The Ancients World

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~~~(POV: Saliandra Orvello)~~~

~~~(Location: The Gleem Library, The Underground City Of Maero, Desert, The Continent Of Alforza)~~~

~~~(Time: 2:41 AM)~~~

I stand up after taking a short break. I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go from here. I jumped off on a random floor. I'm glad the Beowolf is dealt with, but this Trial makes me doubt if I can beat it alone. The path ahead has some doors.

The doors I pass are locked, and I keep getting notifications that I need a key to enter them. Which means there are things behind these doors.

After wasting enough time on the doors, I come to a left and right turn that leads in different directions within the castle. There isn't much choice here. If one path doesn't work out, then I'll have to come back for the other one.

Deciding on the left path, I turn and make my way down. There is an eerie quietness that fills this place. Not even an ambient noise. It makes me nervous. My heartbeat is steady in my chest, but I can feel it becoming heavier.

"Someone or something is watching me..."

That's what I'm feeling now. There are eyes on me. I don't know where from or who, but I'm not alone in this place. The hallway is coming to an end, and I make it to the singular door. I place my hand on it, and I get a notification.

[This door is unlocked.]

An unlocked door after passing a bunch of locked ones earlier. That means something has either come through here recently, or it's been left unlocked for me. It's out of place.

"I got a bad feeling about this..."

The door slowly creaks open, and the room that I enter has three more doors. All on a different wall. All are leading in different directions. This is making me wonder what was in the other direction. I'm curious. But if none of this pans out, then I have an option.

Out of the three doors here, I choose the one that keeps going forward. As I open it and walk through it. I notice something. I'm in the hallway with all the locked doors from before. Before I can turn around and get through, it closes on me.

Meaning I'm back at the turn where I started. If all these locked doors are dummy magic doors from another place in this castle, I'm going to be stuck here for a long time.

"There has to be a better way than trial and error..."

There is. When I open a door, I don't walk through it. It should be easy enough to tell that I'm looking at this hallway again. I make my way back to the room with three doors, and this time I pick the one on the left.

As I open it, I notice a familiar look wall. I'm not walking through this one. I spin around and head for the last door left. As I open it, there is something brand new. It's a room made out of logs. After walking through, a noticeable temperature change occurs.

It becomes much warmer, and the scenery is different. The door I walked through closes behind me, and I spin around to check if it's still unlocked.

[This door locked.]

This is good to know. Once through a door that leads somewhere else other than the hallway, the door locks behind you. It makes me think you're on a forced path.

"This is going to take forever."

I already know that the longer I'm in here, the more worried Cera will get. But I've already come this far, and I'm not giving up now. No chance in hell. I'll either complete the Trial, or I'll fail and suffer whatever punishment is deemed necessary.

The castle proves to be a pain to navigate in the following days. I spend hours searching hallways and doors and fighting enemies. Seemingly ending up on different floors than the one I started this shit show on. I don't know how much time has passed for Cera, but it's been about a week for me.

My mind is so focused on this Trial that I'm starting to lose track of time in here. Cera warned me that Trials have time limits, and I'm approaching the limit.

If I'm kicked out of the Trial, maybe I can get Cera's help. After a week of searching through everything, you kind of lose faith in yourself.

"There has to be some sort of clue or cheat to help me with this shit!!!"

I'm genuinely getting mad, and that's rare for me. I'm not a mad person, but getting stuck and lost in such a shitty fucking castle is enough to piss anyone off.

My Player Interface pops up without my permission, and that's when I read a strange message.

[What do you think this place is, Saliandra?]

The person talking to me through the system is unknown to me, and I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to do here.

"Can you hear me?"

It's kind of idiotic when I ask nothing if it can hear me. But to my surprise, I get a response back.

[You've been giving the Trial your all. But as you can see, you're not cut out for puzzles. If you want, I can give you a hint. But it's going to cost you.]

Uh-oh.

I don't know what to expect here. But at this point, I'm desperate.

"What is it I have to give you?"

If it's reasonable, then I'll give it up. But it can kiss my ass if it wants to take something valuable from me.

[The price is different for the people that try. I usually take something that means a lot to them. Swords, armor, skills. Those sorts of things. However, you value something far more than any of those things.]

This is starting to sound like a deal where you give up your soul or something.

[Your memories with the Player named Cera. Also goes by Slayer Zern, Radueriel, and some others where I'm from. If you give me your memories of the first time you two had sex, I'll tell you what you need to know.]

This entire castle and its puzzle have been a trap to wear me down and find a way to get this from me. I know it. Cera would say this. It's been a manipulation. Oh, of course, I'm pissed. But now I know what's going on here.

"There is no way I'm ever giving up anything that important to me. Kiss my ass, ghost-face."

It's the best line I could come up with, given the short time I have.

[Very well, good luck finding what you're looking for. That is, if you even know what it is you're looking for.]

The message from the system makes me mad even more. But it's not from the system. It's from something else.

~~~(POV: Cera Adamo)~~~

~~~(Location: The Gleem Library, The Underground City Of Maero, Desert, The Continent Of Alforza)~~~

~~~(Time: 4:38 AM)~~~

Another few hours have passed since I laid down on the couch after having some food. Sally still has many hours left. At least, I think she does. She's been in that Trial for about 5 and a half hours at this point.

"It's getting real late. Are you sure you don't wish to get some sleep? If she's not out by now, I highly doubt she will be in the next couple of minutes."

Taaro has been keeping me company. I appreciate it, but I don't need someone telling me what I should and shouldn't do. Not right at the moment.

"How about you get us some more food? I'm getting hungry again."

The dark-skinned woman rolls her eyes and stands up. Disappearing in a flash of light to get more food for us.

"I hope you're doing alright in there, Sally..."

I'm wondering how much time has passed in the Trial at this point. It's probably been a while on her end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Below this line, I'll be keeping Cera's player information. That way, I won't have to place it into the story above anymore. It takes about 180 words up.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.237][Tier-4]

[Exp: 72/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden)]

[Stats] [Strength - 7095][Endurance - 7045][Dexterity - 7215][Speed - 8240][Focus - 19,660]

[Mana aura control: 6/100%]

[Health: 76,560,000,000/76,560,000,000] [Mana: 216,600,000,000/216,600,000,000]

[Stat Points: 440] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory] [Dice of Wayland (Divine)] [The Witness (Legendary Sword)] [Fenrir's Whistle (Divine)] [Camping gear] [Fishing poles 2x] [Festival Garbs 2x] [4x EXP Boosts] [Princess Saliandra's Panties (Black Lace)] [Desert Warrior Nomad Set (Rare)]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heaven's light Lvl.74 325/7400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.74 225/7400] [Slash Lvl.92 4600/21000] [Parry Lvl.68 85/6800] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] [Divine Pressure Exertion] [Divinity Pulse] [Controlled Fun] [Aspect of Transportation (Legendary)]