Chapter 7: Five Difficulties

Soon, the eight of them disappeared into the village.

The Village Elder led them all the way to the northern edge of the Novice Village.

The lively streets gradually gave way to quiet stone paths. Before long, they arrived at an old shrine that looked as though it had stood there for hundreds of years.

Behind it stood a towering cliff.

At first glance, there was nothing unusual about it.

The elder walked toward a section of the cliff covered by thick vines. At his signal, several guards stepped forward and pulled them aside.

What appeared wasn’t a cave entrance.

It was a massive stone gate built directly into the cliff.

The gate stood nearly five meters tall. Ancient carvings covered its surface, while moss and creeping vines clung to the weathered stone. Right at its center was a rusty keyhole.

Lucian looked at it with surprise.

"So this is the entrance to the Training Grounds?"

The Village Elder nodded.

"It is."

Lucian studied the gate for a moment before asking, "Could you tell us more about it?"

The elder smiled.

"There’s not much left for me to tell. Most of what we know has already been lost over the years."

He rested a hand against the ancient stone.

"What I do know is that the Training Grounds are divided into five difficulty: Easy, Hard, Elite, Nightmare, and Hell."

"Our ancestors only trained in the Easy and Hard trials. As for the other three..."

He paused for a brief moment before continuing.

"Some people believed they could go further."

"They never came back."

Lucian frowned.

"So no one has ever cleared the Elite trial?"

The elder slowly shook his head.

"Not anyone from this village."

He looked at the enormous stone gate before adding quietly,

"Perhaps someone, somewhere, has."

"But if they did, their story never reached us."

Without saying anything more, he reached into his robe and took out the old rusty key.

"I’ve already warned you. The Easy and Hard trials are more than enough for most people."

"I believe Elite is within your limits. Nightmare... perhaps. But Hell is another matter."

As he spoke, he inserted the rusty key into the ancient keyhole.

A deep mechanical sound echoed through the quiet valley as the ancient mechanism hidden behind the stone finally operated.

The massive stone gate trembled before slowly sliding apart.

Behind it wasn’t another cave.

It was a massive hall carved entirely from stone.

At the very center stood five ancient portals.

Each portal radiated a different aura, and above them floated five glowing words.

Easy, hard, elite, nightmare, hell.

The Village Elder slowly looked around at the eight of them.

"Each portal leads to a different trial and once you enter one, you cannot change your choice until you either clear it or leave."

He pointed toward the portals one after another.

"The first is Easy."

"The second is Hard."

"The third is Elite."

"The fourth is Nightmare."

"And the last..."

His gaze settled on the black abyss-like portal.

"...Hell."

He paused before adding, "You all know the risks now, so the choice is yours. Just don’t let your confidence blind you."

Before anyone could respond, Ethan walked forward to the portals.

His eyes didn’t even spare the other four portals a glance.

His footsteps stopped directly before the black with the hell character written over it.

The Village Elder’s expression changed.

"Young man, wait! That portal will only lead you to your death. Perhaps you meant to choose the others?"

But Ethan paid no heed to the elder’s words as he stepped through the portal.

Meant to choose the other difficulty you say? No, it’s the hell difficulty!

The Village Elder stared at the empty portal for a long moment before letting out a helpless sigh.

"That isn’t confidence... No, it’s recklessness."

The Village Elder stared at the empty portal for a long moment before sighing.

"And here I thought I had finally found someone to deliver this."

He sighed again.

"I suppose I’ll have to find someone else."

The others stood frozen.

"He... actually entered the Hell trial?"

"Is he insane?"

"I thought he was only trying to show off."

"I didn’t think he’d really do it."

Lucian watched the black portal for a few seconds before turning toward Elena and the others.

"We should enter together."

The others looked at him.

"The trials won’t be easy, regardless of the difficulty. Fighting as a party gives us the greatest chance of succeeding."

He smiled calmly.

"With Elena’s healing, my offense, and all of us working together..."

"I believe we can challenge the Elite trial."

The others exchanged glances before nodding one after another.

Why would they object?

The Village Elder looked at Lucian and smiled faintly.

"I had a feeling you would choose Elite."

Lucian smiled back.

"If we want to protect this village, we need to become stronger as quickly as possible."

"Easy and Hard won’t be enough."

The elder nodded slowly.

"Very well."

"I wish all of you safe passage."

Lucian drew his steel sword while Elena tightened her grip around her healing staff.

The others exchanged determined looks before following behind them.

Together, the seven stepped into the Elite portal.

...

The moment Ethan stepped through the black portal, a familiar system notification sounded.

[You have entered the First-Order Goblin Dungeon.]

[Difficulty: Hell]

[Trial Objective: Clear the dungeon.]

[Current Progress: 0%]

[Failure Condition: Death]

Ethan glanced at the notification before calmly closing it.

This wasn’t Ethan’s first time entering the Hell Mode Goblin Dungeon.

In his previous life, he, Lucian, and Elena had challenged this very hell difficulty dungeon together.

The only difference was that back then, he had entered it with companions.

Rustle.

The surrounding bushes began to shake.

One after another, short green figures emerged from the darkness.

They were Goblins.

More emerged from the bushes, baring their yellow teeth as they stared at the lone human standing in the center

Ethan raised his hand and activated his legion formation.

"Legion Formation."

The formation activated and the 50 Shadow Wraith soldiers appeared.