Trials, p.15
Trials, page 15
As Xeal found himself against the wall and at the feet and mercy of the doppelganger women surrounding him, the minute mark passed as he smiled. There was a look of confusion on most of their faces as several blades were being held at his throat. Still, he looked at Kate’s doppelganger and saw the complex expression that she was making and decided to speak.
“I believe that a full minute has passed and I won our wager.”
“How can you be so calm and trust that I will honor it?” retorted Kate’s doppelganger.
“That is simple. It is the only path forward that doesn’t end with all of our deaths.”
“There are worse things than death,” interjected Amser’s doppelganger. “Much worse things. Would you have us join you and fight those we have been friends with before, or force us all to carry the children of the one who raped us among your men?”
Xeal was once more slapped with the cruel reality of the situation as he knew that they weren’t lying and he knew just what his force would expect after capturing the keep. He also knew that he was a single wrong word off from being killed as they all awaited his response.
“Ha, this is the worst. Just kill me, or honor our bargain. I have no logical answer to your quandary and I would rather not help the idiots out there win by killing a few of you in my final struggle.”
“You think that you could kill us?” scoffed Luna’s doppelganger.
“In the position you’re in we could kill you in seconds,” added Selene’s doppelganger.
“Perhaps we should put you through what you would do to us first.”
“We could make a real show of it up here.”
“I am sure that all of your followers would be able to see it.”
“I wonder if you would be loud enough for them to hear you from here as well.”
“That’s enough,” interjected Kate’s doppelganger. “Why are you so ready to just give up?”
“Ha, it’s simple. Either you accept my deal, or no matter the path I take, I will become what I refuse to be. Yet if you accept my deal you would become the same, so just kill me and be done with it.”
As Xeal just lay there, he thought about how easy his tribulation had been in his last life compared to this and at the same time this one felt easier. That was if he had no qualms about betrayal and was willing to treat this as just a game with no real consequences and move on. Last time he had just had to deal with crossing a wilderness as he lost one friend after another, as he cleared the way for a caravan. The worst part of that one had been the fact that he had realized after the third death that nothing he did could save them, as the system was automatically killing them one at a time. This time Xeal had to betray one group, or the other, at least in his mind and he just couldn’t do it and just closed his eyes as he waited to feel a blade come down on him, or hear that they would honor the deal.
Only neither of those happened. Instead, he found himself in an open space where a single old man sat at a table with an empty chair across from him as he looked at Xeal expectantly. Xeal stood with a frown and made his way over to the empty chair, before sitting across from the old man. There was a long moment of Xeal studying this man as the man studied Xeal, before the old man finally spoke.
“Fascinating. I can see why the system forced me to meet you here, rather than where others could see the record of it.”
“And where is here and who are you?”
“Who I am is not important. This is simply the space that your tribulation occurs in. As they tread on personal matters, the system locks out all admins, AI or otherwise, save for me.”
“And what makes you special?”
“Ah, I monitor the psychological wellness of all players. It is my main job to kill you before you become traumatized to the point of not being able to function.”
“Is that what was about to happen to me?”
“No, you are a bit of a special case. You are, hmmm how to put this, an anomaly.”
“So, what am I doing here?”
“Talking of course. All I ever do is talk and if you let me, I will talk to you about it all, this life and your last. Though I must say that we should address your current situation first.”
“I can’t talk about it, or I will fail, remember?”
“Interesting, you still think there is a path to victory?”
“Until it says I have failed it, I will believe that there is.”
“You certainly are resilient to be able to say that and believe it. Here, how about now?”
At that Xeal received a system notification.
(Notice: your tribulation has been paused until further notice and you are free to discuss it until you log off, or receive notice that you aren’t.)
“Fine. What the hell would you expect me to do? The system literally pushed me into a no-win situation. I can either betray those I lead, or I can feel like I am betraying those I love!”
“It is too late now, but simply sending your forces in and having them deal with most of it would have left you needing to only keep a few enemies busy to succeed.”
“Right, as I would be left to imagine what happened after as I completed it. Sorry, but no thanks. I would rather have ended up in a cell as they keep me prisoner and have to choose to fail than that.”
“Which is why we are here. The system is debating on whether or not to accept the path you took as completing the tribulation successfully. You checked every box that it was looking at, up until you reached the keep, which was where it created a true conflict for you that went beyond what should be allowed without realizing it.”
“Great, so what I get a pity pass. Sorry, but no thanks. If the system did that, it would go against how things are meant to work. Either they give in to my offer, or I fail.”
“Why is it that you feel the need to deal in absolutes? What do you have to lose from passing your tribulation on a technicality?”
“Nothing, but I have full confidence in what will happen next.”
“Oh, please share.”
“If they are truly accurate representatives of the women I love, they will not kill, or imprison me. If they are only pale imitations of them and go for the kill, or try to imprison me, well, I will have resolved the conflict in my head at the very least.”
“I see. Then let’s put that aside for now and speak on the other matter that fascinates me. Your memories that should not be there.”
“Sorry, but unless you know how they got there, I think that I have said all I need to about them.”
“Yes, well humor me for a moment as this is my first time being granted access to your mind and the main system thinks that I may have played a role, though I would obviously not know, now would I.”
“What, do you have to do a psychological check when players restart?”
“I do, actually. You would be surprised how often your kind just wants to run away from the messes they make. Often times simple conversations are all that is needed to help them process things in a way to avoid things, like if for instance a player like Frozen Sky thought restarting would get you to leave them alone. That said, I will only sit down with them if it is deemed that they are unstable and highly prone to do something that they and others would truly regret.”
“Ha, Cui Zhi can make as many characters as he wants. I will never allow him to reach tier-8 in this life.”
“But you will allow him to exist, which is better than what one Lodovico Michelangelo, or David Roberts has experienced at your hands. Tell me, is it really fine to punish them for what they did in a timeline that no longer exists to you?”
“Lodovico made the mistake of targeting two women that I love. It didn’t hurt that he was an easy target and release for my need to feel like I am righting the wrongs from my past life. And as I say that, it makes me feel like some petty villain who can’t let anything go.”
“Your words, not mine, but as someone who has needed to have extensive conversations with poor David, I can honestly say that he was in danger of a complete breakdown. He hasn’t actually quit, but is only logging on to chat with me once a week at this point. Thankfully the system gave me enough information to point out the root cause and no true damage has been done to him.”
“Oh, and just what does he know?”
“Only that he treated the wrong woman in a manner that was unacceptable.”
Xeal just smiled at that as he could see it actually doing some good if the sleazeball learned not to mistreat women as the NPC continued.
“Don’t justify your actions from the results. The ends do not justify the means.”
“Is this where you tell me to stop seeking revenge on those who wronged me and others in my last life?”
“Not exactly, as I know part of your revenge is really just you trying to shape events to avoid a scenario that is untenable. That said, I believe the term an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind fits your situation well.”
Xeal resisted rolling his eyes at the overused phrase that was commonly inserted in any argument about retaliatory actions. Still, it was fitting for the situation and he couldn’t argue the universality of the sentiment as he responded.
“Was this the whole point of this tribulation? To get me to see that I am out of control and need to resist my urge to seek vengeance?”
“Yes, your ability to pass any tribulation was never in doubt. It is why we had you experience being that which you hated. It is also why there is no need for you to return to that world, as you successfully resisted betraying anyone and simply accepted your own fate. That is unless you wish to spend another month there as your wedding to Kate’s doppelganger is arranged, as that was what was about to happen.”
“Why would that take a month?”
“You tell me. She is based off your thoughts about her.”
Xeal just laughed as he realized that she would set things up to facilitate the other nearby lands surrendering before Xeal’s forces raided them, to avoid backstabbing them. At the same time, it would give them an opportunity to attack first and clear her own conscience. Knowing what he did, he expected that she would have a plan designed to cause either and she would tilt things based on what she saw as the best option for her. As he thought on this, the elderly NPC continued to speak.
“Amazing how both good and bad can come from the same source. Xeal, our time here is coming to an end, so I will leave you with this. Give those you wish to see laid low a chance to earn such a fate in this life before you carry out the sentence you have condemned them to.”
Before Xeal could respond, he received a series of system notifications as the NPC faded from existence.
(Tier-7 demonic mode tribulation complete. Calculating completion rate… 107% completion, rank SS. Rewards: 75 class skill points, level will automatically be raised to 200, 20,000 renown, 1,500 gold.)
(Congratulations, you are one of the first 100 tier-7 players. Rewarding a bonus 2,000 renown and 10 class skill points.)
(Congratulations, you are the first player to complete a tier-7 demonic mode tribulation. Rewarding title: Master of oneself, 20,000 renown and 100 class skill points.)
(Caution, the elder dragon mark is ready to break its fourth seal. Please find a secluded location within an hour of returning to the main Eternal Dominion world, or the seal will break on its own.)
As this last notification came in, Xeal found himself back in the Stisea kingdom, not far from where he had initiated the tribulation. Xeal just smiled as he started to make his way to the teleportation hall to return to Nium, through a quick stop in the Muthia empire. As he did so, he quickly looked at the details of his new title.
Title: Master of oneself. The height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery. Immune from being negatively affected by the charisma of others who have less than double your own score, no max tier.
Xeal almost did a double take as he realized the implications of this skill. While most would think it was useless as players already had a high resistance to NPCs tricking them with honeyed words, this would likely go much farther as it could mean a bard’s debuffs could be ineffective as well. While he would need to spend considerable time with Dyllis to test this out, it could put him into another category of unstoppable if it did. Especially when facing monsters who relied on charisma-based skills to lure in and kill unsuspecting victims, like succubi.
It was with this thought that Xeal made it to the teleportation hall, only to discover that the Muthia empire had closed its gates down and so had the Huáng empire. When Xeal looked into the reasons why, it was clear that Abysses End had launched attacks on both that very morning. Having instructed the others to not bother him for anything until his tribulation was over, Xeal figured he better get up to speed as quickly as possible. So, he sent a message to Taya letting her know that he had finished and was heading to an inn to rest before working on finding a route back to Nium. The response that Xeal got back was one of relief, as she told him to hurry up as ever since the first player that passed had returned, Abysses End had really ramped up their assaults.
This was annoying as Xeal had hoped that it would take longer for Abysses End to recover from the combined offensive that FAE had executed with all other contracted guilds. The issue this time, however, was that Abysses End wasn’t targeting any of FAE’s holdings directly and instead acting as a mercenary force for all forces that were assaulting both the Muthia and Huáng empires. As such, FAE couldn’t justify activating the clause again without pushing their partners to end the agreements. Especially as it would essentially be asking them to act as ground forces for a war between countries and not a strike directly on another guild. Additionally, Fire Oath had found a way out of being bound by the agreement through accelerating the removal of their crafting members from FAE. With this Fire Oath had become free to join any war on whatever side they wished even if it brought them into conflict with FAE directly. As they could still claim to be neutral towards FAE, but not the country that FAE was supporting to get around the rest of their agreement with FAE while they still owed them credits.
After Xeal was safely inside of an inn, he sent a message that just said he would be there as soon as he finished recovering after breaking the seal. Xeal knew that it would be an experience that took a fair bit out of him as he selected to start the process. Pain wasn’t the right word for what Xeal felt next, as he had never felt anything like it before; he felt like his blood was literally boiling. However, unlike last time, he didn’t find it coming out of him as steam. No, it seemed that his body was holding it in and the pressure made him feel like he was going to explode as he let out a soundless scream. It felt as if every cell in his body was being destroyed before it was replaced with a new one and it wasn’t happening fast, at least not to him. Had he known that he had unknowingly entered the state that was normally reserved for combat, as time slowed down to the point that each second was equivalent to four and two-thirds seconds for him now that he was tier-7, he would have cursed the feature. Especially as it took 45 seconds of hell and made it feel like three and a half minutes of it, which might as well have been forever to Xeal. Had he not activated his calm mind skill on reflex, it would have been unlikely for Xeal to even maintain his consciousness.
When it finally did end, Xeal was hunched over on the ground, with a pool of blood that he had vomited up at some point beneath him, as he struggled to breathe. His eyes were struggling to process the world and his nose was smelling way too much as he pulled up the details of the elder dragon mark. Thankfully, he was able to read it without any issues as he looked over it.
(Elder dragon mark: you have been marked by an elder dragon and your body has almost completely integrated with the mark, increasing its sturdiness even more. Natural armor trait gained: it takes more to wound you now. You ignore the first point of physical damage per level. All debuffs from injury are reduced by 35%. 1.25% boost to all stats and enhanced senses. 2 extra attribute points in MP and 3 extra free attribute points per level. Access to dragonoid skills through class skill points. All levels take 1.5 XP to reach. Lost upon death. Cannot safely log out while marked. As you increase your tiers, you will unlock more benefits. Four seals broken.)
Xeal knew what the issue was right away and was grateful when the system allowed him to take a closer look at what was meant by enhanced senses.
(Enhanced senses: you can perceive some of the unperceivable. You can smell fear, see some active spells and much more with practice. Warning, due to intensity level of new sensory input, it is recommended that you disable this ability until you have time to train it. Ability can be turned on and off at will and will slow MP recovery while active.)
Xeal instantly selected to disable it as he finally returned to the normal level of heightened senses that he was used to. The fact that it had been in a default on position was annoying to Xeal, as he rolled over onto his back and just breathed. It was currently the tail end of day 157 and he knew that he had a lot of important moves to make before he could log off, but first he needed to sleep and recover. The Muthia and Huáng empires could wait eight or so more hours as he would be worthless as he was regardless. Finally, the last thing Xeal did before losing consciousness was sending off a message to Taya saying that his recovery wasn’t going to be quick, but he would be heading to Belladonna once he was back on his feet.
(*****)
ED Year 6 Days 158-159.
Upon waking, Xeal wasted no time in checking his messages and seeing the detailed situation report. It showed that Abysses End had moved about four hours after the announcement of the first player reaching tier-7 went out. This had been a full-out assault that leveraged every avenue that they had to use, to attack countries with a strong connection to FAE. The situation was the worst in the Huáng empire as in just the 12 hours since the assault had begun, a city had fallen and it looked like the next dominoes were about to fall in another 12 hours. At the current moment, 86 members of FAE had passed their tribulations with over 5,000 failures and Amser had finally been the first to reach the new tier. Takeshi had also finished his demon mode tribulation an hour after Xeal and was done recovering and was just waiting on orders, as it was a mess everywhere that you could look. Particularly as the second wall fort on Nium’s border with Paidhia had fallen and they had pushed into the countryside. This meant that Paidhia was occupying territory in both Nium and Habia, while neither of them had gained any of their own.
