After another night of restless sleep filled with nightmares. Mostly about him facing his own demise at the hands of a shadowy Dark Elf. Ryan wakes up to the sound of someone yelling at him. His eyes opened wide with surprise when he heard his name.

"Ryan!" Hiro shouts from inside the room.

Ryan sat up in a hurry, startled by hearing Hiro calling out his name.

"What is it?" Ryan asks while looking at himself. In his nightmare, the shadowy elf scratched his body with her sharp nails multiple times.

Ryan noticed his skin was smoother than normal, 'Where is my body hair? It's all gone!?’ Then Ryan noticed his hair felt shaggier than normal.

“What in the hell is happening to me?” Ryan questioned himself quietly.

"Dude, you were yelling in your sleep again. I’m fucking tired." Hiro said in a huff and laid back in his bed.

"My bad," Ryan mumbled in a low voice and lay back down too.

‘So, I guess we don’t want to talk about last night, huh? I don’t blame ya.’ As Ryan reflected on last night's events

***

They both lay there in silence, not knowing what to say, neither one saying anything for a minute or two. Then Ryan realized how awkward it became.

"So, what do you think we'll have to kill for today's trial?" Ryan asked Hiro.

"I don't know. What do you think?" Hiro answered as he looked around.

"I have no clue either. Yesterday was the first time I've killed something bigger than a mouse and I haven't done anything like this before." Ryan said as he sat up.

“...”

“...”

"Well, if we're going to do this then let's get started," Hiro said as he stood up and walked towards the door naked. 

'Christ Hiro, cover up man!' Ryan grimaced when he saw Hiro's shame out in the open.

"........Gotcha," Ryan said as he stood up from his bed with a sheet around his waist.

Soon they could hear footsteps again coming their way so Ryan stood there covering his nakedness with the bed sheet just in case.

Hiro stopped himself from opening the door and backs away.

When the door opened, Ryan could see a group of three Dark Elf Guards wearing masks and Ellianna was leading them. They all wore purple robes and had golden masks covering their faces.

Ellianna walks over to them and gives each of them a smile. She looks at Ryan and says "You look rested today."

Images of last night flashed in Ryan’s mind and he felt a warm heat wash over his body.

"Thank you?" Ryan said with a blush.

‘Why am I feeling shy all of a sudden?’

"And you're looking good as well," Ellianna said and gave Hiro a wink.

Hiro got a smug look after Ellianna's complement.

"Well, we can't have you two continue your trials naked, now can we," Ellianna said sarcastically. "So here's a new set of clothes for you both."

She handed each of us a set of clothes to wear.

"Thanks," Ryan said with a smile.

Ellianna smiled back and turned to go to the door. "Get dressed so we can go to the dining hall for breakfast."

Both Ryan and Hiro looked at each other as they changed into their new clothes and went to the door. They followed Ellianna to the dining room where they prepared an Elven breakfast for them.

The clothes that they gave them are outfits you would see at a ren fair back on Earth. So we got a pair of black leather cavalier boots, dark Philipp canvas trousers, and a black poet's shirt.

‘I feel like a damn goth kid right now... All I'm missing is dark makeup and dying my hair black.’

Ryan was uncomfortable with his new outfit and wished he could find something else.

***

After breakfast, Ellianna tells them about the trials they'll have to do today.

"First, you must kill some more Kobolds in the dungeon as a warmup. Then we have something special for you both to speed up your growth." Ellianna said with an amused look.

Ryan and Hiro look at each other before Hiro gives him that devious grin to Ryan.

‘I don't know what he's thinking, but I don’t like it.’ Ryan thought.

"What's the special monster?" Hiro asked with a curious expression.

Ellianna smirked and said, "You'll see soon enough."

Ryan and Hior followed Ellianna down to the dungeons again, where she led them to a door where they met up with Joris again.

He looked like he was waiting awhile for them.

"You two can go in to start your trial, when ready," Ellianna said to them with a smile.

Joris looked at Hiro and Ryan and gave a nod.

"Alright, here we go," Ryan said not liking the idea of killing more creatures again.

‘I feel bad for the Kobolds and wish I could help them somehow. But I need the mana if I want to be able to get out of here if things go south.’ Ryan concluded.

Ryan and Hiro stepped inside the dungeon with Joris while Ellianna went to stand guard by the door to the dungeon.

The dungeon was fairly large with many different types of rooms. There were cells, a torture chamber, a library, an arena, a gymnasium, a nursery, and a cafeteria.

‘Guess they’ll force us to get a one-year membership at this rate?’ Ryan thought sarcastically to himself.

As we walk deeper into the dungeon the first room we come across is the torture chamber. It looks like it's been used recently because there are several fresh blood stains on the floor and walls.

"This is a place where we train our warriors with various forms of torture," Joris said with a smirk. "There's no better way to test the strength than putting someone to the ultimate pain."

'That's creepy, Joris!' Ryan thought to himself with a shudder.

"Anyway, let's get you two to the Kobolds' chambers," Joris said with a wave of his hand.

We follow Joris through the dungeon and into the next room. Once inside we see there is a group of Kobolds chained up in the middle of the room. Ten of them were in this room. Ryan heard more screeching in the next room through a side door. It sounds like there were ten more.

Joris came over and handed Ryan and Hiro the same daggers they used last time. Hiro went to the other room while Ryan stayed there looking at the ten chained-up Kobolds waiting to be slaughtered.