked hopeful as his hands caught the edge of the cliff face.

The young chimera's hands slipped and he fell, the top of the cliff left his vision as he plunged into the raging river.

_______________________________________

The king of Southcross, Henry, sat in his chair, speaking to his advisors.

“So another marked has been spotted?” Henry asked.

“Yes indeed your majesty, he held up a falling tower.” An advisor replied.

“What mark do you think it is?” The king questioned.

“We do not know those details, perhaps a god of strength.” The advisor replied.

“Has Cavet made a statement to the other kingdoms about this find yet?”

“No your majesty, truth be told, the king has only been fed information the same as us.”

“So it is an organisation?”

“Possibly, maybe the Scarecrows are attempting to hide him. The Empire wouldn’t dare to cross the ocean, and I doubt that the Ravens would intervene.”

“This is interesting.” Henry said, rubbing his chin. “Send a few more men to the taverns, and put a reward for information on the black market. The man is not to be touched though.”

“Your majesty, it has been told that it was a chimera.” The advisor hesitantly said.

“Ah, so the stories are a lie?” He asked rhetorically. “Why would the gods mark a creation?”

“Absolutely not your majesty, our sources tell us he had just joined the guild, possibly a strong magician created him.”

“Well, do as I proposed, I will speak to my dear friend Cavet at his daughter's coronation.” Henry stated

______________________________

All Morpheus could remember was falling, falling into the raging river below him. His whole body ached and his head felt heavy.

He slowly opened his eyes to see small blacks rocks along a bank of sorts. He tired to getup but it was no use, his whole body was to much in pain.

He tried to use Arcane Rebirth but it had no response, he pulled up his stats quickly.

Status

Health:400/6860

Stamina:77/10050

Mana:0/3500

He could finally manage to get up, he pushed up his body with his hands and tucked his feet, standing up. He looked around with his eyes squinted try to find light of his new situation.

He wasn’t in a jungle, he couldn’t even see a jungle from where he was. He was down at the bank of a river, around him was just rolling scorched hills with dead trees. The sun was intense, it was persistent at heating up his skin.

He sat down on a hot boulder a few metres away from the bank and looked at his other notifications.

You have been offered a Unique Trial.

Options

-Survive the Hordes

-Kill the Hordes

“Not very descriptive.” He muttered to himself. “What even is a Unique trial?”

He pulled the dungeon handbook out of his pouch and flicked through the pages.

‘A unique trial is from a level based dungeon or on rare cases happens in a normal dungeon. This can happen when a trialist fails the level, or when they unlock a certain criteria for the level.

He looked through his other notifications.

You have completed the hidden trial ‘The Fall’

You have been offered a unique trial by the dungeon ‘Evidence’

Warning! This trial has been influenced by the gods.

Warning! This trial’s difficulty is based on your achievements.

Warning! This trial is mandatory.

“Fuck. What does evidence mean?”

Morphues didn’t know how long the hordes would be, would there be a hundred waves or could he just run around till it ended.

Morpheus check all the food he had in his pouch, he still had food from Sophia, bread loaves and a couple goblin skewers. He could potentially eat the monsters he would eventually kill. His stock could last him four days, and he didn’t need to worry about water.

His mana was still depleted and it all went to healing himself.

A message suddenly popped up.

Wave 1/15 begins in 59:53.

Morpheus began to panic, how could he defeat an entire horde, what if they were all level eighty. Dozens of thoughts rushed his mind.

He calmed himself down eventually and tried to meditate like he had heard people do in the stories. He sat down with his legs in the right position and pointed his fingers up.

‘This is useless and boring. They make it look so cool.’ He thought to himself, getting up.

Status

Health:1300/6860

Stamina:2040/10050

Mana:0/3500

Eventually his health would go back up, and his stamina has already recovered. Morpheus tried to relax himself, he lit a cigarette while tearing into a loaf of bread.

Eating food seemed to increase his recovery rates which he was thankful for.

The timer kept ticking down.

3:36

‘If I’m going to die, I’d rather die fighting.’ He thought to himself. His Path to Valhalla tatoo glowed a fiery orange which seemed to fuel his lust for a battle.

He stood up off the rock and brought his axe out. Morpheus calmed his breathing down and looked over the horizon.

He could feel a slight vibration in the sand around him as the timer slowly ticked down to zero.

His eyes jotted to the horizon. The Earth rumbled beneath him as he could see a few dozen creatures rushing towards him.

(Shadow Wolf, Level 39)

(Shadow Wolf, Level 41)

(Shadow Wolf, Level 52)

‘Why do they have no stages of growth.’ He thought. He had a quick glance at his status.

Status

Health:6560/6860

Stamina:9450/10050

Mana:1500/3500

“Half mana, I can do this.” He whispered to himself.

He took his cloak off, leaving his whole chest exposed, littered with tattoos.

“I’ll prove myself to you Valkyrie, By Odin I will.”

His Valhalla tattoo glowed the deep orange colour again fueling his body.

“COME ON THEN!” The young chimera screamed at the incoming horde.

He leapt into the air using Taste of Talaria, while infusing himself with Spartans Essence and Black Steel Force with Arcane Strike.

Morpheus slammed his axe down on the first wolf of the horde, splitting its skull. He pulled his axe up and swung it around his head to hit another two wolves approaching. Hercule’s and Loki’s mark lit up, it seemed Loki was finally being entertained.

Morpheus used his momentum to continuously swing his axe in a variety of ways. Flow of the Valkyrie helped him the most in this battle, his actions looking like a dance. The dance of battle.

Blood spluttered out from his enemies covering himself in a dark red cloak. Morpheus began to enjoy it, the thrill of his strength and killing was getting to him. A smile crept on his face, displaying bright white teeth in the dark red covering his body.

His skin and Arcane Rebirth held up against the vicious claws of the wolves. His mana was slowly depleting to heal his wounds and fuel his buffs.

The last wolf of the horde got cut in half by Black Steel Force. Morpheus fell down on the burning sand, exhausted, not caring if it burned his skin.

He didn’t even check his skill level ups, only his level.

‘Congratulations’ you have levelled up Level (63) (1 stat point available)

“Only one!” Morpheus exclaimed.

He put the point into wisdom, stamina wasn’t much of a problem but he was afraid he would run out of mana.

19:43

“Gimme a break dungeon.”

He jogged over to the river, stripping into his birthday suit he dove in rubbing all the blood off him. He quickly checked his status

Status

Health:5000/6860

Stamina:7630/10050

Mana:540/3530

He hoped his mana would regenerate in time.