The stairway was dimly lit, the only source of light being the faint glow of their auras as they ascended higher and higher.
Stark was the first who went, so he was technically leading the group, with the rest of them following closely behind.
Stark’s clone was climbing the stairs backward, keeping its aura eyes on the group and making sure that a fair distance was kept, and if something ever happened, it wouldn’t hesitate to all its arsenal of skills to at least take down two of them with it.
As they climbed, the atmosphere grew heavier with each step, the weight of their experiences in the trial pressing down on them.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of climbing, they reached yet another bronze door that looked very similar to the one he had opened before.
Stark approached the door cautiously, there was no handle or key slot this time, so he just pressed his palm on it, and then…
~FWISH, DING~
[Chosen has reached the third sublevel first, granting reward…]
‘…’ all the others peeked and saw the panel appear above the door, their eyes widening.
‘Seems like that trial really wants us to kill each other, haha…’ if the first person to touch the door would be rewarded, then it meant people would fight to the death to reach it first.
This time though, no one did anything, they all just stared at Stark as the panel closed, and the door began to slowly open, revealing the third sublevel.
[Sublevel 3: The Dungeon of Fear]
The room beyond the bronze door was vast and shrouded in darkness, save for a few flickering torches that lined the walls.
‘Does every floor have a different atmosphere and aesthetic?’ Stark wondered as he stepped foot inside the floor.
[Once you enter a floor, you aren’t allowed to go back!]
‘Of course…’ Stark didn’t even bother to look behind him, instead opting to check out his surroundings.
He found himself in a dungeon-like environment, with damp stone walls and floors with patterns, and in the distance, he could hear cold metal chains rattling against the stone.
It truly felt like they were in a prison dungeon: occasional torches as sole source of light in the darkness, footsteps and weird noises in the distance, cells with sturdy silver bars, basically… this floor was much more oppressing than the previous.
[Introducing a new perk once everyone enters this floor :D]
‘Not like I’m gonna sit around and wait for the others to find out,’ Stark gestured for his clone to follow him, and it nodded as they both turned around another corner while the others just entered the floor.
‘…’ no more talking now, and each and every one of them headed toward a different path, making sure to split as to not allow anyone to try and betray someone else.
They were all very cautious of their surroundings, so normal surprise attacks probably won’t work.
~PLOP, CLING~
The ambient sound of water drops and of the chains was still present, but it didn’t bother Stark as he kept going deeper, his clone right behind, the smile on its face never going away.
And after only five minutes…
[Everyone has entered the third sublevel!]
Seems like Akira and Leader easily found the exit thanks to their maps, and so the panel that would introduce the new ‘killing’ perk soon appeared.
[Introducing the “TOP 3” perk!]
[If before the end of sublevel 2, only three people remain alive, then you will completely skip sublevel 1 (the hardest and most deadly of them all) as well as the ones you are in, even if it is sublevel 3, immediately heading toward the warden!]
‘Cheap tricks…’ Stark couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, basically, if right now only three people were alive, then they would immediately be sent to the warden, cutting short any danger they would come across.
This would completely defy the point of this trial, as it is to prove that the domination users in question are worthy of owning their abilities.
So why…?
‘Maybe… just maybe… the warden is something that even three domination users cannot take down, sending those alive to their doom…’ he couldn’t know right now, but to be honest, all of this seemed so weird, and it was entirely possible that after each floor, the perk would become more and more tempting, to the point even Stark or even Officer would be forced to kill.
“Spatial Inventory,” Stark opened the void and took out two [Potion of Regeneration], three [Potion of Speed] and three [Potion of Strength], then he drank them all, getting him back to full HP and granting him and his clone a boost in speed and strength.
~PLOP, PLOP~
There were skeletons of humans inside the dozens of medieval jail cells scattered across the hallways, yet he hadn’t encountered any monster yet.
And then…
~DING!~
[As the first to get the key AND open the door to the next floor, you have been granted one reward from the list without having to kill!]
[Reminder that if you kill, you get your map back and two rewards instead of one, wink wink ;)]
‘Doing anything to tempt me, heh~’ Stark ignored the second panel and instead focused on the first one.
[Would you like to unlock your reward now?]
[Y/N?]
A colorful clickable button appeared below the question, and Stark didn’t hesitate to click on Y as there was no reason not to.
Of course, under normal circumstances, the others would have to think about instantly using their rewards since they would need to hide them in case anybody would steal them or even figure out that they had murdered, but it was a different story for Stark since… he has [Spatial Inventory]!
[Nice! Now just spin the wheel!]
‘Seems oddly familiar,’ this almost reminded Stark of the times he had to spin his class wheel, but of course deep he knew this was different.
A crimson wheel with horns on top of it and a very overwhelming aura appeared in front of the boy.
There were 10 sections, except the one with the ‘Killing Spree’ perk was chained, meaning it was impossible to get.
[If you fall on ‘Killing Spree’, you get nothing 😀 (should have killed more people, its on you)]
[Now just pull the tail to spin the wheel!]
And as it said, a demon tail emerged from the front, inviting Stark to pull it, and he did so without a single ounce of hesitation.
[Good luck!] and then all the panels disappeared.
~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~
The wheel began to spin at intense speed, hovering over every perk available.
‘Not as much pressure as the classes, that’s for sure…’ yet he was surprisingly calm.
And so after around thirty seconds…
~BIP, BIP…~ it slowed down, then suddenly stopped moving altogether, ~BEEEEPPPP~
It had chosen the reward, and it was…
[Reward: Revive Token!]
