Otherworldly Trials [LITRPG Adventure]

"Come on, now! Keep at it!"

The cries of the otherworlders rang out in the air, their arms swinging and their weapons clanging against each others.

Others had their eyes closed, their faces riddled with sweat as mana churned in front of them, desperately trying to exist to follow their owner's will.

It was another beautiful day in this hell pit where the otherworlders were trained to their very limits, an opportunity that every person from Tarial would salivate and envy to receive from several experienced Journeymen.

"You there! Your form needs more work! Focus on your hips, not your arms! You! What are you doing?! Don't close your eyes! That's just asking for a stab in the face! If you're tired now, remember that for each second of constant effort means an extra second of survival! Now keep at it!"

Mikella roared, her presence not giving anyone a chance to defy her orders. She stood tall, her long brown hair tied into a pony tail to give a proper lesson to the otherworlders under her charge.

Of course, she wasn't just giving orders and screaming out demands–she was doing the exercise herself in front of them, like a gym trainer from hell ready to give you a lesson or die trying. Her body swung with more precision and poise that the otherworlders could only dream of achieving.

The fact that her fantasy-like dragon wings were gone, only revealing her toned and slightly scaled body only made her more approachable, and strangely refined. But when she gets pissed off at someone slacking, she would instantly summon her wings without meaning to, making them truly fear her wrath.

God, she was so beautiful that it made his heart beat faster.

Zeke shook off the thoughts, trying to keep his head focused on the magic side of the training. Of course, he kept ensuring the mages to keep trying despite their cold bodies aching in pain to raise their skill levels faster even while he was fascinated over Mikella's impressive form once again today.

It had been two weeks since they recovered the otherworlders from the tower, and brought them back to Arcelot to keep them safe. The entire experience was daunting, to say the least, as well as trying to figure out exactly where they could stay.

It wasn't easy trying to find some place to hold several dozen otherworlders with no identity or money to use. It was even harder when the nobles might pick up on this information and try some shady stuff, so Cronus had to get involved.

And unfortunately Cronus asked for every excruciating detail regarding the incident that occurred inside the tower. That's where Cerulean stepped in.

Just as everyone expected, she was indeed Cronus' daughter, so it didn't take long to find some solutions for their situation.

The otherworlders ended up living in the same vicinity as Alissa's home, using a vacant lot that was around there to quickly set up a place for the otherworlders to stay in. It wasn't exactly comfortable, and definitely nowhere near as nice as Alissa's home, but Zeke put himself to work when he was able to move again to 'rune-up' the place, giving them what they needed.

They were actually training outside the lot that now held an impromptu emergency housing for the otherworlders. As the days passed and several requests were made, Zeke honestly felt that the emergency household is now a decent place for everyone involved. As for the outside, it was just big enough with enough privacy, especially thanks to his barrier and runes, to give everyone a much needed training for their future here.

Things went especially well thanks to Zeke's barrier, Mythril Bastion, coming into play. Cronus was certainly impressed by hearing about him fusing a skill in the middle of the battlefield, but he also mentioned that doing such a thing was considered near-suicidal, which didn't make Zeke feel any better.

Especially since he often gets migraines out of nowhere ever since he fused his skill. He tried to downplay it, but it was getting annoying. For now though, he was as fresh as a daisy.

So since then, the pair have been focusing on giving everyone a fair shot of training while ensuring that nothing else goes wrong, and there could always be a high chance of that happening, so they're keeping a low profile. It was also especially crucial since the noble houses are starting to get rampant on the disappearances of the knights, which were the very same ones that tried to slaughter their people in the name of peace for their world.

It wasn't like they had evidence or proof that they tried to slaughter innocent people that can't fight back, so they had no other choice but to leave it all up to Cronus again to deal with the backlash. Zeke hated it, but he once again owed a huge favor to Cronus for helping them this much despite doing so much for him already.

There was so much to do in what felt like so little time. They didn't even had the time to strategize against fighting the knight from the trial.

They did, however, receive some decent prizes from clearing the tower. And as for the trial itself, it even gave off its own notification regarding the results.

You have cleared the dungeon: Fiery Heart

You have received the following rewards:
500 Gold Coins
1000 Silver Coins
Skill Book: Enlightenment

*****

Due to your success in evading the creature's grasp, you have not suffered defeat. However, that does not mean that the creature of the trial has been defeated as well.

Continue on towards your journey, and remember that the Terminus is everlasting.

There it is again, the word Terminus.

This occurred during the trial part as well, warning Zeke to survive or become part of the Terminus. He truly wondered what the system meant by this, because so far he had two theories.

This Terminus is either the one responsible for the system as a whole, something like the main administrator, or some strange main part that works the system. He wondered if there was some other god that was called the Terminus, or perhaps the Terminus is actually where the system came from in the first place.

Cronus also asked this when Cerulean showed him the prompt she received, and no matter how much Zeke thought, he couldn't come to any conclusion. Especially if even a Master like Cronus didn't know what the Terminus was.

In the end, he could guess forever and still wouldn't arrive at an answer. They couldn't even defeat the creature let alone find out something that Masters can't find out for themselves. So for now he'll shelve the Terminus part away until he received more information about it.

As for the reward from the tower, shockingly enough, Zeke received the skill book he intended to get for himself for so long now. Enlightenment, one of the body series skill books that was the same as Mikella's Acrobatics skill and Myra's Athletics. Zacharia, the general from Eve Glade, also had his own body series skill called Perseverance.

Each one of these skills focus on improving the body of the person who owns it passively, with each one maximizing one particular stat. For Acrobatics, it was Dexterity, Athletics for Strength, and Perseverance for Endurance.

On the other hand, Enlightenment is a passive skill that is geared towards the mental aspect of the body, and this skill in particular focused on the Spirit stat–which happened to be Zeke's main stat for his build.

He can't help but think that whenever a tower is cleared, the otherworlders who cleared it also received a skill book that is tailored towards their wants and needs. Though he could be wrong on that. Certainly, without Mythril Skin, he wouldn't have been able to fuse it into Mythril Bastion. And Warp Jump became a favorite skill for Mikella, making her fighting more dangerous and chaotic for anyone to handle.

Considering all this, he would be a fool to not take this boon for himself. So of course he learned the Enlightenment skill for himself.

Enlightenment (Rare), Level 1
You can overcome your body's limits. All mental attributes (Intelligence, Spirit) receive 1% increase each level. Mana consumption decreases and overall balance increases.

Zeke felt it was about time for him to learn such a handy skill for himself, but half the time he spent it on training to survive the incoming towers. With this skill, his mana felt more refined, as though he had been using simple raw mana all this time. It filtered through some internal process, leaving behind imperfections and using only the top quality kind of mana.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Mikella also received the same kind of reward, though if he was honest, they should have gotten more after dealing with so much crap at once.

"Umm… hey."

Zeke's consciousness returned to reality, letting his body go through auto-mode on training the otherworlders. He looked down to see a short kid that reached up to his chest.

A dark-skinned dark haired boy who had also been through the rough tower with the otherworlders, and was also the only one unfortunate to not be old enough to be system initialized.

Tigger looked up to Zeke, being as tall as he was, showing a rather meek expression as he pressed his lips nervously at him.

"Umm…is it okay if I can join?" He asked, his voice slightly quiet. It was clear that he didn't want to disturb important training time. "I know I won't get anything, but it just gets so boring around here, y'know?"

"Of course Tigger," Zeke said with a smile. The boy beamed at the answer, probably expecting something worse. "It won't be magic practice, obviously, but you can join Mikella's side over there. They're just doing basic training, but there's nothing wrong with getting a head start."

"Really? She won't mind?" Tigger asked.

"Of course not. If anything, she'd be glad you asked to join even if you won't get any skills."

"Thanks, Zeke! I promise I'll work hard and get strong enough to get hundreds of stat points when I get the system thingy!"

Tigger said, making an outlandish claim with his eyes burning in motivation. Zeke chuckled as he waved at the running kid, heading towards Mikella who noticed him coming and, as Zeke predicted, readily agreed to let him join.

Tigger had also been part of the household with the otherworlders. Unlike back at the sorry state of a camp he was at in the tower, everyone treated him well over there. Though Zeke still worried if it was alright to let him stay there by himself. Thankfully, Mark and Elly had been taking good care of him, and he was at least old enough to care for himself on the basics.

It had been such a massive overhaul on their schedules that Zeke and Mikella didn't really have a chance for him to meet Clara, the only other child in the same situation. Clara was understanding enough that the otherworlders needed some time to affix themselves to their new reality, which for some folks was harder to bear than others.

But at some point, they would meet, and after that, who knows what else? So far, there had been no other towers to find and otherworlders to save, and Cronus was busy dealing with the nobles to do anything else. For now, it was safer to stay out of sight and deal with the massive group of otherworlders to care for.

But then something hit him hard. His eyes felt that piercing pain again as his head practically throttled his brain ruthlessly. He gritted his teeth, trying to ride out the pain as usual, but this one was a nasty case.

His Pain Resistance didn't work on it, as it was the by-product of doing a dangerous skill fusion, and Steadfast Mind was included. And as he feared, the headaches were getting worse by the day.

Eventually the pain faded, but phantom aches still made his eyes watery, and he wanted to lay down and rest on a soft cold pillow.

"Zeke!"

He flinched, the sudden jolt causing him to wince in pain even more, even when the pain faded. He turned around, shocked and angry, only to find a very concerned Mikella looking at him, noticing his suffering.

"Zeke, it's happening again, right?" She spoke softly, noticing what she did and lowering her voice. Zeke felt even worse considering that she only shouted in alarm, just like he would.

"I…" Zeke said, but he knew no matter what he would say, Mikella would notice it. In the end, he just slightly nodded.

"Zeke, it got so bad that you didn't even notice me screaming at you for a while."

His heart sank, considering that was the reason why she was screaming at him. Just how long was he gritting through the pain for?

"...It's getting worse," Zeke muttered, shaking his head, which only made it worse as a result.

"Zeke, you're tired. It's only been a short while. You should be resting. Go home, and I'll take care of this."

"But I don't want you to handle this all alone," He pleaded. He sounded pathetic, but he really didn't want to push all this work on Mikella.

"Don't worry, we'll handle this too."

Turning around, Zeke spotted their comrades who have been through this as much as they did. Lyle and Janet appeared walking side by side, but this time, there were some clear differences.

They both became Journeymen. After the ordeal back at the tower, not only have they reached the skill and title requirement, they also gained enough levels to advance their stages. Due to that, they became substantially different.

Janet was taller, gaining a few inches, and her physique also changed to accommodate her choices. While Zeke didn't want to stare out of respect, her assets increased quite a bit, just like when Mikella's body changed. However, there was that compactness that was different from Mikella's more outwardly form, focusing more on being stealthy and speedy rather than going full on strength and speed. Due to that, she had to change her clothes, though she still kept the black and dark attire.

Her race change was the same as Zeke's, she also became an elf. And strangely enough, she also only received the same results when going through her advancement. Every single sub race for elf they had ever seen. This time, she chose the other option that Zeke ignored in favor of Soul Elf; The rare sub-race Spectral Elf. For an assassin like Janet, the Spectral Elf was perfect for her as disappearing into another plane and striking at her enemies synergized extremely well with her build.

For Lyle, he grew taller, reaching the same height as Zeke. His skin color remained the same dark tone, but there were dark stripes streaked across his exposed forearms and side of his neck, each one having a slight purple tint to them.

Oh, and he couldn't forget the obvious two fox tails and ears popping out of his back and head. He chose one race that was seemingly rare enough to surprise everyone, including Alissa–He chose the beastrace Phantom Fox.

Apparently there was something about having such a good synergy with one's personality and skill, the same skill he got when they defeated that fox boss from the tower, that it literally bled into this choice opening up for him. So not only did he receive a rather adorable appearance of a fox, he was as dangerous as the phantom fox they faced before.

As for why he chose that? The other options were monstrosities that might have stemmed from the Beast Soul Skill and Alchemist Class, and according to him, this one seemed the least horrifying. He had a shop to run after all, so it wouldn't be good to scare potential customers away.

Lyle stepped up, his furry twin tails shifting about as he still had some trouble controlling them easily, putting a hand on Zeke's shoulder. "Mikky's right. You need to rest up. We'll help now that my shop is closed down temporarily."

"But what about the, uhh… other business?" Zeke asked, obviously referring to their Assassin's Guild.

"I managed to explain everything to a guy we know. He's the one that supported us this whole time. Everything's fine, and even expected us to get some rest to break in our advancement," Janet explained, her voice elevated to attain that rich, smooth tone from her advancement. It felt mystifying, making her elf transformation all the more impressive. "Which means we have enough room to help out for once. So don't worry."

"I…" Zeke hesitated, looking up to the sky for some answer, but groaned at all the right arguments thrown at him. "Alright, alright. I'll go home."

"Sweet, and before you head to bed, take this."

Lyle's hand held a small cylindrical bottle the size of a finger and handed it to Zeke. It was a bright blue glass bottle with the contents hidden deep inside. But even when encased, Zeke felt the power emanating from the contents within

"My class advancement helped a lot this time. This should ease the pain by the time you wake up. But that don't mean to go too far, alright?" Lyle said, his tone demanding obedience as a former medical professional.

"I will," Zeke nodded. "Thanks Lyle. I appreciate this."

Lyle scoffed, making an exaggerated hand wave. "We owe you more than we can count. Just take it and go to sleep."

Zeke chuckled, understanding his friend's meaning and readied himself to go. But not before getting dragged by the shoulder from none other than Mikella. He turned around to find her staring at him hard, her eyes piercing his soul from the intensity.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

It took a moment for Zeke to figure out, then his eyes widened and his cheeks burned. "R-Right in front of everyone? Now?"

"Did I stutter?"

Seeing her steadfast stare and resolute in her eyes, Zeke gave in, though clearly he wasn't against it. His heart raced as he closed in, and the two shared a quick kiss with as much feeling packed into it.

Once they let go, she showed a honey-like sweet smile to him. "Rest up, babe. Take it easy."

"You too," Zeke said, feeling as though his voice was taken away.

When he turned around, he tried very, very hard to ignore the clearly eager looks sent by Lyle as he howled and cooed at him, making Zeke growl back at him and run away before anyone else makes fun of him.

He still wasn't used to it, showing affection in public. Neither was Mikella, truthfully. However, she made it clear that her kisses shall not be denied no matter where they are when the two separated.

And Zeke had no problems with that.

……

When Zeke returned home to Alissa's house, both Alissa and Clara were gone, probably off on their own day off enjoying themselves. Clara had gotten seriously bored after Zoan got into a comatose state, and Alissa decided to be her playmate for a while, finding herself enjoying Clara's presence more and more. Zeke and Mikella were glad to see that, but they still felt guilty for leaving Clara alone so many times.

Still, his head started aching again, and he swore it was gonna be bad, so when he approached his room, he popped open Lyle's potion and drank the whole thing in one go.

The incoming pain helped ease the god-awful bitter taste, which he wasn't sure which was worse. But when the pain was becoming harder to bear, he went to his bed and entered into Meditation.

Meditation and sleep comes hand in hand, though unfortunately it did nothing to help level it up. But now it filled Zeke with a conflicting feeling of restful bliss and head-stabbing pain as he drifted off.

The pain was worse than before, even back at the field. It was as though the moment he admitted this pain was getting worse, it proved him right ten times over. His eyes teared up, and he covered himself in blankets to ease the pain.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he drifted himself away, to a world filled with pain and suffering. Within that realm, he heard a voice.

Familiar construction has begun.