Aaron was a little surprised by what Mo’han had said, but then again, it wasn’t a big deal. After all, he still had level 35 dangling over his head. Duel now would have been nice to test himself, but there was a pretty good chance he wasn’t winning until he got that Skill, anyway.
Gauging the remaining power difference between them would have been nice, but it was far from crucial. Besides, he believed in his own power, and the only way to improve that was to keep getting stronger.
With that in mind, he waved Mo’han bye after a short catch-up. He had three more levels to gain, and he figured he might as well knock out some lower-level trials for some quick experience. Once he was closer to level 35, he could tackle something difficult for the final run. Not that he really needed to.
The asura had also told him about his quest. They shared some details and suspicions about them, but that was about it. Neither had any intention of going against their patron god’s wishes, but it was curious that they had both been pitted against one another. Especially Mo’han.
It made much more sense for Yendal to challenge Aaron against the sector’s strongest. And as much as Aaron wanted to think highly of himself, he wondered if it wouldn’t make more sense to tell Mo’han to beat the second arrival?
That’s Mandor, right?
He thought about the insectoid momentarily. He might be strong, but he probably didn’t stand a chance against Mo’han.
Returning to his thoughts about progressing, he felt that his spirit punch was well enough figured out that he would be well rewarded by the System regardless of how he earned his experience. However, challenging himself might just help push the rarity up a little higher. Although, in saying that, everything was theoretically a challenge in here for Aaron.
There wasn’t too much thought that went into picking the following trials. He just wanted to clear out some of the earlier stages. Both because it should be a relatively quick experience, and because he wanted to beat as many trials as possible before leaving.
Stepping into the fifth stage of the Trial of Travels, he stretched and prepared for a race.
The trial was flight-based, and he had to compete against sky serpents. Not dragons, sky serpents. Like titanic eels that swam through the sky. They also had nasty poison and electrical powers, and weren’t shy about using them. Not only that, but they were natural creatures of the sky, and far more adept at flying than Aaron was.
Through his Skill, Aaron could essentially fly, but his skill at it really didn’t compare to the sky serpents. However, he had a punch of powers that could help him, and near-endless energy thanks to his build. Also, he cheated.
You see, it wasn’t just a straight race. No, there were checkpoints. And like anything, they used energy. You had to go through these floating checkpoints and make them turn from red to green for the race to acknowledge your progress.
This was great for Aaron, who discovered that he could use his spirit powers to disrupt the mana within these checkpoints and turn them offline.
With the sky serpents unable to register the checkpoints and continue the race, it was rather easy to coast to the finish with [Gust Step].
They got a little pissed and shot electric and poison attacks, but when Aaron dodged and continued jumping out of range, they returned to frustratingly trying to activate the checkpoints, and he was able to escape. Clearly, they either didn’t have much intelligence, or the trial magic or whatever it was, had clear instructions for the sky serpents.
Still, it wasn’t that easy, and he actually had two failed attempts before he figured out his little cheat. The unusual part about the trial was that he didn’t actually die in his failed attempt; he just lost the race, and by doing so, the trial.
Honestly, it was very weird to fail a trial without dying, but it wasn’t like he was going to complain about it.
Stage five of [ Trial of Travels ] COMPLETED!
You have tested your speed and agility against the fast-flying sky serpents of Kilawakra and managed to beat them to the finish.
Quest Rewards: Schematics: Griffon Breeding Grounds [ Elite ], Viewing Room upgraded to level 5.
Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!
“Huh, griffons? That’s… that’s bloody awesome,” Aaron nodded as he quickly read the explanation.
He wasn’t much of an animal guy, but griffons? They weren’t exactly household pets, and if one day he could breed them and ride them, well, that was pretty cool.
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But it wasn’t quite that simple. First, he needed a base with System-claimed land, just like all of the base-related rewards. Not only that, but he would also need somebody with the Builder Profession to build it for him.
He kept reading the advanced description, and the complications continued. It wasn’t just a builder and materials he would need to build the schematics; someone with the Tamer Profession would also be needed to operate the building and look after the griffons.
In fact, this was pretty standard practice for base buildings. The good ones mostly needed specialized Professions to operate, throwing a spanner in the works for anyone wanting to solo the multiverse.
Maybe there’s like a prime minister Profession or something, Aaron pondered. Every time he collected another base-related item, he liked the idea of having a base more and more. He just didn’t like the idea of managing it. And hoped there would be ways around that.
He took a moment to imagine griffon riders patrolling the skies around his future base. It was a pretty fun thought.
But Aaron didn’t have to waste daydreaming. He threw the schematics in his scabbard as he considered his next trial.
It was taking a while, but he was damn well determined to get another level up and selected the Trial of Magic. He had only completed up to the third stage, and so it was a perfect choice to knock off his to-do list.
His growth was undeniable, and he plowed through the trials rather quickly, and followed the Trial of Magic shortly thereafter by the fourth stage of the Trial of Survival.
From the two fourth-stage trials, he won a Healing Salve Recipe and the six Sentry Orbs, which he put straight into his scabbard and smiled at the experience and level he gained.
Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!
Ding!
[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!
32 → 33
It was a nice feeling smashing through trials that had once caused him so much grief. And another reminder of just how strong he really was.
It was easy to forget how many powerhouses there were within the trials. But at only level 33, he was smashing through trials that were giving some of the new arrivals a real challenge.
On the other hand, the experience gain was getting irritatingly slow. Perhaps one of the main things he was looking forward to about leaving the trials was finally getting some good experience from his kills.
He eyed his level momentarily—just two more to go. He figured he could knock out one more low-level trial and then jump straight into another Trial of Dominance. Even if it didn’t push him to 34, it would hopefully put him close enough that a good trial would snatch up both 34 and 35. That seemed unlikely since it hadn’t happened for a very long time, but Aaron’s impatience made him want to believe it.
He decided to check out the fifth stage of the Trial of Magic. It would be nice to get another upgrade to his meditation room before leaving trials. Getting a good meditation session in would be nice, and a better room meant better upgrades for it. After all, it might be a while before he had his own suitable meditation room, and he’d grown a taste for the practice.
Entering the fifth stage, he noticed that it was a decent difficulty increase from the previous one, and Aaron was destroyed several times as he battled against a magical armageddon.
Neither his mana nor his control of it was half bad these days, but ultimately, he was no caster, and never would be. That provided a problem when tackling trials designed for casters.
In the end, he managed to survive the armageddon by surviving getting blown apart several times in a row. It was a push even for him, and the trial actually looked to be glitching out.
It was obviously designed for the user to solve the puzzle, not just survive the assured death that came with failure. But once it had expelled all of its unchallengeable power, there wasn’t anything left for the trial to do.
This had actually led him to stand in an empty, featureless room for a minute or two, which was one of the scariest things to happen to him since arriving.
During that moment, he genuinely feared he might be stuck in the room forever, and had no idea how he was supposed to escape.
Thankfully, the trials had contingency after contingency, and eventually one of them caught up with him and presented him with the stage completion reward.
Almost shitting my pants is what I get for cheating on everything, I suppose.
Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!
Once more, he completed the trail without being rewarded a level. It was… annoying, but he felt close. Close enough that a stage of the Trial of Dominance might just push him over the edge to gain both levels.
And the Epic dinosaur leash he got from the trial went straight into his scabbard.
If it did what it sounded like it did, he totally wanted a pet T. rex. That would be badass and beat any beefed-up muscle car. He could already imagine himself stomping through the forest on Stumpy.
Okay, let’s move on to finishing this thing.
Aaron made his way up to the end of the line and prepared for the next trial. Maybe he just wanted to believe that it would push him to 35 because he was getting tired of grinding relatively easy trials. That wasn’t Aaron’s style. He pined for a challenge, and the eighth stage of the Trial of Dominance was just the trial to provide such a challenge.
A smile came over his face, and he eagerly rubbed his hands together. This was what it was all about. Throwing himself against near impossible odds, and bashing his head against said odds until he found a way to win.
However, since Mo’han had set a date for their duel, it changed things a little. He had more time now, and it was probably worth figuring out how to fill it effectively.
After all, he doubted Mo’han was just sitting around. He was going to get stronger as well, and Aaron needed to account for that.
But for now, it was trial time, and he slapped down on the dial and appeared underwater.
Oh, great! Just where I wanted this to take place!
He groaned and looked around. A coral city spread across the ocean’s floor, lights dotting its magnificent facade. It looked like he was going to have a lot of enemies for this one.
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