Drewells976
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Chapter 355 - Lurking in the Dark
🕑 Added 2025-10-02 02:36:01 +0000 UTC-------------------------
Hanging off a stone ledge, Kai suppressed a curse. The cold bit into his stiff fingers and tested his hold. Darkness spread below.
He had snuffed out his torch to spare his last scraps of Fire mana, leaving the dense underground essence to guide him. Brown and dark-gray motes churned through the plummeting cavern, crossed by the occasional iridescent flicker—hardly the clarity he wanted for a three-meter jump.
The desire to throttle his familiar steadily rose. It turned out a knee-high, teleporting cat had a rather peculiar idea of an easy path, willfully ignorant of humans’ physical constraints.
This better not kill me. I swear, I’ll come back to haunt your fluffy ass.
“Are you sure on this path?” Alden’s voice echoed from above. “We can backtrack.”
“No, it’s okay.” Kai squeezed confidence into his tone. With a sharp exhale, he tasted dust on his lips. “I’ll go first.”
A pulse of Earth Magic showed him the jagged rocks beneath. Fixing the fleeing image in his mind, he arched his back and kicked the stone wall. At the height of his swing, he released the stone ledge and plunged into the dark. His body angled to avoid impaling himself on a stalagmite, boots skidding on the rock.
He landed on uneven ground. Unable to roll blindly, his legs bent to absorb the impact. The slippery gravel denied him purchase. He threw his arms out to steady himself. His hand found a grip at the price of two torn nails.
Shit.
With his balance secured, he slid onto the cavern floor. Blood dripped from his fingers—a wound more annoying than painful.
That’s what I get for conserving mana.
He delicately peeled the broken nails and rinsed the dirt off with a Water spell. Searching his pockets, he found a handkerchief to wrap them.
More training for Nature Healing, I guess.
Deeper into the cave, bluish moss clung to the walls, thick with mana yet casting a darker glow than what he’d seen above. He was about to investigate the tunnel when a silver flash caught his eye.
“Meeow.”
A furball rubbed against his leg. Violet eyes glinted at him, full of concern.
Kai held off for three heartbeats before running his hale fingers through Hobbes’ silky fur. Why punish himself to make a point to his familiar?
Don’t think I’ll let you off so easily. You knew that path wasn’t easy. You just wanted to get away from those sticky tunnels, you vain fluffball.
Though short, the downward route led through narrow fissures and several steep drops.
The fluffy tail tickled his arm. “Mew.”
It may not be your fault humans move in such crude ways, but you could have warned us.
A sprinkling of pebbles announced Alden’s descent.
“Wait! There—” Kai spread his senses, Earth mana at his fingertips, ready to jolt him. His worries proved unnecessary. “How are you…”
Alden stepped on the jutting rock as if he were climbing down a set of stairs. He slightly faltered on the last stone, but quickly regained his balance. Mana flickered beneath his clothes’ cloaking. Firmly landing on a mossy rock, he dusted off his legs and joined him.
Does he see in this dark? Hmm… I could have done it too if I weren’t rationing my mana.
“That looks like a path.” Alden peered into the moss-covered tunnel. His quiet demeanor made it easy to forget he’d reached Yellow ★★★. “Seems you were right.”
Careful with the praise. I might think you have faith in my skills.
“It beats trekking through a maze of spider-infested tunnels.” Kai gave him an easy shrug. Away from the webs and chittering monstrosities, he could finally stop channeling Water mana over his boots and refill his reserves.
“Did you hear that noise earlier?” Alden asked. “It sounded almost like meowing?”
“Meowing down here? Uhm… maybe.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well…”
It means someone should be more careful. I know you heard me, Mr. Fluffball! What am I supposed to tell him now?
Hobbes scoffed at his worries, having already blinked away, warning that there were no arrays peeping on them.
How do you know that? Huh… Well, if it’s obvious, why don’t you explain how? No… that doesn’t help. And what does this have to do with me being a human?
Kai did the mental equivalent of hurling a shoe at his smug familiar, receiving the impression of Hobbes’ silver hindquarters vanishing in a graceful blink—the clumsy shot missing.
You won’t always get away!
Before he could find a fitting reply, he noticed Alden watched him, still waiting for an answer.
“Uhm, so…” Kai gave a side glance at the walls. How could they know who might be monitoring them? “Remember the deal for three questions. You can ask me when we’re outside.”
“Yes… I think I will.”
Why does that sound like a threat?
His attempted smile did little to dent his roommate’s stare. “Want to lead the way?” Kai waved at the single path out of the cavern.
Alden studied him for a long moment, then strode toward the dim tunnel, the passage just wide enough for two people.
Kai used the glowing lines of his bracelet to illuminate his steps. About five hours must have passed since they woke up underground—at least, twelve since he’d last eaten. Once more, he reached for his ring for his snack stash, only to find his hand bare.
Next time, I’ll swallow it.
Only nine months since he escaped the Sanctuary, they felt like years. He hadn’t missed sleeping on stone beds—much less going hungry.
Trudging through the cave system, he thought he caught faint echoes of scratching or howling, though the sounds vanished whenever he tried to listen closely.
Great, now I’m imagining things.
“What do they expect us to eat for three days? We can’t forge moss and granite.” Kai muttered, not expecting an answer.
“The academy must have placed supplies and weapons on the main path. We missed them when we took the hidden entrance,” Alden said. “The spiders’ cave was too dangerous for a second challenge.”
“Uh… you sure?” Kai scratched his ear sheepishly. “We cleared the colony by ourselves. Aside from the boss, they seemed quite weak for their grade. Most students would travel in larger teams than us.”
Alden silently regarded him. “Those spiders would rank as a C-tier threat in their nest. The poison on their silk would disrupt the mana of anyone who touches them. Once you get entangled or bitten, it’s a near-certain elimination. If not for the dean’s safeguards, I doubt they’d have been allowed in a first-year Trial.”
Hmm, you could have warned me that their web was poisoned…
“So just don’t touch their threads,” Kai said. The only challenge had been swiftly dispatching the nest without using too much mana. “Not getting stuck in a spider’s web seems like an obvious strategy.”
“Knowing and doing aren’t the same when you’re assaulted in every direction.”
“You didn’t seem to have problems.”
Alden let out a quiet huff from his nose. “I’m above average. Most students would lack the skills and control to deal with the webs. You’re the one who strolled inside as if it were nothing.”
“I see…” Kai said, pretending not to hear the implied question.
Their steps grew cautious as the cavern split around a widening pit, plunging beyond his senses. He picked up a pebble to gauge its depth when an ominous whisper kept his hand.
Perhaps not…
A tuft of night-blue moss marked the path on the right. Kai skirted away from the chasm, hugging the wall of the cavern. His breath fogged. Even his enchanted winter attire couldn’t entirely shield him from the deepening cold.
“Should we talk strategy?” He eagerly followed the moss into another passage. According to his resident expert, the path had remarkably few surveillance arrays. “You know, in case we meet other teams. Or if we get trapped in another chamber.”
“Why? Is getting trapped a common occurrence for you?” Alden asked. The darkness did no favors to his unreadable expression, though his voice carried a note of genuine mirth and curiosity.
“I… No. But that’s why they’re unexpected situations. You can never be too prepared. Better we agree on what to do now when we have the time.”
“That’s… a sensible suggestion.” His dry tone made it impossible to tell whether it was a compliment or a jab. Had they not shared a living space for months, he might have taken him as cold and scathing.
Guess that’s the point. Aloof and unapproachable.
“You’re the expert on the Trials,” Kai said. “Do you have ideas?”
Alden gave the slightest nod. “I do.” He stalked in the darkness for a minute before continuing. “We’ve gone deep enough. We’ll aim for the quickest exit and take the challenges on the way. If we’re ranked with points, the spiders likely were the best gains we could find. Unless we stumble upon more information, the most reliable strategy is to go for the rewards on exit time.” Done with his idea, he turned to petting the black snake wrapped around his wrist when he stumbled on a rock. “Hmm… is the plan agreeable to you?”
Yup, I’m here too.
“As a general goal, yes.” Kai chomped on an ice cube he’d formed directly in his mouth. The temperature wasn’t ideal, but it distracted him from his hunger and made a satisfying crunch beneath his teeth. “If we’ve strayed from the main path and missed the supplies, we’re better off leaving quickly. Without food or rest, our effectiveness will drop within a day. Tell me if you or Nibbles get thirsty. That I can manage.”
He shaped a watery serpent to coil around Alden’s icicle. “Cold or hot? Well, more like lukewarm. Somehow boiling is much harder than freezing.”
Alden eyed the scowl of his sculpted double. “Cold, but not frozen. Do you have a glass?”
What do you— Hmm… Actually, I had one in my ring.
“Here.” He shaped a square cup from ice and added a snake straw.
“Huh, thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Kai said. “Now, let’s discuss your plan. It’s a bit barebones. What if we run into another group? Do we share information or ignore them? What if they’re hostile? How many students can you handle?”
“That depends… But why would anyone attack us? There are no benefits.”
“Maybe they want to strike down the competition. Or we’re competing for the rewards in a trial. Or they’re snake haters who attack your familiar.”
Nibbles let out an appalled hiss.
“Yeah, I know.” Kai petted the little noodle to comfort him. “People can be horrible. What do we do, Alden? Wild beasts or humans, we should share our abilities before we end up in a fight. The professors aren’t probably watching us here. And I doubt they can hear anything.”
The caves stretched on with no apparent end. To fend off gloominess, Kai pressed his roommate with questions, starting from practical concerns and drifting into wilder hypotheticals for his own amusement.
“Why would a girl jump on me? And how did I not dodge her if she’s screaming?”
“You got distracted petting Nibbles. Don’t question it. Tell me how you would deal with it.”
“I… we’ve gotten somewhere.” Alden motioned to a warmer glow reflecting on the slick stone ahead.
Could have waited thirty seconds longer.
His preparations proved their worth as they skulked forward with unspoken agreement. After nearly an hour of walking in darkness, Kai squinted at the growing light. If not for Hobbes assuring him that silly magic doodles littered the cave a single blink away, he might have feared they’d gotten lost.
Please, a way up. Or snack supply. Possibly both.
The walls closed in, forcing them to crawl through the last stretch before the passage sloped down. They emerged in a fissure a few meters above a broad chamber, where round walls and leveled floors bore the unmistakable marks of human hands.
Large clusters of quartz overshadowed the bioluminescent moss. Aside from the crack where they stood, only two features stood out: a flight of stone steps leading upward across from them, and a massive double door set into the chamber wall closer to them.
Is that where they hid my snacks?
Kai tapped Alden’s arm twice for the go-ahead. Hallowed Intuition murmured softly, though signaled no imminent danger. With a clear sight, he easily found the footholds to climb down, his torn nails little more than a nuisance.
The chamber looked even larger from the floor, the ceiling height making him weigh the chances of digging his way to the surface from there.
“We’ve found a Trial,” Alden said, relieved.
After wandering the sprawling darkness, Kai couldn’t deny his own measure of solace at seeing a bright, marked path. “Do you want to check the doors or head up the stairs?”
“Why ask when you’ll never leave without inspecting them?”
That… Okay, that’s fair. I was trying to be polite.
Chest puffed in indignation, Kai strode toward the gate. Towering above him, bands of blackened steel and etched runes crisscrossed the ancient wood, their grooves gleaming like smoldering embers.
Huh?
He hadn’t noticed from the angle where they entered, but the doors were slightly ajar—wide enough to let someone slip through. An odd, pungent odor wafted from within. Squinting at the gap, the light from the quartz seemed to falter at the threshold, unable to pierce the darkness.
Is it the enchantments?
Reassured by Hallowed Intuition’s quiet hums, he moved closer. Mana Observer struggled to push past the threshold, outlining a bare floor ending in a sharp drop where his senses cut off.
Whatever had been trapped inside had already left.
“We’re not entering,” Alden spoke before he could approach the gap.
“I wasn’t going to.” Kai defended himself.
Only an idiot would walk through an ominous gate.
Even if nothing lurked within, he wasn’t about to risk the gate slamming shut behind him. Alden had a point—getting trapped once a day was quite enough.
“I’m just taking a look.”
“Naturally,” Alden said tersely. “Another group of students has probably already been here. Just don’t touch or channel your mana into the scripts. We should leave soon.”
Do you take me for an amateur?
“I’ll be quick.” He stepped closer to study the wards interlocking across the metal bands—then edged nearer still. The longer he stared, the more their complexity held him in awe. It stirred the nostalgia from the months spent prodding the Vastaire’s deadly wards in the Sanctuary. “Huh… that’s odd.”
It was nearly a minute before Alden finally asked. “What is odd?”
“These arrays,” Kai gestured. “They can’t even compare to the seal on the spiders’ cave. You’d need… well, I’d also struggle to crack them.” His brow furrowed at the runic chains scarred by the ember glow. “I don’t think this was the work of students tampering. It looks like a failure in the script.”
“They broke down by themselves?”
“Yes… But it doesn’t make sense either.”
“Why not?” Alden asked, tone tight with impatience. “Engraving mistakes are hardly rare. The architects might have been in a hurry.”
“That’s what’s most odd. It doesn’t look like sloppy engraving. A fluctuation within the internal mana framework triggered a chain failure. Not impossible, but close to a one-in-a-million chance. Especially to have happened now.”
And these arrays don’t look that recent.
Intent on studying the wards, he forgot Alden stood beside him till he spoke again.
“Perhaps we’d better leave.”
“I… think you’re right.” Kai nodded to himself. He took a step away and then halted. “Wait.”
Before Alden could stop him, he flared Empower and threw his full Strength into closing the gate. The doors shuddered, grinding like rusted hinges before yielding and inching back. When they finally shut, a ripple spread across the arrays, erasing the ember glow and sealing the passage.
Triumphantly dusting his hands, he turned to meet Alden’s death glare.
“I warned you not to touch them. If the scripts are unstable, they could have killed you.”
“I was reasonably sure the wards only trigger when the two halves connect. And I was right. Better than leaving an eerie passage open at our backs. That was a disaster waiting to happen.”
Alden worked his jaw in begrudging acceptance. “Let’s move.”
Alrighty.
Kai strolled ahead, keeping ahead of his roommate, who looked ready to stop him at the first misstep by any means necessary. Midway across the chamber, a notification flared in his vision.
Hallowed Intuition (lv90>91)
Not sure why, but thank you.
Reaching the stone stairs, they climbed a tight spiral lit by the faint gleam of quartz. After seven turns, the passage broke into a cavern, the edges lengthened into shadows.
Alden studied the four tunnels leading out, loosening his posture. “That one sloped up—
A scream tore through the silence in the distance.
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A/N: Don't worry everyone, I know you must be all tired of Kai. Next chapter will focus on Rain, Flynn and Valela ;)
[edit. That may or may not be a joke]
Comments
Andrew Joseph Robinson
The professors aren’t probably watching us here. -> probably aren't he flared Empower and threw his full Strength into closing the gate. -> Body Augmentation
Schuh
The dean asks why Kai has a fake Identity. "Some People showed up and said 'work for us or everyone you love will suffer, also we will steal your stuff'. So I said, solid argument I will work for you. Then they told me I know too much and now I can't leave. So I let them think I'm dead and got myself a new Identity."
Mohit
So something escaped the Trial room and is now loose in the underground, right? Was this bad luck or deliberate sabotage? This could get interesting.
Schuh
I get the feeling Kai will get a lot more attention from the faculty and other students in the future. He has been a random face in the crowd for almost everyone so far. His stated background doesn't line up with abilities, which was fine as long as nobody cares enough about him to check. But a possible first place in the Trials could lead to more scrutiny. Perhaps even cheating allegations? Though I can't imagine those getting far with truthtelling being a thing.
nicolas
Only Hobbes POV are more interesting then Kai's :p
Martingrant91
I'm all for other POVs. Chance to learn of another characters skills/Guide and it is a chance for world building which I'm all for.
Alias
Kai is the best. Other than a few chapters for other povs Kai all the way. You have a great MC and shouldn’t ever feel like he’s stale!
Trevayne
Thanks for the chapter.
M_Lo
Well time for Alden to do some real leveling
Kris Piskorski
I love this release pace you got going on now
Sparifankerl
Yes, perfect opportunity to show how the others waltz through easy challenges. 😁 Can’t finish the trial with too few chapters and this is a better cliffhanger than in the middle of a fight.
C
Nope I like kai chapters.
Some Guy
TFTC
Sébastien Kingsbury
Nah, probably whatever escaped from that door he closed off. Wouldn't make much sense for the cultists to risk anything right where they'd be spotted by basically every important family in the empire
Alexander Belousov
Yeah. Nice cliff, you jerk! :p
Sloth
Hallowed Intuition leveling but not working = interference = cultists(probably)
Immutably Empty
This is the way.
Brett
lol nice chapter; and post chapter note!
Polaris
Yes, of course wise and merciful author. Jump away from Kai just as we hit a cliffhanger. I’m sure no one has any issues with that
