Chương 6: First Quest

Ethan woke up immediately. He'd been hanging off a metal handhold, he needed to grab their hands an— And now he was on a bed in a rustic looking brick room, with a table, candle lights and cushions. And he was warm. Where… the thought died in his head as he remembered the last few moments before he'd fallen asleep. The aliens, whose faces still blurred in his mind, had brought him up and into their village, most likely. His legs were hanging off of the bed, which was weird because he wasn't all that tall. The rain…

I can't hear it anymore, and considering how loud and crashing it had been, Ethan should've been able to quite easily. That meant it'd gone away, and that meant it was time for him to get out of bed. He pulled aside the covers and looked down at himself. Cuts, blemishes and other half-healed scars marred his body, and only after a single day in the first realm. Jeez, how did I ignore all of this? He was down to his underwear while the rest of his clothes dried near a fireplace in a corner of the room.

After standing up on uneasy feet, he took the newly dried clothing and put it on himself. His duffel bag and spear was right beside it, so he grabbed that as well and ventured out of the room. As soon as he did, he found a group of short, stocky and red-skinned looking dwarves eating around a table. They had pointed heads and a third eye in the middle of their heads, which along with the normal pair, were staring directly at him.

"Jzhorde kalizzgo…" one of them said in a foreign, guttural tongue. [Translating Montean into GPA Standard…] It could do that this whole time? Ethan thought blearily.

"—ake."

"Could you repeat that?" Ethan asked uneasily.

"I said, you are awake," one of the dwarves told him.

"Come, join us for a meal, Trial Goer." He gestured towards one of the seats, but Ethan was hesitant.

"You know I'm taking the trial?"

"Yes, and that we can't spend too much time coddling you. Come, Trial Goer, eat, regain your strength, you won't know when else you will get the chance again," the dwarf told him. Ethan moved towards the table slowly and surely. He took his place between the dwarf he'd been talking to and what looked like his son. Across from him was another smaller dwarf, and maybe his wife?

The young dwarf was missing the wrinkles of his father, and had doting wide eyes and a big smile plastered on his face whenever he looked at Ethan.

"I am Oakwil Heavart. We are Monte'Jerban. I will spare you my family's name, for you will be leaving soon anyways," the… Monte'Jerban informed him. That's going to take some getting used to.

"Ethan. Ethan Collins. What do you mean by 'leaving soon?'"" Oh, yes, you were asleep. Check your menu, Trial Goer Ethan Collins, you must have one," Oakwil asked him. Ethan did as asked, and found something new in its midst. [[Quests] Realm Trial Quest: Elemental Storms Find and complete the Shrine of Wood to survive the Elemental Storm of Water. Time until next Elemental Storm: 6 Days 11 Hours 2 Minutes 37 Seconds] Ethan froze up, teeth clenched. Elemental Storms? Not Crystal Shrines or Elemental Pairs?

None of the previous Trial records ever talked about this… Raphael had given him the rundown on how the Trials changed every time with the whims of the Six Gods, but he'd hoped this time they'd be lazy and recycle a previous one.

"How long have I been asleep?" Ethan asked.

"Ten hours. Six days and change you have to find the Shrine and survive," Oakwil told him. Ten hours?! Ethan shot up from the chair and opened his menu. [Estimated Time to Live: 1 Hours 53 Minutes 11 Seconds]"What are you doing? You still have much time before the Elemental Storm," Oakwil informed him.

"It's…" but he couldn't tell Oakwil about the Time to Live.

"I want to leave now, please. I have to get stronger."

"Sit. It will only be a few minutes," Oakwil told him. Ethan found it hard to focus on the meal. Between the fact he wouldn't even see nightfall again and the quest throwing him a curveball, how could he?

"how am I supposed to find a single shrine in the entire realm?" Ethan asked. Oakwill fell silent.

"You will learn. But eat first." The stew they poured in front of Ethan was hearty and spicy, maybe even a little too much for him, but he ate what bits of it he could stomach. The two kids beside and across from him kept staring, even when Oakwil admonished them for making their guest uncomfortable. The entire time, Ethan's mind was on the wording of the realm quest and the two hours he had left. Survive. Like I have any other choice.

Once Oakwil was finished, he took Ethan outside of the village. It was a bunch of rustic looking buildings of stone surrounded by a futuristic dome, both clashing against each other anachronistically. Outside of the buildings, many of the dwarves were living their lives like it was a normal day on earth. Drying clothes, cooking, sewing, smithing and practicing Talents, though there were only two of those who had awakened. Even farming, which surprised Ethan since he didn't think the ground would be thick enough.

He and Oakwil walked in quick steps, mostly because of Ethan himself. He thought that and his Trial Goer status would make him a sight to behold, but the other dwarves in the village only gave him a glance before turning away.

"Do they know I'm a Trial Goer too?" Ethan asked.

"Yes. If you had been the first, they would have been much more happy. But the ninth passing Trial Goer does not get as much excitement as the first," Oakwil said as they continued to the edge of the dome. Through that glass, Ethan could see clouds hanging in the sky and thundering slowly. The clouds came before that flooding rain yesterday. And they look even thicker today. Gods help me, he thought reflexively.

"You stare too much. It will do you no good," Oakwil said.

"Just getting a look at what I have to deal with later," Ethan replied." If I have to deal with it. Can't I just stay here until the elemental storm passes?"

"No, Trial Goers who do so will be labelled cheaters and… removed. We deal with it every day. You will adapt." And being removed didn't sound like it meant just disqualification to Ethan. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"You've got a giant dome protecting you. Which, by the way, how did you even build?" Ethan asked.

"Did not. Lord Ather and the GPA graciously provided us," Oakwil said, his voice strained slightly as he recited the words.

"We offer guidance and help to Trial Goers, maintain their realm, offer them prayer, and they provide us a Realm to live within." There was a history there Oakwil didn't reveal and Ethan didn't pry into. Raphael had already told him enough horror stories about those who spoke up against the GPA. It wasn't a long walk to the edge of the dome, so they reached it in just a few minutes. Oakwil raised a single thick arm, and pointed towards the edge of the forest.

"Wood Shrine entrance. It is your only hope of survival," Oakwil emphasized. Somehow, the realm wasn't flooded any longer. It didn't even bear the markings of a flood having gone through, surprising Ethan. The river he'd crossed looked like it had been dried up for weeks, when it was flowing just yesterday.

"Do not be overconfident. Talents cannot save you every time. You must find Arch to Uninexus before you take it on. You may find friends and weapons there." He was shouting off advice briskly, more recollection than fact. How many times have you given this speech, old man? He didn't pose the question, he didn't want to stop Oakwil.

"Nearest Arch is a day's walk. Faster if you have speed Talent. Four days may be enough to complete a shrine," he finished.

"Thanks, Oakwil. But why are you helping me so much?" Ethan asked immediately after.

"A duty of Lord Ather, for their grace in letting us stay. We guide the Trial Goers, but gently. And… I have sent too many eager green Trial Goers off to never be spotted again." Those corpses in the goblin village, were they…? He kept that fact to himself. He saw a sadness in Oakwil's eyes, and he didn't want to add anymore to it.

"Now, we have helped you too much as is, Trial Goer. Some strict Starlaws may even call it infringement of rules," Oakwil said.

"No more will we help." It was a rough attitude for someone who had housed and fed him, but Ethan understood, even if it hurt a little.

"Alright, I'm ready," Ethan said. Oakwil did something and the edge of the dome opened up. But then both he and Ethan looked down, and saw several tiny green figures clinging to the supports of the village.

"Goblins. They survived this long?" Ethan said aloud. Only the toughest and biggest had made it, which amounted to less than a dozen. Oakwil breathed out uneasily.

"They attack the village, not you. We will take care of them s-""No, it's alright. I'll handle them." He was the one who brought the goblins to the village in the first place, not the dwarves. And he hadn't joined the Realm Trial so others could fight his battles. Plus, he needed this. Not just to prove himself, but to win back the hours he'd lost asleep. [Estimated Time to Live: 1 Hour 36 Minutes 36 Seconds]"Are you sure?" Oakwil asked.

Ethan stretched his arms and legs like Raphael had taught him, loosening up the muscles for what he was about to do.

"I'm the one on Trial, remember? Time to prove I can face the music."

"Face… the music? But there is no music playing?"

"Metaphors? You don't have those?" Ethan asked. Oakwil shook his head. Weird, but I'm not gonna stick around to fix that. I'm on a timer, after all.

"See you around, Oakwil." Ethan pulled his spear out of his duffel bag and held it in one hand. With the other, he grabbed a handhold and descended down towards the hungry monsters.

The goblin stabbed at him and Ethan brought his foot up.

"Stop that!" He barked, but the monster started climbing to reach him again. Ethan pulled away from his handhold and levelled the spear at the goblin. Then he stabbed down into its flesh awkwardly, the wound wasn't big, but when he pulled the spear away, the goblin lost its grip and plummeted down to the ground. [Bestiary Updated!] [+10 Credits] He dropped down a few rungs before coming across another goblin.

Same deal as before, he stabbed down into the monster, it peeled away from the handholds, and died on impact with the ground. [+10 Credits] Eagerly, Ethan dropped further down towards the rest of the hanging monsters. They were so drained from having to survive the flood, they were easy pickings now. But as soon as he came upon the next goblin, it chose to run away instead.

"Hey, get back here!" Ethan shouted. Not only did it run, the other goblins followed its lead and started climbing down from the giant metal support. Some of the goblins fell off in their hurry to escape, taking away Ethan's chance at earning more essence. Fine, run away. At least I'll make it to the shrine faster this way. But when the remaining goblins reached the ground, they stopped running.

Instead, they picked up the little knives and clubs that had been discarded around the village, and surrounded the base of the metal support. Ah, shit… The goblins just needed to wait for Ethan to climb down, and they'd slice him to ribbons. He could even see a few eyeing the broken spears, thinking of how they could fling it up at Ethan and drop him like a bird. He couldn't climb down or he'd die, and he couldn't stay in the village or he'd die. Which left him with a scant few options.

The goblins had been tenderized by the rushing water, and the spear had gone through them easily enough afterwards. Maybe they were even soft enough to cushion him… Ethan started down the side of the metal supports to the cheering of the goblins. To them, their meal was getting ever closer. Some of the goblins threw their knives at him, but they clinked against the metal and fell back down, leaving barely a scratch. Ethan hurried his movements up, and stopped tens of metres above where the goblins were.

This is going to hurt so bad… Ethan threw his spear into the middle of the crowd. The spear did its job taking the monsters' attention, as they didn't expect Ethan to come falling too. The goblins didn't react in time. He splatted against their tiny bodies, throwing green blood, bones, and viscera in every direction. [Bestiary Updated!] [+30 Credits] [+10 Credits] [+10 Credits] [+10 Credits].. Ethan rose slowly, pained groans leaving his body. The goblins were dead, and he wasn't in any better condition.

He could barely focus with the ringing in his head. [Health: 51. 7%] H-Halfway to the grave… I n-need… to heal… His thoughts came slow and unsteady. He looked underneath himself at their corpses, and immediately took a hold of the fading life force within. Lazily, Ethan applied it across his body, beginning with his head. As soon as he did, the throbbing pain receded, and his mind cleared of the haze. But that only brought the pain the rest of his body was to the front of his mind.

He moved a little but something sharp sliced against him. Ethan looked at his back, seeing two knives embedded shallowly on his ass and back. Augh… great. Pin the tail on the donkey and I'm the donkey… He pulled them out quickly to get it over with, then plastered life force over the wounds to close them. The whole process was teaching him just how to apply life force across the separate parts of his body. He couldn't rely on the same method every time, not if he wanted the best healing possible.

At least med school wasn't a total waste. The slices closed up, and then Ethan went to work pushing the little bone shards stuck in him. Those popped out once he healed the wound from the deepest parts, and finally, Ethan could stand back up. Once he did though, a new pain came over him. The pain of a cracked bone.

"Ow, ow, ow…" Shit, I should've expected that. But how do I heal it? Wounds on his skin he could heal just by putting some life force inside. That didn't work so well for wounds inside the skin. He looked into himself through his Talent. Life force flowed across his body through arteries and organs, but there were points where it looked different than before. Points where it was broken. When he focused on only those bits, he could map them out to his entire skeleton.

Ethan flexed his fingers, and the life force across his bones followed. Okay, those are the phalanges and metacarpal bones, that means those are the arm and shoulder bones, and… the crack's near my false ribs! Now it was just a matter of getting his life force in there. Slowly, Ethan grabbed a handful and placed it against his stomach. He willed it to move through the skin, but kept its shape. When it finally broke through, he let his Talent visualize where it was moving through his body.

He brought it close to the crack in his rib, and shoved it inside to meld. A sense of ease passed through as the crack lessened. Two more orbs of life force went into the crack before it finally healed fully, letting Ethan breathe a sigh of relief. [Health: 88. 9%] He dropped down onto his knees and scanned the corpses of the monsters. Now, time to harvest the rest. He grabbed what life force was left in the bodies before it turned to death essence, and joined it with the rest of his body.

When the process finished, he had a new layer of life essence clinging to his body. And to see if it worked… [Estimated Time to Live: 1 Day and 6 Hours] Good, that's at least a whole day I bought myself. Now… All that was left in the goblin corpses was the death essence, and Ethan wouldn't let that go to waste either. He took a hold of it with his Life Control, grabbing the disparate threads and bringing them towards his hungering Talent.

He could've converted it to life too, but he wanted to see how far he was from ranking up his talent. The death essence flowed inside, disappearing once again. And when the bodies were fully devoured, Ethan took a look at his progress. [Talent: Life-Death Manipulation - Rank F Progress to E-Rank: 0. 2%] That's slow work. But I suppose I've got bigger problems than ranking up. And that wasn't his only reward.

[Internal Skill: Life & Death Control - Rank F Progress to E-Rank: 15%] Not bad at all, Ethan thought as he looked on his progress. His clothes may have been dirtied, his spear dulled, but his Talent and skills had benefited. Now, he just needed to decide his next move. Go straight to the shrine? Or find a team in Uninexus?