Chapter 15: The Trial Begins

When I was teleported to an unknown place, at the fortune teller's side. Minho opened a scroll. A hologram flickered into view, and he addressed the figure on the other side. "Yes, sir. The candidate has been transferred to the designated location. The scroll beneath the hourglass indicates that he is a Gemini star user."

The mysterious voice crackled through the scroll. "What? He's a Gemini and possesses the Cosmic Abyss? Do you know what other substar he has?"

Minho, standing up, replied, "No, I don't."

The figure on the scroll responded urgently, "I need to inform the higher-ups immediately. Contact me as soon as you get the results. The higher-ups are eager; he might be the one who can ------- –."

Minho nodded quickly and said, "Yes, sir," before shutting the scroll and going back to his place.

In the meanwhile, I discovered myself in a poorly lit chamber stocked with level 1 weaponry. Even in my assassination career, I had never seen that many guns in one location. The Veil of Destiny remained in my hand, but the ticket that my old granny gave me was gone, so she was also a part of this, and I have fallen into their trap that they have forced upon me. 

But at this point, I was more concerned with getting out of the dungeon than thinking about them.

[System: "Please choose your weapon within 3 minutes"]

3:00

2:59

2:58…

I swiftly chose a katana, a scorpion knife, and a few more weapons as the countdown was running out. This was my primary weapon from my former life. I made the decision to take katana even though I wasn't sure I could use it successfully with my present physique but I think I can still do good damage with it.

0:02

0:01

0:00

[System: "You will be transported to the dungeon for the trial."]

I was surrounded by a bright white light as the system's notice came to an end. I was standing atop a large, complex magic circle in a pitch-black cave. The Veil of Destiny changed into a ring, which is a symbol for weapon artefacts of ranks seven and above.

[System: "Please complete the dungeon to have the right to access."]

"Really? I can't even get a clear response from the system or the fortune teller. However, obtaining a rank 7 artefact would be quite lucrative "I said, feeling both annoyed and driven.

"Holy sh*t" finding artefacts like the jakpot as if selling it would bring in the same amount of money as the adventure that ultimately claimed my life. Let's see what this bad boy can accomplish.

As I continued into the dungeon, I soon felt several monsters approaching. Five level one goblins were in front of the gate. Ideal for putting my katana to the test, I chose to use my assassin's archery prowess to dispatch two of them at a distance, clearing the area for me to complete the work easily with the katana so, I went straight for the other goblins, holding on to my katana.

With a guttural snarl, the first goblin surged at me, "Grak!" With ease, I ducked under and cut off its arm. It cried out, "Reeek!" and I gave it a clean stab to the heart to end it.

With a frightening "Krak!" the second and third goblins came at me. I turned around, decapitating one with a single, well-aimed blow after deflecting its arm with my sword. Its head rolled away as its body fell to the ground.

The last goblin hissed, "Ssss!" and circled me nervously. It made a move to the left, and I made a move to fall for it, opening a gap. I sidestepped as the goblin charged in, and with one fluid stroke, I slammed my katana through its throat giving, me the first effort less victory. I cleaned my blade of blood and looked around the fallen goblins to pick up my throwing knifes.

"Not bad," I murmured following the faultless win.

As I got closer to the gate, I could see an infinitely deep chasm and a steep cliff. In front of me were four cubic stones which were getting half of their area with every stone and it seemed like they could be used to cross the gap and get to the gate on the other side. With determination, I took the first stone as I had no other option.

I felt two daggers coming at me at once. I just about avoided the first one using Shadow Steps, but the second one went through my left leg.

"Aaargh!" I clenched my teeth to withstand the agony.

The previous step disappeared as soon as I moved on to the next, so there was no turning back. In order to dodge the four knives that were being thrown at me, I turned on my veil of illusion as I was walking on the next one and blended in with the darkness. This time, I managed to avoid them all.

The steps got smaller and smaller, and there were more blades. I used Shadow Steps to leap forward to the edge of the platform while facing 16 blades, largely dodging them. But three of them were aimed at the edge where I was hiding. I was forced to retreat and hold onto the platform's edge with my hand while the blades whizzed by. I was able to raise myself upright and avoid the blow.

If my theory about it was correct, there would be 64 blades in the following level, which would be considerably more challenging. I wondered what might work best. I'm positive that the blades were aimed directly towards me rather than at a specific spot since some of them travelled towards the edge where i was hiding and missed my hands and stomach instead of my vitals. I chose to stop on the next step after giving it some thought and realizing there was nothing I could do to stop it or turn around.

"Gah! Ugh!" Every time a blade grazed me, leaving merely scratches, I winced. I would have died if I had tried anything stupid.

As I passed through the last gate, all of my wounds had suddenly totally healed. It became evident that this was not a challenge meant to break me, but to put me to the test.