18] - [Wall]_Celestial Journey : Return to Earth

Careful what you ask for, right?

My legs shake, my fingers filled with tremors, as I hold my stance. Steady only due to the oppression, I stand there, awaiting its strike. I am filled with trepidation, witnessing a giant of stone and smoke slowly pull out an even more absurd sword from its waist.

Widening my eyes along my ears, I hear it grumble, possibly speaking an unknown language.

Yet the only message I receive is my death sentence. With a shout, it leans forward before sprinting ahead. Due to its enormous size, I'm left bewildered, unable to dodge as this being overwhelms my view.

Like a cannonball or a bull, its shoulder rams into my forearms, snapping them in half, before crashing full force into my chest. The impact sends me flying back meters upon meters, watching the opponent get smaller with the increasing distance. Be it my torso or throat, both are crushed, blood and saliva coughed erratically out of my mouth. My flight comes to an end as I sense a major shock run through my butt before darkness reclaims its prize.

"..."

"What the fuck."

Seriously though. What the fuck am I supposed to do? What's next, a dragon? Maybe a hydra? What the fuck do you expect me to do? Is that... it better not be twenty-four-seven. I'm not! Dealing! With this! Oh yeah! Get to level ten! Blablabla... yeah sure, I'll get to level ten when level five or six is basically impossible. Sure. I see no balance issues here, totally fair.

Blowing some steam through my lips, I stay still, sitting on the bed covered in childish bedsheets full of yellow stars and a vibrant blue background. A visible contrast with the rest of this cell. "Whatever man..." A shake of the head is all it takes before I sit cross-legged onto the bed, strangely relaxing my entire body. A violent surge comes from my feet and up to my knees before stopping. With some concentration, I manage to relax my knees and thighs more, letting it go through to my pelvis. Same thing again, as it stops at my chest, shoulders, elbows, wrists and fingers. The head takes some effort, especially the eyes. Relaxing them this way is pretty painful and worrisome, as it feels like I must cross my eyes.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

During this process, I have to let the rampaging energy and forever growing discomfort exist for as long as I possibly can endure. It's not much about pain as it is difficult. The slightest mishap is more than enough to ruin everything.

But along the days I got used to it, hopefully I don't need to have it on like this all day long for later parts of this cultivation thing.

Once again, repeating itself, the days go on without anything interesting showing up. I mine, sell the payoff, teach and train before falling asleep. Soon, the timer will run out and I'll be freed from this crappy debuff.

Fifteen percent doesn't seem like much when looking at the stats directly, but it certainly isn't easy on the body. Thankfully it doesn't seem to make me sick or anything.

As of today, I have one week remaining. A simple day, same as all others, slowly making my way toward my favorite tunnel. I feel good about this one, I don't know what it is, but I've been lucky with it. Those two leeches though, are trying to hoard it. Thinking about it I let a chuckle escape as my pickaxe obliterates the dirt ahead.

A little while later, I excavate something.

Tossing a small white crystal filled with pale blue and purple bits, almost juggling with it, I go back to check on the two. By the time I'm there, they are playing tag. Can't blame them, even though it's childish, it works. Nothing better to do here anyway. For them that is. Since they are busy, I walk to the wall quite the distance away and sit down, my back resting against it. They notice me and understand, not the first time I do this. So they know better than to bother me now.

This entire hall is filled with dirt and stone pillars, carved as the pioneers of this place needed some structural integrity. Even though they were later reinforced.

But seriously...

What am I doing to myself? Closing my eyes, whiteness blinds me.

I land and find a familiar face ahead. Or more so helm. The spikes serving as a crown and the thin stone lines protecting its face. Wide shoulders decorated with thick pads. A torso fully covered with armor, same as the thighs and shins, going down to the almost metallic boots. A large, imposing, domineering blade of pure stone is pointed at me. Through the helm's rigid design, peering across its absolute darkness, a singular, glowing orb.

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Yellow, almost gold, as usual. This simple light crushes my body, an innate sense of pure inferiority teaching me of my insignificance.

Facing this being, I am worthless.

I have encountered a legendary opponent, or so it says. Bet it's supposed to be 'rare'. However this time, the Stone King gives me the first move. I don't let it go to waste, silently channeling Qi across my entire body, pulsing with strange might.

I gaze down, watching my eyes' reflection turn red. I initially wondered why the eyes glowed, but soon understood the entire body to be. I suppose Qi is more visible up there.

Taking deep breaths, relaxing my entire body, the surge of energy only grows. When I feel my limits, I inhale and clench my body, swinging my right fist back. A left step forward, I glare at my opponent, before freezing in place. My eyes widen, and so does my mouth. I feel my entire field of vision being dragged into its yellow light.

A shock runs throughout my body, as I see the stone giant turn titanic. Each moment passing forcing more weight onto my flesh, terrified as my target becomes the new sky. I watch it swing the stone sword, now magnitudes larger, down.

A ripple across reality, a mountainous illusion above me, forcing my eyes upward. Witnessing the humongous stone monument of great nature being obliterated down to meteoric rubbles.

A stray boulder crashes into my face, waking me up from the illusion.

My Qi has since been dispersed, my skin glossy from the freezing sweat.

I stand there, meekly accepting the Stone King's disdainful gaze.

Unaware how, I'm back to the real world.

"What?" I can't hide the shock from my face, catching myself early enough to not shout. System! What happened?! I didn't get hit, did I?

A few moments passing, a prompt finally shows up.

[You have been defeated. A loss of will critical enough can halt your challenge. However, it may not be for naught.]

What? The fuck is this saying... Curious, as I would've done so anyway, I scroll to the recent prompt history. A brow is raised when I find another left unread.

[Mentality increased. SENSE↑↑, WISDOM↑]

Speechless, I of course checked my status. But nothing changed. Is it not that much?

Sighing, I help myself up. In the simulation it was terrifying, but out of it, I don't feel too- urgh! Urrh! Tears welling up my eyes, I gag and bend down, vomiting my lunch. Catching a glimpse of my pathetic look, the two stop playing and rush toward me. "Are you alright?!" "Hey! You good?"

But I can barely hear them, the blood drained from my face. My vision blurs and I can already feel my consciousness fading slightly. It was... actually that bad.

Fuck... man.

This is...

...bullshit.

Brown, unevenness. Dirty and damp.

My cell's ceiling greets me. I lay in the bed, surrounded by air. Remembering what happened, I kind of expected people to be near, but apparently it isn't so. I can't lie, I'm a bit disappointed. To be fair though, vomiting isn't a big deal anyway. So I lay back down, hover my finger above the symbol, close my eyes, and press the button once again.

If I can't even look at it, I'll never land a hit. If I can increase my mentality this way, then so be it.

The Stone King comes back from the ground, emerging like a tsunami for my frail heart. Another exchange of glares later, a crushing sensation rattles my chest. I try to keep the staring contest going, but must look down after a few seconds, clutching my heart. "Ouuuh... fuck......" Struggling against the pressure, I manage to pull my eyes higher, only to succumb to a sword the size of a planet.

[Mentality increased. SENSE↑↑, WISDOM↑]

Pretending to watch the ceiling, my motionless gaze is filled with rampant thoughts. But it all comes down to a few.

Legendary... is the goal not to defeat it? It's training after all, guess that would make more sense. Ah! Sense! That was a good one.

I smile at my own mental instability and go for another round.

[Mentality increased. SENSE↑↑, WISDOM↑]

And another...

[Mentality increased. SENSE↑↑, WISDOM↑]

And so on...

[Mentality increased. SENSE↑↑, WISDOM↑]

[Mentality increased. SENSE↑]

At one point, the gain diminished greatly, however it was still fine. And after the thirtieth time, I stopped. The illusions were still there, but wouldn't budge. Each improvement I made before that could be felt, as the Stone King's illusions would get smaller, though not by much. After the twentieth time, I was already able to move freely. The reason I still lost was due to the Stone King actually stepping in for once. Or for the second time technically. No, third. Or is it fourth?

Sighing in the bed, I'm covered in sweat. Thankfully I didn't vomit, though I put myself onto my side for the earlier ones.

I'll go until the prompt is gone. I have yet to check my own status, feeling like a kid ready to open a present.

Alright! Let's get to it now.

The obvious result didn't deter me. Another four attempts later, I notice the fourth one to not have shown anything.

I don't know how much time has elapsed since I began, probably not much, but I finally allowed myself to look. This better be worth it. Despite thinking that way, I knew better than to complain about any sort of growth. No matter how minimal.

Second status.

18] - [Wall]

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