The first thing that hit me when we stepped into Dominion’s temple was the cool, dry air. The second was the nostalgia. When we’d left Dominion’s Trial, we’d been half-dead, haggard, and just happy to be alive.

  The temple's tall, steepled roof, its muted colors and quiet atmosphere had been such a sight for sore eyes. It was raining that day, I remembered. Cloudy and gray. My first introduction to Axius. I especially remembered the scent of horse dung.

  Now? It was a sunny early morning, and we were back to exploit it. I was going in a whole two ranks higher than when I’d entered, with armor, powers, a whole team to back me up, and more experience fighting than I’d accumulated in my whole life back on Earth.

  It was hard not to feel a little smug. What a difference a couple of months made.

  Rogar had repaired our weapons and armor, so we were in tip-top shape.

  While Aerion went off to chat with the priests, I brought up my status screen. I had actually been a bit surprised at the resilience of [Uncommon] and [Rare] gear. To the point where monitoring the Condition like a hawk really wasn’t necessary anymore. I had the system hide those details for the more exotic rarities, and set it up so it would give me warnings at 50%, 25%, and 10%. I could pretty much forget about them until the warnings alerted me.

  Once that was done, we had little else to do other than admire the structure—something Richard found especially fascinating.

  I took the opportunity to take stock of my current stat situation. I currently wore most of the [Rare] clothes I’d bought at the tailor’s—underwear, trousers, and an undershirt. Only my scarf was tucked away in my inventory. The other stuff was protected by my armor, so even Uninitialized, I didn’t have much to worry about.

  Problem was, my Dominion stat was currently only 48, while I’d earned 62. I’d lost those stats when I destroyed my [Uncommon] clothing. Vigor had also reduced a bit, from 49 to 34.

  As things stood, I was at 346/370 Essence. Rocky’s cost had gone down a few points overnight, and would continue to do so. Unfortunately, that was insufficient to Initialize even the smallest of my articles of clothing.

  Another day or two, and I ought to spin the roulette stat wheel and Initialize another piece of clothing. For now, I’d just have to use wits and tactics a bit more.

  While I certainly felt the loss of stats… I deemed the tradeoff worth it. I now had a small arsenal of deadly Initialized darts that could mince anything we came across. Also, even with my lowered stats, they were still incomparably higher than they’d been when I’d first arrived here.

  Not to mention my Grace stat, which not only grew rapidly, but sat at 37, with a whopping 74 as its current ceiling. This Trial would be an excellent opportunity to practice strategies that relied on speed and ranged attacks, rather than brute melee force.

  That was pretty much the opposite of how I’d fought until now, and I couldn’t wait to try it.

  Dismissing my stat screen, I saw Aerion chatting in a hushed voice with the officials in the distance. As a respected Hunter, she was the best bet in our group to convince the priests that we should be allowed to enter.

  “You reckon they’ll allow us in?” Richard asked, frowning.

  “They will,” I assured him, fully aware of what he was thinking. Restrictions or not, people would bend a lot for a Champion. There was no need for him to reveal his identity here, though.

  Every Trial had a quota—a maximum number of people it could support. Some said it was because it took divine energy to send us to the dungeons, while others thought it was the Boons and Blessings that cost the gods energy, and that the Trial’s restrictions were how the gods ensured they didn’t weaken themselves to the point of being unable to summon Champions.

  I didn’t know who was right, or if everyone was wrong, but that wasn’t the only red tape delvers had to deal with. The temple itself regulated entry beyond what the dungeon allowed. You could only enter if you had a letter of reference—as Aerion had when she’d traded her Soulkeeper to Tarquin—or if you could pay the steep admission fee, or if you were of high enough station.

  With Sinclair’s seal, our quickly-spreading reputation, and our bags of coin, we had all three. Only question was if there were any dungeon slots available.

  Aerion’s face was unreadable as she paced back to us, but the straight back and long, bold strides she took gave it away.

  “We’re in luck,” Aerion reported, rejoining the group. “It seems barely anyone’s been delving the Trial the past few days. We may proceed without issue.”

  “Please do let us know how much we owe you,” Philip said, scratching his head. “You’re already doing us an immense favor. The least we can do is cover the admission fee.”

  Aeiron shook her head. “No fee. Greg and I are friends with the Baron. They’re letting us in for free.”

  Philip’s mouth formed an ‘O’, and hung there. “The perks of status, eh?” he said sheepishly.

  Rogar grunted. “Appreciate it, you two.”

  “Well, appreciate it when we’re all out safe and sound,” I said. “We’re a strong party for an Emergence-class Trial, sure, but anything can happen. Especially since neither of you are Dungeon-grade fighters. No offense, Philip.”

  “None taken,” Philip said with a bitter smile.

  I felt bad for the guy. On his own, he’d be dead meat. Skills could only get you so far in Axius. Without stats and a Boon or a Blessing, I doubted my mentor would’ve made it past the first floor.

  And while he wore the same Basecrest guard armor I did, his wasn’t enchanted in any way.

  I glanced at Rogar beside me as we walked to the other end of the temple, passing through the huge double doors that led to the Trial. He kept wiping his palms on the plate metal covering his body.

  There wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t covered in steel. While somewhat rudimentary, I didn’t doubt the quality. He’d forged them himself, after all.

  With his battleax—also forged by himself—he looked like a perfect dwarf warrior.

  Too bad it was all for show. Rogar didn’t know the first thing about fighting in armor… Or using a battleax. Still, we’d all agreed that an armored Rogar was a safer Rogar, assuming he managed to survive the first level without succumbing to heat stroke.

  Considering the furnace he worked in every day, I had a feeling he’d be fine. As for mobility, though… Aerion and I were treating the two as noncombatants. Their weapons and armor were purely for self-defense, to catch anyone or anything that made it past me, Aerion, and Richard.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  As for the Brit, I imagined things would go similarly to the Cataclysm Dungeon. Part of the reason I wanted Richard along was because of how well the three of us worked as a team. With Aerion and me on the front lines, Richard could hang back, protecting the other two and providing heart bursting support for us when we needed it.

  Not that we would. I cracked my neck and glanced at the fancy-looking guards posted along the palisade walls on either side of us, forming a corridor to the Trial. I had to admit, I was looking forward to this. What did it feel like to be stronger than my enemies for once? What were the other levels like?

  Sure, Aerion had briefed all of us about what to expect—having already delved it, and having done what sounded like an absurd amount of research beforehand, Aerion was an authority on the place. To the point where she could’ve raked in an absurd amount of money by guiding delvers here. Or blacksmiths.

  I stared up at the jet-black inverted pyramid. The thing never got any less imposing, no matter how often I saw it. “Everybody ready? We’re against the clock here. We’ve got two days, tops. If we aren’t far enough along by tomorrow, we’ll bail using one of the shortcuts Aerion knows about.”

  “The exits cease after floor four, however,” Aerion said. “That will be our point of no return.”

  “You heard the man.”

  Aerion was dressed as a guy for this Trial. Between the Sanctuaries that would restore her makeup and the short expected duration of our delve, she figured it would be easier than explaining the truth to Rogar.

  As for Richard, we just promised the two he was a kickass delver specializing in backline support. Which was true. Of all our powers, his was the easiest to pass off as a regular one. I had often wondered if Passion had given him a [Common] or [Uncommon] class. Probably [Uncommon]. It was pretty obvious she’d given him a penalty relating to his physical strength.

  I looked at Rogar and Philip. “If either of you wants to bail, now’s your chance.”

  The two stared back at me, their faces stone-cold and determined.

  “Well, alright then. Let’s do this.”

  The inferno hit me with the force of a blast furnace at full tilt. Sure, Aerion had said to expect scorching heat. She’d warned us all to dress lightly and carry plenty of water for a reason.

  Trouble was, I was decked out in full armor, and so were Rogar and Philip. All I could do was tie a fabric bandana over my nose and mouth, and pass around more for the others. While not nearly as good as the stuff back home, it did keep us from coughing.

  The ground shuddered as a nearby volcano popped off, spewing magma and ash high into the blood-red sky. All around us, streams of lava snaked their way downstream, like rivers flowing in slow motion.

  “Well, Richard, how’s your first taste of hell?”

  Richard gave me a sour look. “Humid. Far too humid.”

  I chuckled. “Alright, let’s get a move on. Rogar, Philip, as we rehearsed. Richard? You’re with me.”

  It had taken no small amount of convincing to get Rogar to believe in Aerion’s strength. She’d been forced to pick both of them up and jump around Rogar’s forge before they’d relented. And while Philip had witnessed her strength during Tarquin’s raid, he had a thing or two to say about being lifted by an elf half his size and a third his weight.

  I had to admit, the sight of Aerion bounding from island to island was more than a little disconcerting. Even without [Reave], her Dominion stat had grown so much lately.

  Meanwhile, Richard rode piggyback with me, and I followed suit. Where my Dominion fell short, I was making up with Grace—a Grace stat that was rising fast.

  Our goal was one of the pillars in the distance. Only some of the numerous volcanoes had tops that spewed magma. The others ended in a black pillar that stretched up into the clouds.

  Gateways to the next level.

  The only issue was that some of those led to bosses, while others led to floor two.

  There was one in particular, though, that bypassed the second floor entirely and went to three. That was the one we were after.

  Of course, it was indistinguishable from the others, and without Aerion knowing the exact path, we would’ve had to choose blindly.

  We jumped from rock to rock, from island to small island, tearing across the landscape at speeds I would’ve considered unimaginable not too long ago.

  “Gotten faster, have you?” Richard said from behind my back.

  “Thanks to my new armor,” I said. “Don’t be getting too impressed, though. It’s only gonna get better.”

  “Can’t wait to see it!” Richard said. I was guessing Philip and Rogar felt differently. Held under Aerion’s arms like barrels, their faces came within a foot of the ground each time she landed. It must’ve been horrible.

  Unfortunately for them, the quality of their ride was about to be the least of their concerns.

  Our first encounter came just a few minutes into our journey.

  “Lava Leapers!” Aerion cried out from in front of me, dropping her cargo on a nearby island before bounding forth.

  I brought Richard closer, leaving him on the island next to what looked like a small army of oversized… Rock Toads?

  Made entirely of obsidian, they were easily ten times the size of a regular toad, measuring maybe a foot in length and height.

  Aerion went to town, slashing at them with Aurora, but as I’d learned in our first foray through the dungeon, swords were poor weapons against the hard obsidian. We needed hammers, or something like it.

  “Richard, can you…”

  I trailed off as they lived up to my toad imagery, jumping high into the sky. All one hundred of them.

  “Out of range, mate,” Richard called from somewhere behind me.

  “Aerion, retreat to my position!” I shouted. “I’m gonna try something.”

  The Lava Leapers reached the apex of their jump, some hundred feet in the air. They looked like a barrage of arrows from there. I didn’t know what sort of attack they had planned, but if nothing else, the force of their bodies smashing into us would do serious damage. Everyone other than Aerion and me would die.

  “Not if I have anything to say about it,” I muttered, extending my right arm up into the air.

  I mentally ‘loaded’ the small arsenal of pebbles I’d stashed away. All one thousand of them.

  I waited until the Leapers started to fall, getting closer. My pebbles were tiny, which meant they screamed out at absurd speeds, but they didn’t fly far. The closer the Leapers were, the better the odds that they’d hit and do real damage

  “Er, Greg? Anytime now…” I heard Richard say.

  The barrage of Leapers was sinister as hell. They blotted out the soot-ridden sky. This must be what a rain of arrows looked like.

  If they really were arrows, we’d be fucked. As it was, they were made of glass, and they were squat and fat.

  Perfect targets.

  I fired, and like a swarm of angry mosquitos, my pebbles zipped past, appearing from thin air all around me.

  I played my arm across the sky in an arc, like a firehose of angry bullets.

  Black swarm met black rain… and then something truly incredible happened.

  The sound of breaking glass, like a thousand mirrors shattering all at once. But it was distant. Almost peaceful, like white noise.

  The sound died away… and the swarm that was bound for us simply fell like flakes of black snow, their momentum fully countered by my stones.

  “Huh,” I said, staring at the falling debris. My pebbles hadn’t just killed some of the Leapers, or even most of them.

  Not a single Leaper had survived. They’d been annihilated by one attack.

  A whole slew of kill notifications flew by.

  “Friend… When in god’s name did you get so strong?” Richard said from behind me.

  I glanced at Aerion, who looked at me with wide eyes, then at Rogar and Philip.

  There was no surer confirmation of Richard’s sentiment than wide-eyed looks of pure shock… and more than a little awe.

  I had to admit, I was feeling more than a little smug right now. Sure, I’d expended nearly all of my pebbles in that barrage, but I had proved out my ability in an actual fight. After the bout with Aerion, I knew my new power would be good. But this good?

  Moreover…

  I looked around, at the thousands of lava rock pebbles that littered the island. I looked at the ones that sat right beside the lava streams, glowing red-hot. And I looked at the lava itself. Not as something to be avoided or feared, but as a weapon. As ammunition.

  I grinned. This party was just getting started. And boy, was it gonna be hot.