Too Stubborn to Die

“Elite?” Douglas exclaimed, almost choking on the word.

“Yeah, so?”

“You seriously expect me to believe you had two Elite Skill options available on just your second unlock?”

“Didn’t I mention that before?” Aaron said as he practiced running up the walls and jumping with his new tabi shoes. “These things aren’t half bad,” he added as he landed.

“Oh, whatever. I should stop trying to make sense of your nonsense. None of it follows any rules of the multiverse.”

Using Foxstep while running on the walls was great. It was as if he was grounded and on secure footing when jumping, even if his foot was barely touching the wall. He needed to test it further, but he had a pretty good feeling they would be useful against soft or spongy surfaces.

“Anyway, later, Douglas. Time for me to smash out another trial.”

“Have fun. I have a feeling you won’t find them so easy once you move up to second-stage trials.”

“Maybe,” Aaron shrugged.

He figured it was about time he crossed the Trial of Endurance off his list. Now that he could convert energy and had relatively high regeneration, he figured he might be able to outlast the trial’s toxic air.

He almost selected Yendal the Empty-Handed again as his shadow partner, but stopped short. For some reason, he was drawn toward Oozagh the Rotund, even though he still wanted to learn more about the smug shadow who taunted him. He couldn’t place a finger on it, but his instincts told him the large ogre would be better suited for this trial, and so he selected him.

The trial started with Aaron appearing in a sickening land covered in wilted, skeletal trees. A pungent, sulfur-like stench hung in the air, and he almost immediately felt something attempting to assault him.

Looking inward, he realized it was some kind of toxin trying to burrow its way into his veins, and then he realized his Health was quickly draining. For every three ticks his Health dropped, it recovered one from his Faux Core.

In an attempt to aid his regeneration, Aaron pulled on the aether, converting it into health. Unfortunately, he was now competing with his own Faux Core for aether.

It wasn’t entirely hopeless. In perfect meditation, he could fuel his regeneration, but it was far from perfect. He was better off just relying on his core doing the work, and furthermore, he hadn’t actually solved the problem. His health was still ticking down, albeit slowly.

He did stop and ponder health for a moment. Wondering if it was similar to stamina. However, his thoughts were distracted by the shadow.

He noticed the hefty ogre shadow sauntering through the decrepit forest. Aaron decided to follow, since it was either that or just hope that he could outlast whatever toxin was assaulting him.

Several minutes later, the ogre came across some weedy shrubbery and began to rip it from the ground and consume it.

He eyed the ogre curiously. Yendal hadn’t been much help during their trials. Unless its provocative inspiration was counted, but this shadow was actually doing something. And Aaron couldn’t help but be curious. Was he missing out on something, not taking clues from these shadows?

“You eat that stuff?”

Of course, the shadow didn’t reply.

But that didn’t dissuade his curiosity. The shadows didn’t talk, after all. So Aaron decided to follow its lead and ripped a bunch of the limp, slushy weeds out for himself. The weeds smelled foul. Like yeasty, rotten fish, and he almost hurled when he brought it close to his face. But glancing over to the ogre confirmed that the shadow was indeed continuing to shovel the disgusting plant down its throat.

Seriously? How? How does it eat this stuff? This is… It’s revolting.

Aaron gagged again as he tried to bring it closer to his mouth, and was forced to squeeze his nose shut just to stop himself from chucking. But that didn’t stop his stomach from rumbling angrily at him for even thinking about putting the foul stuff in his mouth.

But he couldn’t just not do it. This was the first real help he had gotten, or at least it seemed like it was… or it might be? Or maybe this shadow was taunting him as well.

Aaron imagined that this was all a prank to get him to eat the foul weeds, and made himself angry at the errant thought.

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Don’t be stupid. Gods have better things to do than prank me…. I think. Surely.

Damn curiosity. He was too deep now. He couldn’t just turn away and go back to pondering his Vitality. He wanted to know if the ogre was actually trying to help. And not just because of the ogre itself, but it might provide a little insight into why the shadow of Yendal was always taunting him.

“Oh, c’mon, it’s just a weed,” he told himself, but his stomach growled angrily again as he brought it close to his lips. “Surely it can’t be any worse than being brutally murdered countless times.”

Ignoring the part of him that told him to throw the weed away and never again even think about eating something so foul, he shoved it down his mouth and forced it to remain closed with both hands as he painfully chewed.

The feeling was instantaneous. The most rotten, gut-curdling sensation burned through his stomach, causing a feeling that made him want to open his bowels, vomit, and hawk the biggest loogie imaginable. It brought up congestion, made hives spread across his skin, and he could feel his butt threatening to turn into a supersoaker.

The ogre was most amused. The shadow literally turned, pointed, and began to laugh uncontrollably. Not that it made any noise, it was the motions that expressed its mood. The shadow bent up and down, hand held across its stomach in an exaggerated laughing gesture.

Aaron was pissed. Had it really just been a prank? However, the thought was hastily interrupted by the feeling that his ass was about to fall out, and his stomach burn away. Then again, he had felt much worse pains during his countless deaths. Pain, that was. Because this wasn’t just pain—this was sickening, itchy, and he actually felt like he was beginning to hallucinate. It was bad, probably the worst poisoning he had ever experienced. No, shake that. It was definitely the worst poisoning he had ever experienced, and it wasn’t even close. Still, he had felt his limbs literally pulled from their sockets, his eyes gouged out, every bone in his body broken, and countless other pains. To him, as experienced in self-torment as he was by now, this was nothing. No, that was a lie. It sucked beyond what most could imagine, but Aaron wasn’t most, and he could endure even this, as horrendous as it was.

In a show of determination, Aaron forced himself to straighten and, with every inch of self-control, forced his painful grimace to twist into a toothy smile. This amused the ogre even more, who no doubt knew that no human could ingest the foul plant without feeling immense agony.

But the more it laughed and watched in amusement, Aaron started to realize it wasn’t mocking him. This was more like a buddy laughing at you doing something extraordinarily stupid. Sure, there was a little mockery involved, but it was the lighthearted, good-spirited kind.

But what happened next was what surprised him the most. He started to heal. It was well beyond the regeneration that Faux Core was capable of. The toxin’s effects had halted, and his HP was steadily rising.

“So, this foul weed thing cured me of the toxin?”

The ogre actually nodded at that, and he realized the shadow could understand him; he also realized that the others probably could too. If a shadow didn’t reply to him, it was probably because they didn’t care to.

It also meant that the shadows could provide real, helpful tips. Just as the trials had said they could. That meant Yendal was just being a dick.

I am going to show that shadow what I’m capable of.

To any reasonable person, this eye-opening moment probably would have convinced them to work with more agreeable shadows. But not Aaron. Now he wanted to challenge Yendal even more than he had before. There was a point to be proven.

But for now, he’d have to wait.

An hour ticked by as he forced himself to munch on more shrubs. His Health took a hit when he consumed the poisonous plant, but the curing effect it had on the toxins far outweighed it. Of course, that meant that the toxin in the air and the plants were both killing him. It was just that the weeds were slower at it. It was far from an ideal solution, especially considering the pain of ingesting the foul thing. But if his Faux Core could keep up with this loss of life, he was going to keep at it, following along as the ogre ate.

As hours went by, Aaron almost got used to the taste. Well, that was a lie, but he did grow to bear it slightly better.

There was another insight he noticed throughout the drawn-out trial. He was becoming more attuned to the aether. Sure, he wasn’t directly using it now that his Faux Core could process it more efficiently than he could. But it was certainly something to keep an eye on. Perhaps there were more obscure uses for the energy.

Chain Quest: The Shadow Trials

Stage one of [ Trial of Endurance ] COMPLETED!

You have tested yourself against powerful toxins and managed to outlast their deadly fumes until the trial’s end.

Quest Rewards: Plasteel Skillet [ Uncommon ], Crafting Station unlocked.

Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!

Ding!

[ Brawler ] has LEVELED UP!

12 → 13

“Huh, that’s it?” Aaron’s pained face brightened as the quest notifications popped up, and he shot the ogre shadow a thumbs up.

Minor Blessing offered: The god of gluttony and cooking, Oozagh the Rotund, has offered you their blessing. Caution: Blessings are limited by the power of one’s bloodline. You may or may not be eligible for multiple blessings, and consideration should be taken when deciding whether or not to accept a god’s offer.

Accept the invitation to hear the god’s offer? Y/N?

“Huh, blessings? I’m going to have to ask Douglas about this.”

Time remaining until offer expires: 00:00:58

Aaron groaned. He had fifty-eight seconds to decide whether or not to speak to a god. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to find Douglas in time, he begrudgingly accepted the prompt. After all, it wasn’t like he had to accept the offer, right?

“You’d think an immortal god would give you more time to think things through,” he huffed.