Jakes Story 2, chapter 10

Jake reached his destination without any more problems.  He was even able to avoid a group of demon beasts on the way.

This deep in the mine, he wasn’t worried too much about them, though.

He hefted the pick that he’d left leaning against the stony wall the last time he was there.  After all this time it was still in pretty good repair.  Then he eyed the little Jake-sized tunnel he’d been working on for about two years now.  Every inch he’d dug into the rock, the feeling of what he’d been digging toward had gotten stronger.

A challenge portal.

Before sensing this one, he would have never guessed that the Faceted had set up shop in the Murim world, too.  But there was no mistaking what he was feeling.

He set the head of the pick back down on the stony ground and paused to look at his Eternal Struggle Reward System screen.  It hadn’t changed in a decade.

Jacob Hessian Mazzariello

Champion of The Morrigan

Origin world dimension rank 2, name: Earth

Current path to power: Cultivation (variation)

Current path level or rank:  Fifth rank Gold Body Refinement

Renown points:  1

He knew he’d been at 0 renown points before being imprisoned.  That meant either meeting Lady Brima or getting captured had given him a renown point  Time hadn’t cleared up any of his questions about that.

Over the years he’d come close to using this single point.  He could perhaps rationalize past the fact that using one point for a shot at loot wasn’t ideal–his chances of getting something good would be much lower with only one.  His situation was still bad enough that he’d almost used the point, but the other reality always stopped him.  He likely wouldn’t even be able to use anything he actually received.

Lady Brima had known what he was. Jake’s understanding was that all Champions had the ability to use Renown Points.  And she’d already locked away his inventory.  It was hard to believe she wouldn’t have prepared for a Champion getting new tools.

Better to save the point.

With a brief effort of will, he dismissed the screen.  Then with a grim expression, he moved closer to the new tunnel he’d been methodically digging out.  The rock of the Web Burrows was so hard and prisoners were all so focused on conserving power that it had been slow going indeed.

For a proper mine tunnel, more than ten people could work together, and they’d generally angle toward natural caves that some of them might be able to sense.  Jake had been working alone, for short amounts at a time after sneaking away, needing to be careful not to break his pick, and he’d been digging directly toward the challenge portal.

His tunnel sloped down at about a thirty degree angle and was now almost a hundred yards long.  He was really, really close now.

As he walked down the tunnel he reflected on how nerve wracking it’d been to spend so much time on this project.  If he’d been caught by demon beasts or hostile prisoners, at the end of a hole with no way out, he’d have been fucked.

And he was aware that unlike the Challenge Portals back on Earth, this one would be new to him.  He’d be flying blind.

There were two reasons he thought it’d be worth the risk before escaping, though.  First, he couldn’t actually die in a Challenge Portal.  He might end up ejected, near death.  The second reason he wanted to give the challenge portal a shot was because of his trump cards.

He could call on the Morrigan three times.  Of course, when he’d first introduced that bit into their contract, he’d thought he’d be a champion for 3 years, not thousands.

Calling upon her didn’t necessarily mean she’d actually help him or tell him anything, though.  That’s why he’d included the second part of what he’d asked for.  He could also call on her three more times to receive knowledge, but doing so now, so soon after getting to the Murim world could be dangerous.

And of course, he could also call the Morrigan to ask a favor.  She’d added that herself, and short of dying, there was no way in hell Jake was going to use that trump card any time soon.  Of course, if the Challenge portal didn’t go well, he might not have a choice.

Healing him to save his life would definitely count as a favor.

Now this close to actually seeing the challenge portal, close to escaping, he was starting to have doubts.  Is it worth it? He asked himself.  Not for the first time, he wondered if he was just being stubborn for no reason.  Maybe he should just use up his favor, ask the goddess to free him from this prison or give him the means to do so and be done with it.

He tapped one hand, his new, non-matching prosthetic against the pick handle.  No, definitely not after all this time, he thought.  Besides, now he had the beginning of a great Dao, some new skills, and a lot of knowledge of how this world worked.

His time had definitely not been wasted.  Maybe one of these days he’d even figure out what the goddess had meant about attaining an affinity with at least one aspect of her mantle.  He had a hunch he might have already started on that path, though.

Jake grinned and began to take great chunks out of the rock, deepening his tunnel, infusing Phoenix Piercing Talon into the swings of his pick.  He was progressing at least ten times faster than he had before.  It was amazing.  All of his worries about time hadn’t been necessary.

He carved the last of his tunnel so fast, he didn’t even bother moving the rubble he was creating.  Normally he’d used a basket made of tunnel roots, moving the rubble into other tunnels and camouflaging the way to this place even better than he already had.  This time, he just flung it all behind him, moving like he was possessed.

The Challenge Portal’s presence grew stronger.  Suddenly, Jake’s pick punched through the rock into something open beyond.  He immediately stopped and listened.

All the nastiest creatures underground inhabited their own, larger cave systems.  This was where most of the Web Burrows prisoners had died over the years, stumbling into them while expanding the tunnels.  Whenever they found really dangerous caves, diggers would block all access and go a different direction.

Jake let a full ten minutes pass without hearing anything at all before using his pick to knock the rest of the way into the hollow space he’d found.

There was a bit of glowing lichen in the large cave, more than enough for him to see by, and Jake barely stuck his head out to get the lay of the land.

The entrance to his tunnel was about four feet off the ground, not bad.  He could immediately tell where the challenge portal had to be, right in the middle of the stony shelf he found himself on.

He couldn’t see to the other side of the cave and it looked like the floor for most of it was lower than where he stood.

Should I head back? He wondered.  It would suck if he left after spending so much effort to get here, but he was getting goosebumps.  Even though the walls looked the same as the rest of the Web Burrows, something about the place was raising his hackles, making him nervous.

Jake had been rewarded by listening to his instincts again and again.  This time, his instincts were telling him that his cave was dangerous.

If he tried the Challenge Portal and it didn’t destroy him, he should be able to leave almost immediately, though.  He hesitated for a few seconds before throwing back his shoulders and moving right up to the anomaly in space in time.

It’s now or never, he thought.

Jake prepared himself for anything and entered the Challenge Portal.