Chapter 50 - 50 – Hole
Kyle walked through the hallway and entered the next hall.
Although, calling it a hall was not really accurate.
It was just a room with a gigantic hole in the middle.
However, there was still a golem in this room.
"Welcome to the last trial, entrant number 69," the golem said. "You are the second entrant who came this far."
"Wait a second," Kyle said. "Shouldn't I be the third?"
"Three entrants, including you, have passed the fourth trial. Two entrants, including you, are eligible to undertake the last trial," the golem answered.
"What happened to the last guy?" Kyle asked. "Did he have a heart attack on his way here or something?"
"Entrant number five succumbed to their burns," the golem said as it pointed to a mining weapon lying beside the hole.
'Yikes,' Kyle thought. 'Guess I was right with that not everybody can enter the fire. They probably thought that there would be some medicine here or something.'
'Instead, the golem just watched them die.'
'Hah! Sucks to be you! Couldn't be me!'
"Alright, what do I have to do?" Kyle asked.
"You must retrieve the Inheritance Crystal," the golem said. "The Inheritance Crystal is at the end of the path of inheritance."
Kyle pointed at the hole. "Is that the path of inheritance?"
"The hole leads to the path of inheritance. You must undergo several tests of your body, Center, mind, and Soul on the path of inheritance. Everything on the path of inheritance is your enemy. Reach the Inheritance Crystal and become the true inheritor of Lord Theodor. May your wisdom and strength guide your path," the golem explained.
'Damn, this golem is much nicer than the other ones,' Kyle thought. 'Guess I earned some politeness.'
"Alright," Kyle said before looking into the hole.
It was quite deep.
'That's like 50 feet!' Kyle thought nervously.
"How am I supposed to get down there without dying?" Kyle asked.
"There will be no more hints. You are on your own," the golem answered evenly.
Kyle walked around the hole for a while, trying to find a way down.
However, there was nothing to hang onto.
Just when he feared that he had to jump down, he saw a tiny hole in one of the walls of the hole.
"Oh!" Kyle shouted as he looked at his hammer.
'Guess that's how the other entrant got down there.'
Kyle grabbed his hammer and rammed its pick into the wall below him.
The pick sank deep into the wall, and Kyle looked at it nervously.
'Hope this holds.'
Then, he climbed down his hammer.
His body hung from the wall of the massive hole, and Kyle felt cold sweat running down his back.
He carefully squeezed his hand into the hole the hammer-
CRK!
'Fuck!'
The edge Kyle had grabbed fell off!
The wall was not nearly as stable as it looked!
'Fuck! FUCK! FUUUUCK!' Kyle thought as he saw the approaching ground.
'Just break your legs! As long as you can find some food, you can heal!'
Kyle gritted his teeth.
The ground approached.
BANG!
Kyle landed on the ground with his feet, and the surroundings quaked.
'Am I still alive?' Kyle thought as he opened his eyes to look at the damage.
He found himself squatting on the ground.
When he saw that, he blinked a couple of times.
He touched his bent legs a bit.
'Feels fine.'
Then, he slowly stood up.
His knees cracked a bit while straightening, but that was it.
'Huh, I guess I'm-'
BANG!
Something hard hit the top of Kyle's head, and he fell over.
He clutched the top of his head as he groaned in pain.
'FUUUCK! THIS FUCKING HURTS!'
He felt something wet on his hand and looked at it.
'Blood! I'm fucking bleeding! Did my brain damage worsen?!'
The next moment, Kyle felt his scalp moving and vibrating.
The wound was quickly closing up, and Kyle grew a bit hungrier.
'Well, it stopped hurting, and I'm still alive.'
Kyle looked at the thing that had nearly killed him just now.
His own fucking hammer!
This fucking thing was stuck in the wall, but when Kyle landed on the ground, the vibrations had loosened it, and it fell.
'Fucking God! If I died to my own hammer, I would be more pathetic than the guy who died of his burns!'
A moment later, Kyle noticed something else.
"What are you looking at?" he asked the skull, who looked at him with a toothy grin. "You fucking died to your burns like a loser! I'm still alive compared to you!"
This was the entrant who had died of their burns.
Most likely, the golem had just pushed the remains into the hole with a broom or something.
Or they just committed suicide.
Dying to burns was probably worse than falling to death.
Eventually, Kyle calmed down and grabbed the weapon of his near-doom.
"You know," Kyle said to his hammer. "I was annoyed that you were this light earlier, but now I'm happy that you're not obese anymore."
He swung his hammer over his shoulders. "Well, I'm gonna turn you into a fat and heavy fuck real soon."
"Just gotta find some ore."
Kyle looked around and saw the entrance to a long cave.
Compared to the hallways of the trial, this cave was created naturally and had uneven walls.
"Shouldn't be too difficult to find some ore here."
Kyle stepped through the entrance and followed the cave.
The cave angled downward, and after a couple of minutes of walking, Kyle entered an opening in the cave.
"More choices," Kyle said as he looked at the three tunnels in front of him.
"Also, I told you so," he added as he saw the ore growing on the walls of the tunnels.
'Still feels weird to say that ore grows, but hey, magic land.'
One tunnel had a couple of crystals of Spirit Spring Ore growing on them.
Another tunnel was covered with Basic Mage Stone.
The last one was covered in an unknown black ore.
Kyle looked at the Spirit Spring Ore.
'You know, I'm quite hungry.'
'I could use some Spirit Spring Ore.'