Sebastian pushed his [Mind’s Eye] Skill to its limits as he pointed toward every living shadow he sensed. Mere moments of him pointing in any direction, a magical arrow followed.

  The nighthounds weren’t just standing still and waiting to be picked off, however. They ran in circles around them. Some even used tree trunks like jump pads. Living shadows bounced around the forest.

  It was easier said than done to accurately pick out targets that would still be in place the fraction of a second later when Dolan’s arrows arrived. Not only that but the monsters took each opportunity they could to pounce on any target they could sneak up on. In between aiming Dolan’s attacks he also had to keep a look out for attacks on the others, calling out for them to duck, block, or attack whenever the hounds pounced.

  “There!”

  Woosh - THUD

  “Bishop, behind you!”

  THWACK

  “Dolan, behind the tree, there! Silas, on your left!”

  The nighthounds were relentless. Even with a dozen of them dead, they continued to prowl around the group and launch attacks at the slightest dip in attention from any of the hunters.

  Sebastian kept his [Mind’s Eye] up for longer than he felt comfortable with, especially with how hard he had to focus on details in every direction. A headache was slowly bearing its fangs.

  Luckily, the pack was gradually worn down.

  There were only a few left, and their resolve was clearly weakening.

  Sebastian could sense the hesitation from the hounds that were left. It made it easier for him. He pointed once more toward a shadow crouched beneath some bushes, and he sensed the arrow of essence be released from Dolan’s bow and move like lightning toward the shadow.

  It struck true, as most of Dolan’s arrows had done so far, even though he couldn’t actually see what he was aiming at.

  Moments after the nighthound fell, Sebastian sensed something strange from Dolan. For a brief moment it was as though all the essence within him disappeared. The ranger had emitted a steady and strong pressure ever since the first time Sebastian had met him, only flaring when the ranger used a powerful Skill, but suddenly that pressure was gone.

  His confusion turned to shock when Dolan lit up like a flash bang through Sebastian’s spiritual sense. Even in the essence dense forest, Dolan stuck out like fireworks.

  The sudden pressure was strong enough—and startling enough—that the few remaining nighthounds fled.

  Sebastian and the monsters weren’t the only ones to sense the sudden change, even the other hunters—who usually weren’t very sensitive when it came to essence, on account of the fact that they didn’t truly know about it—could sense it.

  “Dolan!” Bishop shouted. “Tell me you didn’t just do what I think you did?!” His eyes threatened to drill right through the ranger. Shock, fear, and anger evident on his face, and in his voice.

  “I…” Dolan started. His hands visibly shaking. “I did.”

  “Damnit D, you’re supposed to keep an eye on that!” Silas shouted, almost panicked.

  “I was! I’ve just been a little distracted!”

  Bishop stepped up and waved his hands to stop everyone in their tracks. “It’s too late now, you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

  Dolan blinked about a dozen times in single second, his breath quickening. “It’s fine!” he said. He turned to Rafi and held out his hand. “Rafi, the elixirs plea—”

  Bishop held up his hand toward Dolan. “No, Dolan! It’s too late for that. The elixirs only work if you take them before. You know this. We can’t interfere.” He shook his head. “If we give you the elixirs now it’ll just make things worse. I’m sorry, my friend, but you’re on your own.” With every word out of Bishop’s mouth, Dolan deflated more and more. “We’ll keep watch,” Bishop continued, “and do our best to keep any monsters away. But the rest is on you.”

  Sebastian turned to Silas in confusion. “What’s going on? Did… Did he level up?”

  “Yeah, he did.” Silas looked at Dolan and muttered, “Idiot,” under his breath with equal parts pity and sorrow in his eyes as he shook his head.

  “I’m confused,” Sebastian said. “Isn’t it a good thing to level up? What’s going on?”

  Silas looked at Sebastian and sighed. “I suppose you might not know, given your level. As you level up there are some thresholds, three of them to be specific. Levels that are much harder to reach than others and that give a much greater increase in power. At level 30 you reach Minor Accomplishment, at level 50 is Major Accomplishment, and finally at level 80 is Grand Accomplishment.” Sebastian’s eyebrow raised as he looked at Silas. “Hey, don’t look at me. I didn’t name them, the [System] did. For Minor Accomplishment it mostly just takes more experience, it’s not something to worry about. Level 50, however, Major Accomplishment, is different. Not only does it take a very long time to reach but once you do, the [System] tests you.”

  “Tests you? How?”

  A loud rumble echoed throughout the forest from above. The entire group looked up apprehensively.

  “With tribulation lightning. Within usually about an hour of your level up to 50, the [System] launches a series of lightning strikes aimed directly at you. If you survive, you successfully surpass Major Accomplishment and continue on your way as level 50. If not, that’s the end of the line.”

  Sebastian turned to fully face Silas. “What?! So he’s about to struck by lightning a bunch of times and— and what… He just hopes he survives?”

  Another sigh escaped Silas. He nodded. “Pretty much. The [System] adjusts the power of the strikes to the absolute limit of what you can handle, so it’s always doable, but if you give up, surrender to the pain and the fear… you die. It’s a physical tribulation on the surface, but in reality it’s a trial of willpower.”

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  “So what was that about elixirs?”

  “Everyone at level 49, myself included, prepare various elixirs for protection. To help you with the pain and such. The problem is that the [System] doesn’t accept any interference once the process has begun. If any of us were to try to protect him, shield him, from the lightning, then the [System] would simply increase the power beyond your limit and strike down anyone who interfered as well. That goes for simple things like elixirs same as it does for people. If you drink an elixir once the process has begun, you invite a tribulation stronger than anything you can handle and your death is almost guaranteed. The only option, which is also what most people do, is to get your experience right up to the edge, down some elixirs of protection and then use an experience elixir to push yourself over the edge while the protection is still in effect.”

  “I’m surprised the [System] would allow such a simple loophole.”

  “It’s because it’s a sacrifice,” Silas said. “The lightning is a trial, a tribulation, and a baptism of sorts. As the lightning courses through you it doesn’t just destroy, it cleanses, purifies. By taking elixirs of protection in preparation of the tribulation, the energies of the lightning are muted. You increase your chances of surviving, but you also ensure that your won’t gain as much power from the level up.”

  “So even though you basically sabotage yourself, everyone still does it?” Sebastian returned his gaze to Dolan who was leaning against a tree, almost hyperventilating as he tried to calm down, to prepare himself. “I take it the odds of surviving the tribulation without it are pretty low then, huh?”

  “I’m afraid so. It’s hard to get any accurate numbers, but the common estimate is that only about 1 in 5 of those without protection survives. That number goes steadily up with every layer of protection you prepare. Most people prioritize survival over power, especially those who can actually afford the various forms of protection that can be applied without inviting the [System]’s ire.”

  Things clicked in Sebastian’s mind as he connected some dots. “So that explains the difference between that Boss Raph and the guard commander.”

  Silas nodded. “Exactly. As a high ranking official, the interim commander could get a hold of far more layers of protection than a crime boss. Even though he was a few levels higher, he was still the weaker of the two. But even Boss Raph almost certainly used at least one elixir beforehand. For Dolan to get distracted enough to forget… This could be bad.”

  They both looked at their friend.

  “I’m sure he’ll make it, he’s strong,” Sebastian said hopefully.

  The group took a few moments to bandage Rafi’s injuries before heading out.

  “Everyone, we only have less than an hour until the tribulation hits, we need to be somewhere open by then. Dolan, find a clearing. Preferably one we can secure to some degree.”

  Dolan silently took off up into the canopy above and scouted the area. He had already kept decent track of where they were, and it didn’t take long to find a clearing that seemed acceptable.

  They arrived about half an hour later and began securing the perimeter.

  Moonlight illuminated the clearing along with a few patches of bio-luminescent flowers.

  There were plenty of beasts and monsters around, but luckily the pressure of the tribulation was building around Dolan. It invoked a innate fear in every being touched by the [System]. Few monsters would ignore the instinct to avoid the area. The group couldn’t, however, take the chance that something powerful might see it as an invitation for a good meal with all the unbridled energy flowing around during a tribulation.

  They inspected the area and killed everything that might disrupt Dolan. Mostly it was just various animals and ordinary beasts with a few weaker monsters whose curiosity surpassed their natural fear. While the rest were making sure that they were alone, Rafi set up the magical fence around the clearing.

  Normally the fence would just dissuade visiting monsters and alert the group, but now he poured a great deal of energy into activating the fence’s secondary enchantments to obscure their presence, hiding them from any wandering monster or animal. Fortunately, the fence had no ceiling, it was open toward the sky and thus wouldn’t offer Dolan any protection that might anger the [System]. It used up a large portion of their energy crystal supply, but they had no choice.

  “Ten minutes!” Dolan shouted.

  Everybody finished up and gathered around the edge of the clearing.

  With Rafi’s enchantments working both ways, the sounds of the forest were gone and they stood alone in an octagon of fog. Heartbeats and bated breaths was all that could be heard in between the rumbling of the storm clouds forming above the forest.

  Dolan stood in the middle of the clearing. His unenchanted, tan shirt looked almost blue in the moonlight. His trembling hands betrayed the brave face he put on. In a futile effort to control his nerves, he squeezed his fists hard enough that they could break stone. A few drops of blood fell from his palms. His eyes were focused on the ground in front of him.

  With every minute, the sky darkened.

  Time somehow stood still and yet moved faster than any of them felt reasonable.

  A static began to build up in the atmosphere.

  Flashes of lighting meandered throughout the clouds above. What had been an occasional rumble gradually turned into a steady deep resonating drone.

  Sebastian could feel the hair on his arms rise.

  None of them dared to even draw a breath.

  Hidden beneath the rumble of the storm, Sebastian’s heightened senses could hear some muttering. He looked closer at Dolan. The ranger stood alone in the center of the clearing with his eyes closed, and he was talking to himself—or perhaps pleading to the [System] itself.

  “Come on. You got this. This is what you’ve worked toward for so long. You promised her.” He let out a breath. “I’m sorry Emily, but it’s not time yet. I’m not ready to see you again, not yet. I still got things to do.” He closed his eyes. “I got this.” His eyes opened again, and he said it again, louder. “I got this!” His voice grew louder and louder. “Come on!” He looked up to the sky and shouted, “Bring it!” He bent his knees, gathered all the power he could muster, and threw his arms into the air as if to catch the lighting in his hands as he shouted at the top of his lungs, “Bring! It! ON!”

  Krrack!

  A bolt struck him. The electrical discharge spread through Dolan’s body and into the ground. The grass and the flowers around him burned to a crisp instantly.

  A groan escaped Dolan’s lips, but he refused to scream.

  There was a lull, a few moments of peace before a second bolt struck, even harder than the first.

  BOOM!

  His groan the second time was louder, more guttural.

  Smoke, or steam, or both wafted off of his burned skin. Cracks had spread across his arms.

  The second lull was much shorter, and a third strike came moments later.

  And then a fourth, and fifth.

  Dolan couldn’t suppress his screams any longer, and he let out an agonized wail as the tribulation lightning had turned from singular strikes to a perpetual arc of blinding light connecting the ground with the heavens, using Dolan as the connector.

  Sebastian could no longer hear anything other than the deafening roar of the tribulation lightning. His hands shielded his ears as he desperately tried—unsuccessfully—to use his elbows to cover his eyes from the spectacle of light.

  A sense of sheer terror over the extreme might of nature, or rather the [System], overwhelmed him.

  The tribulation felt like it took hours, but in reality it was only a matter of about about a minute.

  With a final clap, the lightning stopped.

  The storm clouds dispersed as though they had never been there in the first place. Streams of moonlight showered the clearing once more.

  The group lowered their hands.

  At some point, either during or directly after, Dolan had collapsed onto his knees. He sat in the midst of pure destruction with his arms hanging limp to his sides and his chin resting against his chest. The ground around him burned with small flames.

  Sebastian and the others rushed over to him.

  His hands and forearms were charred black and smoldering cracks ran down his body. There wasn’t a strand of hair left on his head and his shirt had broken down to slivers, parts of it had melded to his skin.

  Rafi immediately used every bit of healing magic he could, and Bishop crouched down to see if their friend somehow survived.

  Dolan wearily opened his eyes and raised his head ever so slightly. He locked eyes with Bishop, and a slight smile formed on his face, cracking some of the charred skin in the process.

  “I’m alive.”

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