Chương 8: Holy Seeds

Time until next Elemental Storm: 6 Days and 7 Hours [Dungeon Quest: The Light-Choked Jungle (Wood Shrine)] Find and place the five Holy Seeds in their respective Pedestals (0/5 Placed) Five Seeds and five pedestals… Ethan thought as he looked back over the map. And ten dots to show them all. Half the dots were shapes like tear drops, which most likely meant that's where he would find the seeds. The map even pointed out his own location, making it easy for Ethan to find the closest Seed to his location.

Just have to head right and circle a tree, and I should find the first Seed. This is almost too easy, he thought as he stepped over the wooden platform to his destination. He tried to gauge how much sunlight he had till he reached his destination, but the leaves were too thick and only let the tiniest beams through. But even those became covered after a while, blanketing the Light-Choked Jungle in this dim sort of lighting that appeared out of nowhere.

It made for a gloomy dungeon, but that didn't stop Ethan from moving. Even if it was pitch-black, he thought he could navigate the area. Because it all shined like a star when viewed through his Talent.

After a while, Ethan learned to tune out the life essence abundant in the shrine. He had to, because every one of his other senses was being overwhelmed by it. There wasn't a silent minute in the Light-Choked Jungle. He would always hear monsters far away howling, running or climbing vines. He saw monkeys, wolves, gorillas, and even birds, all made of wood on bone, but acting like they were normal animals. Smells ranged from perfumes to dung and the stench of rotting wood.

He even felt tremors on the ground every now and then, though he couldn't pinpoint their source. He did see a few normal creatures, made of flesh and bone, but those were few and far between the treant monsters. At least it makes their life force easy to spot. He stopped near a tree when he saw it had a circle carved into it. It was almost his size, though a tad larger, and made the section look like a covering. Ethan approached it, and pulled open from the sides of the cover.

Inside, he found a little hole just big enough for him to lay down in, and markings on the inner wall. A place to hide from the monsters? Could come in handy. He saw a dozen more of those on his path, which gave him a lot of options if he ever wanted to disengage. After that, he moved on, walking for a few hours more. The clouds above thickened the further Ethan went, and he thought it might begin pouring down any minute now. If that happens, do I make a break for it or what?

He looked down over a wooden platform, and into the spike pits below. That's so far down. And there's a million holes in each of the platforms. Do I even need to hide? He'd have to test the theory later. Lightning cracked overhead, pinpricks of shining light breaking through the leaves. One even got into Ethan's eye, blinding him. That momentary distraction was all the wolf treant needed. He lunged at Ethan, ready to bite his throat out. But Ethan swivelled, glaring at the wolf as it passed.

"I was light-blind, not essence blind, you mutt," Ethan growled as he readied his spear. A light rain started pouring down once again, but not a single drop reached Ethan. It all crashed against the thick canopy and broke apart. Ethan overlaid death essence on the tip, the ability coming out a moment faster than last time. And he aimed it squarely at the wolf treant. But something pinged in the back of his head, and made Ethan dodge again. He lost focus on the skill as another wolf came soaring through the air.

Two of them?! But he should've expected as much. Wolves ran in packs, and it seemed ones made of wood were no different. Misty breath leaked when he breathed out, and he reapplied his DE Overlay to his weapon. He backed away a few steps, but the wolves were making their own moves. They walked in opposite directions, trying to ensnare him from opposite sides. Not letting that happen! Ethan bum rushed the wolf to the left. The monster reacted violently, ready to snap down at his legs.

But Ethan managed to pull it away in time and plant the spear in its back. [+10 Credits] Death essence destroyed its core, but Ethan couldn't savour the victory. The second wolf treant lunged and bit onto his arm. Ethan fell to the ground as the wolf violently shook his pinned arm around, bloodying it further. Agh! Pain clouded his thoughts, but Ethan managed to find where his spear had fallen. But it was too far away. The wolf continued to maul the arm, and soon enough he'd rip it off.

Before that happened, Ethan gathered death essence once again. It flowed from his chest down to his knuckles, turning into a mass of energy ready to explode. He launched it straight at the wolf's head. The punch exploded across the monster's face, burning away wood and bone both. The monster's grip loosened, and Ethan pulled away his arm and scuttled backwards. He saw the wolf's head get consumed by the death essence, and fall away from the rest of its body.

Ethan thought that was the end of the monster, but somehow it was still standing on two legs. Vines extended from its chopped neck to feel out its head, and when it found it, it started bringing it back up. No way… I have to stop it! Ethan rose up, grabbed his spear, and applied DE Overlay one last time. Before the wolf fully reattached the head, he plunged the spear down into its heart through its neck. Essence exploded once again, and the monster went limp.

[+10 Credits] Ethan took shaking breaths as the pain throbbed in his arm. Every time it did, a fresh wave of aching went through his body. Damnit, damnit, stupid dogs with their stupid teeth and stupid wood! He thought, shaking the bleeding arm. He wanted to punch something, anything, to let out the anger he felt, but he couldn't. It might've attracted more enemies to his location.

Instead, he picked up his belongings, absorbed the life essence that he could and used it to heal himself, and absorbed the death essence into his talent. [Progress to E-Rank: 0. 3%] At least that's something. Not just torture porn for the people watching this Trial. That was the biggest surprise to Ethan in all this. None of the episodes he'd watched of the Realm Trial before had been so… gory and grungy. Guess they only focus on the big shots in each Trial. I'll be lucky to get a cameo, if that.

Having had enough of wallowing in self-pity and anger, Ethan decided to pick himself up off of the floor and move towards the holy seed once again. The entire time, he scanned his surroundings for enemies and kept an eye on the falling rain. Every passing minute, the rain was getting stronger. He could hear it from the echoing sounds it made. But despite that, it didn't threaten to fell the roof over him. The trees were protecting him, even when he thought they'd give up.

After a while of running, the rain did break through, but even then the water was such a light sprinkle that Ethan could barely feel it. Huh, maybe this place can protect me from the Elemental Storm. Maybe he didn't even need to clear it, just grab a hole and bunker up for as long as the storm persisted. That was until the earthquake started. The trees shook, and along with them, their branched platforms. Ethan dropped to his knees and clung to a branch, but the earthquakes continued.

"What the hell is going on? Wasn't this storm supposed to be about water, how does this even fit in?!" He shouted, but the sound was drowned with everything else around him. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Ethan heard a crashing sound nearby, and darted his eyes to the location. A giant hole appeared in one of the platforms. What was left of the platform was sizzling, like hot acid had been poured over it.

He looked up, and saw the giant fruits hanging there. All except one, right above where the hole had appeared. Oh… water… rain… and since the fruits have water… its also… He let go of the branch, and more fruits started falling. Giant boulders of fruitflesh impacted a hundred platforms, breaking them all apart into chunks. Those chunks fell down into the abyss surrounding the spikes. The entire time, Ethan was trying and failing to run. Need to hide somewhere!

He looked across a wooden bridge, giant acid oranges falling beside it. At the end of the bridge was another tree, and one with the same kind of circular cut he'd seen before. The holes. I can hide in the holes! Life Reinforcement. His life force depleted to strengthen him. Ethan leaped ahead and almost landed on his face. He was barely used to running with Life reinforcement on, with unsteady ground he could barely make it across. He leaped again, and again, each time landing a little further across the bridge.

The more he leaped, the more the bridge shook, but Ethan continued. He took another leap, and heard a vine snapping behind him. But he didn't look. Instead, he leaped again, and again, until one last jump took him to the next platform. And not a moment too soon, as a giant fruit crashed into the bridge and broke it apart. Ethan raised a hand as a splash of orange juice made it to him. It hit his forearm and chest instead, burning a hole through the clothes and scorching his skin.

Adrenaline dulled the pain, and Ethan ran ahead to the hole in the wall. When he finally reached it, he opened the side and threw himself inside. His life vision illuminated the dark hole, and Ethan saw the outline of handles on the inside of the hole's cover. He grabbed those and pulled back, just before another fruit hit his platform and snapped it off the tree. Ethan shuffled as far as he could into the hole, his back pushing against the wall.

Inside it was pitch-black except the essence, which wasn't much comfort to him. He could see life essence outside as well, moving past in the form of the fruits. Death energy bloomed wherever the fruits landed, but he wasn't able to grab it from where he was. He didn't want to either. His heart was racing a mile a minute praying that one of the fruits didn't collide against his hovel and break it apart. He'd be buried in burning fruit flesh if that happened, and he didn't think he could survive that.

Even if I could, going through that pain… they say being burnt is the most painful experience you can have… He rubbed his arms at the thought. If it came to it… he'd do it. But only if it meant he'd survive. There wasn't much else for Ethan to do in there, so he decided to focus on his wounds and fix them up. After that, he took a glance at his Time to Live once again.

[Estimated Time to Live: 1 Day and 16 Hours] A few hours had passed, and he'd used a bulk of his life to heal himself, so seeing it go up instead of down made Ethan glad. I'll survive till tomorrow. And maybe I'll even have enough to do a little training… After all, he'd been sorely lacking a long-ranged option for himself. It was time he fixed that.

An hour later, the fruitfall was still going strong. And in that hour, Ethan was left alone with his thoughts. It'd be nice if there was a standard to compare myself against. I haven't even seen another Trial Goer ever since this entire trial started. What if I'm doing bad? Am I? Even worse was the thought that this was the best he could do. Alphome and Raphael had both called his Talent special, and yet it felt like Ethan was stumbling as always to do what others could with a lift of their finger.

Derek Brightblade's ascent through the realms was near effortless. Ice Queen Lydia had once frozen two flaming dungeon bosses in place. Even someone with a basic talent like Engineer Halswin had risen to clear the second realm's trial all by himself. And then there were the stars who made it all the way to the sixth realm, who'd basically been granted heaven for their achievements. Compared to them, Ethan was just some dirty human hiding in a cave waiting out the danger.

How could he ever hope to match those people, to ever get on their level and prove himself? No, no, you've got bigger problems to contend with, Ethan. What's pity going to do for you, huh? He sighed, laying his head back against the wooden wall of the hovel, but never falling asleep. He needed to be awake to see the fruitfall end. Even if it does, how am I going to climb down from here? But that was a problem for the Ethan who would make it down, not the Ethan still in the hole.

Without anything else to do, he took wisps of his life force and practiced the meager skills he'd learned. Form them faster and dismiss them just as quick. He spread life force across his body for strengthening, and then absorbed it again so it wouldn't go to waste. And he did the same with DE Overlay, although converting between life and death cost him a bit of essence each time. One more hour passed before he heard the first few notes of the fruitfall drying up.

The crashing sounds got more spaced apart, the splash of fruity acid fading away. When it was down to drops, Ethan finally pulled aside the cover, looked outside his little hole, and found a destroyed shrine. Every single platform, bridge, bush and pathway that had been there before was now destroyed, reduced to splinters in the deep dark below. Ethan pulled out the shrine map, hoping it could give him a new way through, but it hadn't changed at all. So much for that.

No way I'll be able to cross now, He sighed in annoyance. He tried to find handholds in the walls to climb down and to his destination, but another earthquake started just then. Oh, for gods' sake, again? How am I supposed to complete this quest!? He was about to go inside his hovel once again, when he noticed something in the skies. The fruits were gone, dried up. How could the dungeon trigger another fruitfall without fruits? Ethan watched, and the answer became clear. It didn't.

Instead, he saw a thick wave of life force flood all the trees in the dungeon. Just before it passed, he tried to grab a bit of it, but it felt bound already. With the new infusion of life force, the trees started to grow new branches and vines in place of the old. They poured out by the dozens from each spot, braiding around each other to form new platforms and bridges across each area of the dungeon.

And all of it happened in an instant, a perfect building plan naturally forming between the trees until it recreated the structures that had been lost to the fruitfall, down to the individual branch. Ethan watched the entire process unfold with wide eyes and awe. He looked down at his hands, where the half-healed burns still left a scar. If this is what life force can really do, what the hell am I doing with my Talent? He asked himself after the shrine was completely rebuilt.

He didn't waste too much time on the thought. Although he wanted to study the rebuilding of the shrine in detail, he just didn't have the time nor the patience to wait for another fruitfall. Life reinforcement, Ethan intoned as energy flooded his muscles. It was a shoddy technique still, even by his estimates, but it was the best he had. Raphael certainly couldn't teach him one considering his choice of essence, and Ethan hadn't met any other Samsaran Order members during their short training period.

If I can contact them before the sixth realm, I'll have to ask them to teach me what they know, Ethan thought as he jogged along a bridge. He had to make good time, as the sun was setting. And the rain's gone away too, Ethan realized at the same time, seeing orange-red sunlight peeking through the canopy. Finally, after the sun had fully set, Ethan reached the first holy seed. Sitting alone, on a pedestal, in the middle of a random branching platform, guarded by no one. That's… a bit underwhelming.

He thought he'd encounter a fight or something, but it seemed the shrine had thrown him a bone there. He walked up to the seed, spear in one hand ready to stab at whatever monster that came out. But when he finally reached the marble pedestal and plucked the seed out of it, nothing came. Still don't trust it. He pocketed the seed and slowly backed away from the pedestal. And then further and further away, until he was sure he was out of sight for any monster near the seed. Unless they're tracking the seed directly.

But at that point, I'm just making up things to be worried about. Ethan finally found the time to relax once he had the seed in his possession. He wanted to take a better look at it, but the only illumination in the middle of the night came from glowing moss spread across the trees. It was admittedly a beautiful kind of light, made of blues, purples and other soft colours, but it didn't do anything for visual clarity. For that, Ethan started a fire. In the middle of the forest, where nothing but trees remained.

He used a match from his military rations to make the fire, and once it was fully fleshed, he enjoyed the warmth that came off of it. He also turned the seed around in front of it, and found a symbol on the backside. It looked like a rock to him, but it could've well been something else entirely. Not enough pieces to put together what the symbol's all about. Gonna need to collect the other seeds first.

He pocketed the seed once again, before his stomach grumbled, reminding him that he was, after all, a human who needed to eat. Damn… should've asked Oakwil to pack me some of that stew of his… Ethan was already missing it, but he had to make do with other food. He couldn't use up his military rations too quickly. Those would come in handy in emergencies when he really ran out of food. Which meant he had to go hunting for some of his own.

Luckily, Ethan found a deer not too far from his camp, sleeping soundly in a hovel. He sensed the deer's life force before he slid open the door. Sorry, buddy, but you have to go. Maybe an entire deer was too big for him to eat, but there was another reason Ethan wanted a live meal. It'd be the perfect thing to train his life sense. He didn't use his DE Overlay to kill the animal, for risk of spoiling the meat. Instead, Ethan stabbed it through the neck with his spear and some life reinforced muscles.

The poor animal did shake and fight in the last moments of its life, but Ethan's spear had dug in too deep, and it soon gave out fully. After that, it was just a matter of bringing it back to his small base. Ethan dragged it the way over, surprised that he could bear the weight, even if it was with life essence infusing him. He was about to cut it open and take out the meat, but Raphael's words came back to him in that moment. The Samsaran Order sanctifies its kills.

Be they human, alien or animal, they were a living being. They deserve some respect in death. Ethan sighed, closing the animal's eyes.

"Thanks for giving me food today," he awkwardly let out, before beginning the skinning. The first shock from the process was how much he could still affect the life force of an animal, even after death. He wasn't even using a skill, but slicing along the right parts made the life force remaining shift and change. If he was careful enough preserving the creature, he could even keep some organs from losing their life force or having it convert into death energy for a moment.

He even tried DE Overlay, but the amount of essence was too much, and Ethan ended up having to toss an entire leg of the deer after spoiling it with his essence. Lesson learned. If I'm going to use death essence, it needs to be precise, he noted as he continued analyzing the kill. At the end of the process, he had a few pounds of meat to roast over the fire or smoke. They weren't professional cuts or anything, but he thought they'd be edible with a little cleaning.

He used one of his own bottles of water for that, but it was better than risking something sticking to the meat that'd get him sick. He then skewered the pieces and held them over the flames, waiting for the fire to cook them through. Some of the pieces charred, but some ended up taking on a glistening brown colour. Finally, Ethan pulled one piece off the skewer, took a bite, and gave his verdict. … Needs salt. He still ate it regardless.

And when he was done, he set a second skewer over the flame to begin the roasting again. It was going to be a boring night, by his estimate. But then something rustled in the bushes, and Ethan shot up. He readied his DE Overlay over his fists and fixed a stare in the direction of the rustling. Where two large amethyst eyes stared back at him, unmoving.