Second stage

Staring at the veil for a long moment, Frederick turned his attention to his level-up panel before directly investing his free point into mind stat. Even after 2 years, he did not change his mind about this. Taking a deep breath, he mentally prepared himself for what would happen next. 

When he finally felt ready, he crossed the veil and continued, armed with his weapon, bag, and new clothes. As soon as he entered, he was met with the same cold. But this time, he wasn't surprised and instead walked on as the freezing temperature decreased.

The only reason he was doing okay yet was because of his makeshift coat made from the fur of the first guardian. It helped him keep warm enough to keep going forward despite being surrounded by ice-cold temperatures.

He continued his walk slowly yet steadily as he progressed through the vast area and constantly checked for any traces of this stage's guardian.

Frederick wasn't a fool, he knew that this trial was to survive through the cold and avoid the guardian.

 The guardian of this stage was honestly very annoying to fight by ordinary means. Moreover, what made it dangerous was the environment coupled with the fact that this guardian was adapted to the extreme cold and was smart enough to exploit this strength fully. 

'What is problematic about this maze is not only their guardian but also the environment itself.'

The air was now so freezing that even breathing caused pain. But still, Frederick persevered and kept going forward without showing flaws. He learned the hard way that the instant he shows even an ounce of weakness, the guardian will immediately attack. That's the thing with this trial. This guardian can think and will adapt but is also extremely cowardly so it won't do anything ... yet.

Continuing to advance, the temperature continued to drop at a rapid pace. It was getting hard for Frederick to see properly because of the temperature. While carefully navigating the caverns and watching out for the guardian, Frederick felt a hot and moist sensation radiating across an area on his left. It was likely some sort of hot spring or geyser which meant there must be water flowing somewhere nearby. 

However, he did not bother checking before continuing his way and ignoring it. He knew what kind of danger awaited him if he approached the source of this warmth.

Although approaching the source would be indeed a lot warmer than the rest of the cave because of the steam and mist that it produced. However, he understood well ahead that the steam also had a corrosive and poisonous property that would slowly but surely cause him to melt like butter if he stayed in.

If he had to describe the sensation of going to such a place then it would be a feeling of slowly melting like a human candle. This place was a kind of natural trap.

As time passed by, Frederick felt himself becoming more and more cold as he started to show signs of frostbite. His skin was beginning to turn red and peeling off due to how much colder everything was inside these caves.

Looking at his fingers, Frederick knew that if it kept going like this, he would experience the consequences of prolonged exposure to cold. '... Let's try to not lose too many to frostbite this time. It's hard to use my weapon with missing fingers.'

However, despite this, his walk never slowed down as he kept on going at a steady pace. As time went on, the fur coat he had made had become a lot less warm and started to freeze. His bag too, was even frozen solid!

Frederick could activate his authority but decided to not. He needed to keep as much strength and calculative power as possible for the end of this stage. Although using Blood Dominion here would of course help him, it can't be sustained for long.

Time slowly passed, and Frederick continued to carefully walk around the enormous cave as he avoided walking under any stalactite on the way. As he got to a certain point in the cave, he suddenly spotted a black silhouette hiding in one of the numerous dark areas in the ceiling. Ignoring it, he simply continued acting as if everything was fine.

After some time, the black silhouette had long been out of sight. As he advanced even more, the cave began to show signs of getting narrow until he came upon a crossroads with four paths to choose from. At first glance they looked very similar; however, after closer inspection, one could realize there were subtle differences between them: Some led upwards while others downwards or vice versa. 

Choosing the right path in this maze meant the difference between life and death, as only one of the pathways would lead to the next stage. Those who chose incorrectly would find themselves in a dead-end section with nothing but a freezing atmosphere and mushrooms resembling blue broccoli surrounding them. 

Through personal experience, Frederick learned this lesson by succumbing three times in this maze section, always selecting the wrong path. While acknowledging his lack of luck this time, he did not complain even once.

After what felt like hours, Frederick spotted a black veil-like curtain draped across a corner up ahead. Yet, before he could advance further, suddenly, a dark figure descended rapidly from the ceiling, its claw slashing directly at Frederick. 

Swiftly evading the attack by rolling on the ground, he promptly readied himself for combat.

This was to be expected. The guardian was very cowardly but the moment someone approached the veil, it would start to charge forward aggressively toward whoever dared to approach it.

 Examining the creature, it was a skinny and tall figure, its skin had a deep obsidian black that seemed to absorb the dim light of the cavern. It had a humanoid face but with no facial features aside from the two large purple glowing eyes that could easily be seen in the dark. Its chest was very similar to a human's except for the fact that it had no arms and no legs.

Nevertheless, this was compensated by having 4 pairs of clawed arms that served as legs. These clawed arms allowed it to move through the caverns at incredible speeds by crawling and leaping. It somehow looked like some kind of organic insect without wings crossed with a humanoid crab and eight arms serving as legs.

As Frederick carefully studied its silhouette, the guardian jumped onto a stalactite on the ceiling. The instant it reached the top, it pounced down at Frederick, using inertia to increase its speed. Frederick responded by jumping out of the way just in time while activating blood to the maximum. However instead of counter-attacking... he just ran toward the veil!

Seeing this, the monster immediately followed closely behind him. It used its 4 pairs of legs to accelerate even further before launching at Frederick like a rocket. Its movements were so fast it defied logic. Yet, despite being faster than any normal person could imagine, it was still not fast enough to catch Frederick easily.

Yet, it was still faster than Frederick so it was still catching up... Gradually approaching its prey, and just when it was about to reach Frederick...

Frederick went through the dark veil-like substance.

The creature stopped dead in its tracks, surprised at first but it then let out a high-pitched screech and tried to push forward using 4 of its arms as spring. However, no matter how much it pushed or clawed at it, the veil refused to let it through. It could only screech at the veil and bang the floor using its powerful arms while letting out sounds of rage.

After trying for a long time, the creature eventually gave up and right after it turned around to go back ... It suddenly felt a pain in its back. The monster slowly turned its head in confusion, only to see Frederick stabbing its heart. 

"kkhhh..."

As its vision started to turn blurry, the monster was utterly shocked. It did not expect Frederick to come back and attack it after escaping. In a desperate attempt, it used one of its arms and tried to shake Frederick off, only for him to thrust his dagger even deeper inside its heart. 

Losing its balance, the creature fell to the ground with all eight limbs flailing wildly like a dying insect until finally going limp.

 Frederick stared coldly at the dying creature. Instead of fighting guardians head-on, he would rather use tricks for an easy win. From his point of view, head-on confrontations were only for last option.

Halting his authority and ignoring the pain, he slowly walked toward the veil with a trembling body. Truth be told, he was also experiencing a similar feeling as the guardian because of the cold and was pretty much in extreme hypothermia. 

He could no longer feel most of his body and his heart was in agony because of his authority. He only wanted to fall asleep right now but persisted using his sole perseverance until he finally reached the veil.

Passing through in haste, his body was met with a wave of warm air. It was almost hot enough that Frederick felt like he could be burned alive. He took off his makeshift fur coat which was completely frozen at this point and tossed it on the ground before limply falling asleep on the ground.