[Congratulations! You have gained the unique class “Analyst”]

The system message quickly disappeared when I swiped my hand through it. Angor started talking again.

“As you should know, you are in quite a unique situation. You are offered an exclusive path, one that no other people of this world currently know about.” He adjusted his grip on his spear, and I gave a slight nod of understanding. “The path the ordinary adventurers of this world follow is called the Hero's path. The path I am offering to you is called the Champion’s path.” These words seemed to resonate through with a greater atmosphere than his others. “The champion’s path is a baptism in fire. If you accept, you will start your life in Ancient Realms in an ever-shifting labyrinth. The only ways to leave this labyrinth are to beat it or surrender and proceed down the Hero’s path. The Path of the Champion is a rockier start but will reward and strengthen you handsomely. Do you accept the burden of the struggle for the reward of greater power?” [You have been offered the exclusive Path of Champions: Accept or Decline? Notice: This offer will never again be available to you. Declining this challenge will forever bar you from the Path of Champions]

My breath caught in my throat. So I would have to go through a roguelike dungeon, it seemed, to reach the real game. I once again accepted.

“Glad you accepted, little one,” Angor replied heartily, “Legends say a champion is twice as strong as anyone else at the same level. You can testify to that theory when we next meet.” A golden gateway opened below me, and I gave a yelp as gravity propelled me through it.

I was greeted by flashing lights everywhere. Strange symbols at the corners of my vision, empty grey boxes at the bottom of it, and three bars at the top of it, red, blue, and green respectively. There were numbers, there were prompts, there were text boxes, and I almost fell over at the overwhelming visual barrage. I began mentally organizing the functions of the windows. I flew through my settings, lowering the glare of the icons and boxes, tweaking their size, and clearing notifications. I skipped the tutorial and feeling like a fast learner, I opened my status page.

[Name: Archangels_Advance

Race: Human

Class: Analyst

Sub-classes: None

Active Titles: (Champion Nominee)

Alignment: 0 (Neutral)

Health: 50

Mana: 25

Stamina: 25

Level: 1

Exp: 0

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Constitution: 10

Willpower: 10

Intellect: 10

Wisdom: 10

Perception: 10

Charisma: 10

Luck: 10

Unallocated Points: 0

Skills: Analyze (lv. 1), Bullet-time Processing (lv. 1), Sixth Sense (lv. 1), Enhanced Mental Capacity (lv.1)

Status Effects: Champion’s blessing (∞)]

I opened the next important thing, my inventory. It was empty, save my equipped plain clothes and 10 silver coins. From what I read on the wiki before coming here, the conversion rate of coins was 100 copper to one silver and 100 silver to one gold. I didn’t expect to need that in the labyrinth though. I finally looked around the room I was in, certainly something I should have prioritized sooner. A huge bright marble enclosure with a domed ceiling, and a ring of 12 pedestals around where I stood, and four identical doors leading into identical hallways. There appeared to be no enemies but again, I had just spent ten minutes on my settings. The fact that I wasn’t dead was proof enough of the absence of danger.

The pedestals were cut at chest height and were made of the same marble as the rest of the room. I walked toward one, peeking over the edge. It suspended a jewel in the air above, sparkling blue in the ambient glow. I was suspicious, so I didn’t make a move to touch it, only circling the pedestal and looking for any kind of implications. The other pedestals each held a different item. A book, a small pouch of gold coins, a dagger, a small cup, a crude iron helmet, and all kinds of other random junk. Some were clearly more useful than others, some glowed with their own mysterious light. I tapped my foot in frustration. One thing that really got me in a huff was not knowing my options. Some of these might be cursed, and maybe I could only take one item. The book was always appealing. Even a blank book would be a comfort to have. But I was currently weaponless, there was a staff of some sort toward the far end, and a dagger around here somewhere. I literally slapped myself as I realized the oblivious. If my skill “analyze” did what the name implied, it could be indispensable here.

“Analyze!” I incanted, and- nothing. I dramatically stretched my arm at one of the pedestals. “Ahem… Analyze!” Still nothing. Maybe that tutorial wouldn’t have hurt after all. “Do I have to equip the skill?” I thought out loud. The empty grey boxes at the bottom of my vision just seemed so bare, as though they were asking to be filled. I opened my status and scrolled down to the skills. Sure enough, there were more empty boxes next to those. After focusing on one, a check appeared in it. Toggling from the menu back to my hotbar, it had equipped the skill onto the leftmost grey box. I equipped all the rest of my skills except for Enhanced mental capacity. It appeared to not have a box, likely being a passive skill. I tried one last time. I stretched my hand toward the blue gem, focusing on the first slot, with an icon of a growing brain. The icon pulsed, and I received a bundle of information. Surprisingly, it wasn’t in a system message box, but it was more like a mental insertion. I could feel the information dissolving into my digital grey matter. I received a system message in the form of pure information.

[Return Stone: By focusing on a place you have been before, you may crush this stone to teleport there instantaneously.

Quality: Rare

Durability: 10/10

Creator: N/A

Date of Creation: N/A]

Following that was more information in a torrent. The stone’s materials, dimensions, exact mass, density, and all kinds of information. Most of the data was completely useless, all of it was pretty boring. But the useful information was enough to garner my respect for the skill. My mana sagged slightly at a wilted 20/25. I laughed maniacally, my hunger for the missing information filling me with wholesome relaxation. But the greater satiation came from the potential to learn I had found in this skill. Now nothing could escape my fearsome curiosity.

I analyzed all of the items, letting my mana recover as I did. I didn’t want to miss a single option. Like most people learned as students, don’t pick an option until you have read them all. As if I could leave an item that possessed a potential to be stronger than any of the others. After analyzing all of the 12 items, I tried analyzing one of the pillars. [Labyrinth Pedestals: These twelve pedestals are magically linked. If more than two items are removed, any life forms inside the rooms will be eliminated]. I was really curious about how the pedestals would “eliminate'' anything inside the room, but not curious enough to try it. I took a plain wooden staff and a flask.

[Wooden Staff: A plain wooden staff. Deals 1-1(STR) blunt damage. +1% mana regeneration per minute.

Quality: Uncommon

Durability: 30/30

Creator: N/A

Date of Creation: N/A]

[Philosopher's Flask: When filled with water, the water will gain the properties of a low-grade healing potion. If left in the flask, the potency of the healing will increase 25% every 24 hours

Quality: Epic

Durability: 75/75

Creator: N/A

Date of Creation: N/A]

I equipped the staff as my main weapon, the flask going into my inventory. I felt like I had spent too much time here. It was almost a physical pain to leave the book behind, but it wouldn’t help me enough here, my survival instincts overriding any hunger for knowledge... I turned to the doors. Huge archways of ornate marble, too murky to see through. My least favorite part was the symmetry. The doors were exactly the same. No words, symbols, or any other kind of indication helped me decide which one to go through. I didn’t like that, no, it left the gnawing of lacking knowledge behind like a pathogen worse than death. I decided to analyze the mist in an attempt to gain insight.

[Analysis Failed: Insufficient skill level] Analysis had reached level two while I was inspecting the items, but I hated not knowing something, especially something potentially important. The hunger turned to anxiety, like it always did, my heart rate increasing. I shakily took a deep breath and let the hunger pass. It didn’t really, but I felt better nevertheless. I used reason and decided that if I couldn’t use my knowledge to make a decision, then it was best to make it randomly. I walked forward in artificial confidence into the closest doorway.

A few moments later, I was regretting my decisions. I ducked under a large swinging crescent of sharp metal, feeling death breathe down my neck as my hair was grazed ever so slightly. I shivered in what could be relief or hysterical unease. That shiver almost cost me my life, as a huge propeller of blades slashed toward my knees. I jumped back, leapt to the side around a huge pendulum, dashed toward a nearby platform, glanced toward my stamina. [8/25]. I vaulted over a waist-height circular saw with my staff, finally landing on the blue platform. A message materialized in the corner of my vision [Status Effect: Fatigue I (00:07:58)] Panting, I looked at my environment. A huge expanse of swing blades, swiveling contraptions, spikes, and who knows what. I could see a plume of fire rising into the distance. I had learned two things quickly in this room: You couldn’t turn back to the previous room, and you had to keep moving or you would immediately die. This platform appeared to be a safe place, so I sat down and regulated my breathing. After a moment I examined the metal chest that also rested on the platform. No observable lock, just a hefty latch. I took a moment to look back through the obstacles I had just made my way through. I was moving like I was younger- no, even better. Smoother, faster, sharper. But my mind, that was the real wonder. My brain was processing faster, better, and remembering every detail, archived away in the files that made up my consciousness. I felt that the reason for that was the skill “increased mental capacity lv.1.”

I threw open the chest, ducking carefully in front of it. I peeked over the edge, feeling fairly certain that there were no traps.

“Wonderful,” I said to nobody in particular. I started picking up the contents.

I didn't have to analyze them if I possessed them, so their information popped up in front of me.

[Low-Grade Stamina Potion: This potion will restore 15 stamina upon consumption

Quality: Common

Durability: 10/10]

[Last Stand Cloak: When this cloak is equipped, the wearer can’t be killed in one strike if they are at or above 50% health.

Quality: Rare

Durability:70/70]

Alongside those, I found an unremarkable water-skin and a small bag of copper. I took a deep gulp of the waterskin, put some in the Philosopher's flask, and By now my stamina bar was up to [34/50], so I put my back against the huge metal chest. The Metal contraptions were surprisingly graceful, like a well-oiled machine, not ever clashing against each other or breaking their deadly pattern. The only sound they made was the swish of parting air. But there were a lot more of these things to pass, and the next platform was at least 30 yards away.

The next platform came and went, but this time I got multiple scratches, and a bad gash in one arm. The blades became faster the farther I made it through the room, and the gaps between the platforms grew wider. My stamina was nearly gone by the time I made it to the second platform. One final platform to reach, and I would be at the exit. I guzzled down the contents of the philosopher’s flask, healing my wounds in an instant. I refilled it with the last of the water from the water-skin. I had my new cloak equipped, so I reasoned I could survive even decapitation. The issue here would be the momentum would likely push me into other painful appliances, which I wouldn’t survive. I let my stamina recover naturally, and after about half an hour, I was ready to continue. This was the prestige of the act, the fastest part of the entire obstacle course. I felt sweat drip past my eyes and wiped my brow. My fatigue had increased to [Fatigue II (00:20:43)] but my rest had let the timer run dry. I watched the last swath of the course for about a minute, trying my hardest to commit the patterns to memory. I sighed as I saw the new wrench thrown into the ever-expanding plans I tried to create in my head. Crossbows poked out of the wall everywhere here, at all different angles. My staff was tucked away safely, it would only get in the way here. I stretched, touching my toes and swiveling my spine. I don’t think it made any difference to a digital body, but it was reassuring.

I started forward with a slightly forced grin, ready to tackle this next challenge. I immediately slid under some machination resembling a huge set of blender blades, regaining my feet barely in time to leap over some more low swinging metal. I felt a crossbow bolt flying past my neck but ignored it. I had time later to reflect on my good luck. I weaved in and out of a row of huge swinging pendulums, the air displacement fanning my sweaty face. It was a precarious feeling, being one step from death each second. Of course, the whole reason I was being so reckless was that I knew death here wasn’t permanent. But nobody could simply be used to the idea of experiencing death. I missed a step and an arrow sunk into my calf, rattling the bone. My HP shot down to [38/50], but my attention was to the head-splitting pain. There was pain in this world, very similar to real pain. It was lesser than normal pain, but even half the pain of getting shot in the leg wasn’t too pleasant. I stumbled, and I knew it was a fatal mistake. I thought hard for a hot second, the blade nearly at my face. I grasped my skills, activating one at random. My mana jumped down suddenly as “Bullet-time Processing (lv. 1)” activated. The skill was supposed to consume five mana per second, but it appeared to be consuming mana very slowly. I realized I was looking at my mana bar instead of my surroundings, and I looked up, wide-eyed to where the pendulum would be splattering me into a red mist. My head, even my gaze appeared to move so slowly. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see the Pendulum swing toward my face. I was resigned, my hard word up to now for nothing. I felt a cold chill as darkness covered my vision, reluctantly embracing death… But wait, the huge metal sphere still hadn’t hit me. I opened my eyes, which I hadn’t realized I had closed. The pendulum was closer to my face, but it hasn't even hit me yet. With surprise, I swept my gaze across to the rest of the room. Everything was moving in slow motion, inching forward and side to side. I started to make my way to the side, trying to avoid the metal sphere, but I was moving so slowly, my actions barely noticeable. Though everything was slow, I was too. And the pendulum was faster. My mana was also crawling so and I moved as fast as possible out of the way. I couldn’t move fast enough, so I had the pleasure of watching in slow motion as a chunk of metal three times the size of my head slammed into the side of my face. I couldn’t feel the pain immediately, but when I did, it exploded through my body. In bullet time. It felt like my blood had been replaced with billions of tiny flowing shards of glass. I was airborne for what seemed like an entire minute. To my current perception, it might have been that long. I finally figured out how to disable the skill, and mustered the courage to do so.

I clattered to the hard floor in what seemed to be a faster fall than normal, the row of pendulums continuing their rhythm, except, it felt so disproportionately fast. Their movement was blurred now in how fast they seemed. Multiple notifications appeared:

[‘Last Stand Cloak’ Special Ability Activated]

[Warning! Your Health has fallen dangerously low! HP: 1/50]

[Concussion IV (00:29:59)]

[Dyschronometria II (00:41)]

[Nausea II (00:9:59)]

[Dizziness III (00:9:59)]

I struggled awake, what must have been hours later. My debuffs had gone in my sleep, but it was not a refreshing rest. I was plagued with the pain of my recent injury and the afflictions I had to endure because of it. My mana and stamina had fully recovered, and my Health had reached the point of [40/50]. The machine around me kept turning, the pendulums kept swinging. I was tired of being here. I lay there in a crumpled position for quite some time, and then a rage I had never quite felt surged through me. A little voice in my head had caused this, telling me lies, that my class was weak, that my resolve was pathetic, that knowledge had no practical use. That my life was worthless in the face of Ancient Realms. I instinctively activated the last skill I had to test. [Sixth Sense activated] a little box in the corner of my vision tried to inform me. I ignored it, instead of closing my eyes. At one mana per second, I had 25 seconds of the skill’s effects. And oh the effects were beautiful. I had my eyes closed, but I could see, hear and feel everything. Within a large radius, nothing could hide from my senses. I stood up, ignoring the pendulums. They swung, but I could see where each one was. My eyes were still closed, but I saw more than I ever had in my life. I ran forward, metal swinging and flying around me, but not hitting me. I felt an imperceptible tripwire snap in my motion, and I felt the string of a crossbow release, I felt the arrow move through the air, whizzing harmlessly behind me. I moved to another section with blades, and I felt jagged cone-like shapes below. I jumped forward and grabbed a rope, heart racing, some digital equivalent of adrenaline pumping through me. I swung until I reached another one, ducked an arrow that would have gone through my skull, and immediately summoned my staff into my hand. I jumped to a pendulum, vaulting off a mounted crossbow on the wall. Instead of assuming a position on the ground dodging the wrecking balls, I grabbed the chain that held them to the ceiling, and ran across it to the next, and then to the next, and finally to the last pendulum. I had to jump sort of to the side of the next as it swung out, but I made it to a wall of rope ladders. I had nine mana left, and subsequently that many seconds to get to the safe platform above. I started climbing the ladder with no hesitation, aware of the large concentration of arrows pointed at the wall. I was confident that I would make it to the top in plenty of time. I could feel the inside of some of the ladder rungs, they were made to snap when I put weight on them. The others though were surrounded by complex webs of imperceptible tripwires connected to crossbows and suspicious cylinders poking out of the walls. The cylinders poking out became more suspicious as I had to halt my climb for a second, a blast of fire shooting out of the wall powerful enough to melt a hole in me like an overused tire. I kept climbing, the clock ticking all too quickly. I exerted myself, probably gaining some kind of fatigue-related debuff, and then the crossbows joined the party. Each one firing at the same time. I could see the paths of the arrows, I could predict where they would land, but there were no safe places. I took an arrow to the shoulder, but ignored the pain and kept climbing. For a while, I tried to keep climbing, my hands and feet moving, but then I realized I had made it to the top. I had beaten the first room of the labyrinth. I had just enough time to confirm that my mana reserves were bare as my bank account and that I had in fact picked up a debuff before I collapsed on the floor for the second time that day.