Chapter 66

“You did well,” Yendal said, holding Aaron with an unreadable gaze.

Aaron blinked. A compliment? That was refreshing. She still looked stern, but at least she didn’t seem angry.

“With my True Blessing, you have all the rewards I can provide you with until the trial ends, but…”

Aaron’s eyes brightened, hanging on the goddess’ words.

“... I will do what I can to help you beyond it, without spoiling you. The world, as you know, is going to change a lot. My gift will be waiting for you when you leave these trials. But don’t expect anything life-changing. For one, the universal shroud limits me from giving you too much, but the same goes for others.”

“But also, you need to forge your own path. But I can give you advice. Make the most of the time you have left. As strong as you are, the challenges that you will face beyond here will be greater than anything you have experienced before. You won’t just be competing against shadows, but real people, all struggling to reach the peak. It will be the moment that the real champions of the multiverse will distinguish themselves.”

Aaron nodded. It sounded simple enough, and didn’t really change any of his calculations.

“And… thank you for not becoming an ogre. That would have been…” Yendal shuddered at the thought of her herald being an ogre. “Unfortunate.”

“No problem. I didn’t particularly want to be an ogre myself.”

“Good. I won’t have to worry about future evolutions. Now work hard. Prove to me that I haven’t been misguided by providing you with my true blessing. It has been a very, very long time.”

“Will do,” Aaron nodded, and Yendal’s shadow faded away. “And thank you!”

Stage five of [ Trial of the Challenger ] COMPLETED!

You have tested yourself in one-on-one combat against a weakened shadow avatar of a god and have emerged victorious.

Quest Rewards: Padded Robes of the Expert [ Elite ], Dining Hall upgraded to level 5.

Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!

Ding!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

26 → 27

Tutorial days elapsed:

64.75

(

259

Days in Trial time)

Aaron returned to the hallway feeling lighter than he had previously, as if a weight had been removed from his chest.

He had kind of expected a reward that was a little more material, but this might have actually been better. The competitiveness between the two gods had put him a little on edge. Although he doubted it was completely gone, and it was probably smart not to go sniffing around any other gods. Though in truth, he doubted even he could take blessings from a third.

That said, he hadn’t entered the trial believing anything particularly bad would happen. Yendal had shown interest in blessing him for a while. But nonetheless, her uncannily pleasant attitude had lightened his mood.

At least I got a quest reward and a level,

he thought as he inspected the robes.

Padded Robes of the Expert [ Elite — E grade ]

These lightly armored robes are favored by the expert martial artists of the Ridgeback Clan. They are light and well-aired, perfect for those who rely on speed and agility.

Provides: Minor Harmful Energy Absorption, +10 Agility, +10 Dexterity, and +10 Fortitude

Aaron nodded at the details. The Stat bonuses weren’t anything overly special, but more was better than less. And maybe Harmful Energy Absorption would be helpful, whatever that was.

Guess I’ll put it on.

“My goodness!” Douglas gasped. “Since when did I say it was okay to change in the hallway?”

“Oh, sorry about that,” Aaron said, buckling himself up. “Didn’t see too much, did you?”

“More than I cared to,” Douglas grimaced.

“Oops, sorry about that. Well, I’m off,” Aaron said, waving as he walked off.

Strolling into the Viewing Room, he caught Mo’han, Sooty, and Rudolf watching some alien world. And thankfully, the scene was

tame

.

I really hope these guys aren’t getting into too much trouble while I’m gone.

“Hey, what’s on?!”

The three of them turned to him.

“A-ran! You’re back! How did your little meeting with the goddess go?”

“Meeting with a goddess?” Rudolf flashed a wide grin. “So, that’s why you refused my treats. Delectably delicious. You’re a taken man, are you? Maybe we should take a peek next time Aaron goes missing, boys.”

“Do that and you’re dead. And no, it’s not like that. You’d be bored, but I appreciate my privacy, understood? And please, don’t refer to anything about me as delicious or delectable. It sends a chill down my spine.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Don’t worry, A-ran! I would never allow them to do that on my watch!”

I’m sure you wouldn’t, Mo’han,

Aaron thought, knowing the asura couldn’t always be around.

Rudolf threw his hands up as if he were innocent. “Okay, okay.”

“He’s always escaping to see that goddess,” Sooty said, elbowing the assistant softly and bouncing his brows.

“Is he now? Not that I’m suggesting anything. We’ll play by your rules,” Rudolf winked at Sooty.

“Ignore them, A-ran. I’ll keep an eye on them. Now tell me, how did your training go?”

Aaron was too happy to bite the bait from the antagonizing little pervs.

“It went well. I learned a lot, and as you can see, it didn’t take me that long, either.”

“Indeed!” Mo’han cheered. “In time to watch our new arrivals before they get here. Or get an inside scoop, as we say in my world!”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Here!” Mo’han threw a can across to Aaron. “A green grenade!”

“You remembered?” Aaron smiled and cracked the can.

“Of course I did, A-ran! We are friends, are we not?”

“Of course we are, mate!”

Mo’han really is a good guy, isn’t he?

“So, what are we watching?” Aaron said, flinging himself over the sofa and landing in the middle of it.

“These draconic people are called drakaran. Rudolf was just saying that they’re up there with us asuras as being one of the most powerful races of the multiverse. We thought it prudent to view their Tutorial.”

“So, we got these guys to contend with as well?”

“No!” Mo’han boomed. “They’re not denizens of our sector. But they will likely be a powerful entity in our universe. Good to keep an eye on them. I hear the multiverse has a habit of pitting sectors against one another. You never know what might happen in the future.”

“Good point,” Aaron nodded along as he watched a seven-foot humanoid dragon flying across a landscape and raining spells down on a group of monsters.

“Nasty scales,” Rudolf interjected. “They get stronger as they level, and provide serious protection. At high levels, their scales are comparable to some of the rarest armor you can find in the multiverse.”

“Great,” Aaron groaned. “They sound charming to deal with.”

“Don’t worry, A-ran! If it comes to it, we’ll beat them back-to-back! Show them what our sector is made of!”

“Damn right we will.”

They cycled through several powerful races after the drakaran. Even peering into the daily lives of some ogres, though their sector was apparently some distance away and not worth worrying about.

Though it was hard to make too many useful insights, since they could only view the Tutorials, they could only see small sections of each race at a time. It would have taken forever to parse through so many Tutorials for each and every potential challenger of the multiverse to get a real feel for what was out there. And their time was better spent getting stronger, once they were done viewing the newcomers, of course.

Not only that, but Aaron had already learned enough to know that their universe was far from set in stone. Their own top rankers had already changed dramatically, and that would likely continue after the Tutorial. So there really wasn’t much point in spending too much time studying the competition when that competition might change.

There were, of course, bonuses like the trials, which would set people further apart from one another, likely securing some of the top spots. But still, who knew who would hold onto a top rank and who wouldn’t?

And there was yet another aspect not touched on. Three races would be forced to duke it out on each world. How would that change the power dynamics?

Not only that, but how races worked together had the potential to alter outcomes as much as the raw power possessed by individuals. He already knew that goblins were submissive. What if Superearth’s goblins submitted to either the humans or thal’kesh?

Two against one would throw any measurements completely out of whack. And then there were the populations of the different species themselves.

How much of a difference would having a greater population play?

Pre-integration, it made sense to give a heavy advantage to the intelligent species with more numbers, and numbers had played important roles throughout human history.

But post-integration? In a world where one person’s determination could outshine so many others?

Aaron thought about himself and his own achievements. How many Aarons would it take to beat him, imagining that they had failed to gain blessings or learn the lessons he had learned through the trials?

If they were at the same level as himself, he guessed the number would be large. He had already proven himself against large numbers of monsters that out-leveled him, so it only made sense that he could do the same to humans.

Thankfully, one of these questions could at least partially be answered. What was the current population of Superearth?

Total human population remaining: 2,578,544,621

Total goblin population remaining: 4,235,907,462

Total thal’kesh population remaining: 876,431,229

The assistant brought up the data for Aaron with a simple command. He immediately wished he hadn’t asked.

His mind completely ditched strategizing and went to the number of humans alive. 2,578,544,621. Aaron gulped. He was fairly certain he had heard Earth’s population was around eight billion before the integration.

Worst still, the Tutorial wasn’t even over yet. Two-thirds of Earth’s pre-integration population was already dead. It was a harrowing thought to try to wrap his mind around.

What's more, what would be left by the time some true stability was achieved? He doubted these numbers would stay as high as they were.

Aaron’s thoughts traveled down a dark path. How many people did he know who had already died? He didn’t want the question answered, trying to force himself to go back to strategizing.

He wondered what kinds of people survived something like this? Aaron didn’t necessarily think of himself as insane, or anything, but he was well aware that he was a little

different.

Few could go through the things he had, let alone do it with the ease that he did. It made him shudder to think of the population that would inhabit Superearth.

Would the kind, gentle types all be gone? Then there were people like the necromancer, who was clearly some kind of psychopath. Even the leader, Johan, gave him the creeps a little.

Then again, leaders always gave Aaron the creeps. Maybe he was insane, with all the things he could push himself through. But he didn’t want to be the center of attention all of the time.

What drove people to be like that? It was one of those characteristics he didn’t get. Not socialising, mind you. Aaron was fairly sociable. It was the obsessive attention seeking that he didn’t understand.

In his mind, all politicians were creepy and at least partially insane. Why else would they put themselves through all of that?

So, those were the kinds of people he was likely to find himself around once everything was said and done.

Well, maybe not everyone. There would be others who looked to allies to help them through the challenges. Maybe some would also just get lucky. But the truly successful ones? Well, he doubted too many of those would be truly normal.

Maybe he was being too harsh. After all, he liked to believe he was going to be one of those successful ones, and he wasn’t so bad, was he?

Yeah, I’m probably going to need to keep my guard up.

With Mo’han and the assistants, keeping secrets had mattered too much. Even if he hadn’t gotten along with Mo’han, it wasn’t as if they would be bumping into each other anytime soon. But soon, he might be around people he’d see after the trials.

“One is coming up now!” Rudolf suddenly shouted. “Shall we see who is about to join us?”

“They are about to finish their trial, are they?”

“Correct! In just minutes, they’ll be challenging their Tutorial boss.”

“That sounds brilliant! What do you say, A-ran?!”

“Yeah,” Aaron smiled. “Sounds good to me, mate.”

But his thoughts were a little troubled, to say the least. Not because he was scared, but because he might have to start acting a little more seriously.