Between the time spent in the ancient ruin, the time spent fighting the boss and the time spent leveling, Corwin’s space manipulation had just come off cooldown. He created a portal back to the private room in the guild hall in Rensworth. Everyone stepped through and it was good to be back home.

Corwin went to see the mage Athexander in the wizards tower. Upon handing in the quest he received a private notifications.

Congratulations on completing your quest. You have received 50 reputation in the Verdure Kingdom and 100,000,000,000,000 XP.

The mage began to study the materials eagerly and told Corwin to come back in a few days to see his results. Corwin knew this was when the martial artist class would become available.

Corwin’s next priority was a quest that wasn’t about himself. There was a top tier secret summoner class available from a quest that Kyo could get and Corwin wanted to help him complete it. The secret summoner class allowed one to summon monsters inside one’s body to gain attributes, skills and powers. This ability was quite powerful as it would enable Kyo to summon monsters for utility and combat while also becoming a formidable combatant himself. This was especially true if he could get good ranged magic summons as then he would gain offensive powers suitable to his high intelligence while buffing that very stat.

The summoner quest began by talking to Nathos in the Summoner’s guild. Nathos was not easy to talk to, and only Corwin’s nobility begrudgingly got them a conversation. In that conversation Nathos tried to get rid of them by getting them to explore a cave he was curious about. In exchange for revealing the cave’s location, he’d be entitled to any research materials found. Skill books, artifacts and material goods would belong to Corwin and Kyo. This was a rather generous deal, but the cave was in a Tier Field.

Tier fields are mysterious magical fields that weaken players of higher tier dramatically. Something about the magic in them is incompatible with the higher tier players body upgrades. In addition, the experience of weakening was rather unpleasant akin to a headache and muscle fatigue. So Nathos, as a higher tier NPC wasn’t about to go there himself. Tier fields are also very difficult to create and generally are only made by top tier presences to protect their inheritances. After all, it would be rather silly to create a tier 1 inheritance that could be obtained easily by a tier 4 existence. Needless to say, this cave was rather exciting stuff.

Corwin and Kyo travelled the 2-hour journey across road and forest before finding the cave near the base of a mountain. The presence of the tier field felt like a strange tingling and it seemed to sharpen the senses slightly. Corwin and Kyo were in high spirits upon entering. It was nice to finally do something, just the two of them.

The cave quickly opened into a large stone room. It consisted of a main corridor and several unreachable floating stone platforms. On both the main area and each platform there were trial runes. Unlike a solo trial, these trial runes would summon opponents in waves and track the level the team had passed. The difficulty would scale based on the number of combatants as well as their levels. The plan was rather simple, Corwin would handle the main wave in the corridor while Kyo would summon on the various platforms to attack the monsters that spawned there. With Corwin unable to handle anything on the platforms, Kyo would really have a chance to shine. All of this was explained by a spirit wisp left behind from the ancient summoning master that had created the trial.

Corwin and Kyo readied themselves as the first wave appeared. The platforms each had regular enemies while the main corridor had elites. Corwin dispatched the elites easily, while Kyo summoned 2 monsters on each platform a tank and a DPSer. Tank summons were much worse than player tanks because they didn’t dodge very much and thus needed far more healing. Nonetheless, they were good enough to keep the regular enemies off the DPSer and fairly soon those enemies went down. At the end of the wave, Corwin and Kyo healed to full health and restored to full mana. This was a rather pleasant bonus. The other rewards for the wave was based on a point system, rewarding points for each clear and points for time remaining. At any point in the trial the points could be exchanged for items.

The 2nd wave consisted of special elites in the main corridor and elites on the platforms. With full mana Kyo could summon another 8 summons and he added a healer and a DPS to each of the four platforms. With healers present the tanks stabilized and the 2 DPSers were able to bring down an elite quickly. Each platform had a mix of magical and physical damage to handle various types of enemies. Corwin for his part dispatched the special elites effortlessly. Once again they healed to full health and restored to full mana. Once again they received a lot of points for clearing the wave fully and faster than expected.

The 3rd wave is where things started to get interesting. 2 special elites on each platform, and 4 chieftains in the main hall. Kyo decided to go for damage, doubling the DPSers on each platform. Corwin for his part had a fun time with 4 chieftains, taking longer than Kyo’s summons did for the first time in the trial. The bonus points made for an interesting choice this time: Kyo had earned enough for an epic staff. But if he took it, he’d need to fight one or two extra waves to get his secret class. Kyo decided to be greedy, mostly because the special abilities of the staff were amazing: +50% to summon duration, +25% to summon stats.

The 4th wave featured 2 chieftains on each platform and 4 lords in the main corridor. Kyo added a 2nd tank and a 2nd healer to each platform, letting the tanks split the monsters. With the staff he had mana left over to summon 1 more DPS on each platform as well. Corwin could handle 4 lords but was reaching his limit. He might need summon support on the main platform if the next wave had 4 greater lords. Corwin was impressed with how far he had come, remembering when 4 lords at his level would have been a nightmare to face. Kyo for his part was blown away by Corwin’s skill in combat. Their clear time was still worth a lot of bonus points, apparently the 4 lords were expected to take a long time to deal with.

The 5th wave brought very good news. It featured 2 lords on each platform and 3 greater lords in the main corridor. While this was quite a challenge, the shrinking number of enemies was a welcome relief. Corwin decided it was time to start burning his special skills and use haste to do so. Kyo for his part needed extra DPS for the lords to keep the tanks in good shape. 3 DPSers were summoned on each platform. The platforms cleared out before Corwin could finish the 3 greater lords. In fact, he took a lot of damage when fighting 3 at once. Fortunately, in the trial the greater lords didn’t have any health down abilities or ultimates. Otherwise, Corwin would have been in real trouble. When he was down to two enemies he stabilized. Killing them took some time, but from that point onwards it was easy.

They advanced to the 6th wave. At this point, Kyo’s first summons expired. The platforms had 1 greater lord while the main corridor featured 2 superior lords. Corwin used his ring of air, hoping this was the final wave. Kyo summoned 3 dps on each platform letting the single remaining tank block the lord with two healers in support. The tanks eventually fell, but not before the greater lords were on critical health. The dps managed to burst them down, but not before 2 dps died on each platform. Fortunately, the ones that died were the older weaker summons. Corwin for his part had never fought 2 superior lords at once. His only chance was that they were fire lords, so Corwin could activate his ring of fire ability to great effect. Corwin dodged, and blocked, and parried, and positioned. He did everything in his power to avoid taking damage. His skills hit one of the superior lords consistently to great effect. But despite his best efforts his health was falling too quickly. Corwin’s health fell in tandem with the superior lord and only using a potion kept him ahead. Even so, his health reached an abysmal 20% by the time he killed one of the superior lords. Facing a single lord with the advantages from his two ring abilities he was able to avoid taking much damage. Still the occasional hit was enough to be scary. Corwin survived until his potion came off cooldown and the additional health relieved the tension. He eventually slayed the last greater lord. Because of the additional damage from ring of fire, his time was quite good as well.

Corwin’s guess about the number of waves was confirmed. He and Kyo got a bonus for a full pass. Between the bonus and the time spent, Kyo had just enough points to get his new top tier secret class. He gave up on some nice other epic equipment, but getting a secret class was far more valuable.

Corwin Swordborn

Spoiler : Level 25: 33% of level 26

Str: 4985 (base:25)

Agi: 5025 (base:125)

Con:4985 (base:25)

Int: 1513 (base:25)

Cha: 1513 (base:25)

Lck: 521 (base:25)

Cnc: 521 (base:25)

Sta: 521 (base: 25)

Qi: 521 (base: 20)

Soul: 521 (base:20)

Air Affinity: 521 (base:20)

Fire Affinity: 521 (base:20)

Water Affinity: 521 (base: 20)

Def: 20237

MDef: 16653

HP:158635/158635 (base: 1000)

MP:51003/51003 (base: 1000)

Gear:

MW: Epic Tier Level 31 Longsword, +496Str +496Agi +496Con

Base Damage: 620-744, Def 744 MDef 620 Durability 790/992, Requirements: 992 Str

OW: Epic Tier Level 31 Shortsword +496Str, +496Agi, +496 Con

Base Damage 496-620, Def 620 MDef 496 Durability 796/992, Requirements: 992 Str

MA: Epic Tier Level 31 Plate, +496 Str, +496 Agi, +496 Con

1984Def,1984MDef, Durability 710/992, Requirements:992 Str

LA: Epic Tier Level 31 Plate Cuisse, +496Str, +516Agi(20 Gemstone), +496Con

1984Def, 1984MDef Durability: 716/992 Requirements: 992 Str

G: Epic Tier Level 31 Plate Gauntlets +496Str, +516 Agi(20 Gemstone), +496 Con

1984Def, 1984MDef, Durability 718/992 Requirements: 992 Str

B:Epic Tier Level 31 Plate Boots +496Str +506Agi(10 Gemstone) +496 Con

1984 Def, 1984 MDef, Durability 751/992 Requirements: 992Str

H: Epic Tier Level 31 Helm, +496 Str, +506(10 Gemstone) Agi, +496 Con

1984 Def, 1984MDef Durability 741/992, Requirements: 992Str

RR: Epic Tier, Level 31 Ring of Hidden Attributes (+496 All base attributes, +496 All Hidden Attributes)

LR: Epic Tier, Level 31 Ring of Elements (+496 All base attributes,

Ignore 6.2 Levels, Ignore 6.2 Equip Levels

AM: Epic Tier, Level 31 Amulet (+496 All base attributes)

Skills:

Spatial Slash, Legacy, Tier 0 Level 0

Haste of the Warrior, Legacy, Tier 0 Level 0

Time Manipulation, Special, Tier 1, Level 0

Space Manipulation, Special, Tier 1, Level 0

Air Manipulation, Special, Tier 1, Level 0

Earth Manipulation, Special, Tier 1, Level 0

Fire Manipulation, Special, Tier 1, Level 0

Water Manipulation, Special, Tier 1, Level 0

Dragon Fist, Martial, Tier 0 Level 0

Qi Blade, Martial, Tier 0 Level 0

Demon Slayer, Rare, Tier 0 Level 0

Thunder Slash, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Wave Chop, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Wind Charge, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Disrupting Blow, Rare, Tier 0, Level 5

Double Slash, Uncommon, Tier 0, Level 2

Slash, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Pierce, Common, Tier 0, Level 3

Parry, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Techniques:

Rapid Blow

Vanishing Steps

Sword Light

Mana Drain

Health Drain

Stamina Drain

Strength Drain

Agility Drain

Endurance Drain

Flicker

Precision Dodge

Curses:

Curse of the Lust Demon, Days Remaining: 29

Bloodlust Malediction, Countdown: 9 days