This Trial, If I Can Help It...

In this trial, he meant — if he could help it — not to call on Paranet.

Achievements. He had no sure way of knowing how that factor would be judged, and if Paranet's intervention so much as brushed the result the wrong way, the loss would be anything but small. A trial like this was granted only once. Yujun had no intention of making so dangerous a gamble.

Besides, growth came when a crisis was overcome by one's own strength. He had already caught the thread of an enlightenment while sparring with Chieftain Shehil, and he was certain that the right hardship and adversity would yield him another. Prior experience had taught him well enough that such an insight did more than a gain of a hundred levels.

If anything, arriving here weakened has worked in my favor.

In a sense, hadn't he been delivered to the perfect place to temper himself?

Manuela and Yenil are probably in a somewhat different situation from mine, though.

With the messenger down for the moment, there was no way to know.

The cave, of course, was dark. There were no self-luminous mana stones, nor any other magical apparatus, so he had to walk by ear and by scent — an experience he hadn't had in a very long ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time. The air was eerie. The interior was nothing but gloom and shadow, and perhaps it only felt worse because his senses were no longer what they had been. It was beyond comparison with any horror game.

I'm actually shaking.

He would sooner have fought a giant Tyragos. Thick darkness, an unknown stretch of space where anything might appear — every condition for stirring human fear was already in place.

If Equanimity had at least stayed with me, it might have been different.

He had wondered whether the Equanimity trait, like Swordsmanship, might still be usable as it was. From the look of things, its effect was not activating. Nor did his eyes grow used to the dark with time, as they ordinarily would. It simply stayed dark, as if he were wearing a thick blindfold.

Drip. Drip.

Even the small sound of a droplet falling from above was enough to set his nerves on edge.

Is this what the trial is?

He had been given no precise account of what it entailed. Yujun advanced slowly, sword held out before him, never letting his guard down.

A patter of small footsteps came from ahead.

A small monster?

The footfalls were about what something goblin-sized would make. Yujun lowered the arm that held his sword and waited where he stood. The instant he sensed movement directly in front of him, the blade flashed and swept. A clean, wet slice — he split the unknown creature exactly in two. Three more came charging after it, and he cut down every last one of the small attackers. In a way it was no different from fighting with his eyes shut, and yet there was nothing awkward about it at all.

Redlings?

A monster name he was hearing for the first time. They couldn't have been very strong. If they had been, the achievement would have rated higher.

Does the rank climb one step at a time?

If so, nothing could be better. A final boss appearing before he had even adapted to fighting in the dark would have been a problem of its own.

Yujun walked, and walked on. The path sloped, carrying him gradually downward, but the incline was gentle enough that it never felt as though he had descended into the deep underground.

"Graaaaaah!"

A monstrous cry rang out from not far off. It came just as his vision seemed to be opening a little, and the first thing he felt was relief. This time there was only one. Down the long, narrow, pitch-black road of heavy gloom, the thing's shape was faintly visible, and its bulk was considerable. Unable to make out its exact form, he simply charged in and cut it down.

A clean slice.

So achievement ranks follow the same shape as item ranks? Easy to read. That's nice.

The trial was easier than he had expected. Before he knew it, he had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reached a Unique achievement, and he hadn't done anything special — he had only fought twice. Even assuming the ranks ran on through Mythic and all the way to Transcendent, he was already halfway there. Of course, the higher the rank, the less likely it was that raising it would stay easy. Even so, this was remarkably fast. When he opened his status window to check, his level had climbed a great deal as well. The monsters he had killed must have been higher-level than he had thought.

After that he met three more packs, and he cut them down without a single wound. The achievement rank did not change.

To go further, do I need to kill something stronger?

The way achievements were judged was so bizarre that trying to analyze ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was useless, but he at least understood that slaughtering indiscriminately was not the answer.

I need something strong.

The surroundings seemed considerably brighter. He had thought he would have to walk in nothing but darkness the whole way, yet his eyes did seem to be adapting, little by little. The problem was that it was happening far more slowly than usual. Still, he could see about as well as if a single candle had been lit on a table that came up to his waist.

This isn't brightening with time... It brightens when I kill monsters.

A few more kills, and he was certain. He wanted to slaughter dozens, hundreds of them on the spot and light the whole place up, but monsters did not appear just because you went looking for them. All he could do was walk quickly and deal with whatever came at him.

An Earth Dragon?

He had killed one once before, though that had been when his level was far higher than it was now. Yujun decided to trust his Swordsmanship. Even if an Earth Dragon was the weakest creature to bear the name of dragon, it was plainly no opponent to take lightly — and he carried the added penalty of darkness, which restricted his sight.

Let's see how this goes.

He set his resolve and leapt. The moment he hung in the air, he triggered Super Concentration. In the sensation of everything but himself slowing to a crawl, he watched the Earth Dragon's eyes turn, unhurried, toward him. As he dropped he breathed out a faint thread of mana and stacked on speed, and in an instant he was at the creature's snout.

A clean slice. The Swordsmanship trait alone raised his attack power by a wide margin, and he had thrown the force of the fall in on top of it. No matter how tough an Earth Dragon's hide, this was not a blow it could withstand. Ordinarily a severed snout would not have been enough to stop its breath, but the force Yujun delivered — the impact itself — was greater than imagination allowed. The Earth Dragon appeared and, in the same moment, died a glorious death.

The title's effect was tremendous — excessive, even, for Mythic rank.

In a single leap, it had become a Mythic achievement. He had obtained a Mythic title, so in a way it was only natural.

But... does it make any sense for an Earth Dragon to show up already? This isn't something a barbarian could handle.

Killing an Earth Dragon was an absurd enough feat to earn the title of Great Barbarian in one stroke — and not after a desperate struggle. He had ended it in a single blow. It was not an achievement ordinary barbarians could attain. Even Shehil in his prime would have struggled if he had taken the field himself. Knowing that, Yujun couldn't help thinking this trial was a little off.

Do the monsters that appear change according to one's achievement?

If so, the time needed to reach the maximum achievement would shrink drastically. Welcome news.

Yujun did not leave the Earth Dragon's corpse at once. He searched it for anything worth taking. A Legendary item did turn up, but its level requirement was 450, and it was an axe — nothing he would ever use. His inventory wouldn't open, so he summoned Paranet for a moment, pressed the axe into his hands, and dismissed him again.

Summoning him once shouldn't lower my achievement, should it?

"......"

Time passed, and nothing happened. Fortunately, there seemed to be no such unreasonable penalty.

After that, Yujun met not a single monster. At last he came to a dead-end wall and scratched his head.

"There wasn't any other path."

It had been a single road, so he knew this was the right one. He looked up. There was a hole barely large enough for a small dog to squeeze through, and a damp wind was drifting lazily in from it. Yujun kicked off the ground, leapt, and struck the ceiling hard where the hole was.

A heavy boom. There was no need to fear the cave collapsing. This was a cavern that had held even an Earth Dragon; an impact of this degree would not bring it down. One punch, and the hole in the ceiling gaped far wider. He leapt again without hesitation, thrust his body through, and found himself in a cave of the same character. If there was a difference, it was that the cave had grown larger — and that, from far off, an ominous presence came rolling in thick.

That has the feel of a final boss.

He had already reached a Mythic achievement. This would be the offering required to cross into Transcendent — the monster after the Earth Dragon. There was no way it was weak. Something that could not even be compared to an Earth Dragon might well be waiting.

If I can't handle it, I'll run.

Nothing would be more regrettable than dying now, with a Mythic achievement already secured, and letting the event end. He still had to obtain the key to the shop where Peace Contribution could be spent. First, he had to stay alive.

I reached a Mythic achievement and still didn't get the key... so it wasn't something obtained in this trial cave?

Surely he would not have to wander this barbarian world without a destination. The thought alone was dreadful. For now, being unable to use magic was the greatest inconvenience of all. He had only realized it after becoming a barbarian — just how convenient magic truly was. Convenient enough to nearly replace the science of Earth, and yet from the moment he became a barbarian he could not use it at all. It was nothing but stifling.

I'll have to find the key before I can leave.

Then a system message appeared and stopped him in his tracks.

He had no idea why it would hold the life of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mere player so dear, but Yujun intended to go as far as the road would take him. He ignored the system warning and walked on. If it truly seemed too dangerous, he could simply summon Paranet and set him up as a tank.