Alex’s afternoon was less fruitful, as his bountiful experience with illusion chambers proved completely useless. He had expected his familiarity to result in easy progress in learning to see through them but had found himself stymied at every turn. Knowing he was inside an illusion had done very little to help him escape it. Mrs. Stirling had provided next to no help, just telling him to try and break out of the false sensory input.
The illusion had been incredibly boring, placing him in an empty field.
His mind wandered as he failed again and again to pierce the illusion. Eventually, his thoughts turned towards his struggle with Inspire. There wasn’t anything new to consider on that front, and he moved on to considering mistakes in the boar trial and how they could be fixed.
Would you like to use a Grand Mana Guidance to better understand the mental influences of a high-quality mana type?
Yes/No
Alex frowned, that seemed like a waste. Why was the Trialbringer making the offer?
He declined and pushed the prompt from his mind, focusing back on attempting to pierce the illusion.
As the afternoon came to a close, he had no idea where he could make any improvements. He had been certain that Mrs. Stirling meant for him to peel apart the illusions with his magical senses. No illusion was perfect, and using slight flaws to pierce the veil should be possible. The afternoon had sapped his confidence in the theory. Mrs. Stirling hadn’t left any defects that he could find, and his brain wandered in circles enough that he came up with several reasons that his theory could be flawed.
This frustration led to him staying quiet during dinner, as he tried to piece together why piercing illusions would be important to his mental resistance. If he could figure that out, he might be able to reverse engineer a method to break through the illusions. As things stood, he didn’t have any solution to the problem.
Everyone was feeling tired after a day of training. Becca and Anthony had both gone through with the removal of their initial Mana Bodies. Becca had already managed to inscribe an Agility Enhancement to replace it and reported a bonus of five points, bringing her up to eight. Her base Agility had only been two, meaning that she’d quadrupled the attribute in less than twenty-four hours.
She wouldn’t actually be able to move four times as quickly, as attributes didn’t scale that precisely. Still, even with her Perception too low to make full use of her Agility she’d be in a much better position for their next trial.
Anthony had managed an Enhancement that added two Toughness, which was still impressive for only a day’s work.
“It’s time that we talk about your upcoming trials,” Mr. Stirling stated, “The trial reshuffle has made beasts less common, with goblin trials more plentiful to the East and undead more common to the North. We can head west to pit you against beasts, but we’re already noticing an increase in the pack hunters.”
Alex frowned at the news of undead trials to the North. Those trials had been rare, but they were considered some of the worst you could find at Tier 0, as the undead were carriers of disease. Even minor scratches from a fingernail or claw could quickly grow infected, and cleaning out every wound in the middle of a trial wasn’t always possible. Even proper treatment didn’t always prevent infection, so adventurers almost always avoided undead.
Defense Forces groups that had to clear undead trials would always bring one of the city’s Tier 2 healers along as they did a wide area sweep. The infection didn’t progress fast enough to become a problem before the trial was over even for Neophytes. Only Attuned had to worry about fast-acting necrosis and the only undead Attuned trial the city knew about was far enough North that the Liches would claim any overflow monsters for their hordes instead of letting them fruitlessly assault New Chicago.
That might not be true anymore if Mr. Stirling was noting that the trials were now far more common.
“It has to be undead,” Anthony stated, “The monsters are weaker than beasts, and less organized than goblins. Besides, we don’t have to worry about their biggest threat.”
“Tier 0 goblins are rarely organized,” Jess pointed out, “and even the ones that are equipped with weapons will be at an absolute disadvantage when it comes to reach.”
“Hard mode trials are different,” Becca stated, “Tier 0 goblins will frequently follow a loose tribal structure, what if the chieftain has actual intelligence?”
Jess frowned at that, “True, but the same can be said of undead. The boss of those trials is normally a dumb ghoul, but what happens if it’s a ghoul who can direct the zombies?”
Alex frowned, ‘I think you’re missing Anthony’s point, Jess.”
Jess looked over at Alex when he spoke, and he nodded to Mr. Stirling, “Even if infection starts to spread, it’s gone as soon as we leave the trial.”
The group’s original plans had involved avoiding undead before Tier 1 when Anthony would have the Abilities to mitigate any necrotic poison or disease. Those plans hadn’t accounted for bringing along the city’s strongest Tier 3, or the undead trials growing more numerous.
Tier 0 zombies were rarely stronger than an untiered human, making them individually less threatening than boars. To compensate for their lacking power, undead were naturally harder to put down than most monsters, as they were animated by magic and didn’t have much need for their vitals.
“I came to the same conclusion,” Mr. Stirling nodded, “Jess is right that the ghoul leader may be intelligent, but I don’t believe it will act like a commander. If anything, it would command waves to assault your position, but it wouldn’t be smart enough to bring an all-out offensive.”
Jess agreed at this point, and the group discussed what tactics they could use against zombies for a while. The monsters could appear solo or in groups, but Hard Mode was unlikely to be so kind as to pit them against individuals.
The tactics would be very different than they had been against the boars. Facing down a shambling zombie was both safer and easier than standing in the way of a charging boar. Wiith their Enhancements, Anthony and Becca would be able to fight more directly.
They’d have to worry about being surrounded or just overwhelmed with numbers, something that the boars hadn’t been able to do. Still, Alex felt that the trial should go better than the boars.
That was mostly because of the improvements they’d made. Alex wouldn’t be significantly more effective, but he didn’t need to be. They were going in with more power, a greater understanding of Inspire, and slightly more experience.
The boar trial had gone poorly enough that just a mediocre performance would be a marked improvement.
The group moved to the living room, but there was no move to play foosball tonight. “What about Alex’s rewards?” Becca asked as they sat down.
“Damn, you’re right.” Jess sighed, “If we spread the contribution too thin he won’t get as much Capacity.”
“If he gets Capacity at all,” Becca added, “If he doesn’t stand out enough, he might get downgraded to a Lesser Guidance.”
“I can fight on my own again,” Alex reasoned, “Take out smaller groups solo and we’ll handle the real threats as a team.” He wasn’t a big fan of keeping the rewards for himself, but he did need the Capacity. Any attempt to argue against his hoarding contribution would be shot down, so there was no point trying.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“That’s a bad idea,” Muhammad disagreed, “That’s just asking to get swarmed, and it wastes your aura.”
“The rest of us will just have to fight defensively,” Jess reasoned, “If you finish off most of the zombies, you’ll be a significant contributor.”
“Are you sure that’s good enough?” Becca asked, “If he only gets two Capacity, it throws the math off on when he’ll have enough to survive his Connection.”
“It’ll have to be,” Jess said, “Inspire isn’t reliable enough to have him constantly fighting by himself. It was fine against the boars because he didn’t need the boost to at least avoid them. Zombies are slow, but there will be too many for him to handle alone.”
The Stirlings were staying silent for the most part, Alex noticed. They hadn’t chimed in at all for the strategizing, letting Jess hash out a general plan while Becca, Alex, and Muhammad pointed out possible issues. He was interested in hearing their opinions on how the trial should be approached, but he knew that planning was a part of the trial’s contribution. Coming up with their own strategy would give better rewards than following instructions.
“I agree,” Muhammad stated, “We can’t focus on Alex’s Connection so much we ignore the danger of individual trials.”
That argument brought Becca on board. She hadn’t had a solution to the problem, and Muhammad’s proposal worked quite well. “I agree,” Alex stated, “We focus on using the best tactics for the next few trials. If I fall behind on Capacity, I’ll attempt a near solo when we have more power to work with.”
Jess nodded, “I’m unsure how much I like the idea of you attempting a near solo, but we’ll worry about that if it becomes necessary.”
No one disagreed, so Jess continued, “We’ll fight defensively. Trying to cripple so that Alex can monopolize a good amount of finishing blows. Muhammad will take a similar role as last night, but he’ll be drawing zombies over to our full group.”
Things quieted down after that. Alex’s thoughts drifted back to the illusions, and he managed to make eye contact with Mrs. Stirling.
She shook her head, “You’ve done plenty of training today, Alex. Take a break this evening. I have my own work to do.” She got up after saying this, wishing them a good evening as she left the room.
Mr. Stirling left soon after, “I doubt you all want an old man around. Make sure you’re not up too late. We’ll head out for the trial in the morning.”
Alex was aware that the couple still had their Domains, so privacy wasn’t a guarantee, but it was still nice to have the room to themselves.
There was a slightly awkward silence, broken by Becca, “Alex, about the mana type.”
Alex wasn’t entirely certain what she was going to ask, but he didn’t feel up to the conversation after the afternoon he’d had, “I really don’t want to talk about it.”
Becca didn’t push him, but she did lean further into his side. It was reassuring, and Alex appreciated the contact. No one spoke up immediately, and Alex felt a bit guilty, “Look, today was better than yesterday.”
There was a bit more silence, but when Alex didn’t elaborate Muhammad changed the subject, “Anthony, you’re quiet tonight. You doing alright?”
Alex had also noticed their friend’s absence from the conversation. Anthony wasn’t big on tactics, but not contributing at all felt odd. He should’ve at least chimed in a few times, but he’d only nodded or given monosyllabic answers all evening.
Anthony just shrugged, “I didn’t have much to say. You guys covered everything.”
“It’s still good to hear your opinion,” Becca argued.
Anthony nodded, “I agree with you that we need to make sure Alex gets a high contribution score. It’s unlikely the rest of us can receive that much better than a Lesser Mana Guidance, and if there’s a threshold to receive attributes instead we don’t want to cross it.”
“Lesser Mana Guidance isn’t that helpful,” Becca disagreed, “It’s not going to get you a mana type unless you’re already very close.”
Anthony nodded, “Yeah, but we all have Rare Achievements already and hope to upgrade them before tiering up. The Lesser Guidance can set a foundation to make better use of the better rewards if nothing else.”
“You’re talking about Hell Mode?” Becca focused on the beginning of his statement. There were only so many options available for upgrading Achievements.
“That’s probably the best way to do it,” Anthony replied, “We aren’t ready to try it now, but we’re already making improvements.”
Alex had similar thoughts on the topic but hadn’t expected for Anthony to be the first to voice them. They hadn’t talked about it, but he was certain they weren’t the only two who were considering Hell Mode.
“I agree,” Muhammad chimed in, “That Legendary Achievement is a big deal.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Becca disagreed.
“It’s a decision to make later,” Jess said, “We’re going to get a lot of power these next few weeks between leveling up and using Trialbringer rewards. Even Lesser Mana Guidances can lead to a mana type if we get five of them.”
“I only received Skill Guidance,” Muhammad reminded her.
Muhammad’s reward hadn’t matched Jess and Anthony because his performance was evaluated below theirs. Jess had commanded the team and Anthony did a massive amount of damage to the boss. As a result, Muhammad received a Lesser Skill Guidance. It was the single least valuable guidance the Trialbringer gave out but it was far better than nothing.
“We’re not going to keep on getting Mana Guidances,” Becca argued, “That was because I didn’t receive any reward.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Alex disagreed, “It’s at least worth keeping in mind.”
The Mana Baptism that Mrs. Stirling had used to evolve her mana type into Creation was almost certainly a reward from a Hell Mode trial. Alex had always thought it odd that she’d managed to get something that good, but it seemed rather obvious with the information he now possessed.
“Legendary Achievements can have a real impact on the Competition,” Muhammad added.
“Tier 0 Achievements are worthless at this point,” Jess disagreed, “Alex’s Unique Achievement was a big deal, but even if all of us get Legendary it won’t get us closer to second place.
“Earth is in third?” Alex was surprised by the news.
“You haven’t checked the rankings?” Becca was obviously surprised, which was understandable. In any other circumstances, Alex would’ve checked immediately. The sheer chaos of the past day had let it slip his mind. He quickly went to check, how was Earth still third after nearly forty years out of the competition?
Competition
Competition Points can be gained in several ways. Variant, single-attempt trials will spawn on a Competitor planet's surface and can be cleared to raise your planet's score.
Competition events are an opportunity to gain a large number of points. Only the most talented Pathwalkers will be allowed to enter events.
All Achievements Epic or higher are rewarded with Competition Points. The amount of points increases at each tier. As an Aspirant, your Achievements are rewarded as follows:
Epic: 1 point
Legendary: 5 points
Mythic: 50 points
Unique - Planetary: 100 points
Unique - Cluster: 500 points
Unique - Realm: 10000 points
You have earned 10656 points.
The number of points didn’t scale linearly, but it was easy to see why. Going from Epic to Legendary was far easier than going from Legendary to Mythic. As for Mythic to Planetary, most Mythic Achievements gained during the competition would probably get upgraded. It made sense for that to be the smallest increase.
Alex was interested in learning how the points scaled each tier but decided to check the leaderboard first.
Competition Rankings
* (Home): 623474
The first place planet’s name was written in a hieroglyphic language, and Alex didn’t have any frame of reference beyond the translation. He noted that there were several triangles in the glyphs. There were enough characters that he had to assume the Trilabringer simplified the meaning significantly. The number of points this planet had earned was ridiculous. Did the higher tiers scale that sharply?
* (Sanctuary): 497285
This world’s name in its native language could be best described as a mountain with three distinct peaks. The peaks were all nearly the same height, with the leftmost one reaching the highest.
* Earth: 173296
That was a large difference. Alex’s Achievement alone made up more than 5% of Earth’s total points, but it was only a tiny fraction of the distance between them and Sanctuary.
“What’s this gap?” Alex asked, “How did any planet get that many points?”
“It’s the Competition events,” Jess replied, “Mr. Stirling said that Earth was at the top for the first century, but we fell behind because no one entered the major event that was held after 100 years.”
That made sense. If anything, Earth’s performance seemed pretty good if they were approaching 100 thousand just from Achievements. A large portion of the points must’ve come in the early days of the Arrival. Epic Achievements were incredibly rare, but there had probably been thousands of them across Earth’s billions of humans.
“Tier 0 Achievements are useless,” Alex noted, “I still agree Legendary is worthwhile, but even my Achievement isn’t a difference maker for the Competition.”
“Legendary Achievements grant access to the events,” Muhammad disagreed, “There will be another major sub-competition in around fifteen years. That’s Earth’s chance to get back on top.”