Chapter 14: Proving Grounds

"Argh. This place again." Levin said and inspected his surroundings. They were in the center of a lush jungle. Eight oval standing stones enclosed them in a large circle. He then looked behind him and noticed three people who were still in a daze. The soldier that he chased was slumped on the floor seemingly asleep; the other was a person of average height with curly black hair and sharp brown eyes; he looked like a person from the eastern part of the continent where chopsticks and tang suits were commonplace.

He was wearing what looked like a signboard over his chest and holding a shield that looked similar to one of those things that cover the entrance to the sewers; actually that was exactly that but much bigger and seemed to be made out of some sort of rare metal. He also held what looked like a sharpened metal bar, but the book was nowhere to be seen.

Xylos quickly raised his shield and stabber in defense, "Who are you and where are we?"

Levin looked at the person and didn't feel any killing intent from him. Instead, he sensed curiosity and wariness from him. He briefly inspected himself to make sure he isn't under any enchantment but found nothing. Nevertheless, the person felt out of place. When they teleported, there were clearly only three people.

"Give me the book." Levin declared as he took up a battle stance and the air around his right fists started to distort.

"What book?" Xylos didn't know where the book went. He could faintly sense it somewhere but it definitely wasn't on him at this moment.

Levin couldn't think of a response. The person simply appeared in the same area and they were teleported somewhere random. Without a second thought, he threw a punch; he could probably search the person's body if he can knock him unconscious.

His opponent's fist was a blur but an attack indicator appeared seconds before the attack which allowed him to raise the shield in defense.

Levin scoffed at his opponents attempt to block his punch; a simple punch from him could cause a mountain to collapse, what could a shield do. He expected the shield to crumple before his strike, but instead when his fist was about 3cm away from the shield a powerful repelling force pushed him back several steps. He blinked and tried again but the same thing happened; the opponent would simply rotate the shield in the direction of his attack and he would be knocked back. No matter how fast he moved, the opponent seemed to know which direction he would attack from.

"It's you?" Levin was confused. He felt the same feeling when he was fighting the soldier.

"Stop!" A female voice shouted, "Keep fighting and we'll attract all the monsters in the area here." A faint blue glow emanated from her eyes before she concluded, "He doesn't have the book, but he does have an interesting body composition."

Xylos felt shivers down his spine and tensed up. He quickly went through the abilities he can use on the right screen but there was nothing useful in the list; he only had low-tier abilities since any mid-tier abilities (spells, skills, or artes) would easily overload his core after a few uses. He could forget about using high tier spells; his core would be overloaded after one use.

"Who are you people and what is this place?" Xylos said again

"We're on the 50th floor of the Syrue Dungeons," Vivi said to calm down the situation, "I'm Vivi and this is my brother Levin. were are currently in our clan's proving grounds."

The only thing that Xylos got out of it was that they were currently on the 50th floor of a dungeon.

"Damn, we're on the 50th floor?" Levin said, "I barely managed to reach the 30th floor before I had to turn back. Where the heck did the book go? Could he be the book?"

Levin was reaching for straws, he wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. He didn't have any good memories of this place. He was part of the prestigious Syrue clan. The founder of the clan was one of the few demigods that established one of the 22 frontier cities during the Catastrophe about a millennia ago.

Every member of the clan had to go through a rigorous training regime the moment they were able to walk and understand. When they were between 12~16 years old, they would be sent to the Syrue Dungeons where they would have to survive for half a year. The dungeon had a total of 100 floors only the first 10 floors can be accessed somewhat safely, everything beyond that and the person would encounter all sorts of Mana Beasts that wouldn't hesitate to tear a living being apart on sight. Having witnessed several near-death encounters, caused him to obsessively practice the Sacred Artes of his clan.

"He isn't the book." Vivi said, "The good news is we appeared in the teleportation array. If we can meet the requirements listed on the 8 stones we can activate it and return to the surface. The bad news is until we do so, we'll be stuck here."

Levin took out a Return Scroll and tried activating it. It glowed for a moment before fading. "Damn, this never happened before. Why is it happening now?"

"It probably has something to do with the book that was teleported here with us," Vivi said and looked even more closely at Xylos.

Xylos remained defensively still and simply stared back. "I don't have the book. I don't even know what it is." They were not convinced.

He could clearly feel the book reaching out to him from somewhere in the area. However, he knew that even if he got the book he wouldn't be able to get out of this place without activating the teleportation array. This was further complicated by the fact that there were bloodthirsty Mana Beasts roaming around the area. Even Levin, who was clearly much strong than him, could only get to 30th Floor before retreating; what dangers would the 50th floor have.

The current system allows him to easily handle 1v1 situation, but any more and even if the system can warn him of all the dangers coming towards him, he wouldn't be able to react to them. He had no choice but to work with the people here to find a way out.

They didn't seem like evil people, other than Levin, who seemed to be the kind that like solving everything with his fists; at least there was his sister keeping him in check.

"Fine," Xylos sighed, "I can feel that the book is somewhere on this floor but I can't pinpoint the exact location. I suggest we try and activate the teleportation array first. Then, we can negotiate for the book later."

Levin clenched his fists as the air distorted around them, but then Vivi wave her hand in dismissal and the aura faded.

"Okay, but how do we know you won't attack us?" Vivi said.

"Trust me?" Xylos said, but he knew it was not a convincing argument; there was no way to arrive at one, "You know what screw you guys! I'll go get the things myself. You guys can go about your own."

Xylos then blinked out of the teleportation array to the north before the Twins could react.

"He simply left like that?" Levin asked, "How does he even know what to do to activate the array? Only members of our clan can read those words."

"I don't know," Vivi said, "But let's follow him. I highly doubt he can survive very long in this place without us. If he dies, we'll lose our only lead to the book."

"Can't we simply let him die, activate the teleportation array, and then call over our clan members to scour the area?. He did mention that the book was on this floor. There is no way that the book can hide from a thorough search." Levin said.

"I don't think the book is that simple. There could be a strong enchantment on it that only the owner can even see or notice the book. We can't let him die." Vivi said.

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the woods from north.

"Fuck, he actually encountered one of those the moment he stepped out of the circle." Levin said, "Let go, and hope that he remains alive until we arrive."