Small villain's Viewpoint

Chapter 7

                      Tower Trials

This tower was created by a mysterious artifact. It is one of the rare ones where different other minor artifacts would reside in. Just like Hestia's Tear, a B grade artifact, is capable of healing any ailment. While Midas' Coin is an A grade artifact, granting its owner luck which was normally uncontrollable.

Both artifacts are located on the 20th floor, hidden deeply in the floors jungle region. In the novel, Michael got his information from an acquaintance, who discovered it by chance. Assembling his own party, Michael joined Julius' group in order to get a free pass to the tower.

Right before the night falls, Julius gathered the twins and Aria to a hidden cave, the site where the temple of Midas' artifact is located. The temple's entrance is covered in moss and huge pillars, so unless a person knows its location, no one will see it. Contrary to its temple, the entrance is perfectly hidden in the middle, old wooden doors the size of a  male adult, covers its true path.

The trial is simple. The challenger  only needed to pass the lake, then take the coin buried under it. Well the premise sounds simple, but if the raider did not know its true nature, he'd be stuck as a golden statue for eternity. As such, the proper method is to defeat the jewelled snake, either by slaying or submission.Then the snake will give you the coin. The lake itself is a trap, turning those who touch it into gold.

"Miira, do you like snakes?", Julius stared at the girl, guiding them to a distant place. There,they see a large forest covered in shining jewels .

"Yes, Miira likes snakes!!!"
"Liira loves snakes too!!"

The sisters chimed, eyes beaming in excitement."How about a pretty snake?",Julius continued, pleased with their answer. Its a good thing they don't have any prejudice on it, since most children would be afraid of reptiles in general.

Hissss.......

As if a cue, a large snake slithers from the large trees, its long body gliding smoothly on the tree trunk.Unlike normal snakes, this one is not covered in scales, rather, shining red jewels acted as scales. Its eyes are made of sapphire, with a distinct ruby mark on its forehead.

The girls screamed, sounding excited than scared. They approach it bravely, with Liira chanting weird spells on it. Aria tried to stop them, scared silly by its huge size. She had enough of this monsters ignoring tanks and attacking the people in the backline.

Julius stop her,pointing at Miira who approach the snake bravely. That's right. Michael is not needed.Even with just this two, they could clear the trial. The snake could be tamed as well,and it is counted as submission to the challengers. Rather than slaying it, how will they get the coin then? So having strong tamers is a great advantage.

Miira successfully tamed it, patting its glassy head. Liira jump over its back, riding the snake back to us. Scared silly, Aria shriek, running away from the two. Heading back, they followed the snake to the lake. Slithering on the large lake, its huge body disappear, showing afterwards with a rusty coin in its mouth. That's the genuine artifact, a rusty  old coin. With this, they could finally head back, rest and go home.

Back to the campsite, Miira instructed Bellare,the snake's name, to hide temporarily in the forest. They can't scare these poor knights out of their wits. They're worn down as it is. Later on, Julius informed the greedy Harold about this beautiful lake, with a forest covered in jewels.

Hearing this, Harold immediately left the camp, travelling on his own because he doesn't want any one else to have those jewels. Later that morning, the knights search for the missing noble, only to find a golden statue, which looks very similar to Harold. Leo lead the team to the lake, upon inspection, they found out that the lake would turn whoever touches it into gold. Various golden statue scatters around the lake.