I wasn’t able to immediately take the Trial of Fire. Zaido had to ask permission from the Elder since it wasn’t a normal Trial of Fire. Which wasn’t a problem for me since I wanted to do the quest the next day at sunrise. It sounded like the time period allotted was sunrise to sunset and I wanted to use the full duration, if necessary.

So, I spent my day doing quests for Sumuel and when I run out of mineral collecting quests, I accepted monster clearing requests from the miners since I already was already able to travel to the third level of the mine and take on the Overgrown Crabores there.

And it was good to gain the Miners’ favor since I would need their guidance the more I progressed down the mine. Their quests were a helpful boost to levelling, allowing me to reach level eleven in preparation for my Trial.

I also picked up a new skill from the skill tree, from the defensive cluster of the tree. I was aiming for another skill in the tree, a Solar Spirit based one in anticipation of unlocking that Stat, and I picked this new skill along the way. It was a simple increased passive regeneration when standing still. I planned to level it up while using [Urus Stance] since I couldn’t walk while using that skill, killing two birds with one stone.

I don't actually kill birds.

Facetanking, a term referring to getting your face up to the boss monster’s ass and not retreating or kiting, was what I was aiming for to accomplish later in the game when making my tank. My increased passive regeneration when standing still, technically a boost of [Ancestral Constitution], plus my Stance were skills pointed in the right direction. [Charge] and [Kickstart] were necessary as well; I initially thought [Charge] was enough until I met those damn monkeys.

No regrets in picking up [Kickstart]. Even tanks need mobility. In all the past tank builds I have played, I always invested in some means of movement, at least one mobility skill. There were several reasons for having a mobility skill even if one planned to simply facetank everything. One was shown by my encounter with the monkeys. Another one was clearing speed; increased speed moving from one mob to another was important for farming and levelling fast. Lastly, even if you’re a tank, there would be times when you would want to run away.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Zaido asked. We were standing outside Healer Gula’s house and in front of the Golden Fire. “You could still back out of it. It’s not like this hasn’t been done before, but if you fail then both of you will suffer the consequences.”

“If it’s been done before then I can do it as well,” I replied. I closed my skill tree that I was examining then sighed. I hope I get something good here or else I would have picked up [Critical Frenzy] for nothing. If this questline turned out to be a dud, I would kill Little Pony because this was all his fault. That was four skill points! Three bonus attack nodes plus the skill itself. I sighed again. “Shit, what if I should just have given up that quest.”

“Youngling,” Healer Gula said. “Are you sure that you want to do this?”

“Didn’t I just say that I will do this?”

“What I have aspiring healers do is to weaken the flame by sacrificing their own strength and vitality and take an amulet to strengthen them, as if they didn’t make the sacrifice in the first place. Afterwards, if they are successful, their sacrificed strength and vitality will turn to solar spirit.”

“So, in terms of skill points, their strength and vitality gets turned to solar spirit if they are successful and they will probably lose those points if they fail, but they won’t fail because they have some power up item with them. Got it. No need for that though.”

“But you won’t be able to make such sacrifice since there will be two of you entering the Trial of Fire. Balasi wouldn't be able to make his own sacrifice and if we want him cured then we need him to take the Trial as he did before, without weakening the flames.”

“Don't worry about me. I don't need no weakass sacrifice. Lezzdodiss!” I was confident because I upgraded my gear before coming here. A [Bracer] was my new addition to my armor, adding twelve armor. Using the small stash of [Armorite Speck] I had and paying Sumuel my [Glacial Fragments] I enchanted all my equipment like what I did with my helmet, adding return damage. In total, I had five to fifteen return damage from all my armor including my shield. An average of ten. Hey, that's something! Better than nothing.

I even claimed a new weapon from Blacksmith Sumuel. My damage was seriously lagging. My Strength was making up the bulk of my damage. I bet if I don't use my [Light Spear], my damage won’t decrease by much. I have no idea how the stats actually affected my damage, health, all that. Initially, I thought it was one point in strength was one additional damage, but it seemed to add more.

Certainly, my new weapon increased my killing speed.

Engraved Partisan

(Spear Type) (One-Hand)

16 – 23 Damage

35/35 Durability

Requires:

Level 10

Strength 60

The partisan was a polearm with a long spearhead. An engraved Mardukryon face adorned the spearhead. The horns of the Mardukryon extended as protrusions at the sides of the base of the spearhead.

“Big Brother,” Little Pony piped up behind Healer Gula. “I believe in you.”

“You little fucker. Why are you here? Why are you like in every major quest in this village? What the hell’s your position in this village, anyway?”

“Youngling,” a deep voice said as if the earth itself spoke. Little Pony hurried to help the Elder walk. The Elder slowly proceeded to the Golden Fire. There was a couple of Mardukryon players who passed by and then stopped at the sight of the Elder. It was probably unusual for the Elder to walk around the village, given that he was very sickly. As if on cue, the Elder coughed violently. “Youngling,” he said again. “Have you made up your mind? Our village would be grateful if you accompany Balasi in his Trial, however, this would be doubly dangerous for you.”

“Don’t worry, Elder,” I said. “I got this.” Balasi was beside me, staring blankly at the sky. I put my arms around his shoulder and gave a thumbs up to the Elder. “See, we’re best buds already. Well, until he goes into one of his crazy streaks.”

The Elder simply nodded. Healer Gula began reciting some magicky words then proceeded to tell the tale of our story and why we have a Golden Fire, it was something about hiding Marduk’s pieces of soul or something. I wish there was a skip button here.

“Hey there,” someone said. I turned to face a Mardukryon player. “So, what’s all this?” he asked.

His friend behind him said, “You’re doing your Trial of Fire early? Is that why Healer Gula’s here? Normally, the fire will pop a prompt and call you to it when you’re level fifteen.”

“Yes, it’s a Trial of Fire,” I said.

“You want to become a healer?” Another player walked closer to us after listening to the conversation.

“Probably not? If he’s going to be a Healer then why is the Elder here as well?”

“I honestly don’t know what this questline is about,” I said. “I was trying to help an NPC who failed his own Trial.”

“Wah? That’s new. Haven’t heard of that before.”

“You haven’t been talking to NPCs here," said the first player who approached me. "There's a guy in the Foragers' hut who has been helped by the current Bearer of the Hunter-Warrior's in taking his Trial because he failed his own."

“So that’s what’s happening here?”

“Yep. I encountered an NPC who has failed his own Trial and I volunteered to help him.”

“That’s cool. It’s fun to see hidden quests like these.”

“Hey,” one of the players turned to his friend. “You still haven’t told me about that hidden Forager’s quest you took yesterday when we couldn’t find you.” They proceeded to banter at each other.

The one who asked me if I was becoming a healer said, “After you finish, tell us what happens when two people get in.”

“What happens in a normal Trial anyway?” I said to him.

He hesitated, scratched his head then said, “I think it’s better if you find out for yourself. It’s fun and challenging.”

“Challenging depending on your build,” the Forager player said.

“It would also require you to use your head.”

“Any tips? Do’s and don’ts?”

“Hmmm. You can’t open your inventory during the Trial, so no herbs, food, any consumables. What you have equipped is what you can use inside. I guess you can unequip your item, if that’s helpful or anything.”

“You also can’t log out during the Trial. Leave the Trial and you’ll have to restart. It’s not much of a problem really since you didn’t sacrifice stats. If you did, you’ll lose them if you logged out.”

“But he has the NPC with him. Maybe he’ll fail the quest to save the NPC.”

“Good point. I don’t know what will happen to the NPC,” the player pointed at the Golden Fire. “It’s beginning.” They wished me good luck and went away.

Healer Gula was sprinkling something over the fire. The fire has grown, it twisted in the air and then it split down the middle revealing a fiery portal.

“Game face on,” I said as I trotted to the fire.

Zaido pushed Balasi near the raging flames. Balasi wore mostly leather armor with some minor metal plating. He also had an iron cap; my helmet obviously looked cooler. Two hatchets were attached to his flanks.

“Uh, excuse me,” I said. “This might be a stupid question but…why are you giving Balasi weapons? Isn’t that dangerous? Dangerous for me.”

“Balasi need to finish the same Trial that he faced earlier,” Zaido said. I raised a brow. So the difficulty was based on the gear, and maybe the level as well. Was it a good idea to have upgraded my gear? “He needs to overcome himself as he was when he first attempted his Trial.” Zaido hesitated. “In this case, you will be the one to do it for him, but to have his channels clearly opened, he should be as he was when he first passed through these flames.”

I shrugged. “I guess he might be useful if he clears his head while we’re killing mobs inside. That would help a bit with my clearing speed. And I hope he won’t slice me with those things.”

Grabbing Balasi’s upper body, Zaido forced him to go inside the portal. Zaido looked at me and said, “May Marduk bless you in your noble endeavor.”

“I’m sure he will bless me,” I replied as I went in.

Everything was dark. I unequipped my spear then stretched out my hand in front of me. “Balasi? Whe

e the fuck are you? I don’t want to poke you.” My hand encountered no resistance. I slowly walked forward. There was a strong gust of wind followed by a roar of flames suddenly erupting about a dozen meters away. Light filled the cavern, or whatever the place we were in. Looks like a large dome; an arena?

It was quite a large place. Plenty of space to run around in case something bad comes out. The walls were painted black, or perhaps it was just darkness turned solid.

“Are monsters going to come and we have to survive?” I turned to my right. “Oh, there you are, Balasi.” He was covering his ears with his hands while his eyes were tightly shut. His head was bobbing up and down and he seemed to be speaking to himself. “So, it’s just me then.” I walked to the flames.

Two fireballs shoot out of the flames and crashed near the far edge of the dome.

They were abruptly snuffed out, leaving wisps of smoke rising above their craters. The smoke didn’t disappear but slowly gained formed.

I pawed the ground with my hoof in anticipation. Am I having mannerisms with my Mardukryon body? The smoke solidified finally showing the true form of my challenge. I laughed out loud as I realized what was happening. “I see now why gear affects this quest. Also with that overcoming yourself talk.” To my right was a smoky version of myself. Balasi’s clone was the other one. “I bet you have the same stats as me. You even have the same gear. I see why this is challenging and requires some thinking.”

DO YOU WISH TO BEGIN YOUR TRIAL?

I didn’t immediately press yes. This was going to be hard. I honestly haven’t thought how to kill myself if I met an exact clone. I don’t think that these clones were dumb. If I was an aspirant healer, my clone would have lower stats because I would need to sacrifice some stats for the Trial, but it would be easy to win over the clone because of Healer Gula’s amulet.

But that wasn’t the case here.

I breathed in and proceeded to think about strategies. Sunset to sunrise, plenty of time. I prayed that there wasn’t some stupid mechanic where time was faster inside the dome.

The main problem was the clone of Balasi.

I trotted around the dome, examining every inch of it to find some trick, anything that I could use to my advantage. Nothing. I then sat in front of the fire in the middle of the arena and closed my eyes to think.

Probably half an hour passed when I stood up again. I checked to see if I could open my inventory. Nope. It really wasn’t allowed.

“Sun-tzu said, ‘if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles’.” I unequipped my peytral since it was the strongest armor I had. “But what if your enemy is yourself?” I turned the blade of the partisan to my chest. “What if your enemy is yourself and he’s being helped by another.” I stabbed myself repeatedly to get my life down. My [Ancestral Constituion] and [Critical Frenzy] proceeded to stack their effects.

When I had about forty percent life, I stopped damaging myself then equipped my peytral again. I looked back at Balasi. He was sitting down while raking the ground with his hatchets. “Two versus one, it is.” I used [Kickstart] before I pressed yes to begin the battle.

The fire immediately shot up to the ceiling of the dome, providing better lighting and clearing up the battlefield.

I immediately charged Balasi’s clone.

“Step one. Kill the one helping yourself before you defeat yourself.”