Corwin quickly adjusted to being back in the game. He bought iron level crafting materials for swords at one gold each set of materials. It took ten tries to make the main-hand sword and nine tries for the off-hand. Almost twenty gold poorer, he nonetheless equipped his weapons with pride. A similar cost was needed for the amulet recipe, but the iron amulet was equipped as well. Lastly, he made a level five iron cloth helm and level five iron staff, and level 5 iron amulet for Edward, spending twenty-five gold in the process. He sent the helm, staff, ring and previously achieved armor to Edward via the mail system. He sent him 25 gold as well which should help with any items he needed to grind. This should give his friend enough of a head start to keep ahead of the curve. Finally, after gearing up and dealing with his other responsibilities Corwin was ready for the next challenge.

The next item was located in a divine trial, a unique event that could be found at a cave one hour away from town. The trial was theoretically passable at level 6 as it scaled with level, and with his good gear Corwin felt he was ready. He’d need an S-rank clear to get the item he wanted which would involve clearing all the levels of the trial.

The travel through the countryside was relaxing as the roads were clear of monsters and no players were ‘wasting time’ venturing out this far at this stage in the game. Corwin found the cave, and killed some bears in it before finding the swordsman gate at the back of the cave. He entered the level 1 divine trial.

In the trial he had to ascend a staircase, on each step of the stairs a new battle would occur. If he could reach the top he’d get to S-rank. The first step was an uneventful trash mob and ended quickly. The second step was a slightly stronger trash mob and was similarly uneventful. At step five, the monsters became elites. At step ten, he encountered his first special elite enemy. Fortunately, special elites were still weaker than chieftains so everything was fine so far. It took some time to kill the 10 special elites before facing chieftain monsters on starting on step twenty. This was a worrying development as the staircase had 40 steps in total. The chieftains started out weaker than those in the dungeon and ended with one that was stronger than the dungeon chieftain but still much weaker than a lord. Each of them dropped a mana crystal when they died, the first drops of the trial.

Once he got a 4th mana crystal he upgraded the ring of elements to iron tier. This gave him the ability:

Time Manipulation – Tier 0, Level 0 -- For a 1-hour duration, make time slow down by a factor of 2 in an area of up to 100m radius resulting in 1 hour of real-life time for every 6 hours in game. Requires 1 minute to cast. Upgradeable for 6,000,000 XP.

He wasn’t about to use this in the trial as it wouldn’t be useful but planned on investing in upgrading it immediately after. After all, this was the perfect skill for when he needed to do crafting. The ring also doubled its attribute bonuses and now required 10 crystals to evolve.

He stepped onto the 30th step and faced the first lord enemy. This one was much weaker than the lord in the dungeon and went down without a fight, dropping 2 crystals and a level 6 iron plate armor. These two crystals left him with 11 crystals total, and he now needed to decide which ring to upgrade. Hidden attributes were strong in combat but the next ability from the ring of elements might be relevant for combat. It was quite the dilemma. Ultimately, Corwin decided to gamble on the ring of elements. While that gamble gave him an extremely valuable skill, it didn’t pay off because it was once again a non-combat skill.

Space Manipulation – Tier 0, Level 0 – For a 1-minute duration, open a portal between here and any location you’ve previously been up to 50km away. Portal is any size up to 10m x 10m. Upgradeable for 6,000,000 XP.

Fortunately, the Silver ring still had double attributes so his combat abilities did improve. Also, if the Lord’s continued to drop 2 mana crystals he’d upgrade the other ring soon enough.

The next lord was also level six but had stronger moves and stats. It was still not a threat compared to the dungeon lord. It also dropped 2 mana crystals (3 total) and a level six iron plate cuisse. The 32nd step saw a third level six lord. This one was as strong as the one in the dungeon, but with all his new iron gear that fight was no longer exhausting for Corwin. He saved his burst to avoid getting hit with a special skill and otherwise did damage quickly. That lord dropped two mana crystals (5 total) and a level six iron plate gloves. The gloves went on and Corwin prepared for an even tougher fight.

The next lord was level seven. With his ignore levels reducing the suppression to zero the fight was possible, but it was somewhat challenging. Corwin managed to avoid getting hit but needed a breather afterwards. He got two mana crystals (7 total) and a level seven plate boots for his trouble. He equipped them and was ecstatic at his new gear but needed a serious plan as he was starting to worry he might not succeed here. He also experienced his first skill upgrades with Slash, Pierce, and Parry reaching level 1.

After resting till he thought his stamina was full, Corwin stepped on the next step facing the intermediate difficulty level 7 lord. The extra attributes helped but this fight would be far from easy and Corwin knew he would be pushed to his limits. He prepared himself and gave himself a final look over before stepping onto the next stair.

Corwin Swordborn

Spoiler : Level 6: 30% of level 7

Str: 127 (base:5)

Agi: 147 (base:30)

Con: 127 (base:5)

Int: 33 (base:5)

Cha: 33 (base:5)

Lck: 19 (base:5)

Cnc: 19 (base:5)

Sta: 19 (base: 5)

Def: 327

MDef: 138

HP: 1362/1362

MP: 828/828

Gear:

MW: Iron Tier Level 5, Level 5 Longsword, +10 Str, +10 Agi, +10 Con

Damage: 40-50, Durability 24/25, Requirements: 30 Str

OW: Iron Tier, Level 5 Shortsword, +10 Str, +10Agi, +10 Con

Damage 30-35, Durability 24/25, Requirements: 30 Str

MA: Iron Tier Level 6 Plate, +12 Str, +12 Agi, +12 Con

48Def,24MDef, Durability 29/30, Requirements:36 Str

LA: Iron Tier Level 6 Plate Cuisse +12Str, +12Agi, +12Con

48Def,24MDef, Durability 29/30, Requirements:36 Str

B: Iron Tier Level 6 Plate Gloves +12 Str, +12 Agi, +12Con

48Def,24MDef, Durability 29/30, Requirements: 36Str

G: Iron Tier Level 7 Plate Boots, +14Str, +14Agi, +14Con

56Def,28Mdef, Durability 35/35, Requirements: 42Str

RR: Iron Tier, Level 7 Ring of Hidden Attributes (+14 All base attributes, +14 All Hidden Attributes)

LR: Iron Tier, Level 5 Amulet (+10 All base attributes)

AM: Silver Tier, Level 7 Ring of Elements (+28 All base attributes,

Ignore 1.4 Levels, Ignore 1.4 Equip Levels

Skills:

Thunder Slash, Rare, Tier 0, Level 0

Wind Charge, Rare, Tier 0, Level 0

Double Slash, Uncommon, Tier 0, Level 0

Slash, Common, Tier 0, Level 1

Pierce, Common, Tier 0, Level 1

Parry, Common, Tier 0, Level 1

Time Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 0

Space Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 0