Nadia's scream pierced the air, her eyes wide with horror as she stared into Silas's glowing pink orbs. Her mind was assaulted by a torrent of memories, each one more painful and terrifying than the last.
She saw through Silas's eyes as he was mocked and ridiculed by his peers, his inability to perform even the simplest of spells earning him their scorn and derision. She felt the sting of their laughter and the weight of their judgment.
Nadia gasped as she witnessed Silas's mother being torn away from him, imprisoned for the crime of loving his father. The pain of that separation tore at her heart, leaving her breathless and shaking.
But the worst was yet to come. Nadia screamed again as she experienced the excruciating pain of Silas's transformation, his body twisting and contorting as the Leviathan mana core fused with his flesh. She felt the scales erupting from his skin, the fangs pushing through his gums, the burning sensation of his eyes changing color.
Tears streamed down Nadia's face as she struggled to break free from the soul link, her mind overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of Silas's experiences. She could feel his desperation, his loneliness, his hunger for acceptance and belonging.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the connection was severed. Nadia collapsed to the ground, her body shaking with sobs as she tried to process what she had just witnessed.
Silas knelt beside her, his expression one of deep concern and regret. He placed a hand on her shoulder, his voice soft and apologetic as he spoke. "I'm sorry, Nadia. I didn't mean to overwhelm you like that."
Nadia looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She shook her head, her voice hoarse as she replied. "No, it's not your fault. I just...I had no idea."
She took a deep, shuddering breath, her voice growing stronger as she continued. "But now I understand. I know we just met, but I feel like I know you now. And I want you to know that I'm here for you."
Silas smiled, his expression grateful as he helped Nadia to her feet. He looked around at the rest of the group, his voice filled with determination as he spoke. "Thank you, all of you. I know I'm not the easiest person to be around, but I'm grateful for your friendship and support."
"I don't know what you're talking about, because you're literally the easiest person to be around," Jace said, giving Silas a weird look. "But I'm not one to turn down patting myself on the back, so you're welcome."
Lyra and Rowan nodded along in agreement with what Jace said.
"Are you guys ready to bring our training up to the next level?" Silas asked.
Jace, Lyra, and Rowan all shouted, "Yeah!" at the same time.
Nadia said, "Sure. Besides shooting the lug in the neck, I was kind of bored with target practice."
"Great. We're going to do a scenario. Training room, run a scenario."
"Running scenario. Assessing current tiers. 6, 8, 9…current tier unknown. Substituting with maximum tier."
"That doesn't sound good," Jace said.
"Scenario tier 5: Ancient temple of Aleron," the training room said. "Goal: Retrieve the staff of Aleron from the bottom of the temple."
The training room shimmered and shifted, transforming into the crumbling ruins of an ancient temple. Thick vines snaked across weathered stone, and the air hung heavy with the scent of decay and the hum of unknown magic.
Silas stepped forward, his eyes scanning the surroundings with a mix of caution and curiosity. Jace and Rowan flanked him on either side, their weapons at the ready. Lyra and Nadia brought up the rear, their gazes sharp and alert.
"We need to work together to make it through whatever challenges lie ahead," Silas said. "Remember to power up your equipment with mana."
The others nodded, their expressions grim with determination. They all concentrated, bringing forth their mana and infusing it into their equipment. The air hummed with power.
Rowan summoned a group of flying imps around him. Nadia made her bow glow to light the way. Jace split into 12 of him, each with their own pair of daggers. Lyra didn't have anything cool to do to power up, so she just looked at Silas and shrugged.
"There's something I've been meaning to try," Silas said as he mentally activated his venom synthesis skill. A translucent light purple liquid filled his mouth. He spat it onto the head of the warhammer, rubbing it in.
"Ew! Are you going to do that every time we fight?" Nadia said.
Silas copied Lyra and just shrugged. They moved forward as one, their footsteps echoing through the cavernous ruins.
As they descended deeper into the temple, the air grew thick with the sickly sweet scent of rotting vegetation. Strange, luminescent fungi clung to the walls, casting an eerie glow across the crumbling stone.
A growl reverberated through the temple. From around a corner stepped a massive black panther with curving white horns and a scorpion tail. Several others followed the first. There must have been ten of them.
[New Quest: Defeat the pack of Scornyx (0/10)]
Silas jumped in first, bringing his war hammer down on the first one's head. There was a sickening crunch as the blow made contact. The creature fell to the floor, dead.
[Significantly stronger opponent defeated! +20 Exp (1/10)]
Silas checked his current Exp. It was sitting at (120/160). He only needed to defeat two more of these things before he would level up.
Jace and his copies sprung into action. They threw out a barrage of copied knives at the beasts, turning three of them into pin cushions.
[Significantly stronger opponent defeated! +20 Exp (2/10)]
'Oh you're going to do this again,' Silas thought.
He turned the notifications into an icon in the upper right corner of his vision, like he did at the lake. Now the icon just accumulated the number of unread notifications next to it.
Lyra opened portals underneath two of the Scornyx's and opened corresponding portals in the ceiling. They dropped 50 feet to the floor and didn't get up.
Rowan's imps started attacking two more of the beasts, kicking, punching, and biting them. After about 15 seconds, two more were dead.
Nadia made orbs appear in front of the remaining two beasts that shined light into their eyes, blinding them. She proceeded to shoot arrow after arrow at them until they stopped moving.
In less than 30 seconds, all the beasts were dead.
"While that was easy, those beasts are too strong to be our first encounter. Things are only going to get harder from here."
"It's your max tier. It's too high. It's messing with the difficulty." Rowan said.
"Sorry. There's nothing I can do about that, but it's not like we have to succeed. The simulation just shuts down if we fail, right?" Silas said.
"Yes, that's true, but there's a problem," Lyra said.
"What's wrong?" Jace said.
"My cut isn't healing," she said.
"What do you mean?" Silas asked.
"I mean, my cut should be healing from the health potions in the air. And it's not," Lyra said.
Everyone else looked at their hands and their cuts weren't healing either. Only Silas's cut had healed.
"How is this possible?" Silas asked.
"The only thing I can think of is the health potion machines turned off," Lyra said.
Silas's expression turned serious. "Damien. He probably turned them off after he left."
"That's pretty messed up. You think he would do that?" Rowan asked.
"Absolutely. He tried to kill me once. What makes you think he wouldn't try again?" Silas said.
"Let's not panic yet. We just have to turn off the scenario," Lyra said. "Training room, end scenario."
"Unable to comply. The scenario must enter a success or fail state," the training room said.
"Oh shit," Nadia said.
"Holy shit!" Jace yelled. "We gotta get out of here!"
"Do you see any doors Jace? Because I sure don't," Rowan said.
"Ok, calm down everyone. We just have to beat the scenario," Silas said.
"How are we going to do that with the difficulty ratcheted up to tier 5?" Jace said.
"We'll find a way. We just have to work together," Silas said.
Everyone took deep breaths and calmed down. They were going to be mage knights. They had to learn to stare death in the face without flinching.
"First, though, I have to level up," Silas said. "Give me a second."
"You have to what now?" Nadia said.
"You know, the system?" Jace said.
"Oh, right. I forgot. Man, is it weird having someone else's memories in your head," Nadia said.
Silas brought up the system menu and navigated to his stats screen. His physical stats were [strength (18) +2, agility (20) +6, and stamina (16)] and he had 3 points to distribute.
Figuring this would take a while, he decided to finally ignore luck and put the points into stamina. He would need it if he was going to make it through the fights ahead.
He was regretting putting so many points into luck. Higher physical stats would be a huge help right now.
Then he went to the biomancy skill tree. He needed something physical. He scanned through the options, until he saw something that popped out.
[Berserker Rage: Increase strength, agility, and stamina by 100% for 30 seconds (100 mp)]. He purchased it for 20 affinity points.
"I need you all to pour your mana into me, since I can't produce it myself." Silas said.
They all put their hands on Silas's back. He absorbed their mana until he was at (2,000/25,000).
They waited a few minutes to restore their mana and moved on. The temple stretched out before them, its depths still unexplored and its dangers still unknown.