Chapter 19: Opened Pathways

Chapter 19: Opened Pathways

“Wake up! Jack!”

Jack awoke in a pool of his own blood and grey gunk. The smell was nauseating. Arbour was practically yelling at him to wake up, but Jack ignored him for now.

Jack felt terrible, like he was recovering from the worst hangover he ever experienced. His head was pounding and the light from Arbour was like a dagger stabbing his eyes. On the bright side, he was no longer hungry. In fact, he felt full. Very full. And there was something else, underneath it all, like an energy running through him that he never noticed before.

“What happened?” Jack asked groggily.

“That’s good,” Arbour said. “Was worried you had died there.”

“Hold on,” Jack said. “Got a bunch of System Messages to go through.”

*Warning: You have consumed raw Aethyr!!*

Raw Aethyr is a pure state of Mana. It is not recommended to be processed by individuals not possessing an Aethyreal Constitution or a higher Mana Cultivation path.

*Mana Cultivation path: Non-Existent*

*You have successfully reached Mana Cultivation stage: Opened Pathway*

This is a necessary first step in developing your Mana Cultivation path. Normally this is a process that requires deep understanding developed from studying and learning to control your Mana over the course of several months to years. Consuming Raw Aethyr has jumped started this process, opening your Pathways instantly.

*Warning: Continuing to use Raw Aethyr in this fashion can result in a broken or burned-out Mana Nodes.*

*Mana Cultivation: Opened Pathways*

Having reached the first steps on your Mana Cultivation path, you will find your Mana will respond faster and you will have greater control over it.

-Increased casting speed

-Increase Mana efficiency

*Body Cultivation Increased: 10% Iron Body*

+1 Con.

*Constitution has reached the first Threshold: Constitution has acquired the trait - Fortification*

*Fortification: 50% resilience to being forced unconscious*

Jack closed the messages with a thought. “Do you know what this Mana and Body Cultivation is about?” Jack asked Arbour.

“I do not,” Arbour said. “I do remember the Akashic Order mentioning it before, but they ultimately deemed it not useful for me to know about a lot of things. I was only meant as a guide for the initiate trials. I was expressly forbidden from training any of the applicants. I think that was deemed as information relating to training. Not sure of what.”

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“Did you know that was going to happen?” Jack asked the burning question on his mind. Part of him was wondering if Arbour had attempted to kill him. Looking at his Health bar, it had come close. He immediately started to cast Mend until his Health bar was full again.

“Never seen that before,” Arbour said. “Is that how your kind eats? It did seem inefficient.”

“No that is not how we eat,” Jack said. “Got a System Message warning to not do it as it can be detrimental to me. Then a bunch of messages that seemed like rewards for doing it. That seems strange right? Warning against an action and then rewarding the action it just warned against.”

“That is strange,” Arbour said. “But the System rarely warns against any action. It is counter to its purpose of discovery, growth, and maintaining balance. If it did warn against something, you might want to take it seriously.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Jack said. He was still going over the system messages in his mind. He needed to find out more about these cultivation paths.

“Did it work?” Arbour asked.

“What?”

“Are you still hungry?” Arbour asked.

“Oh, no,” Jack said. “Not anymore.”

“That is good,” Arbour said. “Then are you ready to continue the Trial?”

Jack sighed, “Yeah.” He really didn’t want to be here anymore. “Can you tell me anything about the last two trials.”

“Yes,” Arbour said. “The Trial of Perseverance will test your physical and fighting ability. It will try to overwhelm you. You will face one almost indestructible opponent that you must defeat. It will split every few seconds and again for every mistaken.”

“How am I supposed to destroy an indestructible opponent?” Jack asked.

“Almost indestructible,” Arbour said again. “All I am allowed to say is that you have the skill necessary to overcome the trial.”

Jack shook his head, “and the Trial of Determination?”

“The Trial of Determination,” Arbour said. “Is an obstacle course. You must complete one hundred laps. Each lap will add one more obstacle to the lap. Each obstacle will be either deadly or designed to wear you down. You can stop at any time on this trial, but stopping will constitute forfeiting the trial and failing the requirements. If there is still time left. You can attempt to retake the trial, but it will be hard each time.”

“Interesting,” Jack said. “Out of curiosity, could you have told me about the Trial of Reason as well?”

“No,” Arbour said. “The trial of reason was a test to determine your ability to figure out and solve complex problems. Any information going into that trial would have defeated the purpose of the trial.”

“Okay,” Jack said. “Which one would you recommend I do next?”

“Either one will be difficult,” Arbour said. “But the Trail of Determination is more straight forward.”

“Alright,” Jack said trying to scrape the dirt and dried blood off his clothes. He really wished for a washing machine or a river right now. “I’ll start with that one.”

*~*

The Gate closed behind Jack after entering the Trial of Determination. The room was different from all the others that Jack had seen so far. The others were circular and were only different by the size of the room. This room was a physical impossibility.

*Quest Received (Mandatory): Akashic Keeper Trial – Trial of Determination*

-Complete the Trial of Determination

Reward: Akashic Keeper Skill

Failure: Trial ends

-Future attempts will increase difficulty

*Trial of Determination*

-Complete the course

It was like the Penrose Staircase. That optical illusion of the staircase that went in a square and either was always ascending or descending but still managed to end up back at the start. While that was a two-dimensional optical illusion, this was a physical three-dimensional construct of it. Jack could see the whole track laid before him. But no matter how long he looked or how far up or down the staircase went, it somehow always came back to the starting point. Where Jack stood, even the center of the room was an impossibility. Completely empty, it looked to Jack like it was a bottomless void.

Jack couldn’t make sense of it and doubted that physics were at play here. He tried finding altered slopes to the steps or angles that would explain how it worked, but the more he looked at it, the dizzier and more nauseous he started to feel. When he started to get a headache, he forced himself to stop.

Jack didn’t need to understand physics behind the room. He just needed to make it through one hundred laps while avoiding all the obstacles. The design of the room was just another obstacle to get through. That left Jack with the next question. Should he go up the steps or down?