“Seriously, I have to apologize for everything that happened…”
“Come on Cloud, that’s enough. I get how these things go.”
Zeke had to once again reassure Cloud that everything was good between them. He wasn’t really frustrated. He understood just how bad Cloud must feel after everything that happened so far.
The two were by themselves in a room within the lord’s household. It was actually within one of the rooms nearby the Unity Core that settled the town where Zeke became a Lord in-name. Like the Unity Core, this room was also heavily warded with all sorts of enchantments and runes.
Though this room was heavily guarded from within rather than without, mostly to ensure security from the inside. The inside was bare for only the fewest of appliances. There was one section that had several monoliths drawn with intricate runes that Zeke can’t even fathom. He can tell that this was done by the work of several Runists, not by Cloud as there were hints of runist-related skill usages within the confines of the runes. There was also an array drawn on the stone floor, filled to the brim with ancient letterings that seemed to transcend even the runic language.
It had a power that dwelled within, a realm within those writings that encompass power beyond belief. Each letter had significant meaning that blew right past Zeke’s head, but it was enough to show that it represented ‘tranquility’ and ‘stability’.
This was the room that would help him break through to Journeymen.
Even Zeke felt oppressed by the room’s significance, but thankfully Cloud’s insistence of apologizing broke through his nervousness.
“I know you feel that way, but this isn’t right for me,” Cloud continued, turning back to Zeke. He had made some changes to the runes to the monolith, mostly to fit Zeke’s needs if anything else. “You and your family have done so much for our town. And the way I repaid you for that is giving you away to some lunatic with too much time on his hands.”
“It’s not like you intended for that,” Zeke said, gesturing with open hands and shrugging. “Besides, Cronus had a point. We can’t ignore the towers either. We were gonna go regardless. Once we settled down long enough to get used to Journeymen, we were planning on going around to find more towers eventually. Mikella and I decided on that when we noticed that the town would be safe and has the kingdom’s support. ”
“I see…” Cloud nodded, a smile slowly forming. “I understand now. But still… I wish things could’ve been better. If anything, I hated having to see Val and Ana separate from you two. And for me, I see you as a brother of sorts. I only want for you three to be happy in this world of ours.”
“I know,” Zeke smiled. Hearing Cloud call him a brother was gratifying. “At least we still got each other for support.”
“True…” Cloud nodded. The sense of guilt and anguish diminishing in his eyes. “You’re right. No matter how far away we are, we can always support each other. And knowing the two of you, I have a feeling that you’ll be just fine.”
“Once we get through this breakthrough, we should be more than fine,” Zeke said, looking back down on the runic circle. “Uhh… is this gonna hurt, though?”
“Oh, more than you can ever dream of,” Cloud answered with so much ease that it made Zeke turn completely pale. “Literally everything that you’ve been through is nothing compared to this. You should really pray that you’ll still be sane after this.”
“Uhh…”
“Okay, I’m just exaggerating a little,” Cloud smirked, which honestly made Zeke raise a fist at him, but held back his justified rage. Cloud raised his hands in a gesture of peace. “But I am serious that this is gonna hurt. Unlike the last breakthrough, this is basically peeling away every bad part in your body and the system coming in to reform what’s left of it with your own energy.”
“You mean the skills and attunement, right?” Zeke answered which Cloud nodded to. “But that’s not enough, is it?”
“Exactly. This is why the magical circle here is necessary. It’s to provide what’s left after all that from the surrounding air and the ground below. It’s based so that it would filter through as pure energy rather than just Mana. As you know, the atmosphere and everything around us has their own bit of energy, just not in the same way as our own bodies. Different forms of life, kinetic, and magical energy that can easily affect us. With this, it will help you in transforming your body.”
“Transforming…” Zeke muttered. “And Mikella? Why is it that she has to be separated from me?”
Zeke asked since when they were ready to break through, Val took Mikella away to their own warded room. Apparently it was for the female users who wanted to break through to Journeymen, something that Val took Myra into at some point while Piker used the room he was currently at. As for why they had to be separated…
“You two are going to be buck-ass naked while advancing to Journeymen. It’s only natural to separate you two, isn’t it?”
“R-Right…”
“Good lad. Now, get ready. Leave all thoughts out of your mind and focus only on your breakthrough. Here’s to hoping your Pain Resistance helps out at least a little.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Zeke grimaced again as he stepped towards the center of the magic circle. He could feel the energies surging within the circle, just waiting to be used on him. If anything, it looked like it could make him explode if he took it on now.
Zeke grimaced, knowing full well what he needed to do. So like ripping off a bandaid, he tore off his clothes into a neat pile, including his own boxers. Being completely in the nude now, Zeke closed his eyes. As long as Mikella and Val weren’t here, it was fine. Still, unlike other guys he could remember, he wasn’t the sort to get comfortable naked around others.
He sat cross-legged in a lotus position, his hands resting on top of his knees. As soon as Cloud told him to break through, Zeke opened up his status menu in his mind.
He knew this was about time for him to do so, but he still hesitated. But after knowing that Mikella would immediately do so, he picked Yes without hesitation.
Energy began to fill in his body, first slowly, like a tranquil river flowing through the stream. All three different channels in his body began to surge from the energy flow. He could feel them expand little by little, naturally becoming wider and sturdier.
That’s when the pain came in. It was unlike anything he felt. Contrary to the outside pain, this felt equal to his soul being enlarged against common sense. He felt something trying to strain his body further and further, far beyond what his body is naturally capable of.
It was the hands of the system taking care of his body forming, but it certainly wasn’t gentle. Almost like a robotic AI-controlled robot doing what it was told, ignoring the patient nearly screaming on the inside.
His mind toiled to stay focused, yet it felt like the system was ripping and tearing every single fiber in his body and soul, little by little–strand by strand, until everything was rearranged to be exactly as the system permitted.
The pain soon exploded all across his body, and he opened his eyes to find nothing but pain overwriting his mind.
He tumbled and curled up, screaming and gasping for air. He felt suffocated as though his insides were burning up every bit of oxygen in his body. Every pore of his skin burned unnaturally, and it only gave him the bearest of a clear mind to find out that something was dripping out of him.
It almost felt like blood, but it was something else. Black, brown, and yellow disgusting sludge just poured out of his body like sweat. It was viscous and jelly-like, slothing off of his skin from every part of his body. He didn’t even want to think about the bile and gunk he had in his body, regardless of whether he even ate anything of note.
He might as well be throwing up every single meal he ever ate in his life, in this world and out of it. Once the excess waste left his body, another form of pain entered through his body. It was scathing, almost like a pressurized heat trying to cauterize every part of his muscle and tendons he had. Even his very bones weren’t safe, starting to adjust and shift as he felt every creak in physical form.
This was his entire body reforming into something else. Something… perfect.
And he was paying for that on every level. His mind whirled, suddenly having a migraine that went beyond a mere headache. It was like his very mind was being affected as well, however surreal that felt.
Hours, perhaps days could have passed, but he knew it has only been several minutes since the process started. He already felt like wanting to end it all, but he persisted. Thankfully, he could scream his heart out, and he actually managed to not grovel and cry. At this point, he was glad that he had some form of dignity, forgetting the absolute mess he was leaving on the floor.
Then, as if the system planned this from the start–his mind turned entirely white.
*****
Zeke breathed harshly before getting up to his feet, only to find himself in an entirely white void that felt oh-so familiar to him by this point.
There was nothing beyond the horizon, and he swore that he would fall over if he hadn’t realized that the absolute whiteness under his feet also acted like a floor. Eventually his mind caught up as he recognized what he was doing before this.
He was advancing into Journeymen. Yet, he found himself here. As far as he recalled, he would land here whenever something was happening, getting him to go into the furthest point of his mind. There was also how Zoan brought them over to this kind of plane, proving further that this place was somehow special.
But he couldn’t put more thought into it as several notifications dropped onto his vision. Rather, it felt like it was actually existing outside of his vision, as though this plane is connected deeply into the system itself, thus allowing Zeke to physically feel the long glowing light-blue board with his own hands.
> Congratulations on advancing into Journeymen, Zeke Parlow. You are currently in a plane where it exists outside the temporal time of the Tarial System Interface. Here, you can choose which sub-race you wish to become.
Zeke widened his eyes. He thought the whole shebang of advancing into Journeymen would be more… intrinsic. This felt more like entering into a victory menu screen in a video game, and the game was asking him to pick which bonuses to pick for his new game plus mode.
Wait, was this actually happening to him?
Before he could go further on this stupid train of thought, a large list of potential choices for his sub-race appeared in front of him.
Well, large was a bit of an exaggeration. It was certainly larger than he expected, but it was vastly… narrow.
As in, all the choices here were the same. All of them were some variant of an Elf.
> -High Elf
>
> -Dark Elf
>
> -Wood Elf
>
> -Cave Elf
>
> -Sun Elf
>
> -Moon Elf
>
> -Night Elf
>
> -Day Elf
Zeke shook his head, trying to forget the last few ridiculous names for one of the elf variants.
He knew from his books that he read that there were plenty of different variants of elves, such as there are different variants of dwarves, and different variants for any kind of bestial creature-type race.
But normally picking a sub-race would include more options for a different race, not every single variant of the same race.
“What the fuck… Did I mess up somehow?”
Still, no matter how badly he messed up, he did intend on picking up a race of the fae, and elves were included in that. He wasn’t opposed to picking up an elf race.
But he certainly did feel a tang of bitterness to see that not a single one offered a race to upgrade his fighting skills. That was kind of a kick to the nuts, if he was honest.