Level 1 Fallen

The four of us teleported back to the entrance of the Trial of Resolve, and Marron stepped off to the side to ensure that she didn’t accidentally ‘begin’ the trial. “For now, Drake, send out one of your sentries. Since we don’t know if the trial is going to mess with us again, I’ll have you all memorize the route to the vault before we get going.”

I didn’t hesitate, sending a sentry out and letting Marron direct it where to go. The path was long and convoluted, passing more than twenty intersections. At one point, it seemed to circle back on itself on the map, but we knew by now that wasn’t the case with the spatial distortions. Then, finally, she told me to stop at a particular intersection and turn around.

I did so, expecting the screen to go dark again. However, instead I found that the sentry’s view shifted to a room lined with ancient chests. Marron smiled broadly at this, happy that the path worked. “Once you’ve all memorized the path, we can get going. This time, I’d prefer if Drake was at the back of the party, though.”

I blinked in confusion, but Marron quickly explained. “I don’t honestly have the confidence to get through this place. At the back, though, you’d be able to get a better view of who falls for various traps. You can also send sentries ahead to float alongside each of us as guides.”

“That said,” Diane began, “we shouldn’t absolutely trust those guides. If we’re sure that they’re going in the wrong direction, we should trust our own judgment more. In the worst case scenario, we know that we need to turn around after twenty-three intersections. Once we’ve hit that number, we either reach the treasury or fail the dungeon.”

With that decided, we all committed the map to memory, making sure that we didn’t have to trust the system’s interface at any point during the run. After all, I had already seen firsthand that the illusions here could distort the system’s windows.

Thus, we set off with our new marching order, passing through one intersection after another. Every now and then, I saw what seemed like one of the girls ahead taking a wrong turn, but just continued on the path as I remembered it, finding them walking alongside the sentry again after passing through the next intersection.

Despite the frequent attempts to guide us down a wrong path, there were no illusions of fatal traps like the bursts of flame or rolling stones. Until finally, when we reached the twenty-third intersection, I saw each of them reach the end and turn around one by one, disappearing in a shower of blood and gore.

To me, this seemed more suspicious than anything. After all, when they actually were killed by the dungeon, there was no such fanfare, as if they had simply been erased without a sound. Now, it was as if the dungeon were intentionally making it appear as if they had died a gruesome death to dissuade anyone from following them.

Once I turned around at the intersection, I found the trio waiting for me in the treasure room. Marron seemed legitimately surprised that she had made it with the rest of us, her eyes wide in astonishment. Just to be safe, she spun around a few times on the spot. “Wow, I really did come all this way, huh? I guess they must have anticipated that anyone walking down that specific path had already passed the trials, so they didn’t hide any real traps to stop them.”

Meanwhile, Bella was already moving towards the chests, eager to see what loot there was. Unfortunately, when she opened the first one, all that greeted her was a puff of ancient dust and some tattered cloth.

“..What?” she looked down at the chest in confusion, moving on to the next one, only to be greeted with a similar sight. “Don’t tell me that we did all of that for nothing.”

“The treasure is probably hidden in the past,” Diane speculated. “Like Marron said, they know that someone who came this far would have already passed the trial and obtained the skill. They probably have a mechanic that allows them to hide treasure in a ‘time’ that can only be accessed and retrieved by someone with that specific skill.”

Marron let out a light sigh when she heard this. “Mana Burnout isn’t particularly fun, you know?” she asked in a somewhat bitter tone. “I’ll be back once I’ve looted everything, then.” After saying that, she disappeared in a flash of white light.

We waited for a few minutes, only for her to return with empty hands and an awkward expression. Apparently, acquiring the loot wasn’t as simple as Diane thought. Once Marron was back in the past, she was allowed to place a single item in each chest, with instructions that the item would then appear in the chest in the present. In other words, she was allowed to choose her own loot.

Thus, rather than picking everything herself, she came back to ask us each what we’d like. Looking around, there were a total of twelve chests, which meant three items for each of us. Then, she began listing the options, such as rare materials, weapons, items, or blank skill books.

I was quite confused by the mention of blank skill books, so I chose those without hesitation. After all, I relied far more on skills than I did on armor or weapons. Meanwhile, Diane chose a pair of short swords and a mask. Since Bella was already getting a rifle from Marron as her quest reward, she chose two pistols and a skill book.

Once the choices were made, Marron disappeared once again. One by one, the chests in the room began to glow, the two that Bella previously opened snapping themselves shut. When she returned, she pointed out to us which chests were set aside for each of our choices.

Naturally, I moved first to the ones she marked for me, opening them one by one. Sure enough, inside each chest was a dusty old tome without a cover. However, once I reached out and grabbed the books, a change occurred. A window flashed in front of my eyes.

Acquired Ancient Wisdom Skill Book.

Analyzing current traits, skills, and self.

Writing skill book.

Skill Book: Ancient Tutor acquired.

Blinking, I looked at the skill, taking a moment before briefly learning it to see what the skill did.

Ancient Tutor (Utility - 2☆): An ancient skill that allows the user to designate a student. As long as this skill is active and the student remains nearby, that student will receive an increase in all forms of experience.

My eyes widened slightly when I read the description, quickly realizing the intention behind the blank skill books. They were designed in such a way that they would only reveal their power after sitting dormant for thousands of years, thus becoming ‘Ancient Wisdom Skill Books’. These books would then create a skill that the user would find useful with their current abilities.

I looked towards the remaining two chests that had been designated for me, picking up the next book without hesitation. This one changed into a skill called Ancient Shifter, a martial skill that allowed me to alter my form into an entity of similar size. At first, I wasn’t sure what this skill was intended for, until I started to think about what it could do after evolving.

This skill seems like it was designed to help me maintain my normal appearance even when I use my Dragon King skill… This was definitely something that I desperately needed, as fighting in a small passage like this would drastically limit my options.

As for the third skill book, I hesitated. Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh. “Diane, you take this one,” I told her, earning a surprised look from Diane. Seeing how the old swords had been dyed black when she grabbed them, she had likely figured out the same function of the items brought from ancient times.

“Are you sure?” she asked as she approached, looking at the untouched skill book. “You can never have too many options, right?”

However, I shook my head. “I’ve got plenty of ways to fight right now, and the first two already gave me what I needed most. It’d be better for you to use this, since Bella acquired a skill book herself as well.”

“Oh?” Diane looked at me questioningly. “One of those skill books let you cast magic skills as if they were martial ones?”

“...No, no they did not,” I said, clenching my fists and resisting the urge to grab the book, just in case it really became that. “But I’m serious. Your concept of playing a ninja is bound to need a lot of really unique skills that are hard to come by.”

Diane’s gaze seemed to soften just a bit as she nodded her head, stepping closer and taking the skill book. “In that case, I won’t refuse.”

I watched as the skill book changed into one labeled Ancient Seals. She learned the skill, her eyes lighting up. “I can create seals to store items now.”

“Is that really useful when you have your inventory?” Bella asked, picking up her own skill book, which turned into Ancient Bullet Craftsmanship. “Huh… this lets me make different models of bullets to use with my skills.”

“Nice,” Diane commented, before explaining. “And this can be used in addition to the inventory. So, if I seal ten items into a scroll, that scroll only takes one inventory space. Or, I can use it to hide traps. If I’m right about what this will evolve into later, this should be a really powerful ninja skill.”

After saying that, she turned towards me with a happy smile. “Thanks,” she said in a genuine tone, and I simply chuckled with a nod.

Looking over at Marron, who had collected a map, a pair of boots, and a cloak, Bella spoke up in confusion. “Does this mean that Marron will be able to get exclusive items like this from now on?”

Marron froze up at the question, unsure herself, but it was Diane that refuted it. “It’s highly unlikely. Time travel powers should have far too many limitations. Only a dungeon specifically designed with a mechanic to interact with it should have an option like this. And the only dungeons that should offer something like that are Cromoran dungeons created near or after the end of the Bloodline War. This might even be the only such dungeon.”

“I suppose I’ll find out eventually,” Marron said with a smile, holding up the map that she received. “This map is said to record dungeons with ‘historical significance’, so I plan to use it to explore from now on.”

With that, we had received our loot, so we returned to Fallcry to receive the rifle for Bella. As we walked, a message appeared in my interface. Are you there, Drake? Nuoda asked, sending another one a few moments later. Oh, there you are! Finally, i’ve been trying to reach you for days!

Blinking, I responded to the message while walking alongside the others. Sorry, I’ve been in special dungeons, so the connection was likely cut whenever you tried to message me. What’s the matter?

There’s a dragon in the palace. My eyes went wide at Nuoda’s message, my footsteps halting as I looked towards the center of the city.

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