Before Micah and the others even stepped inside the mall, there was already a commotion. One man was shouting at another whom heard the other’s complaint without moving a muscle.

“What’s their problem?” Micah asked.

“That young man doesn’t want to give up his rock,” An old gentleman answered. “You’ll see when the TV screen gets in your face.” The old man gestured in front of him before using his rugged cane to limp inside the mall.

Micah was confused, until he passed an invisible threshold and was stopped by a screen.

Players proceed to the 5th Floor

Nescient Citizens must give up their

Stones before entering.

Strange. Micah thought. The message lacked the tone the system usually delivered its messages, and distinctly called them “Players” instead of “Travelers”.

“You get the same notification, Micah?” Gabby asked.

“Yeah.” Micah had a bad feeling, but continued on.

Most survivors walked through the front doors with no problem, but more than a couple were blocked by an invisible wall that only materialized for the select few. Rule breakers, Micah realized. One person proved his suspicions right when they pulled an Awakening Stone from their pocket and harnessed its power with a crackling glow. More than one person followed in their wake, all falling to the ground moments later—unconscious and unguarded.

No one moved to help them. No one brought them inside.

It was surreal, to see the sheer apathy survivors showed to others, but Micah supposed it made sense. Everyone had their own priorities.

Micah and the party separated themselves from the growing crowd on the first floor and followed the thin stream of people that climbed the stairs. It was unfortunate the elevators stopped working, because five flights of stairs still tired Micah out, despite being a player. Blue whined, uncomfortable at the small space of the stairway, so Micah patted and comforted him until they got to the top floor.

“Welcome, fellow survivors.” A man that towered over the average player greeted them at the top of the stairs with a friendly smile and opened arms. “I’m the one who founded this place. Please, call me Dean.”

Other than his height, Dean looked average, or rather ordinary. He was young. Definitely older than Castor, but not someone Micah expected to find and lead a fort for the people. The man understandably had bags under his eyes, yet they still swept tirelessly over the group gathered in the stairwell. Looking for assets and threats.

Oddly enough, Micah had a weird feeling Dean was glancing directly at him instead of sweeping over the group, but he chalked it up to frayed nerves when the man looked away. We’re good now, we’re safe. Micah told himself, petting Blue when that failed to comfort him.

The same man who stood at the entryway to the mall came from the back of the group, and reported something to the leader. Dean received the report without any expression. “Okay! Let’s debrief in the command center.”

The mall was in the same state of decrepit disrepair as the rest of the city. Almost every window was shattered, and dust covered every inch of every surface. The walls were tainted brown, and even the beams above seem heavily rusted. The room Dean was leading them to used to be a clothing store; Micah could tell by the frayed clothes jumbled onto the shelves as the rest of the display tables were merged to form a bigger table.

“This is the C.C.,” Dean said as he led everyone through the store, “This is where we will be holding our meetings and briefs. I know it looks shabby, but we’re doing the best we can. I know all of you have a Quest—“

“I don’t care about all that.” One of the players declared. “I don’t even care why all of this is happening, just tell me how to get out of this fucking place.” A few others mumbled in agreement.

Abruptly, Dean looked even more tired. It reminded Micah of Castor, guilt stabbing his heart at the thought.

“I don’t have all the answers,” Dean said, “I barely have any answers. All I know is to survive, we need to lean on each other.”

A screen popped into Micah’s view, and he could tell he wasn’t the only one. Everyone in the room looked at an invisible screen only they could see, but Micah knew they all said the same thing.

Quest Log Updated

Emergency Trial

Day 4

Congratulations, Survivors.

Reap those who have fallen,

More shall grow in their place.

Achievements shall be calculated

For Rewards.

17,542/36,471 Survivors

Survival Rating: Medium

*****

Achievements Tallied!

2x Kobolds Slain

4x Ghouls Slain

2x Skeletons Slain

1x Elite Skeleton Slain

2x Paths Completed

2x Skills Gained

First Bottleneck Surpassed

1x Quest Completed

1x Title Gained

(Party Multiplier)

216 Glint, 104 Shimmer, 104 Lustre,

and 52 Haze Rewarded

The daily quest notification updated while Castor attempted for the umpteenth time to use his energy in any other way than jamming it outside his core. He gladly took on the distraction, and checked the prompts. His achievement list was lengthy, even though he was flailing around. For a moment, he wondered what would happen if he tried, but he reminded himself. Castor was trying his hardest; it was all it took just to survive.

Paths Revealed!

Forerunner (0/150S),

Challenger (0/100G), Amateur (0/45),

Perseverance (0/60S), Aura Sink (0/50H)

Twilight: 216G, 152S, 104L, 140H

Although Castor wanted to spend all his points haphazardly, with equipment firmly set in his mind, he only invested in his two cheapest paths.

Congratulations, Traveler!

You have learned to leverage your aura confluence.

Compatible Alignments can now be drained into your resource pool.

Aura Sink trait gained. Assimilated into Nature.

Ability Revealed!

Congratulations, Traveler!

You have taken a step on your path to greatness.

Such a journey begins with a step, but it helps to light your way.

Fork in Path detected. Choose a way forward.

After completing Amateur, a prompt Castor hadn’t seen before appeared. It seemed to want Castor to invest more Twilight, but he didn’t understand the significance of it all. He put a single point of Lustre into the path with hesitance.

Abruptly, 15L were gone, and another prompt appeared in its place.

You travel in the dark willingly,

allowing the Moon and Spirits

to guide you where others may tread not.

May they bless you on your travels,

for they are fickle.

Aura Sight trait gained. Assimilated into Nature.

Fatal Encounter Avoided!

Spell Acquired!

Hallow Step (Exquisite)

A movement technique of an ancient sect:

Includes three forms of footwork for

Moon and Ghost Alignment.

Castor was happy to finally have a spell, but that happiness faded away in lieu of sensations he never felt before. The process of gaining the traits altered his body as the energy inside his gut settled for the first time. He blinked away tears in his eyes only to be shocked by the change in clarity. The subtle difference in coloration in the rocks was suddenly visible despite the dark.

With the rise in perception, Castor noticed the cave wasn’t truly empty. His physical eyes saw nothing, but in his mind’s eye a soft, gray mist dragged against the floor.

A perfect opportunity to try out his new ability. Unlike a skill, an ability came with a natural set of instincts to help manage and use it. Just as [Aural Synesthesia] allowed him to process information, and definitely not hallucinate.

Aura Drain (Extra)

Assimilate compatible auras

by leveraging your own.

May contest weaker-willed creatures.

It was exactly what Castor had pulled on the [Skeleton Marauder], just on a smaller, more controllable scope. With the accompanying instincts, Castor became distinctly aware of his resource pool stirring in his gut, and the miasma surrounding him.

His energy carried a certain weight the gray fog lacked; the young man was certain of it. He spun his resource, attempting to activate the ability. It was weak at first as Castor floundering caused his resource to sputter out of control, but eventually, his pool maintained a stable rotation that created a suction force. The miasma couldn’t resist the pull of his resource pool, and the nearest cluster was sucked into his pores.

Closing his eyes, Castor pictured veins of light twisting into every direction as the refreshing energy flowed down his gullet. There was a subtle shift of the flow of miasma in the cave now, although he could just barely perceive it. Even with his new senses, the phenomenon occurred just outside the periphery of Castor’s awareness, making it difficult to observe.

That doesn’t matter, I got another way to regenerate RP, He thought excitedly. Castor ceased experimenting, and after slapping his cheeks to hype himself up, started to prepare for the next challenge.

Variable Mace—50 Glint, 50 Shimmer, 50 Lustre

2x Health Orb—100 Glint

3x Satiety Orb—30 Shimmer

Recaris Leather Armour—70 Haze

Castor decided to splurge, since there was no point in saving his points if he was dead. The price is well worth it though, Castor thought as the items he purchased flashed into existence.

The satiety orb was true to its description, simply delaying his bodily functions instead of treating the problem. It staved off hunger and thirst in the worst way possible—just enough to keep him going. It also tasted like food, if someone burnt their dish to crumbling ash.

The armor set only included the cuirass, pauldrons, and vambraces; every piece dyed a deep crimson that was almost black in the cave.

But the mace was the real treat.

Variable Steel Flanged Mace

(Pristine)

A standard issued weapon for

multiple monks and priests,

until it was modified to contain a dynamic

and atomic sigil instead of holy.

-Sigil of Shifting Weight (100%)

-Sigil of Shifting Length (100%)

The one-handed mace ended in a ballpoint and had seven protrusions. The rest of the shaft was made with the same sturdy metal, with a handle wide enough to comfortably fit both hands.

Activating the sigils took more than a few attempts, but eventually, Castor’s resource flowed from his pool, through his arm into the weapon. The mace shifted from two and a half feet to six inches in nearly an instant, the weight quickly growing unmanageable. He dropped the mace, and the weapon transformed back into its previous state, but not before punching a crater into the ground.

Flow Meditation Expanded!

Unranked 3

Aura Release Expanded!

Unranked 6

“That will do.” Castor smiled, seeing the damage. He kept practicing activating the mace’s sigil as he browsed the rest of the shop.

There were plenty of things Castor wanted or would love to have, but each one was morbidly expensive, or just plain locked—the requirements for just purchasing insane themselves.

I would love to fly and breathe dragonfire, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to bathe in the blood of a hundred different Draconians. He shuddered at just the thought of it. There were a couple of other things he added to his wishlist, but as he was looking through the Tools sections, a bizarre item caught his eye.

Ghost—Free

A Traveler’s Kit Model created from the death of a Sprite owner. Functions are locked after death, and the Kit becomes a tool instead of an assistant.

A free item kind of defeated the purpose of a shop in the first place, but Castor wasn’t about to ask any questions. He quickly purchased the Kit in case it was something he really needed, and was minorly surprised when a black sphere materialized in his hand—

—As soon as the stone touched his palm, the sphere began to float and absorb the miasma in the cave. Castor's mild surprise soon turned to shock when the small drain transformed into a roaring torrent. The room’s Miasma condensed into streams before the Ghost swallowed them whole. When that wasn’t enough, it resorted to taking the energy from Castor.

Despite putting up his guard and all of his resistance, the Ghost still snatched a few points of his resource. His heart pumped wildly in regard to the new threat, but the Ghost soon reverted into its inert state like nothing ever happened.

Ghost Bonded! Would you like to invest Twilight to speed up its repair?

Y/N

Castor quickly declined, tired of numerous screens in his face. The Ghost promptly vanished from his sight, but not from his mind’s eye. It floated next to Castor, almost invisible aside from the fact his aura flowed into the device. Willing it closer, he could see glowing cracking spread across the sphere’s surface.

Ghost Repair Time—47: 58: 31

Castor willed any system knowledge, info guides, or even textbooks to appear, but nothing did. Hopefully I’ll see those info sets Micah was talking about. He glanced at his status screen one more time as he marched towards the ornate symbol that was the Rune of Challenge.

Castor Dark Human

Role: Challenger

PWR:2.0 ???

MND:1.3 ???

ATM:2.4 ???

Twilight: 66G, 27S, 39L, 20H

RP:8/10

Abilities: Aural Synesthesia

Skill List: Alter (Ra), Blunt Weapon Proficiency (Ba), Intuition (Uc), Bond (Inc), Unarmed Combat Proficiency (Ba), Perseverance (Uc), Aura Release (Uc), Flow Meditation (Uc)

Spell List: Hallow Step (Ex)

(Dulled)

Blue Canivora

Bloodline: Canine

RP:7/7

Skill List: Guard (Ba), Bite (Ba), Bond (Ra), Alter (Ra)

Spell List: Shadow Sneak (Ba)

“This has to be enough,” Castor said. “There are no second chances.” He reached for [Alter], the already familiar tune vibrating across his body.

With nothing else to prepare, and no reason to continue waiting, Castor walked to the Rune of Challenge at the mouth of the tunnel. He broke the halo that surrounded the golden arrow with a stomp, ignoring the wave of aura that washed over him.

Challenge Accepted. Quest Log Updated

[Qualifications of a Legend]