Chapter 1274: The climb starts After a brief exchange, it was clear that the entire group had experienced a similar trial where they had to walk on the dimly lit path, facing their own insecurities and fears, their weakness pushed up against their faces. Liam was not surprised to learn that Rey, Madan, and Lan Deming had all performed above average in the trial earning a 'Spire of Ascension Elite Trial Taker' title. This might not be as good as his but considering their levels when they had accomplished it, the title was more than impressive. Liam also checked with Eldrin but the elf only sheepishly smiled and shook his head, implying that he only got the normal title. Liam snorted at his response. He knew better than to believe the shifty elf. For someone like him even getting the same title as him was not impossible. And that left… Dante. "So did you get any title?" Liam asked. Dante's face turned uglier than it already was. Liam did not know the guy from Adam but considering how he had abandoned his own world, perhaps even his friends and family to run to a new place and start a new life, the mental demons he housed shouldn't be just a few. It would be a surprise if the person even went past Elite. And just like he expected Dante grit his teeth and mumbled. "I only managed to cross the first road sign." He then quickly added, "It is all your fault." "You forced me into a shitty contract and took away all my money and now you also fucked me up by bringing me to the Spire and wasting my chance!" "If I had come here after I healed my soul then I could have bagged the best title. You took another thing away from me. Bastard." "Wasn't that trial based on your mental strength or something like that?" Rey gave the guy a stink eye, making him shut up in indignation. "Hmph. Would you have even come here in the first place? Not everyone gets a token you know?" Madan scoffed. "Wait. Wait." Seeing everyone gang up on the guy, Eldrin clicked his tongue and intervened. "I don't know who this guy is and what is going on here but I have to agree with him. Come here right now without any preparations was a mistake." "Wait. Let me finish." He spoke quickly before any of the other three came for Liam's defense. "Gaining multiple legendary companions is not a bad exchange but it is going to take a lot of resources for them to be actually useful." "Otherwise, they will simply be dead weight. Lucky for you, we are in a place where the resources are plenty. As you guys should have noticed, we cannot use our spatial treasures or other items here." "Everything going down here is purely on our merit. All the items that we acquire in the Spire are also only temporary." "We can use them while we are here but we cannot really take them away. So let's not waste time bickering. We should get going and become as strong as we possibly can." Eldrin then looked at Liam and bowed. "My Lord, I hope you are aware of the rules and regulations of the Spire. I want to remind you of the main point. The time here flows differently when compared to the time outside." "We have 99 days to spend inside the Spire and then we will be teleported back to the last location which is that same damn place where we just ran away from." "And 99 days here is nothing but a second on the outside. So we will be returning to the same mayhem. We need to be prepared. A spatial distortion monolith lasts for about 1 hour which means we cannot teleport anywhere until the hour ends or until the monolith is destroyed." After Eldrin explained their precarious situation, everyone tensed up. Liam observed carefully and it indeed seemed like all of his items were missing. However, his sword still remained. "Is that a soul weapon?" Eldrin asked, his eyes glinting with obvious greed. "That explains why you still have it. The system should have considered it in the same category as a bonded pet." "Having a soul weapon is a huge cheat. Even though our preparations might not be adequate, this is a really good start." The elf explained with glee. After Eldrin gave the basic introduction, Rey and the others thoroughly checked everything out. Their clothes had also been switched out for something simpler and no one had any weapon of any sort except for Liam. Standing behind Luna were the other newly hatched beasts except for the one that did not hatch yet. Liam was surprised to see the young ones out even though they were inside the spatial artifact but that was a good thing. Also, it looked like Luna and the other beasts were not subjected to any trials and were directly teleported here. They were considered a part of Liam by the system. Likewise, Madan and Rey also had their beasts summoned. Rey had four tamed beasts, all of them being simple uncommon beasts. However, their levels were shockingly high and they seemed experienced in fighting as if they had undergone severe training. Madan's situation was slightly better. He had five tamed beasts in total and three of them belonged were rare-grade beasts. Their levels were also nothing to scoff at. While individually these two might have stood proud with their beast companions, in front of Liam's parade of eye-catching legendary beasts and Luna, they smiled bitterly in embarrassment. Liam shook his head. "We all had different starting points. Don't compare yourself with me. You have seen these past few days how truly vast this world is. This is your chance. Inside this Spire, there are millions of chances. Don't let it go to waste." The two nodded, clenching their fists in determination. On the other hand, Lan Deming, Eldrin, and Dante simply stood gawking at the beasts as they did not have access to even that. They were essentially naked, starting with nothing. Dante apparently had some tamed beasts but he was unable to summon them as his soul was extremely weakened. The group took a few seconds to adjust their conditions and then everyone was ready to start. "Bro, now what?" Rey asked. He scratched his head looking at the forest surrounding them. They did not have any weapons or armor and also did not have any pills or potions. What were they supposed to do now? Where should they even start? Eldrin stepped forward. "Let me, my Lord." He cleared his throat. "If no one minds, I would like to be the tour guide for the first few levels of the Spire. I think I can save us all some time. I have extensively researched this place and I know a few tips and tricks." Liam nodded. Others also nodded. "Usually, the first ten levels are extremely easy. We can just blow through them. So we don't have to be cautious and do this slowly. If we just start walking, we should encounter something. It would either be a situation that we have to resolve or a monster that we have to kill." "Sometimes there would be more than one way to deal with things." Hearing him, the group started walking. "If it's easy, should we split up?" Madan asked. Eldrin shook his head with a polite smile. "I am sorry. When I meant easy, I was referring to Lord Liam. It will be easy for him. Beings whose levels are too low have no place being here and without a doubt will be culled very soon." Madan stared at the elf but did not respond anything, only listening to his warning. "Just try to keep up and don't drag others down." Eldrin added. "My Lord… If I may suggest…" He turned to Liam but he saw that the person was no longer standing in the spot. Eldrin's eyes became wide like saucers. Where did he go? He was just here? What the hell? He only sighed inwardly when he saw that the terrifying fox was still in the vicinity. "Everyone be alert. This place can become extremely dangerous." The elf barely closed his mouth and a low growl echoed from nearby. To make matters worse, the growl was accompanied by several other growls. The group instinctively formed a circle, backs to each other, as they scanned the surrounding underbrush for any sign of movement. From the shadows emerged a pack of creatures, their eyes glinting menacingly in the dim light. They were large, green-skinned creatures with matted fur and bared fangs, clearly ready for a fight. "Goblins?" Dante shrieked. "Goblins on fucking steroids." Madan swore. While the creatures in front of them might vaguely resemble goblins, they were in no way mere goblins as each and every one of them emitted a strong bloodthirsty aura.