Too Stubborn to Die Chapter 25

His strides took him further. If he had been a superpowered man leaping through the desert dunes before, he was now a giant, bounding across them effortlessly. In fact, his power and energy efficiency had increased so much from his previous attempt that he didn’t even bother waiting for the signs of the worm attacks, instead choosing to simply leap across the runes at such speed that they never got a chance to attack.

Unsurprisingly, the shadow still outpaced him. It must have slowed itself before so that he could keep up, and now that he was moving faster, so did it.

However, it wasn’t just the stamina veins at work. Aaron had consumed another portion of cassarian bird and had [ Relentless Scourge ] activated. He was throwing everything at the trial.

He still injected a small amount of aether into the sand to harden it for his steps, but it was all stamina that was sending him soaring across the sandy landscape.

When the scarab beetles made their appearance, they failed to even catch up to Aaron, who flew through the air as he drained his stamina pool.

Not that he could let up for even a second. Speed alone was keeping him alive, and he just had to hope that his awoken stamina veins were enough to keep him fueled until the end.

Unfortunately, the course dragged on. And soon, his stamina pool was once more growing precariously thin. He had come far, but he was essentially making up for underleveled stats by funneling raw energy into his body, and it was costly.

Out of desperation, hoping the end was near, he began grabbing random food items from his pouch and shoving them down his throat. But unlike last time, he could feel the rejuvenating sensation of his stamina being topped up, and a quick glance at his status screen confirmed the unbelievable. His stamina was ticking back up at an incredibly fast rate.

Still, each food item didn’t provide much. However, Aaron’s ogre gut allowed him to consume almost endlessly, and he just kept eating, and with each bite, his SP was rejuvenated.

It was at that moment that Aaron realized it was his awoken stamina veins and cycling SP that allowed him to convert the food into stamina at a near instant rate.

He hadn’t just gotten stronger and more resilient by awakening his stamina veins; he had greatly increased the power of his Skill in the process.

A minute flew by as he continued his mad sprint for the finish, essentially blocking out his surroundings and entirely focusing on speed and consumption. And before he knew it, he was standing on a platform of stone tiles above the sandy dunes.

But what really made him smile was the shadow. It turned to him and actually nodded appreciatively. Whatever mockery it had held for his brutish attempts at trying to copy it was absent. It respected him, and it even golf clapped.

“Clapping? Oookay, glad you liked it,” Aaron said sheepishly. He had encouraged himself by injecting a more than healthy amount of competitiveness against the shadow, and the pleasant gesture was kinda off off-putting.

“Not bad, mortal.”

It sounds… feminine… The shadow’s voice was hard and stern, but undeniably feminine, something Aaron had not expected. But on closer inspection of the shadowy silhouette, he realized that what he had thought was short hair might be hair up in a bun. Not only that, but its wrists were very thin. It was also staring at him, waiting for an answer, and he realized he had better give it one quickly.

“Thank you?”

“If only you had not taken that brute’s blessing”

“‘Scuse me?”

“But I will still give you a chance to earn mine.”

“You’re going to bless me?”

“Listen, mortal.”

Aaron swallowed and nodded.

“You have developed the grace of a true martial legend, yet you lack power entirely. It is one thing to flow like the water, but you must also strike like the lightning that comes with the pouring rain.”

As the shadow spoke, it motioned through a series of movements. The shadow’s movements were a celestial level of grace, reminding Aaron of tai chi, but far quicker and way, way more precise than any human could wish to be. In fact, he was fairly certain that the only reason his eyes were able to keep up with the movements was because the shadow willed it so. But at the end of the elegant string of movements, the shadow shot out a palm that burst the sound barrier and sent blasting ribbons of wind exploding outward. These shockwaves rippled out, slamming into Aaron and sending him flying backward dozens of meters over the sand. Luckily, he was quick to react and landed softly, gliding back up to the platform before the worm was triggered.

I’m fairly certain it didn’t even try. Aaron was amazed by the power and how effortlessly it had been thrown out.

“Prove to me that you can put power as well as grace behind your strikes, and I shall offer you my blessing,” Yendal said as Aaron arrived back atop the platform and then began to dissipate. “But do not think I will give it easily. Next time you challenge me to a duel, I expect to be impressed.”

“Oookay, will do,” Aaron said as the last of the shadow melted away into the wind. “Until next time… I guess I'll hand this thing in now.”

He stood there for a moment, not sure if that was it or if the shadow had more to say.

I guess it just blows away with the wind once it’s done talking? Figuring the conversation was over, he turned back to his quest.

Before him was a large rock at the center of the rock platform he stood on, lined in pulsing blue veins. The moment he placed his hand against it, the quest stage was completed.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Chain Quest: The Shadow Trials

Stage two of [ Trial of Survival] COMPLETED!

You have tested yourself against the great worms beneath the sands and reached the Valrock alive.

Quest Rewards: Weapon Upgrade Kit [ E grade ], Armory upgraded to level 2!

Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!

Ding!

[ Brawler ] has LEVELED UP!

15 → 16

“Not just an offer of another blessing,” Aaron greedily rubbed his hands. “But I also got a level and a weapon upgrade kit. Things are looking up.”

Aaron was pretty eager to find out what exactly an upgrade kit did, and so he Inspected it immediately.

Weapon Upgrade Kit [ E grade ]

This E-grade Weapon Upgrade Kit can be used once to upgrade an F-grade enchanted weapon to E-grade, increasing all powers it possesses in accordance with the grade.

Caution: Using items beyond your grade comes at a cost.

“Okay, that’s pretty good… I think.”

Aaron’s spiked gloves were only enchanted so that they wouldn’t be ruined in the trials, so there wasn’t much use in wasting an upgrade on them, but perhaps he would find something else worth using it on.

This might actually be pretty helpful if I can get my hands on something worth upgrading—an item for another time.

He needed to be able to land a powerful blow to impress Yendal. He wasn’t sure if weapons were taken into account, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to improve his power via whatever means he could.

Aaron put the upgrade kit in his pouch and looked around. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as Sooty was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t that he necessarily disliked his magical little helper. But its constant questioning was kind of annoying, at least it was when he wasn’t in the mood to answer questions.

When Aaron reached the armory, Douglas was already there waiting, his blank expression saying more than he no doubt intended it to.

“It seems these room upgrades are becoming a common occurrence.”

“I’ll say,” Aaron agreed. “I thought you said these trials were supposed to be hard?” He continued with a gloating smile, omitting the number of deaths he had experienced.

“Yes, yes, you’ve proven yourself,” Douglas sighed. “I’m quite aware of that by now. But do you know that the third stage and above is where it normally gets hard, right? Normal trial takers usually speedrun through the first two stages.”

“Wait, what?”

“You heard me. I was surprised you passed any stages because you entered here at level 1. But for any normal person who is actually supposed to be here, it means nothing. You’re still a weakling, though a surprisingly persistent one. And seemingly favored by the gods. And your fate-defying Trait certainly has potential. But don’t get too high on yourself. Not until you prove yourself at the higher stages.”

“You have a real knack for ruining a mood, you know that, right? Anyway, what did this trial net me?”

“Not a lot, if I’m being honest. You can pick one weapon at a time to have an additional enhancement applied to it. If you wish to trade it for another, just return the weapon to the podium over there. It will remove the enchantment, and credit you with an enchantment to use on something else.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

“I suppose it doesn’t if this is your only experience with enchanted items. Most Tutorial takers don’t even bother with the armory unless they manage to upgrade it a few times. Nothing here is any better than the trash they should be able to get during the Tutorial, assuming they actually get out there and do something.”

“Yeah, yeah, we already covered that earlier. I’m not a Tutorial taker, am I? Anyway, what about these gloves? Can I get an additional enhancement placed on them?”

“You can, just use the podium over there,” Douglas gestured toward the golden podium again in the middle of the armory. “No need to rush, though. Feel free to look around. You might spot something you like. You can always change it, remember.”

Aaron had no intention of moving away from brawling now, but he had a look around nonetheless. Now that Douglas mentioned it, he realized that he had been rather hasty the first time around when he found his gloves. He really hadn’t spent much time in this armory, basically picking the first weapon, or rather, dangerous-looking gloves, he had spotted.

Most weapons were, well, weapons—weapons he had no intention of using. But as he browsed the goods, he spotted something of interest.

There were no spikes or anything fancy about these gloves—just a thin, metal reinforcement across the knuckles. But something told him that these were the gloves for him. He wasn’t about stabbing people with his fists; he was about battering them with precision and accuracy, and hopefully soon, overwhelming power. And he needed gloves that supported that style.

There was no hesitation. Aaron went with his gut and exchanged the gloves, then moved to the podium and placed them down.

Golden light shone out from the podium, casting illuminous rays across the room for several long seconds and enveloping the gloves in a sheen before finally stopping.

The gloves themselves looked the same as they had before, but an inspection confirmed otherwise.

Ironknuckle Gloves [ Rare — F grade ]

These combat gloves are reinforced with an iron plate along the knuckles.

Enchantments: Magical Durability, Mana Anchor Conductivity.

Aaron raised a brow. What were mana anchors? He had hoped for something simple to understand, like maybe some extra Stat points. But it seemed like more inspection was in order.

Mana Anchor Conductivity: The Mana Anchor Conductivity Trait allows an item to work as a conductor between mana anchors.

“Er, come again?”

Mana Anchors: Mana Anchors are focus points that assist with mana accumulation. They can be formed on body parts by focusing and controlling one’s mana flow, creating powerful outlets for mana.

“Okay, that’s interesting.”

It wasn’t just the mana anchors that had stolen Aaron’s attention. He was subconsciously becoming more at one with the System and had pulled up the explanation prompt without trying. Not only that, but it also provided in-depth information he wasn’t used to getting. Had he been missing out on information from the System this entire time?

But that thought didn’t linger long. There was a much more interesting implication. Mana anchors sounded waaay too similar to stamina veins.

I wish I’d known these were a thing earlier.

Exhaling, he couldn’t be too bothered. Ultimately, he had been forced to awaken his stamina veins in the previous trail, and that was nothing to scoff at. And it also meant he had a better idea about what exactly mana anchors were, and if they were an upgrade comparable to his stamina veins, then they were certainly worth looking into.

He took the gloves and pulled them on while studying them closely and simultaneously focusing his mana. It was faint, but he could feel a hum of mana coming from them as he pushed mana into them; however, he was still pretty amateur when it came to using mana.

Mana was the yin to stamina’s yang. While stamina was an internal energy used to fuel the body, mana was an external energy. With mana, one could create powers outside of oneself. For example, Aaron’s time dilation drained mana, since it was creating an effect external to him. That said, he was far more focused on empowering his body and, therefore, far more adept at it.

Taking hold of his focus stone, it was time to meditate on this new concept.