B3 Chapter 353: Obstinance, pt. 1

The portals inside of the Crucible were odd: they lacked the twisting disorientation he’d grown used to from Depths portals, and their initial entrance to the challenge. There was no mindbending yank through a direction perpendicular to conventional geometry.

He just blinked.

And then he stood in a stone room. It was blocky and plain — square unadorned walls and ceiling made from dark grey masonry bricks half as tall as he was. The quality was good, a finely ground polish that he’d only seen in Deadacre’s more expensive buildings, like the guildhall.

Reflexively tapping his hips to check for his sword, Kaius grinned as he felt scalemail clank under his touch. He’d been allowed his gear for this trial, and a quick flicker of intent confirmed his glyphs were untouched too — no more handicaps.

Returning his attention to his surroundings, Kaius investigated what looked to be some sort of workstation set up next to the wall in front of him.

There was a massive parchment pinned to a wooden board in the middle of it, easily nine strides tall and two and a half times as wide. There was even a bench below it. Simple and sturdy, with an inkwell and multiple stacks of paper on its top.

He looked at them curiously. What on earth could this be for? He sincerely hoped it wasn’t a trial based on academics or arithmetic — even if Mentis was the aspect of the mind, that would be far too cruel.

Runework was just about the only study of theory he could stand.

Still, there had to be more to the space — some other clue of what he was to do. Spinning to his right, he found a procession of amenities. A simple bed and kitchen, stocked with what looked to be bread, water, cheese, and dried fruit and meat. Enough to last him a couple of weeks, easy — even excluding the extra provisions he held in his storage rings.

Continuing on, he stopped fast as he reached the final wall. It was open — a simple arch dominating the centre of it.

His eyes sharpened as he held himself back from rushing over in curiosity. Beyond the opening, a wide and raised pathway ran through the centre of a mindbogglingly long hall — it had to be a league or more!

At first, it was simple and unadorned, but there was a waist height wall cutting across the path a hundred longstrides in, quickly followed by a pit that had a row of iron bars hanging above it just out of arms reach — then another pit, interspersed with standing stones close enough he could comfortably step from one to one. An obstacle course, one that started so simple a child could pass it.

By the looks of it, it didn’t stay so easy for long. Concave climbing faces four times his height, a field of spinning blades that moved and rotated in what looked to be a randomised pattern, gouts of fire, and spikes of ice; a bubbling pit of green something with only a gossamer thread-thin tightrope over its depths.

Kaius struggled to see all of it — even with Truesight, the obstacles grew so complex they became such a confusing mess of overlapping structures that he struggled to see the full picture. Nor did it make it easy to parse anything resembling a route.

He still felt a thrumming edge of excitement well up within him. An obstacle course? That sounded doable — fun, even! Exactly what he needed to burn off some energy, even if it did look a little dangerous.

Hells, with his glyphs intact, it might even be easy. How bad could it be when he had both Expedient Shunt and Slip Step to help him through?

Though, considering the food, bed, writing supplies, and overall nature of the trial, there had to be more to it. It was the trial of Mentis — it wouldn’t be a purely physical exercise.

Perhaps it was a time trial? A challenge where he was forced to develop, plan, and memorise a route that would bring him through the hall as fast as possible? The bottom stone floor off the hall wasn’t that far below the floating pathway, maybe seven or eight strides. It looked clear too — he could always walk his way back if he got stuck.

Hopefully the trial notification would tell him more.

Kaius didn’t have to wait long. After he spent a few more minutes trying to pick his way through some of the further off obstacles, a notification popped into view.

**Ding! You have challenged the Trial of Obstinance!**

**Meld with the wisdom of Mentis, and prove your ability through sharpness of mind, staunchness of memory, and conviction.**

**Reach the end of the Way of Struggle. Be warned, cowardice has no place on the Path — to forfeit is to accept True Death!**

Kaius stared at the notification. That was…beyond his expectations. True death — for forfeiting? The Crucible really had no qualms about making its trials brutal indeed.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Something still niggled in his stomach. It felt off — for death to be the consequence of forfeiting, why even have the option? Why not have it be failure that led to death. And the name. Kaius didn’t know what it meant, but it had to mean something.

If there was one thing he was certain of, there was more to this trial than met the eye. Not that he would treat its warning as anything less than the most serious. Even if there had been a hidden safety net to his trial of Corporus, he would have to be a fool to assume this would be the same.