The Stubborn Light of a Dying Flame

Rayna hit the ground hard, her weapon smacking into her nose with an unpleasant crunch. She followed Emma’s advice, immediately spamming her healing spell.

It took seven times to bring her back to full Health.

Rayna jumped to her feet, grabbing her awl pike off the ground and pointing it at the path ahead. She was in some sort of garden. The sun shone down on her with a gentle warmth and a sweet smell wafted to her on a soft breeze. The path ahead was lined with hedges, blocking her view of the rest of the area.

Rayna hesitated, confusion holding her still. Should she go down the path? That seemed to be the way the System wanted her to go, seeing as there were no other paths available.

She could just turn around and walk back through the portal. It would result in a penalty title, but this place was giving her the creeps, even if she didn’t get the same bad feeling as she had from the other portals.

And she almost just killed herself with her own weapon! Who was she kidding? Her best chance to get through this was to forfeit her way through the tutorial and hope there was a crafting Class that didn’t need to fight in order to level up.

Rayna turned around to leave, but the portal was blocked by a forcefield. She placed her hand on the shimmering wall that stood between her and safety, frustration flaring in her chest.

“Is that really necessary?” she snapped.

The System answered her with a notification.

Special Trial: The Lost Garden.

Find the special treasure hidden deep within the garden. Rewards will be calculated based on player performance during the trial. If the time limit is exceeded, the player will be returned to the tutorial area, but no penalty title will be issued. Forfeiting is not permitted.

Any additional treasures discovered during exploration will be transferred to the player’s Inventory and locked until after the remaining time has elapsed, so as not to affect the results of the trial. Additionally, the player may not gain any stat points or levels during the trial, all Experience gained will be applied after returning to the tutorial area.

A detailed treasure map can be found in your System Menu.

Be advised, this trial is considered highly dangerous, and caution is recommended.

With great risk comes great reward, but don’t overextend yourself. A treasure is useless in the hands of the dead.

Time remaining: 06d 23h 47m

“A week?” Rayna exclaimed. Her initial excitement at the prospect of a treasure hunt was eclipsed by the idea of a one-week battle-filled death trial with no chance of escape.

She read through the prompt again and one sentence stood out to her.

If the time limit is exceeded, the player will be returned to the tutorial area, but no penalty title will be issued.

She wouldn’t get a penalty title?

Rayna grinned. She didn’t have to complete the trial at all. she could just wait until the end of the timer, and she would be teleported back to safety. No rewards, but also no punishments.

Wait, what am I going to eat?

The sudden realization sent Rayna rushing to her Inventory to see if she had any food. She sighed in relief.

Travel Rations x21

The trial provided enough rations for the week. Rayna stowed her weapon in her Inventory and sat down. She browsed her available books from the welcome package, settling on one titled Bestiary: Volume I.

It was much more interesting than the history book had been. The bestiary described hundreds of common monsters; their stats, their fighting patterns, even their habits and dietary needs. She flipped through the pages, wiling the hours away as the sun crept across the sky.

Cruennix Wolf

Average Lifespan: 20 years

Base Stats

Str: 15

Dex: 15

End: 25

Vit: 10

Int: 5

Wis: 5

Cruennix Wolves are a canine species that lives in the colder regions of Northern Ember (Their name approximately translates to ‘bloody snow’). They have a thick fur coat to ward against the arctic climate and their coloring usually consists of white and varying levels of red patterning.

Diet: Omnivorous. Nuts, berries, small animals.

Temperament: Docile, but defensive. They will lash out if they feel threatened or if a person moves too close to their den.

Leveling Speed: High. Due to their proximity to other creatures and the cut-throat nature of their natural habitat, Cruennix Wolves are more likely to reach levels in the high thirties before they are killed by hunters or other natural predators.

Healing Speed: Medium. Cruennix Wolves have a naturally lower metabolism, which is exacerbated by their tendency to hibernate through long winters. While they are likely to recover from non-fatal wounds, it can take them months to heal from a serious injury.

Most Valuable Stats: Dexterity and Strength. The Cruennix Wolf is an ambush predator that will attempt to rush in and take their prey down before it has a chance to respond.

Weakest Stats: Intelligence and Wisdom. The Cruennix Wolf has no natural magical attacks.

Rayna couldn’t help but marvel at the goldmine of information she had found. This book should be required reading for every new player. It was like a cheat sheet for monsters.

She kept reading, finding several interesting entries, all of which seemed fairly manageable at Level 1.

Robi

Average Lifespan: 5 years

Base Stats

Str: 5

Dex: 45

End: 5

Vit: 2

Int: 15

Wis: 15

Robis are a rodent species with rusty red fur. They are extremely easy to kill and rarely pose any danger, so long as a player exercises the proper level of caution. The danger from Robis come from their tendency to travel in large hordes.

Diet: Omnivorous. They eat anything that they can penetrate with their teeth. Their teeth constantly regenerate through magic and are stronger than the creature’s Strength stat would suggest.

Temperament: Aggressive. Robis will attack anything on sight. They are territorial and view any other living creature as an enemy. Sometimes, colony infighting will lead to the decimation of the whole group, due to their low sense of self-preservation.

Leveling Speed: Variable. Their propensity for violence leads to quick leveling, but they don’t often live to the end of their natural lifespan. It is rare to see a Robi above Level 10.

Healing speed: High. While their Endurance is low, a Robi’s natural regeneration speed is higher than their stats might suggest. More research is needed to determine if this is a magical phenomenon or if this could reveal some nuance of the System that has yet to be explored.

Most Valuable Stats: Dexterity, Wisdom and Intelligence. A Robi’s main mode of attack is to rush in and bite their victims. Their magically strengthened teeth can punch through rune-enhanced armor, but their low IQ leads them to attack randomly. Usually, they will go for the legs or an exposed finger, making it fairly simple to dispatch the monster before any serious injury has been incurred.

Note: the danger increases when dozens of Robis attack at once. Avoid hordes of these monsters if your Endurance is lower than 150.

Weakest Stats: Vitality and Endurance. Robis have only 5 Endurance, leading most injuries to be fatal. Additionally, their lack of Vitality makes it easier to kill them as their starting HP pool is only 20 points. Slice them with even a dull blade and they will bleed out before they can attack a second time.

Rayna was starting to feel better about her chances of surviving this. The Cruennix Wolf was stronger than her, but it couldn’t match her Dexterity. The Robi was as fast as her, but it only had a third of her Endurance. She spent a whole day reading through the bestiary, noting any monsters that would be troublesome if she ran into them.

For the most part, Rayna thought she would be fine as long as she came up against a Level 1 or 2. They were usually only strong in one or two stats, meaning that proper technique could counter raw strength.

After considering the matter further, Rayna realized that she was actually better off than most of the monsters listed in the book. She was naturally strong in four stats: Vitality, Wisdom, Intelligence and Dexterity.

Rayna yawned as the sun tucked itself behind the horizon. It was surprisingly peaceful for a death trial. The first day passed without seeing a single monster.

Rayna spent the second day reading the other two bestiary volumes. She found a journal and a pen in her welcome package and used them to take notes on some of the more notable beasts.

Robi — Easy to kill.

Emurian — Specializes in Strength and Endurance. Use ranged weapons with high power.

Chiki — Fast and deadly. Don’t engage.

Lyre Rat — Uses poison as main attack, no threat to Lerians.

The more notes she took, the more confident she became that she could handle most of the monsters in the tutorial with the proper tactics.

By the morning of the third day, she got tired of waiting. Rayna stowed her journal and took a look at the treasure map. The maze was larger than Rayna had been expecting, and she could understand why the System gave so much time for the trial. It looked like it could take the whole week to reach the center, even if she didn’t stop for any of the treasure.

Rayna set out into the maze, keeping her weapon stowed for now, since she could pull it out at a moment’s notice, and she was too weak to carry it constantly.

The hedges were nearly ten feet tall, banishing any thought of just climbing over them. The map didn’t tell her what was in the maze, but there were small dots in various dead ends that Rayna assumed were treasure.

She confirmed this theory as she turned the corner to find a treasure chest about the size of a lunch box sitting at the end of the path. Rayna couldn’t help the excited grin that spread across her face as she ran toward the treasure.

A click echoed ominously in the silence.

Rayna dropped to the ground as a small object flew over her head.

“What the hell?” Rayna looked around to try to find the source of the projectile, but the area was still empty. Not even the hedges rustled in the wind.

She stood up and heard another click.

Rayna dropped back to the ground, this time rolling over in time to reach up and catch the object midair.

She pulled her arm down quickly so she wouldn’t trigger the trap again and stared at the dagger she had just caught. It was one thing to know that she had three times the Dexterity of a human, it was another thing entirely to see it in action.

Could she dodge an arrow? A bullet? She didn’t really have a way to test these things, but she was intrigued by the mere prospect. Rayna stowed the dagger in her Inventory, and a window opened in front of her.

A weapon has been placed in your Inventory that is neither a treasure nor the weapon provided for you before entering the portal. Such weapons will be available to you only until the end of the first trial. After such time they will be removed from your Inventory and replaced with treasures of equal value.

Rayna’s smile widened. So any weapons she found in this maze would not only help her in surviving it, they would turn into some sort of loot when she emerged from the trial?

She saw no downsides to this arrangement.

Rayna considered her options and decided the direct approach would be best. She jumped to her feet, remaining standing this time as she caught the daggers that flew at her from inside the hedge. They came from multiple directions, making it impossible to pinpoint the location of the trap. She stowed them in her Inventory as she caught them, settling into a rhythm that was almost boring in its simplicity.

It took ten minutes for the trap to run out of weapons to throw at her, and by the end Rayna was beginning to wonder if the obviously magical trap had the power to create daggers out of thin air.

When the barrage finally ended, Rayna received another System prompt.

You have disarmed the trap Flying Daggers.

Exp +10

Coins +10

The action has been added to your trial score. You can review your score in the trial section of your System Menu. A higher trial score will result in better rewards.

Current Trial Score: 10 Points

Rayna didn’t have any frame of reference for whether or not ten points was a lot, but the fact that she made progress without having to kill a monster was a pleasant surprise.

She walked over to the chest, her eyes peeled for any other traps, and went to open the lid.

To her disappointment, the chest vanished into her Inventory as soon as she touched it. A few seconds of experimentation was enough to confirm what the System had told her about the treasures; they wouldn’t be accessible until after she returned to the tutorial area.

She checked her Menu to see if her score had changed.

Current Trial Score: 15 Points

Rayna excitement grew. Not only could she find treasure during the trial, but she would also be earning points toward her final grade, further increasing her overall rewards.

She forced herself to calm down as she opened the trial section of her System Menu, mentally planning her route through the maze. The map practically sparkled with the hundreds of treasures that were scattered among the hedges.

It was going to be a busy week.

* * *

You have disarmed the trap Enchanted Crossbow.

Exp +100

Coins +100

Rayna sat down hard, placing the cursed crossbow in her Inventory. She had spent the last two days dismantling literally hundreds of traps and the further she ventured into the maze, the more obnoxious the traps were getting.

This one wouldn’t have been as bad if she had been fast enough to catch crossbow bolts. Apparently, the answer to whether or not she could catch a bullet was decidedly ‘no’.

Rayna cast Basic Heal a few times to stop her HP from tanking as the hole in her hand finally started to close. She had been too cocky, but pain was a good reminder that she wasn’t invincible.

Rayna pulled out one of her rations, grimacing at what could only be loosely described as ‘food’. They had the taste of an over-seasoned steak topped with ice cream and pickle juice, and the texture and smell of a protein bar that had been forgotten at the bottom of a gym bag for several years.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Rayna said aloud, taking a bite.

The phrase was almost losing its meaning with how often Rayna had uttered it in the past couple days. Whether it was choosing between her sweat-stained shirt and her blood-stained shirt, or using a dagger to force her hair into a bun so it wouldn’t keep falling into her eyes while she disarmed traps, she was becoming a master of making do with what she had.

She checked to make sure that the area was clear before settling down for the night. Tomorrow would be her fifth day in the trial, and she had cleared most of the treasure on the map.

A few lucky finds that were not indicated on the map told Rayna that the marked treasure was by no means the extent of what was available, but she simply didn’t have the time to go looking for extra treasure without a guide.

She was convinced that the special treasure would be at the center of the maze. That was where all the roads were leading to.

Honestly, it could hardly be called a maze at all. The pattern was simplistic, and if a player came to a dead end, they only had to backtrack a few yards to find a path forward.

Rayna checked her trial score.

Current Trial Score: 15,810 Points

Treasures Collected: 260

Traps Disarmed: 204

The numbers would seem more impressive to Rayna if she didn’t know just how easy it had been to disarm or outlast most of the traps in the maze. Some of them were so old that they only had one round of ammunition left, but the System still gave her points as if she had done something monumental.

Luck is a skill, Rayna thought. Although now that it was a stat that one could have, Rayna wasn’t sure that her luck was that high, compared to the standard.

Regardless of how she had earned her points, Rayna was feeling pretty accomplished for only having started the trial two days ago.

Her Dexterity was her greatest asset. Not only because it let her deftly avoid most of the traps, but also because it drastically shortened her travel time. She could have run straight to the middle of the maze in a couple hours if she took a more direct route.

But then she would miss all the treasures and points along the way.

Rayna yawned, closing out her screen. At this rate, she would make it to the middle by the end of the week. She just hoped that whatever trap awaited there wasn’t too much for her to handle.