Chapter 41: Chapter 41 - Bonus Quest
I pushed myself upright, lungs rasping, body still a bit unstable after the last channel, but I could stand again. I took a few breaths to re-center myself, and balance returned.
My gaze moved to the sleek black-steel greataxe that lay on the ground beside me. I bent low, hands hovering over the weapon for a moment as my mind ran through its expectations.
Anticipation was an odd thing, but it somehow made things like this feel better.
My hand gripped the haft, fingers tightening around the wrapped leather and then stood up straight as I lifted it off the ground and onto my shoulders.
The difference was immediate. Just that motion of settling into the weapon’s weight...was smoother. More practiced.
I swallowed, bringing my other hand to the handle as I took up the Guard stance and drew the weapon back above my right shoulder.
I let muscle memory move first.
The axe cut air in a downward arc. It was more than just a perfect line. The weapon felt more stable. More...at home.
No wasted drag. No subtle imbalance in the recovery. A second swing, then a third---horizontal, diagonal. Each one smoother. Cleaner. My wrists somehow felt stronger, rotating more firmly, though I knew that was only a phantom sensation, created by the extra familiarity and efficiency of the muscles being used.
Everything had improved significantly, yes, but none of it was perfect.
It was just closer.
I tested a dozen more swings in silence, dirt scuffing under my boots, the weight of the greataxe growing more and more familiar with every pass. My body hadn’t changed. My stats were the same. I was just...better.
I slid the weapon over my back, clicking it into the harness with a heavy breath as my eyes searched the clearing, ultimately landing on the spit lined with Shadestalker meat.
It’d be best if I filled up first.
I ate until the aches faded, until that warmth surged through muscle and bone as my stamina returned full-force. But I didn’t spend a single minute succumbing to greed and temptation. The sooner I finished the bonus quest, the sooner I could get going, and the more time I’d have for tomorrow’s daily quest.
System. How long until the next Daily Quest is issued?
[5 hours and 56 minutes]
I looked back up to the orange skies, and going off the color, I deduced it would be sometime around midnight in 6 hours time.
A standard daily reset then.
I pinched the bridge of my nose as I ran the numbers.
11 hours for the bonus quest, should leave me with about 19 hours left to finish the Daily Quest. But...the daily quest should also be a little easier since my Mastery is higher.
And the hunting requirements should also have been loosened, but probably not by much since I’ll be using two of the cores for the bonus quest...
I hopped to my feet, brushing away the estimations.
Doesn’t matter. We just have to do do this as fast as possible.
I pulled out 2 of the 4 Crisis-Class cores from my Inventory, making sure to leave behind the Black one from the mother. I didn’t know how much it would be worth, but I was sure it had to be more.
System. Consume these two, for usage in my Excess Mana Pool for the Bonus Quest.
[Request Acknowledged.]
The two cores zipped out of existence, and another System Prompt appeared.
[Excess Mana Pool: 10,000 Mana]
[Bonus Quest has been initiated.]
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It wasn’t any different to all the previous channels before this. The first downward chop left me sprawled against the dirt, watching and waiting for my body’s recovery to kick in. And a couple minutes of agonizing paralysis later, I stood back up, good as new.
And I kept going.
The sun fell lower, the yellow-orange sky shifting to red, then deepened into violet shadows. The firelight grew stronger as the world dimmed. My breath grew louder in my own ears. Then thinner. Until it rasped against teeth clenched tight.
[Mana Strain Resistance III --> IV]
24 Channels. It’s certain now. The numbers follow multiples of 8.
Another hour bled. Another collapse. Another recovery.
Over and over.
By the time the sky went black, the pain was changing. Not weaker, per say, but dulled at the edges. Blunted.
[Mana Strain Resistance IV --> V]
25% damage negation. It was enough to notice. Enough to keep me standing just a little longer. Enough that I could see the skill working instead of just enduring.
One might believe I was now halfway to my goal, but a quick glance at the Bonus Quest window would show just how wrong that sentiment was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[Bonus Quest]
-Complete [Daily Quest #1]
-65 Downward Chop (46/65)
-65 Horizontal Slash (0/65)
-65 Downward-Diagonal Slash (0/65)
-65 Upward-Diagonal Slash (0/65)
-65 Tail-End Stab (0/65)
-1 Axe-Strike of your Choice (0/1)
Reward: 100 Mastery Points
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I hadn’t even finished the downward chops.
This is going to be a long night.
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I didn’t count the hours. Nor anything really. I’d take a look at the Quest window whenever I stopped to refill my stamina, but that was about it.
The cub always lingered nearby. Sometimes watching, sometimes trying to mimic my actions.
The first time had caught me off guard completely. It had been by the tree line, claws scratching against the bark, until, at some point, wood crashed into the brush when the cub completely uprooted one of them with an attack.
I realized I’d never thought to appraise it.
It turned out that the cub that’d been padding around, licking my face and groveling for food...was a Level 5 Squall-Class beast. Such power, in such a small form factor, it felt almost unnatural.
But having met its majestic mother, I wasn’t too surprised.
Right now, it lay curled at my side as I lay motionless after the umpteenth Downward Diagonal Slash, around the actual half-way point of the Bonus Quest.
[Mana Strain Resistance VII --> VIII]
40% Damage Negation.
The recovery times had reduced significantly since less damage was being done, but that excruciating paralysis was much the same.
Additionally, the daily quest had made itself available, however, I hadn’t bothered to check just yet. I decided that keeping my focus on the task currently at hand would do more good. So I focused, and pushed on.
Time dissolved into the same pattern I had lived for countless hours. But every swing made every following recovery faster and faster.
[Mana Strain Resistance VIII --> IX]
I was close, and yet so far.
72 more swings. 72 more fits of agony.
But only 71 more collapses.
[Mana Strain Resistance IX --> X]
The message burned across my vision, and for the first time, my knees didn’t buckle. My arms didn’t seize. The pain still raked across every nerve, but I stood.
It almost felt wrong.
I swung again. I stood.
Again.
And again.
No collapse. No paralysis. Only fire, only strain, but under my control.
I let the axe fall back into my grasp and exhaled, long and heavy.
[Bonus Quest has been successfully completed.]
[Issuing Rewards...]
[You have acquired +100 Mastery Points]
It was done.
The day had been so grueling I didn’t have the enthusiasm to celebrate. It had been earned, swing after swing. I was fairly certain the Human mind wasn’t meant to function for this long without sleep, but my gift had made it possible.
I sank beside the dwindling fire, the morning sun pouring into the battle-carved clearing as I dragged another slab of Shadestalker meat closer.
I’d earned that much.
For a while, I thought of nothing. Simply enjoying some hard-earned time off.
But eventually, I put the food down, dusted myself off, and reached into my Inventory. Two shapes rolled into my palm, heavy, pulsing with energy.
One glowed the deep red I had come to know, the other swirled darker, a storm of black, veined with faint streaks of red within as if shadows chased each other in its depths. It almost felt heavier than the other. Wilder.
Crisis-Class cores, one from a desperate creature that had channeled Mana as I did...one who had to pay the price in full.
The orbs burned against my skin, thrumming with promise. With risk. With everything that came after.
I stared at them for a good while, watching the patterns of energy swirl away.
It was time.
Time for my Ascension.