Too Stubborn to Die

Standing in the hallway, Aaron realized it wasn’t just leaving Yendal’s divine realm that made him feel so strong. Jumping to his feet, he relished the feeling. He felt… very good. Then again, he had gotten the biggest single Stat upgrade since arriving, and so it wasn’t too surprising that it felt as good as it did. He’d get used to new points, of course, but it was nice to appreciate the gains whilst they were fresh.

+100 all Stats wouldn’t scale as well long-term as his percent bonuses that came through Titles, but that little achievement he had gotten for his hat trick was a huge boon for where he currently was, and it couldn’t have come at a better moment.

Maybe I can beat Mo’han, he thought as he flexed his muscles.

After that, he threw all the common loot from his rewards into the scabbard. He wasn’t sure what he planned to do with them, but he wasn’t about to just throw things that Yendal gave him away.

Then, he checked out his new ring.

Ring of Energy Shackling [ Mythical ]

An incredible item that was originally designed to allow for even the most troublesome of criminals to be detained, this ring constantly drained the user of their energies, leaving them with only the bare minimum needed for survival. It has since been modified by the Martial God to be somewhat more forgiving, turning it into the perfect training tool for anyone below C Grade.

Aaron sighed as he read the description. At first, he was disappointed, but the disappointment soon faded as he realized that the ring sounded exactly like something Yendal would give him. An item that would drain him and make him weaker, forcing him to work harder for his gains. He thought the rarity was a little odd, though. Surely an item didn’t need such a high rarity just to drain the energy of someone who willfully wore it?

Maybe if it drained the energy of his enemies and gave it to him, it’d make sense. But as it stood, the rarity seemed far too high for such an item. Was it just because Yendal had personally modified it? Had her involvement increased the rarity by that much?

He didn’t know the answer to this thought, but threaded the ring onto his finger nonetheless, and felt a bite as tiny teeth seemed to plunge into his finger from the ring.

“Ow, you little bugger.”

A ruby at the silver ring’s center pulsed with sangrine light as it seemed to feed on him. Aaron had half a mind to rip the thing off, but decided to leave it for now. Yendal had chosen to give it to him, after all. And that meant it was most likely useful, even if it wasn’t yet clear just how useful.

That said, he was likely to remove it before fighting Mo’han. He needed every boon he could get for that fight, and didn’t need a ring siphoning his power.

Yendal’s divine realm had given him a few ideas to toy with for some of his equipment. And how he was distracted thinking about how he could use some of the gear once he reached Superearth. One such idea revolved around his Cosmic Training Cube.

The device was said to amplify the user’s training methods and to mold itself to its user’s needs. That had given him an idea, and he already had a few things he wanted to test with it. But they would have to wait for later. Time was short, and his attention needed to be focused.

For now, he had to tie off the last of his loose ends and get ready to fight the indomitable asura that was Mo’han Khan.

Checking his Stats, he threw his 12 free points into Fortitude again. Whilst the Stat was already by far his strongest, he thought it best to stick to the plan he had. He could balance himself out more later if he felt it necessary. But surviving Mo’han’s attacks was the most important challenge he currently faced.

And with that thought, he opened his status page.

[ Name: Aaron Dober ]

[ Age: 23 ]

[ Race: Human [ Awoken ] ]

[ Grade: E ]

[ HP: 65500 ]

[ MP: 34100 ]

[ SP: 83900 ]

[ AP: 3000 ]

[ Class: Empty-Handed Energy Monk, lvl 42 ]

[ Profession: Ogre Gastronomist, lvl 46 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: 548 (+325) ]

[ Vitality: 655 (+380) ]

[ Fortitude: 839 (+472) ]

[ Dexterity: 370 (+231) ]

[ Agility: 582 (+336) ]

[ Intelligence: 420 (+245) ]

[ Willpower: 341 (+223) ]

[ Charisma: 307 (+228) ]

[ Perception: 485 (+266) ]

[ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer, Stamina Control Prodigy, Mana Control Prodigy, Vitality Control Prodigy,Holder of a True Blessing, In the Eyes of the Gods, Aether Wielder, World Overlord, Endurer, Dominator, Challenger ]

[ Traits: Fate Weaver (Alpha), Major Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund, True Blessing of Yendal the Empty-Handed, Herald of a God, Death Cheat ]

[ Racial Skills: Inspect, Lingua Multiversa ]

[ Profession Passive Skills (3/3): Mass Produced Cooking!, Conductive Gut, Adipose Fusion ]

[ Profession Active Skills (6/6): Spirit Toes, Oozagh’s Breath, Foul Ichor, Unsightly Degustation, Perfect Measurements, Spirit Hands ]

[ Class Passive Skills (3/3): Reverse Cycle Faux Core, Equal and Opposite, Soul Vortex ]

[ Class Active Skills (6/6): Soul Shattering Strike, Relentless Scourge, Gorgon’s Time Dilation, Turbocharged Haymaker, Spectral Rush, Spectral Bullet Punch ]

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“Not bad,” Aaron nodded to himself with a grin as he eyed his Stats. It was a little surreal that he was finally going to be leaving this place, and to think Douglas had so little faith in him when he first arrived.

I’m going to have to give that guy a visit before I leave… to say bye and all that.

Aaron was lying to himself. He just wanted to gloat and remind Douglas of what he had told him when first arriving.

Unfortunately, ever since the trials had gotten as busy as they were, tracking Douglas down wasn’t so easy, even though he had copied himself with some kind of mirror image Skill. Seeing several Douglas running around together had been discomforting the first time he had seen it, but it made sense. The place was basically a large town, or small city at this point, and the assistants needed all the help they could get to keep the place running.

But whilst there were likely tens of thousands of people crowding the place now, when he considered the populations they were drawn from, he was reminded just how exclusive this club was. Earth alone had hundreds of millions of people, if not billions, still alive, and there were countless other planets throughout the sector.

Breaking his thoughts, a couple of unfamiliar asuras wandered by, and he waved at them. They might not be Mo’han strong, but given their race, there was a decent chance they’d be powerhouses amongst the sector, and it didn’t hurt to leave a good impression.

His thoughts were quickly taking him somewhere, though, and he shifted through the crowds toward the viewing room.

The Tutorial was long since finished, and soon the trial would be too. But he could still get the same information from the room, even if the population was either in the trials or in stasis.

Entering, he waved to Rudolf and asked for a population count. This wasn’t a feature that would be readily available once he left, and he wanted a rough idea of what kind of world he was heading into.

Total human population remaining: 1,883,924,066

Total goblin population remaining: 2,795,655,985

Total thal’kesh population remaining: 624,724,437

Aaron blinked in disbelief. Billions had died since he last checked. Even with the addition of two more races, this huge world they would be heading into would be significantly less populated than Earth had been before the integration. That was something else and hard to fathom.

However, his thoughts drifted. If people kept evolving and living for extraordinary lengths of time, and whilst doing so, kept reproducing, then Superearth’s population could explode. If people were living for thousands of years, it wasn’t unthinkable that they could have dozens, if not hundreds, of children.

That’s if we survive the beasts and monsters.

Aaron remembered Elvanas’ experience again and shuddered. That also reminded him of his Waypoint sitting in his scabbard. He remembered Talia mentioning once that she had bought one, and since she was from the same Tutorial as him, that meant he didn’t need his. It was too valuable to just let sit around, though, and there were only a few days until the Trials ended. He needed a buyer, and he needed one now.

Thankfully, there was essentially a market in the main hallway now, with stalls all lined up beside one another. There had been many trial takers who had long given up on the trials themselves, and if they had Professions, they were selling their goods. And those who didn’t were likely working on their Professions.

There was a problem, though. Aaron didn’t exactly know what he wanted. He was pretty good, gear-wise, and whilst he could upgrade his padded robes, he didn’t really care to unless he found a superb option to do it with. Buying some mediocre armor that he would just need to upgrade again in short order didn’t really appeal to him. Not unless there was nothing else.

In the end, he found a trader who was willing to exchange the Waypoint for a spatial bag that was filled with various building materials. It might have seemed like a strange choice, but ever since visiting Yendal’s divine realm, he couldn’t stop thinking about how useful it would be to have something similar. And within the bag, there was everything you could think of: piles of stone, concrete powder, steel rods, and much more.

This… will come in handy, I think.

Also, while Aaron hadn’t changed his mind about being a ruler, he had quite a few items that would do nicely in a base of his own. And whilst he didn’t really want to rule the world or anything, he didn’t particularly like the idea of taking orders, either. So having his own place where he could do his own thing was quite an attractive option.

That and the fact that he was undeniably strong now, which meant that he shouldn’t have too much issue convincing a few Tutorial takers to work for him. He had seen what happened to Elvanas and his people, and he knew what kind of world he was stepping into.

The sad truth was that a lot of people were going to die, and many of them would be desperate for any kind of security they could get for themselves. And he could be that security, after all, it beat having to do the mundane jobs that came with looking after a small settlement.

Then, once he had a base, he could set it up with all his shiny loot from the trials and have somewhere to rest between grinding. Maybe even a waterfall, he thought, and some hot springs.

“Oh, hey!” Elmira called out and waved through the crowd as she ducked and dipped toward him. “There you are! I was starting to worry you’d be gone until the trials finished!”

“Hey, El! Nahh, not happening. Not when I’ve got my big duel against Mo’han coming up. No way I’m missing that.”

“Of course, you’d just be thinking about fighting. Shouldn’t have expected anything more. You’re not still grinding away at it, are you? You can take a minute for yourself. There are only five days left, after all. I’m sure you’ve gone and achieved something else incredible since we spoke.”

“Five days? Shit! No bloody way! Maybe I can still get another trial completely finished,” he muttered, a slight panic in his voice.

“Another? How many have you done?” Elmira blinked.

“Three completed, in total. Even got an achievement. That begs the question, though, do I get another if I complete four?”

“You’re insane. You know that, right?”

“Me?” Aaron thumbed his chest. “Actually… yeah, that kind of tracks,” he mumbled, thinking about all the times he had lost himself to trances, and the entirely mad way in which he faced pain.

“And I thought I might be able to catch up. I really thought I might be able to at least finish the Trial of Companionship,” Elmira sighed and deflated. “And there you go, beating three while I haven’t even got one under my belt.”

“Oh? What happened?”

“It’s the final stage… It’s different. You need a party of six to complete it. I’ve been grinding away at the trial whilst you were gone, and attempted the final stage alongside Pentival, Cairon, and a few others, including Talia.”

“Oh? Talia did it with you?”

“She wanted to experience a six-way for herself. It didn’t turn out so well. The thing is, you have to take turns against increasingly impossible challenges. There are a few rules, like you can swap each other out, and take your teammate’s challenge if it’s better suited for your skills. But you have to be careful, as everyone needs to defeat the same number of challenges by the end of the stage. We tried three times before we got sick of dying. Anyway, the point is, it’s basically impossible unless you can get a group of six top talents together. And that ain’t easy. Especially since Mo’han has been AWOL for the last few days.”

Aaron wondered for a moment where Mo’han had gone, but he figured he was just trying to power up before the duel. The asura was not taking it any less seriously than Aaron was, and he was bound to be spending every second getting stronger.

He nodded along as Elmira spoke, trying not to get distracted in his thoughts.

She was right, of course. The Trial of Companionship sounded too hard to bother with. He could no doubt count on Mo’han to do it with him if he were around, but he wasn’t. And even if he showed up, he wasn’t sure who else would fill the team.

Maybe he could count on Talia, Voidrin, and Elmira, but that still left one spot, assuming Mo’han returned, and two if he didn’t. And the more he thought about it, the harder it was to come up with an additional potential partner. After all, he knew how hard the final stages were, and anybody not supremely powerful wasn’t going to be up for it.

Maybe Pentival or another earthling, he considered. But they couldn’t just be strong, but the best of the best. Not only that, but he had only completed three stages himself, and finishing the trial and building a team was a lot of logistics to figure out in a very short period of time.

“I guess the Trial of Companionship is off the list,” he sighed as she finished speaking.

“Wait, you really think you can knock out another trial with the time remaining?”

“I don’t see why not? I’ve gotten a lot stronger. Maybe I can finally finish off the Trial of Travels. I’d better go. Time is running out.”

“Wait, one more thing!” Elmira said as he turned for the trial line.

“What is it?”

“A few of us are catching up. Like one last hurrah before the trials end. We’ve planned it for the second last day. We’re meeting in the crafting station. Mo’han is going to take us somewhere in his portals. It’d be great if you joined.”

“Seriously? Of course I’ll be there. Who knows when we’ll all see each other again? And don’t worry, I’ll rein myself in. No going all crazy trance-like. I’m just going to give these trials the best crack I can with the remaining time. Then, I’ll meet you all there.”

“Awesome! Sounds like a plan!”

Aaron shot a thumbs-up and made his way to the dial. The line moved quickly and was getting smaller now as more people gave up on trials, hitting bottlenecks and deciding they didn’t want to keep punishing their souls by dying repetitively.

Reach the dial quickly, he slapped down on it and picked Yendal as his partner to take on the eighth stage of the Trial of Travels. With any luck, he could claim one last Title before it was all over.