We'd been walking for about half an hour when I realized we were going in circles. I wanted to ask what was going on, but the middle aged man had this vibe about him that screamed "No talking!" He'd randomly halt for 5 to 10 seconds, then keep going. Sometimes, he'd turn and walk down a tunnel we'd already walked down, sometimes he'd even walk back and forth through a tunnel as if pacing, while expecting me to follow him.
Finally, I just couldn't stand it anymore, "Sir, what are we doing?" I asked trying to sound respectful, the dude is crazy powerful after all, but it came out sounding annoyed. Who wouldn't be after being led around in a giant circle?
He didn't even respond, just kept going as if he couldn't hear me. About five minutes later, we stepped into the same tunnel shaft for the fifth time and I'd about had it. I was about to start yelling at the man, but instead of a tunnel we were walking into a giant cavern filled with buildings and people.
For the first time since we left the goblin town, the guide talked to me, "These are the servant's quarter, library, practice chambers, store, smith, etc... The town you ran into earlier is the old one from before we had to expand. These days, we let goblins take over the upper parts of the tunnels as a part of the trial."
*Ding*
*Safe Zone Discovered*
*Enter a private room to log off safely*
"The second part of the trial is in the library, while the third part is in the basement" He points at a massive building in the middle of the bustling town. "That's the library, the basement can be accessed from there too."
He kept leading the way towards the town, and as we got close the servants started to bow and calling out "Elder Smith!" to the old man, while looking at me jealously.
"Servant's are those who fail to pass the trial, but manage to survive. We take them in and train them in return for completing menial tasks. After they reach the peak of body refinement, servants can either choose to leave the mountain or take the test to become a true disciple a second time around." Elder Smith replied to me, while smiling genially at everyone we passed
"Elder Smith, do I need to wait to take the next trial since I finished so quickly?" I asked as we grew close to the library.
"You should be able to begin the 2nd trial immediately, the third trial will have to wait for tomorrow at the earliest. I'd suggest that you rest for a while and eat some real food before you being the 2nd trial though. You're lucky, those who take all 6 days to finish will have to immediately begin the next trial!"
Walking into the giant building that Elder Smith had called a library, my jaw dropped as I turned in a full circle. "My god, there must be millions of books!" I exclaimed happily.
Elder Smith just snorted disdainfully, "Yeah, but they're mostly duplicates. If you manage to pass the test, then you can enter the Refuge's library that's where all the good stuff is." Then, he approached a Latin man who was emitting an aura so strong I could barely breathe. Elder Smith's genial smile disappeared when he saw him saying, "This is Outer Elder Keeper, just call him Elder Keeper. Keeper, this kid passed the first trial in just over 28 hours and needs a room for the 2nd trial." Then he just left without looking back.
'What was that all about?' I thought to myself as I bowed respectfully to the powerful man, "Elder Keeper!"
The man just snorted in disgust before saying, "My name is Carlos, that asshole just likes to act all pretentious when he's slumming it down here."
"Elder Carlos!" I said loudly, bowing again.
"Better, I hate it when people call me keeper." He said, before grabbing my shoulder. The world blurred, and the next thing I knew I was standing in a small room with a desk, chair, and bed. "You can rest in here, some food is on the desk. When you're ready to take the second trial crush this talisman" He handed me a paper talisman with runes etched on it, "while sitting at the desk." Then he vanished, and I found myself alone in a room without a door.
"How did we even get in here?" I asked aloud, then said "Screw it, I need a break." Laying down on the bed, I said "Logout!"
Next thing I knew, I was back in my body. Gasping awake, I found that everyone else had left. 'What is that smell?!?' Rushing into the bathroom, I looked into the mirror and noticed that I was covered from head to toe in filth. Moving my finger to my nose, I started retching again at the smell. "Is this the legendary expelling impurities?!?!" I yelled in surprise while stripping out of my clothes.
Thankfully, when finishing the basement Connor's dad installed a shower down here. Turning on the shower, I jumped in immediately not caring that it was cold. Looking down, black gunk was washing off my body in a stream before getting stuck in the drain of the shower. 'That's gonna be a bitch to clean.'
Half an hour later, I realized that I had nothing to wear. Looking for my phone, I couldn't find it. Then, I remembered that I had an implant now, so I used it to call Connor.
*Briiing* *Briiing* *Briiiing*
"Stinky!" He shouted while laughing, "We were wondering if we needed to break out the hazmat gear to come down there and wake you up!" I could just barely hear Beth and Rick laughing in the background.
"You're just jealous, I bet you haven't expelled you're impurities yet!"
"At least I didn't ruin a perfectly good gaming chair, then force my friends to run away in terror!" He responded
"Whatever, just bring me some clothes!" I yelled back
"Hell no! Just come upstairs with a towel, I'm not going into that disaster zone!" Then the line went dead.
Cursing, I rushed out the door and through the basement. 'Those jokers!' I thought to myself, as I broke through the police emergency/disaster tape covering the top of the stairs.
Thankfully, Connor was standing there with a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He's about 4 inches taller than me, but we're close enough that if I roll the pants a couple times it's not that bad. Getting dressed quickly, I heard a groaning noise from the roof. Walking into the entrance hall, I looked up two stories to the ceiling it almost looked like it was buckling.
"What the?" I whispered to myself.
That's when Connor's dad ran into the garage, coming out carrying a couple snow and regular shovels yelling, "We have to shovel the roof before it's too late!"
"Damn, how long was I out?" I asked in surprise, wondering how much snow could've fallen that the rough was about to collapse.
"We entered MSE at 11 pm Friday, it's nearly noon on Sunday." said Connor, as he ran to follow his dad upstairs.
"Shit!" I said in surprise, following him, while Beth and Rick where just on my heels.
Connor's dad had run into his bedroom, opened a window, and was just finishing pulling out the screen. The others all took the time to put on boots and coats, but as the roof groaned again I just grabbed the biggest shovel I could and hopped out in my bare feet and t-shirt. "This better work" I mumbled myself while manipulating air energy into a barrier to keep the heat in.
The snow was so deep that I couldn't get to the roof in one go. Instead, I had to take off layers at a time. The deeper I went, the more compressed and heavier it was, finally I finished my section of the roof dumping it off the side.
That's when I moved to the section of the roof over the foyer. Reaching a decent starting point, I started plowing the first layer of snow off the roof. When I reached the middle of the roof, about 5 feet from the front door, the groaning turned into cracking.
"RUN!" Connor's dad turned to yell at me, but it was too late.
With a final moan, the roof gave way under me. Throwing all of my newly gathered energy into the barrier, I grabbed the shovel close to me and fell...
Honestly, compared to running from goblins and fighting wolf packs? Falling two stories to land on top of nearly 4 feet of snow wasn't anything. Thankfully, the energy shield had protected me from anything sharp laying around, so I wasn't covered in cuts.
'I think even without cultivating I would've lived through this one.' I thought, as I was regaining my bearings.
"Sam!!!!!" I heard a chorus of worried voices from the roof, they came running towards the hole in the roof to check on me.
"STOP!" I yelled, but it was too late. The combination of instability from the first part of the roof going down and their weight brought down the rest of the roof in the foyer.