Two days later the time comes and I start getting ready for the second trial. The farewells are short. Everyone in group 4 already knows about Beyond, some a bit more, others less, so there is no need for an explanation.
Biscuit gives me a nice piece of glass that he still thinks is the same as the mana stones they use here as currency. He also gives me a few pieces of dried deer meat.
Isabella somehow isn't petty and just hugs me and wishes me luck.
The boys are the boys, so they just tell me to level up a lot.
Haddy just nods his head and tells me to be careful.
Tess smiles at me and says not to worry about them while I'm gone.
Lily uses the opportunity to hug me and only stops after I knock on the top of her head a few times. I even have to boost my body a bit so she lets me go. That reminds me that if I ever lose mana, I will be weak like a baby against most of the members of group 4, even with my stats from Active tempering.
Sophie waves her hand awkwardly, and Maya puts a small bag into my hand, full of some rations and other useful stuff.
By the time I separate from them, I feel tired already and quickly get to the basement of our house.
“Use Beyond entrance token,” I say, and after the portal appears in front of me, I step through.
Welcome to the Beyond's second trial!
After passing through all three trials, you will be able to enter the Beyond.
The place I'm in isn't the second floor, nor any of the floors I visited before. The sky is dark, lit by stars that shine brighter than they should.
I slide into [Focus] and the world loses even more of its colors, yet the lights become brighter, shining on the ground I am standing on. As far as I can see, I see deep craters and mountains spewing out fire and smoke.
It's hard to breathe, and the gravity that affects my body is much stronger than it should be, forcing me to use Mana Regulator to put more mana towards Reinforcement and strengthening my body.
The cold that threatens to freeze my body is terrible, the worst I've ever felt, and I reach in and start releasing some heat I stored in the thermal orb I started filling with thermal energy days before Beyond.
Releasing more of the heat, it flows through my body and pushes away that terrifying cold, that is not visible at all. There is no ice, no freeze.
A hole forms next to me, and from it, a fire spews out, melting the ground around, threatening to do the same to me, only to be absorbed and turned into heat, stopping me from freezing.
Sensing a stronger eruption coming, I boost my body and move high in the air, hovering at the place and watching as the hole expands and tons of melted material spew out, a heat so strong I have to move further to not overwhelm my skill.
At the same time, the gravity that pulls on me is much stronger, so it's difficult to even float and the amount of mana I spend is so high I decide to land.
I check the quest and reward.
Beyond’s second trial quest: Survive for one week.
Quest Rewards:
Active skill combination token (low-grade)
1000 shards
I take in the text in front of me and there's a single reward that I can't stop looking at. The active skill combination token. The token with the potential of being a really good reward.
After reducing the amount of thermal energy as much as I can, I move again, away from the place where I feel another crater forming. Then, after examining my body more, I realize that I'm not wrong and it's as I thought the moment I entered here. That weird feeling I immediately got and started examining my body, almost unable to believe it.
My heart is not beating and generating any mana, affected by something that I can't even detect right now.
I seem to be otherwise fine. The blood is still somehow flowing through my body and my current mana pool is filled and not leaking, it's just not getting replaced.
As I continue to walk, I lower my expenditure even lower and strengthen my body only a little bit, just enough to fight against gravity that is about to crush me.
It's uncomfortable, but I'm saving mana and I do the same with thermal energy and try to make it as efficient as possible.
Then I look around and after a while start walking towards the mountains in the distance.
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[You have defeated Mana Leech - lvl 198]
[You have defeated Mana Leech - lvl 188]
[You have defeated Mana Leech - lvl 173]
I kill three monsters and then jump away, only enough to dodge the monster that breaks the ground and tries to bite at my leg.
Mana Leeches are heavily armored, quick, and good at locating me. They attack from underground and try to pull me down.
At first, they used ranged attacks and tried to steal my mana, connecting to me with their skills and trying to suck on it. They failed terribly as the Mantle totally blocked their attempts. So they tried a more direct attack, relying on their heavy armor.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Ethercrystal shortsword, an epic weapon, in my hand, cuts through their bodies easily, even sucking on some of their mana, the blade glowing in a weak pale blue light as the monsters don't have that much of it. There also isn't any ambient mana to absorb.
I dodge again and then let one of the leeches reach me, at the last moment I shoot a blast of kinetic energy against it, slowing it enough so I can finish it with the sword.
[You have defeated Mana Leech - lvl 170]
[Lvl 170 > Lvl 171]
Another one attacks from behind and, sending only a short pulse of mana through my body, I boost it and turn around at a speed that blurs the area around and cut another human-sized leech in half.
[You have defeated Mana Leech - lvl 176]
Under the ground, I feel more of them trying to take my mana, but I merely ignore them, only strengthening the Mantle a bit more actively. Then I continue to walk towards the mountains as the monsters do not dare to get on the surface anymore.
From the information I was able to collect, it's confirmed that there are 3 trials that I need to pass through to be able to enter the real Beyond. Each trial seems to be tailored for each person. I had the suspicion on the first floor where most of the monsters thrown at me allowed me to improve my skills or die, and this one seems to be testing my weaknesses.
My weak physical stats by strong gravity that seem to be only getting stronger with each passing hour.
The terrifying cold seems to be testing my thermal energy as well as my endurance.
The explosions of fire test my [Perception] and the monsters that attacked me so far test my mana. They keep trying to take it away from me, it being only thing that keeps me alive. My mana allows me to strengthen my body and create heat to keep myself from freezing.
One week, that's how long I must last in here. Unable to regenerate my mana, only able to use what I currently hold, and forced to constantly spend it.
At this point, it's the test of what will last longer, me or the bullshit the system throws at me and I'm not worried.
My reservoir is filled to the brim, containing 3 times my mana. My mana pool is also nearly topped out. The thermal orb I created and filled before even starting the trial contains an immense amount of energy I can use as heat or turn into kinetic energy.
I also have multiple mana battery stones I filled with mana, inspired by what Maya did. They are terribly small amounts of mana in comparison to my pool or reservoir, but it's also something.
I'm as ready as I could be.
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I boost myself high in the air and shoot down a small arrow-like projectile that pierces the monster's eye and, with a scream that reaches my body, it disappears back under the ground.
The shriek it used is a mental attack that threatens to disrupt my mana, but my body endures and I land back on the ground, transferring some thermal energy from the orb into kinetic and stomping, sending a blast of energy under my feet.
[You have defeated Crater Worm - lvl 189]
[Lvl 171 > Lvl 172]
The monsters continue to attack me, pressuring me, looking for a moment of carelessness.
Multiple hours have passed and the strain of gravity put on my body is getting stronger, the monsters are getting harder to detect, and my heart doesn't move at all.
But, that's it?
I send another blast of kinetic energy underground, reducing the surface of the attack and moving it as efficiently as I can.
[You have defeated Crater Worm - lvl 191]
Is this really a Beyond trial?
I dodge two leeches and this time I do not even use the sword, just create a thin thread of mana that I cover in [Resonance] and cut both monsters apart.
[You have defeated Mana Leech - lvl 179]
[You have defeated Mana Leech - lvl 183]
Before another worm has time to shriek, I send a small thermal orb at it, and it explodes inside the monster's weird mouth filled with dozens of sharp teeth. The monster screeches even louder while thrashing around and burning, unable to stop the flames even in this terrifying cold.
[You have defeated Crater Worm - lvl 168]
More thin threads of mana appear around me, each covered in widely resonating mana, and this time it's me who tracks the monsters and attacks.
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One day has passed.
The gravity is strong, but it feels weirdly comfortable as it keeps pulling on my body. With the little amount of mana I'm using, every step hurts and every wrong move threatens to send me tumbling, but the efficiency continues to improve.
The air closer to the mountains is getting colder and I'm forced to use more thermal energy from the orb. I don't like it, but the extreme temperatures are hindering my ability to fight, so I do it.
As time passes, I come to like the planet I'm on.
Other than blasts of iron-melting fire from the ground and monster attacks once in a while, it's quiet, so almost scarily quiet. There is no day and night, and no sun comes to the sky. It's permanently dark, the planet lit by beautiful shining stars that are lighting the way through the extremely clear sky.
Even though I'm moving for a day already, the mountains are still far in the distance, clearly showing how giant they have to be to still be so far on the horizon.
Six days remain, and I know I won't be getting any sleep, having to constantly manage my mana, and thermal energy, and keep fighting the monsters that will jump at me the moment I show weakness.
And I am fine with that.
As always in these situations, my mind feels sharp. It all makes me feel more alive than ever. It forces me to stop thinking of useless stuff and focus on survival at the place where a single mistake could end me.
Yet, the more threatened I feel, the stronger the danger is, the more I realize how much I want to live. Amazed, I observe myself utilizing everything I have learned. My skills, my body, my mana, and my talents. All of them constantly used to keep me alive.
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The second day comes, and the sky is still the same, and the mountains look as far as before. While fighting against cold and gravity, the monsters continue to attack me, but that much is fine. The problem is that just now I realize that there is something or someone messing with my perception of reality.
I used a decent chunk of my mana to check my mind and it doesn't seem to be affected, only my senses are being fed fake information.
My skills are unable to fight against it, it being too ever-present and shown by me being constantly fed the wrong positions of monsters and the world around me looking different than it is in reality.
The result of that is more wounds on my body, and I'm being forced to create armor to protect myself and feed my passive with thermal energy to heal the wounds.
Unable to rely on my eyes anymore, I close them, but the effect still lasts as if the effect is delivered to me even through closed eyelids. [Perception] is being fed the wrong visuals too.
So I reach inside my body and cut nerves leading to my eyeballs, blinding myself. Then I actively stop the passive from healing this small wound that will be easy to restore later.
My usage of [Perception] changes, and instead, I continue to feel waves of kinetic energy and heat from the monsters' bodies.
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A day passes, and I start being fed wrong information even from kinetic and thermal energy.