Jake's Story (Apocalypse Cultivation), ch 28

I'm going to fix the portion of the last chapter some of you pointed out could use some work.  That'll likely be done within the next hour or two.

As always, thank you for your comments!

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After a brief, but profoundly unpleasant-feeling transition, Jake found himself in a new place.  It looked like a giant colosseum, and he was to one side, standing on sand, looking up at the empty stands.

Near the other side of the area, surrounded by old bones, sitting on her haunches was...another demonic sphinx.

“Another one?” he complained.

The sphinx cocked her head to the side.  Like the last one Jake had met, her speech sounded in his mind.  “Another? Have you encountered one of my kind before?”

Jake didn’t answer and mentally kicked himself for saying anything in the first place.  Volunteering information to enemies was almost always a bad move, especially with intelligent monsters.  When he knew he was likely at a disadvantage, like now, was the best time to shut the fuck up.

Running his mouth could be a tool in some cases, but it could also be a liability.

As the sphinx stared at him, Jake quickly looked around.  The colosseum had tiers of stone seats.  Pillars of the same material rose at regular intervals, in eight rows from the edge of the area to the walls.  The place was huge, but it was still a building with a roof.  Even with both of her wings working perfectly, the sphinx’s natural advantages were mostly nullified by the battlefield.

At the far end of the arena, Jake caught sight of the door to exit the challenge.  It would be locked before this “boss” was defeated, of course.

“Are you going to answer?” asked the sphinx.  When Jake stayed silent, she snarled, but remained stationary.  “Fine, don’t say anyything.  I really don’t care, I just figured you’d want to chat first before I destroy you.”  She scoffed, “Coming here alone?  Are you mad?  Let’s just get this over with so I can go back to sleep.”

Jake kept observing the area.  He didn’t know why the sphinx was staying in one spot and not attacking, but he wouldn’t complain about it.  After a thought, he used his mage sight and realized why the monster hadn’t moved.

It turned out he’d appeared inside of a magic circle of sorts.  There was one around the sphinx, too.  His mage abilities were not advanced to actually read most of the magic involved, but it was complicated.  The circle Jake was in was a trigger of sorts.  Ironically, if he’d come with a group, someone would have stepped outside of the circle for sure.  It looked like taking any kind of magic or mystical action would start the fight.  Since all Jake had been doing was looking around he’d gotten a reprieve.

He was actually curious about some aspects of the challenge, so he asked, “What did you do to be in here?  You are a prisoner or a slave, aren’t you?”  He chuckled and said under his breath, “Slave fights.”  Fucking Fasceted bastards, he thought.

“I have no desire to tell you anything, even if I could...whatever you are.  What are you, actually?  You look something like a ghoul but it’s all wrong.”

Jake smirked.  “I have no desire to tell you anything.”

The sphinx gave him a murderous look as he repeated her own words back to her.  “Very well.  No point in any further discourse then.”  Despite her words, the monster stayed stationary.

His senses spread out and Jake tried to make sure he was alone with this one enemy.  It seemed he was, so he continued to acclimate to the arena.

The lighting of the place was dim, but that didn’t bother Jake.  If anything, this battlefield was amazing for him.  There were plenty of places to reposition at, pillars he could phase through, and ways to hobble his enemy.  It was definitely not a bad place for him to fight.

A thought crossed his mind that he could probably even just sit down and try cultivating.  He dismissed it almost immediately, though.  Cultivation likely wouldn’t work here with the sphinx constantly talking, messing with his concentration, and he didn’t have the time for it.  Without monster cores to consume, just regular cultivation was far too slow.

Time moved slower in a challenge portal, but it doesn’t stop completely.  Even if it were possible to have reached the tenth rank of Silver with Swampland’s energy, if Jake had spent hundreds, or even a thousand years of years trying to do so, some significant time would have passed back in Georgia.

The same problem would apply in this trial.  A year or two was fine, but Jake didn’t have a millennia to waste.  Part of him also feared that if he spent too long in one of these trials, he might start to lose himself or even take damage to his mind.

He tried to think of other things he could do with this unexpected reprieve he had, but he didn’t actually need it.  Anything he’d had left to do to to think about or do, he would have done in Swampland before leaving the trial.

He eyes the sphinx for a while longer.  Then he decided that there was no point putting off the inevitable.  Jake began to slowly walk forward.

When the sphinx’s eyes widened in glee and her muscles tensed, Jake said, “Yes, I know about the circle I just crossed.”

Suddenly much less sure of herself, the monster frowned and settled back again.  She must have sensed something was wrong.  Jake unhurriedly drew his favorite saber from his belt.  His Gold Body Refinement level cultivation base practically thrummed through his body.  It was more power than he could have imagined before.  He felt like he could lift a car.  Actually maybe he could now.

The sphinx narrowed her eyes.  Jake was not acting the way she must have expected him to.  “You are very strange for a little bug, aren’t you?”

“Little bug,” Jake repeated.  He chuckled.  “The problem with monsters like you is that you have always been big and bad.  You don’t know how to react when shit doesn’t go the way you expect.  Rigid, I guess.  You are not adaptable, and the willow that can’t bend, will break.”  He shook his head.  “My old master said that, once.  I think he got it from a comic, though.”

He continued walking forward, and the sphinx actually took a step back before she seemed to realize what she was doing.  She reared up to her full height and sniffed the air.  A strange look crossed her face.  “Something about you smells...familiar.  You have met one of my kin, haven’t you?”

Jake did not answer right away.  He scanned the creature with his senses.  Now that he was closer, he was sure.  This monster was definitely stronger than the last sphinx he’d killed...but not by much.

And Jake was a whole hell of a lot stronger now.

This was still going to be a tough fight, but he was pretty confident about how it was going to go.  The sphinx had a shield spell up that looked almost the same as the last sphinx that he’d killed, and he knew exactly what to do about that, now.  His eyes glowed blue.

“What do you think?” asked Jake.

The demon sphinx snarled. “I think that--”

Jake didn’t wait for her to finish.  Monsters loved to monologue and he wasn’t too proud to take advantage of it.  His saber glinted as he flashed stepped forward.

No matter how powerful he grew, Jake promised himself to try never underestimating anyone or anything.  He promised himself to never be listening to the sound of his own voice while someone put a sword in his side.

***

“You are back.”  The Faceted’s “voice” in Jake’s head was flat.

“Sure am,” replied Jake cheerfully.  He had a brand new sphinx monster core in his storage ring.  Before going through the exit door in the last trial, he’d considered cultivating with his new prize, but had decided not to.  Gold was a trickier stage of Body Refinement than Copper and Silver.  It would be best if he could find an ideal place to cultivate before moving any farther forward on his path.

He’d only stayed in the last trial long enough to heal his minor wounds.  The fight had gone even better than he’d expected, and he hadn’t even been hurt that bad.  At one point it’d been close, though.  He’d gotten lucky.

Actually, it was kind of scary to think about how close he’d come to losing an arm.

The Faceted didn’t say anything else for almost a minute.  Jake stood in the strange metal forest landscape, just looking around.  He was content to wait the nasty thing out.  So sorry for not listening to your advice and fucking up your plan, you bastard, he thought.

Finally, the Faceted said, “Congratulations for completing your trials.  Your reward has been difficult to process.”

“Why?”

“Although you have completed each trial with great thoroughness, you took a long time to do so.”

A long time?  This was news to Jake.  “There wasn’t any mention of a time limit before I began my trial,” he said.

“Yes, and this was taken into account as well.  Mention of time being a factor would normally have been necessary, but you have...unique circumstances.”

Jake was starting to understand what the problem was.  Unfortunately, he knew there was no point in arguing with the Faceted.  They were assholes, but they kept strict adherence to their own rules--when they benefited the challenger or screwed them over.

“So what is my ranking?”

“You have achieved an A ranking.  It was close.  If you had spent a few more minutes on your last trial, it would have been a B ranking instead.”

Jake wondered what ranking he would have gotten without the hidden time limit.  He was tempted again to complain about hidden rules being bullshit, but he just nodded instead.  There was really no point in wasting his energy, and his main goal--to get stronger--had been accomplished in spades already.

The Faceted said, “Now please provide me with three keywords for the types of rewards you would like, and then the Assessment Room will display some appropriate options for you.”

At least Jake had been expecting this part.  He’d already thought about it, too.  His new protection field was powerful, but wasn’t all that useful against other monsters, or if he met enemies who were his level...or stronger.

“My first keyword is Divine Sect of the Martial Wandering Dragon God.”  Like last time, Jake planned to use his teacher’s sect as one of his keywords.  His second and third keywords would be different, though.  “My second keyword is uniquely compatible items.”  Some adventurers in his first life had puzzled out this keyword.  Using it often resulted in better choices, and sometimes growth-type rewards were even in the mix.  “And my third keyword is cultivator-appropriate armor.”

The Faceted snapped its alien fingers, and orbs appeared in the air all around Jake.  “These are the rewards you may choose from, clearly labeled by reward tier.  You may take any one reward.  Choose wisely, mysterious, unwanted creature.”

That’s rich coming from a Faceted, Jake thought.  He started skimming through his available options.

After a quick check to make sure this Faceted wasn’t trying to screw him on his choices like the last one had, Jake began to browse in earnest.

Luckily, the A tier rewards were quite good.  It was a pity that Jake hadn’t gotten S tier rewards this time around, but it hadn’t been his actual goal, and some of the items he saw definitely caught his interest.

A few included:

Bracers of the Martial Savant.  Hand wraps whose original owner is lost in time, but even after degradation, are still potent protection.  Able to absorb energy and release energy blasts.  Growth-type.

Yes, a growth-type! he thought.  Jake took special notice of items with the Growth-type identifier.  They were artifacts that had the ability to improve or get stronger over time.

There were other interesting entries too, though.

Jug of Perpetual Vigor. An earthen container that produces an elixir to nourish any being--mind, body and spirit.  Whoever drinks from this artifact will be beyond hunger, disease, thirst, and even suffocation for a short while.  Any Dao practitioner under the effect of this enchantment will also experience elevated alchemy-sense.

This item seemed amazing, and Jake wondered why it wasn’t S-tier.  If he understood correctly, the jug could even be used for cultivation.  He figured maybe the downside was that the effects were weak.  Had to be.  Otherwise it would be higher than S, like...SS.

He was also drawn to Meng Hao’s Boots, Mystic’s Crystal Ocean Gloves, and Flame Feeding on Eternal Darkness Shield.

But after thoroughly examining all of his options, the best thing that he could get immediate use was, Deep Heavens Solstice Midnight Cloak.

The actual listing was:

Deep Heavens Solstice Society Midnight Cloak.  A garment with protective qualities.  Can be controlled with the mind of the owner with practice.  Low level independent movement and cognition.  Growth-type.

Not only was the description good, Jake could faintly remember his teacher mentioning the Deep Heavens Solstice Society once.  The cranky old man had seemed to have grudging respect for them, which was high praise indeed from him.

It was also a growth-type artifact.  Growth types had no guarantee of ever becoming stronger, but Jake liked the possibility.

He took a while to make sure his mind was made up, but eventually he settled on the cloak.  All the armor choices had been tempting, but he didn’t know where he was going, or how some armor might fit him, or whether other choices might work for him in the future, especially if he evolved again.

“I will take the Deep Heavens Solstice Society Midnight Cloak.”

“So be it.  Now you may leave the assessment room.  Congratulations on your survival and your prize.  I hope that should we meet again, you will consider taking my advice.”

Before Jake could answer, the world spiraled and sparked.  Next thing he knew, he was back in the forest outside of Macon, Ga.  The nighttime air was muggy.  Insects went silent a few seconds after he’d returned.

A plain black cloak was on the ground.  He wasted no time in putting it on.

The moment he settled it around his shoulders, the cloak attached like it was a part of him, and he...felt it, like a limb that had been dunked in ice water.  He didn’t have complete control and it felt alien, but he knew it was there.

The cloak began to gently twitch, like there was an invisible breeze, and a pair of sleeves extended down Jake’s arms, offering what looked like metal protection to his shoulders and elbows, but were really just hardened portions of the artifact’s material.

Then the cloak grew still, and Jake experimentally moved it with his mind.    He could swirl it without a problem, but it was only after a few minutes of intense concentration that he was able to actually pick up a stick from the ground with one corner of the fabric.

“Interesting,” he grunted.  “I guess it gets better with time.  Would have to.”

Jake stretched as he looked up at the uncaring stars.  He still had a lot to do, but spending so long in the challenge room had not only helped him grow in strength, he’d had a lot of time to think.  He had a pretty good idea what was going in in Macon, now.

But before he acted on his suspicions, he had some people to talk to, first.

It was time to go right back to where he’d just come from and pay the Warhounds a little visit.