Prologue: {Trials of the Obelisk}

[Trials of The Obelisk]

A game where the player was made to climb a 50 floor tower, or Obelisk in case. It was highly immersive and was exactly what the gaming community wanted. This caused it to quickly become well known in the VR gaming world.

Players were excited at the introduction of a new VR MMORPG, it even out-sold the total number of GTA sales in only one month, reaching almost 200 million copies sold.

Ever since its release, 'Trials of The Obelisk' made its name in the record books and was being called the 'best' game. But after a few months of being released the game gained a new title, the 'worst' game.

Games get called bad because of only two reasons. Reason number 1, the game is genuinely bad and has terrible content. Reason number 2, the game is just too hard.

And 'Trials of The Obelisk' was in the latter category.

Only a few months after its release, 'Trials of The Obelisk' became a game known for being impossible. It was far too difficult for any sane person to suffer through. This caused about 95% of the player base to leave after only reaching the 20th floor and the percentage only increased further up the Obelisk.

Of course, there were some non-sane people who were still attempting the tower. Most of them were avid gamers and most even played professionally.

In this day and age where VR Sets were fully immersive, being a professional gamer was extremely impressive because most of the games required fighting. This required the players to develop actual combat skills, of course the game would assist them but not do it for them. Matter of fact, many VR pros were also professional fighters.

This also inadvertently caused the rise of popularity in training with melee weapons in real life. Swords, spears, daggers and more were all being trained with so they could be used in VR games.

Anyway, with most of the player base gone, everyone expected the game to shut down because of lack of funds but it didn't.

***

It has been 10 years since the release of the game and one player was finally approaching the doors of the 50th and final floor.

"Finally, I made it…" Said the man who had just approached the entrance to the 50th floor.

The man in question's name was Nico, he was a 24-year-old professional gamer who gave up his gaming career to play through the entire Obelisk.

Many people have approached him in attempts to sign him to a professional gaming organization and force him to play other games. The reason for this was his skill in combat. 'Trials of The Obelisk' was an almost purely combat oriented game and he has always been the leading player in the Obelisk, meaning his combat skills must have been top-notch to get this far.

Instead of continuing his gaming career he decided to become a streamer and he actually developed quite a following. With how difficult the Obelisk was, other professional VR players couldn't help but respect him. Honestly, they were also scared of him and grateful that he continued to play 'Trials of The Obelisk'.

They themselves even said that if he decided to go to any other game he would quickly dominate it.

As he was approaching the 50th floor's doors he stopped for a second to read his live chat, which was currently being flooded by many messages. Almost everybody was watching his stream at the moment.

[Loglion: Holy shit! Man, you made it!]

[FatNut: Never expected anybody to actually make it…]

[Lolzman: What game are you going to go to after this one? Haha, I feel bad for those pros.😂]

Seeing Lolzman's chat message, Nico took a second to think.

'What game would I play…huh…"

Nico had only been playing the same game for 10 straight years by now. As cringy as it sounds it became more than just a game to him, it became his life.

He didn't have any family waiting outside of the game to welcome him back after a long gaming session. He also made his living off streaming money so he didn't have a reason to be out of the game unless he had to eat, sleep or use the restroom. So he basically lived in the game, his only contact with people was through his chat when he streamed.

Breaking out of his thoughts Nico spoke to his chat.

"I haven't thought much about it, I've been focusing on preparing for the 50th floor for a while now so I guess I just lost myself." He said with an awkward smile.

[C00chieStanky: You've been doing this for 10 years now man. Take a damn break!]

[BigTed: I agree with C00chie, you should take a break and get back to the real world.]

"Yeah, maybe I will. Getting involved with the real world again… That will be an interesting interaction! Haha!" Nico laughed with his chat.

Deciding to put an end to the talk he was having with his chat, Nico spoke.

"Alright, I guess I'll be going now, wish me luck." He said with a confident smile plastered on his face.

Over the past 10 years he learned that confidence is key to many things. Many of the things inside of the Obelisk were so difficult that even a tiny slip up will ruin everything and hesitation only caused slip ups. So, Nico was forced to learn how to approach almost anything with confidence, as to not make mistakes.

Walking up to the 50th floor doors, Nico placed his hands on the doors while he received good luck messages from his chat.

[BigTed: GL]

[C00chieStanky: After you're done I'll buy you some drinks! GL!]

[Lolzman: whip some ass man! Good luck!]

[FatNut: GL!!!]

[Loglion: Destroy the 50th floor for all of us who gave up! 👍 GL!]

Receiving the encouragement from his chat, Nico pushed the doors open. The doors that no one ever thought anyone would reach.

***

Entering the 50th floor, Nico took a look at his surroundings.

He found himself on what looked to be a peak of a mountain flattened out to make a stage. A sea clouds covered the surroundings of the mountain, not allowing one to see below them.

On top of the flattened mountain stage were pillars surrounding the edges. But the most noticeable thing was the giant creature in the center of the stage, currently curled up in a ball.

Seemingly realizing someone had entered its domain, the creature uncurled itself and stood tall.

That's when Nico got a good look at the creature and realized calling it a creature would be disrespectful… What was standing proudly in front of him was a humongous… Dragon!

"Congratulations, boy. Even I must admit that scaling the Obelisk is no easy feat, you have earned a small amount of my respect." The dragon spoke in a deep voice that was full of arrogance.

"I'll take that as a compliment, so do I have to defeat you to clear this floor?" Nico asked.

Hearing Nicos words, the dragon's face turned with amusement and disdain.

"Indeed. But you should give up boy, haha! You stand no chance." Laughed the dragon.

The dragon's words cleared any doubts Nico had about the 50th floor trial.

Pulling out his spear from his storage he dashed at the majestic beast, leaving the ground below him cracked from the force of his dash.

Determining the trajectory of the spear, the dragon used his claws to deflect it, then spoke.

"Hoh, I thought we were having a good conversation. Attacking someone out of the blue is rude, you know." The majestic beast spoke in a mocking tone.

The dragon then proceeded to use a skill, causing a notification to show up in Nico's eyes.

[The dragon of the final test has used the skill {Scaled Chains}]

A group of crimson chains proceeded to come from beneath Nico and bind him in place.

"Hmm… It seems that is all you have, how disappointing." Said the dragon in a fake sadness.

"If this is all, then die!"

Nico's sight was then blinded by the glorious crimson flame that the dragon was charging.

[The dragon of the final test is charging the skill {Dragons breath}]

As soon as Nico saw the notification, the dragon released his skill. But this time Nico decided to make a move as well.

[Skill {Judgment}, Activated!]

[The dragon of the final test has been deemed an unfair fight. The dragon's stats have been lowered by 50%. The player's stats have risen by 50%.]

After activating {Judgment} Nico quickly placed his hands on the chain and activated another skill.

[Skill {Disruption}, Activated!]

The second the chains were disrupted, the crimson flame descended upon him.

In the dragon sight this was the end of Nico, he was a being unworthy of an honorable death by his hands.

The dragon then felt a presence from above him.

[Skill {Dragons Bane}, Activated!]

[All attacks on dragon type beings shall be enhanced by 100%]

Catching the dragon as it was turning to look at him, Nico landed a solid blow right into the dragon's closed eye. But thanks to all of his skills, his spear cut through the dragon's eyelid and pierced into its eyes, earning a painful roar from the beast.

"*Roar!!!* You bastard! How dare you harm my divine body!" The dragon raged.

[The dragon of the final test has gone into a state of rage!]

[The dragon's stats will be increased, but it will lose a great amount of intelligence.]

This was Nico's goal from the beginning. Over the years he had learned that fighting an intelligent beast was much more difficult than fighting just a purely strong beast. But this dragon was at the peak of both intelligence and strength so how the hell could beat it! But ironically enough, what gave Nico hope in defeating this unstoppable beast, was just that.

If the beast was so strong and so smart then it would think that nothing could harm it, it would naturally develop some arrogance and pride. In the past few floors Nico had learned that beasts with Intelligence and strength would often fall into a state of rage if their pride was hurt.

Naturally this dragon in front of him had a huge ego, the beast was confident that anything Nico could do wouldn't harm it. So, when Nico did cause it harm the beast felt its pride being crushed therefore falling into a state of rage.

Losing the majority of its intelligence, the beast lunged at Nico with its full force, hoping to devour the human in front of it.

Dodging the attack, Nico thrusted his spear into the neck of the dragon. Feeling the resistance of the beast's scales he pushed a little harder.

[Skill {Flash Fire}, Activated!]

{Flash Fire} gave Nico the burst of strength needed to pierce the dragon's scales and release the ability of his weapon into the beast.

Nico's spear was called {Purgatorial Crimson Fang} or PCF for short. It was a spear that looked like the embodiment of hell itself. Its ability was that if the opponent attacked, the counter-attack using the spear would cause unbearable pain, stunning whatever it hit in the process.

Stunning the dragon, Nico ran under the beast and attempted to send a fatal strike to its heart. But unfortunately the stun didn't last for long before the dragon sent its body falling down, trying to crush Nico.

Fortunately he was able to dodge the massive body, saving himself, but the impact caused by the beast's body hitting the ground sent Nico flying into one of the surrounding pillars.

"Guh…"

Nico couldn't help but grunt at the impact. Even though the game reduced the pain you felt, it still didn't feel good.

Not having any time to think, Nico was forced to dodge the dragon which had now pounced at him.

After he dodged Nico once again struck the dragon with his spear, stunning it, before jumping into the sky.

Holding his spear above his head, Nico activated another skill.

[Skill {Terminal Velocity}, Activated!]

Then he launched his spear at the stunned dragon's head. When the spear made contact, most of the beast's scales on its head shattered along with {Purgatorial Crimson Fang}.

Pulling out another spear from his inventory called {The Refined Spear}, he sent himself flying down towards the dragon's head.

{The Refined Spear} was a very basic weapon that one could get very early on in the Obelisk. It had no special abilities, but it was the most difficult weapon in the game to break, making it perfect for what Nico was planning.

[Skill {Phase Blade}, Activated!]

[The weapon being used while {Phase Blade} is active will be able to pierce anything, but will drain the weapons durability at an unbelievable pace.]

Reaching the dragon's now scaleless head, Nico drove {The Refined Spear} into the dragon's skull reaching its brain. Then put all of his mana left into this final skill.

[Skill {Chain Lightning}, Activated!]

Nico could feel the skills lightning going through his body before finally reaching the spear. Using the spear as a channel the lightning found its way into the dragon's brain, frying it.

*Crash*

The dragon's body fell to the ground in a loud crash.