As I stepped back into the cave, I felt a sliver of unease. Even though I had killed the guardian of the area, that didn’t meant there were no creatures that could challenge me in the caves. There were still a few hundred baby centipedes lurking around. Perhaps it would be better if I fled the area, and returned when my essence reserves were full again?

However, a quick check on the other creatures in the cave dispelled that thought. Even though I had killed the chimera less than a minute ago, I could already see two distinct souls making their way towards the giant soul in the center of the cave. That made alarm bells ring in my mind. 

I had no idea whether the chimera had originally been part of this trial - but I suspected the answer was no. The introduction to the trial claimed that this forest should be bursting with life and readily available food, but all I had found were dead trees. The supposedly low-mobility monsters were also wandering around, making it extra dangerous for me to search the area for my objectives. If all of these things had changed, it stood to reason that the original guardian of each prize might have died and been replaced millenia ago.

It was a slim chance, but if the ‘prize’ of this cave could make another creature evolve into a chimera, I didn’t want to risk waiting another day. After all, I had barely scraped out a victory against the chimera after using {Dream of Hunger}. If another Chimera appeared, I would have to leave the trial and forfeit my prize. I could not delay - even if both of my essence reserves were running low.

I took another step into the cave, and this time, I didn’t have the feeling of stepping into the domain of something stronger than me. I could still feel… something. It was as if there was a camera watching me - but it felt cold, dead, and deactivated.

Perhaps it was some kind of ability granted to whichever creature managed to become the guardian of this place? Or perhaps it was some kind of remnant of the dead chimera’s summoning ability. It was hard to tell.

I quickened my pace as I started moving through the cave. Just like when I had fought the chimera, at the first turn, I took a right, and flew down the large elevation drops with the help of my umbrella. Soon, I reached the same spot where I had killed a golem, beginning the fight against the chimera.

I darted past the cave, while keeping an eye on the area with my soul sight. There were more centipedes in the central chamber of the cave now. Instead of the original two, there were four. One of the souls looked like it was greatly weakened. I frowned.

It really looked like the baby centipedes were fighting over the right to become the next guardian. I needed to hurry.

I darted past another fork in the cave and checked for nearby enemies. I didn’t find any, so I kept moving forward. I moved into another cavern, and another, before I came across another golem. This time, I tried to avoid disturbing it - I wanted to be in and out of this place before I got trapped into a fight against the entire nest. There was no way I would win if I tried to fight everything here.

The golem had other plans, and launched a rock at me from its dormant state. If my reflexes hadn’t been as good as they were, I might have gotten a concussion.

I immediately extinguished the creature, and kept moving downwards. Avoiding the golems clearly wasn’t an option - they would sneak attack me if I tried to run past them.

I chose paths that had no other souls on them every time I could, and managed to avoid getting entangled in any other dangerous conflicts. I still ended up needing to extinguish one other golem, dropping my alteration reserves to a dangerously low amount. I started to get nervous. There were six centipedes in the center of the cave now, and I was pretty sure there had been a seventh at one point. The centipedes were weakening each other right now, but the moment one of them claimed victory, I had no idea what would come next. I was pretty sure it would be bad for me, though.

I started sprinting through the caves. It might have been reckless, but I still had enough essence to fight a few more golems, or manage one baby centipede. If I missed this chance, I might not get another one.

Luckily, I didn’t run into any new threats once I started sprinting. It seemed like all of the centipedes near the center of the cave had already made their way into the central chamber to compete. After a few minutes of running, I arrived at the center of the cave.

I did one final check with my soul sight to make sure I wasn’t missing any nearby threats, before I poked my head around the corner and looked into the central cave.

Immediately, a surge of light nearly blinded me.

In the center of the cave, I could see a great, luminous orb. It looked like a strange mixture of light, plants, and mushrooms, all bundled together in a confusing mess. The light it emitted was bright orange in color, which made it look kind of like a miniature sun.

The cave itself was consumed by a battle between centipedes. Right in front of the orb, I could see six centipedes battling it out. There were four other centipede corpses nearby, evidence of those who had already failed their bid for the orb. The six centipedes were stuck in a deadlock. Every single time one of them was close enough to the orb, the other five would gang up on it, preventing it from being able to touch the earthy orange light. None of the centipedes were making any progress, but none of them were willing to back off, either. It was as if the creatures were convinced that they would die if they didn’t touch the orb.

Luckily, unlike most of the other corridors and caverns in this cave system, this room had a great deal of cover in it. There were a wide variety of ridges, bumps, and depressions scattered throughout the cave. While this made it very hard to see, since so much of the area was cast into shadow, it also meant that I could navigate the area without attracting attention, if I was careful enough and lucky enough. 

I glanced at the centipedes, and then decided that stealth would be far easier here than usual. The centipedes were too caught up fighting each other to pay attention to their surroundings. I crept along the side of the cave, dashing from cover to cover as I eyed the orb of fungal light. Soon, I approached the fight itself. I was still a little bit away from the glowing orb, but getting any closer would attract the attention of the centipedes. I frowned.

What was I actually supposed to do here? Was I supposed to just grab the giant glowing ball of plants and cram as much as I could into my mouth? Should I stick my hand into it and expect that I would somehow absorb the whole thing? Were the plants not even supposed to be part of this orb of light to begin with? 

I was missing the context I needed to make sense of this situation.

I checked my essence reserves. I had recovered at least a bit of alteration essence during the journey here - enough to heal a few minor burns. I had also recovered a bit of absorption essence. I could keep myself in the air for a few minutes, especially if I didn’t go too fast.

I made a decision. I would fly over the orb, touch it, and hope for the best. It wasn’t exactly the most stable or measured approach, but I needed to get the orb before one of the centipedes touched it. If they could upgrade their species into another chimera by touching the orb, I would have no way to acquire my prize.

Before I could second guess myself any further, I lifted into the air and rushed towards the orb. The moment I touched it, the giant, glowing ball of plants and light shrunk. In moments, it changed from a ball of light three times my height to something that could fit in the palm of my hand. a new Market message appeared in front of my eyes.

Hero Trial Tutorial:

Congratulations! You have acquired the material of the first gate of the hero trial after vanquishing the guardian of this area! To utilize it, make your way to the bathing area in the center of the trial, place the item in the water, and then jump into the water yourself!

Bathing area location: Since you don’t seem to have discovered the bathing area yet, please proceed northward. The path will be highlighted with trees that have yellow leaves, as opposed to the rest of the trees in this trial.

I twitched. The trees in this trial had no leaves. But at least I knew I needed to head north. That was something.

As I resisted the urge to snort, the centipedes stopped fighting, and as one, they turned to stare at me.

Second note: remaining enemies in the area.

Would you like the remaining enemies in your area to be destroyed? This will forsake any other Slaughter Achievement you might get for killing them personally, and as always, accepting external aid will reduce how much Achievement you can get for completing this trial.

Yes/no?

I immediately focused on the word ‘yes.’ I had already gotten some slaughter Achievement here, and I was more than happy to remove any further danger to myself. Building the artificial sun would probably give me more Achievement than a few enemies here, so taking risks for small gains would be silly.

After the System screen acknowledged that I had hit yes, it blinked out of existence.

Nothing else happened. The kill switch was broken.

I cursed, and started fleeing as the angry centipedes chased me.