While his progress up to that point had been swift, Alex found himself struggling to push through to a complete Refinement. The reason for that was simple, he just wasn’t good enough. His current method was clearly functional but the tiniest errors would immediately ruin his progress. By the time he reached around seventy percent completion, anything but absolute perfection seemed to cause an immediate fracture.

In this, it seemed, the assistance granted by his mana type wasn’t enough to help him. While the mana would follow his whims easily, it was difficult to moderate the speed at which the Refine mana spread. If his control was anything less than absolute, a sliver of the mana would push forward too quickly and the symmetry of the items would be ruined.

Maintaining that control over the mana was fairly simple at first but as the amount of mana he controlled increased, so did the difficulty. The escalation was not gradual, either. Even though the apertures were small, the mental burden when Alex reached the eighty percent mark was at least six times heavier than when he started.

There was a reason that people used Abilities and Enhancements instead of attempting to create magical effects freehand.

Even the assistance Alex’s mana type could provide wasn’t enough to make progress easy.

He explained the problem that evening, unsurprised when the others didn’t have many helpful ideas.

“Well,” Jess shrugged, “At least we won’t have to worry about running out of space in our packs.”

Alex had gone through almost twenty apertures that day, which wasn’t even a particularly fast pace. An attempt at Refining an aperture would only last a few minutes, while they’d been working for about ten hours. Even considering the time Alex spent helping to excavate entrances, it was hardly three apertures an hour.

It wasn’t like he needed to spend time recovering his mana, so the rest of the day had been spent on mana control exercises or taking breaks to avoid the buildup of a massive headache from his repeated exertion.

The evening passed quickly, with the tension in the group starting to relax slightly as their plan for the rest of the trial was decided.

The next day passed nearly as simply, with the group finally running out of space by evening. Alex was exhausted by this point, although he had continued to improve as the day progressed. With his last two attempts nearing ninety percent completion, he was in a good enough mood to fight off the need for rest. Still, he had a raging headache after two days spent training his mana control so much.

It wasn’t something he’d really experienced with the illusion chamber training at the Academy. The illusions were so good that his time in the Academy had resulted in very real skill, but it still wasn’t quite the same. That had left a few obvious flaws in his control, but it had benefits as well. Using his own mana to train left him drained mentally and physically.

Wanting to help the swordsman, Anthony made an attempt at preparing an Aspirant snake corpse over a fire; it went poorly enough that Alex couldn’t help himself. The snake had been cut into smaller pieces to make cooking easier, but the lack of both utensils and expertise

“It’s a good thing there’s a healer around if I’m going to eat that,” In truth, the parasites that could be found in some raw meats were definitely absent. The snake had been an Aspirant, after all. Even if he got food poisoning, Alex’s Neophyte body would fight it off without issue.

“I’ll be right here,” Anthony agreed, “You’ll be fine, probably.” The healer’s chuckle made it pretty clear that he also noticed the absurdity of Alex’s reflexive protest.

“Reassuring,” Alex continued to look down at the undercooked meat. Anthony couldn’t really be blamed for the poor preparation, it wasn’t like they could build a sizable fire with what they had on hand.

Raw meat might not be dangerous, but it was decidedly unpleasant. The fresh, mana-rich meat would be far more nourishing than the rations and he needed the energy. He knew that.

Still, he couldn’t help but shudder a bit as his brain filled in what the texture would feel like in his mouth.

“This is the last time we do a long trial without Becca,” Alex declared, unable to stop himself from buying time before he took his first bite. They’d barely spoken since she acquired Spark, but he had already come to the conclusion that she was a budding pyromancer who would make sure that he never had to eat raw meat.

Anthony sighed, his earlier mirth having faded as it became clear that Alex really was struggling to convince himself to eat the snake, “You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.”

Alex almost agreed on the spot, but he couldn’t get the words out of his throat. Was this really a step too far for him? He’d gone through the pain of both creating and later dismantling his aura, only to falter because he was a picky eater?

Another thought reminded him that deciding not to eat the snake wasn’t exactly a failure that would end his ascent, but it did little to reassure him.

This was good for him. The proteins, enhanced by the mana that suffused them, would help restore his energy in a way that his natural regeneration just couldn’t manage. He was still far too low level to overcome that weakness.

Before he could start worrying about the taste any more, Alex popped a piece of snake meat into his mouth and began to chew.

It was admittedly not as terrible as he’d convinced himself it would be. The texture was definitely unpleasant, and the taste wasn’t enjoyable, but it was barely palatable.

That wasn’t saying much. The snake had been exsanguinated, but not as thoroughly as most meats Alex ate, which made the process even more uncomfortable. The snake’s blood didn’t taste at all like human blood, but it was close enough that Alex almost retched when he felt some of the fluid on his tongue.

His high Perception made the experience much worse, as he experienced the small amount of blood in great detail. Not wanting to chew any more than he needed to, Alex swallowed.

“That wasn’t that bad,” Alex spoke aloud, trying to convince himself as much as the others, “One of us is definitely learning how to properly drain the blood from a monster after this trial, but it wasn’t that bad.”

Anthony winced, and Alex felt the healer’s diagnostic skill wash over him, “Sorry about that, I tried to get it all.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Alex shrugged, “I’ll be fine.” His earlier queasiness threatened to return even while he spoke.

Before he could think too much about the sensation of blood on his tongue, Alex tore into the next piece of meat.

A few minutes later, the meal was over. Not vomiting all over himself required a feat of will that pushed him almost as hard as anything else he’d gone through.

Obviously, the experience wasn’t as bad as some of the things Inspire had put him through. Still, it was just so gross. Alex shuddered, even though the food was already gone.

Washing his mouth out with water helped some, but the disgust with what he’d just eaten didn’t fade completely. Even worse was the fact that he’d have to do this again in the coming days.

“Okay,” Alex spoke after downing his third mouthful of water instead of spitting it out like the previous two, “That was awful.”

“Are you sure you want to do that again?” Jess had a grossed out expression that surprised Alex. He figured she wouldn’t be too affected by the meal, but she had clearly felt some sympathy nausea while he was eating.

“Anthony’s right,” Alex barely managed to quash the urge to groan, “I need to do this if I want to keep on training so much.”

“I’ll try to figure something out for tomorrow,” Anthony said.

“Thanks,” Alex replied, not wanting to invite any further discussion. The less he thought about it, the better.

The others clearly agreed with the sentiment, and the topic was quickly changed.

The next day, the group set out for the sixth gravesite. Alex was using the apertures nearly as fast as they got them, so limited space didn’t seem like it would be a serious issue. If he slowed down, they’d run out of space but for now, it looked like they’d be fine. They hadn’t even reached the halfway point of the trial, so Alex had plenty of time to burn through any extras.

Progress remained slow. Alex spent time considering potential optimizations, but couldn’t really think of anything. At the end of the day, practice and steady improvement were the best way for him to reach his goal.

Luckily, he didn’t have to be too patient. Years of work at the Academy allowed him to improve very quickly. His mana type and natural talent were also important factors, allowing him to grow quickly enough that his success within the next few days seemed inevitable.

Alex’s stomach pains continued to plague him, although they never seemed to strike while he was in the middle of Refining an aperture. They didn’t escalate any further, either. It was the same pangs resulting from small wounds in his stomach that healed in seconds each time.

By dinner, Alex and Anthony had stopped trying to figure out the cause. They didn’t have any way to investigate, with Anthony’s diagnostic skill failing to find anything wrong. They were always fairly close to each other, so both felt confident that Anthony would have plenty of time to react if something changed.

After eating, very little of the fire was left besides embers. The trio sat in silence around their makeshift firepit. Alex found himself thinking about what a stereotypical situation they’d found themselves in, a party of adventurers surrounding a fire. Predictably, this quickly turned into thinking about the group’s missing members.

He couldn’t help but imagine a similar campfire, in a world where he’d never discovered their planet’s loophole.

The familiar picture came together easily. It had been a common daydream for a long time, after all. Alex had known from a young age that he wanted to adventure across the continent, and he’d known for years who he wanted to do it with.

Although it was far from the most obvious difference, he’d always pictured the fire far less dim. Staring at the dying embers, he found himself doubting every step he’d taken thse past few weeks.

Had it been worth it?

Was the power he’d gained a good trade for the two missing faces around the fire?

Was he being just being dramatic? Muhammad’s disappearance didn’t mean he was dead, and Becca would be waiting for them outside of the trial.

“Remember our Sophomore tournaments?” Anthony’s voice interrupted the brooding atmosphere. Alex and Jess were both roused from their thoughts.

“The Fall ones?” Alex asked to clarify. The Academy held a few tournaments every year, but the Fall tournaments were the most important. It was the only event where students would compete across classes, allowing the occasional younger student to show up their seniors.

It was rare for anyone younger than a Junior to make the top ten in any category. There were plenty of early bloomers in the Academy, but when the older students were the best in the city themselves it was difficult to overcome an extra year of training and maturity.

“Yeah,” Anthony nodded as he spoke, “Remember how excited Muhammad was after the archery competition?”

“Not very well,” Alex admitted. The finals were the day after the end of the swordsmanship competition. Alex had taken second as a sixteen-year-old and celebrated with the older students who had been surprisingly fine with him beating them.

The healers on campus had decided to leave him with the resulting hangover to learn his lesson. Alex had recovered quickly, but Muhammad’s accomplishment of taking third in the Archery tournament was pretty foggy in his memory since Alex hadn’t learned his lesson the first time.

Even with the hazy memories, Alex remembered that weekend quite fondly.

Anthony snorted, “I guess you wouldn’t. Becca was so mad at you.”

“Yeah,” That part of the memory, Alex could live without remembering, “Why do you bring it up?”

“It was obvious the two of you were thinking about him,” Anthony replied, “I figure we might as well remember the good times instead.”

“That tournament was good for him,” Jess spoke up, “He was always so self-conscious when we were younger. Worried that he’d end up holding the rest of you back.”

Alex’s immediate reaction was to protest the idea, but he held himself back. Jess wasn’t looking for some unnecessary reassurance, she was just talking about Muhammad.

When Alex and Anthony both didn’t chip in, Jess continued, “It was a hard year for him. You were starting special training with the healers,” She gestured at Anthony a bit as she spoke, although it was obvious who she was addressing.

“All of the instructors loved to talk about how smart Becca is. And you,” Now she faced Alex, “Won every single one of the smaller tournaments and duels. It was intimidating, even as your friends. I was never too worried about it, but it got to Muhammad’s head.

“He trained so hard for that end of year tournament. Sometimes I think he took it more seriously than graduation. When he took third, it was proof that he could keep up with you.”

Alex found that he was lost for words after hearing the story. Anthony clearly hadn’t expected it either, because the group fell into silence for a few seconds.

Alex didn’t feel like his opinion of Muhammad changed, now that he knew this. They’d been close friends for years, and everyone felt insecure about something. Still, it was something to think about. How hard his friend had worked, and how much success had meant to him.

In that moment, he decided on something.

“We’re going to find him, eventually.”

“We don’t even know if he’s alive,” Jess sighed, “Don’t say things like that.”

“He is,” Alex insisted, willing his words to be true while he spoke them, “The circumstances were too bizarre. The Trialbringer wouldn’t have stolen his corpse if he didn’t survive. He’s alive, somewhere. The Stirlings just didn’t want us to get our hopes up and then get let down.”

“Even if he’s alive, he might not be on Earth,” Alex could hear that Jess was on the verge of tears again thanks to the topic of conversation, but he knew that he needed to say this, so he continued.

“Then we’ll ascend and search the realm for him. It doesn’t matter where he is, we’ll find him.” Alex had never really had problems with finding motivation, but as he spoke he found out something new about himself.

The goal of finding Muhammad lit a fire in him that saving the world never had. While he spoke, he went from trying to convince himself to believing it wholeheartedly. Someday, he’d find the archer. Their plans to adventure together had only been delayed.