Around a Month Ago, in the Celestial Tower

  The blue leather wrap of King Baalrek’s sword is still warm from his master’s grip. He can feel the slight depressions of the Infernal’s fingers on the leather. Even though King Baalrek didn’t really wield this sword for more than a few moments before passing it to Jacob, it’s still got the man’s imprint.

  “I imagined you’d have a larger sword, honestly,” Jacob comments.

  King Baalrek lets out a short breath that might pass for a laugh, and he keeps his hands behind his back while he watches Jacob adjust his grip.

  “The more you level up, Jacob, the more the sword will bend to your will. However,” the Infernal King sighs, “my sword is currently sealed. It has seven seals on it. Each of them requires a powerful entity and material to unbind it. Even if I was to use it myself, I would still need to go around the world a few times to undo them.”

  “I was wondering about how plain it looks,” Jacob says, observing the blade. “I don’t really feel much Mana in it or coming from it.”

  “The material itself is essentially unbreakable. It was forged in the blood of a dying God.”

  Jacob looks confused at the sword.

  “For some reason I imagine that would make the blade red,” he says.

  “Gods don’t bleed red,” King Baalrek smiles. “It’s a silvery substance close to Mithril’s color that comes out of their reincarnations. Anyway, if you want to defeat the Dark Champions, you will need to undo the first seal. Without it, your talent alone, even if you learned my Primordial Spell for the Reverse Domain… it wouldn’t be enough. But undo the first seal and you’ll not be helpless against the girl here next time you meet her.”

  “So, how do I get the first seal undone? And will you tell me how to undo each of them?”

  King Baalrek nods in response.

  “Now, for the first, there’s a very simple method. There’s a Mithril Golem that has been following you around. It’s one of Rafnov’s creations. I couldn’t detect it before regaining my body. Living Mithril is what you’ll need to undo the first seal. The Golem can easily do that for you. But, Rafnov’s creations—or this one, at the very least—are incredibly jealous of their master. The longer time passes, the greater their attachment grows. So, you’ll have to trick it into undoing the seal for you.”

  “Oh,” Jacob raises an eyebrow. “So… a small Golem has been following me around?”

  “It’s about fifteen feet,” King Baalrek says. “But it has an incredible good grasp of Dimensional Magic. It’s bending space around it. But it couldn’t enter this room or my previous Madness would have detected it.”

  “Just to make sure I’m hearing this correctly, let me recap. You want me to trick a fifteen foot tall Mithril Golem. Mithril—as in the Mythic Ranked Veins, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “And I have to convince it, without it knowing, that he must unseal my sword.”

  “Correct.”

  “This Golem doesn’t like me,” Jacob says.

  “Correct. We might even say it might hate you. You did essentially cheat your way through Rafnov’s first trial. I’m not anyone in the current era ever did it. Rafnov is a figure of myth. He’s considered above many Gods in sheer power, despite never achieving their Divinity. I regret to admit, even I cannot nearly compare to someone like him. And his creations are very well aware of the power of their master—they strongly regret that he decided to pass away and not gain Immortality. At least that’s the myth around him. Now, they see anyone trying to take his inheritance as a thief who doesn’t deserve anything their master left behind. They’re extremely protective of it. Plus, Rafnov loved imparting lessons to his children in roundabout ways. So, you should expect the next Trial to be a lesson.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Jacob rubs his face.

  “Good. I mean, great. But this… this will give me the power to save the others, won’t it?”

  King Baalrek nods slowly.

  “Then, I’ll do it,” Jacob says. “No one will stand in my way.”

  * * *

  The Present

  The molten mass shudders again.

  Jacob adjusts the array instinctively, and he changes the angle of a stabilizing loop, and the mana flow responds immediately.

  It responds badly.

  The mass tightens, and its rotation accelerates unevenly, and the glow shifts from deep orange to a pale, unhealthy white. The panels rattle so hard that Jacob can feel it in his teeth.

  “Jacob,” Zibrek says, keeping her voice level while sweat beads at her temples. “That didn’t help.”

  “I see that,” Jacob replies, and he does not take his eyes off the mass.

  He steps back and sees Zibrek and Boomgar trying to tinker with the array of runes they drew.

  A Dwarf and a Goblin are probably the very best choices for this kind of trial. Yet, they have two specular Champions on the other side of the mountain helping Nimirea, the Leader of the Dark Champions, a woman who, to the best of Jacob’s knowledge, has at the very least two Rainbow Skills.

  This must have been made with the expectation that I would fail. Let’s assume, for example, that the Golem knows about the Grimoire. It’s too uncanny if that’s not the case. The more I tinker with this damn mass of metal, the more it becomes unstable.

  Boomgar curses under his breath while he drags a dampening rune out of alignment and forces it into a wider arc, and sparks jump when his fingers slip because the mana pressure refuses to stay consistent.

  “This is not bloody working,” he growls, and his beard bristles as heat rolls over his face. “It should be settling, but it’s acting like it’s got a will of its own.”

  “You’re trying to bruteforce runes! Stop!” Zibrek says, agitated.

  “I’m not forcing anything!” Boomgar shoots back.

  The sound of the vibrations from the molten metal crawls along Jacob’s spine.

  But if fixing the flaws here doesn’t work, then—

  Jacob’s eyes widen.

  Plus, Rafnov loved imparting lessons to his children in roundabout ways. So, you should expect the next Trial to be a lesson.

  Those had been King Baalrek’s words and Jacob suddenly looks around the forge, with a smile blooming on his face.

  I see. It wouldn’t make sense to completely rig this. But now I get it. If this was rigged, Nimirea would lose too because I imagine we both have to undertake the same test, right?

  Jacob almost tells Boomgar and Zibrek to stop, but then he gets an idea.

  If the Golem thinks we’re going to lose really badly, I can probably coax him into a little bet.

  The Leader of Champions takes a stroll around the forge, trying to look clueless and hiding his smile.

  The wording he used. The first to win is going to be the one who leaves this mass in the most stable arrangement. That means… Nimirea is not going to do anything. That lets her win.

  Jacob taps his finger on his lips.

  But he wouldn’t want a Dark Champion to win whatever reward has been left behind by his master, right? So, there must be something Nimirea would do wrong that wouldn’t let her win the actual reward.

  “Let me help,” Jacob says, twisting an array following the Grimoire’s directions and creating even more instability.

  “Jacob, this… we’re making too many mistakes.”

  “Let’s keep trying!” Jacob shouts.

  If this is meant to be a lesson, it must be a lesson for me, for Boomgar and for Zibrek.

  After a while, Jacob speaks again. “Yeah,” he says, “let’s stop and think for a moment. Plus, I would like to discuss something real quick.”

  We’ll throw this. We throw this first trial. Win the second and the third, I get the Mithril Golem to agree on a bet that exonerates me from Rafnov’s legacy, taking away everything I have, and…

  He smiles.

  He’s figured out the lesson.

  He knows exactly how to win and how to make Boomgar and Zibrek Champions again.