Too Stubborn to Die Chapter 35

The cackling laughter erupting from the pit boss felt like a hammer as it slammed into him, pushing Aaron several feet back as he raised his hands in a fruitless defense. What was so much worse than that, though, was that the echoing laughter seemed to fill his head, making it nearly impossible to think.

“Get out!” Aaron roared, and an amused smirk played on the mad pit boss’ face.

Then, he flashed forward. In a near instant, the pit boss was before Aaron, slicing through the air with his bladed fingers. Aaron's lightning-fast reactions allowed him to dodge the first few attacks, but the echoing laughter in his mind was too distracting, and soon he fell to the relentless barrage.

But when Aaron awoke on the tiles of the obsidian hallway, a smile was plastered across his face. This was just what he wanted. A real challenge to push himself before he faced off against Yendal.

It might not have seemed immediately obvious to someone looking in as to why Aaron thought such a challenge was perfect. But to him, the consuming and mind-bendingly distracting laughter was just the kind of obstacle he needed to train himself against. It was something outside of his control, and a difficult pain to overcome. Aaron knew that it would take supreme concentration and mastery over his mana and body to maintain his techniques whilst under such an assault. And that was just what he needed.

Rushing back through the trial, Aaron continued to hone his base technique against the miners, and when the pit boss came out to play, he practiced weaving the techniques together.

Several deaths followed in short order. But for every second that the battle dragged on, the screams and laughter of the pit boss’ mental attacks grew louder, and soon a second mental attack was added to the first. The pit boss’s pupils began to spin, and whenever he caught the man’s eyes, he grew dizzy. What’s more, it was no easy feat avoiding the spinning pupils, and Aaron surmised that a third Skill was active, one that compelled him to look toward the crazed man’s eyes.

Dizziness mightn’t have sounded like some ultimate attack, but during a fast-moving battle, it was quite effective. Made even worse by the fact that Aaron’s style was built around control and precision.

Still, he pressed on, regardless of how many times he was cut into ribbons of flesh by the man’s razor-sharp blade fingers.

Over the next few deaths, Aaron realized that the opening battle against the regular miners was more useful than he had first thought. The slower pace and sloppier attacks gave him more time to stitch the finer details of his style together, elevating his already tightly honed control over his stamina and further incorporating it into everything else. And when combined with the fight against the pit boss, he found himself entering a similar trance to what he had fallen into during the previous trial, where he was so singularly focused on his one task that he lost track of the world around him. It was almost as if he were looking through somebody else’s eyes, controlling his body from a distance. And it was this distance that allowed him to separate his consciousness from the invasive tactics of the mad pit boss’s mind-assaulting attacks.

This… this is it!

He had stumbled upon something very useful, Aaron realized. He would need to ponder it over time, but for now, it was just a tool. He had to remind himself not to lose track of why he was here in the first place. And that was power.

However, as he distanced himself from separating his conscious self from his body, his control over the finer details of his technique also weakened. Since this was at the core of who he was as a warrior, he struggled against the faster foe.

Aaron realized this was the second challenge he had to overcome. Actually, it was more like a continuation of the first challenge he had pitted himself against. He needed to improve his subconscious body control.

Against the miners, his technique had been simply about freeing up mental processing power for more important things, whilst his body naturally bent and dodged attacks from weaker and slower opponents. It was an important skill if he ever found himself up against overwhelming numbers. But it was relatively basic in its approach.

Now, he needed to expand on that. To fully detach his conscious thoughts from his body to defeat the mind-attacking assaults. But this delving into the subconscious had unraveled a massive flaw in his technique.

He hadn’t noticed how bad it was against the miners, since they weren’t particularly strong or fast. But now it was becoming all too clear. His hyperfixation on fate and movement prediction had led him down a path of rigidness. Every move he made was made with purpose. Complete control, which wasn’t surprising, as that had been his goal. But the downside to that was his body relied on too much input. A world-class boxer didn’t consciously dodge every strike sent at them. No, they relied heavily on muscle memory.

Control wasn’t everything, Aaron realized. It was more like a pillar holding up the principles of his style, but more than one pillar was needed to keep it from collapsing. Being aware and reading a battle was important, but to do so efficiently, his consciousness needed to be focused on the most serious of threats, whilst the less important ones could be delegated to his subconscious.

In fact, to further train this, he tried pulling the miners alongside the pit boss after dying again. In tandem, they were the perfect training session. Aaron could focus his attention on the boss, while he allowed his subconscious to dodge and weave through the miner’s attacks.

Distancing himself enough to survive the mental barrage was no easy task, but the rewards he got for relaxing his body and allowing it to move on its own were undeniable. It wasn’t just that he found himself thinking less and less about the miners, but that his body was actually moving faster. He had actually been slowing himself down because of how much thought he put into everything, and as his style loosened up, it sped up.

But there was still the problem of the feral pit boss and his intrusive mental attacks that continued to cut Aaron’s trial attempts short. His body’s subconscious movements were becoming increasingly natural and effective with each death, but echoing laughter still played through his mind, albeit slightly dulled.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Delving into his trance-like state, he further realized that the energies within him could be harnessed to further separate himself from his body. Thanks to his mana anchors and stamina veins, he could wield this energy in such a way. It wasn’t a barrier, though, or a defense against the attacks, at least not in a conventional sense. The energies within him simply allowed him to distance his consciousness further.

But this did not completely drain out the mental attacks, and he had a feeling that stronger, more skilled opponents would have a means of getting through such a technique. He also felt that what he was doing was amateur at best. But he did not ponder on the technique for too long, as he did not want to unlock a related Skill to it just yet. It just needed to work, for now.

A dozen more deaths passed as he blended his techniques together and worked on overcoming the weaknesses that came with it. In fact, he was so caught up in his training that he hadn’t even properly attempted to kill the pit boss during his last several attempts. He knew that this was the true wall, and the pit boss was but an avatar leading him to the greater problem that required resolution.

Soon, he found himself flowing between attacks with such grace and absence of mind that he could be mistaken for some kind of warrior who fought in their sleep.

But he wasn’t completely out of it. Buried deep within his subconsciousness, his consciousness lay in wait, ready to unleash its will when necessary.

The way he fought wasn’t exactly how he would normally. It was hyper-focused on the task at hand, and unless he was fighting another enemy bent on invading his mind, it wouldn’t be necessary to take it this far. But the improvements were still exceptional, and his body flowed faster and more effortlessly than it had ever before.

Soon, as his techniques wove together, the madman’s Skills had little effect on him. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Their effects hadn’t actually changed; it was Aaron’s state of mind that had been altered, therefore nullifying their hold on him.

By the time he had properly incorporated subconscious movements into his technique, he had fallen to the trial thirty-six times, but it had been well worth it. The increased speed of his dodging alone more than made up for the effort, and it had allowed him to focus entirely on controlling his offensive mana and stamina-powered punches.

When he finally defeated the pit boss, it was as if they were on a completely different level. But he realized that the pit boss hadn’t been a pure melee combatant, but rather some kind of caster, or maybe even a bard, and therefore, his melee was lacking. Held up only by his mental attacks, which weakened his melee foes. As low as his Willpower was, Aaron was certain that the only reason he even stood a chance was because Fate Weaver boosted his mental strength.

With the boss slain by a mana-infused fist that stopped his heart, Aaron turned to the riflemen. They had stood back with their weapons drawn but had held their fire. However, they would no doubt fire now that their leader was dead. Immediately engaging [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation ], Aaron charged forward, reading their fates and stepping out of harm's way before their bullets even left their rifles.

They might have been armed with rifles, but they were even weaker than the standard miners in melee, and within seconds, Aaron had beaten the life out of them.

Surprisingly, though. The trial hadn’t ended.

“Huh, okay. Maybe someone is waiting up in the town for me?”

With a shrug, he walked up into the little mining town and through the narrow streets. Several seconds later, he came across a flagpole in the deserted town center.

“Oookay… ANYBODY HOME?!”

No reply came.

If he had defeated everyone, why was the trial still going? Wasn’t it meant to be a Trial of Dominance? They normally finished by defeating the enemy or forcing it to surrender, so what was going on now?

He glanced over at the mining shaft entrances and really, really, hoped he wasn’t supposed to go searching down there for something. Not because he was scared or anything, he just didn’t want to go on a wild goose chase in a mine.

Instead, he decided to have a look around. But he didn’t sense anything, increasing his confusion. Sensing auras and energy hadn’t been something he really practiced, but he’d gotten enough of a sense of them from his trials. And now he felt nothing.

Sighing, he walked around, kicking doors down and yelling for people to come out. Several minutes later, he had gone through every shitty, little shanty house and found nothing. No sign of anybody, and sensed no auras or anything else of note.

“Seriously? This thing isn’t bugged, is it? Did I miss a quest prompt? Did that happen? Please don’t tell me I have to go into that freaking mine!” He muttered to himself, a familiar sense of getting lost in a video game quest coming over him. The kind where you’re certain you’ve done everything, but the damn thing just won’t finish. Like everyone was literally dead, and yet, he was still stuck here.

He even contemplated killing himself for a moment. He had beaten the boss and had no doubt he could do it again, but the thought of it still annoyed him. Besides, he had beaten this challenge, and he preferred to go on to the next one. And what was to gain from bashing his head against a challenge he had already bested?

Not only that, but it was hard to imagine the mighty multiverse screwing up. If he hadn’t yet finished the trial, there had to be a reason.

Muttering curses under his breath, Aaron walked back into the center of town and kicked the flagpole in frustration.

“Dammit, I’m getting bored now!”

When there was no answer to his outcry, he sighed, took hold of the flagpole, and lowered himself down to sit. As he was doing that, he snagged the rope.

Feeling it beneath his fingers, he pulled it out of boredom until the flag was full mast.

Chain Quest: The Trial of Dominance

Stage three of [ Trial of Dominance ] COMPLETED!

You have tested yourself against a village of feral turned miners and managed to raise the flag at its center!

Quest Rewards: Unbreakable Chains [ Rare ], Unique System Store upgraded to level 3.

Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!

Ding!

[ Brawler ] has LEVELED UP!

19 → 20

“Wait, what?!” Aaron exclaimed as he read the notification. “Was that seriously all I had to do? Raise the damn flag?”

Of course, no answer came, and he rematerialized in the obsidian hallway with a stupefied look on his face.

“What’s with that look?” Sooty casually said as he meandered out of the viewing room.

“Ah… It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. I did finish a trial, though, and scored myself a level up!”

“Really? Good going, bossman. So, what are the options? Let ole’ Sooty know and I’ll be gleeful to lend ye a helping hand making the right choice.”

“Alright, let’s take a look,” Aaron said as he brought up the status screen. This was what he had been working toward. All that time and effort. All of his concentration and practice. He had finally hit level 20, and a broad smile etched itself onto his face. He couldn’t wait to see what Skill options were available. And to see how his strategy had affected what the System would offer him.

“C’mon, you damn System. Give me something that’s going to impress Yendal.”