If I can’t outrun them, I’ll have to fight them, Aaron thought as he widened his footing into a fighting stance.
Unfortunately, he could tell from even a cursory glance that these attackers were no mages who lacked physical traits. These attackers were freaking werewolves, and they were big and strong, towering over him with muscles rippling through their fur.
“Alright then, come and get it,” he sighed as the avalanche of attackers closed in on him from all directions.
Aaron actually managed to avoid the first couple of strikes through as much luck as anything else, and then they promptly tore him apart.
However, as fangs and claws were digging into him, and the pain threatened to make him pass out, he saw it—the freaking shadow. Standing above him in the trees, it appeared to be dressed in martial robes. Its face was featureless, and it didn’t move, but Aaron felt like he could sense profound disappointment from it.
I’ll show it! He thought, eyeing the shadow as blood loss made his vision dizzy, and he drifted away.
Aaron’s eyes sprang open, and he felt the cold tiles of the obsidian hallway pressed against his back.
He didn’t care if that shadow was supposed to be a god. He’d show that shadow that it’d take more than a few werewolves to stop him. Besides, he had a feeling that seeing that shadow there meant something, in and of itself. Like he had reached some kind of checkpoint, if he could make it a little further, maybe he’d finish the trial, or at least learn something.
However, he also already knew this trial was going to be harder to complete than the last, even with his improved Stats. Even if the werewolves weren’t as strong as the mage individually, the challenge of defeating literally dozens of them at once was no doubt harder, to the point of insurmountability. Against the mage, he had a good matchup, but against the werewolves? They did everything he did, but better. He couldn’t exploit whatever weaknesses they might have had.
But he wasn’t even tempted to try another trial. He invited the challenge, and seeing that shadow just cemented that determination.
Defeating the mage had forced him to improve himself in ways he likely would have thought impossible not long ago. In fact, it was probably a good thing that the trial appeared insurmountable. That meant he would need to think outside the box and force himself to grow into a better version of himself.
A dozen lives passed by with Aaron getting thrown this way and that as the werewolves turned him into a chew toy. There was no discernible progress, and it quickly became clear that there were just too many of them and that they were just too fast to dodge. Throughout this, he discovered what the savage removal of every limb felt like. Including one he’d save the details of for himself. Still, he wasn’t deterred, although perhaps a little frustrated.
If it wasn’t for that damn shadow, he might have even considered moving on to another trial. And it wasn’t merely a stubborn desire to prove it wrong. Something told him it had a secret to share.
Was it how the shadow held itself?
Ditching the idea of trying to somehow best the werewolves, he spent the next few deaths focusing on the shadow. He didn’t have long, since the werewolves turned up around the same time, but he could stitch together what little he saw through many deaths.
At one point, he could have sworn the shadow was standing on a freaking leaf. Like not a branch, a leaf. Up there in the tree, on a freaking leaf. How was that possible? He had felt the mage and the ogre when striking them, and he was fairly certain they followed the laws of physics, all the same as he did. But then why could this shadow stand on a leaf?
Frustrated and eager to find an answer, Aaron continued to bash his head against the wall.
It wasn’t just a far superior speed he was dealing with. The werewolves were clearly pack animals, and pack animals that were far more adapted at hunting during the night than he was. He realized that this obstacle would require an entirely different outlook to overcome. He would struggle to read his opponent's movements in the night, even if that might have helped. However, that wasn’t going to help, since he was being attacked simultaneously from all directions.
Fighting wasn’t an option. He was going to have to outrun them, somehow.
Think, dammit! There has to be a way. Wait, what if… that might actually work.
The werewolves no doubt had some kind of night sight, but the beady yellow eyes that followed him had only appeared after some time. That meant that they relied on senses besides sight to catch up to him.
Collecting the torn shreds of his former clothing, he tore them into even smaller pieces, leaving all but one piece behind in the obsidian hallway before reentering the trial.
This time, when he ran from the werewolves, he snagged the piece of cloth on a branch and then backtracked, taking a different path. Unfortunately, if the little distraction worked at all, it certainly didn’t work for long, and death came soon after, served with a side of mocking shadow.
However, Aaron was sure he was onto something. He just had to be smarter about it. So when he went back, he made several false leads and continued to run. Again, it failed.
There was something he was missing. A simple diversion wasn’t going to be enough. Even if he was confusing them, the werewolves were likely too many in number for his trick to work. They could split up and still chase him down. Heck, they could probably catch up to him again even if they didn’t split up and continue following him, thanks to their superior speed. No, diversions weren’t going to work, at least not alone.
Aaron thought back to the smug shadow looking down on him as he was torn limb from limb.
In his last death, Aaron saw the shadow again. It had shown up just before the werewolves did, moving silently through the trees like a ghost. Its feet hardly seemed to touch the ground before it was springing forward again, leaving the ground behind it undisturbed.
As he lay on the obsidian floor, he replayed the scene over and over in his mind. How was the shadow doing it? He originally dismissed it as a Skill, but as he thought about it more and more he realized there was more to it. Its weightlessness that enabled it to stand on leaves might have been the result of a Skill, but the way it effortlessly flowed from one motion to the next, never misstepping, never overshooting its target, and never making a sound was just plain lowercase -s skill.
He thought back to his own attempts at the Trial and realized he couldn’t count the number of times he had slipped or stumbled as he ran. Each mistake only lost him perhaps a second of time, but they added up quickly. And the sounds of him breaking twigs or crunching leaves probably nullified most of the effect of his diversion. Fat lot of good a scent diversion did when he was stomping through the woods like a drunk elephant within earshot.
Entering the trial, he practiced lightening his steps, death by death. Gradually, he felt himself becoming more tuned to the weight of his own body. He glided down with his steps, never landing flat and hard. Before long, his footfalls were quieting, and soon found that he barely left a mark behind.
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Fifty deaths later, and his little diversion trick worked, for a short while. It seemed that the werewolves would take the bait and follow his scent and footprints. However, it didn’t last long, and Aaron’s carefully placed steps slowed his pace, further increasing the werewolves' speed relative to his own.
It wasn’t just speed, though. Sure, it was harder for them to follow him now that his footprints were barely discernible, but it wasn’t impossible. And he was fairly certain that no matter how good he got at lightening his steps, it wouldn’t be enough on its own.
Returning to the dining hall with a plan in mind, Aaron rushed toward the pitchers of water stored together at a corner of the table.
“WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?!”
Aaron turned to the beet-red assistant. He looked so cartoonishly irate that it was surprising steam wasn't funneling from his ears.
“What does it look like I’m doing? Bathing,” Aaron shrugged nonchalantly as he poured another pitcher of water over his naked form, and scrubbed with a napkin.
“This is a dining hall, you animal!”
“It's not like there's anybody around. Oh, besides you.”
“What does that have to do with common decency? Who bathes in a dining hall?”
“I do. Am I not allowed?”
The assistant’s brow began to twitch, leading Aaron to believe there weren't any rules against what he was doing, or perhaps more importantly, nothing the assistant could do about it.
Clean and scentless, he shot the assistant finger guns and re-entered the trial with a smug grin. He was no doubt about to die, but that didn’t make the expression on the uptight assistant any less savorable.
He did get further than he ever had before, post-bath. But still, he died, of course.
Without his scent or his footprints, it took the werewolves far longer to find him. The problem was, they were still far too quick, and he was far too slow. If he was going to escape them, he would need to learn to run whilst keeping his steps light.
Aaron knew what he needed, and without further thought, he opened his status page and placed half of his free points in Dexterity and Agility.
[ Name: Aaron Dober ]
[ Age: 23 ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Grade: F ]
[ HP: 500 ]
[ MP: 500 ]
[ SP: 500 ]
[ Class: Brawler, lvl 6 ]
[ Profession: -, lvl 0 ]
[ Stats ]
[ Strength: 18 (+6) ]
[ Vitality: 5 (+5) ]
[ Fortitude: 5 (+5) ]
[ Dexterity: 24 (+6) ]
[ Agility: 31 (+7) ]
[ Intelligence: 5 (+5) ]
[ Willpower: 5 (+5) ]
[ Charisma: 5 (+5) ]
[ Perception: 5 (+5) ]
[ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer ]
[ Traits: - ]
[ Racial Skills: Inspect ]
[ Profession Passive Skills (0/3): - ]
[ Profession Active Skills (0/6): - ]
[ Class Passive Skills (0/3): - ]
[ Class Active Skills (2/6): Thick Skinned, Relentless Scourge ]
It was hard to know exactly where his old self ended and his new self began. But Aaron was fairly certain it would have been impossible to exert this much control over his body before levelling.
Immediately, he got to testing his theory. He realized his body acclimated itself to new Stats rather quickly, making it hard to feel exactly how far he had gotten without comparing himself to others. It was a good problem to have, though. If he had to spend weeks getting used to his new strength and speed every time he leveled up, that would be annoying.
Still, wherever the strength of these werewolves landed in the greater scheme of things, it was apparent that it was far above Aaron. A handful of levels undoubtedly made him stronger, but it didn’t even come close to bridging the gap between them.
Overcoming this problem would require talent and perseverance. However, he wasn’t alone. The longer he lasted before being ripped to shreds, the longer he could run alongside the shadow, who leaped from tree to tree above him.
Aaron watched the shadow carefully, looking for the secret that he somehow instinctively knew was there. There was a fluidness in the way that the shadow landed softly and flowed into its next footfall. It was straight up amazing. Like fine art, no effort was wasted, and no ounce of its weight was uncontrolled. It basically glided, skimming the trees like a smooth rock atop a calm lake.
Over the next several deaths, Aaron carefully studied the shadow’s movements and tried to replicate them himself. This often caused him to die painfully as he tripped or stumbled, but he never gave up, and instead entered a routine.
Every new attempt started with Aaron bathing himself in the dining hall, much to the ongoing horror of the assistant. Luckily, it seemed the food and drink refilled themselves, so he didn’t have to worry about running low on water.
Once he was done, it was time to test himself, studying the shadow as he attempted to clear more and more of the stage against the werewolves. His improved Agility and Dexterity might not have come close to what the werewolves had, but they didn’t need to. The Stats just needed to assist Aaron with what he was trying to accomplish, something they did quite well.
Dexterity helped with finer coordination, greatly improving Aaron’s ability to position his footfalls exactly as he wanted. Conversely, Agility improved his ability to control his body on a macro; it made him faster, improving his weight control, speed, and jumping. Between the two Stats, he could run faster, which also seemed to be affected by Strength, and more easily control his footfalls. Still, the Stats didn’t naturally allow him to land softly while running. This was a skill, one he had to hone, and luckily, it seemed that he had the perfect mentor.
That wasn’t to say his Skills didn’t help. He had quickly stopped using Thick Skinned for this trial, as it drained mana without providing any benefits. A starter Skill didn’t provide much protection against the much stronger werewolves, after all. However, Relentless Scourge certainly was useful. It didn’t just speed him up, but the speed increase felt natural, and not something he had to think about consciously. This meant that it improved his overall movement speed while allowing him to focus on his steps.
Another eighty or so deaths later, and his steps flowed from one to another, gliding over the ground with such grace that they barely bent a blade of grass. He was still obviously a novice compared to the shadow, but nonetheless, his fine motor control over his body was nothing short of a miracle. Aaron could hardly believe what he had achieved. Through his goal of controlling his steps without losing speed and following the shadow’s guide, he had increased his control over his entire body. It wasn’t just the speed of his steps that had improved. He found himself able to swing a punch, altering how far he threw it by literal centimeters.
He knew his goal was within reach, and when he started the trial next, he placed four pieces of cloth and ran for his target.
He heard the angry howls carry through the night sky as his pursuers found the decoys. And knew there was no time to let up. Even washed and with almost invisible tracks, he knew they would catch up soon. They were too skilled to be completely bamboozled, regardless of what he did.
But his speed was far greater than it had ever been. Even at level 6, Aaron was likely faster than any human before Integration, and his extreme control over his body only pushed him to even greater heights.
Flashing through the silver-lit forest, Aaron pushed himself to his limit, and soon he realized the slight movements of the guiding arrow became more janky and sensitive. It was a sign that he was getting closer to his target.
Looking up, he watched the shadow turn, and decided to follow.
Aaron could not make out any features of the shadow’s face, but he could have sworn it was glancing back at him as it ran.
Gliding through the tree tops and often disappearing into the dark, he caught the occasional glimpse of the serene shadow as it led him through the moonlight.
Worryingly, he realized he wasn’t exactly following the arrow anymore, though they weren’t going in the completely wrong direction, so he continued. Besides, the shadow had gotten him this far, so he figured it best to follow its lead.
Within a short moment, the trees receded, and he found himself charging headlong into a swamp. Unfortunately, he had not prepared for such a thing, and his feet sank into the watery ground.
Struggling, Aaron managed to free himself, but barely a moment later, he was once again captured by the treacherous environment, and a moment after that, the werewolves caught up.
“Damn wolves!” He hissed as death fell upon him.
When he awoke back in the hall, he was grinning. Despite the painful death, making it to the swamp was proof he was making progress. He had a new wall to climb, and he was chomping at the bit to get to it.