1.12 The Sun God's Trial

"What exercises were you doing that pushed you past your limits?" My dad was very curious.

"It wasn't really an exercise. I was practicing something called Illusion Steps."

"WHAT? The shadow dancer technique? Where did you learn this?" He sounded slightly agitated.

"I learned from the game..." I didn't know why my father was agitated but it usually means that something might be wrong.

"The... game..." He was stunned. He didn't think that even this was in the game.

"What's wrong?" I ask when I hear him trying to calm down.

"...Do you know about the League of Assassin's?" My dad asked.

"Yeah, they are a mercenary group for hire. They don't care if the job is clean or dirty. They only work for the highest bidder." I say.

"That Illusion Steps technique is apart of an unrivaled set of techniques called the Shadow Dancer Handbook. It is... supposed to be exclusive to the League of Assassin's and they would never let it leak to an outsider without a purpose. This means that they helped make the game too..."

"Is this a problem? Will I still be able to practice it?" I asked this curiously.

"You should only practice in game for now. I am gonna ask if I can head home early and get someone to replace me at my post." After saying this he hung up.

I sigh and continue making my breakfast while trying to not slice the cutting board in half. After that trial, I finished making my omelette and started to eat. I turned on the television and news about a currency conversion system being added in the system update was going around. In the market place, gold is sold for 2500 credits. You can also trade your gold for credits as well. If I sold all of the gold coins I have currently, I could become a millionaire over night.

After I finished eating, I decided to get on the game. When I came online, everyone was waiting for me.

"What took you so long?" Tyrant asked curiously.

"I workout in the mornings. It's out of habit. I also live by myself right now so I also make breakfast myself." I just tell them my morning routine.

"Oh, what's your routuine?" Tyrant asked. He was very interested in the daily life of a famous gamer.

"I usually run 15 Kilometers but today I ran 7 and did some other basic exercises before practicing the shadow dancer techniques."

Blade Dance's eyes lit up. "Have you made any progress? Can you show us?" Silent Night was also looking at me with eyes full of anticipation.

"All right, lets find a clearing first. I will also need a volunteer." I stated.

"I'll go first. Show mercy on me." Tyrant raised his hand.

After that we found a clearing not too far away with a few hobgoblins. After we took care of them, We stood 10 meters away from each other.

Cecilia was doing the countdown. "In 3... 2... 1... START!"

After this, every looked at me only to see that I started to walk towards Tyrant instead of sprinting or going into stealth. Tyrant looked like he was puzzled but didn't try to overthink.

At this point, I got with in 5 meters of him and Tyrant finally moved.

[Charge]

Rapidly closes in on target to hit thwm with your shield. Stuns target on hit.

While Tyrant was closing in rapidly. I was looking at him like he was in slow motion. This happened when I pushed my concentration to its limits. It was a weird feeling as I had to get used to the timing but wasn't too difficult to get used to. When Tyrant reached the 1 meter mark, I vanished but my afterimage was left behind still walking towards him. I circle behind him and looked at him ram into my after image only for it to dissipate like an illusion.

Tyrant was shocked. He didn't see me move. No one saw me move. They were shocked to see that that I had dissapeared from my previous position and appeared behind him half a second after he hit my afterimage and tap Tyrant's shoulder.

Tyrant turned around with wide eyes and looked at me then said. "Are you sure that wasn't a skill?"

"It's a bonafide physical technique."

"Do you think other thieves can get their hands on this book?" Tyrant said this and it made everyone shuddered at the thought. Can you imagine a whole squadron of thieves being able to pull that off.

"Even if they did, they would have to at least be a trained martial artist, soldier, or athlete to want to think of pulling it off. And even if they could, they would probably be forced to log off because they exhausted or caused harm to their body." I say this to dispel the crazy thoughts in their minds. I was kind of tired myself after doing that.

After discussing this, we cleared more goblin encampments. After spending 4 hours doing this, I reached level 19, and the rest became level 18. I had filled up 78% of my XP bar. We managed to kill 8 chieftan ranked Hobgoblin commanders and recieved a ton of eqipment and skill books. We decided to go back to town so we can repair our weapons and equipment and sell some gear. We managed to snag 17 uncommon weapons, 8 bronze weapons, 3 steel ranked weapons, 20 pieces of uncommon equipment, 10 pieces of bronze equipment, and 5 pieces of steel equipment. We also found 12 skill books and 1 Ultimate skill book for the ranger class. The learned 4 of the skill books as all of the others couldn't be learned with their class. As for me, I was unlucky and didn't get any skill books for my class. After we placed placed everything in the auction house, we went back to the forest to level up.

After another hour, I was very close to levling up and everyone else had already reached level 19. I was scouting ahead to look for more encampment when I came across a cave.

"He guys, I found a cave formation, do you want to check it out?" I said this as I took out my daggers.

"A cave, we can check it out, it might have higher level enemies in there so we can level up faster." Tyrant wanted was all for it and everyone else nodded. I waited for everyone to catch up to me before proceding to the cave. When we reached the cave entrance, we all saw a system prompt pop onto our HUD's.

[System] You are being teleported into the Trial of God. Difficulty: Heroic. Rewards: Based on Performance. Type of Trial: The Sun God's Trial.

We were stupefied. We didn't know what we were getting into but we knew that it going to be difficult.

After 5 seconds, we were finally teleported inside the trial ground. We were all assaulted by a heat wave the moment we came in. I was fine since the golden crow egg gave me some fire resistance but everyone else was sweating and their faces were red.

At this moment we heard the voice from earlier. "You... night elf with the mask and cloak. I feel a gentle energy within your body. Could it be..." The voice seem to have been thoroughly surprised about my powers. I haven't really shown this ragtag group all of my powers yet. "Young night elf, Have you recently encountered an item called the spark of light?"

I don't hear any malice in its tone so I decide to say the truth. "Yes esteemed Sun God, my mentor gave me the inheritance of the Luminous Dancer. She also warned about the forces of darkness and the evil faction trying to crawl out of their hiding places and plague the lands once again."

The voice sighs bitterly and said "I also sense another presence of life coming from your person. Can you bring it out for me to see?"

"Sure thing. As well as being a wielder of the light, I also happen to be the keeper of the egg of the Golden Crow."

I take out golden colored egg. It is roughly the same size as an ostrich egg and it weighs quite a bit.

At this moment, We all see the phantom of a man come out of the wall. He looked very haggard but his eyes were glowing qith excitement when he saw the egg.

"This egg is different from the other golden crow's I have seen. I can't quite put my finger on it. You might have to visit the Sun God Temple in the future. When you do, ask if you can speak to the Protector of the Sun God Temple. See if she is able to find what is different about this golden crow."

[System] Hidden Quest: Home of the Golden Crow. Objective 1: Go to the Sun God's Temple. Look for its protector. No Time Limit.

I also recieved another special quest. The Sun God's Temple is in a level 35 map so I need to get stronger first.

"Alright, enough the interlude. There is only one stage for my trial and its quite straightforward. You just have to defeat this phantom form. Of course, I will be at the level of who ever is the highest level in your group."

After he said this, he backed away and golden flames appeared around his body then his form became less transparent.

[Kairo, The Sun God] [Phantom Lord] Lvl. 19

HP: [9000/9000]

When everyone saw this boss, we all despaired. The heat from his flames could be felt even when he was 20 meters away.

I furrowed my brows when saw the boss.