by H. C. Mills
Intrigued, I try not to control the process, but instead listen to what my body’s telling me, the subtle feeling that suggests I need to refresh the air inside my lungs. The burn from the Toxic Energy obfuscates the signal a little, but if I concentrate, I can still make it out.
As I focus on my breathing, I slowly slip into a trance.
When my trance finally breaks, Suri informs me that roughly six hours have passed. However, my mind is occupied by the pop-up notification unexpectedly hovering in my vision.
What? Is this for real?
I get up and stretch, curiously watching how the transparent floating window follows my movements.
“Suri, what is this?”
That counts as a practical question, right? Pretty please?
[Congratulations, you have unlocked the ‘Skill System.’ For more information, take a look at your Status Window.]
Frig yeah! It’s high time I checked my Toxic Tolerance anyway. It should have gone up again; I definitely feel a little less burning when I breathe. At least, I think I do.
“Open Status Window!”
First, I look at my brand-new Skill List.
Meagre lung capacity? They call this meagre?! I’m already breathing what feels like twice as deep as would have been possible on Earth... Guess there must a lot of room to grow, still.
Meditation seems less useful at first glance, but it seems like it could help me restore my Lavi faster at least.
As for my Toxic Energy Tolerance... 7.1%, not bad!
It seems the growth of my Toxic Tolerance is slowing down, but I kind of expected that.
What I didn’t expect, was for my Lavi Pool to increase as well. Did I stretch my body’s capacity by taking in more Lavi than I needed for a while? In that case, Meditation might be a more valuable Skill than I thought.
“Suri, how much time left?”
[11 hours, 41 minutes, and 57 seconds.]
Good. Plenty of time to continue raising my Toxic Energy Tolerance.
I’m going to ace this First Trial; I even got a breath-related Skill!
I happily sit down again.
When Suri’s voice finally breaks my trance, I feel rather disoriented.
[Warning: your time in the preparation room is nearly up. The room will be fully sterilised in 600 seconds.]
What? Already? That was one deep trance...
My vision swims a little, and a blurry notification window slowly comes into view.
Awesome. I guess Toxic Energy is also measured in Onkh. Is 1.4 a lot? Not compared to my Lavi Pool, I guess, but since it’s a different kind of energy, I can’t be sure how it measures up.
I get to my feet.
My vision swims again. Man, I don’t feel too good. Guess sitting still for thirteen hours straight will do that to ya.
I hurriedly make my final preparations, such as visiting the ladies’ room, eating some jicca nuts and birberries, and stuffing some more of them in my backpack as rations.
I really wish I had asked Suri to wake me a little earlier; I’m actually a little nauseous, though it’s probably just nerves.
I’m not getting sick, am I? Do they even have micro-organisms keyed to humans here? It seems unlikely. On the other hand, if the universe hates me like I suspect, this would be the perfect time for it to mess with me.
Cold sweat forms on my back as I take my position in front of the door.
All right. Here goes nothing. Don’t be a baby, Emma, you’re going to be fine.
[180 seconds left.]
Oh god oh god oh god, I‘m going to die.
“Begin... hurk... Trial.”
The door rumbles open and a wave of sickly-sweet air flows in. In front of me lies a cave that somehow contains a garden. A wide variety of plants—interspersed with knifegrass—line both sides of a beaten earth path that stretches out in front of me as far as I can see.
What catches my eye, however, is a flower roughly the size—if not the shape—of a sunflower, with an ominous purple glow.
Well, that’s not ominous at all...
I take a deep breath as I step through the door and I feel it harshly burn my lungs.
Oof. That tastes like a ton of Toxic Energy. Good thing I built up my tolerance.
Two pop-up windows appear in my view.
The door slams shut behind me.
CHAPTER 7
Over the limit
“SURI?” I CALL OUT in panic.
[Yes?]
“What’s happening?”
[You are suffering the effects of Toxic Energy Poisoning,] Suri explains very helpfully.
“I’m aware of that! Is that why I’m feeling sick?”
[Seems likely.]
“Then couldn’t you have told me sooner?!”
[Information about Status Effects is classified prior to the start of the First Trial.]
“Okay, but—ugh! How can my net Lavi intake be minus three all of a sudden?”
[Well, your net Lavi intake is the sum of all Lavi in and outflows.]
A window pops up in front of me.
[There’s a Crystal of Lavi in the preparation room, which supplemented your Lavi intake by roughly 5 Onkh per minute. Meanwhile, the meditative state you were in likely prevented you from noticing the effects of the Toxic Energy building up sooner.]
The blood drains from my face as I check the numbers.
What the hell was I thinking, treating this like a game? Let’s go breathe in as much Toxic Energy as I can for hours, that’ll help!
“Open Status Window!”
There’s the tracker for my Toxic Energy. It reads 5.8 over 1.4 Onkh. Down at the Status Effect, it says 4.4.
As in 4.4 Onkh over my Tolerance Limit?
And the effect is -8 Onkh of Lavi per minute!
“Why didn’t you warn me?!” I yell.
[In my defence, this is a rather unusual situation,] Suri chimes, sounding rather unapologetic. [Under normal circumstances, the trace Toxic Energy present in the preparation room isn’t enough to cause poisoning, which is why tracking of Toxic Energy doesn’t start until after the participant enters the First Trial.]
So it’s my fault for being weird, is what you’re saying?!
“What do I do now?” I ask, half expecting to hear ‘die.’
[I’m afraid I’m not allowed to give hints. Of course, standing around won’t get you anywhere.]
I blink. That sounded suspiciously like a hint... Maybe the Trial is short enough that I can make it to the other side and get to another Lavi Crystal!
I take off like a rocket.
Well, an early rocket, perhaps, because my launch is a failure. My legs don’t listen very well, so I trip over my feet and smack into the ridiculously hard ground.
I get up, still in a daze.
Is this the effect of my lowered Agility? Damn.
Trying to keep my stomach’s contents in check, I start hurrying along the beaten earth path as fast as I dare.
I keep my eyes on the ground as I go, only occasionally daring to glance at my still open Status Window to see how much Lavi I have left.
After a minute or so of this, Suri closes the Status Window and adds a Status Bar to the top right corner of my vision instead.
“Thank you,” I say, strangely touched by the attentive action.
[It’s the least I can do,] Suri chimes, with an odd note of melancholy to her voice.
Time crawls by as I traverse the enchanting and deadly landscape. The large purple flowers—which I presume to be the Moonshade this garden was named after—are planted about every thirty feet along the way. That’s clearly deliberate.
They truly are beautiful though. The stems are as long my arm, and the head-sized flowers consist of six, fluorescent-pink petals dotted in blue, surrounding a magenta-glowing centre.
If only they weren’t killing me.
Still nothing. How long have I been walking, two minutes? It feels like forever.
I check my Status Bar.
&
nbsp; “Suri... am I going to make it?”
[I’m afraid not,] Suri chimes, sounding almost apologetic. [At least, not at your current rate of travel.]
Well, shit. My pace has slowed to a trudge by now, but my aching muscles simply can’t handle more than this.
I consider it for the first time. To just give up. To lie down. Perhaps it would relieve some of the nausea, the sweating, and the pounding in my head.
The idea is becoming quite alluring actually. No more worries. No more sadness about probably never seeing my family again. No more pain.
My tread falters.
Maybe I’ll just lie down in that patch of grass beside the path over there. No, wait, that’s knifegrass. Anything but that. I don’t need more pain.
Pain... Something stirs in the back of my mind.
The Meditation Skill could probably bring me some relief, numb my sensations a bit and make my passing a little easier.
But it can also...
Reduce my resting Lavi consumption by 1.5 Onkh per minute!
I pick up the pace again as my heartbeat accelerates.
Is there still hope? Is it even possible to Meditate while walking?
I grit my teeth; there has to be a way. Now that I see a chance to survive again, I find I’m not at all ready or willing to give up.
“Suri, you have some form of access to my mind, right?”
[That’s classified. Why do you ask?]
That wasn’t a no!
“I figure my only chance to make it to the end of this Trial is to Meditate while walking, but I don’t think I’ll be able to figure out how to do that in the time I have left. So, I’m going to need your help.”
[I see. An inventive plan. And what makes you think I would be able to help you achieve such a thing?]
“Suri... you’re literally my only hope. Please?”
[Mmm. You do intrigue me. And I suppose it can be considered a loophole to the rules. Very well. You’ll have to pardon my intrusion, then.]
Oh, thank god!
I feel a prickling behind my right ‘eye,’ like something cold is crawling up my optic nerve. I suppress the instinctive urge to somehow resist the invasion.
Slowly, as I trudge along, I slip into a trance.
A rush of cold wakes me.
I realise I’m underwater and I struggle to find my bearings in the heavy, viscous liquid. Rising to my knees, I break the surface and take in a deep breath, remembering just in time to stop.
I find myself in a well-lit pool of water—or ‘Hydrum,’ I guess—surrounded by white sand and things that might pass for a parody of palm trees. The light is coming off a collection of brightly shining crystals in the ceiling.
There’s a pop-up window floating in front of me.
Purifying? I like the sound of that!
I weakly crawl out onto the warm sand. The Status Bar in the corner of my eye is flashing.
“Oh god, Suri, please open that, that Lavi window!”
[Do you mean the Lavi Flows Window?]
“Yes, that!”
“Hah... A Lavi Crystal. There’s a Lavi Crystal here. I made it.” I flop down onto the sand.
[Yes, you did well. Now rest and detoxify. You took in even more Toxic Energy along the way. Eat something first though, or you might still die.]
My fingers are shaking and feel kinda numb. My limbs in general feel heavy and cold, and black spots are swimming in my vision. So this is what having 1 Onkh of Lavi in my system feels like.
I drag myself upright so I can fish in my bag for some food. It’s never taken this much effort to move before, and I feel distinctly lightheaded, but I can’t afford to faint right now.
I bite down on a jicca nut, but fail to make even a dent in it. Shit, I guess my Strength is too low...
I eye the Doritos speculatively, but decide to hold off on opening the bag. I doubt it contains any Lavi, after all.
With a sigh, I opt for a handful of birberries instead. Their sourness makes me pull a face, but it also clears my head a little.
I crack open the can of Mountain Dew to wash it down. It tastes kind of weird, not like how it did on Earth. Well, I’m sure it won’t poison me any worse than the air here already has.
Finished with my improvised meal, I lie down in the warm sand and pass out.
CHAPTER 8
Once bitten, twice an idiot
I WAKE UP HUNGRY and thirsty, but thankfully alive.
Though that’s kind of a given, if you wake up at all.
Anyway, first things first. I sit up and grab some food and water. I feel like I should be able to handle the jicca nuts again.
“Open Status Window.”
“All right... Open Lavi Flows Window.”
“Not too shabby. Suri, how long was I asleep?”
[45 minutes and 37 seconds.]
“That short?” I ask in surprise. “And how much Toxic Energy did I get rid of in that time?”
[Your body managed to remove 5.1 Onkh of Toxic Energy.]
“Wow. Does that mean this oasis has some kind of effect that removes Toxic Energy, or am I just that awesome?”
[There is a Crystal of Purification right above you, so I’m afraid you are not, in fact, that awesome.]
Well gee, Suri, way to spare my feelings.
I close my left eye and look up at the ceiling. I quickly spot two head-sized crystals moulded into the arched stone: a Crystal of Lavi that radiates streams of green Lavi, and what must be the Crystal of Purification, giving off pure white energy.
Well, judging by my in and outflows and Toxic Energy Tolerance, if I just spend a little more time here, I should be able to leave the oasis and survive till the end of the Trial.
But this oasis is really something. Actually...
I get up and walk a few steps from the oasis until I can feel Toxic Energy start to burn my lungs again.
I take a deep breath and suppress a cough.
“Suri, how much time do I have to finish this Trial?”
[23 hours and 50 minutes total, of which 20 hours, 31 minutes and 3 seconds remain.]
“Sweet.”
I sit down. The beaten earth path is hard and uncomfortable.
I take another deep breath.
[What are you doing?]
“Grinding.”
[Ah, you’re one of those. There seem to be relatively many of you in this batch.]
That doesn’t surprise me at all.
“Anyway, specifically, I’m going to improve my Toxic Energy Tolerance.”
[You’re persisting in this strategy, even after what happened last time?]
“I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes,” I joke. “Look, I don’t know what the next Trials will hold for me, but I have a sneaking suspicion this isn’t the last time I’ll have to deal with Toxic Energy. I feel like I should grab every advantage I can get, and here I have air rich in Toxic Energy, and a lovely oasis to help me Purify my body. I might not get an opportunity like this again for a while, if ever.”
[Even though you’ll get sick again? Even though your lungs will burn and your stomach will roil?]
“In the words of the famously wise—if grossly misconstrued—Friedrich Nietzsche, ‘What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.’ ”
[Curious. Well, by all means, go ahead. I’ll be interested to see how far you’ll get.]
As am I, Suri. As am I.
I glance at the display of Lavi in my eye-crystal’s vision. As much as I hate the burn, I’d better not Meditate this time, or Death could sneak up on me without me ever noticing.
I take another deep breath.
Grinding for Toxic Energy Tolerance without Meditation has upsides and downsides. The air here is practically saturated with Toxic Energy and every breath I take consequently hurts like hell, to the point that thoughts of giving up constantly plague my mind. Somehow, I manage to hold on. Probably because whenever I’m about to quit, I see my Toxic Energy Tolerance tick up.
The upside t
o not using Meditation is that I can focus on Respiration.
I originally got the Skill by following my instincts and listening to my body, however... that gets really boring really fast when you’re actively paying attention to it, so I decide to experiment a little instead. It’s become clear that taking deeper breaths improves my Lavi intake—and that makes sense to me—but I’m not sure how the rhythm ties in. Logically speaking, breathing faster should result in a greater intake, yet my body keeps telling me to slow down.
So I start taking measured breaths, trying to keep them all equally deep, at different speeds, all the while watching the Lavi Flows Window.
When I go really slow, my intake drops. This obviously has something to do with the available Lavi in the air being fully absorbed. To my surprise, however, when I start breathing faster, my Lavi intake also drops.
It takes me a while to figure out why. It’s not until I use my eye-crystal to look a little more closely at the movement of the specks of Lavi and Toxic Energy in the air that I figure it out—it has to do with the way air flows in this Realm.
The problem is, when I take rapid breaths, the air I just exhaled is still in front of my face by the time I inhale. This way I’m actually breathing the same air over and over!
It might be better if I stop thinking about it as air, and start thinking about it as Aether, as it clearly has very different properties.
Either way, after this discovery I start to change the way I breathe in an attempt to optimise the process. Firstly, I try to breathe as deeply as I can without hurting my lungs. Secondly, I work on my timing, not only trying to perfect how long I keep the Aether in, but also how long I wait after an exhale before my next inhale, so the Aether gets a chance to refresh, with new Lavi—and Toxic Energy—diffusing over or however that works in this Realm.