One Obstacle after another, Benny slowly and methodically worked through each challenge, progressively obtaining his lost powers as time ticked away. Benny’s challenges pushed him to the test by climbing things, crossing over thin ledges, and even having to venture across a long stretch of hanging bars under the pressure of several G’s of gravitational force.
Then there were the combative portions, where he was pitted against opponents stronger than the last pushing him to the brink of exhaustion. But eventually, he made it to the end of Chamber 2 and stood outside the Checkpoint leading to Chamber 3, drenched in sweat and decked out in his equipment.
-You have completed Obstacle 35/35.-
-You have leveled up.-
-All your stats have reached the Tier-2 Stat Cap of 1200 points.-
-You have reached the third Checkpoint and may now pass through to the Final Chamber, Chamber 3.-
-You have met the requirements to receive a passing Grade on your Tribulation Quest.-
-You can receive additional rewards and Benefits if you attempt the Obstacles and Opponents presented in Chamber 3.-
– 50 Obstacles or Opponents must be completed or defeated in Chamber 3.-
-Obstacle one, Sensory deprivation crossing. Just like all the previous initial challenges presented in each Chamber, you will have to begin your trek by crossing across a large pit, only this time, things are vastly more complicated.-
-Time remaining in Chamber 3: 12 Hours.-
Taking a moment to bring up his Status and double-check everything was in order, Benny took a deep and calming breath before stepping through the Light Door leading to the final Chamber, Chamber 3.
The instant he stepped through, Benny felt something was off, and it took a moment to realize that the natural gravity in the last Chamber was set to 5g.
Luckily, since all his previous progress had been returned, Benny’s Gravitational Resistance had returned to 15g, so after flexing his muscles, he felt just fine.
However, looking forward, Benny could see a strange hazy effect occurring deeper into the Chamber he observed.
‘Grav Shimmer…’ Benny thought as he recognized the effect, comparable to what one would see on streets during a sweltering day.
‘The fact that there is visible evidence is proof enough that the gravity will consistently increase the further I go, 100, 200, 500…shit, this Chamber is at least a thousand Meters wide, maybe even more.’ Nodding his head and wearing a slight smirk, Benny covered the distance of several dozen meters before arriving at the First Obstacle.
Standing before a chain-link and flimsy-looking Bridge, Benny stopped and carefully examined the first Obstacle while reading the brief description of the Passing Down Interface.
‘Tsk, Sensory Deprivation, that can’t be good. So I assume that means the moment I step foot on the Bridge, all my senses, such as touch and sight, will be shut off; this will suck.’ Storing his Aspis and Estoc in their holsters on his back, Benny mentally prepared himself and stepped onto the wobbly Bridge with his right foot.
As expected, the instant his body crossed the imaginary boundary leading to the first Obstacle, all five of his senses were shut off, drowning him in a silent, pitch-black world of emptiness.
‘Crap, I feel like I am floating; how the hell am I supposed to move if I can’t even feel my body anymore. This makes no sense. Am I still walking? Am I standing in place? I can’t even tell anymore!’ Benny cried internally since he couldn’t determine his up from down any longer.
But that all changed as suddenly his vision cleared up, and the world around him came back into view. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good that this happened, as he soon found himself writhing on the ground in pain, fighting back the urge to scream bloody murder.
“RAHHh AHH AHHHHHH,” Benny screamed as every fiber of his being seemed to be torn apart at that moment. Blood oozed from thousands of micro cuts that had appeared all over his body, and it leaked out in streams from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
For 20 minutes, Benny continued to roll around in agony gripping his chest or face to try and relieve some of the pain he was experiencing, but nothing helped.
When the intense pain finally did subside, Benny found himself laying on his back, splayed out like a starfish, and gazing blankly at the white tile ceiling with a cluster of notifications floating in his vision.
-You are under attack by the First through Fifth Opponents hidden in the First Obstacle.-
-You have suffered catastrophic damage.-
-You are losing all bodily functions.-
-You have died.-
-Now Being Respawned outside of the First Obstacle.-
-You have used one of your Four Respawns and only have Three Remaining.-
“Who am I? Where am I? What was I doing?” Benny mumbled as he lay in place, too exhausted to move.
“Oh, I guess I just died…that sucks,” trying to get a hold of his turbulent thoughts, Benny’s eyes slowly regained their clarity as his HP regenerated.
“I died just like that? How long was I even in that sensory deprivation area?” Slowly sitting up and looking at the floating display timer, Benny’s eyes narrowed as he realized it had been over an hour since he first entered the Obstacle.
“Fuck, I wasted 1/12th of my time limit only to die. Setting aside that I can’t even determine how long that stupid Bridge is, I now know there are five opponents on it, meaning 6 of the 50 development points are in the first Obstacle.”
Getting back to his feet with some effort, Benny withdrew several Health Potions and Stamina potions before chugging them down and recouping all his losses.
Next, he drew his Aspis and Estoc from their holsters on his back and checked them over for damage. Once he was assured that both were in peak form, only then did Benny attempt the first Obstacle a second time.
Yet, just like the first attempt, an hour later, he found himself in the same position, laying in a pool of blood with visible damage to his armor, and this time, both his weapons had lost 1/4th of their HP as well.
“At least the second time wasn’t as bad as the first; I think the violent pain and spasms simply caught me off guard,” Benny grumbled as he healed himself up and got ready for his third attempt.
Unlike the previous two tries, Benny figured out a vital piece of information this time. Although all his senses were effectively shut off, that didn’t mean that the strange feelings of his Spirit Armaments were.
Though the Aspis and Estoc only had Infant Affinity Souls and were no different from newborn babies mentally, they nevertheless had a semblance of intelligence. As a result, they could course-correct Benny’s limbs to some extent, assisting him in deflecting or redirecting incoming attacks, so long as they were supplied with enough Mana by Benny.
Like this, Benny made it significantly further on the third attempt, but in the end, the result was relatively the same, him lying on the ground bleeding and in pain. Still, one significant difference had occurred this time, and it wasn’t until he read through the notifications that Benny found out what had happened.
-You are under attack by the First through Fifth Opponents hidden in the First Obstacle.-
-You have perfectly redirected a ranged attack from the Second Opponent and subsequently killed them.-
-You have Evolved to Tier-3, Leveled up, and obtained 50 Points in Every Stat.-
-You have Killed the Fourth Opponent with a stray attack.-
-You have Leveled up.-
-You have obtained 50 points in every Stat.-
-You have suffered catastrophic damage.-
-You are losing all bodily functions.-
-You have died.-
-Now Being Respawned outside of the First Obstacle.-
-You have used your third Respawn and only have One Remaining.-
“Hehe, HAHAHA! GOOD WORK, YOU GUYS!” Benny cheerfully praised both his weapons while looking through his newly improved Tier-3 stats with an additional 100 points.
Benny smirked, jumping back to his feet and performing a few swift punches and kicks, followed by slashes with his Estoc.
“Only one respawn left, three opponents, and the actual bridge to cross remaining.” Benny thought aloud as he chugged down several of each Potion type to bring his Resource Stats back to full capacity.
In both hands, his Aspis and Estoc shared the happy emotions they felt from their Master and vibrated with a slight hum, showing they, too, were excited.
“It’s no longer about passing the whole Chamber; I will be happy just making it through this Obstacle, so that means I will be relying on you two; if you need more Mana, go ahead and draw whatever you need.” With that said, Benny began channeling a large amount of Mana into his right hand and left forearm, giving the two weapons abundant energy to draw from before rushing forward back onto the Bridge for the fourth time
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