Chapter 205 - The Crucible (Patreon)

The doorway slid shut behind Jiran, vanishing as though it never existed. In its place was thin air filled with howling winds, snow, and bitter cold that ate at his bare skin. His feet crunched in the knee-deep snow and he shivered, the freezing air gouging deep into his body and mind. A foreboding unease crept up his spine as he focused extra mana into the protective layer on his skin and found it completely unable to ward off the chill.

He rubbed his arms while inspecting his immediate surroundings, the warmth of friction failing to bring any comfort. Mana Omnis was useless, his eyesight blinded by the driving snow. He stretched out his Manabody, finding nothing but more blizzard in every direction. There was not a trace of life that he could detect. Even beneath the snow was a thin layer of dirt that covered solid stone that was deeper than he could perceive. The only thing he could easily see were the expected system messages that flashed brightly behind his eyelids.

Challenger has entered the Crucible

Phase one objectives: Survive and locate the resonance chamber that aligns to your ideal

Incorporate your ideal into your quintessence

Knew it! Why do it like this, though? Why force challengers to form an aura early, then skip right ahead to an aspect which isn’t required until ascending to tier eight? Now isn’t the time to get sidetracked. That hallway was insane enough. Since the system considered that the warmup, this place has to be way worse.

First thing I need to do is figure out how not to freeze to death. I doubt clothes are going to do the trick. If this weather can bypass my mana, cloth or armor isn’t going to do anything.

Elemental Castigation formed a box of fire around him, and as predicted, the chill easily pushed through the heat that was nearly strong enough to break down his defensive layer of mana. He banished the fire and as the mana that created it entered him, the obvious solution struck him. In a wink, his Manabody was drawn beneath his skin, no longer suffusing the area around him. The moment it was inside him, the pervasive cold vanished.

Okay, this blizzard is similar to the Timberlings harmony; it's attacking my soul, or soulwall, directly. Great, now I’m really blind. At least I’ve got the ‘survive’ portion down. Okay, step two, find a resonance chamber that matches my ideal. I know what I want from my aspect, so that’s the ‘ideal’ down. I have no idea how to find these chambers, though. If there are multiple of them hidden in this blizzard, this could take a while.

With returning to his friends and allies at the forefront of his thoughts, Jiran spun in a slow circle, and then headed in a random direction.

***

Nearly an hour passed before Jiran discovered a clue about his surroundings. He had made a habit of moving exactly fifty meters at a time before extending his aura into a long pole. After sweeping it in a wide circle, he would hop in the same direction and repeat his scan. Each time, the same deep chill would seep into him through his aura, instantly bringing his teeth to chattering. At first, he thought it was merely his mind playing tricks on him, but when the most recent scan brought no discomfort, he was certain it was growing warmer the further he traveled.

Shrelkpiss. I’m definitely going the wrong way. No beasts, no challenge, and now it's not even cold. Not a total waste of time though, at least I know how to find my way now.

Jiran turned and leaped with all his might back the way he had come. He bodily crashed into the air pressure, not wanting to damage his soulwall more than necessary by cutting the wind with his aura. Landing with his hair in a frazzled mess, he decided just dealing with it wouldn't work either and used Elemental Castigation to form a blanket of wind that rushed ahead of him. His efforts didn’t yield much in the way of results but it was always exhilarating to convert a stream of mana into an element and then back again.

After three hops and a minute of light jogging, he was back where his tracks in the snow began, once more feeling the bite of the chilly air far more keenly when he extended his Manabody to sweep the area. He resumed his slow progress, unwilling to underestimate the arena. He quested about in his wanderings, slowly but surely adjusting his trajectory to bring him deeper into the blizzard. The snow thickened and the winds took on the ferocity of a true storm. His hair flew wildly, getting in his eyes often enough that he broke down and created the tiniest strip of fabric to tie it back.

For the first time since his tiering day, Foresight failed to warn him of impending danger before it came crashing into him from behind. A sudden blast of force hit Jiran in the back, sending him flying forward in a blinding tumble of white. The extra-thick layer of mana suffusing his skin, and his concentrated aura right beneath it, failed to completely protect him. Two of his ribs shattered and shards of bone tore into his lungs.

His reserves dipped to ninety-five percent as Mana Confluence spent precious energy restoring the damage. The moment he was healed, his aura snapped out, arresting his momentum and inviting the deadly cold deep into him. He found the beast that had struck him immediately. Before Identify informed him what it was, two chakrams of scorching flame released their payload into its face.

The beams shot right through the beast, annihilating its cloudy form. Two massive cylindrical tunnels of clean air were excavated from the blizzard as the snow was vaporized. Even that moisture was expelled in a thermal blastwave along the entire length of the beams. Two explosions howled in the distance where they hit the ground, every bit a match for the raging storm.

Jiran assumed the beast was dead, as Mana Omnis had revealed a manapool no larger than a typical tier seven’s. He also didn’t hold back his mental image, conjuring the knowledge of churning friction transferring the endless potential energy trapped inside the molecules around him. He had yet to encounter a tier seven who could survive such an attack head-on, let alone two of them. When a pair of disturbing damage counters appeared in his interface, he swallowed hard. [-0]

The beast rapidly re-materialized and Jiran eyed it warily, getting a good look at the way its mana flowed seamlessly through its body and out into the open air around it. By the time the creature finished pulling itself together, Jiran had further reinforced the mana around his body and activated Oneness. The creature floated placidly, seemingly content with remaining in the same place it had ambushed him. Other than the dark claws and the glow of escaping mana from its mouth and eyes, its body appeared composed of the encroaching maelstrom of cold that sought to retake the land Jiran had stolen.

Identify revealed a few scant clues as the blizzard’s harrowing howl returned in the form of snow and sleet that quickly overtook the area Jiran’s fire had cleared.

[Frost revenant - Soldier: (Tier 7) (118k/118k) Low ranking incorporeal warrior from a lost race]

Incorporeal, similar to the murkers in the Land of the Lost. They at least had much lower health than a normal tier seven. This one is a bit below average but not by much. I bet it's got a few nasty surprises too, just like they did.

Jiran’s brief moment when he could afford to think vanished as the weather front enveloped them and the revenant burst into motion. It teleported, appearing behind him. Expecting nothing less from a tier seven ambush predator, Jiran’s response was already prepared. Unfortunately, he had no way to anticipate just how quick the creature was. Even with Oneness, he barely perceived its wickedly fast claws as they slashed forward, appearing as nothing more than black streaks that sucked the light from the air.

He leaned back and pivoted, allowing both initial swipes to flash by, each releasing torrential waves of force that kicked up the fresh snow. Not wasting his mana by making the same mistake as last time, Jiran swept three buzzing chakrams of Elemental Castigation through its body, each comprised of a different element. They cut clean through the beast. Not seeming to notice his attacks in the least, it barreled right into him, its wide-open jaws clamping down on thin air as Jiran leaped to the side.

The force of his evasion shot him nearly fifty meters in an instant. If not for cutting the air pressure with his aura, that single leap would have created a tremendous wave of force. The moment his feet left the ground, he lost sight of the revenant. Elemental Castigation sent a wave of fire rippling outward from his skin, enveloping a twenty-meter radius and clearing the snow. The beast clearly wasn’t having the same issues as him since it was nearly on top of him when it passed through his wave of elemental energy.

In the fraction of a moment he had before it arrived, Enthralling Touch connected him to the beast’s mana. Unsurprisingly, the tier seven’s energy was too thick and viscous for Jiran to easily claim. The mana twitched and sluggishly flowed a mere centimeter before halting as the revenant threw its will into the struggle. It released a bone-shaking roar, its eyes blazing with hatred. Claws sliced forward again, though this time not in a mindless swipe. It aimed for his shoulder first, then, as if knowing he would move his hip to pivot and dodge, it struck downward at the exact moment he twisted to bend out of the way. Unable to reverse his momentum in time, Jiran was struck. He didn’t take the blow for free; three fresh chakrams of entirely different elements passed through the revenant at the exact moment its attack landed.

Jiran failed to anticipate that its initial sneak attack had not used the entirety of its strength. The further reinforced mana coating his skin cracked and failed, allowing two of the beast's long claws to bite deep into his flesh. As they pierced him and came into contact with the aura woven inside his body, a massive chunk of the ephemeral energy was stolen and drained away. Before Jiran could process the extent of the damage, the force of the blow blasted him to the side. He spun end over end until he extended his quivering Manabody to catch himself. The act of placing so much pressure on the framework tore the synapses, creating dark, gaping holes in reality.

To his dismay, the beast was completely unharmed from his newest round of attacks. Meanwhile, his Manabody had been drained by nearly ten percent of its mass from that briefest of contacts. With another Teleportation, the revenant was behind him again, completely ignoring the still-healing tears in space. One of them was even directly inside its torso where it appeared to be doing absolutely nothing to stop its advance.

Jiran pulled half of his total mana from his body and layered it atop his skin, unwilling to be pierced again and have more of his aura drained away. His racial instincts were screaming at him to tear the creature apart with his bare hands for daring to take what was his. He ignored the intrusive emotions, discarding any further attempts at hurting the beast. Instead, he focused with all his minds on not getting hit until he came up with a plan.

The revenant’s attacks were blindingly fast, but with Oneness and intense focus, Jiran was able to narrowly avoid them. He ducked a claw, only to be surprised when a third limb appeared from the bottom half of its cloudy form and nearly took him in the knee. He jumped with all his might, barreling high into the storm above.

How can it be both incorporeal and physically hit me at the same time?! No, the why doesn’t matter, only what I need to do about it.

The choice was made for him when the revenant appeared beside him a moment later, accompanied by two of its friends who stared at Jiran with glowing, empty eye sockets. Without a shred of hesitation, Jiran compressed and then ignited a truly ludicrous quantity of liquid nitrogen, blasting himself in a random direction, deeper into the storm.