“Are you alright?” Riley asked from nearby.
Before he could reply, he heard another swish, followed closely by Riley’s grunt of pain. Jason saw Riley’s health dip in the group interface. Those two tentative strikes weren’t the last. It was almost as though the initial attacks had been meant to test them because the next few blows came hard and fast, leaving the pair little time to coordinate or regroup.
They were knocked about and smashed into walls. It wasn’t just the damage caused by each attack, but the stunning effect of slamming against the stone walls or floor that kept them off balance. From the grunts of pain and the crashing sound each time the creatures struck, Jason could tell that they were driving Riley further away from him – likely trying to split them up. However, there wasn’t much he could do about it. The blows came fast and furious, each one targeting a different limb.
Within only moments, Jason’s health was waning, and multiple limbs were fractured – slowing his movements even further. Not that he had managed to hit anything anyway. Even through the cloud of pain, he could tell that whatever lingered in the darkness was slowly and methodically hunting them. First, it was splitting them up, and then it was crippling them to make it more difficult to fight back.
Jason’s tired mind clung to that last idea. Whatever this was, it didn’t want them to fight back. Which implied that they could. But how? How the hell could they fight something they couldn’t see or hear?
He heard another faint swish and flinched involuntarily. A blow rocketed into his left shoulder again, and the bone was knocked out of the socket with a sickening pop. Even with the dampened pain feedback in-game, it felt like his shoulder was on fire, and Jason let out a hissing breath, struggling to focus.
“It’s the sound,” he heard Riley grunt from nearby, her voice filled with pain and her breath coming in ragged gasps. “They make a sound just before they strike.”
Jason knew she was right, although he didn’t know how he could use that information. He held his staff in his less injured arm, even that limb radiating with pain. It was a struggle just to keep his grip on the weapon. Even if he heard the sound, he’d only have a one or two-second window before the creature attacked. And, even then, he wouldn’t be able to see what he was swinging at. He would just have to flail blindly.
On the other hand, he didn’t exactly have anything to lose.
Jason forced his broken body to stand as still as possible, yet he couldn’t stop his legs and arms from shaking from pain and fatigue. Instead, he decided to reposition, and sunk to his knees, choking up on his staff to compensate for the loss of height. He forced his lungs to slow their breathing and willed his frantic heartbeat to slow. The sound was faint. He couldn’t afford any distractions. He closed his eyes. They were useless anyway.
All his attention was focused on his hearing. He just needed to pick up the faint, telltale sound of a brush stroke. He wouldn’t have time to think about acting, only to react. The world seemed to slow around him, his perspective of time warping in the bottomless darkness.
Then he heard it.
Swish.
Jason moved immediately, lashing forward with the staff wildly while channeling his Soul Slash. His staff raced forward, and the spectral blade cut at the darkness hungrily. It wasn’t clear if he had struck anything. He felt no resistance as the weapon passed through the air, but the anticipated blow never came.
“I-I think I might have hit one,” Jason said aloud.
As soon as he spoke and relaxed his guard slightly, another blow slammed into his chest, throwing him backward and into the wall. His head struck the stone with a sharp crack, and suddenly he could see small lights superimposed over the darkness. Someone was shouting from nearby, but he couldn’t make out their words. Then there was silence again – deafening silence – and his UI flashed, Riley’s icon graying out.
Riley is dead, he thought, struggling to focus.
He clawed his way back to knees. It took most of his considerable willpower to remain upright and to keep his staff raised. However, he knew he had no chance. He was crippled, he couldn’t walk, and he had one more blow left in him. Yet, he refused to back down. He struggled to control his breathing, listening intently for the sound.
Swish.
Blinding pain filled his body as this blow cracked his ribcage, driving the bone fragments into his lungs. He managed a single wracking wet cough – red notifications flashing in his peripheral vision – before slumping to the floor.
Suddenly, the pain was gone. With the ever-present darkness in the room, the merciful absence of pain was the only way he was able to tell that his body had finally failed him. A taunting blue notification appeared in the air – confirming what he already knew.
System Message
You have died.
Thanks for playing Awaken Online!
* * *
“What the hell was that?” Jason heard someone shouting as he came to. He stumbled, off balance as he found himself suddenly standing again. The world spun around him and he leaned heavily against a nearby wall as he tried to catch his bearings.
He was standing once more near the entrance to the second challenge room. Or maybe he had never really moved. It had been difficult to tell his location in the room during the trial. The light from the lone torch was nearly blinding after what had felt like an eternity spent in total darkness, and he covered his eyes with a hand while his vision adjusted.
As Jason began to recover, he could see Riley standing nearby, stabbing an accusing finger at Rex. “That was bullshit! How are we supposed to fight something we can’t see? What possible lesson could we learn from this?”
Rex was simply staring at the girl impassively, unperturbed by her tirade. As he saw Jason appear, he glanced over. “Ahh, now that you are both back, we can see how you did!”
Riley huffed in irritation at being ignored, and, for a brief moment, Jason thought she might try to attack their former general – although her weapons would do little good against his misty form.
Challenge 2: A Trial of Darkness failed.
Total Time: 2 minutes and 17 seconds.
Riley Kills: 0
Jason Kills: 0
“See? We didn’t kill anything!” Riley said, gesturing at Rex.
“Technically, you did manage to at least hit something. Once,” he replied with a deadpan expression. “That was pretty impressive.”
Riley looked like she was about to explode at that comment, but Jason interjected. “That’s… nice, I guess? She does have a point, though. How are we supposed to fight those things – whatever they are? We can’t even see what we’re fighting.”
“Ahh, is it necessary to see your target to hit them?” Rex answered in a dry tone. “And here I was thinking your weapons work just fine even with your eyes closed. I must have been using them wrong when I was alive.”
“No,” Jason replied through gritted teeth. “It is certainly possible to hit our opponents without seeing them. Although, the sight part does tend to help with accuracy.”
“Huh, if only there were a way to compensate for that,” Rex said, rubbing at his skeletal chin.”
Riley massaged at her temple. “Okay. Sure. We’re all ears. How are we supposed to hit whatever those things while blind?”
“Pretty simple. Swing?” Rex retorted. He seemed to be enjoying their frustration.
At that point, Jason’s and Riley’s patience finally snapped and they started shouting at the skeleton. Being brutally beaten and killed didn’t help keep a person calm and level-headed.
After they began to wind down, Rex held up a staying hand, unperturbed by their outburst. “Look. I told you this trial is about finesse. You started to learn some of the relevant techniques in the first challenge – economy of movement, precision strikes, and learning when to trade hits. This is all a product of skilled combat.”
He gestured with a wispy hand at the darkness behind him. “But even with this training, you are lim
ited by your senses. You rely on your sight and can only respond to what is directly in front of you. What about the ambush from behind? What about the arrow barreling toward your head in the heat of battle? In the middle of the fray, it is those unseen blows that tend to be the deadliest – not the swordsman running at you from the front.”
“Do you reasonably expect us to be able to dodge arrows?” Riley demanded. “I think this might not be entirely realistic.”
“No, absolutely not,” Rex replied, looking mildly offended. He leaned forward toward Riley, his dark eyes flashing. “I expect you to be able to dodge or deflect arrows while also simultaneously fighting multiple opponents.” He glanced at Jason. “At least one of you have already seen that this is possible.”
Jason was about to tell Rex this was futile but stopped himself. He did remember his fight with Thorn. Looking back on it, the man had seemed to anticipate attacks from behind him and Jason’s curses had barely disrupted the flow of combat. In fact, he had used Jason’s attacks against him while continuing to fight. And then there was the moment where he had struck at Frank, dust obscuring the battlefield and his lone eye closed. The only reason Thorn had missed was due to Frank’s hasty, instinctive dodge.
“Thorn was able to do what Rex is describing,” Jason said somberly, deflating Riley’s anger. “And that’s who we’re trying to beat. We should assume that every member of the Order is capable of the same feat.”
Riley took a deep, resigned breath. “Fine. I guess we need to become some sort of ninja now. I get it. How do we train for this then? Even if we tried again right now, I’m not sure what I would do differently – or what I could do.”
Rex looked back and forth between the pair. “I’ve already told you the answer – or at least implied it. You need to learn to use your other senses. Unfortunately, this isn’t something that can be improved in a sparring ring or the training room. The only way to train is to run this challenge until you can do it with your eyes closed – literally.”
Jason shook his head. Even having seen what Thorn and his compatriots were capable of and even with more training, this challenge seemed impossible. He also saw skepticism painted on Riley’s face as she eyed the darkness hovering on the other end of the room.
“Don’t believe me, huh?” Rex asked, crossing his spectral arms. “Of course, you don’t! How many times do I have to remind you that I have the memories of centuries of the Kin? How about you check your notifications before you start yelling at me about how this is impossible.”
Jason’s brow furrowed in confusion and he saw that Riley was similarly taken aback. Her hand swiped at the air, presumably bringing up her system notifications. Jason did the same. Blue notices soon appeared in his vision.
New Passive Skill: Listening
You have learned how to use your ears, congratulations! Intensive training in the use of your senses, such as hearing, can greatly enhance your sensitivity. Masters of this skill have been said to be able to hear a pin drop from yards away. Plus, your girlfriend will likely find you much more attentive! These are just a few of the many perks of being able to use your fleshy cartilage radars.
Skill Level: Beginner Level 1
Effect: 5% enhanced hearing.
x2 Skill Rank Up: Toughness
Skill Level: Intermediate Level 5
Effect 1: -8% damage and pain.
Effect 2: Reduced fatigue duration by 14%.
Jason sighed as he reviewed the new notification. He didn’t appreciate the jab about listening to his girlfriend – which hit a little too close to home with Riley standing right there, but at least this offered a chance to beat the challenge. Improving his hearing would help, but it still didn’t seem likely nearly enough. Even if he could learn to anticipate and dodge the unseen creatures’ attacks, how would they fight back?
“Okay,” Jason said, swiping away his notifications. “We literally need to learn how to beat this challenge with our eyes closed. I get it. What now?”
Rex’s jaw clacked as he laughed. “Weren’t you listening, boy? You two get to run it again. And again. And again…”
Jason shared a look with Riley. Despite the tension between them, they were both thinking the same thing. Rex was a sadist. And this challenge was going to be a pain in the ass.
“Speaking of which, you both look rested now. It must be time for round two!” Rex added. With that, he waved his hand, and the lone torch sputtered out. A familiar sound soon whispered through the now darkened room.
Swish.
Chapter 27 - Surplus
A few hours later, Jason found himself standing at the entrance to the dark keep and facing the market. As Pint dropped him off outside, Jason leaned back against the massive wooden gates with a tired sigh. He and Riley had attempted the second challenge over a dozen times. They hadn’t seemed to improve at all – at least as far as Jason could tell.
He felt like he already had a sense of what the second challenge was intended to teach. His Soul Slash had such a high mana cost that it wasn’t possible to channel it continuously. In addition to improving his senses and precision, the challenge was probably trying to teach him to use Soul Slash quickly and sparingly. Not that this helped him at all.
Each successive attempt had been the same as the last. The invisible creatures would strike with little warning, slowly crippling them until they mercifully ended their lives. Despite Rex’s assurances that they had hit the creatures a handful of times, there was never any evidence of that after the challenge ended. Besides learning to flinch at the sound of a broom, he wasn’t sure what he had really gained from the experience. Their efforts felt futile, and Riley had quickly logged off after the last attempt – giving him a curt goodbye.
With a weary swipe of his hand, Jason brought up his notifications.
x7 Skill Rank Up: Listening
Skill Level: Beginner Level 8
Effect: 12% enhanced hearing.
x3 Skill Rank Up: Perception
Skill Level: Beginner Level 9
Effect: 11% increased chance to discover traps and unnoticed details.
x2 Skill Rank Up: Toughness
Skill Level: Intermediate Level 7
Effect 1: -9% damage and pain.
Effect 2: Reduced fatigue duration by 16%.
At least, this is a great way to train Toughness, Jason thought to himself. He only had to get beaten to death repeatedly in order to progress this quickly. Maybe his new Listening skill would provide a helpful bonus once he hit intermediate.
He sure hoped so.
Jason pushed himself away from the wall. There was no sense dwelling on the challenge right now. He turned his attention back to the market. He needed to check on his bids and see how they had progressed while he had been busy with other things.
Jason arrived at the pillar in the center of the market a few minutes later. The auctioneer saw him approaching and quickly cowered behind a nearby booth – trying his best to stay out of sight. Clearly, Jason had made an impression during his last visit. Without any further ado, he placed his palm on the column, and the auction house interface appeared in the air in front of him.
Jason’s mouth dropped open as he surveyed the results.
His entire 1,000 gold budget was gone in just a few in-game days. Not only that, but he had purchased practically every ingredient on the market. The lists were now barren, and the few remaining ingredients were selling for crazy prices – well above his automatic bid settings.
Jason quickly flipped over to the lists for the potions, holding his breath as the menu loaded. With growing excitement, he found that those lists were nearly empty as well. There were only a handful of stacks up for sale, and the price for even the lesser health potions had jumped to 5 gold – although he failed to see how new players could afford that price.
“Damn, it worked,” he murmured to himself. He could practically see green as he visualized flooding the market with his new potions at a healthy mark up.
He glanced up quickly, his gaze focusing on the auctioneer and a wide grin curling his lips. “I’m going to need you to deliver a few things.”
The auctioneer went to reach into the bag he clutched in his arms, but Jason stopped him with a gesture. “No, not here. Deliver my purchases to Jerry at his inn. Tell him to get them to Cecil. He’ll know what to do.”
“We aren’t allowed to leave our post. We don’t normally deliver…”
“I’m not asking,” Jason said forcefully. “You’re in my city, so my orders are all you should care about right now. Now go!” As he said this last part, he gestured to the southern road leading out of the market. The man only spent another second wringing his hands in indecision. Finally, he must have decided that he’d be better off shirking his duties than to ignore Jason’s order. He shot off at a sprint and quickly disappeared.
Jason watched the auctioneer’s form as he fled. He needed to be discrete. The last thing he wanted to do was alert someone to how he had manipulated the market or inadvertently lead Thorn and his crew to The Grove. That cave complex and the materials that the auctioneer was carrying were now worth a not-so-small fortune to him.
There was still one more stop he needed to make. They needed to strike while the iron was hot. It was time to talk to Eliza.
* * *
As Jason entered The Grove for the second time, he was floored by how much the cavern had changed. A full contingent of the Kin still guarded the massive steel door, and hundreds of glowing globes circled the ceiling, creating artificial sunlight that shone down harshly on the cavern floor. However, where there had only been rows of barren dirt fields, there was now lush green vegetation covering nearly every inch of the cave.
Awaken Online: Dominion Page 28