Arcane Innovator

Right after I began advancing deeper into the pitch-black tunnel, I immediately noticed something strange. 'It's like a fog...'

And even though I was fully enveloped by the bright glow of the magic flame, I could barely see the contours of Aida's cloak as she walked in front of me.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that my surroundings were shrouded in what looked like a thick veil of oily darkness, making it almost impossible to see for more than a meter in each direction.

Normally, that wouldn't be that big of a deal, but as if to add insult to injury, my biggest advantage—magic sense—didn't seem to work either.

At first, I simply thought I wasn't getting a response due to the lack of enemies or essence-emitting objects, but after a while, it became clear that something else was at play here... It almost seemed like I was staring at a giant void.

What was even worse, the fog appeared to not only block vision but also drain essence. Luckily, it was only by a small amount—yet, and thanks to my large reserves, I barely felt a dent.

The only reason I noticed was that I was right in the process of casting a spell and felt that it was consuming way more essence than it should.

Still, it would be better to leave this eerie tunnel as soon as possible since, for a newly awakened mage, I reckoned it would be quite a significant loss that could leave them utterly spent after some time.

I looked over at the rest of the party, and although Edwin seemed completely fine for now, I could see that Gil and Inge were beginning to look a bit tired despite doing their best to hide it.

I shuddered, imagining how it would have felt to get stranded in this dark tunnel without any light source.

Before we went in, I briefly tried to dislodge one of the lanterns hanging on the walls of the first chamber, but it wouldn't budge, so I decided to rely on my fire magic, which, in hindsight, might have been a bad idea, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

Thus, I urged everyone to keep going, trying to move as fast as we could. So far, the tunnel had been fairly straight without any splits, so I allowed myself to relax a little while listening to Gil and Inge's quiet banter in the back.

It was right then when Aida raised a hand, signaling us to stop. "Hold up," she whispered. "I hear something."

I paused, straining my ears, and sure enough, after a moment, I could hear it too— a soft whisper echoing from up ahead.

'Yeah, that's certainly not creepy at all...' I shuddered, taking a small step back.

"It could be another team," Edwin said quietly. "Or it could be a trap."

I narrowed my eyes, trying to spot something, anything, but that stupid fog blocked my every attempt to see through it. 'Curse it...'

There was simply no way to avoid it, as the tunnel was too narrow and offered no side passages we could perhaps use to circumvent whatever was making that noise.

Turning back, I carefully considered our options. We could always go back and try one of the other passages, but that would mean losing precious time, and there was no guarantee we wouldn't end up in the exact same situation.

"Maybe Aida could scout ahead and see what's making that noise?" Gil said, visibly distraught.

I looked at him like he was an idiot. 'Doesn't he know the number one rule in any horror-type situation is never splitting up from the group?'

Yet I said nothing to him and instead turned toward Aida. I could see the anxious look on her face, seemingly afraid I would take up on Gil's idea, so I quickly reassured her.

"Nobody's going anywhere... Whatever you do, don't stray away from the group, and be ready for anything." I whispered to the others.

'Hmm, what should we do?' If it's another team, an ambush could give us an advantage, but we would also risk a direct confrontation early on...'

If I hadn't been robbed of my magic sense, I would have volunteered to go myself, but without it, I wasn't very confident in my scouting skills.

Besides, we were supposed to work here as a party, so it wouldn't be appropriate for me to do everything alone.

"Alright, let's wait for a bit, and then we'll proceed." I decided after a while since I could no longer hear anything.

We waited in tense silence, every second feeling like an eternity. Meanwhile, the magic flame was casting distorted shadows across the tunnel's walls, which was fueling our already wild imagination to run rampant.

I contemplated whether or not to douse the flame to hide our presence, but then I decided to leave it on as it provided us with at least some visibility, which was much better than the alternative.

We then resumed our advance, and I was prepared to cast a spell at a moment's notice. However, in the end, we didn't come across another team, or anything else for that matter. Just more of the same dark tunnel that seemed like it would go on forever.

'Great, so on top of everything else, we're now also hearing voices from the dark...'

Still, there was nothing we could do about it other than press on forward, so we did, continuing to hear strange whispers from time to time.

'There's nothing there, there's nothing there... it's all just an illusion.' I inwardly repeated like a mantra, trying to reassure myself, but I couldn't stop the shivers running down my spine.

'Where does it end? Or do we go around in circles?' Plagued with uncertainty, I took another look at the strange passage we found ourselves in, and it was then that I realized something.

'It's not the fog! ...The thing sucking out our essence is the cave itself!' I looked at the walls and noticed they were not made of any ordinary stone but some sort of... black crystal?

Whatever it was, the essence drain seemed to be getting stronger the further we went down the tunnel, which made me confident we were going in the right direction.

Fortunately, I wouldn't be running out of essence any time soon, so I took on the heightened cost without flinching and continuously cast the small flame spell so that my party wouldn't lose the rest of their wavering morale.

From the corner of my eye, I could see their visibly pale, anxious faces, and it made me wonder if they were up to the task of the upcoming challenges we would undoubtedly face in this weird-ass place.

"Maybe we should go back and try one of the other passages..." Gil said in a low voice, his previous boisterous demeanor nowhere to be found.

I looked at him and realized I should probably do something to bolster the others' morale. I knew this was just a stupid test, and frankly, I've faced worse. Not to mention, the mages wouldn't do anything that could threaten our lives - at least, I hoped so.

The others, however, were still just a bunch of kids who weren't used to being in dangerous situations, and it was apparently getting on their nerves.

"We must be close to an exit. Just hang on for a bit longer..." I said, trying to sound confident, but it seemed to have little effect.

Like that, we slowly advanced forward while I silently pondered our next steps. Still, something about this didn't add up... this tunnel was simply way too long.

By my calculations, we should have already traversed a much greater distance than the entire size of the previous Trial's library, which made me wonder when we would come upon our first challenge.

'If things continue at the current pace, everyone except me will soon be too exhausted to do anything.' I threw a worried glance at Inge, who seemed to be the worst off out of all of us.

'It almost seems like the purpose of this tunnel is to suck us dry before we could even face off any of the challenges... wait a minute!'

It was right then that I realized there was no awaiting challenge to overcome —we were already inside of one.

Now, it all made sense. The dark, the unnerving noises, the seemingly endless passage—it was all carefully manufactured to make us lose courage and succumb to despair.

The air grew colder, and the passage narrowed, forcing us to move single file. The oppressive darkness pressed in from all sides, but we soldiered on.

The only thing keeping our spirits high was the radiant glow of my small flame, which kept the darkness at bay and warmed our weary hearts.

Finally, after several more minutes of tense walking, the tunnel abruptly ended, and we seemed to have arrived at what looked like an enormous cavern.

The strange fog had likewise thinned out, and the oppressive feeling disappeared. I breathed in relief, glad that the unnerving ordeal was over.

However, when I looked ahead at the distant contours of what could only be ruins of some abandoned city, it seemed that our troubles were only beginning. 'I guess we've arrived at our destination...'