Path to Transcendence

Each breath was a struggle. Every movement hurt him.
However, he was having so much fun that he could almost ignore all of it.
He felt the hair get shaved off by the wicked claws of one of the six remaining beasts. He backed up and wiped his face; the blood that had been trailing down his head had fallen into his eyes and mouth.
The other beasts didn’t take this opportunity to attack. They were tired as well. Julius had been slowly whittling them down for the past fifteen minutes. While he had only killed around half of them, he had done a lot of accumulated damage to all of them.
He wasn’t really able to use constructs that well, so that meant his pool was still pretty full. The only thing that he had created was a pair of gauntlets over his hands and arms. He gave himself enough room to swing the sword, but they were pretty tough.
He had managed to weave some of his aura into the mana. It wasn’t even close to what he normally did, but it was enough for these beasts. Sadly, he wasn’t able to handle more than that. The constructs were all he could focus on.
He wasn’t used to being so limited in the number of techniques he could use at once. He had really hated those days. He wanted to make some spikes, but they were either too weak or blew up before he could hit his target. Furthermore, these creatures were faster than he could throw these spikes.
Thus, he just decided to go the old-fashioned way and beat them up with his fists or sword. More importantly, this way was much more thrilling.
He ran back in with a wild laugh; some of the beasts were flinching back at his approach. They didn’t run away, though. They met him head-on. They slammed into him, he deflected as much as he could and chipped in as much damage as possible, but with how tired he was, it wasn’t a shock that he started to make more mistakes.
A couple of inches here, a half-second too early there, and he soon found himself sporting two new injuries. He did manage to get two more beasts, so there was that.
He propped himself on the sword as he caught his breath. Unfortunately, he was given that luxury. The pull from the sword was so alluring at this point. It was whispering into his ears, begging him to use it. To draw out a little bit of vitality from the villagers to heal his fatigue.
It was a little bit of a struggle not to give in. It wasn’t like these villagers were real. They were people created by the trial. They would likely disappear the moment the trial was over. They weren't technically even human.
Those kinds of thoughts kept ringing in his head. He kept on trying to rationalize the usage of the sword.
He ultimately didn’t give in.
It was also a matter of pride at this point. He wanted to prove to himself that he could beat these monsters all on his own. And he was close to doing just that. He only needed to squeeze a little more stamina from the depths of his soul. He kept on feeding himself as much life mana as he could, and while it didn’t heal him, he liked to think that it was extending his stamina just by a hair.
He was able to rest for five seconds before the monsters came in to attack him again. Fortunately, their skills and fighting style were pretty simple.
If they were more durable, he would have been in some trouble.
He swung his sword sluggishly. It felt like he was swinging a telephone pole rather than a sword. He got lucky and managed to clip one of the monsters. The wolf-like creature was sent whimpering to the ground.
Its buddies did their best to stop him from finishing off the wolf, but Julius used some of his accumulated kinetic energy. He had been gathering it, just in case he needed it. He didn’t like having to use it so soon, but such was life.
He knocked the wolves away and jammed his sword through the monster’s neck. The beast didn’t die immediately, but it should have. It was super annoying. It was like they weren’t really alive and more like undead creatures. Only stabbing them in the brain or decapitating them seemed to work.
He wasn’t able to pull out the sword in time and was forced to block the next attack with his forearm. The construct around his arm cracked under the pressure. He fell back and stumbled to the ground.
He tried to kick away, but they were already on top of him. He wasn’t able to get away, and they started to slash him up. He got some good hits in, but their speed and strength were higher than his. He pinned down and did all he could to protect his vitals.
He felt a particularly deep slash connect, almost tearing his leg from his body. He moaned in pain and slammed his fist into the creature. He managed to accumulate enough kinetic energy to blast them off of him, enabling him to get back to his feet. The sword was too far away at this, so even if he wanted to use the enchantment, it wouldn’t be possible.
Probably for the best. He didn’t need the temptation poking at him the entire time he was fighting.
He hobbled to his feet and brought his fists up. His constructs were cracked all over; he was trying to fix them, but it was a slow process. It didn’t help that he was forced to use them constantly. He didn’t have the time to repair them as he'd hoped.
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Julius felt blood pouring out of his mouth and spat it at the slowly enclosing monsters. They were injured as well, so they were wary of him. He had earned at least that much respect from them.
“Come on then,” he shouted out, blood spraying everywhere.
They obliged his request and, as a group, attacked him from all angles.
His leg was shot, so he was forced to throw himself to the side, rolling as far as he could. Then, before they could regroup, he tackled the nearest beast. He grappled it by the face and jammed his fingers into its eyes.
He didn’t have a sword, and so he was forced to give up on his gauntlets. The mana slowly remolded until it resembled an ugly shortsword. He scoffed to himself. It was such a disgraceful construct that he was embarrassed to even look at it.
However, he couldn’t be too picky and grabbed hold of it, stabbing the shortsword into the monster’s ear. The beast screeched in pain and tried to buck him off. However, he wasn’t letting go. He held on for his life and kept on stabbing the monster in the ear, feeling more and more blood filling up the canal.
He finally felt something snap, and the shortsword drove all the way up to his elbow, lodging itself into the monster’s brain. It was only then that the monster went limp.
Julius wanted nothing more than to sleep, but unfortunately, the last few monsters had other ideas. They tried to slash him into pieces, but Julius used their dead comrade as a shield, tucking underneath it, stabbing outward with his construct.
He had been trying to use his Sharpness Concept, but the power was relatively weak. There was some effect, but it was so minor, he didn’t even know if it was worth it. It took a lot of mental effort to establish a connection with it.
He had been hoping that Drasil would be able to help him since it would appear that he could still access his soul-bound items. However, it would seem that wasn’t the case. Drasil was silent, and Julius had not been able to sense Drasil or Seraphyne since he entered this trial.
He also didn't use his crown. Given how weak he felt, he had an inkling that using the crown would completely overwhelm him.
He kept on clawing back at these monsters. His limbs felt like lead being dragged through mud. He was fighting on pure instinct and desperation at this point.
It would appear that his luck had finally run out, though. As he was turning back around to fend off another attack, he felt something clamp down on his arm. He tried to snatch it back, but he was too slow. The razor-like teeth crunched through his bone like it was nothing. His arm was severed at the elbow.
He grabbed his arm, using the dull heat of his fire mana to stem the bleeding. His fire mana wasn’t strong enough to hurt these creatures, but it was strong enough to cauterize his wound.
He didn’t even realize that he wasn’t reacting to the pain anymore. He was so tired and mentally worn that the loss of his limb barely occurred to him. He just kept on fighting. Each step drained a year from his life.
He had no idea how he managed to keep on going, but he did. He used every scrap of power available to him. Each pulse of kinetic energy was used as optimally as possible. Each speck of mana was used to keep his sword together.
He could feel his mind tearing itself apart as his spatial perception threatened to overwhelm him. Blood was pouring from his ears and eyes.
He lost track of time, hearing himself laugh maniacally as he clashed against the monsters.
It was only when he felt himself swinging at the empty air that he stopped to see what was going on. There was so much blood in his eyes that he hadn’t realized that no more monsters were attacking him; they were all dead at his feet. His mind had been running on autopilot.
All of the creatures lay there, dead or unmoving.
Upon that realization, he collapsed to his knees. Only now did the pain start to hit him. At some point, his leg must have been cut off, and somehow, he had kept it attached with some threads of mana.
He could barely breathe, and his mana was almost entirely empty. The only thing that kept him conscious was pure willpower.
He stayed there, unmoving, for the next several minutes.
However, a smile slowly appeared on his face as he chuckled to himself. Despite being without some limbs and covered in wounds, he was happy.
***
He rubbed his face with exasperation when he looked at what was going on with the trial. That was not how things were supposed to go. The goal of the trial was to test one’s ability to control life mana despite being handicapped.
Another, but arguably more important goal, was to test one’s morality and sense of responsibility.
The sword was an excellent item that did both of those things. If you wished to use it properly, it required refined skill over life mana. However, you weren’t supposed to kill the villagers to do so. Only pulling as little as needed from them to help power the sword and yourself.
There were other tests as well that gauged tendencies and talents, but that wasn’t something that Terradon understood very well. The trial would evaluate that on its own.
However, he was very curious about how it would evaluate the boy now. He hadn’t used the sword as intended and somehow had managed to kill the monsters on his own. Not something that he had seen before.
Life users were interesting individuals. Most of them became healers. But those who wanted to focus on a more combat-centric path chose to use offensive healing. This was a dangerous road, which was why the moral test was there in the first place. Once you got a taste for vitality-draining techniques, it was a slippery slope.
It was why vampires and other life-draining creatures were so hated across the realms. Their constant hunger drove them to do some horrific things. If you were to fall into this category, then you would not be rewarded for it.
You might pass the trial, but you would not receive anything good.
The last thing the trial tested, which was arguably the most essential part, was something most people wouldn't fully grasp, yet it was a simple concept.
How well would you survive when everything you have earned and worked for disappeared?
How much would you value life when you had all of your power stripped from you?
How far would you go to survive? Would you be willing to sacrifice others to do so?
In that respect, Julius might have passed with the highest marks if nothing else but because he was too damn stubborn to choose an easier path.
Terradon had no clue what would happen, but he had to admit, for the first time in a while, he was impressed and intrigued by this young child. He let out a defeated sigh.
Vailon and Kaelther might be onto something.