Chapter 9. Door*

I woke up exhausted after the long fight. The goblin corpses were still there and not rotting so I wasn't hopefully knocked out for a week or something.

[Killed a Warrior Goblin Chief. Experience gained]

[Bonus experience for killing an entity two tiers above you]

[Bonus experience for being in a Trial Tower]

I could finally leave this dome and fight some stronger enemies outside. 'I really wonder if something is wrong with me, or maybe I was always like this.' Two weeks ago, I was an ordinary university student and now the only thing on my mind is fighting stronger and stronger enemies.

[Quest Completed]

[Do you wish to accept the rewards Yes/No?]

There was nothing grand about finishing the quest, I opted to not choose for now and ignored the little notification in my vision as they were the only two there. I walked up to the dead chief and picked up the two axes, one still in its hand and the other beside its beheaded head.

I used [Observe] on the axes and they gave a brief but a very mysterious description.

[An Unknown axe]

[Made from an unknown metal that fell into the hand of an undeserving goblin. Not used to its full potential.]

I took the axes even though they were mysterious and heavy, and ran towards the edge of the dome, relieved when it did not feel like a wall but more like a veil of water this time. I was able to get out.

The forest outside the dome was a little.... underwhelming. I expected to see a lot of wildlife and monsters but the only thing greeting my eyes was a normal forest that was like Earth and some super weak monsters.

They were as strong as F-grade goblins, nothing close to the armed goblins. There were the generic wolves, the goblins, snakes, boars, and whatnot.

I was not angry, just disappointed that the goblin chief was probably the strongest monster in this forest, there were no other domes similar to the one I was in. I did not even feel angry about why I spawned in the dome because I was sure finding the dome after you reached level fifteen and then killing the boss was the correct order.

That dome was the only thing that made me as strong as I was today, almost max levels I think.

The door wasn't somewhere hidden, you could find it by climbing up a big tree where you would see an odd clearing in the middle of the forest, and if that was not obvious enough a translucent pillar of light stood in the clearing.

The pillar lead to a small wooden house with a slightly glowing door with a nameplate saying 'trial completed'.

I pulled the handle and stepped into a completely black passage, with no vision, making me rely on my senses which were running at the max. A flash of light made me close my eyes as I simultaneously drew my weapons but stopped the next second as I heard someone speak.

"Calm down young one, no one will harm you here. No need to be so alert."

"Who are you?" I asked, still not fully relaxing even though I knew that it was probably true.

"Good, not letting your guard down. I can see you surviving in that dome, amidst all those goblins."

"A mistake or was it just based on the chance that I happened to be the one being teleported in?"

"Neither. There are many factors that go into deciding that and you were the one that was sent in. Sometimes there are more than one and sometimes there are none. Do you have anything else that you wish to ask? You are the last one remaining."

"There were others? And I have many questions that need to be answered, sir?"

The man talking to me looked like a middle-aged man, not too handsome but not too ugly a perfect blend in the crowd. He wasn't frail, there were wrinkles on his face but his body emitted an aura that suppressed me.

"I can answer some as you are the only one that is left in the tower, well on this trial floor. You can address me as 'guide' as that is currently my job."

I was a little surprised knowing that because my leveling speed was surely the fastest killing all those high leveled goblins and stuff.

"Last? The level requirement was fifteen correct? I can't be the last even after killing E-grade goblins."

"Well, the others only needed to reach level ten to open the door, but you for you, the dome could only be accessed after reaching level fifteen so the only way for you to get out was to reach fifteen."

"Yeah, I guessed you had to enter after reaching level fifteen but had no idea about being able to open the door after reaching level ten. The 'thing' told me to reach fifteen from the get-go. What do you call this thing by the way?"

"Many names, people use the system, the heavens but the most common one is Records."

"Ok, please just give me a minute," I said as I accepted the rewards for the hidden quest completion. Two items appeared in my hands, one in each. A token in my right and a vial in my left. The guide looked at the objects and was taken aback a little and laughed out loud the next second.

"So you completed the hidden quest. Why did you even accept it?" the guide asked appearing genuinely surprised this time.

"Well at first I thought the dome was protecting me from whatever was outside not it being the other way around."

"The other way around? Weren't the only monsters in the dome a couple of E-grade goblins?"

"Huh?" I was confused why the guide was saying that. "No no, I had to kill a warrior goblin chief something and there were not a couple of E grade goblins, they built a whole village and there were probably fifty-something E grade goblins present."

"And you killed the chief and the other goblins to the last one?"

"Yes"

"I don't think this has ever happened before, a normal goblin going all the way becoming a chief and....." The guide went on as I checked the token.

[Token of Making]

[A token that makes the perfect growth weapon for the user given good materials within 2 hours of obtaining the token.]

"Wait what?!" I spoke out loud and the guide came out of his ponderings wondering what occurred that I spoke so loudly for the first time.

"What are good materials that go into the making a good weapon?" I asked the guide showing him the token in my hand in a hurry trying to figure out what I should do now, knowing that I had only two hours left and finding something good in that amount of time was just asking for random garbage.

" Anything can be a material, from rocks to your hair even water or burning wood anything."

"You know that this not helping...." I stopped as saw the vial in one of my hands and the two axes lying a meter away from me.

"The 'no one can hurt me thing' does it hold up even if ask you to hurt me?" I asked in a hurry.

The guide was startled and only replied with "I can hurt you if you allow it."

"Does the E grade regeneration potion regenerate every part that's missing or cut from my body or just one?"

The guide, now understanding what I was trying to do, "If you are E grade or below it regenerates every part that you had until a year ago with perfect accuracy and in top condition. Do you really want to do that?"

"What other option do I even have?" I laughed looking up, 'You planned a part of this right, that unknown metal, this regeneration potion, and the token. I'll give you what you want, keep your eyes on me."

I kept both axes on the ground, left to the left and right to the right. I took a deep breath, grit my teeth, and said while looking towards the guide as I lifted my hands up "Cut them."

And I screamed.

This was the most pain I had ever felt. Arms being cut, out of my own free will was not something I knew I would experience. Ever.

It was painful, not something I could describe in words.

The next moment I feel honey, sweeter than anything I have ever eaten, enter my mouth, and just as I drank it an itch spread all over my body. And I screamed again, I wanted to scratch all over my body but had no hands to do it.

The itch went on for a long time, adding to the pain my body became numb to all sources of external stimulus.

And when the itch finally went away I could finally feel my hands again, even if they were gone for less than a minute, I never wanted to experience that again.

"You only have fifteen minutes until the token expires," I heard as I was about to kiss my arms. I brought out the token from the pocket of my pants which surprisingly survived this ordeal with me, and brought it near the two axes.

[Do you wish to use the token?]

[If yes hold it above materials and say 'Use Token']

[Time left - 14:37]

I kept my left arm above the left axe and right arm above the right axe and brought them as close as possible to each other without them touching and brought the token above them. "Finally, use token."

The token lit up and sucked in the axes, my arms, and every drop of blood that bled out of my body. It started moving higher and higher and started to float as it left my hands. Bright light covered the token and covered it whole, not visible at all.