The dry man set up a safe house near the old castle site in the form of a repurposed cave. There wasnt much space here, just enough to stretch my legs a bit. It did emanate a lot of dark mana, which had led to the dry mans recomndation to advance in this very cave.
A lack of mana to absorb could lead to issues upon tiering up, after all. While I went through the trial, the old relic of a man had promised to start working on the array schematics by mapping out the old castle. If all went well, he would have a preliminary schematic ready by the ti I completed my trial.
With that to look forward to, I settled down and made myself as comfortable as possible. I sat in the lotus position and breathed in deeply, savouring the calm that washed over . I would need it, considering how bad the last trials had hold on, what had the last trials been about again? Sothing upsetting, I rembered, but beyond that Huh. Was it normal to forget? Was I missing sothing? Why hadnt I thought about this at all? Why had the contents of the previous trials never been sothing to worry about in the past? Now that I was close to the next one, the strangeness of it all felt alarming. As if I was missing sothing. Unfortunately, my mories of the trials themselves showed no signs of returning. Thinking back on how panicked I had been after each one, perhaps that was for the best
TIER 3 MAX LEVEL REACHED
Advance to tier 4?
I gathered so courage and initiated the system prompt floating before .
Ding! Class evolution initiated....confirming background....noting behaviour....noting status....calibrating....
Ding! Comncing evolution!
Ti to advance to the next tier. No matter what, I couldnt let things end here. There was so much I still wanted to do, that I couldnt do as a tier 3. As the light faded from my eyes, I steeled myself. I wouldnt let the trial shake this ti. No matter what the system decided to test with, I would be ready.
I opened my eyes on the other side, finding myself in an oddly familiar white space that I rembered from from- from the first trial! Right, and the second one too! It was coming back to ever so slowly, though I couldnt rember any specifics.
I felt sluggish, as if my body weighed far more heavy than normal. Even small movents took more out of , sohow. I could still mover freely, mind you, but it felt like all of my strength had been sapped, as if I had been rendered an un-awakened. My skills werent usable either, giving credence to this theory.
It took a mont for to get used to this weakness but once I did I had to admit that this didnt feel that bad. Not as bad as I seed to rember, at least. Maybe my growth had affected my older mories?
I didnt have much ti to consider this further, as a system prompt appeared at that mont.
Gain 1?
Gain 1? What did it an by 1? One of what? I grumbled irately, before relenting and answering the system with a ntal affirmation. Once I did, a rush of energy flowed into , allowing to breathe easier and returning so of my lost strength.
Ding! 1 gained. Are you happy?
Happy? I suppose so I wondered aloud, not sure whether the system was listening in. The prompt disappeared without further action from my end, so it mustve been. Happy was a broad term, but I couldnt deny that I was content to have so of my power returned.
A few monts later, I jumped back in shock as sothing appeared on the ground beneath . Where previously there had only been occupying this endless white expanse, there was now a body of an old man as well, its grey beard falling to the floor.. Or was it?
The corpse seed completely still at first, but upon closer inspection, I noticed that the old man was still breathing, albeit barely so. Unfortunately, I didnt know any healing skills that could heal others. Even if I did, I wouldnt have access to it anyway. I was about to give up hope when another prompt appeared.
Give 1?
Lose 1? That seed detrintal. But I couldnt let the poor man in front of die, could I? Surely the system ant for to help out others in this trial. After so more consideration, I decided to take the risk and nod.
Ding! 1 lost. Are you sad?
I felt my body weaken, the air leaving my lungs with a forced sigh. I slumped slightly, adjusting to the change, before noticing that the old man beneath seed to breathe a little easier. This was no longer the raspy breath of a dying man. No, he simply looked like he was sleeping now.
The system prompt from before hadnt disappeared yet, so I decided to indulge its curiosity.
Knowing that the man might live, no I am not sad. I replied to its voiceless ask, watching the prompt disappear a mont later. Strangely, the blue box reappeared above the old mans sleeping body.
Take 1?
I shook my head, refusing to undo the gift I had given him, no matter how illusory the old man might be. Thinking that there had to be a different way forward, I decided to wait the prompt out.
While the prompt didnt end up disappearing, no matter how long I waited, a new prompt did appear about ten minutes later. Unlike the forr, this one wasnt floating above the old man in question. Instead, it was addressed to personally.
Lose 1?
I frowned, not having 1 to give. Stubbornly, I decided to leave the system to its tricks and ignore it until sothing new ca up.
Unfortunately, nothing new ca up. I waited for quite a while, too It seed that the system was going to force to choose. I would have to either take 1 from the old man or lose so energy myself.
I rembered the promise I had to myself before starting the trial. I wouldnt let the system shake , wouldnt let it compromise my own morals. In a mont of impulsivity, I decided to lose 1.
Ding! 1 lost. Are you sad?
Instantly, it felt like I had been punched in the gut, I doubled over, falling to my knees as the energy left . It beca harder to move, each breath a laborious task. Despite this self-inflicted punishnt, I couldnt help but smile victoriously. I wasnt used to such discomfort, but it would take a lot more than this to make cower. I shook my head stubbornly, refusing to give the system the satisfaction.
A minute or so later, the system decided to try my patience. While the take 1 prompt remained ever present, the new prompt felt decidedly unfair.
Lose 1?
Great. Another one. By now my mind had been made up, however. If the system wanted to force down this path, then who was I to deny it?
I didnt hesitate to push it further. More energy left my body, now causing hunger on top of exhaustion. Another feeling that had beco foreign to . My stomach was warping, trying its best to make aware of what I was putting my body through. Still, I remained steadfast in my decision.
This ti, I waited even longer for a new system prompt. Only Lose 1 and Take 1 reappeared, however. At a certain point, I felt like I had waited for at least a day, yet nothing had changed. I only had three Helios-damned days to begin with! With a groan, I decided to push my body one step further and lose another one.
Ding! 1 lost. Are you sad?
At this point, it beca difficult to keep my eyes open. A piercing pain ran through my body, but I was too listless to respond to it. At minus two, I was approaching the limit. An unawakened body couldnt handle such torture
I couldnt give up, though. Stubbornly, I shook my head.
Lose 1?
I nodded.
Ding! 1 lost. Are you sad?
With raspy breath, I realised that I was on the edge of death.
Realising that the system was only going to continue down this path if I let it, I decided to nod this ti, affirming that I was, in fact, quite sad. It wasnt much of a nod, to be honest, but the system understood.
Gain 1?
Surprised at the systems generosity, I hurriedly affird its request.
Ding! 1 gained. Are you happy?
So strength returned to as I returned to minus two. I could breathe again, but starvation was still an issue. I could only crawl to get around, which made the Take 1 prompt infuriatingly tempting. I refused to give in, but I did nod to signal that I was happy, hoping to be offered more energy.
Instead, a new body appeared a few ters away from the old man. This ti, it was a little girl and she wasnt looking good. She looked impoverished, her thin fra showing her skeleton hidden only by her skin and a thin rag that served as clothing, covering her body and leaving only her face fully visible.
All the sa, it was obvious that this child was no older than 7. She was close to dying.
Thankfully, a system prompt appeared above her body.
Give 2?
I was about to nod in the affirmative, when I realised that doing so would result in my death. I didnt have two to give
I turned to the sleeping old man to my left, my eyes going wide as I realised what the system wanted to do.
Reviews
All reviews (0)