When Minily blinked away in search of Laiko, she had left a new hope to cling onto. No one doubted that she would succeed in her mission. All they could do was wait for her return.

  Prith made sure Vorin was okay before heading downstairs and approaching the door. His hand connected and he heard the question that acted as the lock. He took a deep breath and answered as honestly as he could.

  “I left the Smile Isles to become a successful adventurer, so one day I could share that success with my family and the rest of my village. The greatest thing holding me back is that constant fear that I might fail them. I won’t be able to take care of them like I want to.”

  This seemed to be enough for the lock. It opened and he stepped into the blinding light.

  The bright white turned into the blinding light of the sun. Emptiness was replaced by the beautiful blue sky. Birds were singing in the trees and the gentle sound of waves crashing on rocks could be heard from where he was standing.

  His eyes adjusted and he looked around to get his bearings. To his surprise, he was home. This was the island that his village was on, and he could see the house of his childhood. There were local kids playing outside and his teacher was in her backyard hanging clothes out to dry. It was like he never left.

  With joy and excitement flooding him, he took off running to see his mom. The door didn’t stand a chance against his full sprint inside. He was going so fast that he was barely able to stop when his mom came into sight.

  She was standing in the kitchen making some sort of juice. Her back was towards him, but she turned to investigate the loud crash of the door. When her eyes caught his, the rag in her hand fell to the floor and they both ran towards each other to embrace in the biggest hug they could manage.

  “My boy! It’s been years. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “I’ve missed you so much mom. I’m sorry I haven’t returned home. It turns out the world is expensive. I have so much to tell you!”

  “That can wait. Let me hold you for a bit longer. I’ve been so worried. Your brothers and your sister have asked about you every single day.”

  “Where are they? Are they here?”

  “No. They will be home soon with your father. They are out on the fishing boat.” She let go of him and just stared for a minute. “What happened to you? You’ve gotten so big!”

  “It’s the stats, mom! I’ve become good with the sword. How is your class coming?”

  “I’m level 32 now! Finest Bard in the Smile Isles. Your dad is a level 44 Fisherman now. You should see the skills he got at 40. He’s supplying the whole village with fish now.”

  “Wow, that’s incredible! I’m so proud of you two. Gresh should be getting his class any day now, right?”

  “Oh yes, he’s so excited about it. He wants to be a swordmaster like his older brother. You should train with him while you’re here. He’d love that!”

  Just as she finished speaking there was commotion at the door.

  “Priscella, why is the door wide open?”

  His dad turned the corner and stared straight at his oldest son. Even though he was carrying multiple pounds of fish, he walked forward and hugged Prith.

  “I had no idea you were coming home for a visit. I’m so glad to see you! I got level 44 in my class. What do you think of that?”

  Prith laughed. “Mom already told me. I think that’s amazing, dad. It really has been a long time. I’m happy to see that you are doing okay.”

  “Wow, your mom had to spoil my bragging, huh?” He let Prith go and stepped back. “It looks like you’re making us proud too.”

  “I’m trying. I’m level 23 now. I’ve been working hard. I have good friends, and they can all do amazing things! This one guy I know made this crazy bam…”

  “Is that Prith?!” A boy of twelve ran from outside and hugged his big brother.

  “Hey Piresh! How have you been?”

  “I’ve been good! Me and Gresh train together all the time so we can beat you once we get our classes!”

  “Oh yeah? Well, I want to see what you got later. I think I have some practice swords in my bag.”

  “You’re on.” An older boy came around the corner and looked Prith right in the eyes.

  “Still dramatic, huh? You’ve gotten so tall. Too ashamed to hug your big brother?”

  Gresh embraced him but made it a short hug. “You’re one to talk. The stats have suited you.”

  At this point his mother was in tears. She went and hugged her husband while watching the scene unfolding before her. It had been years since the whole family was together.

  “Mom! I got some herbs from the market for dinner.” Opell turned the corner. “Prith! I can’t believe you’re here!”

  Prith had to catch his sister mid leap. “Hey there, O. You’ve really grown up too. Sixteen now, right?”

  “Yeah! My birthday was last week!”

  “I’m sorry I missed it. Happy birthday. I missed all of you so much. It’s been hard to come back and visit.”

  “Ah, son. Don’t worry about us. Every class chosen needs to get out and experience the world. You’ve learned a lot, right?”

  “I sure have, dad! There is so much out there.”

  “Well, there you go! Now why don’t we all sit down and have some dinner. You can tell us about your adventures.”

  They sat and had their first family dinner in a little over two years. Prith talked about his party and how amazing their skills are. He spoke of his adventures and all the cool creatures he’s seen. Deep down he knew this wasn’t real, but it was real enough for him.

  When they finished up and everyone was helping to clean up a notification flashed across his field of view.

  Prith, your trial will commence in one hour. Wave 1 of 100.

  That shook him to his soul. Waves? Was his home going to be attacked?

  “We need to get the village secured now. The village will be attacked in an hour.”

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  His family acted quickly. They gathered all the class expected and placed them in the most secure building. All the class chosen made a perimeter around that building to protect them.

  “Stay back. I will handle this wave.”

  The sun started to set, and, in the distance, they could hear the snarling monsters approaching. Prith walked out to meet them head on.

  Five giant wolves came from the wilds on the island. Prith went into action not even giving them a chance to get coordinated. His blade flashed out of the sheath and into the flesh of the first wolf within seconds. A strong cut across the jugular took it out and he moved to the next one. The second tried to faint, but the sword master’s superior speed caught that one in the side. His blade ran the entire length of the beast, and it fell over bleeding. While his blade was in the second, the third and fourth lunged to get him in their jaws. Prith jumped and they collided midair. This left them open, and he swung to release a blade from his skill that cut them both in half starting at the jaw. The fifth and final one finally arrived to see its pack already slain. It died seconds after the realization.

  Wave one completed. Wave two starts in ten minutes.

  Wave two was ten snake bats. They had a nasty bite but weren’t much of a threat for someone as fast as Prith. Each one fell to one slash of his sword.

  Wave two completed. Wave three starts in five minutes.

  This wave consisted of two of the dreaded weighted warpigs. They were known to have gravity magic to alter the weight of the opponent. Prith went a little slower and used skills for this wave. He could handle some increased weight on himself or his sword, but against two of the warpigs it could prove a mistake to underestimate them. They both charged at him immediately out of the wilds, and he evaded, by jumping onto the back of one and plunging his blade deep inside. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a killing blow, and he was thrown off by the beast. When they charged again, he sidestepped and slashed at the side of the uninjured beast and used his skill that uses the force of his strike to extend his cut. When they cleared his blade, one of them completely fell apart. The top of its body slid off from its legs. Now it was one on one, and his foe had already been injured. It ran at him but stopped as soon as he slashed. The beast activated its magic, and his sword became so heavy he could barely hold onto it. This also decreased his agility quite a bit. The monster turned and ran at him once more expecting Prith to try and dodge. Instead, he stood his ground and used the weight of his blade to come straight down on the head of the approaching pig. He took a tusk to the arm, but it fell dead.

  The next wave started five minutes later and was a horde of crabs using ice magic. The fifth wave started immediately after that and was a black fire demon. Prith was able to cut off its wings while it was busy trying to hit him with a streak of void fire. Then he ran his blade across the demon’s throat.

  After that there was a bit of a break between waves. It would be another two hours before they continued. His trial seemed to be protecting his village which he would do even without a reward waiting at the end.

  During the break, his parents begged him to let the class chosen of the village help, but he refused. He told them it was his trial, his responsibility. His oath was to protect his home and that is that he would do.

  Wave six through nine were more of the same with little packs of common monsters. Some he hadn’t seen before, but most were native to the Smile Isles. Bats with a horrible sound attack. Ground parrots with horrible attacks that left you battling the ground itself. Walking sharks that came on land and used swords made from fish spines. He actually enjoyed this after so long of not being in combat. Each enemy provided him a new challenge to overcome.

  Wave ten was another boss creature. The night ferret. This was an incredibly tough matchup for anyone using a sword. It was already hard to hit with how athletic it was, but then it had the power of shadows to make it even more difficult to get a clean swipe. It was dancing around dodging his blade and then it would fade into shadow to teleport behind him. Fearsome shadow claws would come out of nowhere and he would have to be aware of his surroundings or be shredded.

  One of the attacks connected and his armor was useless. The shadow claws raked across his back taking him down almost a hundred health points. He could feel the blood gushing down his back. That was when he realized how serious it was and activated his Enhance Agility skill. The ferret could still dodge his blade, but it was much harder. He was able to fake the beast out and get a good slash in. To his surprise this felled the ferret. With that much mobility it made sense that it wouldn’t have a high vitality. The ferret probably never gets hit.

  Every five levels he got a two-hour break in between the next wave. Each break his parents pleaded to let the other class chosen help. He refused every time.

  This went on with the same pattern all night and through the next day. It was a new enemy every time, but what he noticed was that every five waves the enemies seemed to get harder. The packs turned into hordes. The bosses became more dangerous. Often, they used specialty magic like space or chaos magic. He was exhausted, so when wave 50 began he knew he would be in trouble.

  The sky shuddered as the shadow of a wyvern dove for the village. Prith stood with his blade out. He was swaying a bit from all his wounds that he had taken over the night. Blood had soaked through his armor. He never even considered that this would be the end of his path though. His oath was to protect his family and his village. No monster would make him break that oath.

  A roar that sucked the air from his lungs thundered in the sky. Instead of panic, Prith stayed calm and looked the diving wyvern straight into the eyes. It was a challenge and the beast couldn’t refuse. What the wyvern didn’t know was that he had just used his mana to sharpen the edge of his blade. He hadn’t encountered anything it couldn’t cut through when he used this skill. Everything happened in a flash. Even in his damaged state he leapt like lightning and dodged the maw of the beast. His blade bit into the wing and the sharpness combined with the force of the impact sliced the wing clean off. Another roar shook the island, but this one was infused with pain. A loud crash followed when the wyvern impacted the ground. Before it could even attempt to get up, he was there to take its head. His sword made contact and started to decapitate the beast. In a last effort, the wyvern used its air magic to slice a gash in Prith. They both fell.

  When he came too, the System told him he had less than ten minutes before the next wave. That meant he had passed out for nearly two hours. His whole body was in pain. There was no way he could continue. He had failed both his trial and his family.

  He hobbled back to the village and fell into his mother’s arms.

  “I’m sorry. I failed you all.” A tear ran down his face.

  “My boy. My stupid boy. You could never fail us. We have failed you if you think this is all on your shoulders. This is our home too and we should all stand together to protect it. Let us help you.”

  “I don’t have a choice anymore. I don’t think I can go on. We must protect this village, and the class expected.”

  “We will.” His mother started singing a soothing song and his wounds started to close. The words seemed to swaddle him and in seconds his health points were full again.

  “Mom, you’re incredible!”

  “I told you we gained some levels. Now will you have us on the front line with you?”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  The next wave started. Every class chosen from the village stood with Prith in front of the wilds and they fought together. To his surprise they were so strong. None of them had dedicated combat classes, but some had combat skills. Others had support classes to boost them. Working as a village they cleared twenty waves faster than he could have done five excluding the breaks in between. That’s when he realized something.

  They don’t need me to protect them. Even if I wasn’t here, they would have been able to protect the village. That’s what this trial was trying to tell me. It’s not all on me. They can take care of themselves, and I need to trust them to do that. They don’t need to be saved.

  Suddenly he was in the empty white space again. Notifications popped up.

  You have completed your Trial Dungeon!

  Bonus experience has been awarded.

  Triumph of Oneself Achievement has been unlocked.

  Triumph of Oneself: You have completed a trial dungeon and triumphed over what was weighing down your soul. Through knowing yourself better and cleansing your soul, your resources have benefited. Stamina and Mana will now regenerate at double the rate.

  Then two items popped into existence in front of him.

  Scrying Diamond (rare): This diamond can be fed mana to produce a real time projection of anyone you have a strong bond with no matter the distance. The time you can scry is dependent on how much mana you feed into the diamond.

  Sheath of the Blade’s Edge (legendary): Keeping your blade in this sheath will keep it at maximum sharpness. Feed mana into the sheath to clean your blade.

  Those weren’t his only rewards from this trial. During the 70 waves completed, he had leveled up all his skills five levels somehow. The dungeon must increase the levelling speed. He couldn’t be happier with the diamond that will let him check in on his family and this sheath will keep his blade in top condition, but getting to level 28 would push him further. This was an incredible boon to his progress.