Approaching the seated figure, Eric could already guess who they were. Their green skin, long limbs and brutish teeth were unmistakable. While the villagers and clergy had been mostly tightlipped about anything, Eric had been able to piece things together through things he heard and by simply having eyes to see the statue on the fountain.

  Beside the orc, there was a large hand axe, too big for Eric’s hands but perfect for the orc’s. On his lap was a human skull, there was nothing special about it, but the care with which the orc held it hinted at a deeper meaning.

  “Devak?” Eric asked, stopping before him.

  The orc slowly lifted his face, as if they lacked energy. “I was called that once, yes,” Devak said with a smile. “And you are the one who has answered my prayers. Finally freeing the trapped souls within these little plains.”

  Eric nodded, not knowing what to say. Shouldn’t he be more… godly? he asked himself. He seems like an average orc, though there is a certain air of… certainty? Confidence? There’s definitely something.

  “Yeah, I guess I was,” Eric answered simply, remembering Devak’s words. “I do have a question though. Can I ask questions? Does the trial allow that?”

  “Trial?” Devak asked, his interest clearly piqued. “So that’s what brought you here?” Raising his hand, he massaged his chin, pondering something. “So that strange force is what brought you here, using my suffering people as a trial.”

  Eric’s hand instinctively twitched. As if searching for a weapon, it moved toward his waist, where unfortunately it would find nothing of use.

  “That explains why the others kept failing to fully cleanse the plains. They only completed the trial partially, correct?” Devak asked, looking directly at Eric.

  “Not exactly,” Eric began, his hand calming because of Devak’s calm demeanor. “The trial has a basic requirement, in this case, clear all the ghosts. But the problem was that fifty cycles had to pass for all the ghosts to appear. So, the others only killed the ones that were there and moved on. I only achieved the secret quest because I suck at fighting.”

  Devak let out a light laugh. “Yes, you do,” he said, his laughter growing louder. “There were some that just stood there and immediately killed every poor soul from where they stood.” His words turned to ones of admiration. “The ground froze, burned or was poisoned beyond the point of recovery. There were others that with a single slash cleaved the land in two. Of all of them, you are definitely the worst.”

  “Thanks…?” Eric said with a bewildered look. Unlike the savage image of an orc that Eric had in his mind, Devak almost had a childlike nature to him. It was pure and hid nothing behind it.

  “Don’t compare yourself to them,” Devak said with a toothy smile. “You are… broken, for lack of a better word.”

  Eric frowned.

  “Or maybe empty would be more adequate. The point is, you are missing something essential. Something that helps them greatly. The very fact that you are here suggests that you are a fighter. I’ve seen many like you… they rarely made past infancy,” Devak said with sorrow. “So, continue on your journey, grow learn and maybe, one day, you’ll become whole.”

  “What do—”

  “You had questions?” Devak said, cutting Eric off, making it clear that he wouldn’t explain what he meant.

  “Yes… I don’t get it,” Eric said, easily catching on to Devak’s intent. “How does all of this relate? The town, the soldiers, all of it.” Looking around, Eric was building an explanation in his mind. “If I were to guess… Then its how it all started. The people prayed for salvation from the attacking forces, but nothing came, right?”

  Eric looked at Devak, who only nodded, acknowledging Eric’s answer.

  With that, Eric continued. “Then, one of two things happened. Either you started the cycle, hoping that something could be done. Or this land became cursed, and you started the cycle to cleanse it.”

  “Pretty good guess,” Devak said with a genuine smile that vanished just as easily as it appeared. “The answer is both. I started the cycle in hopes that something would change. But nothing ever did. Mortals, most of them at least, don’t have the capacity to act beyond what is. The people would pray, nothing would change, and the town would fall.”

  Devak’s gaze turned somber. “And without me realizing it, the land was being bathed in resentment, hope, despair and many more emotions that I wasn’t aware of. Eventually, the curse and the physical started to become one. With the faint hope they held; the townspeople were able to maintain their appearance. But the attackers couldn’t. Most were only following orders, fighting for their and their family’s next meal. They were consumed and became nothing but malice incarnate. Every cycle they would rampage and destroy the town.”

  “Then the System came,” Eric interjected.

  “Is that what you call it?” Devak nodded. “A fitting name, for something so cold and without emotion. But ultimately, it had my gratitude.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “At first it tried to fill my world with something—the power of the gods—but I refused it. Keeping it away with all my might. Who knows what might happen if the curse got any stronger.”

  “But there is already mana here, the very existence of the curse is proof, right? Also, I recovered mana while here,” Eric said, his expression puzzled.

  “At the time I believed that only god’s realm should be allowed to have such density and that which trickled down was nothing but a blessing meant to ease the lives of our people. And after seeing what the others can do, I’m glad for the choice I made.”

  “I’m pretty sure those people are rare. They all scream ‘hope of the family’ to me. As in, they were trained for years just for this,” Eric said in a casual tone. “But to each their own. Then what happened?”

  Devak nodded, acknowledging some of what Eric said and then let out a small sigh. “Then, the cycle started to change. Some of the spirits were forcefully held back from even appearing and those that weren’t were restricted in other ways.” He paused, a grin overtaking his face. “I have to say, this ‘System’ is incredibly powerful and intricate. It made small changes here and there, that unless you had been watching like I was, you wouldn’t have noticed.”

  “So, shit happens here. You look for solutions, sort of. The System reaches out, offers the possibility of a solution. You agree. Everybody fails, then I come, and because I suck at fighting I get to see the entire trial for what it is and cleanse the land. Am I right?” Eric asked, summarizing and inferring some things.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Devak nodded, confirming Eric’s words.

  “But then, what about the people that come after me? Will this trial start again or will they—"

  “Here,” Devak said, interrupting Eric and raising the skull he was holding. “May it aid you in your journey to becoming whole.”

  Eric paused for a second and instinctively reached for the skull. As soon as his grasp on the skull was firm Devak began to disappear before him. Then, there was a sudden bright flash and when Eric blinked the disorientation away, he found a bone white ring with a skull on it. Looking at the ring, Eric’s eyes peered beyond it and saw that the chapel’s dilapidated floor was also disappearing.

  Not seeing anything more of interest, he quickly turned and dashed away from the town, quickly arriving back near the portal. Looking back at the town, he saw that all of it was turning into motes of white light. Following the ascending motes, Eric could make out two clouds in the shape of arms, as if welcoming the motes.

  From the plains around him, more motes were rising to the sky, but unlike with the town, nothing was disappearing. These motes began a red color and then, as they ascended, they became white, as if being purified.

  Feeling that there was nothing more to do, Eric clutched the ring in one hand and turned to cross the portal.

  ----------

  Congratulations on completing the seventh floor of the Tower of Revelation.

  You have entered the eighth floor: Trial of Endurance and Recovery.

  New quest!

  Quest: Journey of Resilience.

  Objective: Complete the trek through draining environments.

  Rewards: Access to next floor. +8 Reward Points.

  Concepts will be suppressed.

  Storage items will be blocked.

  System windows will be disabled.

  You who has reached a new level in your cultivation, discover your limits and manage them.

  The eighth-floor trial that awaited Eric was one in which he had to traverse a vast desert full of dangerous environments like sinkholes, giant desert creatures and the unrelenting heat from the sun, all without any guidance.

  Though he felt that the real trial was endurance and resource management. When he first appeared, a water sack, a map, a compass and two loaves of bread appeared in a small brown sack.

  The sun never set, and the heat never changed. Even if Eric found a shadow to rest in, the ever-present sun in the sky messed with his ability to sleep. He could ignore it the first few times he tried to sleep and rest, but eventually, the lack of adequate sleep, his heightened senses and growing hunger made his rests even more infrequent.

  Due to having no restrictions in terms of skills or physical abilities, he quickly dispatched any monsters and cleared all obstacles that came his way, at least during the first few days of the trial.

  “Mother fucker!!” Eric yelled, yanking a giant snake tooth from his left arm. “How the fuck did I not see him!” he said with clear irritation. He paused, turning to look at where he was attacked, his eyes wide and nostrils flaring. “No, I have to manage my energy, they’re not worth it.”

  After finding a rock formation with a wide shadow to rest in, he sat down, drifting off to sleep without him noticing. When he hit the floor of an underground cavern system, he awoke slowly. There wasn’t any energy left in him to even jolt himself awake.

  Exhaling deeply, he rose. “Fine… let’s do this again.”

  This wasn’t the first time he had fallen into such a situation, and at a mere glance it wasn’t even the most dangerous, there were no monsters surrounding him when he awoke this time.

  After some exploration, he confirmed that there were no monsters and recovered for a long time. But no amount of rest would help him with his growing hunger and thirst. He still had one loaf of bread and more than half the water, but he wanted to leave it for the very end, since he might not have anything to eat on the next floor.

  This did, however, create problems. The greater his hunger grew, the weaker he grew and even his senses started to become weaker, not by a lot, but it was noticeable. And his dry throat became an inconvenience that he couldn’t ignore after a certain point. It became too pronounced and constant.

  More time passed and Eric had completely lost track of time, he had only kept a rudimentary count that more or less told him it had been a certain amount of days, now he only knew that he was getting closer and closer to his objective.

  At one point, he stopped and analyzed the map. He had already analyzed it a bit when he first got it, confirming some of the landmarks he could see from where he stood. But now, some doubt began to creep within. Not that the map was fake, but doubt that he would ever reach his destination. The map wasn’t to scale and the landmarks were further apart then they seemed.

  Even more time passed, and his thirst won over, causing him to drink all of the water that he had left. He only looked at the empty water sack with resignation, not even having any energy to feel anger at his actions.

  He continued to walk toward his objective, his movements becoming more sluggish with each passing moment. Monsters that he could dispatch with a single punch before, now took actual effort to fight and kill. Thankfully, his bloodline assimilation covered for his mistakes.

  Bloodline assimilation increased!

  ????????????????: 96%

  When a giant scorpion fell and his bloodline assimilation increased another point, creeping ever forward toward the finish line, he just raised his face toward the sky. His eyes were red due to how dry they were. His lips were so dry they resembled the very desert he was traversing.

  His body was already breaking down, he could actually feel it eating itself up. Muscles that he had grown throughout the previous trials became less defined. His lungs ceased to expand as much as they used to, refusing to function anywhere near full capacity.

  When his skin began to crack and peel, and his body no longer had any energy to even power his bloodline assimilation, he began to slow.

  First his arms began to hang, his movement forward caused mostly by the simple swaying of his legs that now barely left the ground. Then his organs began to turn off completely, if they even functioned at this point. The pain was agonizing and unlike anything he felt before, but even the pain was dulled by his lack of energy to react.

  When his legs finally gave out, he tried to continue by squirming along the ground. But that immediately came to an end when his shoulders refused to move any further.

  “A… fucking… desert… beat me,” Eric said with great difficulty. Every word pained him greatly. Whether it was his lips that were falling apart or his throat that felt like it had razorblades inside, even talking was an agonizing venture. “Might as well enjoy a last meal.”

  With great effort, he began to cycle the little mana that his body was still able to convert and forced himself to sit. Then, shifting all the mana toward his arms, he reached for the sac that was tied to his waist. Finally, concentrating all the mana on his fingers, he undid the knot and fell to the side.

  His body was no longer responsive. Whether it was because he couldn’t even send any signals to his limbs anymore or because they were just incapable of carrying out the order, was too much for his tired brain to process.

  The mana that had allowed him to move to an almost normal degree, albeit slowly, was now completely gone. With his natural sense to detect mana, he could tell that he was a completely empty vessel, his body long ago having lost the ability to convert the mana in the air in any manner.

  The way he fell made it so that he was staring directly at the brown sac containing the final loaf of bread. It must have gone bad by now, Eric thought, all his energy being driven toward his mind. But I really… want it.

  Then, an effort that lasted days began. First, he tumbled his body down, letting physics take control somewhat and pushing his body further. By the time he reached the sac he had eaten enough dust to build a small fort, not being able to tightly shut your mouth would do that.

  But reaching the sac was only the beginning, now came the battle of retrieving the bread from the sac. More dust and another fort later, he finally managed to take a bite of the now slightly exposed bread. Unlike in the stories, he didn’t have a sudden burst of energy, in fact, he was assaulted by pain.

  The bread traveled through his cut up mouth and throat, causing pain each second. His teeth were no better than the rest of his body, whatever still kept them attached was probably the hardest thing in the universe. The pain that came from food finally hitting an empty stomach, especially one to this degree, was something that he hadn’t considered, but he ignored. It will probably calm down soon.

  To his misfortune, no matter how much time he waited, the pain in his stomach never ended. Instead of giving up, he resumed eating. If it’s not going away, might as well eat, he thought, the answer obvious.

  With the pain in his stomach worsening and blood beginning to travel down his throat, he continued until there was only one bite left. When he took that final bite, a familiar sound assaulted him.

  Quest complete!

  Fuck you.