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At least he had his equipment back now, so he could cover his face and head with his cloak as he stumbled through the city floor while trying to go somewhere he could sit down and relax. When he appeared outside the Challenge Dungeon, he found himself surrounded by people, and he instantly felt an assault of murky auras, while every sound reminded him of nails on a chalkboard. Not to mention the lights. The lights were the damn worst, as they all appeared either blinding or far too dark.

After stumbling into an abandoned residence in the city, Jake went inside and headed straight for the basement. If in the arena, his senses had been far too muted, now they just seemed inconsistent. Some sounds were deafening, while others were entirely silent as if the spectrum of sound he could pick up was entirely out of whack.

However… the worst of all was the smell. People stank, period. Jake himself stank, too. Everything was just horrible. So, with all that in mind, Jake decided that the best course of action would be to find a quiet little cellar to relax in as he tried to get a full understanding of what had happened.

Well, okay, he knew what had happened. Jake was currently experiencing backlash from unleashing far more power than he was capable of. He had more or less used an aspect of his Bloodline he wasn’t capable of handling, which had left damage on his soul and body alike. Damage that the system didn’t heal.

What he had to figure out was the extent of the backlash. He knew his usual senses were all off, but nothing seemed entirely gone. Even the sphere was there, and in an act of recklessness, he even released a Pulse of Perception. Let’s just say that the average Van Gogh painting was way more discernible than the utter mess Jake got back.

But it worked. Next, Jake checked something else he really hoped wasn’t messed with. Something he had a feeling still worked as it should, which was a good start. Reaching into his spatial storage, he pulled out a small metal coin and tried to flip it.

Heads.

Catching it, he saw it landed on heads. Of course, one result didn’t really say anything as he tried again.

Heads. Heads.

He continued this and did about ten more throws, predicting all of them right. He then even tried to do it with three at once and predicted all three accurately, too.

Okay, so my intuition seems fine, Jake thought with relief. If that had also been screwed, Jake wouldn’t even have been able to trust his own gut, which would be a serious problem. That it worked also meant that Jake’s feeling this backlash wasn’t permanent and would heal with time was likely true. Then again, even without his Bloodline-empowered intuition, he would likely have been able to know it. The Sword Saint at least said that he had an uncanny understanding of the backlash he suffered upon using his Transcendent skill. So, there was a good chance that even if the system didn’t help heal these kinds of injuries, it did at least allow the one suffering to understand their situation.

As for how long it would take to fully recover, Jake quite frankly had no idea. What he did know was that it wouldn’t just be a day or two. However, even just sitting there in the cellar for a bit, Jake began to slowly adapt to his messed up senses, making everything slightly less overwhelming. Fighting was still not on the table, but at least he should be able to function within a reasonable timeframe.

While sitting there and just relaxing his head, Jake felt a mental nudge. One he hadn’t felt in quite a while as he faintly smiled and allowed it.

“Well, hello there, slayer of Primordials,” Jake heard the voice of Villy after he accepted the divine message. “So, who’s next on your list? Eversmile? Oh, maybe Stormild! Or wait… is it me? Sorry, you will have to get in the queue for that one; you have a Yip of Yore ahead of you in the line.”

“Damn. Well, seeing as I am already in Nevermore, I guess taking down the Wyrmgod would be the easiest,”

Jake responded jokingly, relieved that at least telepathic messages seemed fine. Also… it felt damn good to communicate with a real person who would actually retain their memories. The Colosseum of Mortals just hadn’t been the same, even if Jake did treat all the people there as real. “Speaking of the Wyrmgod, did he allow you to cheat by talking to me again?”

“You can phrase it like that, sure,” the Viper simply answered. “In reality, he wants me to get some clues as to what you did there in the arena, including any backlash you are currently suffering. Of course, you shouldn’t give any answers. At least not for free.”

“Pretty easy to answer the first one, though. I went ham in there,” Jake sent telepathically with a smile. “As for the backlash… actually, who else is listening in right now?”

“Just me, no worries,”the Viper assured him. “No way I would give them a free sneak peek into our conversations. You are way too damn heretical for that.”

“Aight, fair enough,” Jake surrendered as a thought struck him. “Say, would any of-“

“None of your party members are available right now, as they are all currently taking part in Challenge Dungeons,” Villy cut him off.

“Oh…” Jake sent back in a mutter. That sucked. He kinda hoped to catch up with them or at least hear what they had been up to. That would at least have helped him burn some time while recovering. “Are they also all done with their first Challenge Dungeons?”

“Some are, some aren’t. Maybe. I guess you’ll find out at some point, but for now, focus on yourself, alright?”

“Okay, fine. I guess I can’t have you tell me how any of them are doing while also giving me a scoop on the performance of some of the people I know also participating in Nevermore currently?” Jake shot his shot.

“No. Now, for the real reason I contacted you, besides just catching up with my favorite Chosen. The Wyrmgod has an offer. Answer just three relatively non-intrusive questions from him, and he will give you a tip on what Challenge Dungeon should do next, including a tip for performing well there, probably packaged as advice that somehow doesn’t directly count as cheating,”

Villy proposed. “I will, of course, make sure to not even relay any questions you really shouldn’t answer.”

Jake considered the proposal for a moment before ultimately accepting. However, he did have one concern. “Not sure how good my answers will be, though. I am not exactly clear on everything either.”

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“See, that’s one of the reasons I am fine with you even trying to answer these questions. The Wyrmgod will know if you are lying, but if the genuine truth is that you don’t know how you did something, that still counts as a spent question answered genuinely, right?” the Viper said in a devilish voice.

Shaking his head, Jake leaned back and leaned his head against the wall of the abandoned house. “Alright. Let’s hear these questions.”

“Let’s jump right into it. First question. What you did was reliant on your Bloodline and not any other skills or abilities you have, correct?”

“As far as I am aware, no other skills were involved, no,” Jake answered. He couldn’t exactly say it was all Bloodline, as it also used his arcane affinity as well as his own skills in archery and whatnot. Sure, his affinity also relied on his Bloodline, but he couldn’t say everything he did was all his Bloodline.

“Second question. Do you personally judge that the backlash you are currently experiencing from doing what you did in the arena includes any permanent negative effects?”

Jake had to take a second as the question had gotten quite specific with its phrasing. For the Wyrmgod to ask how he judged the backlash was a good idea, as Jake could have easily answered: “I don’t know, too early to tell,” if he asked for a definite answer. Instead, this question pretty much asked him what his own intuition told him.

“I don’t think it will have any negative consequences, no. But I am also unsure as to how long it will take to recover,” Jake once more answered truthfully.

“Alright, onto the third and last question. Is what you did replicable by you in the future?”

“Yes.”

That one was easy enough to answer, as Jake was absolutely certain he could if he was once more put in a life-and-death situation where he had no other way to survive.

Nearly a full minute of silence followed before the Viper returned.

“Alright, the Wyrmgod is satisfied, so here comes the reward, starting with what Challenge Dungeon to do. Based on your weakened state, there is only really one option. The Neverending Journey, House of the Architect, and Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth all require you to be at your best, leaving only the Test of Character one. Luckily for you, no matter how weak you are in that one, it doesn’t matter for shit. At least your level of power doesn’t matter,” Villy explained.

Honestly, many people could probably have guessed the Test of Character one was the best option, but having it confirmed was nice.

“Now for the Wyrmgod’s tip, which is predictably a little vague: As individuals differ, all judgment remains unreserved. So, yeah, take that as you will.”

Jake slowly nodded, kind of understanding what the Wyrmgod was getting at despite the deliberate vagueness. “Thanks for the tip… now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna force myself to meditate and distract myself as I hopefully recover enough to survive the walk to the Challenge Dungeon entrance.”

“Good luck with that… and honestly, you got that dungeon. It shouldn’t be too hard on you as long as you just stay true to yourself. Now, considering I have a Primordial staring daggers at me, I should probably end things here. See ya!”

Nodding once more, Jake said a final goodbye as the connection slowly faded. Being alone with his thoughts once more, his senses began to annoy him again, making him enter meditation that luckily had the “side effect” of cutting off all his senses.

He just hoped it wouldn’t take too long as he seriously didn’t want to be that one guy in a group project who lagged behind, delaying everyone else in his party.

A difficult decision had to be made if he wanted to gain the title of Grand Champion. He had taken two deaths at the Necromancer, one to the Lord of the Hunt and one to the Phoenix Queen, while he had beaten three Champions without any serious issues. All of the special challenges during his ascent through the ranks of the Colosseum of Mortals had also not proved fatal. Still, each battle had been hard-fought and a valuable experience, and he believed his chances were good… until he encountered the final fight before he would become a Grand Champion: the Mistress of Shadows.

The Sword Saint was aware that her true name was Umbra, and he had gone in fully expecting her to be the toughest opponent. However, even so, he had underestimated her. The Necromancer had also been incredibly difficult and ultimately required him to use more than one Glimpse of Spring to win. In fact, he had to admit most of these Champions opponents had required him to use Glimpse to pull out a victory.

His problem, he realized, was that even if he could beat his opponents in a battle of skill, he simply fell too far behind in pure raw stats, and he also came to discover that for big finish blows, he relied far too much only on his skills, while his freeform energy manipulation lagged severely behind. Stats-wise, he also lacked many of the percentage titles that would truly help him, forcing him to rely more on technique and high-level concepts rather than raw power. So, if he met someone with concepts or skills that countered him, he would find himself struggling. In fact, he found it very lucky the Phoenix Queen used fire magic. If she had used some other school of magic, he could have seen that fight be his stumbling block.

Miyamoto also discovered that, sadly, not even death and revival would heal the backlash of using more than one Glimpse of Spring in a row. As a Transcendent skill, the system simply didn’t heal the aspect of him when it reset his body after death.

That’s why he knew that he would only have one chance when it came to winning the final fight. He had just hoped that the final fight would be against this other Grand Champion, but fate had other plans.

The Mistress of Shadows was a nightmare for the Sword Saint to face. She was far faster than he was, and while he believed he would win a direct confrontation, he never got the chance. Using her speed, she managed to get in light blows from blind angles that accumulated until she could land a lethal blow and end the fight. Her trump card was especially difficult for the Sword Saint to deal with, as he didn’t have any good abilities to detect others, so he would just find himself stumbling in the dark.

Against the Mistress of Shadows, the closest he got to victory was one fight where he managed to cut off one of her arms using Glimpse of Spring, but he had died right after. Using his remaining lives, he attempted all he could, but ultimately, reality became clear.

When he reached his final life, he decided to fully gamble and, at the very least, become a Grand Champion. Using his Transcendent skill within the Colosseum of Mortals was naturally far weaker than before, but Glimpses were still far more powerful than any other attacks he could use as they still relied on incredibly potent concepts. Concepts that originated from when he fully used his Transcendence.

Thus, on his final life, the Sword Saint entered the arena and welcomed springtime once more. With its advent, the Mistress of Shadows fell shortly after, unable to defeat the vastly more powerful swordsman. After his win, the backlash hit, and while he was happy to see it was far less severe than the first time he fully used the skill while fighting Jake, he knew he would have to pay for having used it once he got out of the Challenge Dungeon.

As the newly promoted Grand Champion, there was only one thing left to do. Even if he was weakened and knew he stood no chance, he at least wanted to see the Grand Champion. Partly to see what he missed out on and partly to see if his actions invited regret as he couldn’t have a proper fight. Regret that he couldn’t have beaten the Mistress of Shadows without using his Transcendence fully, which would have allowed him to then use Springtime Advent against the Grand Champion.

Luckily for him, there was no need for regret. Because upon facing the Grand Champion, Valdemar, Miyamoto realized that this would have been the end of the road no matter what… for Transcendence or not, he had absolutely no confidence in ever defeating such a monstrous existence. Especially not if he only had a single attempt.

Alas, at least he had other Challenge Dungeons to aim for instead… he just hoped there was one that he could do even while severely weakened. In retrospect, perhaps it was unwise to have weakened himself as such just to get one more win in the Colosseum of Mortals. However, he didn’t regret his actions. Also, at least he got both an interesting Grand Achievement and a title for it.

Grand Achievement earned: Successfully completed the Colosseum of Mortals while becoming a Grand Champion. Colosseum Points converted: 53.599 Nevermore Points earned. Due to completing a Grand Achievement, you will receive a 10% multiplier of all Nevermore Points at the final calculation.

Reward gained: Colosseum of Mortals: Grand Champion title.

Colosseum of Mortals: Grand Champion – You have proven yourself a Grand Champion of the Colosseum of Mortals, defeating all other Champions before exiting the Colosseum of Mortals with more than 5,000,000 Colosseum Points. Only one Nevermore Challenge Dungeon title can be held at a time. +100 to all stats.