Too Stubborn to Die

He had done it; he had formed mana anchors at his fists. Now, he would be able to use his new gloves properly, and their enchantment wouldn’t go to waste. Though in truth, that was an afterthought. The real revelation was the two anchors secured to his fists. Through them, he would be able to channel denser, more powerful mana, and do it far more efficiently than he had before.

With this, he could complete the technique shown to him by the ogre and employ far more power in his strikes.

Title acquired: Mana Control Prodigy.

The master controls and anchors their mana and, through their anchors, gains superior control over their mana and how they can use it.

Rewarded for successfully forming your mana anchors prior to reaching E grade.

Reward: +20% Willpower

Another freaking title?!

Aaron’s eyes lit up as his meditation was broken. He had gone in with a plan, but had far outpaced his wildest expectations. Barely a day ago, he had learned about mana anchors, and with a little concentration and a couple of meditation sessions, he had secured them and taken one stop closer to performing a powerful blow and impressing a freaking god.

But for now, he still needed to pass a trial, and to do that, he needed to create a shockwave.

Opening his status screen, he spent a few seconds debating what to spend his free points on, and ultimately couldn’t decide. He wasn’t in desperate need of anything just yet, so he decided to save them for the next Trial. Then, he took a long, satisfied look at his hard-earned gains.

[ Name: Aaron Dober ]

[ Age: 23 ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Grade: F ]

[ HP: 3600 ]

[ MP: 3200 ]

[ SP: 3300 ]

[ Class: Brawler, lvl 16 ]

[ Profession: Ogre Taste Tester, lvl 12 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: 40 (+8) ]

[ Vitality: 57 (+9) ]

[ Fortitude: 59 (+17) ]

[ Dexterity: 51 (+13) ]

[ Agility: 66 (+15) ]

[ Intelligence: 5 (+5) ]

[ Willpower: 38 (+12) ]

[ Charisma: 5 (+5) ]

[ Perception: 16 (+6) ]

[ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer, Stamina Control Prodigy, Mana Control Prodigy ]

[ Traits: Fate Bender (Alpha), Minor Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund ]

[ Racial Skills: Inspect ]

[ Profession Passive Skills (2/3): Questionable Recipes, Conductive Gut ]

[ Profession Active Skills (1/6): Concoct Toxic Gloop ]

[ Class Passive Skills (1/3): Faux Core ]

[ Class Active Skills (3/6): Thick Skinned, Relentless Scourge, Gorgon’s Time Dilation ]

Everything was looking a lot better, Aaron thought as he gazed over his Stats. The titles provided a nice little boost to his stats, and being percentages, they would continue to fuel his growth no matter how strong he got.

The combination of his control over his body and his ever-increasing Stats, Aaron was starting to feel like a real superhuman. The difference was incredible, and easily verified by some simple training sessions. But there was a dark side to it. Getting stronger reminded him that on a purely level basis, he was already falling far behind, and there was a good chance he would fall further behind before the Tutorial was finished.

Now, let’s see if I can’t create a shockwave.

He could already feel the rich mana coalescing in his fists and had a good feeling about showing it off to Oozagh.

But it wasn’t just about showing off. These gains were important. Aaron had a feeling that learning the Yendal’s techniques and gaining the god’s blessing was the only way to truly empower himself enough to stand a chance against the higher-level monsters he had seen in the Viewing Room. He had to accept that they would have more raw power when he got out of here, so to make up for that, he had to be more skilled. No, not just more skilled. He had to be on an entirely different level from them.

Superearth was gonna be a cauldron of superpowered freaks, and Aaron had a feeling they’d be duking it out for control. If he didn’t want to be an ant squished between the battles of those more powerful, then he couldn’t slack off. There was still so much work to do.

Returning to the trial, he smiled at the ogre and channeled mana into his fists. Then he turned toward the ground and threw hands empowered by stamina and overlaid by mana barriers created around his fists by the mana flowing from his anchors.

Tremors traced through the mountain, shaking it with each strike. Aaron had grown a lot and become much stronger since he arrived, but he wasn’t at the level of shaking mountains, not yet, at least. This was his mana working in concert with the strength of his stamina-empowered strikes, and it was a glorious thing to behold.

However, unlike when Oozagh stomped, none of the roaches fell from the mountain. Soon, the swarm was upon him, and while he dodged with great grace and blew their little bodies apart when he landed, he was still quickly torn apart by overwhelming numbers.

But he was using a technique he had literally just learned. It took a little trial and error, and if anyone was game for a little hard work, it was Aaron.

He drew mana into his anchors and blasted it out as he struck, but the results fell short of his expectations. Training to control mana and focus it into the anchors had vastly improved his mastery of mana and the power and efficiency he had when controlling it, but that was only half of the problem. The other half was immediately turning that metaphorical faucet and releasing the controlled mana in a torrent.

But he didn’t turn his back on the philosophies he had used to get this far. He let his mana flow, drawing it into his anchors, and then released it, allowing the mana to burst free as it naturally desired to do so.

Cycling through painful deaths, gradually perfecting this outburst of power, he trained himself to release as much of his mana in a single strike as possible. This was different from the amateur version, where he poured uncontrolled mana into his fists. Without the anchors formed, there was nowhere for the mana to coalesce, and the technique of using mana without the anchors was wasteful and flawed at best, and downright foolish at worst. Even with the scant aether he had added to his previous strikes, they didn’t even come close to comparing to what he could do now.

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That waste was absent now. His mana collected itself within the anchors and was released as he ordered it. But his technique was far from perfect.

Through another fifteen deaths, Aaron focused on controlling the release of mana through the anchors, making sure to expel everything within an instant. This required improved control, and the pressure of the insectoid horde bearing down on him was just what he needed to focus and push through the challenge.

It was gradual, but undeniable. He felt his control over the anchors increase with every attempt at creating a shockwave, and it wasn’t just the ability to release a massive flood of power that he was improving. It was fine control over the anchor and, therefore, his raw mana control.

If not for his earlier training to hone control over his body and opening of his stamina veins, Aaron realized this would likely be impossible. Sure, if he had more power, it might not matter. If the user’s power was overwhelming enough, then making the most of their mana anchors might not be necessary, or at least perceived as such. But Aaron was on a different path, a path of supreme control where not even an ounce of energy was wasted.

Death after death, he focused on that release of power, working towards stronger and stronger shockwaves. He didn’t even care about dying anymore. The goal wasn’t to dodge and battle it out with his fists. Creating the shockwave was an important step to mastering his release of mana, and he would not stray from it until he had mastered it.

And then it happened. Aaron sent a burst of power, strong and rippling through the entire mountain. It sent shockwaves flooding out that sent the roaches flying into the forest.

Oozagh nodded approvingly at the display of raw power, and Aaron cracked his neck.

He had gained a foundational level of power, but that was only the start of it. He now had to master it and prove that he could effectively use it in combat.

The dog-sized insectoids were already charging back up toward him, covering the entire mountain.

“Hmph, looks like it’s time for a fight.” A mischievous grin creased his face, and he entered a fighting stance. Aaron had invited the challenge of perfecting his power strike and reveled in the hard work, but this was what he really looked forward to—a chance to show off his gains in combat. And the sheer fun of raw, unforgiving battle.

Activating [ Relentless Scourge ], [ Thick Skinned ], and [Gorgon’s Time Dilation ], he greeted the insectoids as they arrived. Aaron turned into a blur of destructive energy, his fists and kicks transformed into deadly weapons. His fists, of course, were the strongest, as they contained the mana anchors, but his kicks were nothing to scoff at.

When dozens of roaches attacked at once, he blew them away with powerful bursts of mana. But when they attacked individually, he relied solely on stamina, bursting their bodies apart with pure strength and conserving mana for when it was needed.

However, despite improved power and the ability to literally blow the bugs into tiny pieces if he landed one of his practiced power strikes, he was still massively outnumbered. And moments later, he once again met death.

Aaron couldn’t simply rely on the occasional attack being capable of killing dozens of the bugs in a single blow when he was outnumbered so badly.

Even though his control over his stamina veins was superior to that of his mana anchors, taking out his enemies one by one when he was so badly outnumbered was ineffective. Meaning that he had to rely too heavily on the outbursts of mana, which also meant that he drained through his meager mana pool at an alarming rate.

However, like before, this was just another challenge for him to crush.

He already had supreme control over his body, stamina, and mana, and his foes individually were weaker and slower than he was. This wasn’t about being better than them; it was tying together what he had learned so that he could outlast a foe that vastly outnumbered him.

Firstly, it was obvious that Gorgon’s Time Dilation needed to be rationed. He would only rely on the time-slowing Skill if his situation became an emergency; otherwise, it simply drained too much of his mana.

Secondly, he needed to expand the concepts he was working with to the battle at large. Considering how little time he had spent learning to control his stamina and mana, Aaron undoubtedly had an amazing level of control. But it was focused internally, controlling how much mana he exerted and the precision with which he controlled his stamina and body. That was fine, better than fine, that was what he wanted. But there was room for improvement, and the biggest, glaring gap was external.

Aaron had put surprisingly little thought into controlling the battlefield at large and how much mana and energy he spent when fighting. He mostly just activated his Skills and threw fists, including power when he needed it. Not only was this inefficient, but it went against the path he was gradually forming.

Gliding through battle, Aaron pondered these thoughts as he fought, dying several more times to the seemingly unending swarm.

His powerful strikes were wasted on a single bug, even when only powered by stamina; he realized. It was like shoving dynamite up their ass, and that was hardly the controlled style taught down by Yendal.

Blending his control, reading fates, and managing the battlefield, Aaron lined up bugs like a master tactician, throwing out his powered-up strikes only when he had several enemies lined up, and when he did, his fist burst straight through the little guys, mana and stamina working together in concert.

Tactics were as one with his style, as was his superior grace, and he spun through the battle, reading hundreds of fate threads per second. He flowed through the battle, picking his targets, lining them up, and then grounding himself when ready to strike. It was beautiful and seamless, and his fists shot out and burst straight through the hardened carapaces of several roaches at a time, blowing them into literal pieces and turning them into insect confetti.

However, even this fell short of allowing him to compete with an army of roaches, and soon he was once again overwhelmed.

However, Aaron quickly put together a plan for this. On his next attempt, he glided into the battle, picked his targets, and blew them into pieces. When he needed a break, he slammed his fist with full mana behind it into the ground, blasting his attackers away with a shockwave of power.

This attack cost a lot of mana, but it also bought him several seconds, and luckily for Aaron, he had the gut of an ogre and a pouch filled with all kinds of food and ingredients gathered from the trial dining room and his kitchen.

There was no thought or process in picking what to eat; he just summoned food randomly from the pouch and devoured it like a madman. But it worked, and his mana reserves were quickly replenished for another round of battle.

But it was still a race against his reserves, and even then, this was a technique few could imitate. Each food item only gave a sliver of mana, and his ogre gut was the only reason he was able to consume enough food and consume it fast enough to keep the battle going. Not only that, but it might not work so well against a faster and smarter opponent. But that was hardly a concern for now, and Aaron would gladly accept the simple-minded nature of the bugs to mindlessly keep charging forward.

And still, despite the unity of his skills, even the slightest hiccup ruined his plans. A wasted second here or there was enough to end an attempt at death. He had to be near perfect, never wasting an ounce of mana or stamina, and taking every opening to consume more food and recover whatever he could.

This cycle continued for hours, and Aaron died many times as he further mastered his combat abilities and put the greater pieces of the puzzle together. Soon, he was killing dozens of bugs in graceful whirlwinds of destructive but supremely precise actions that shred his enemy’s shelled bodies apart with minimal mana or stamina usage, and then blasting them away with a shockwave when he needed to further recover his reserves. Of course, he didn’t just use shockwaves to recover. Aaron dodged, ducked, dipped, dove, and dodged through the battle, expertly avoiding strikes and recovering mana whenever he wasn’t countering.

Throughout this entire time, his Faux Core was operating, and he was channeling his mana into his anchors and cycling stamina through his veins with the delicate touch of a master. It was all of these attributes working together that allowed him to fight as he was: the Faux Core, his ogre gut, his growing mastery of combat tactics, and his supreme control of his body, his mana anchors, and his stamina veins. If any single element were missing, this technique simply wouldn’t hold out.

Finally, after hours of battle and far too many deaths, the last wave of a couple of dozen bugs approached.

“This has been fun,” he smirked before unleashing a final torrent of unrelenting strikes that burst the last of it into chunks of foul, insect bits.

“I knew you were worthy of becoming an ogre!” Roared Oozagh. “Baha, such a magnificent display of power! And your gut. Impressive. I have never seen a human devour grub like that. You do not disappoint me, puny human!”

“Er, thank you?”

“Be honored. I do not usually share such glowing compliments with your kind. Then again, I did decide to bless you. And I am rarely wrong. Carry on, then. Keep impressing me, and I might even improve your blessing! Baha! Remember, eat well, devour, and conquer!”

The ogre shadow continued its deep, bellowing chuckle into the wind as its shadow dissipated.

“Well, that went… well.”

Chain Quest: The Shadow Trials

Stage two of [ Trial of Dominance ] COMPLETED!

You have tested yourself against a vast horde of relentless roaches and managed to best them all.

Quest Rewards: 100 X Antler roach eggs [ Uncommon — F grade ], System Store upgraded to level 2!

Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!

“Wait, not even a level up? That’s a downer.”

Okay, that was annoying. It was one thing not to level up from a stage one trial, but a stage two trial? Aaron thought it was absolute bullshit.

“At this rate, I’ll have to focus on the third stage trials and higher.”

A part of him wanted to test himself against Yendal immediately, but there were a few things to do first. Besides, he had a feeling the shadow was expecting a little more than just his mana bursts and stamina-powered fists, which he had used to defeat these little bugs. In fact, this had been as much a trial of endurance as anything else.

Okay, that worked better than expected. But how much more power would my strikes have if I unlocked a Skill that did this? Okay, new plan. First, I hit level 20. IF I manage to get a good Skill, then it’s on. I challenge Yendal and wipe that smirk off her face!

Aaron was locked in. He felt like he had the foundations that he needed. He just needed to keep using them until he hit level 20, since Skill options were clearly related to how you fought. If he kept doing what he was doing, he was bound to earn a Skill that resembled his power strikes.

If I keep bursting everything open with my fists, this damn System is bound to reward me!