Kael felt it like a pressure behind the eyes, like the building itself had started counting down their lives in neat little increments. The challenge did not just begin. It settled on them.
John, naturally, treated the warning like an invitation.
"What are you doing! Come grab some of this shit!" John barked, already swinging his weapon into the glass like a lunatic. "Look at that chest piece, it's fucking Achilles Chest! That shit is legend tier!"
The glass shattered with a sharp crack, fragments spraying onto the floor like ice. John grabbed the chest piece as if afraid it would vanish the moment he blinked.
Kael's stomach tightened. Not from jealousy. From the sheer stupidity of it.
"Stop man!" Kael said, stepping forward, voice hard. "Think for a second!"
"What do you mean think?" John snapped, wild-eyed. "You're wasting time man, you died on the first floor, do you even know what this does? This belonged to Matthew Roberts! The fucking immortal king of the Holy Crusader guild! And it's here! This shit makes you immune to death! What the fuck are you even thinking for!"
John shook the armor slightly, like he expected it to sing for him. His hands trembled. His breath came quick.
Kael stared at the piece, then at the hall, then back to John.
"The trial said this is the hall of Burdens," Kael said, forcing the words to be calm even as irritation crept through them. "And sixty minutes to reach the other side is already too much. So there has to be a catch. You grabbed the most expensive thing here first. If this is real, then you're paying for it. If it's fake, then you're still paying for it, because the tower isn't the kind of thing that appreciates optimism."
John scoffed.
Kael's voice sharpened. "We're on the damn first floor. That thing could be fake and you'll pay your life for it. Think for a second."
"Fake?" John barked. "Inspect!"
He did it immediately. His expression shifted mid-motion. The greed did not disappear, but something darker slid in beneath it. His brows furrowed. His mouth tightened.
Kael watched that change closely.
"It's fake, right?" Kael asked, already expecting the tower's joke.
"N-no," John said, and the way his voice hit the word no sounded like he had bitten into something rotten. "It's real. This is actually real."
But his tone was not the tone of a man celebrating.
"Let me see," Kael said, and used [Inspect] as well, his eyes scanning the information as it flooded his mind.
Category: Leather Armor
Tier: Legendary
Passive skills:
[Warborne] Reduces all damage taken by 20%
[Blessing of Styx] Regenerates, mana stamina and all combat resources by % of missing health.
[Undying Rage] Cannot drop below 1 health as long as long as the wearer is steadfast in battle. No retreat, no hesitation.
Worn by the legendary hero Achilles, this chestpiece was said to make its wearer nearly unstoppable in battle. But legend warns: true strength comes at a cost, and those who covet it too greedily may find themselves broken in mind as well as body.
[FORBIDDEN!] -Nullifies all former passives and applies new ones until removed.
[Forbidden Tag can only be removed upon exiting of the trial of Ulsal.]
All effects of Achilles Leather Armor are modified upon wearing.
Peaceborne: All damage taken is increased by 80%
Curse of Styx: Regeneration of all battle resources is completely removed, increase susceptibility to curses. Brittle bones and gossamer flesh.
Mortal Cowardice: Terror visions and fear effects amplified, hallucinations and extreme emotional volatility. And increase chance of self-harm.
…
Kael stared at the last lines, letting them settle.
The tower had not offered a legendary piece of armor.
It had offered a legendary baited hook.
"Damn," Kael muttered, the word leaving him like a breath he had been holding. "Those are some horrible negatives. So that's what the forbidden tag is."
John did not answer. He was staring at the chest piece like it had insulted him personally.
"You should check something else," Kael said, voice steady, refusing to let John spiral into a decision out of spite.
John, jaw clenched, placed the chest piece down as if it offended his hands. He moved to another box, eyes scanning frantically, and found a neat looking dagger. Again he broke the glass, again he grabbed it like a starving man reaching for scraps.
His face twisted almost instantly.
"Fuck," John said, voice low. "This one's worse. It makes you bleed whenever you take a step…"
"It also has the forbidden tag?" Kael asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah," John said through his teeth. He stared down at the dagger like it had betrayed him. "Feels like everything here has it…"
"I suppose that's the point," Kael said, thinking aloud. "To stop greedy climbers from taking too many. If you equip the chest and the dagger, you'll probably die before you take a few steps forward. Bleeding and taking increased damage, hallucination and self-harm. Yeah, you'd be dead before you reached the second display box."
John's hands hovered over the dagger, reluctant, like he wanted to keep it just out of stubbornness.
"Fuck!" John cursed again and placed it back, carefully, making sure he did not take a single step with it in hand longer than necessary. The trial's rules hung over them. Ten seconds. Put it back. Wear it. Or lose it. A simple mechanic with a cruel purpose, forcing decisions to be immediate and irreversible.
Kael looked around.
There were too many good items. Too many names that should not have been here. Too many chances for the tower to watch them lose their minds. Most of the things in this hall would cause wars between guilds and clans if they existed outside. To have them all laid out here, clean and glittering, meant whoever made this challenge was sick in the head.
It was like dangling a precious jewel over a pit filled with spikes, snakes, land sharks and landmines, then asking the contestant to pick which way they wanted to fall.
The humor of it all was lost on Kael, he only saw teeth that wanted to eat him if he touched something he shouldn't have.