Lynn's hostility startled Rydr before the giant remembered that the inhabitants of this world could see the "messages from the gods" as well. Which meant the elf was fully aware that his village was now a Dungeon thanks to the young Titan.

As Lynn stomped toward the giant, even the unworked metal around the pair began to drag itself out of bins and off workbenches.

"Why? Why would you do this?" Lynn demanded.

"I didn't," Rydr refuted, "I don't know why I received the feat, but the majority of the chamber I was fighting in was destroyed by the Hobgoblin Warlord." After a moment of thought, Rydr also added, "But, the Warlord isn't the same anymore. It's down in the Wellspring, and it's called the Mana-Scarred Warlord now."

Lynn's eyes narrowed as he listened to the young man's explanation. Rydr went on to detail the hopeless battle against the Warlord, where he was mostly dodging.

In Rydr's opinion, he should never have received the Legendary feat.

Unfortunately, the giant underestimated the havoc he himself wreaked on the cavern. The stalactite the diver dropped to the cavern floor, and beating the Warlord into the ground, weakened the chamber far more than anything the Warlord accomplished.

With an A.I. as advanced as Eve looking after the game world, little details like that wouldn't escape the system's notice. Therefore, the system awarded the appropriate rewards to Rydr, regardless of how he felt about it.

It was to Rydr's benefit that the Titan was accustomed to answering questions while under pressure. As the full tale unfolded, the various weapons and other metal pieces on the walls began to settle.

"Furthermore, if it weren't for your quest, and Izor's, I would never have been down in the mines for all this to happen. If it weren't me, it would have been someone else." Rydr finally finished his lengthy tale and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Izor's quest? What does Izor have you doing in the mines?" Lynn frowned, wondering how the eccentric cook came up. By this point, the elf walked around the room, righting everything his brief tantrum pulled off of tables.

"Apparently, the reason everything was going crazy before we travelers arrived was the Mana Wellspring's doing. Izor said he was sent here to find and neutralize it. He outsourced the task to me, claiming that he had to remain in town to maintain a barrier, restricting the plants."

Rydr took a deep breath after his long answer. The giant decided to omit any mention of his teammate's convincing him to accept the quest.

Lynn was nodding before Rydr finished speaking, "That sounds just like Izor. The crook is always putting off doing his duties to the town and somehow tricks anyone asking for help into doing it themselves."

The blond elf shook his head, "Even when the solution can only be magical, the quack pontificates on 'never use magic for common deeds, lest the folk take it for granted.'" Lynn threw his hands in the air as he ranted about the town's mage.

It was Rydr's turn to frown because he had seen the crazy mage use magic at the drop of a hat. In fact, Rydr couldn't recall Izor doing a single thing without the use of magic.

"Are you sure about that? He can't seem to stop using magic around me. He even shoved three spells into my head." Rydr grimaced as he recalled the unpleasant event once more.

"So...you're saying he's been holding out on us?"

Rydr opened his mouth to respond before he closed it, shrugged, and nodded.

Lynn stood in place for a while, his ears twitching as he angrily digested the news. As much as the smith wanted to charge out of his shop and confront the kooky mage, he still had a bone to pick with the young giant.

"You've finished absorbing the book, yes?"

Rydr nodded at the muscled elf, wondering where he was going with his question.

Lynn nodded satisfactorily, "Good. I had disabled these enchantments, but since you literally need lessons in restraint, they seem appropriate." As Lynn said this, he walked quickly toward the Titan, nearly running.

Rydr tried to back away from the suddenly aggressive elf, only to back into his boulder of ore, stumbling. While Rydr still flailed and tried to right himself, Lynn ducked under his limbs and lightly tapped the giant on the chest.

Red and blue light flowed from the point of impact and soon covered Rydr's entire body in a beautiful, moving script.

Rydr's efforts to stand upright halted as a red and blue oval portal opened behind the giant and sucked him backward.

Panicked and unsure what was happening, Rydr activated [Berserker's Rage], using the enormous boulder of ore to dig in his heels and flex his abdomen. The Titan battled to pull his torso away from the portal's suction.

The giant's thighs and abdominal muscles flexed in a rippling wave as he briefly pulled himself away from the glowing portal.

Rydr's struggled lasted until he looked up to see Lynn flying toward him, feet first. The elven smith kicked off Rydr's stomach, performing a quick backflip as the young man tumbled over the boulder of ore and into the blue and red portal.

"Lynn, what the-!" Rydr tried to yell at the waving smith as his body touched the portal and was instantly sucked inside.

*****

Quest Updated! Earn Your Lessons! (Monumental)

Your Master, Lynn, has thrust you into the [Aether Smith] Trials. Prove you are worthy of the [Monumental] Profession or be locked from smithing forever. Quest Difficulty Increased.

· Complete the Ancient Trials

· Failure will Impose [Legacy’s Failure]

As Rydr opened his eyes, a quest update already hovered in the center of his HUD. The Titan blinked it away after reading it.

The diver groaned as he stood up, more because the quest difficulty increased than any pain. Lynn's kick barely managed to tip Rydr over, let alone hurt him.

Of course, the drop in my reputation had to have consequences. Lynn was just going to give the profession to me before the freaking Legendary announcement!

Rydr bemoaned his simultaneously great and poor luck while he looked around.

He was in the center of a large cavern. As Rydr spun in a circle, he found no obvious exit. A jagged, domed roof covered the top of the space, extending all the way down to the floor in a giant prison.

Nearer to Rydr, littered across various stone tables, were hammers of various sizes. Etched runes covered the haft and head of each of these hammers. As Rydr looked at them, he realized their sizes were silly.

The smaller of the hammers was almost the size of Rydr's index finger, not small, but tiny compared to the giant. On the other hand, the largest of the hammers couldn't be counted as a forging hammer.

In fact, Rydr didn't even realize the largest hammer was a hammer at first. The tool was on its side, with a handle so large it looked like a fallen pillar. Its head was across the chamber.

With some quick mental calculations, Rydr realized the largest hammer was almost perfectly the height and length of the room. If a giant, who dwarfed Rydr, were to swing the tool just right, they could manage it inside the enormous room.

As Rydr wandered around the cavern, examing various tables and hammers, a new screen forced itself onto his HUD.

Aether Smith Trial

The [Aether Smith]’s potential is profound and infinite, however it requires a mind sensitive to the smallest of changes to resonate with the Aether in objects. Beginning with whichever hammer you prefer; you have two tasks.

· Using each hammer, deliver your most powerful blow. Stop your hammer strike the moment it makes contact without damaging your subject.

· Using each hammer, utterly destroy each subject using your weakest blow.

Rydr numbly read the notice a second time as he spun to take in the room once more. Dread began to mount inside the giant, his heart pounding as he realized the enormity of the task ahead of him.

Never mind the two tasks themselves: how am I supposed to swing that thing? Rydr stood still and stared wide-eyed at the biggest hammer in the room. The handle itself was bigger around than Rydr was and several times longer than his height.

How was the diver, however strong he might be, supposed to use the insane implement?

Rydr shook his head to dispel the disparaging thoughts as he summoned his messages' menu. At a glance, the Titan could tell his messages wouldn't work. Wherever he was, Rydr was completely cut off from the rest of Frontier Online.

However, what he noticed in the corner of his HUD was his clock, frozen in time. As long as Rydr was in the strange space, it seemed like time had stopped.

Rydr recalled Eve's statement from the game's launch night. He suspected that whatever was going on either caused everything else in the game to stop or sped Rydr up to super speed.

The young Titan strongly suspected it was himself who was being sped up to super speed. Eve's statement from the previous night implied she had "frozen" the time of all the launch-night divers while speaking to everyone simultaneously.

How is Mon-Tech managing this? The brain isn't my wheelhouse, but this should shred my "self" into confetti. Hell, the launch night should have been a bloodbath after Eve's stunt.

When the powerful A.I. slipped the sentence the first time, Rydr let it slide because he didn't believe it. Now though, he had no choice but to accept the program's power.

Rydr walked to one of the tables and picked up a hammer that seemed correct for his size. Once Rydr's hand touched the haft, the runes all over the tool began to glow with red and blue light.

"Okay, it looks cool, at least, but what am I supposed to be hitting?" Rydr wondered out loud.

No sooner had the words left Rydr's mouth when the table, and its other hammers, slid into the ground seamlessly. A moment later, a new platform, this time a dais with a large anvil atop it, rose to take its place.

Already on top of the anvil was a roughly shaped, seemingly loose granite stone.

Rydr looked at the large hammer in his hand and then at the distinctly non-metal object he was expected to attempt his trial with.

"Oh boy, is this what a Monumental Quest is supposed to be like?" Despite the gripes flying out of Rydr's mouth, if anyone were around to see it, they would see a huge grin plastered across his face.

*****

When he first started the trial, Rydr didn't realize that he wasn't hitting just one object per hammer he used. Each time he succeeded in completing both of the assigned tasks, the platform would sink into the floor and rise with a new object on it.

However, after the first two hammers were out of the way, Rydr realized that the pattern would always repeat itself. It started with the rough, loose granite rock and progressed through a seemingly random assortment of minerals and objects.

Each one varied in density, shape, and composite strength until it reached the egg.

The first complication came when Rydr went to use his "most powerful strike." As soon as Rydr brought the hammer down with all his might, all of his various buffs activated themselves.

Without Rydr's resources getting consumed, the runes on the hammer forced Rydr to use his true "most powerful" or true "weakest" strikes.

Rydr's first hammer strike not only powdered the granite stone, but he also managed to crack the anvil underneath it. The hammerhead rebounded off the metal anvil, sending shocks up Rydr's arm and shoulder. A loud metallic clang rang through the empty cavern, echoing hollowly.

In the upper left of the Titan's HUD, his health bar appeared, having ticked down by five points.

Rydr was terrified his failure would ruin the entire trial from the get-go. However, relief flowed through the giant's body as the platform sank into the ground and rose with a new granite stone on top of a fresh anvil.

His second attempt produced the same result, and Rydr lost another five points of health.

That was when the young Titan noticed that his health wasn't recovering.

*HP: 680/690*

Although some time had passed since his first and second attempts, the first five points never recovered. In an instant, Rydr understood what was going on and what "failure" really was.

My health doesn't regenerate in this place. I can try as many times as I like, but failing the "hardest strike" will slowly kill me with every mistake.

Rydr tried everything to stop his attack, but it was a failure if he held back whatsoever before his hammer made contact. Those failures, where he didn't hit the anvil too hard, at least didn't cost him any health points.

So it's my strength score, biting me in the ass. Wonderful.

The game system had a cruel sense of irony if the only way to fail the Trial was the Titan's own fault. Regardless, it was an obstacle Rydr would have to overcome.

Eventually, Rydr resorted to loosening the reigns on his synesthesia and sat down to study the small rock. For a moment, the Titan hesitated to pick up the stone, but nothing happened once he did, so he shrugged away the paranoia.

Hours passed as Rydr attempted the first challenge. Before too long, Rydr managed to entrance himself.

Rydr studied the small stone as if it was his new religion. Soon the giant experimented freely, using his condition and [Third Eye] constantly, even when he made more attempts.

The other obstacle in Rydr's way was the actual task: the Titan needed to stop his blow the moment it made contact with the stone, without dealing any damage.

After maybe a day, Rydr reigned his synesthesia back in, since it wasn't helping him, and focused on [Third Eye]. Fortunately, the diver's mana regenerated where his health points didn't.

*HP: 600/690*

Eighteen complete failures were already notched on Rydr's mental belt. None of the damage seemed actually to affect Rydr's body, which was tricky.

It tempted Rydr to strike at random and hope that something worked.

Then the situation began to change. The longer Rydr used [Third Eye] to observe the stone while he struck it, the more he started to cast his mind into the stone. Similarly to when Rydr extended his senses into the mana around him, the giant attempted to sense the inside of the stone.

Once Rydr managed to dedicate his entire self to his subject, his fiftieth attempt enlightened the giant like a bolt from the blue.

It's the principle of the egg! Internal stress and structure allow any object to fall from great heights without breaking if it lands on just the right spot. Similarly, any regimented molecular structure should have a natural weak point from the plains of internal stress!

The realization caused Rydr to change where he was looking, inside the stone, and what for.

Several more hours passed, Rydr had no way of telling before he managed to get the knack of seeing the plains of stress inside the stone.

As soon as the Titan accomplished it, his vision changed, and a chime sounded inside his head. Rydr opened the notice immediately while thinking there had to be a way to change his notice settings to be more convenient.

Epic Feat! Deeper Sight

Congratulations! The diver has delved strenuously into the world around them, bending their [Third Eye]. Guided by the ancient Legacy Trials, the diver has rediscovered the [Aetheric Eye]! The diver is the second to Morph their Third Eye. Feat Level Decreased.

· Skill Discovered: [Aetheric Eye]

· Glimpsed Deeper into the Laws

Rydr glanced at the feat notice, pleased to receive one for once. This time, Rydr felt he earned the feat.

Soon, though, Rydr was lost in the world around him. What was once fuzzy to him became clear. Inside all the objects around Rydr were red lines.

Inside Rydr's red irises, which glowed from the light of his [Third Eye], a mysterious Rune began to take shape. Unaware of the shift, Rydr continued to experiment.

Rydr picked up the granite stone one more and squeezed it while he watched the red aura. As he squeezed the stone in his hand, the internal lines of aura, what rydr suspected were "Aether," shifted. They looked remarkably like light bleed caused by astigmatism in the eye.

The more stress Rydr forced upon the subject, the more the Aether lines flexed. Moments later, the Titan had a second realization.

They aren't just lines of stress. These auras exist in three dimensions. Ultimately, it's kind of like everything is structured like the facets of precious stones. They aren't lines. They have fully formed plains of stress.

It was difficult for Rydr to put into words, but he seized on the opportunity. The Titan strode back to the anvil and hefted the hammer.

Without using tongs, Rydr held the stone between his thumb and forefinger and fearlessly brought the glowing hammer down with all his might, his body mass increasing from the onslaught of buffs.

As soon as the hammer made contact, Rydr hauled back on the handle, fighting to stop the hammer's fall.

However, the giant never stopped observing the stone. The hammer's impact echoed through the plains of stress within the stone, vibrating like a guitar string.

Under Rydr's close watch, he witnessed the "echo" cause a specific spot on the other side of the stone to vibrate intensely. Without a moment's hesitation, Rydr changed his hold on the stone and brought his hammer in close to gently tap the weak spot.

The granite stone crumbled into a pile of pebbles on top of the unharmed anvil.

In the same instant that the stone crumbled, the dais sank back into the floor in front of him.

For the first time in a day, a new object sat on the anvil—a glass orb.

"Yes!" Rydr couldn't help but shout his jubilation as he picked up the hammer and set to work.

*****

Hours, maybe even days, later, Rydr was finally making his first attempt to use what he called "The Gigahammer."

Over the course of the trial, Rydr learned that it wasn't just where he struck the objects that mattered, but how, with what hammer, and how hard. Even the way he held the hammer altered the blow significantly.

Lynn wasn't kidding with he said it would be a lesson in restraint.

*HP: 120/690*

Rydr sized up the "pillar" that made up the handle of the ridiculous hammer. None of the other hammers, exactly one hundred and eight, were left in the room.

The extra space allowed Rydr to drag the hammer into what he hoped was the best spot to get a clear shot at the tiny anvil across the chamber.

Said anvil wasn't tiny at all and was actually the largest one to appear. However, roughly a hundred meters separated Rydr from the dais, making the enormous anvil seem diminutive.

Once Rydr was in position, he picked up the hammer. The Titan took a deep breath and leveraged the handle of the hammer over his head.

When he had it under control, the giant walked toward the base of the handle, pushing the head of the hammer further into the air.

Eventually, Rydr reached the point where he couldn't hoist the hammer any higher. As fast as he could, Rydr twisted around the handle to stand beside it and wrap his arms around the huge pillar.

Red and blue script flared to life all over the hammer as Rydr's body swelled. The Titan brought the hammer down as hard as he could, then practically threw the stupid thing.

Freed from his burden, Rydr crouched down and sprinted to the opposite side of the cavern. There he braced himself just in front of the ridiculous anvil and caught the flying hammer without looking at it.

Rydr faced the anvil to ensure he caught the hammer the moment it contacted the granite stone. Crouched, with his hands raised to catch the hammer, Rydr felt the handle touch his hands the same instant the head hit the stone.

In the mother of all Olympic dead-lifts, Rydr's thighs and arms bugled as he absorbed the impact of the hammer and lifted the head off the anvil.

Before the Titan could give in to his exhaustion, he adjusted the position of the stone and wrapped his arms around the handle again. This time Rydr stood just next to the head of the hammer and gently dropped the enormous tool.

Just like the first time he managed it, the granite stone crumbled to dust, only to be replaced by a glass orb.

Over the next hour, Rydr repeated the process, even starting over with the granite stone a couple of times when he made a mistake.

As the last egg made a satisfying crunch on top of the anvil, a huge, blue, and red portal appeared behind Rydr. The enormous hammer in his arms vanished into motes of light as Rydr turned to face it.

Quest Completed! Earn Your Lessons! (Monumental)

Congratulations! The diver has completed the [Aether Smith] Trial without an instructor. Rewards Increased.

· [Aether Smith] Legacy Absorbed

· Profession Skills Unlocked:

o [Aetheric Smithing]

o [Metal Spirit]

· 2,000 Exp Gained

"Well, let's see if time passed or not?" Rydr wondered out loud as he walked into the glowing portal.