Still standing, clinging on to the cage, Pi’ve fumbled with the rope as he extracted it from his inventory and held it in his left hand, his staff in the right. It was difficult holding on to the cage whilst also holding his staff and handling the rope. Linking with the rope was a challenge too, not because it was complex in its composition, but because there was so much of it. The rope was also a completely new item, as he had not linked with this particular item nor the material. It was not familiar to him.

  The metal chain in which the cage hung, Pi’ve saw, still rattled as the cage sunk lower and lower down the hole he was currently trying not to fall down. It had sunk only a few inches by now, enough so that the lowest part of the cage was below the ground level. Pi’ve had to act fast if he were to get under the floorless cage.

  He concentrated hard, for he had to link with the rope first. It strained him thoroughly to do so, but after ten seconds or so, he felt the connection. He fed his staff the information on the rope, and after no longer than ten more seconds he felt them being linked too. Pi’ve had to get the rope onto the sconce, so that he could lower himself under the floorless cage and climb up to the cave floor and continue his quest, and maybe, perhaps more importantly, not die from falling.

  Having linked with the rope, he had to manipulate it over to the sconce. As he managed to get the rope to hover and ascend slightly, he realised that the rope needed a knot, so that it would actually hook onto the sconce. He was originally a sailor, and knew a lot of knots. He tied it quickly, and begun to slowly hover the rope again. The cage had in the meanwhile lowered down so that the cave floor was level with his stomach.

  The rope was heavier than both the pinecone and the rock, which he was more familiar with, and had a weird shape in his mind. It was lengthy, and whenever he tried to move the rope further, more and more rope ascended into the air, making it heavier and heavier for each inch it moved.

  After moving it half a meter through the air towards the sconce above him, the rope fell. He followed the decent of the rope, and his eyes caught the black abyss looming beneath him, waiting to swallow him. The black unknown beneath him reminded him of his decent into the cold ocean. Alike the first encounter with the crab which sent quakes of terror through his body awakened again. The fear of drowning, despite there being no water anywhere. His feet almost buckled as he let out a strained moan. He cursed, and then retracted the rope again. He tried again, and this time he made sure to keep watch over the mana valve he had visualised inside his mind. To keep the rope from falling, he thought that he had to keep opening the mana valve gradually, so the mana connection was kept strong whilst more and more rope was being manipulated. Or else— if the mana flow became too weak— the link to the rope would be severed.

  He had not used much mana since he drank the mana potion, so he had a lot stored, yet he knew that this would undoubtedly not be the only trial in this cave. The cage had now been lowered another half a foot, and he began to feel the pressure. He would die if he did not get this right.

  The rope hovered, and Pi’ve stabilised the rope in the air, getting a feeling for how open the valve should be for each time he pushed the rope further. The clue was to open the valve slightly, continually, as the rope undulated away from him, and then stopping the push to stabilise again. When he did this he could feel where and when he lost control of the mana flow as it coursed through his body over to the rope. He had managed to get the rope from the cage all the way to the edge of the cave floor— about three and a half feet— before the connection broke.

  He cursed, but then he realised that he had found the solution to his problem. As the rope pulled away from him, he was only connected to the front part of the rope, namely the knot. That made the rope really heavy as the amount of rope in the air increased. The weight from the rest of the rope weighed down the knot. But, he had noticed that the longer he had the rope in the air, the more the mana in the rope tried to wander through the rope which was unaffected. He could stabilise the rope by controlling more of the rope. It seemed large and hefty, but in reality the rope was rather thin, so the weight was not that burdening. Mental barriers caused him to overestimate the weight of the rope, but even so, this was the longest he had reached with corporeal manipulation, so the weight of the rope was still laborious.

  Pi’ve tapped into his willpower. He would command the rope to do his bidding. It was a fight between himself and his mana control. Right now, he needed more control than he had ever had.

  The rope levitated again, and in small distances, Pi’ve let the rope hover towards the sconce. His forehead was now on the level of the cave floor. He was sweating profusely. The darkness within the vast hole began to envelop him already. Not much longer and the sconce would be past his visible range as the ledge would block his view. The rope flew slowly, but he had control over it like never before. He let the mana seep into the rope, and as it did, he felt the power to command the rope increase. There was no chance for the connection of the rope to either himself or the staff to break now.

  The rope got nearer and nearer. It passed the edge of the cave floor and continued. Pi’ve felt the first sign of strain as it reached half a foot above the floor. Then, as the rope reached one foot above the floor, he had to pause and stabilise. He turned and tuned the mana valve, and while he did so, he saw the cave floor obscure the lower end of the sconce. A teeny amount of panic took hold of Pi’ve; he knew he had neither time nor the opportunity for another try. This was his only shot at redemption.

  He pushed on, and as the cage continued to lower, Pi’ve managed to have the rope touch the sconce. Barely did he manage to not let the rope slip, for he had missed the top of the sconce. ’Come on… A bit more… Up—’

  Reluctantly, with ever-increasing trepidation, he let the connection to the rope sever. The rope fell as the mana dispersed out of the rope. Pi’ve watched and listened for a second as he waited for the sight and sound of the rope to come rushing down. It did not. He tugged at the rope, and it tightened. The assurance of success made him feel a rush of cold down his back.

  Looking at the rope, which was twenty feet or so in length, he saw that there was only four or five more to go. Had he needed another try, he would not have made it. His heart raced, and he wondered if he had the strength to climb up. He looked up and saw that it was still possible to throw his staff up to the floor of the cave, so that he had both his arms free to climb with.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  He grabbed the staff as if it was a spear, and mimicked the act of throwing it a few times, just to be sure, and then threw it. It landed on the edge above.

  He lowered himself down so that he hung on the ledge of the cage which he had been previously standing on. He grabbed the rope with his right, and let go with the left, then Pi’ve grabbed the rope with both hands. Pi’ve got a light swing as he let go off the cage, sending him into the wall. The cage had stopped making sound, and it did not seem to be lowering anymore. It had to be his weight that activated it. Either way, Pi’ve began to drag himself up the rope, and not more than fifteen seconds later, he had his first hand on the edge of the cave floor. He then managed to get himself up, and grab his staff. Pi’ve blessed the maker of the Jin— the system— that his stats in strength combined with his light weight let him endure the climb. He was no climber, except for the few times he had to climb the mast of the ship.

  Suddenly he felt dizzy and had to grab hold of the cave wall. He looked behind, and the cage and the chain on which it hung was gone. In the darkness behind him from where he had come, he saw two yellow eyes. They locked eyes, the yellow eyes starring unerringly.

  ’Ah.’ Pi’ve said as he tensed up. The Beast had come. It was just standing there, staring at him. It was an eerie feeling. It was going to pounce at any moment. Then the eyes of the beast closed, and Pi’ve knew that there was no time to waste. He lit his staff, and then he ran.

  At first the corridor continued in a straight line, until he met a set of stairs, each seeming to lead down to the same place. He did not hesitate taking the left-most stair and ran down. An afterthought entered Pi’ve’s mind. Nothing happened; I think I picked the right stairs to go down. At the bottom of the stairs, he saw that they both joined on the lower floor.

  As he was looking behind, he saw the pair of eyes again. Or did he? He had no idea if he had actually seen them, or if it was just in his imagination. Either way, the thought that the beast might be right behind him only made him run faster.

  A right turn, then a left. The cave became smaller before it got bigger again. Some places was littered with stalactites drooping from the ceiling. He ducked and weaved under and about them as he hurried along. He was constantly looking behind to see if he could see the beast, or its eyes, but since leaving the stairs, he had seen neither. He could not shake the feeling that he was being chased nevertheless, so he did not slow down.

  He ran through a another couple of rights and lefts, and as he was going through a straight part of the cave. He felt a sting on his right ankle as he heard a snap, and he knew that he had triggered a trap. A stone wall was being lowered from the ceiling in front of him. There was no time. ’No!’ Pi’ve shouted as he ran. He was quite far away, and could not reach it. When he did, he was able to grab a hold to the lower part of the wall to try to keep it from lowering, but he did not have the strength to keep it from closing. He tried desperately to link with the door in hopes that he could somehow lift it open using the corporeal manipulation spell, but he could not manage the link. He was standing in a dead end, ferally clawing at the wall in desperation.

  At a quick glance behind, he saw the yellow eyes. He looked long enough to confirm that he was actually seeing it. ’A calm mind…’ He said to himself and took a slow breath. Then, with his staff alight, he looked at the wall. It was smooth, and bore no sign that it was a door of any sort. He went close to the right most wall, and he saw nothing. He checked the other side, and with a double-take he saw something in the middle of the wall, perpendicular to the one that had just lowered. It was an insignia of some sort. A round emblem with jagged vines with thorns on it. What was he supposed to do with that?

  He placed his hand on it and pushed, but nothing happened. He looked back, and the yellow eyes had vanished, but he knew that it was creeping slowly towards him. What was he to do?

  Then he had an idea. Like the door to enter the cave, there could be some lock inside or something he had to do with the insignia. He placed his hand to it again, and tried channelling mana through it to the door, but he was unable to force any mana through it. Then he placed the tip of his staff to the insignia, with his gemstone in the middle of the circle. It looked like a green, venomous plant. A plant he had seen before. But where? He forced mana to flow through him and the staff, and as the mana met the wall, there was some resistance, but after just a couple of seconds, the mana had entered, and just as it did, the wall opened.

  Before the wall had opened fully, Pi’ve crouched under and ran forward, crashing in a wall not far ahead as he had not re-lit his staff again before running. He lit his staff, and saw again he was at a crossroad. He could not see far into the two differing paths, but he knew that it depended on choosing the right path to reach the King.

  He needed to find something to guide him. He was afraid of entering either path, as the cave had shown him that it could cut off paths if it wanted. He went inside himself, and read the description of the conjure light spell again.

  [Conjure light (Common)] - Light up your staff, illuminating your path. May this light bring warmth.

  Pi’ve was not sure how literal he should take the description, but he did not question as he did the next thing. He focused on his staff— the light from it. Then he went inside his mind and forced his will to make the light brighter, stronger. ’Illuminate my path.’ Pi’ve said out loud, but he had not intended to do so.

  A slight warmth emanated from the gemstone of his staff, and like a little lighthouse, the staff turned its light to the right, lighting up only the right-most path.

  *DING*

  Race [Human] has levelled up: lvl 5 -> lvl 6 +3 free points. Stat points from class [Wizard - Initiate Mage] has been allocated, +1 free point. Max health is increased with one (1) point.

  Without pondering much on what he had done, except the fact that the spell had used an immense amount of mana, and the level which he had received, he ran down the right-most path. He could not draw a direct conclusion from the level-up, but it felt like it had been a confirmation on picking the correct path, and so he did not question it.

  Along the path, the same insignia with the circle and the thorny growth emerged here and there. They appeared closer and closer to each other. Still he was looking behind when he ran. He had not seen the eyes for a while, but somehow he felt like the beast was somewhere close. But then— an inkling told him that the beast was not behind— the sound of feet and claws hitting the ground before him. His stomach lurched.

  He saw the silhouette of the beast not fifteen feet in front of him. If was hunchbacked, and apparently had four arms, two of them way longer than the other two. His light shone, but it seemed like the creature had a veil of black light obscuring it, and Pi’ve could not see what it was.

  It took its first step towards Pi’ve, but before it could take another, Pi’ve once again used the conjure light spell, and this time, he forced more mana into it than he had himself anticipated. The mana valve was totally open, and suddenly, with a flash, the whole cave corridor was thrice as bright as the brightest summer day. Pi’ve almost lost his grip on the staff as the heat from the gemstone burned him. The beast screeched and fell, covering its eyes. It wriggled in apparent agony and Pi’ve wasted no time jumping over it.

  In the flash, Pi’ve had seen the door. It had the insignia. He knew it was the door of The Forgotten King. He entered as he heard the beast whine in the cave outside.