[Performance assessed]
[Skills demonstrated:]
[Staff Combat - Basic, Upgradeable. 3→4 /10]
[Endurance - Basic, Upgradable. 5/10]
[Ability to push the body past its limits, through pain, fatigue, and damage. Decreases physiological effects of pain, lowers perception of pain]
[Title acquired (2)! Complete round to claim.]
That one’s a good one, he thought as he dragged the spider’s corpse back into its lair on one leg that could barely bear weight, and after gathering up his pack and weapons, carefully replaced the “trapdoor” of the cave, and sat in the darkness in his new base.
The scent of the spider should keep other predators away, at least for a while.
He had gotten a decent look at the cave when the “door” was open, and while it wasn't exactly big, it was certainly bigger than he expected, and thankfully, stone. It was a chamber maybe 10 feet wide, and the only decorations of the bare stone was moss on the walls, and the mummified corpses of half a dozen small mammals that must have been the spider’s former meals. And now the spider, of course.
I can deal with those tomorrow, he thought as he took off his pants to clean and dress his leg wound which wasn’t particularly deep, and was thankfully clotting. The Spider probably only had venom on its fangs.
That finished, he sat down to meditate and start to sort out his mana, and immediately lost consciousness.
********
He woke up an indeterminate amount of time later in the pitch dark, bleary eyed and very sore.
What happened? Was I poisoned after all?
He frantically checked his wounds, all healing nicely, and crawled to the cave’s entrance to make sure the ‘door’ was undisturbed, which it was. Shaking, heart pounding like a bass drum, he pulled up his status and stared at his health, tersely waiting out the minutes it took for the percentage to tick up from 43 to 44 percent.
I don't want to die, he thought, as he wrapped his arms around his legs, relief flooding him. I can’t. Humanity can't count on any more second chances. I have to assume I'm it.
He sat like that for a moment, before realization buried his head between his knees. Oh god. I just fell asleep. It had been subjective years since Ari had possessed a body that needed to sleep. Somewhere in the chaos, he had forgotten that it was a thing humans normally needed to do.
How much time did I lose?
[Primary Objective: Survive at least 2 weeks]
[Time to completion: 12 : 20 : 35 : 17]
Okay, twelve days, 20 hours left, and it was still light outside when I passed out, so at least 14 hours? Sounds right. I probably pushed this body further than was smart, I'm still in pretty bad shape.
Long-buried memories of cheap, greasy food, sedentary days, and long sleepless nights fueled by friends and alcohol danced at the edge of his consciousness. He artfully ignored them. He also ignored the shooting pains in his stomach reminding him that he hadn’t eaten in 28 odd hours. What he needed to do would be easier with an empty stomach.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He gathered up his scant belongings, dusted himself off, and left the safety of his cave.
**********
It took him roughly an hour to limp his way to the stream, clean himself up and fill up his canteen, then begin to limp his way back. His leg was healing significantly faster than it would have on earth, but still agonizingly slowly to Ari.
I miss my healing spells, he mused as he made his way through the tranquil forest. The system sped up healing to the point where basically the only ways to die outside of combat were poison and curses, which was a blessing, but he was used to knitting people back together with a thought.
He made it back to the cave unmolested and settled down with his back against the wall, breathing in and out, slowly.
I never thought i’d say this, but thank god for that Orc Shaman’s curse way back when, otherwise i’d have no idea how to do this.
The outside world slowly faded away as he centered himself, and once again took in the polluted swamp that was his body. He narrowed his focus until he found his core. It took him significantly longer to find than he expected, and his brow wrinkled in consternation, but eventually he found the tiny, radiant mote of light a few inches to the left of the dead center of his abdomen, where he had been looking.
Why did my core move?
No sense worrying now. He focused on the light in his pinprick core, and made it swirl, rotating it faster and faster. The world around him continued to fade as he dove deeper into himself. That pinprick of swirling light became his focus, then his life, then his world. Then, ever so slowly, it grew.
Mana begets mana, life begets life.
The mote of light grew until it hit an impassable wall, straining against the pollution around it, penned in by the stagnant mana that filled him. He examined the mote with pride, as tiny an accomplishment as it would have been to his old self. The mana inside wasn’t clean, by any stretch. It was still muddy and stubborn and difficult to control, but it was cleaner. More dilute.
He kept his muscles relaxed with all the willpower in his body, giving everything he had not to brace for the pain that was coming.
He gathered up the mana in his core, and splitting off about two thirds of it, set it spinning and sent it burrowing down out of his core, through his diaphragm.
An icepick slammed into his brain as all the nerves in his lower half went haywire at once. His brain pitched a fit, convinced it was being murdered in four ways at once as it tried to get him to move, do something, anything to stop the pain.
He gritted his teeth and held firm, head throbbing and heart racing. This pain was nothing compared to what he had felt, would feel again in the defense of humanity. Also, if he stopped here, doing it the next time would be even harder, as his mana would carry all the grit and grime it picked up with it if he lost control and it snapped back to his core.
So, he persevered.
The slow churning drill bit of mana carved its way down through one of his mana channels, picking up everything it could and leaving a clearer path in its wake. It raked across his nerves as it made its way down, through his pelvis and down into his leg, where it rested in his thigh, twice the size it had started.
Homestretch.
He gathered himself up for one last push, and holding his breath, he forced the mana up through the inches of tissue that separated the mana channel from his skin.
He opened his eyes to watch, vision blurred by tears, as black beads of liquid issued up through his leg wound and onto the surface of the scab that had formed. As the black liquid bubbled and steamed on contact with the air, dissolving into acrid smoke, the wound on his leg healed at a visible rate, the swelling going down and the tissue under the scab knitting itself back together.
When all the mana in the plug was gone, he relinquished control and slid down to the ground, laying on his back and shuddering in relief, tears rolling down his cheeks.
He felt… incredible.
The high after that amount of pain dissipated all at once was blissful, a torrential flood of endorphins.
He flexed his leg and stomped it, pleased with the mobility. It wasn't completely healed, but it should be able to bear weight.
Moment of truth, he thought, as he reached for his canteen and pulled up his status, ignoring the notifications vying for his attention.
Status
Ari Carlson - Baseline Human
Health - 56% / Stamina - 85% / Focus - 62% / Mana - 02%
Perfect.