I thought about it for a few minutes, wandering around the room to see if there was any hint or other indication of what trial each corridor contained. I found nothing in that regard, but I did discover that the pile of rubble in the center was actually the remains of a shattered statue. A pair of stone hooves still remained affixed to the exact center of the platform.

“No idea what that’s about,” I muttered, “but I guess if I have to try them all anyway, I might as well just pick a side and get started.”

In the end, I went for the corridor on the left closest to the entrance, deciding to start there and work my way around counter-clockwise. It was a decision that, in the short term, I would come to regret.

The corridor ended at the first ordinary-sized door I'd seen in the place. I opened it and stepped into a slightly wider passage. The moment I did, another notification appeared

[Trial of Pain]

[There is a switch at the other end of this corridor. Pull it to pass the trial.]

[All abilities, spell effects, item effects, and other effects that protect against fire are nullified in this room.]

[The trial will begin when you cross the line on the floor in front of you. Once the trial begins, you will have five minutes to complete it.]

That name for the trial, and those nullification warnings, can only mean one thing...gulp...

I hadn't whatsoever trained for something like this. I hadn't quite embraced my insanity to such an extent. Well, I was going to have to start now, wasn't I?

In my sheer desperation, my mind seized on an old piece of trivia I had learned in my old life. At some point, I had come across a factoid that the secret of fire-walkers, people who walked across hot coals with their bare feet, was to make sure their feet actually spent as little time as possible in physical contact with the hot coals. In other words, they were quick in their movements to minimize the pain they actually felt.

That wasn't directly an option here, but I had a feeling the same principle surely at least vaguely applied. The key would be not to hesitate, and not to stop. No matter what, I had to keep moving forward. If I dwelled on the burning to come, if I tried to head into this tentatively, I'd likely accomplish nothing but getting barbequed for five minutes. With how much HP I'd built up, and with the enhanced defenses from my evolutions...I wouldn't be guaranteed to die, but I hardly wanted to find out firsthand whether I would or not.

Luckily, there wasn't a time limit until I first crossed the line. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I needed to do something that was difficult for me at the best of times: clear my mind. Normally, I thought, and thought, and thought, my mind whirring away constantly. Now? Thinking would only get in the way. I focused on my breathing. I calmed myself. Slowly, I got rid of everything I'd taken with me to Magnos. The people of the Firebrand Liberation Fleet who had, at this moment, no idea what had happened to me, my teammates who were counting on me to succeed at this as much as anyone...Mewi, who would sooner or later be going through a similar ordeal, an ordeal I could show him could be overcome, and my own personal desire not to fail at this task that could impact the lives of quadrillions of sentient beings...

It wasn't easy. It wasn't quick. I don't know how much time passed. It certainly felt like hours. But eventually, I forgot it all, and everything else. There was nothing but me, and the switch. I could see it when I opened my eyes back up, about half a football field's length away from the starting line.

Then, I allowed one thought, and one thought only to seep back into my mind: Move.

I ran, and the moment the slightest part of me crossed the line, dozens of jets of fire on either side flared to life. Move.

My entire body burned. Move.

My body wouldn't run, it was taking on too much damage all over too quickly for that. But still I moved forward.

I wasn't some disciplined monk, Tower class or otherwise. There was only so long I could block out what was happening to me. About ten seconds in, my ability to focus only on the goal instead of the burning failed. By then, though, I was able to tell myself that I had gone in too deep to make it stop by retreating. There was only one way to make it stop:

Move.

One more step, then two, then three. Six steps. Ten steps. Fifteen. The pain kept coming. I had no idea how close I was to death. Somehow, it felt as though the fire was maliciously, actively keeping the release of death away from me. Twenty steps. Thirty. I had to be close now! I had shocked myself with how far I already managed to push after my focus had failed.

Fifty steps, striding as far as I possibly could. By the time I took my sixtieth step since I started counting, anger was starting to kick in again. How friggin' long was this inferno, anyway?! How many minutes had passed? Three? Four? I had to be running out of time. Damn this trial, this entire Sanctuary! I wasn't going to be humiliated like this!

With renewed will, my pace quickened--and in just a few more seconds, I felt my body emerge from the flames. Gasping for breath, not daring to believe I had a moment to spare, I clawed for the switch.

I heard the fire jets cease behind me. For the first time, I noticed the darkened line connected to the switch. A moment later, red light flowed from it, following the line up to and along the ceiling, right into the corridor from where I'd came.

[Trial of Pain: PASS]

[Clear Time: 3:53]

I laughed. For at least as long as I'd taken to pass the trial, I was reduced to hysterics. If there was a trial in this place that was worse, it was beyond even my imagination. And astoundingly, as I picked myself up off the floor, I noticed I was completely uninjured. I checked my health potion injector levels; they were as full as they'd been when I arrived on Magnos.

"Well, that's weird. Maybe they were some kind of crazy, half illusion half real flames?"

I continued collecting myself as I slowly made my way back out to the central hub chamber. The active line now continued all the way to the orb in the center of the grand door, which was now glowing faintly, the same color as the active line. Four more trial corridors across me, three to my left, then the grand door and the entrance on either side. "Ten ways to go," I said, "what is it with this Tower and the number 10, anyway? It's freaking everywhere."

I took another deep breath, then started down the next corridor on the left.