I just... lie down. My vision still swims, the multiple system windows dance before my sight. I close my eyes. The haunting melody from Chaos's realm still echoes. It might end soon... I hope. Did we push our luck too far? Are we irreversibly damaged? No, he said he would consume us if we went too far. But what was the limit? Throbbing pain radiates from within my head and echoes all throughout my body. Urgh... I half reopen my eyes only to see the liquid I have just thrown up bubble away into smoke.

The windows are still here, the red-rimmed black window for completing Chaos challenge, along with multiple blue ones. It seems we got a few achievements with this singular trial.

The music changes, and one of the windows update. Mewtwo groans and look at me with barely opened eyes. Wait. The music changed? Wait what? I focus on the window now occupying the upper left corner of my vision. It... It is a music player. Hold on what?? I concentrate on the pause button and the music stops.

The silence is almost deafening. It throws us off hard. Mewtwo almost jolt up when the sound stops, and I freeze. I- What?

Were... Were you the source of... the source of this sound from the start? Mewtwo barely articulate.

I try to remember, during the start... the melody... eyes... faces... they scream... do you hear it?

I heave, my non-existant stomach twisting against the memory. No... The music was from the realm. But now I have it... on command? I focus on the pause button once more, and the music resumes. A small memory jolts down my mind. I open my main menu and sure enough, the once grayed out mention for music player is now accessible. Clicking it opens a new window with a list of about a hundred tracks from multiple artists. I stop it once more, no more music for now.

I then access my display options to remove the player from my sight, but seeing the options available, I opt to leave it as a small icon of a music not on the upper right corner of my vision.Should I focus on it, the player will restore itself and I can interact with it. That felt... weirdly instinctive.

"Guess we have music now..." I say half-sarcastically. I think two of these tracks will be left out of any near future playlists for now.

Mewtwo is back to sitting on the ground, holding his head in one hand and massaging one of his horns with the other. Let's enjoy this blissful silence for now... please.

I can only readily agree. Enough music for now. My headache has almost fully subsided. Time to look at these windows.

Achievement got: Your very first Trial!

(Complete any of the trials from the Trio (emergency trials do not count to this achievement.)

Reward: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candies L

Achievement got: Embrace Chaos! (Complete a trial of chaos. Bold.)

Reward: 1000xp; 5 Exp. Candies L, .1% essence

Achievement got: WITNESS ME!

(Witness, even partially, the true powers of one of the Trio and survive to tell the tale)

Reward: 50000xp; 10 Exp. Candies XL

Achievement got: Song of the sphere!

(Listen to the echoes of despair and remain sane)

Reward: Chaos's Mixtape N°4, 500xp, 10 Exp. Candies M

Achievement got: Your very own theme song!

(Acquire any music tracks and listen to it)

Reward: Music Player feature unlocked, 100xp, 5 Exp. Candies S

That is... a lot. It totals into more than fifty-two thousand points of experience, and I don't know how many levels for Mewtwo.

"That must be the most rewards we have gotten since we arrived here." I say to Mewtwo as I summon all the candies he just earned.

Good thing these do not give me stomach ache. He chuckles before wincing.

"You alright?" I ask, worried that he might have been more impacted by the experience than me.

The headache is persisting a bit, that is all. He rubs his right hand. Between his fingers, I can see the tattoo has gotten a bit more colorful. I take a look at my own hand and see the same thing.

The mark of Chaos etched upon our skin has turned from black to a dark wine red color. The change is barely noticeable at first glance but it is here. I look back at the achievements and look closer to the one about completing a trial from Chaos. Is the shift in color the sign that we have absorbed part of their essences? What will that help us for?

Wait, maybe the tutorial section has an explanation.

I look it up. It does have one, but it is a worrying one. Essence will be rewarded for each trials we complete, and will be necessary to complete certain quests. Welp... guess we'll have to take on every trials then. Another thing to add to the ever growing list of things to do.

I sigh, and look around. Nothing has moved, and time seems to have stopped during the trial. Did it though? It's not like I have been keeping perfect track of it.

Well, time to heed our sponsors advices and get stronger. First, point assignment. With the achievement from before the trial, I have fifty-five thousand points to distribute. So distribute it I do. Only to discover a limit of a thousand levels on each of the tier one upgrades. Even after all these upgrades, I have merely used a third of all the points I received.

Achievement got: Full efficiency!

(Reach 100% on all of your body upgrades. You now have the basic strength of your body unlocked. Have fun)

Reward: 5000xp

Uh? Wait so I was right on that one? My body was just locked behind limiters for some reason. But then...

I purchase the next tier of upgrades, unlocking the second tier of upgrades. They are somewhat cheaper, but require greater payment. The power, coolant, reactor and repair efficiency now cost 9 points of experience for one percent upgrade, a slight discount of one experience point compared to the zero point one percent upgrade at the cost of one experience point from the previous tier.

Strength, sensor suite, reflexes and resistance now cost five time more for ten times the effect. It might seem like a good deal, but the more I invest in these upgrades, the more I will need power to back it up. In a sense, I will need to upgrade the power and generator efficiency faster than my more physical attributes, of I risk running out of power faster.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

After a bit of thinking, I decide to upgrade power and and coolant efficiency. Once more I discover a hard limit of a thousand levels. I am still happy with my choice, they are the most important ones in my opinion. I distribute my remaining points almost evenly among my other upgrades. The final result is a total increase of 1100% in power and coolant efficiency, 300% for muscle strength and reflexes and 200% on everything else.

Happy with my choices, I turn around and land on the ground. Uh? I try to get up, only to catapult myself on the other side of the clearing, crashing into a tree. UH?

What is happening?

Astra? Are you alright? I hear Mewtwo call out to me from the the entrance of the clearing.

"Uhhh..." I have no idea what is happening. Wait! Oh no. Oh Trio no. I slowly, slooowly, push myself from the tree. And get up almost instantly. Oh Trio, this will take some time to get used to.

Astra? Mewtwo is approaching, floating toward me slowly. He seems... slow... I can somehow know he is approaching me cautiously, but it seems to be slower than it should be. Or is it? Wait it isn't anymore... What is happening?

"HeyIdidsomeupgradesbutitmighttakemetimetogetusedtoit." I tell him. The words come out so fast even I am surprised. He blinks and look at me in confusion.

I feel something brush my mind and he tilts his head to the side. Oh... Well I guess there is always a period of acclimatization eh? He snorts. Hold on did I just feel his powers touching my mind?

"Canyoutry- Can. You. Try. That. Again?" I try to slow my speech, and it comes out chopped.

Mewtwo obliges, and once more I feel the phantom sensation of something brushing me within my head. I shiver, and Mewtwo stops. Wow that feels strange.

"You tell me!" I exclaim, because yeah, that felt super weird.

Oh hey, I spoke normally! "Test? Test, test, test? Seems I cantalknormallyagain.Waitno. Test? Test... Test? And again? Okay... I think I am starting to get it." It requires some efforts, but I am starting to feel my new limits and how to modulate them.

This is going to freak out some of the resident if you start speaking at light-speed out of the blue. Mewtwo chuckles.

"Yeah I'll try to avoid doing it, it might be a good way to train my control though." I agree. "I might actually ask that pangoro for an actual fight to see how much stronger I got."

Maybe tell him to go easy at first. Wait, you upgraded everything right? How thorough is your repair system?

"Good question, wand to try it out?" I propose.

Mewtwo hesitates. And I realize what I have just asked. "Let's try with just a finger for now." I propose, holding my right hand forward. I extend my pinkie finger.

Mewtwo winces, but in the end, he accepts. He summons a psychic blade around his hand and, holding my right hand steady, slashes.

His blade collides with my finger, and stops. Sparks shoot out as the blade tries to cut through my now reinforced skin. He keeps going for a solid minute before giving up. Breathing slightly harder than before, he dismiss the blade and look at his work. Not a trace. Nothing.

Well your resistance upgrades are showing here. You should be almost impervious to most entities now. He notes, impressed.

I nod, looking at his level. Hold on, he is still level 40? "Did you not eat the candies?" I ask him, surprised.

Only the small ones for now. I am... afraid of what some moves might unlock on top of themselves. He reveals. He grabs the pile he had left when behind. All the M, L and XL candies are still here.

"Don't worry, I'll be here." I reassure him. "We'll always be with each other."

He smiles and take a deep breath. And start chugging the candies one after the other. With each one he consume, his level goes up tremendously. More and more, until he finishes the last one. 34 levels in one go. He is now level 74. He looks himself over, Physically, he is no different. Yet his eyes swirl with barely contained power. A blue aura seems to be seeping out of his body constantly. He breathe in, and the aura vanishes. He breathe out, and look at me.

Let me see that finger again? He asks, a mischievous smile upon his face.

"As you wish" I oblige with a flourish.

Much faster than before, he slashes. The blade collides with my finger once more. And once again it stops. Mewtwo is not holding my hand this time, yet I remain steady under his strength. Sparks fly out, and I see him tense with effort. He growls as he tries to get the blade through. Slowly, I can see the blade chewing through my skin. Once again, I am amazed at the absence of pain. Mewtwo continues his effort and finally, after two minutes, he does it. With a final scream, my pinkie finger goes flying. Mewtwo catches it in a psychic field and brings it back toward us.

Well, He huffs, I have cut it, what now?

I pluck the finger from the air, and wait. I do not reattach it, I just let it sit in my left hand, while I look at my right one.

Achievement got: Friendly fire IS on!

(Arm each others in any ways)

Reward: .1% Chaos essence.

Hold up what? Achievements can give essence as well?? I quickly return to the essence tutorial page. That line was NOT there before! But yeah, under very specific circumstances, we can receive essence as rewards for achievements.

The Trio really like to distill information rather than give us everything uh? I though the letter they wrote meant they would stop doing that. Guess I was wrong. Or maybe this is special knowledge?

I let it go and return my attention to my missing pinkie. It's back. Not fully yet, but the silver blood that runs through me has remade its shape and is already hardening. The skin cover grows back in seconds and I end up with a new finger, as functional as the previous one. Wow...

I even still have the previous one... Can I do anything with it? No. It just gives me the same description as the piece I collected back on the picnic. I set it down and watch it disintegrate into fine silver dust. The dust quickly disappear and nothing remains. Also? I have barely lost any power regenerating it.

Mewtwo also seems barely winded. Are we finally strong enough to stand against Eziakophael thralls?

We would need to find monsters and maybe get raided to be sure, but maybe we are finally ready? I can only hope so.

So we are stronger, faster and sturdier. Now we just need to advance the quests. And now that 'Mana Manipulation 101' is done there is... only one remaining? Uh?

Manasteel

The sturdiest metal you could ask for, at the start.

Obtain a 'Manasteel ingot': 0/5

Rewards: 40xp; 1 Exp. Candy M, Unlocks 'Chapter 2: Magic Shenanigans'

Uhuh... Hold chapter 2? Where did that come from? Oh wait, right, The quests we have been doing up to this point were from the first chapter 'the basics'... Dear Trio we should have worked on those so much faster than we did. Alright, time to speed up... I said that before right? And then got sidetracked. Uuurgh...

Alright, how does one make manasteel? Take an iron ingot, and drop it in a mana pool with some mana in it. Do I have iron ingots? Yes. Do I have five of them? Also yes, thank you past me. I take out five and hand a couple to Mewtwo. "Let's see if that works for both of us." I gesture for him to follow me.

We approach the still floating mana pool and I approach the ingot to the shiny blue puddle at the bottom. The moment the ingot touches the gathered mana, the not-liquid starts to imbue the metal, and soon my iron ingot turns blue. Its WAYLA description updates to manasteel ingot. We got one!

I let Mewtwo do the same with one of his, and the same result happens. We can both use certain mechanics as long as it does not involve crafting. Wait... I never tried to put down a crafting table... Could he... Argh! Too bad I am out of wood logs or I would have tried it.

We convert our five iron ingots into manasteel ingots and once the quest completes, we look at the new chapter. Just like the previous one, it opens with a singular quest that branches into many others. Unlike the previous one, there are more sidequests? I am going to call them sidequests. Little lonely branches not linked to the main quest. Some are unlocked, others are not. Our first new quest however, immediatly put a damper on our excitement.

Gem Hunting.

Yeah iron is nice, manasteel is better, BUT, you can find better. Oh yes, so much better. Time to mine deeper.

Obtain 'Diamond': 0/64

Rewards: 300xp; 5 Exp. Candy M

We need to return to the mines. But... Does the Sanctuary extends underground? Another thing I will need to discuss with Princess. Right now a couple other quests got my attention.

Free Mana Generation

Tired of flowers already? Or you need mana on the go? Try this for size!

Craft a 'Band of Aura': 0/1

Rewards: 100xp; 1 Exp. Candy M

Mana Storage.

Mana on the go, stored on you.

Craft a 'Mana tablet': 0/1

Rewards: 100xp; 1 Exp. Candy M

It appears the second quest leads to a more space efficient mana storage item, the band of mana. But to do either of them, I need a lot of materials, and one thing I, right now, have no idea how to get: a mana pearl. I quickly go backward trying to find out how to make it, and end up on an item called an ender pearl. Which can be made using different methods all ending up needing an ender pearl at the start. The only way to obtain one would be to find something called an enderman, and slay it. And I have no idea where these could even come from.

Still! We need to keep going. Now is not the time to loose momentum. What we will need are materials and better equipment. And a quick read on the lexica tells me why the quest asked for five manasteel ingots. Three need to go into the melter to become a new pickaxe head, allowing my pickaxe to regenerate itself as long as it has mana, and the two remaining ingots will go into making manasteel shears, which will have the same self-regenerating properties as the pickaxe. I even have a quest for it.

The shears will allow me to collect big mystical flower bushes for more petals, or maybe even better, grow a mystical flower bush and then trim it when I need it. I will have to try that when I grow one. Mewtwo is already working with his newfound paths and trying to complete his specific quests. We have goals, we need to move forward, and moving forward will require us to explore more. We nod to each other and prepare ourselves. Tomorrow will be busy!