The flat plains of their last two trials had been replaced by hills. None of them rose particularly high, and the incline was far from severe, but it was still an annoying change as it limited visibility.
When it came to increases in complexity, this barely qualified. The zombies were still dumb. And they roamed in groups of eight or nine instead of assaulting in larger waves. Alex fought alongside his friends as they looked for the boss. The smaller groups of zombies let them keep Muhammad back as a lookout. The rest of them were able to focus more on putting down monsters while he made sure they weren’t ambushed.
Alex expected the boss would show its face as soon as Muhammad started fighting alongside them. To make sure they weren’t ambushed, Alex was taking on a greater burden to let his friends conserve their energy. The strategy was proving effective, with Alex’s Toughness so high that the zombies struggled to even slow him down unless they got a solid hit in.
They didn’t, of course.
The conclusion he’d come to after the last few trials and his experience in this one was that, at least at Tier 0, the normal monsters in Hard Mode trials were meant as a test for the team. The boss was a test for the Legendary Achievement holder. The team of a Prodigy needed to be strong enough to keep up, after all.
The problem was that Alex’s team was too low-level to churn through the zombies as effectively as he could. If he took a step back, he wouldn’t just be sacrificing contribution. His friends would find themselves pressed harder by the greater numbers, and more than one fight would’ve grown far more difficult for them when a second group found the battle. Considering how hard they’d need to push to kill zombies quickly and the number of minor wounds they’d take doing so, Alex was certain his friends would eventually tire.
Alex was almost looking forward to the trials they’d delve later in Tier 0. By the time they were level six; attributes, Mana Bodies, and years of training would make the normal monsters easy opponents. It still wouldn’t be the easy path to Tier 1 that Alex had expected, thanks to the boss fights, but they’d be close.
Inspire was quiet as Alex fought, just like the previous zombie battle. Striking down some weak zombies could hardly be considered a chance to demonstrate his greatness.
The Grand Mana Guidance had given Alex significantly more insight into his parasite. The mana needed to stay connected to him, or else it would be swept away in the energy that permeated the Ethereal Plane. Left to be eroded until it was just ambient energy. Alex would’ve been sympathetic, but the revulsion he felt when remembering the sight of mana tendrils snaking into his soul with insidious intent had only marginally dulled compared to the initial experience.
Inspire could rot, and he would be quite happy to see it do so. If it didn’t want to be used for his purposes, then it could rot sooner than planned.
Admittedly, Alex should’ve been focusing more on the zombies. They were quickly turning into boring enough opponents that his mind could wander while he went through the motions that had already proved effective. Alex had enjoyed the rush of cutting zombies apart with ease the first few dozen times, but it had quickly become monotonous.
The Trialbringer was just too condescending in its treatment of Tier 0s. Alex had the Hard Mode bosses to challenge him, but even those were meant for after he’d gained more levels. His Prodigy status was the only reason he was being pushed seriously, instead of allowed to walk over normal trials.
It was easy to see why the trials were so simple, not everyone was a combat specialist with years of training, especially not earlier in the Arrival. Still, Alex was already growing disdainful of Aspirant monsters after only a few days.
The group they were fighting was finished off, and Jess called for a break. No one sat down, but Alex saw that they were all showing signs of fatigue. Becca was the most obvious, breathing heavily as she took the opportunity to lean on her spear a bit. This had been the twelfth group they’d put down, and Alex was confident that the number of enemies would easily surpass what they’d fought in the last trial.
“Alex, I can tell you’re not taking the zombies seriously,” Jess accused, “You were practically drifting off that last fight.”
Alex frowned, “Was there a problem? Everything seemed fine.”
“No, but there will be if the boss shows up while you’re distracted.” Jess was definitely pissed off. Alex couldn’t really blame her, he was being incredibly arrogant, but he still fumed a bit at being called out.
“Don’t be so cocky,” Becca saw right through him, “Just because the zombies are easy for you individually doesn’t mean we’re safe inside the trial.”
“You’re right. It’s just…” he paused mid sentence. The words that he was about to say didn’t feel quite right. Without the Guidance active, he couldn’t actually feel the more subtle influences of Inspire, but he could feel when something wasn’t right.
Alex could already be plenty arrogant without Inspire’s help, but to this extent? He was being pushed.
“Is it an impulse?” Becca asked. She’d seen the frustration on his face, “Your aura isn’t active.”
Alex frowned. He hadn’t actually explained the more subtle influences after his Guidance was over. Everyone else had been incredibly satisfied with the day’s work by dinner, and he hadn’t wanted to ruin the mood.
Anthony, especially, had been over the moon at the progress he’d made in a single afternoon. He felt that he was closing in on the standard he’d need to inscribe something truly impressive, and had happily walked everyone through his idea of a potential Legendary Body if he could manage to acquire a mana type. His parents had been visibly proud, although Mr. Stirling had repeatedly reminded him to be careful.
Alex had decided to just enjoy the atmosphere that felt like it was nearly back to normal. His reassurances that the Guidance had been incredibly useful had placated everyone, and the knowledge that his plan to dismantle Inspire wouldn’t work had been even more reassuring.
The light at the end of the tunnel could be seen, with the Trialbringer’s rewards providing solutions to their problems. The treatment of Tier 0s wasn’t all bad.
Now, standing in the trial and facing Becca, Alex avoided making eye contact. She knew him well enough to see when he wasn’t acting like himself and immediately assumed the mana type was the problem. She looked ready to stare him down until he provided answers, and Alex finally had to admit that he should talk to her.
Would he have noticed how off the overabundance of arrogance was, without the others? His plan to actively resist the Inspire mana didn’t mean much if he just ignored the problem.
“Zombies,” Muhammad declared. Alex’s thoughts were interrupted as they went to engage. He’d worry about it when they weren’t fighting monsters. For now, it was time to focus on the trial.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
After a few more fights, the boss appeared. Luckily, it didn’t show up mid-fight. Instead, it came as they took a breather before setting out to find another group of zombies. The boss was a ghoul, and Alex quickly looked to see if his Sensitivity could discern anything about its Mana Body.
Without Inspire increasing his attributes, he couldn’t make out enough to get an idea of what he was up against. This ghoul acted as the leader of a group of nine zombies, but that didn’t necessarily indicate a specific set of powers. Something as powerful as a boosting aura was unlikely, but it could potentially enhance individual zombies.
Alex went straight at the ghoul, which was on the left side of its own formation. He reached out for Inspire, and it answered, giving him all the power he needed to defeat this monster.
Then, as he reached it, mana surged through its body as it flowed out of the way in an acrobatic maneuver that shouldn’t have been possible for a creature with bones. That explained what its Ability was. Alex turned after it, intent on pinning it down, but the ghoul had completely ignored him to move after his teammates who were about to reach the cluster of normal zombies.
Anthony was closest, and he had no time to retreat. He had no choice but to face the boss.
Alex’s aura was providing some help, but Anthony was still significantly slower than the monster. His spear wasn’t out in front of him fast enough, and the monster slid into his guard. Anthony mitigated the blow by moving back, narrowly avoiding Becca who had been next to him.
Alex attacked, moving to cut open the ghoul’s back. His eyes took in the monster, not seeing any active Enhancements. The brief boneless dodge was an Ability, then. The monster either didn’t notice or didn’t care about Alex’s aggression. He connected, and the monster staggered forward under the force of the blow.
It used that momentum to go right after Anthony again. He tried to push it back only to get his own experience with the monster’s slipperiness as it moved past his weapon to attack him once more. This time, Anthony didn’t make enough distance as he was off balance from his first dodge.
Alex quickly made it pay for the wound, but it managed to avoid a slash that would’ve crippled its leg using its Ability.
Alex was confused by the all-out aggression. It was behaving like a common monster when its Mana Body would’ve been better used by fighting evasively. The monster had locked on to Anthony from the start, as he’d been the one closest to it. Its dogged determination was just bizarre, but it had completely doomed itself with its tactics.
The monster didn’t relent. If anything, it was whipped up into a frenzy by drawing blood and leaped straight at Anthony. The man raised his spear in his own defense, but Alex noticed that his left arm was mangled by the ghoul’s claws. The ghoul wasn’t a Strength-focused monster, but it still pushed the spear aside on its attack trajectory.
Alex’s sword hit it in the neck. The monster’s Toughness was oddly low, evidenced by its head coming right off. The attack also knocked it off balance, but it still slammed into Anthony and started tearing at him.
Anthony fell to the ground, with the zombie on top of him. Bringing a sword to a fistfight would’ve been a great idea, but Inspire felt otherwise and Alex was hesitant to risk hurting his friend. He dropped his sword and dove right in.
The monster’s Strength wasn’t as high as Alex’s, Inspire seemed very happy over the opportunity to defend a friend and prove his dominance over the lesser being. The buff went higher than ever before, and Alex all but tore the already injured boss apart. Bones were broken as his fists proved tougher than its shins.
The boss’s death signaled the end of the trial. Alex had been fast, but his aura-boosted friends had fought to their limits to finish the zombies quickly.
As the rush of Inspire and his fury faded, Alex saw Anthony disappear. He didn’t delay a second before following him out of the trial. His friend didn’t have any wounds as catastrophic as what he’d suffered against the boar, but he was clearly in a bad state again.
It wasn’t even his own mistake. The ghoul had just been suicidally determined to take out one of them. Combined with the boar, it seemed like a theme. Hard Mode bosses weren’t meant to be reasonable.
Alex opened his eyes on the outside and saw Mr. Stirling already hovering over Anthony. He’d appeared only a few feet away from his friend, just like they’d been fairly close in the trial. There wasn’t a single wound to be found on his friend’s body, the high-tier intervention having removed any chance of the wounds becoming fatal.
Anthony had a far-off expression, staring past Mr. Stirling at the sky. His father was staring down at him with a bemused expression, surprisingly unconcerned by his son’s state.
A wave of healing washed over Alex, closing a few cuts and mending a few bruises from his scrap with the ghoul. Mr. Stirling didn’t look up as he healed, but did speak, “He fought the boss?”
“It fought him, more like,” Muhammad replied, “Alex had to chase it down because it refused to face him.”
Mr. Stirling looked a little surprised at that, but settled on a grimace as he stared down at his son, “Be careful what you wish for.”
“He wanted to fight the boss monsters?” Alex asked, surprised.
“He wanted to get hurt,” Mr. Stirling replied.
Mrs. Stirling came to a sudden halt right next to the rest of them. She’d clearly been approaching at high speeds, and wasn’t quite so equanimous as her husband, “Why?”
Alex was also wondering that, and he wasn’t alone. Mr. Stirling seemed to have picked up on something that the rest of them were missing.
Mrs. Stirling’s frown deepened after examining Anthony for a second, and she faced her husband with a scowl, “You knew what he was doing and you allowed it?”
Mr. Stirling went to respond, but a grin broke out on Anthony’s face before he could speak. Everyone’s attention was drawn to him, with looks ranging from confusion to annoyance to pride. The Stirlings hadn’t bothered to explain, but seeing Anthony’s triumphant expression gave Alex a good idea of what happened.
“I got my mana type!” Anthony exclaimed. He jumped up from his position on the ground as he spoke, clearly ecstatic.
“How?” Muhammad asked, a grin spreading across his own face at the announcement.
“Guidance,” Anthony replied, “I used Mana Guidances both times my dad healed me as I exited a trial.”
“His original plan was to throw himself in front of boss monsters like the boar,” Mr. Stirling sighed, “He came up with the idea to copy my mana during the boar trial, but needed to be injured for it to work. That’s why he stared down the boar.”
His wife looked even more upset at this explanation, but she let the healer explain, “I noticed him using Guidance when I healed him and pieced things together. He was using the danger to spur his soul into action, and it almost worked the first time. I convinced him that the trials were already dangerous enough without seeking out injury, and it seems I was right.”
“Did you intentionally draw the boss to you?” Mrs. Stirling asked, staring down at Anthony thanks to her position a few feet in the air.
“No,” Anthony replied, “Honestly, that was terrifying. I’d happily do it again, but still.”
Mrs. Stirling was mollified by this, at least enough to appreciate her son’s success.
The entire group wore bemused expressions at the news of Anthony’s risky plan. He wasn’t anywhere near as risk-averse as Jess, but it was still a surprise to hear he’d come up with such a reckless idea in the wake of Alex’s emplacement.
Several things made more sense in the light of this information, including the Mana Body Anthony had been working on. He’d been confident enough to already start working on the runes for a Body that required a mana type because of this plan. He must’ve known he was already close after the boar trial.
Congratulations were shared, and Alex didn’t even bother glancing at his rewards for a few minutes as they talked over what Anthony had received.
Common mana types would grant fifteen Connection as a baseline, but affinity with the type could improve that. Anthony was receiving nineteen Connection, and his father was acting as a mana siphon until he designed a Mana Body that could handle the excess.
While Anthony’s Capacity to Connection ratio was worse than Alex’s going purely by the numbers, the severity wasn’t comparable. It was far simpler to create a Mana Body capable of using twenty Connection worth of mana than it was to create one capable of using seventy. Tier 0 runes simply weren’t meant to handle that much.
The post-trial debrief was canceled, as Jess had agreed that there wasn’t much to go over after Anthony shot her a pleading look. It wasn’t a lie, the trial had gone quite smoothly outside of the berserk boss.
There was also Alex’s problem with Inspire-boosted arrogance. As Anthony headed inside, Alex made eye contact with Becca and could immediately tell that she had not forgotten.
It looked like it was time for a conversation he’d been avoiding.