The cave is connected to an entire cave system, but it isn't hard to tell where the ettins are going. A blind man could follow their tracks, and I follow them deeper and deeper. Ignoring all the side tunnels, I am able to progress quickly, I can tell this cave goes really deep.

It is starting to look like I was right, this is going to lead me to an underground world. Now I just have to figure out why the ettins are going down here, and why only at night. Other than the guards outside the cave I haven't seen a single ettin since I entered the cave.

The path I am following is constantly heading down, best guess I have already descended a couple of thousand feet. Eventually, I see the cave open up ahead of me, but something I see stops me in my tracks. Just before the cave opens up there is a branch off to the side and it is completely filled with bones.

Ettin bones to be precise, and from what I can tell there are thousands of them. The entire floor of the branch cave is covered by ettin bones, it is a mass grave. The more I stare at it the more confused I become, it doesn't make sense for this to be here.

'Why are there so many dead ettins? Just how long has this been going on?'

Now even more curious I turn away from the mass grave and continue to where the cave opens up. The cavern is massive on a scale I have never seen before, it looks endless. From where I stand I can't see the far wall or the side walls, you could drop several cities in here with room to spare.

The ceiling is high enough to fit a skyscraper and yet I can only see a few columns supporting it. Structurally speaking this place shouldn't exist, the ceiling should have long ago caved in. As I am trying to make sense of it I have to forcibly stop myself and remember that I am inside a test, it is similar to a game world.

Once I calm down I stop trying to analyze the cavern and instead start observing things. The cavern is covered by what looks to be a rainforest, but it is currently too dark to see much. I can see crystals on the ceiling but they are currently dark, it is the first time I have seen an underground world that is dark.

There are plants everywhere so it can't be dark down here all the time, is that why the ettins only come in at night? If the underground world is dark during the day and bright during the night then that might explain it. On the other hand, what about it being dark down here keeps the ettins out?

From fighting them last night in the dark I know that they can see just fine and fight without any issues. So it isn't the darkness that keeps them out, they must be afraid of something. Maybe a predator that is only active during the 'night' in here, that seems the most likely option.

Well, the only way to find out is to go down into the rainforest and see what tries to kill me. When I entered the cave there was only about four hours until nightfall, so I have around three hours to explore before the ettins come down. With my mind made up, I enter the cavern and follow the ramp down to ground level.

As soon as I reach ground level my visibility drops to practically nothing. The trees and plants are overwhelming, not only in number but also in colors. Ranging from purple to neon green it is basically one big acid trip, it makes my eyes hurt.

Not wanting to be ambushed I stop at the very edge of the rainforest and try to let my eyes adjust. Luckily there isn't much air movement so the plants are still for the most part. The colors are already overwhelming, if they were moving it would be impossible to deal with.

This is during the 'night', I am already dreading seeing this place during the 'day'. When the colors finally stop giving me a headache I start slowly moving deeper into the rainforest. I quickly learn not to move my head too fast, the colors blurring when I do makes me dizzy.

The massive amount of life energy flowing through here is enough to make me feel invincible. It almost feels like the forest is one big living thing and it's breath is feeding energy into me. In all my travels since I was summoned to this world I have never felt anything quite like this.

'Wait! No, this is the test world, not the world I am from! Anything is possible here, just like in a game!'

Adapting to the environment seems to be the biggest challenge of this place. Once again I am forced to stop and calm my thinking until I get used to the feelings. As I do I start to realize part of the problem, the oxygen content in here is much higher, I am basically stoned right now.

It takes a few minutes of work but I am able to get used to the strong life force all around me. The oxygen high I can't really do anything about, I just have to be careful not to let my senses become dulled by it. It is a good thing I came down before the ettins, I couldn't fight properly without this time to adapt.

Once I have myself under control I start moving again, there are still mysteries to unravel. For one thing I need to figure out why the ettins come down here, I haven't seen any animals yet. I also need to figure out why so many ettins have died down here, and what killed them.

Almost every tree and bush has some type of fruit or berry on it, but ettins only eat meat as far as I know. While I am tempted to try some of the fruits, I only collect some for now. Getting poisoned while I am down here does not at all seem like a good idea.

Finally, I hear something moving around, so I follow the sound to see what it is. Parting the leaves of a bush I take a peek into a clearing and spot several huge animals. They look like elephants but twice the size, and every single one of them has sharp looking tusks.

Some only have two tusks, while most have four, the one I take to be the leader has six tusks. They are currently eating the plant life, but I notice they are extremely wary as they do so. Constantly on the lookout for predators, that tells me this is a very hostile environment.

After all, if things as big as these are paranoid it means there are multiple predators that hunt them. Suddenly, they react to something and form a circle with tusks facing out. Not only did I not move, but I also didn't hear or sense anything that would have spooked them.