Chapter 12: Lights and Caves

I chose yes. Like there was even a question. They are offering me the chance at getting a pet dragon and if I understood the speech that Volos (which I am relatively sure is the name of the Dragon going by the name “The Trials of Volos”) gave there is the potential to gain other rewards as well. Who could possibly turn down that, especially if they are like me and have nothing to lose. Total no brainer.

As soon as I clicked yes (I don’t care if you think that mental saying yes doesn’t count as clicking, you’re wrong) I was surrounded by a familiar swirling pattern that vanished quickly, leaving me in a brightly lit cave that I can somehow tell is deep underground. 

The cave has no entrance or exit and it is illuminated by a clear crystal with multicolored specs floating in it that seems to be filled with a luminescent liquid and is hovering 4 feet above the top of a table. The table is simple as tables go, a thick square plank about 3 feet long on either side, connected to 4 sturdy legs. It’s not a beautiful piece of furniture, but it is quite functional and seems to be well made. It’s dark wood has a faint ted tinge and a simplistic yet entrancing dragon is carved in a circular pattern across it’s top. Two chairs of similar make are situated next to the table. The cave is not very large and there are no good hiding spots so after a quick inspection I am confident that there is nothing else of interest inside save for a few streaks of color on the walls that may have have contained ore of some sort. Seeing as I am without a pickax this doesn’t affect me.

Not having anything else to do, I take a seat in one of the chairs. Pop! The moment that I do a sudden noise echoes in the small space and a Demon wearing formal looking black robes and holding a book and quill (which is full of a red ink that reminds me a little too much of blood) appears in the seat in front of me. 

“Congratulations Miss Blade you completed a thorough examination of this room and it’s contents in three minutes and fourteen seconds, I especially liked the fact that you found the ore on the wall. You scored above average and placed in the 7st percentile on this test.” Periodically throughout this speech the demon would look down at his book, but when I try to sneak a peak the words look like they are written in gibberish.

“That was the test” I ask in surprise. 

“Yes this was part of it, but there is still more to come. This part was designed to test your awareness of surroundings and reaction to appearing in an unfamiliar environment. If you had just appeared and sat down right away then you would have scored badly. The same would have happened if you were excessively cautious and paranoid. You did well by staying somewhere in the middle.”

“If I did so well then why was I only ranked in the 71st percentile?” Sigh, that part came out with a snort that I would have preferred to keep to myself, but live and learn I guess.

“Well for one thing you failed to notice the trap spells that were placed on both of these chairs. These particular ones didn’t do anything, but they could be easily modified to keep you from getting up or simply to kill you.” I jump off my chair about a millisecond after he finishes speaking and begin to give my previously innocuous chair a rigorous inspection.”

“Look on top of the posts that jut up above the backrest.”

What do you know? A series of carvings in the wood that I had completely missed and would have probably thought were accidental if I had seen, are actually a complex series of runes that are intwined in ways I can’t even begin to understand. 

“Ok, so I missed one thing, that still shouldn’t put me behind thirty percent of all of the other people who did this.”

“That would be correct. If that was the extent of your mistakes then you would be ranked much higher. However, that is not the case.”

“So what else did I do wrong?” I ask with mild exasperation.

“Would you like me to go over your performance in more detail?” At my nod he continues “You actually did very well on the awareness portion of the test, and with the exception of a few minor things the trap was all that you missed. You scored slightly above average on the reaction portion as well, but the big mistake that you made there was not drawing your weapon or even being prepared to draw it. You were aware that this test could potentially prove fatal, so it would have been prudent of you keep that in mind as you were transported here. That was the thing that brought you down the most. Finally your time actually had very little effect on your score. It was better than most, but not amazing or exceptional. Before I finish I would like to point out that you didn’t do badly. Far from it. Considering your level and how recently you came to our world you did admirably.”

“But not well enough to gain any extra rewards I assume” I counter with a somewhat disappointed quality to my voice.

“Unfortunately no, your current score is not enough to earn anything aside from the experience you will receive if you complete the challenge. Only competitors who were in the top ten percent will receive anything extra and only the top one percent will get significant rewards. I don’t want to get your hopes up too much, but I remind you that the challenge is not complete yet and so you still have a chance, however small, to be in that top ten percent.”

That didn’t comfort me much. I only scored this well on the first round because I am naturally paranoid and don’t like to waste time. I don’t expect a miracle to happen that will have me magically crushing the second round, but that speech did help a little. It hardened my resolve. My resolve to get stronger. My resolve to close the gap between me and everybody else. My resolve to obtain everything that I could possibly need, be it skills, stats, levels or experience so that when the next trial comes around I won’t just crush it, I’ll annihilate it.

“Alright, are we done here?” I ask

“Yes. Unless you have any other questions our business is concluded.” 

“Well thank you for all your help.”

“Of course Miss Blade. Place your palm on the dragon carving when you are prepared for the next round.” POP! And without another word he disappeared. Crap, I should have gotten his name. It probably pays to know people in the employ of dragons. Oh well. I will if I see him again.

I prepare to put my hand down on the carving of the dragon on the table (because what else could he mean) but I stop my fingers 2 inches from the wood. There is one thing in this cave that I should collect if it is possible. Taking my hand away and replacing it with my foot I stand on the table and reach out to take to light liquid filled crystal that has illuminated the room until now. 

Surprisingly it is cool to the touch and doesn’t resist my grasp at all. Wherever I put it it simply stays, hovering. I put it in my inventory and prepare to clime down when a window appears in front of my face, almost making me fall.

Would you like to take ownership of Luminous Essence Crystal? Warning, If you accept this item will be soul bound. It will not take up inventory space and you will never loose it even after death, but you will be unable to give it to anyone else unless you get it unbound which can be quite costly and requires a magic user of at least 50 to do.

Y / N 

You can bet your last copper I will! I don’t have anyone I want to give this too and if I take it I will never need another light source. Ever. This is probably the most valuable thing I’ve ever laid eyes on (with the possible exception of Zim’s staff. No idea how much that’s worth) and it’s completely free.

I mentally take a baseball bat and use it to smash the “Y” button before climbing down carefully with a huge grin on my face. Looking around the room one last time to be absolutely positive that there are no other huge freebies just lying (or hovering) around the room I take a deep breath and firmly place my palm on the table in the center of the dragon carving. 

After a second my hand starts to feel tingly and the dragon begins to glow with an eerie black-red light before flashing so brightly that I’m complete blind for a second. 

When I’m finally able to blink the last of the afterimage out of my retina I open my eyes just in time to see a shiny glint flying towards me fast enough that it would tear through my head and come out the other side. As quickly as I can, I raise my dagger to deflect and turn my body to the left while leaning back to try and dodge. The world and me with it, once again, seems to move in slow motion as adrenaline pumps through my veins. I can hear my heart beating, ever so slowly, more clearly than I ever have before.

Thump…

20 feet away.

Thump…

15 feet. I’m going to make it.

Thump…

10 feet. I’m probably going to make it.

Thump..

5 feet. Crap. I’m not going to make it

Thump…

0 feet…

I made it! 

I fall back on my butt as the glint of metal, which I can now see is some kind of throwing knife embeds itself in the rock wall behind me, my blood coating the blade. I’m lucky I dodged. My knife is far from strong enough to stop that kind of force as evidenced by the half inch deep gouge that is cut in it near the base. 

I reach my hand up to the feel the cut on my cheek. If it was a quarter inch higher or I was a thousandth of a second slower I’d be missing an eye. To my amazement I can already feel the blood congealing and forming a scab. I suppose my increased regeneration is the cause of that and I am truly thankful for it. 

As time begins to return to it’s normal flow I receive a window, which I immediately minimize. The first thing that greeted me here, wherever here is, was a knife and I doubt that it was the last of my problems. I appear to be in the clear for now, but I learned from the first trial, so I scrutinize my surroundings carefully before blinding myself with a window.

I’m in a long tunnel which is at least 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide that has a natural feel, but is too strait and regular to not have been made by someone. It terminates in a dead end with some kind of a device on the wall that is too far away for me to make out. There is light coming from patches of moss along the walls and celling, but it isn’t bright enough to see everything in detail so I summon my newly soul bound Luminous Essence Crystal. As soon as it appears I feel a cold rush like ice water flowing through my arteries that originates in the hand that is holding the Luminous Essence Crystal and goes directly into my brain. When it gets there I suddenly know more information about my new favorite toy. Not a lot of information mind you, I just now know that I could command this floating ball with my mind out to a certain point (10 feet from my person) and it will follow my commands (If I chose to leave it 10 feet from my body then it would stay where I left it until I called it back with my mind at which point it would appear in my hand) and that I can turn it on and off. No one can take it from me either. Their hands would pass right though it if they had any intention of taking it from me. 

That was probably the weirdest thing that has happened to me today (which is saying something considering that I died and came back to life), but I’ll have plenty of time to figure out what happened after I complete this test, so I just mentally command the Crystal to constantly hover above my head. 

I can now see that, starting about four feet in front of me, the floor is tiled, but there are no obvious threats so I reopen the status window from before.

You have gained the skill Time Slow. When you are in a situation where your normal body cannot react fast enough to a threat your mind will speed itself up making everything else seem to slow down. This takes a great toll on your mind so it will use up mana and you will not be able to use this repeatedly in a short period of time or sustain it for long periods of time without experiencing side effects. Increasing the level of this skill will decrease the amount of mana expended for each second of Time Slow and reduces the side effects when using this skill repeatedly or for a long time.

That seems like it will be incredibly useful down the road and perhaps very soon, but time was of the essence in the last test and it may very well be of the essence here as well. I can’t dilly dally. 

I walk forward cautiously and only that fact allows me to survive. The instant I put my foot down on one of the tiles another knife shoots out of a shadow on the right wall and slams into the left.

This is going to be very, very difficult.

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Thank you so so much for all the support. I really apreciate it. We now have 1000 veiws on the first chapter which is absolutly phenominal and we are currently in the 1148th spot in terms of rankings. Best thing ever! On a side note I don't think I'll be able to do a chapter every day very often (this one took me 4 strait hours of intensive writing), but if you guys continue to support me so well I will try.

Below is a list of Blade's stats and skills that I will try to post every chapter. I would really apreciate it if you told me about anything that I screwed up on.

 Free stat points: 0

Strength: 3 Agility:1

Dexterity: 1 Endurance: 4

Heath: 10 (1 point= +10) Mana: 10 (1 point =+10)

Regeneration: 3 Wisdom: 1

Skills

Essence Sight. This ability will give you the ability to asses almost anything you focus on and find information on the object or person. Quality and amount of information will increase as your skill level does. This ability won’t work on items obscured by an essence shadow of an equal or higher level than your level of essence sight.

Essence field. You will now be able to see names as well as health and mana levels of NPC’s, champions and monsters. This skill has no levels.

Wing push. This is a hidden skill which cannot be taught and is unique to the demon and angle races. This skill, involving both wings, will send a blast of air at an opponent possibly stunning it and pushing both the user and target back. The chance of stunning and the distance pushed back will increase with skill level. 

Stealth. This ability allows you to sneak near enemies without them seeing or otherwise sense you. This is a general ability and there are multiple specialized abilities that are modifications of this ability such as jungle stealth which will help you sneak while in a jungle. The effects of this ability can be negated by an adversary with the perception ability. 

Cooking. This skill will allow you to use ingredients that you find or purchase to create delicious meals. At a high enough level with high enough level ingredients the food can give bonuses to stats which at even higher levels can be permanent.

Time Slow. When you are in a situation where your normal body cannot react fast enough to a threat your mind will speed itself up making everything else seem to slow down. This takes a great toll on your mind so it will use up mana and you will not be able to use this repeatedly in a short period of time or sustain it for long periods of time without experiencing side effects. Increasing the level of this skill will decrease the amount of mana expended for each second of Time Slow and reduces the side effects when using this skill repeatedly or for a long time. 

Flight. This is a passive skill that determines the skill with which you fly as well as the time you are able to fly. It will increase the more you fly.

Bartering. This skill will increase your ability to get better prices both for purchases and sales. In order to increase this skill it is necessary to get above standard prices from people. Current skill level: 1.