The next hour was going to be a series of annoying challenges. It would be the worst type of them where he would need to contort himself and rely on precise body movement with no fun fighting to break it up. The frustration would be worth it. The further he progressed in the challenge the greater the chance that he could walk away with not only a tier four Spell but a levelled one as well.
He just had to not get stupid and frustrated.
For a last time, he rehearsed his next movement. He was going for that horizontal slab of rock and gambling that the crawl space would extend the entire way through.
Tom yanked himself on top of the rock he was hiding behind before briefly standing as tall as he could to seize the best view of the upcoming challenges as possible. It would cost half a second, but the extra information might save him later. The more information on the coming challenge that he gathered, the greater the chance he had of getting through this efficiently. If he had gone left instead of straight for example, Tom knew he would have regretted the choice. From this height, the rest of the cave appeared forbidding. There were so many launchers waiting to target him, literally hundreds by the end of the cavern, and a hodgepodge of rocks that might or might not serve as adequate cover.
Would not. Tom decided as his mind checked the size of the strategically placed alcoves? Parts of him would hang out when he hid within them. It was only a glimpse and one for him to examine further when he was not at immediate risk. He dived forward off the edge of the rock. A three-metre drop that when he hit the ground, he planned on converting the vertical velocity into horizontal momentum by transitioning the fall into a roll.
Clap.
Tom struck hard. His forearms were stone to absorb the force and from the sound he knew he was about to get pelted by darts. His muscles tensed to shift him into a roll and because of earth manipulation the solid rock he landed on became both spongy and springy like what you would see in a play centre. It absorbed the impact of his collision, slowing him gently and then springing back to normal rock, but in doing so, it pushed him away. A tweak to the stone’s makeup redirected that force into a sideway’s push instead of bouncing him. Tom exploited that by holding his body dead straight as he rolled rapidly. It was nauseating as he flipped from on his stomach to on his back. Stone tore his arms and legs. He bounced off the small rocks that littered the ground. He slammed into the crevice he was aiming for, rolling into the narrow gap that was not even high enough for him to crawl on hands and knees.
He slapped into a rock.
A message flashed up in front of him.
You have been inflicted with slow times eight and will be only able to move at quarter speed for sixty-four seconds.
Darts had struck him, but the homing missiles were still coming. “And stone skin.” he muttered, and a thought turned the leg that was sticking slightly out from the crevice to rock. As the closest point to them, the missiles should target that leg and buy him time. He considered the message the trial had shared about his status state. Usually, that sort of detail would require him to retreat into the system room.
The impact of the darts was far more detrimental than he expected. Part of him wondered how most people would cope with those sorts of penalties. They would probably take things slow. A movement speed reduction of seventy-five percent would be devastating if it caught you in the open. He had been expecting something minor, like twenty percent. With the slow as high as it was, it had become a genuine challenge.
Clap.
Damn, he thought as the reason for that noise registered. He was still within the sightline of at least one spitter. The volume was thankfully less than what had gone off when he was in the air hopefully because there were fewer of them firing. Tom felt the darts hit the exposed leg. He attempted to count them but couldn’t. Too many but then again one spitter launched over twenty, so it was possible a single of them one hitting the target perfectly. Homing missiles were still striking him. While he had not been told what they would do, his expectation was that they would be darts on steroids, at least thirty seconds lost per hit and probably with a bigger percentage decrease than the darts.
Tom edged his leg forward. Then waited. Further homing missiles struck, but there were no more claps.
Tom focused his mind back on the next steps. He could see a light on the other end of the rock and sufficient space to crawl. Happily, he dragged himself towards the other side. The slow effect was extremely noticeable. He felt like his muscles were barely responding to him. But he pushed through and lugged himself forward. The lost time didn’t bother him, given it was just an opportunity for mana to regenerate. As he had theorised, there was a safe spot when he traversed the hidden space. A small alcove that let him stand without setting off a ‘clap’. His gamble had paid off. Even with the darts hitting him this was much better than going left or right.
Tom waited for the final few seconds of the slow debuff to disappear while he planned the next step. His next target was close. He would go around the rock and sprint forward. He would make the shelter before the darts hit him.
Tom took off.
Clap.
He hit the alcove and spun ready to take out the homing missiles. Four of them. The spear took them out.
With brutal pragmatism, Tom skipped from shelter to shelter. He used Health Burn to increase his speed to cross larger gaps. It left his body aching, but he had no intention of using his mana to heal himself.
When his mana got low, he no longer bothered to block the homing missiles with stone skin every time. Tanking the hits instead of sacrificing the mana. They didn’t hurt.
You have been hit by a homing missile. Movement speed decreased by ninety percent for thirty-two seconds.
Then he would wait out the debuff and then go again. He kept his focus. Rehearsing the movements in his mind and making a desperate sprint to reach the sheltered area. The alcoves got smaller. They were no longer perfect protection. Usually one, but occasionally two spitters had a line of sight upon the space. A section of his skin turned to stone, or his shoulder protected him while he recovered and prepared for his next dash. Every four seconds there was the sound of the darts bounding off stone.
Tom waited and abused his eidetic memory to map out exactly what was required, compiling jumbled images to give him a firm view of the path he needed to take. Then he would go usually transitioning fully or at least partially to a stone in the brief burst of movement.
It worked. Tom was happy with how fast he was progressing and couldn’t imagine anyone going quicker.
This was to be his final sprint.
Tom crouched. His mana was not getting any better. His shoulder was stone.
Clap.
They pinged off it and there was no point waiting any further.
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Tom exited with no mana. Health Burn was activated to full. His health was at twenty percent and then he sprinted.
Clap.
Tom jumped.
Darts slammed into him and he knew alerts were going off. Telling him he was slowed by seventy-five percent. Stinging pain as they dug into his legs, but he was already airborne and the slow condition only affected muscle movements. He was flying through the air so it did nothing at least till he tried to prepare for landing. His hands and feet could not move quick enough to get into position.
He crashed short of the yellow safety.
There was a bounce and then another. Healing Tranquillity triggered, but there was no mana to do anything and none of it was fatal. If he died now, it would be because he fell apart because of low health as opposed to a specific cause, though as far as Tom knew the system didn’t allow that. Momentum pushed him over and into the yellow light.
Congratulations, you have reached the sixth safe zone.
Mana will be refilled, and all injuries healed.
Resources flooded into him..
With a groan, Tom stood up in the safe zone and sighed.
If he had not been in a trial, he would never have taken those risks.
He had survived, but he had no way of judging his performance. Was it a two out of ten or a nine? He hoped it was high, and he felt like he had done well but the specifics were a mystery.
Knowledge of how to use a new ability smashed into him.
Tier three spell Remote Earth Manipulation learnt.
Tom paused for a moment to reflect on getting the advanced version of this spell. He had dabbled in earth spells in the tutorial though Earth Manipulation and Tunnel were the only two he had levelled to any significant level, even if he had six other situational spells in his arsenal.
The trial choosing to gift him Remote Earth Manipulation was fate at play. It was that simple, more than a friendly personality running the testing. It was fate. The spell was basically the Earth Manipulation spell, with increased efficiency and a range of twelve metres away. Making this spell the lynchpin of the next couple of stages was another massive advantage on top of all the others that he had so far gained.
Fate, the tutorial and being nice to the intelligence in charge were all multiplying together to allow him to get more out of this challenge run than he had any right. All of his experience with the tier zero spells Spark, Healing Touch and Earth Manipulation could apply to the new ability, particularly Spark, which he was already experienced at using away from his body. In fact, his oracle questions to Dux consistently denying him the chance to evolve those skills meant he had years of experience getting the most out of a shitty tier zero abilities. That parlayed into ridiculous levels of control which he could now devote to a tier three spell. If the stage had taught a mindless skill like an Earth Wave or Earth Wall, then he would have had no advantage over anyone else and, potentially because he was a slave to the flexibility of his tutorial spells, he might even have struggled with the more rigid versions.
Power flooded out of him as he used the spell.
Replacement pebbles appeared. A wall swept up large enough for him to crouch behind. It cost twenty mana. Spears of stone manifested anchored to the floor and would be deadly to anything charging him. They crumbled with a simple wish. A one tonne stalactite came crashing down. That had only cost him ten mana as he had eroded the base.
Another flick of his hand and a wave of earth swept away, growing in strength as it went. It hit the stalactite and sent it tumbling to crash into the wall. Fifty mana, but that was going to break legs or if it got over the top of someone kill them outright. It had knocked a one tonne of rock away not quite like a billiard ball, but close… It would take a tank with momentum dampening to stop that in the chaos of a fight and then only if he noticed in time.
Remote Earth Manipulation was powerful. Wall, Wave, Spike? A javelin of stone leapt up from the ground and shot off to penetrate twenty centimetres into the wall. Yep, all the simple forms were available. He was only limited by his imagination.
Tom kept practising while monitoring mana expenditure, and frowned slightly. The flashy spells were inefficient for what they were, but Tom didn’t mind too much when he fought with Spark. He used finesse and this would be no different. Methods to use the ability efficiently filled his mind. Razor-sharp two-inch spikes sprouted from the dirt to be stepped on, rock animating to tug on a passing foot like Sven could do, a puff of dust in someone’s eyes, eroding a cliff face to drop someone to their death those along with a myriad of other options flashed through his mind. Having a chunk of stone no bigger than his fist, jump from the ground and encase the pommel and handle of an undrawn sword in rock. Tom smiled. There were so many ways he could use the Spell.
There was a ding, and he stopped casting spells, knowing the unlimited mana was at the end.
Time to familiarise yourself has expired. Mana will no longer be restored.
“What is the next challenge?”
Same as previous, but with additional earth missile launchers. Points will be given by the speed of clear and completeness.
“What are earth missiles?”
Physical missiles that also apply the slow debuff. They have a small amount of autonomy to track targets.
“Not like the homing missiles?”
No, they might be able to do a thirty degree turn, but that is countered by the fact they hit with the force of a mace wielded by someone with rank ten strength.
Tom grimaced at that description. That was hard enough to crush bones, and he doubted Stone Skin would do a lot to stop it. “Will Remote Earth Manipulation let me destroy the launchers?”
Yes. Throw rock is also enabled. You will receive a point for each launcher destroyed.
“Is it better to go fast or clear?”
I can’t answer that.
Damn, he thought to himself. He had hoped that the helpful personality would give a hint, but unfortunately, not. His gut instinct told him to go for a full clear.
3, 2, 1
This time, he did not sprint around the corner. Instead, he stopped and tested a theory. His mind teased itself into the ground and then it spread across all axis, searching for where the earth ended. He created a negative image of the open spaces by filling in the cave walls.
A grin blossomed on his face.
Remote Earth Manipulation was not as good as Spark as that could scout the air, but in terms of rock and dirt it was excellent at deriving significant amounts of information. A tsunami of data hit him, but it was no more than what he faced when using Spark and he could visualise the results, which let him categorise it.
Five launchers and one spitter were positioned to launch at the entrance. He probed the launcher first. There was no difference between the homing and the earth missiles varieties. Delicate constructions of stone and magic with a three-chamber design. Because they were created by earth magic; it was all visible to him. The first generated a seed, which was then transferred to the second where it was enhanced to a missile and then the last chamber that acted to launch the projectile. A kick on the shell in the right place even by someone as weak as him would shatter the structure. He tried to grow a plug within the machine, but it was like trying to use magic within someone’s body, so he abandoned the effort. Instead, he set up test cases by blocking the exit. Different thickness to see the minimum force which was required to stop the missile and hopefully destroy the launcher while doing it.
The spitters were harder. Besides strong earth magic, they were also partially organic.
Throw Rock, he decided.
Ready, he stepped around, threw his rock and prepared to tank the missiles that knocked out his earth plugs.
All six constructions exploded.
Tom was stunned by the result. It was so much better than he had hoped. He had expected at least three missiles to get through. Instead, even the launcher partially blocked with a slither of rock had self-destructed. The pathway to success on the level was suddenly a lot clearer. He would have a lot more magic to use than expected.
Incredible, he thought to himself. He could destroy a launcher for one mana and a spitter for five with an accurate throw.
Tom moved forward slowly.
There was no rush. Even with his magic as efficient as it was he would not have sufficient reserves to kill all the monsters without relying on mana regeneration. After all, each stage had been getting harder and there would have been too many monsters for him to kill in the last stage.
His decision to clear immediately paid off as the number of missile shooters was ridiculous. If he had tried to tank the missiles, he would have spent his entire time encased in stone skin. It would definitely have slowed him down. Both the spitters and launchers had a trigger range of around ten metres, while earth manipulation was closer to twelve metres. That extra two metres was death to the damn things. That and the fact that he could kill around corners.
He tried to hurry.
When he ran into spitters depending on several factors, he alternated between destroying them and tanking the attacks with stone skin. Every launcher was destroyed but despite everything it took him almost fifteen minutes to cross the two hundred meters to the next safe room, but he did it safely.
The golden light welcomed him.
Congratulations, you have reached the seventh safe zone.