Aaron had put everything into preparation for this and had no intention of failing.

  He could feel himself at one with his spirit in a way that he never had before, and limbered up as he stared down his prey.

  It might have been the avatar of an extraordinarily powerful god, but that wasn’t about to stop him.

  Alright, let’s get this done! It’s gone on long enough!

  Activating all of his buffing Skills, he flew into battle, throwing everything he had against the massive ogre.

  He drew on every energy source, and all whilst doing so, [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ] was converting energy into aether, which in turn was being funneled into his spirit.

  Meanwhile, his energy organs were cycling on overdrive, and energy from oversoaked adipose tissue was being drawn out to fuel the machine that was Aaron Dober.

  The aether he pumped into his spirit, the brighter it glowed, and soon he could see it shimmering with power.

  This was it.

  But as he threw out his punches, he noticed something else. Through all of his training, his spirit and mortal shell had become so entwined that their punches flew out as one.

  Feeling he was onto something, Aaron leaned into this as he pressed his attack, landing at the end of his combinations as he threw dizzyingly huge numbers of strikes to confuse his opponent.

  When his attacks landed, even he was surprised by the result. His fist slammed into Oozagh, and it actually managed to budge the massive ogre. It didn’t do much physical damage, but spiritual?

  The avatar had flickered, and he felt the energy drained from it. By linking his spirit fist with his physical, he had propelled it with extra force, increasing its power, and in doing so, its effectiveness against the big fella.

  Alright, I get this!

  ***Oozagh***

  The mighty ogre had managed to push the human back after their first engagement and returned with a flurry of his own attacks, but it was far from over.

  Aaron had returned so soon, and yet it was obvious that he had grown since the last time they met. What made it all the more surprising was that he hadn’t gained levels, or more importantly, he hadn’t gained a new Skill.

  Fighting the underleveled human was normal for Oozagh by this point, but he hadn’t expected him to be able to damage his energy so greatly without unlocking his level 35 Skill.

  His thick, cracked lips bent into a smile, and the ogre felt alive. Now this was an exciting pupil to have.

  It wasn’t just that the puny human was incredibly persistent, but that his persistence was not the persistence of a fool. Every time he stood before Oozagh, he was stronger than before. And the confidence he had to challenge him yet again in such short order excited the god of gluttony.

  But confidence without ability was stupidity. He almost laughed. How had he grown so much so quickly?

  He forced down a smile as he eyed the human’s preparations through his avatar. He was still small and runt-like, but compared to the disgustingly skinny thing he had seen before him when they first met? Well, it was a world of difference.

  In truth, blessing him had been a joke. A remnant from a wager made eons ago. A bet between himself and his uncle. He would bless any human stupid enough to try to stomach rotweed within the trials. It was the very reason his avatar ate the stuff on that early trial. And it was damn funny as fuck to watch people fall to the ground vomiting and rolling about. How weak humans were compared to superior ogres.

  The wager had been made back when Oozagh lent his strength to the creation of the Shadow Trials. And it wasn’t as if no others had tried. Many others had, in fact, and many had even received Oozagh’s minor blessing over the countless years.

  But none others had made use of it like this one had. That wasn’t to say that the human was the only runt still following Oozagh, but he was certainly the most interesting.

  He watched as the human ate a little more and grew a little larger, filling out his energy reserves for another round. But it wasn’t the power of his eating that intrigued him this day, even if it were the powers the human possessed that he was most proud of.

  At the human’s level, Oozagh knew none of the others within the trials could see what he did. But the gaze of a god peered through everything. And his eyes saw the shining spirit shimmering atop Aaron as if it were a second skin.

  He had felt the punch from that thing once already and knew it was incredible. He mused that Aaron might even be able to defeat some of the weaker gods in their final avatar forms, despite his pathetically low level. And that was remarkable to even consider. But he wouldn’t be a good patron god if he didn’t make the human earn his respect, and it would take far more than a single punch for Oozagh to recognize what Aaron had achieved.

  The human shot forward, swinging with incredible speed and accuracy. But that was only half of what made him impressive. In such a short period of time, he had learned to wield his spirit with almost equal skill as he did his own mortal shell.

  Oozagh had to hand it to that annoyingly finicky goddess; she had done well to train him so extraordinarily.

  But now it was his turn to test the mortal. Calling on the energy of his bottomless gut, he burped deadly fumes and followed up with [ World Splitter ], bringing his heavy double axe down and carving a line through the ground that broke rock and shook the atmosphere.

  But the ogre’s eyes widened a second later as one attack was literally canceled before his eyes, and the second had its energy disrupted so much that its fumes were entirely ineffective.

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  That’s one of her’s, isn’t it?

  But Oozagh barely had a moment to digest what he was throwing out, as through the mailstrom came Aaron, his fists already pummeling forward. He swung his axe around in return, activating [ Bursts of the Axe ], which sent compressed energy exploding outwards every time he swung his goliathian weapon.

  But every time he swung, the annoyingly evasive human wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He was always one step ahead, but Oozagh was used to that by now.

  He’s just like that nitpicking nightmare!

  He would show Aaron that a real warrior was about more than just evasion, and he continued his attack, drawing in ridiculous amounts of energy from his adipose reserves and eating prehistoric meat between swings of his axe.

  The human had come far, but this was Oozagh’s style, and none could out-consume the impressively gluttonous ogre, even if it was just a weak avatar version of himself.

  But then it came, flying through a myriad of attacks and defenses, a fist, and a spirit. He could also see the shimmering aether before it landed, and the moment it did, he felt the wind punched out of his avatar.

  It was incredible, and for a moment, the boisterous ogre was lost for words.

  His regeneration had stalled, and a massive chunk of his energy had been punched right out of him. Sure, the physical punch that accompanied it hadn’t left a mark, but it hadn’t needed to.

  Even sucking the meat free from a giant leg did nothing. It was still incredibly tasty; it had been cooked by Oozagh, after all. But energy-wise? It hadn’t done a thing.

  Another punch sailed through his defenses seconds later, and his avatar was flung backward as it reeled against its depleting reserves.

  Grunting, Oozagh flexed his muscles and fat, a specialty of the ogre, and they all bulged as he willed his energy organs to cycle once more. And it worked, but the human was so damn persistent.

  He didn’t let up for even a second, and with how well he dodged and evaded, Oozagh’s axe simply couldn’t slow the puny human down at all, and another punch came.

  “Argh!” Oozagh grunted again as he restarted his regeneration once more.

  It wasn’t anger, though. His eyes glimmered with excitement as he fought his pupil, but still, he would force this puny human to give him every ounce of power he had.

  Sending a shockwave blasting out in all directions, he finally hit the evasive human. But he returned from the dead faster than ever, barely stopping for a couple of seconds before he continued his attack.

  It was relentless. One attack followed the other with almost no interlude. Within seconds, Oozagh was on the back foot once more, doing everything within his power to restart his energy regeneration after being knocked offline time and time again.

  This couldn’t continue, he knew. Every attack blasted more of his energy away, and whilst he managed to recover a little between the engagements, it was a losing battle.

  “Bahaha! Marvelous!” Oozagh cheered as he swung his massive axe around. “Were I any other, my reserves would already be extinguished!”

  “Why are you so damn persistent, you bloody ogre!” The human barked as he swung his punches.

  “Me? Bahaha! You’re one to talk, human! Never have I witnessed one so damn stubborn!”

  Another punch landed, and he felt his avatar flicker and dim. It couldn’t take too many more. But he wouldn’t be a good patron god if this fight ended easily.

  “Die!” He roared, blasting Skill after Skill and turning the entire surroundings into rubble as he threw everything at the stubborn man. If he couldn’t survive this, he didn’t deserve to win.

  But of course, he could. And the human came flying through the air, smashing his fists against boulders as one limb wiggled limply and bloodily through the air, only to be healed back to normal as he descended.

  He looked like a madman. But madman with a mission. And that mission was to smash things with his fists.

  Oozagh sent out another blast that crushed his head, but it was back before he even reached the ogre, and what followed was a combination that left Oozagh’s avatar reeling backward, eating punch after punch until it was left with the tiniest sliver of energy.

  This time, the human didn’t need to be told to stop and held his last punch.

  “Impressive, for a skinny little runt,” Oozagh said, but what he didn’t say was that he’d be terrified of fighting the human if he were at the same level.

  To have come this far, at such a low level… I can think of only one other that compares.

  “So, good enough for you?”

  “Bahaha! I am glad I blessed you, tiny human. Your arms are skinny and weak, and your belly is pathetic. But your promise is unmatched,” his tone shifted from its useful boisterousness to something flatter. “You’ve done it. You bested me at such a level. I didn’t think it possible, and yet here we are.”

  “Yeah, well, I have an annoying habit of not giving up. Besides, Yendal gave me a quest, and I’m going to finish it, one way or another.”

  “A quest?” Oozagh’s brow perked.

  What is she up to?

  She had already one-upped him with the true blessing, and there was no way he would just sit by idly and watch her machinations unravel.

  No, he had seen enough. What Aaron had done was nothing short of incredible, and whilst he had his doubts previously, he now believed he would beat the asura.

  What monstrous power will he have once he has caught up in levels?

  It was almost frightening to think about. He was still an infant, and many, many boots could still snuff out his existence without effort. But if he were to reach his potential? It could be cataclysmic.

  There was only one thing to do. Sit back, watch, and eat shit tons of food as he enjoyed the show.

  Oozagh’s thick lips bent into a smile. “Bahahah! Excellent!”

  ***Aaron***

  Quest Received from Patron God: Kill Darius Nessar permanently.

  “Huh, what?” Aaron blinked as the notification appeared before him.

  “Bahah! You didn’t think she was the only one who could provide you with quests, did you? It is annoying, though. They cost me a lot of divine energy, and I have many, many nieces and nephews who expect endless quests to aid in their ascension. You better make me proud, puny human!”

  “Is that so?”

  Aaron couldn’t exactly complain, even if he was a little worried he was getting dragged back into a divine spat between gods. He had every intention of beating Darius regardless. A quest was just an added bonus.

  “Um, Oozagh.”

  “Yes?”

  “This quest, does it need to be completed in the trials?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I already planned on beating this asshole, but I only want to do it once. It would be a real pain to do it while he can’t die. Y’know what I mean?”

  Oozagh was already nodding. “There are no such conditions. Besides, it would be fun to mess with that cursed god. Bahah! Kill the necromancer, twig boy! And make me proud!”

  Oozagh's shadow began to dissipate, and Aaron realized he hadn’t yet asked exactly what god he was talking about. He would definitely have to next time he saw the ogre.

  Stage eight of [ Trial of the Challenger ] COMPLETED!

  You have tested yourself in one-on-one combat against a weakened shadow avatar of a god and have emerged victorious.

  Quest Rewards: Eyepatch of the Blind Monk [ Epic ], Dining Hall upgraded to level 8.

  Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!

  Ding!

  [ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

  31 → 32

  Patreon!