B3 Chapter 354: Obstinance, pt. 2

Spider-webbing cracks spread out across one wall of the obstacle course, the only evidence of the lethal trap that had almost taken Kaius’s head off. He eyed the shattered stone suspiciously, flicking between it, the path where he had been standing, and the wall where it must have been shot from.

There had been no warning — not from his Skills, or the trial itself. If the very first trap was so lethal, so well hidden, then he needed to be careful — plan.

There was no doubt in Kaius’s mind that things would only get more dangerous as he progressed through the course. While he couldn’t see too much of what lay in the far distance thanks to a tall climbing wall a few obstacles in, what he had seen was ruinously complex. There’d been a lot — everything from complex jumping courses filled with dozens of blades that left only moments to slip past them, to hallways that seemed to fill with fire at random.

What were the chances that the hidden traps wouldn’t escalate to a similar degree?

That wasn’t the only reason for him to take a more cerebral approach. Even if he didn’t quite see the trick to the trial yet, it was designed to progress Mentis. So far the course looked physical — had no repeating patterns that he could see. It was much more like what he had expected from a Corporus trial than anything else.

There was something he was missing.

Clenching his jaw, Kaius stepped back and made his way back to the room where he had entered. He was still wired from the trap. Every step, his stomach lurched — half expecting another dart to fire upon him.

It would have been a petty trick to have it only trigger when he returned, but at this point he wasn’t taking any chances.

Thankfully, his suspicion was proven wrong. He sighed in relief, and hurried over to the bed at the far room — taking a seat as he stared out at the floating pathway that had bested him completely.

Resting his chin on one hand, he wracked his brain for any advantage that could help him. Throwing himself at the challenge like a brute was likely not the intended way to solve the problem — and might just get him killed. Besides, he doubted that it would help him feel the weight of Mentis.

His eyes sharpened in realisation.

Both Vyrthane and Eirnith were only a handful of levels off their second spell. While there were no guarantees, both had a chance of helping. The defensive abilities of Vyrthane — if he picked the right one — could be immensely helpful for surviving any blunders he ran into on the course. Eirnith was even better — it had mental magic. His first selection had offered a spell that would boost his reaction time. That could be perfect.

The only problem was training them. Warhaven wouldn’t be too bad. Even if it’s mana cost was excessive, without the looming threat of beasts he would have far more freedom to experiment with his shaping of the spell — test his mastery by stretching it into shapes that he would normally never bother with. Plus, he could still use it to give himself some cover from the dangers of the trial.

Zone of Discombobulation would just be a grind. He had no targets to actually use it on, so would be forced to rely on simple repetition.

The thought of it made him frown. Even if he had the freedom and safety to do so, it wasn’t exactly riveting. Though, at the very least it would give him the opportunity to really dive into Tonal Weaving and Resonance amplification.

With his focus on inscribing quickly, he’d left some of the more complex approaches to manaweaving to the wayside. It had left the Skills lagging — now two of the only general Skills that hadn’t reached the tier cap.

A net benefit, even if it did mean spending more time stuck in this trial alone.

Kaius jumped to his feet, approaching the start of the trial. If he was going to do it, there was no reason to waste time lounging around.

He raised his hands.

Destruction reigned.

Almost every spell he had was unleashed in a constant deluge — saving only the Slip Steps and Shunts he would need to keep himself safe and navigate the course. Nails screamed through the air, vibrating as the tore divots in the stone walls of the hall; Stormlash crackled its fury, lightning striking again and again as an echoing boom of thunder bounced around the confined space; Zones of Discombobulations shimmered into being, a field of madness layered on the track in front of him.

It was over quickly — the spells flying as fast as he could will them into being, his only limitation the short delay to aim and direct their effects.

He grinned at the carnage as he eyed the smouldering streaks of black and deep scratches on the stone. Gods, he loved glyphbinding, even after almost a year, there was something so addictive about being able to unleash unbridled chaos so quickly. It was only sweeter because of how rarely he got to just unload his spells like that — it was so rarely appropriate in real battle.

Unfortunately, it also meant his mana was drained — now he really had to wait.

With two hours and change to kill, Kaius turned his back to the obstacle course. His eyes settled on the parchment that stretched across the wall. It was empty — conspicuously absent of the drawing he’d seen flash at the start of the trial.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

There had to be something more going on with it — the bait was too blatant and obvious for anything else. It hadn’t so much a flickered since that first appearance.

He took a seat in front of it — doing his best to tear a hole in it with his eyes alone.

It made no gods’ damned sense! None of it did. There was something more, he knew it.

The Veteran’s Edge was almost entirely focused on learning and memory, but nothing about this trial seemed like it would force him to rely on that aspect more than he ever had before. Sure, information that was only briefly available sounded right — but to have it so easily missable? To give him no warning that he needed to pay attention to it?