Too Stubborn to Die

With his newly upgraded Alpha Trait, the ball game became a breeze. After he died a dozen more times, it still took him some time to get used to it, but with the trait upgraded, the strain on his mind and soul was drastically reduced, and he could actually manipulate the threads a bit. It still took a little while to actually “weave” them together, but he managed to do it. It wasn’t as precise as he would have liked, but the numbered holes were big enough to be forgiving, so on the thirteenth or so try, he hit the ten and three, just as he wanted.

Past the gate, he found himself standing before another carnival game, this time one of those ones where the clown sits on the chair and heckles at you, and you have to throw the ball at the target to drop him into the water. Except instead of a human in clown makeup, this was one of the monstrous clowns, and instead of heckling him, it just laughed. Nonstop. It appeared that the clowns didn’t need to breathe because it just kept going, not even pausing to inhale.

Annoyed, Aaron quickly grabbed a ball from the bucket and chucked it at the target. He used Fate Weaver, of course, but at the very last second, the target jerked upward out of the way of the ball. The clown’s laughing got louder.

However, unlike with the other ball game, the clowns behind didn’t kill him. Apparently, his use of Fate Weaver there didn’t count as breaking the rules. Perhaps it was because it didn’t actually help, since he was reading the ball’s fate, not the target’s. He tried again, this time reading the fate of the target as well, and that time, the clowns got angry.

He had seen it coming, so he turned to face them, eager to test out Fate Weaver on living things. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. He couldn’t even see the thin threads, let alone weave them into something else. He died almost instantly, just staring like an idiot as they bore down on him. He triggered them on purpose a few more times, just to try and see, but he ultimately came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be possible to weave the Fate of living things. Not yet, at least. Maybe in the far, far future.

Instead, he returned to the target game and got to work. Reading the fate of the target was out, so all he was able to do was watch the ball fly and try to react with Fate Weaver in time to change the ball’s course. It took a few dozen throws, but eventually, he got fast enough with his weaving and managed to dunk the clown.

The Trial of Survival had five more games like this, each separated by a pair of gates, and each with strict anti-cheat enabled. However, Aaron’s new Alpha Trait made them all trivial. Well, relatively trivial. He still died a few dozen more times, but progress was fast, and he never got truly stuck again until he finally completed the trial.

Chain Quest: The Trial of Survival

Stage three of [ Trial of Survival ] COMPLETED!

You have tested yourself against games of skill and luck whilst the terrors of the mad circus stalked you down and survived.

Quest Rewards: Class Tome [ Mad Trickster ], Armory upgraded.

Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!

Ding!

[ Brawler ] has LEVELED UP!

18 → 19

“Class Tome? What am I supposed to do with this?” Aaron said, eyeing the notifications as he materialized in the obsidian hallway.

“Oi! Bossman!” Sooty called, strolling over. “Ye eyes,” he pointed.

“Huh?”

“Ye back to normal?”

Aaron tilted his head.

Walking over to him, Sooty poked him and narrowed his gaze. “Hello? Bossman?”

I was kind of out of it, wasn’t I? Aaron knew he had been in a bit of a daze, but in retrospect, he had just spent probably over a week manipulating Fate threads without once talking to anyone else other than when he collapsed.

“Yeah, I’m back. All good now.”

Sooty raised a suspicious brow of soot.

“Anyway,” Aaron flashed a smile. “Class tome? Know anything about them?”

“Hmmm… yeah. Ye can use it to unlock the Class that is attached to it,” Sooty said, still eyeing Aaron suspiciously. “The fact that ye don’t feel anything likely means you ain’t attuned to it, though. Making it either impossible or at least very hard to use.”

“Oh, so more junk then?” Aaron sighed and threw it in his pouch.

“It ain’t junk, bossman. Ye can still sell it or give it to somebody.”

“I’m aware. But I’m kind of hoping for things that might help me in here. Eh, whatever, let’s go see that armory.”

When they got there, none other than Douglas was standing inside the armory.

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“Come to show me around?”

“It’s my job,” Douglas sighed. “At least we’re almost halfway through.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t understand what a half is?”

“No, I mean—does that mean I’ve been in here for almost six months?”

“That’s exactly what it means. Well, not exactly, you’ve been here for five months, to be precise. Time flies when you’re having fun, I suppose. Now, shall we get this tour over and done with?”

Wow, five months have passed already? Dying really knocks your sense of time around.

“Yeah, lead away.”

Douglas pointed out several changes to the room. There was something called a combiner, which allowed weapons to be combined and allowed the user to keep the traits they wanted, discarding those they didn’t want. This sounded pretty damn cool if he had come from the Tutorial and a bunch of weapons with him that he could turn into some kind of frankenstein weapon, selecting the enchantments and even physical attributes he preferred. The problem was that he didn’t really have anything he wanted to combine his gloves with in the armory. If there was something made out of some super-powerful and rare metal, then that would be better than the metal in his current gloves, but there wasn’t. The actual weapons available in the armory were still pretty basic. In the end, it was a bit of a bust. However, that didn’t mean that future upgrades wouldn’t provide value. Or that he might not find something to combine later.

“Oh well, next time maybe.”

“So, what now, bossman?” Sooty questioned.

“I’d better consider what trial to take next. I really need to work on my power. The last one, as helpful as it was in the end, was a bit of a distraction if I’m entirely honest. My plan was always to complete the first three stages of every trial, but I really need to focus on power. If I don’t get a good power-related Skill when I hit 20, I might need to wait until level 25 before I take on Yendal. I’d rather that didn’t happen, you know?”

“Yeah, makes sense,” the sootball nodded. “Well, good luck humy.”

“Wait, that’s it? I thought you were meant to be my helper? What happened to being so grumpy because I didn’t get your help picking my Skill?”

“Me ain’t a fighter. Besides, it sounds like ye know your path better than I do. It’d say just follow ye gut.”

Is he still holding a grudge? Then again, Sooty said something interesting.

There was really only one trial that made sense, Aaron knew, of course. Still, if the little sootball was meant to be his helper, he could act a little more like it.

I guess it’s time for that Trial of Dominance.

After selecting the trial, Aaron was teleported beside Oozagh. He appeared on a hilltop looking down upon a burnt, desolate landscape. At its center appeared to be some kind of mining colony, with thick pluming black smoke trailing up from the gathering of shanty shacks and entrances to mining shafts.

Power, lots and lots of power. Controlled, power. Power I can dial up and down as I need. Power that is unstoppable, Aaron repeated the mantra mentally, trying to focus on what he wanted to achieve.

The Trial of Dominance: Claim the Outlands Mining Colony for yourself to complete the trial stage.

I guess that’s my target.

Aaron looked across to Oozagh for confirmation, and the ogre nodded back.

“Anything more, big fella?”

The ogre stood silently. Aaron wasn’t sure if the god just didn’t have anything else to provide, or if its lack of input was intentional. Maybe it was testing him like Yendal was? That thought didn’t seem so far-fetched. If these gods were looking for pupils to provide blessings to, then they probably wanted those pupils to prove that they are at least somewhat self-sufficient.

Marching down the vegetation-less hill, he approached the decrepit mining colony. A couple of figures spotted him and pointed him out from a couple of timber watchtowers that protruded from the town, and he saw others stirring amongst the buildings.

This trial isn’t going to make me beat up some peasants, is it?

Gradually, scuffy, soot-stained people appeared from the buildings, brandishing various crude mining tools brandished as weapons.

Oh, man.

He wasn’t really in a position to complain about easier foes, but this just didn’t feel glorious.

Human Miner [ ??? ]

Aaron inspected several of the dishevelled people, and they all bore similar titles.

Seriously? They really are just miners?

A logical part of him thought he should be happy. Simple miners should be easy to deal with, and the people within the shadow trials weren’t real anyway, so there was no need to feel guilty about killing them. But still, this wasn’t the kind of challenge he wanted. Besides, challenging himself before leveling was his main goal.

And then laughter erupted from one of the towers. He looked up, and there was a crazed-looking man with sharp, pointed fingers holding a megaphone.

“Welcome to my colony, pretty little lost intruder! How may I and my little lovelies assist you?”

“Huh?” Aaron blinked back. That was not the kind of introduction he had expected. “You’re a bit extra, aren’t you, mate?”

I guess that guy’s the boss?

“Extra welcoming,” the man smiled back.

Aaron honestly didn’t know how to reply. Everyone within the trials had just attacked him until now, and well, it felt weird being the provocateur. But at least there was some evidence to suggest there was a bigger boss than just these dirty miners. That was good.

“Aren’t we supposed to like fight or something?” He finally added after a drawn-out pause.

“Hear that, everyone? Our pretty little guest wants to fight! What do you think? Shall we give him one? Shall we tear that tight, pretty flesh of his?”

Slowly and emotionlessly, the miners all began to nod.

“Okay, that’s just plain weird.”

Not that he was complaining. The more aggressive and creepy they were, the easier it was for Aaron to smash their faces in.

However, his confidence did start to waver a little as more and more people began to appear from the creepy colony.

Okay, maybe it won’t be that easy.

He was fine with more enemies, too. He was hoping for a good workout before hitting level 20 anyway. That said, it probably wasn’t a good idea to take them on their home ground.

Aaron spotted several figures arming what looked like rifles atop the towers and decided not to stand still. Just because he wanted a good training session didn’t mean he had to fight them on their own terms.

Well, if they want me, let’s see if they’re willing to come get me.

Turning, he ran.

“Ohohoh, look at our pretty little guest. Already, he runs from us! Go, show him our hospitality. Bring him back so that I can welcome him myself!” Boomed the man atop the tower, and the ragged people dropped down on all fours and began chasing after Aaron like rabid dogs. “Bring back that pretty flesh for me!”