The air in the room grew heavy, thick with a pressure that had nothing to do with the enclosed space. It was the weight of expectation. My trial. The word echoed in my head, cold and sharp.
Erina gave me one last look—a mixture of "good luck" and "don't die"—before Lyra, the silver-haired attendant, gestured politely toward the door. "The Master prefers to conduct his assessments without an audience," she said, her voice soft but leaving no room for argument. Erina hesitated, then gave a slight nod and left, the heavy door clicking shut behind her.
I was alone. Alone with the Builder and his five inhuman summons.
"So," I said, my voice coming out steadier than I felt. I drew my twin maguns, the familiar weight a small comfort in my hands. "What's the test? Do I fight all of them at once?"
The Builder let out a short, dry chuckle. "Arrogance. Or perhaps just ignorance. If all five of my companions attacked you, this 'trial' would last less than a second."
He made a subtle gesture with his hand. The muscular, armored man I'd seen polishing a shield earlier stepped forward. His movements were silent despite the heavy plates covering his body. The massive shield he carried was like a slab of polished obsidian, and it radiated an aura of pure, unyielding defense. He came to a stop about twenty feet in front of me, his face hidden behind a full helm.
"This is Valerius," the Builder stated, his tone flat, as if introducing a piece of equipment. "Your trial is simple, Kael. Land a single, meaningful blow on him."
"…That's it?" I asked, a flicker of hope igniting in my chest. Just one hit? Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
Lyra, who now stood beside her master, gave a faint, knowing smile. "The trial begins now."
I didn't waste a second. I aimed and fired a standard mana shot. The bolt of energy streaked across the room and slammed into the center of the shield. It dissipated with a dull thud, not leaving so much as a scratch.
Valerius hadn't even flinched. He stood like a statue, a mountain of steel and resolve.
"Okay," I muttered, gritting my teeth. "Warm-up shot. Got it."
I fired again, this time a rapid three-shot burst, aiming for his legs and shoulders—areas not directly covered by the shield. Each shot was met with a clang of metal on metal as Valerius moved with impossible speed, deflecting every bolt with either his shield or his heavy gauntlets. His defense was flawless, economical. He wasn't dodging; he was simply negating my attacks.
Frustration began to bubble in my gut. This wasn't a fight. It was like throwing pebbles at a fortress wall.
"Enchant: Fire!" I roared, pouring mana into my right magun. It glowed a fierce red. I fired, and a ball of flame erupted toward him.
This time, Valerius moved. He planted his feet and raised his shield, which began to glow with a soft blue light. My fire shot hit the barrier and exploded, washing over him in a wave of heat and smoke. When the air cleared, he was completely unharmed. The blue aura around his shield had absorbed the entire blast.
"An elemental barrier," the Builder's voice cut through the haze. "Standard for any competent defender. Your tactics are predictable."
His words stung more than any physical blow. He wasn't just watching me fail; he was dissecting my every move, judging me.
Fine. If fire didn't work, I'd try something else. "Enchant: Lightning!"
My other magun sparked with crackling yellow energy. I unleashed a bolt of lightning, faster and more precise than the fire. It struck the edge of Valerius's shield, arcing around the side and hitting his shoulder pauldron.
A loud CRACK echoed through the hall. I saw him stumble, just a single step, his footing disturbed for the first time.
"Aha!" A grin spread across my face. "Got you!"
But my victory was short-lived. Valerius righted himself instantly, the scorch mark on his armor already fading as if being repaired by an unseen force. He took a heavy step forward. Then another. He was advancing.
I backed away, firing a volley of lightning shots. He absorbed them with his shield, the blue barrier flickering but holding strong. For every step I took back, he took one forward, closing the distance, his presence becoming more and more oppressive. My mana bar was draining at an alarming rate. This defensive style of his was designed to wear me down, to make me exhaust myself against an unbreakable wall.
My back hit the far wall of the workshop. I was cornered. Valerius was only a few feet away now, his massive frame blotting out the light from the lantern. He raised his shield, not to attack, but simply to box me in.
"This is pointless," I spat, breathing heavily. "I can't damage him. Nothing I have can get through that."
"Then you have failed," the Builder said calmly from across the room. "The test wasn't to see if you could win. It was to see what you would do when faced with an impossible opponent. You have fired wildly, relied on brute force, and exhausted your resources. You fight like the Adventurers—all power, no purpose."
His words hit me. He was right. I had been treating this like any other monster fight from the game. Find a weakness, exploit it with elemental damage, and overwhelm it. But Valerius wasn't a monster with a predictable AI. He was a perfect defender.
I looked past the imposing figure of the summon, at the Builder himself. He wasn't looking at me with disappointment. He was looking at me with indifference, as if he'd already written me off as useless material.
That anger I'd felt in the street, the fury at being used as bait by the Adventurers, it came rushing back. I wasn't going to be cast aside again.
"No," I said, my voice low. "I'm not done."
I looked at Valerius. He wasn't attacking. He was just… waiting. This wasn't a battle to the death. It was a question. What will you do?
I closed my eyes, forcing my panicked breathing to slow. Brute force was useless. My enchantments were just a drain on my mana. So what did I have left?
The orb.
The lineage orb in my pocket pulsed with a faint warmth against my leg, as if responding to my desperation. The Builder had said it was resonating with me. The High Orc I fought had been a Lineage-class. Its power condensed into this single point.
Power doesn't just vanish, the Adventurer leader had said.
I didn't draw my magun. Instead, I reached into my pouch and pulled out the orb. It glowed with a soft, ominous light in my palm. I focused on it, not with my eyes, but with my will. I didn't try to activate it like a skill. I tried to… connect with it. To feel the power that was supposedly tied to me.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a faint tremor ran up my arm. The orb's light intensified, and a wave of raw, primal energy flooded my senses. It wasn't mana. It was something else. Heavier. Wilder. It felt like the memory of the High Orc's rage, its strength, its very essence.
"What is he doing?" I heard Lyra whisper.
The Builder was silent.
The wild energy swirled around my hand. It was chaotic, untamed. I couldn't shape it into a fireball or a lightning bolt. It was just… power. So what could I do with it?
I remembered the Builder's power. How he made the city's stones rise up. He didn't attack the monster directly; he used the world around him as a weapon.
I looked down. The floor was made of solid stone slabs. Part of the workshop. Part of the city. Part of his creation.
An idea, insane and desperate, sparked in my mind.
I slammed my hand—the one holding the orb—onto the floor. I didn't try to control the energy. I just released it, pushing that raw, chaotic lineage power into the stone beneath me.
The result was immediate. A spiderweb of glowing black cracks spread out from my hand, the same color as the veins on the Lineage Orc. The floor groaned. Valerius, sensing the change, took a step back, raising his shield defensively.
The stone slab directly under him suddenly buckled. It didn't rise into a spike. It just… broke. It shattered into a dozen pieces, collapsing inward and creating a shallow pit.
Valerius, for all his perfect balance and strength, was caught completely off guard. His heavy frame sank as the ground gave way, his left leg dropping into the hole. His stance was broken. His shield wavered.
For the first time, he was vulnerable. He was wide open.
It was a single, meaningful blow. Not to him, but to his perfect defense.
The glow from the orb faded, and I collapsed to one knee, panting, the sudden expenditure of energy leaving me drained.
The hall was silent.
I looked up. The Builder was staring, not at Valerius, but at the cracked floor. Then, his sharp gaze met mine. The indifference was gone, replaced by a flicker of something else. Something I couldn't quite read.
"The trial is over," he said, his voice carrying a new weight. "You pass."