A trickle of blood ran down my throat as my mind raced. I couldn't give up. Not now when things were just getting started. There had to be a way out.

  Interrupting my thoughts, a deep voice rumbled, "Again."

  The word resounded in the chamber, and the statue's spear eased off my throat. It backed away with jerking steps and slammed the butt of the spear into the floor. I rubbed my throat and got up on my elbows.

  "Get up." The voice thundered. "Prove yourself worthy."

  "Prove myself worthy? Worthy of what?" I scoffed and climbed to my feet.

  The so-called Titan's inheritance meant as much to me as a handful of air. Just words without meaning. And yet, I grabbed the stone spear once more and faced the construct with renewed vigor, not in hopes of obtaining some inheritance or because of my ego getting hurt, but because I wanted to win.

  When I took a battle-ready stance, the statue circled me to the right, moving at a steady pace. The expressionless face gave nothing away. I mirrored the stone warrior's movements and pointed the weapon at it. Smatterings of stone fell from its body and crunched when stepped on a moment later. I creased my brow in concentration. Despite being made of solid stone, the thing was fast. If I missed so much as a tensing of its limbs, I would have to fight on the defensive. That didn't fit my style very well.

  Our mirrored steps echoed in the chamber. The torches on the wall flickered as we stalked past. Neither of us moved, and it was gnawing at me. I wanted to counterattack, not dive in blindly. The statue saw right through me and kept its distance instead.

  I ground my teeth. "Fuck it."

  I lunged forward, letting the spear slip in my hand and extending my reach as I stabbed. There wasn't a lot of force behind the attack, but that wasn't its intended purpose.

  Vibrations made my spear rattle as the construct slapped it to the side. With a grin, I rolled into the spear's length and used the added momentum to swing it like a gigantic bat. It ripped through the air with a howl and forced the statue to raise its own spear to block.

  The two weapons let out a satisfying crunch as they met. Stumbling, the statue took a step backward and lashed out with a fist. I used the moment to my advantage and ducked under the desperate attack, throwing a sweeping kick at its ankles.

  A miscalculation, to be sure. I lost my breath as my shin slammed into solid stone. Cracks spread like a spiderweb from the point of impact, and the already stumbling stone-warrior fell on its back. Defying the flaring pain, I dashed forward, planting my foot on its chest, and pushed the tip of my spear into its throat.

  "How'd you like that?" I asked with a cracking voice.

  My faceless opponent lay still at my feet. Maybe I needed to pierce it with my spear? At the thought, the system responded.

  Trial 1: Rite of passage

  Complete.

  Proceed to the next trial.

  I raised my eyebrows. Assuming that I was just going to comply with the system's prompts was bold. Yet, as I looked around for a way to return to the river, I was left stumped.

  "Seems the only way back is through," I muttered and stepped off the statue.

  Torches went dark around me, leaving only those by the large gate lit. I cast a glance at the spear in my hand and decided to keep it. It could prove handy in a wide variety of situations.

  My leg throbbed with pain, but after just a few steps, it began to fade.

  The power of levels? I chuckled.

  Just by approaching the gate, it opened and revealed a much larger chamber. Inside, a large dilapidated staircase led up to an altar. Flickering flames lit up the room with a warm yellow. The walls were clad in fabrics depicting a battlefield. In its midst, a grey figure stood alone, holding a spear in one hand and a blade in the other.

  I strode through the doorway, not bothering to stop. The enormity of the chamber wasn't enough to impress me, nor were the embroidered fabrics. Earth had ruins and art that put this old cave to shame.

  The air inside was stale and stuffy, as if the door hadn't opened in a very, very long time. My first step onto the staircase echoed inside the room for what felt like an eternity.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Trial 2: The weight of war

  Start.

  Instantly, the room changed. The flames lining the walls flickered and dulled. An incorporeal weight settled on my shoulders. At first, it wasn't very noticeable, but soon I could feel the weight increase with each step up the stairs.

  When I passed the twentieth step, something clattered behind me. It approached quickly. I turned around with raised brows, then groaned at the sight. The construct was rushing up the stairs.

  I hardened my grip around the spear and muttered, "I should have destroyed you when I had the chance."

  I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

  By the tenth step, the statue bent its shoulder back, then whipped it forward in a flash of mottled grey. On instinct, I threw myself to the stairs, feeling the jagged steps slam into the shield strapped to my back as the spear whizzed above my head. My hair fluttered from the air pressure as it roared past and slammed deep into stone further up the stairs.

  I glanced down, and my heart lurched as I rolled to the side. A foot of stone crushed where I'd been laying just a moment later.

  On all fours, I scrambled up a few more steps before I blindly swung the spear at my aggressor. It raised an arm and blocked it as it pushed into my range with a boxer's stance. I pulled back the spear and push-kicked at its chest.

  It felt like pushing a boulder, but even a boulder could lose its balance. The statue stumbled down a step, flailing its arms as it began to fall, but not before its fingers bit into my calf. I stared wide-eyed at the stone-person as it pulled me with.

  "Shit, shit, shit!"

  In a gamble, I kicked off the stairs with my other leg and clung to the statue. We toppled over, me on top, and slammed into the biting edge of the steps. A resounding crack thundered through the chamber. I dropped the spear from the impact before we tumbled down.

  Cracks began to spread across the statue's body, and pieces of it ground into fine dust that blew across the chamber in small clouds. Stone hands flailed and clawed at my body. It was trying to get on top of me. I swatted the hands away as best as I could with one arm and used the other to push against the featureless face, making its head slam against every step we passed.

  We sped down the stairs in a matter of seconds. When we finally stopped, there wasn't a lot remaining of the statue. Its head was shattered and lay scattered around me at the bottom of the stairs.

  I panted and dusted off my pants, half expecting another level up. It never came.

  "Stingy bastard," I mumbled.

  The statue had been stronger than the wolf. At least that was my conviction. There was no way I could have destroyed it with a spear or a sword. I'd need a hammer for something like that... or a steep set of stairs. In any case, I deserved more than fuck-all.

  Once more, I began to climb up the stairs. The familiar weight settled and increased as I went. I picked up my spear around the fifteenth step, then the statue's at the twenty-fifth. When I reached the fortieth step, it felt like I was wearing a backpack filled with rocks, and I hadn't even reached the halfway mark yet.

  The familiar sound of footsteps echoed from down below. Rage flared up inside me. It couldn't be...

  I turned, ready to face the headless warrior of stone once more, but that warrior remained headless and at the bottom of the room. In its place, another similar construct raced up the stairs. This one had a face equally featureless but wore two gems in its forehead instead of one. It held a hammer with both hands. It looked heavy and ill-suited for a climb like this, but then again, I didn't know if these stone-people knew what tired meant.

  I laid one of the spears by my feet and waited. When it crossed the twentieth step, I readied myself and threw my spare spear. At this range, and with that momentum, the statue could do nothing but shield itself from the spear with its arms.

  Stone met stone as my spear bit into its arms. The spear wasn't the main purpose of my attack, the fall was. Spears of stone were heavy and offset the construct's balance entirely. It fell over and rolled down the stairs.

  There were two themes to this trial. First, the increasing weight. Second, I would find myself accompanied by new constructs every twenty steps or so.

  Similarly, there were two apparent solutions. First, I could wait and fight each one, bearing the hindrance of increased weight. Or second, I could run.

  I chose neither.

  Before the construct hit the floor, I turned tail and hurried up the stairs. Sweat poured down my face and my bare body. When I passed the fiftieth step, my legs turned sluggish. It felt like I was wading through concrete. I glanced back down at my pursuer.

  Each step beyond the fiftieth was heavier than the last. My pursuers followed and increased in number but staggered from the weight just as much as I.

  By the ninety-fifth step, I couldn't walk anymore. Instead, I crawled. I clenched my jaw and gritted my teeth, constantly telling myself to not stop.

  Just a little more.

  I reached my hand up to the altar and ran my fingers against its surface. Paved stone. I just needed a little more. I just needed to cross that tiny, last step.

  The world pushed my chest into the stairs. My vision darkened. It felt like a giant was sitting on my back. I dug my nails into a crack in the altar floor and pulled. Warm blood flowed out of my fingers as I inched myself up the last bit.

  I crossed the last threshold and rolled onto my back, gasping for breath. My blurry vision refocused, and the weight eased off my body. My arms trembled, but I wasn't done.

  Shaking, I pushed myself to my feet and looked down at the struggling constructs. One could argue that I had chosen the second option of running, but I disagreed. I had merely retreated into a more advantageous position.

  I planted the butt of the spear into the floor and leaned on it as I waited. The further the constructs climbed, the more they weighed, and the more they weighed, the harder they would fall.

  When the first two-gemmed construct made it into range, I pummeled it with the spear from the top of the altar. It was like the last straw on the camel's back. With large overhead swings, I crushed the construct into the stairs below, then I waited for the others and gave them the same treatment.

  It was a good release for the growing resentment I had for these unfair trials. I'd never even signed up for them, yet here I was getting tortured by them all the same.

  When I finished the four-gemmed construct, a familiar bell chimed in my head.