“You will bow or you will be broken, and there they will lay, the shattered pieces of your pride. “

You’ve entered mono-fields.

“Who are you!? Where is the narrator? What have you done to Leysa?

Leysa! Leysa, can you hear me!? Shout yes if you do!”

“You will bow or you will be broken, and there they will lay, the shattered pieces of your pride. “

“Bow? Just bow? Bow to who? Bow like this?”

You have avoided certain death by either solving a riddle or over powered the trap.

“Oh, kay. But how did we get inside this place? What and where is this? This place has the feeling of death written all over it. A mausoleum? A tomb?”

“Do not tarry, do not wait, death comes to those that are late.”

“Hey! Heya, are you the new narrator? Not going to lie, not a fan of these riddles, can I opt out of this experience? I want to get off the ride.

“Do not tarry, do not wait, death comes to those that are late.”

“Ah, another asshole. Do not tarry, do not wait.

Okay, so should I do something before it’s too late? But there is nothing here. Do I just leave the room?”

You have avoided certain death by either solving a riddle or over powered the trap.

“How is this a riddle? Did you expect me to just sit down and do nothing?”

“Fast you must run, fast you must be. But running forever will no one please.”

“Run? You want me to run now? This better not be some petty trick.

Oh what the shit is this!? We recreating old adventure movies!? Rolling stones!?

Come on, no one can outrun this!”

“Fast you must run, fast you must be. But running forever will no one please.”

“Stop trying to rhyme! This isn’t the time.

Damnit.

I still have eighty attribute points I haven’t assigned. Let’s throw thirty into Agility, thirty into Intelligence and twenty into Stamina.”

Stamina

Increases number of physical actions that can be performed without rest

Agility

Increases speed of physical movements

Intelligence

Increases number of mental actions that can be performed without rest

|Test of one|

Withstand mental assaults.

Fight obstacles.

Solve the puzzles.

Do not die.

Optional: Escape within the allotted time.

“Run, heart blood burns don’t let your mind be scorn.”

Location: Mono-fields.

Difficulty: Hard.

Rewards: Minor skillpoint.

Optional rewards: Tier appropriate compass.

“Do they make these quest on the fly? Do not die? Amazing. Isn’t that pretty much a prerequisite for any and all quests?

The stone will catch up to me soon. All right, it’s do or die.

Hahaha. Ye!”

You have avoided certain death by either solving a riddle or over powered the trap.

“At least mention if I solved it or not. Not sure if there was anything to solve here. I just managed to lie down in the hole at the edge of the hallway. Stone just rolled on by.”

“Blue and filled, black and empty, in your lungs your life you carry.”

“Blue and filled. Black and empty? And something to do with my lungs? Hmm.

I’m guessing I have to enter this room, seeing as the other way has been magically blocked off. This is great, makes no sense at all, not at all annoying and unwanted.

Uh, uh, uh, staying alive, staying alive.

Hello? Anything in this decrepit looking room? Gloomy, check, dirty, check.

Ah. Okay, so a blue button and a black button.”

“Blue and filled, black and empty, in your lungs your life you carry.”

“Ye, I remember.

Let’s try the blue one.

Okay, so blue smoke is filling the room. Looks poisonous, this may be my last words.

I want be remembered not for who I am, but who I could be!

I feel lonely here by myself. Come blue gas, come!”

“Blue and filled, black and empty, in your lungs your life you carry.”

“Well. Nothing happened, I´ll assume the blue smoke is safe. The smoke fills the lungs right? But aside from that, nothing changed.

Moment of truth. I‘m afraid.”

“Blue and filled, black and empty, in your lungs your life you carry.”

“Shut up! I‘m trying to focus, god damn. Okay, black button! Engage!

Oh shit. A doorway opened up. It’s filled with black smoke. Any ideas?”

“Blue and filled, black and empty, in your lungs your life you carry.”

“Not you. Shut up. Shut up, shut up!

Alright, deep breathe. We‘re going to run through the black smoke, hope for the best.”

You have avoided certain death by either solving a riddle or over powered the trap.

“My eyes sting, my insides might literally be on fire. What in the hell was in that black stuff?

Oh what!? My hair is grey now, why. It was grey colored dye all along!? That‘s some insidious stuff.”

‘Greetings little one. We see you’ve made it safe and sound through the trials.’

“Who!?

Hahaha. My dear fluffy pillow. What are you supposed to be?”

‘Such insolence! You dare speak to I, in such disrespectful way!?’

“But. You-.”

‘Silence! We will not suffer you. You have reached the end of the road, so to speak. Here we offer you a chance for extreme power! Power beyond your wildest beliefs!’

“Okay, thanks then.”

‘No wait! First you must take a drink from the chalice of temptation!’

“Tempted. greed and power, will you fight or cower?

Will you play the fool, become another’s tool?

Courage and intrepidity, mean nothing in the face of stupidity.

Now is the time to show strength, your mental superiority.”

What? What does that mean? That was a lot you just threw at me.

‘You must drink from our chalice! Drink boy! Drink! And power shall be yours!’

“What’s in it?”

‘Ohohoho, let us tell you this! In it is danger! In it is pain! This something not for the sane!’

“That sounds horrible, why would I drink that? Why would I even believe you? What is this? Amateur hour? Do I look like a child?”

‘Eeeehehehehehe. So it is fear that haunts you? You shall gain nothing if you risk nothing.’

“Dude. You are surprisingly energetic for an fat old guy with a two meter long beard, I’ll give you that.

But I’m not drinking your mystery juice. Just the thought is making my skin crawl.”

“It was at this moment that the spell was lifted, the shadows shifted and the fog it parted. For your one and only, hero to be, luckily avoided, being charmed and contorted.”

“Hey! Your back! Welcome back! You’re not going to believe this, I actually missed you. There was some dull mysterious guy narrating in your stead. Where you go man?”

“The surroundings started changing. A coliseum, an arena appeared. There was more to be tested.”

“Oh I see. You taking your job seriously now? No jokes on my expense when serious stuff is going down?

Hello! I am Ji, nice to meet you.”

‘grrrr’

“Interesting. You don’t look very dead. Maybe a bit sloppy but wouldn’t have taken you for an undead. Hell you're even a bit charming, for a dead man.”

‘rrrrhhhhh’

“Are we supposed to fight? Will you be able to move? My experience with the dead has been a bit disappointing.”

“The earth quakes with every step the beast takes. It slams its hands into the ground.”

“What are you doing man? Stop that, it's getting all wobbly. Why is the earth still shaking?

That’s it! I’m taking out my sword! That’s right! Sword! You going to get it now.”

|Mediocre apprentice sword of striking|

Adds additional fifty to physical damage.

Adds additional thirty to penetration.

Increases physical damage by seventy percent.

Base critical strike chance: one percent.

Attack speed increased by eight percent.

“Carefully made by an aspiring weaponsmith”

Durability: 284/284

Charge: 15/15

Tier: 1

Item ability: Simple man’s prod

Strike with relative accuracy.

Strength

🔛

1:0.5

Agility

🔛

1:0.2

Focus

🔛

1:0.001

Intelligence

🔛

1:0.0009

“The sword wielding protagonist stands bravely in the face of the undead slaver. Although the undead slaver is not considered very powerful he has the ability to summon three lesser undead.”

“Eh? Wait. Hey! Stop that! We don’t need more of you.”

“Our hero takes the initiative and boldly dashes towards the undead slaver. the faster he acts, the safer he is”

‘rrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhh’

“The droning of the undead amplifies. The ground has turned ashen and heads and hands pop out of the ground. Nothing but bones.”

“Damnit. Damnit!”

“Ji slashes his sword with an uneven swing. The undead slaver ignores the incoming attack and swipes at the inexperienced fighter that is our hero!”

“Owh! Shit. Owh man! What is this. Damnit. Where did this thing even come from?”

“A giant gaping wound has formed on little Ji’s chest, bloodied bones can be seen. The undead slaver however no longer has a head. We watch it roll, incessantly biting an unseen foe. Its body gone limp and now rests on the ground.”

“I need a band aid! Something. Dammit. My clothes! God this hurts. How much blood can I even lose?”

“The inexperience is deadly, we can see first hand how panic can set people on the path of no return.”

“I’m going to faint from blood loss if this continues.”

“In his hysterical ramblings our hero forgets the summoned foes of the undead slaver. They creep silently letting out near inaudible droning sounds, clearly having lost majority of their power once the undead slaver had fallen.”

“Damnit. Right. Oh for the love all that is not undead. They are just crawling towards me.”

“The adrenaline fueled Ji makes quick work out of the ferocious lesser undead skeletons.”

“I’m eating a bun and hoping I don’t die here. God damn traps and zombies. “Oh nothing happens here, just some random creepy monoliths.” Lesya you liar.”

|Not at all suspicious looking meat buns|

Adds twenty to regeneration, lasts one hour.

Increases regeneration by fifty percent, lasts one hour.

Delicious.

“Can’t fault these bad boys. The flat twenty addition doesn’t do much. But the fifty percent is a sizable increase.

Why didn’t I get any experience!? Injustice! Look at my chest! Look at it! I was sliced open like a piece of pie!”

“The suffering, the pain. The mangled remains of our hero. We watch and hear his cries of anguish. Ji, we barely knew thee!”

“Oi. Let’s not start digging my grave here.

You already forgetting my exceptional regeneration? Even if I wanted to die, it would be hard.

But to be fair, I’m practically starving right now. The bun is filling so there is that.”

“You can say a lot of things about our protagonist but you can’t fault his regenerative abilities.”

“I don’t like the way you phrased that, it almost sounds like an insult for some reason. Your rhetoric is advancing.”

“After a while of quiet contemplation our hero stands. He walks slowly, his breathing still uneven. The closer to the exist he gets, the clearer the door gets. It is near ethereal, as if it is struggling to maintain its physical form.”

“I’m going to be sore for at least a few days. My lord! Can’t believe I got sliced open like that. Such an amateur move.

What’s happening with this thing, do I walk through this? It looks like it's flowing. Some kind of force field? Magic? Probably magic.

Can’t stay in here.”

“Like a fish into water he slips through what could be an interdimensional portal. A magic gateway or just an exit from the field of illusions.”

“That’s vague. How unusually of you not to know something. You trying to hide something? Speak! I demand answers!

No? Hello? Whatever man.”

‘Ji!’

“Leysa! Oh dear lord, what happened to you!?”

‘It’s not as bad as it seems.’

“No. no, it looks pretty bad. You are literally covered in blood.”

‘Only a bit of it is mine.’

“Ah. Well, still.

You get trapped in some different dimension as well then?”

‘Yes. I think so. Incredibly complex riddles. Impossible to solve. I had to fight my way out. I was lucky not got get crushed multiple times.’

“Eh? They were hard? Mine were pretty easy. It was actually all pretty easy.”

‘I was asked what the current prevalent theory of everything was.’

“Haha. What? Does that even have an answer?”

‘I don’t know.’

“Well. All’s well that ends well, right? You get a quest right?”

‘Yes. For some reason it hasn’t ended. I just had to survive.’

“Mine was very similar.”

“Inevitably these two will realize that their quest is practically finished, although their journey is just beginning.”

“Don’t try to be mysterious. No one likes a tease.”