Despite Blood's great reluctance, the hallway really was an amazing training opportunity. The way that the arrowheads attacked at certain intervals, from varying directions and angles, forcing the person facing them to dodge, deflect, and block in certain ways. The system really was a great combination of both test and training, as the deeper sections of the hallway proved difficult, though not impossible, for someone at Expert-rank weaponskill to push through. That, combined with the fact that the tunnel restricted quite a number of skills, meant it was an excellent place for the two of them to push their weaponskills higher. Blood, in particular, was still just before the peak of Journeyman in Unarmed, making the hallway a fantastic place to push past the hump and reach Expert.
The two alternated in the hallway, taking turns trying to progress to the very end. Beth utilized the time to work on her Unarmed as well, the weaponskill having lagged behind her swords a bit. She didn't just use Unarmed, either, as she worked the combination of her blade and fists to try to make progress. Now that she was hitting Expert with both skills, or soon would be, she had an easier time integrating them into a more unified, and personalized, style. She was lucky the hallway was quite wide and rather tall, as well, for her personalized style involved quite a lot of movement and big, sweeping attacks.
As great as the hallway was for training, it was still quite difficult, even when Beth started using her sword. Pushing through the section where she had to block eight arrowheads at the same time was extremely challenging, and she still hadn't made it beyond after nearly a dozen attempts. It was all the longer as she was alternating attempts with Blood, but the downtime gave her time to meditate and think about where she had gone wrong. It increased the value of the training, having that time to think, though Beth was pretty sure Blood was doing more napping than thinking during her downtime.
Blood, despite her sleeping, was able to rapidly push her Unarmed to the peak of Journeyman, which she had still been a few levels from reaching. At the same time, Beth felt like she was on the verge of a breakthrough, but she still wasn't quite able to cross that last threshold. She put her sword away and went back down the hallway with only her fists and feet, ready to use just her body to stop the arrowheads.
She made it several steps down the section where she had to deflect eight attacks at once before getting knocked off her feet and sent flying. Beth didn't even bother moving after getting knocked out of the zone, simply sitting up in the middle of the hallway and starting to meditate. What came to her mind were a few brief flashes, like scenes that would be illuminated by lightning during a thunderstorm. These scenes contained a profundity that she couldn't explain, but she suddenly understood, looking at these few images of a figure in a room, punching and kicking at a phenomenal speed.
Beth suddenly stood up, stopping Blood in her tracks, the wolf having just been standing from where she knelt and meditated. Blood didn't say anything but simply watched as Beth moved forward, knocking the attacks she encountered out of the air with a smoothness that she had yet to demonstrate in her Unarmed-only attempts. Blood watched, more and more surprised, as Beth moved through the area with four attacks into the area with eight, and then continued walking through the area of eight attacks. It looked more like she was out for a casual stroll to get some fresh air than undergoing a trial that even Experts would find difficult. When Beth stepped beyond the area of eight attacks, the attacks didn't stop, but they thankfully didn't double. Now, she had to deal with twelve attacks striking her at the same time, and some of these attacks even curved in the air.
Blood's face turned grim as she watched the attacks approach Beth, not sure how her companion would be able to stop the more numerous and complex attacks. Her grim frown turned to open-mouthed shock as Beth stopped six of the attacks dead in the air, deflected four of them, and even kicked the eleventh to push herself out of the way of the twelfth and further down the hallway. The next wave of attacks was close behind, and when Beth blocked these arrowheads, she did it even more smoothly, images of fists that very closely resembled her gauntlets appearing in the air around her and striking down many of the attacks as she slid between the final two, the arrowheads just nicking her armor and throwing off a few bright sparks in the dark hall.
Blood narrowed down her focus, watching intently as Beth continued to move forward, no longer casually strolling, but still very clearly in control of the situation. Blood wasn't sure what had changed, but she very carefully observed every movement Beth made and how she used every single slight adjustment of her muscles to control her position and attacks. Blood was inspired, especially considering she had far greater DEX than Beth, suddenly understanding several things about how she could better utilize the stat to improve her fighting capabilities. She watched as Beth approached the end of the twelve-attack section, eager to make her own next attempt, but also anticipating Beth fending off even more attacks, with even more complex patterns.
Perhaps sadly, or perhaps not, the twelve-attack section was the last section for this test. After Beth defended against the last attack, she stepped forward and braced for a new attack, but was able to take several steps without anything happening. She was still cautious and looked around, scanning for any other attacks or new types of threats, but even after over a minute, nothing happened. Seeing that it was safe, she stopped and sat down to rest, her brain a little fried from so forcefully pushing herself to practice in a way that she had seen the fighter moving and striking. The visions were clearly products of the repository of information Liveria's crystal had stuck in her head, a time when Liveria had witnessed someone immensely skilled in Unarmed just doing a simple practice. Even that simple practice was stunning, however, as just trying to imitate the way the person moved and attacked had broken the bottleneck Beth was experiencing.
More than broken, the bottleneck had shattered, as she had not just become an Expert in Unarmed but had gained another level as she calmly walked down the hallway. Defeating the first wave of twelve attacks had solidified her new understanding, pushing her to another level. She felt like there was even more potential still brimming within her, but she wasn't going to go back into the gauntlet at this time. She would get more out of training against a living opponent to try to push herself to the next level.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Now, all she had to do was wait, as it was Blood's turn to push past her limits and make it through the little gauntlet. Her first attempt was unsuccessful, but she made it farther than she had before. Her second attempt was also unsuccessful, but she had now made it quite a distance into the eight-attack section, nearly reaching the twelve-attack range. Beth kept watch while Blood rested and meditated between attempts, making sure nothing came from either end of the tunnel to disturb them. Apart from the noises they and the trial equipment itself made, it was surprisingly quiet in the hallway, not even the sounds of water or insects echoing down the long, dark corridor. If anything, that was even more reason to stay alert and proceed carefully, as the lack of all other noise indicated this was quite a special or, more realistically, dangerous place.
Blood tried for the third time after Beth had passed, not one bit discouraged by her continued failures, but instead even more determined. As with the last two attempts, she did even better this time than the last, making it into the twelve-attack area before being overwhelmed by the group of fast, powerful, obscure attacks. Not upset in the least, the lupine woman rested only a brief moment before attacking the challenge again. It was one thing to watch someone challenge the twelve-attack section, and an entirely different thing to face the power and complexity of the twelve attacks oneself. She did much better the second attempt after that first experience, getting to roughly the halfway point in the twelve-attack zone before being knocked down and sent hurtling out of the test zone.
Blood rested for some time after that attempt before making another try. This time, the wolf made it deep into the twelve-attack zone, pushing well past the halfway point before she missed one attack and it all fell apart. It was one of the things that really made the challenge incredibly difficult, as just a single mistake meant a guaranteed knockdown and painful trip back to the start. Blood was still on fire, not the least bit upset, and only took a few moments to stabilize herself before charging back in. Beth didn't even need to watch this attempt, as she knew that Blood would succeed from the moment the wolf charged into the area, her movements as smooth as flowing water. The lupine woman coursed past the initial sections of the trial, barely slowing by the time she got to the section where eight attacks fired at once. Even then, she expertly navigated that section as if it were old hat, moving on to the twelve-attack section with ease.
Even that section couldn't challenge the lupine woman too much this time, though it was very clear she was struggling by the very end. Blood darted through the last two steps, even making use of one of the attacks of the final volley to push herself forward rather than stall, mimicking Beth's earlier feat. The wolf collapsed after she was sure she was safe, panting on the ground as she tried to recover both physically and mentally from pushing herself so hard. The final section of attacks, in particular, carried more strength than what Beth had in a punch without her buffs running. Trying to deal with twelve angry Beth-punches at once, especially when one had to deflect or block several of them, was absolutely not an easy feat for anyone, let alone the DEX-based wolf.
After they had rested for a sufficient amount of time, at least, a sufficient amount of time according to Beth, they were back on their feet and continuing forward. They were certainly more cautious now, having experienced that trap, but at the same time, it hadn't been something lethal. However, after walking for more than twenty minutes, they hadn't been attacked by any random arrowheads or found any other slightly lethal devices. Other than the sound of their footsteps, and the very faint sound of their breathing, the hallway was totally silent. It was giving Beth a little bit of a creepy feeling, as if they were intruding upon a tomb, but she shook it off as they came upon something new.
Blood cautiously led the way into a large room, the entirety of it composed of the same precisely cut, dark stone blocks fitted together so there were barely any seams. Apart from that, there were no other features; no doors, no lights, no carvings, no pillars, no decorations, nothing. Nothing, other than a single pedestal in the very center of the empty cube, along with an opening into another tunnel on the far side of the room. Blood cautiously approached the pillar, but no traps were sprung, nor did anything strange happen in the room or the tunnels.
"Looks fine," she said with a shrug, carefully pacing around the pillar.
"A good way to get yourself blown up," Beth commented, walking up to examine the pillar.
"I would smell a bomb," Blood said distractedly.
"Hmm," Beth grunted, examining the item floating overtop the pillar.
The pillar was a single piece of stone, with no lines, even hair-thin lines like the hallways and room had. There was no kind of carving or special difference to denote the pillar as anything other than a square piece of stone, which was likely intended, as what hovered over the pillar was what caught Beth's eye. The item was a cube about six inches across, or what had once been a cube. It was clearly fairly damaged, with two sides bent in and several pieces having been torn out that now hovered around the floating cube. The cube was made of a dark golden metal, likely some type of alloy, that was so dark that the edges looked close to black. Beth could feel the power in the object just by standing close to it, despite the fact it was clearly broken, showing just how incredible the item had been when it was whole.
She also got a strange feeling as she stood close to it, a sense of dislocation, almost like a part of her was there, but at the same time missing. She had only felt things like that recently, the most recent of which was when they had been approaching the trap they had just navigated. It felt like she could sense, or even feel, a strange ripple in space. It hadn't been particularly powerful until now, but this artifact clearly was on a whole different level, causing the space around it to distort and bend strangely just from hovering there. When she inspected the cube with her vision power, it made even more sense.
Fragment of the Spatial Antithesis
{This cube is but a decayed fragment of the great Spatial Antithesis, an item from a lost age of immense power. In the hands of a capable sovereign, the original could alter the flow of time and space with near-limitless potential. Sadly, this fragment retains only a small portion of the power of the original, now only capable of teleporting the user and any around them anywhere they desire.
Remaining uses: 4/5}
"Have you inspected this?" Beth asked, jaw working as she stared at the cube.
"Yep," Blood replied.
"'Yep'? That's all you have to say?" Beth asked a bit more forcefully.
"I mean, it's cool, but it's broken. It's just a teleporter," Blood said with a shrug.
"Something tells me it's more than that," Beth said firmly, reaching out and grabbing the cube. Strangely, the broken bits and pieces moved with it as if they were still one piece, none of them floating after the cube or spinning around randomly. She tried putting the item in her necklace and found there was no resistance at all. For all its otherwise strange and unbelievable power, the artifact was able to be stored just like anything else while in its damaged state.