The battle with Yendal went back and forth, and with each and every death, Aaron’s understanding of his soul state grew slightly better and slightly more natural.

  He found himself able to position himself so that aether could be absorbed faster. However, the usefulness of this was not immediately clear.

  Resurrecting slightly quicker wasn’t necessarily a good thing. In a normal fight, his enemies would keep attacking, and he would be defenseless and too weak to stop them.

  Bringing himself back to life just to be cut down again was useless. All he would achieve by dying without a plan would be to drain aether from the atmosphere.

  In fact, the opposite seemed more important. Trying to stall his resurrection. Unfortunately, in his soul form, he had no control over his dead body or the Trait that activated.

  If he could prevent it from immediately activating, he could remain dead until his enemy turned away, and then return once the scene was safe. In almost all circumstances, he could imagine, this would be better. He just didn’t know how to do it.

  Not only that, but the deaths were dragging on, and that meant time was once more sneaking away from him.

  New arrivals could be coming in from the Tutorials, and he didn’t want just to go AWOL on Yendal. It was one thing to avoid the goddess between trials, and another just to abandon her midway through.

  He was here now, and he would have to finish what he had started. That meant he would have to put aside his quest to prolong his resurrections, since he hadn’t the faintest idea of how to achieve it.

  He was no closer to figuring it out, and he wasn’t even entirely sure it was possible. It was just a hunch, and not a hunch he wanted to get stuck on right now.

  Returning his focus to the actual fight, it was time to figure out how to land a hit on Yendal again.

  Perhaps the massive gains he had achieved before the previous trial had helped close the gap between them the last time they had fought, but since then, Aaron’s strength hadn’t come that far. And the increase in difficulty with each stage was kind of enormous.

  He wasn’t even close to keeping up with her, and her technique was even better than his. Predicting her moves and bombarding her with power and energy he gained from embracing Oozagh helped, but it was far from closing the gap now that she had grown stronger once more.

  He needed something extra, but there was nothing. Defying death was undoubtedly useful as he continued to follow his unconventional path beyond the trials, but it hardly aided him in his current predicament against his goddess patron.

  However, he did have one interesting thought. Could he store aether in his adipose tissue, and if he could, could he train to use it even after death? Or perhaps as he died?

  Storing aether wasn’t particularly hard. Aaron had already learned to harness the energy, and while it wasn’t as efficient, he could draw it into his adipose tissue with sufficient concentration. The hard part was using it.

  Dozens of deaths followed, and Aaron was forced to surrender his broken body as the aether was drained and return to the hallway. As before, he took this time to eat, buff himself, and balloon out, filling his adipose with aether.

  The problem was timing. He had no control over his corpse, and so if he left his plan until he died, he had no means to harness the energy stored within his lifeless body.

  But gradually, he fine-tuned this release of energy, practicing and trying to expel it at just the right moment.

  He had to be careful, though. He didn’t want Yendal knowing what he was doing. This needed to be a surprise, and so when he practiced, he weaved his aether into his Skills and attacks.

  It wasn’t exactly how he intended to use the finished product, but it was close enough. He just needed to master expelling all of his stored aether in its raw form as quickly as possible. And since he was throwing everything, including stupid amounts of energy, into his attacks, there was nothing particularly suspicious about it.

  As the deaths stacked up, his control over the raw energy heightened. Growing to a point where he could release clouds of the stuff naturally as he moved. He was getting close.

  Another dozen deaths passed in a blink as he trained, gradually improving and becoming better at controlling the aether, and familiarizing himself with his soul and the process of passing into its form.

  He had spent little time working with the unfined energy since much earlier in the trials, but his soul state had allowed him to bridge new gaps and reach new levels of understanding; yet, he knew it was still in its infancy.

  The veil of death hid many secrets, he knew. Secrets that he would investigate at a later date. But for now, he had a plan to see through.

  Finally, he achieved the control that he had been seeking. This was it, but he played it cool, hiding the truth from Yendal’s avatar until he was ready.

  Every piece of the puzzle had to be perfectly lined up, or his little surprise would be ruined, and their duels would drag on for who knows how long.

  He planned everything: every step, every move, all for one moment.

  It was an accumulation of everything he was—an evolution of the move he used against Yendal last time. Something even more unpredictable.

  Unleashing powerful attacks of cataclysmic proportions, he let everything go, channeling his power into attack after attack, forming a relentless storm of destruction: haymakers and spectral missiles flying all over the place.

  And it was all misdirection.

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  Powering through Yendal’s defenses, he attacked with reckless abandon, eating several of her attacks in a row. And it was exactly how he planned for it to go.

  His tough teacher was not about to let him just get away with the same trick twice, and her power came hard and heavy, intending to kill him before he could land his own attack.

  But that was exactly what he wanted.

  Aaron couldn’t help but smile as her deathly attacks landed, despite his best efforts to hold it back.

  And then it happened. Just as he predicted. For a split second, Yendal lowered her guard. For why wouldn’t she? He was dead, wasn’t he? And it always took a few seconds to revive after he died. Plus, while Yendal could speak through her avatar, the avatar itself wasn’t her. It was the relatively young and naive Yendal, still at the beginning of her journey. She did not have the same foresight or insight as her divine better.

  The massive explosion of aether that he released from his dying body instantly triggered his Trait, and Aaron was sucked back to life. Without losing even a second, the same energy was used to both heal and form a haymaker that slipped her defenses and blasted into Yendal’s chest, even managing to push the goddess’ avatar backward.

  Yendal blinked. She actually looked surprised. And not like she had before. The cogs were still turning, and she was considering what to make of Aaron’s suicidal attack.

  “What was… interesting.”

  “That it?” Aaron raised a brow.

  “You impressed me, Herald.”

  Herald, now? It sounds like I’m moving up in the world.

  Obviously, Aaron had been Yendal’s herald for a while now. But this was the first time she had spoken to him in such a way.

  “So, does that mean I won?”

  Yendal bowed and fisted her palm.

  “You have proven yourself again. I cannot reward you any further than what the quest can provide, though.”

  “That’s fine,” Aaron shrugged. “I just wanted to test my Trait anyway.”

  What an absurd statement that was. The mortal just wanted to test dying. But Yendal couldn’t be surprised any longer. Her disciple was insane, and she would have to get used to that. But there were a few warnings that were needed.

  “Delving into the realm between life and death is usually a path of itself. Your method is quite unique. I can’t say I have seen somebody harness it quite the way you do. But be careful. Such things can define your path in ways you might not expect,” Yendal said.

  “Right… that’s a bad thing, I take it?”

  Yendal sighed. “You don’t look like somebody following the path of death, or life for that matter. I suppose it's not too late to change your path if you want to. But if that isn’t your intention, you should tread with care.”

  Cheating death was very much an Aaron thing. But life and death? He wasn’t a healer or necromancer type, and the path just didn’t feel right to him. He wasn’t like that, and whilst he wasn’t about to stop defying death, he didn’t see himself as some death mage. He wanted to remain on the path he was already on, or at least close to it, just without the dying part.

  Yeah, she’s right. I'd better be careful about how I work this into my style. I’ll have to think about my next Skill. Consider how I train and how I fight before unlocking it.

  At least his next Class evolution was some way away, and not something he had to immediately worry about.

  “That is all. You’ve done well.”

  With that, Yendal’s shadow dissipated, and the trial was completed.

  Stage six 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: Recipe: Majestic Gauntlets of the Cosmic Horror [ Legendary ], Dining Hall upgraded to level 6.

  Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!

  Ding!

  [ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

  27 → 28

  Aaron blinked. Legendary? Okay, that was a nice surprise. His first legendary rarity item. But a recipe? Why couldn’t it just have given him the gauntlets?

  Recipe: Majestic Gauntlets of the Cosmic Horror [ Legendary ]

  Consume recipe to learn how to craft this item.

  The level of the completed item is determined by the materials and crafter.

  Blacksmiths, leathersmiths, and adjacent Professions can use this recipe.

  Aaron would’ve much preferred to have just been given the item, but nonetheless, the gauntlets sounded pretty good… assuming he could get them made. Maybe he could find a crafter on Superearth who could make it for him? Or even in the trials?

  He also had two levels' worth of Stats to spend, and since Perception was still lagging behind, the decision on where to put them was easy.

  [ Name: Aaron Dober ]

  [ Age: 23 ]

  [ Race: Human [ Awoken ] ]

  [ Grade: E ]

  [ HP: 31000 ]

  [ MP: 16400 ]

  [ SP: 27200 ]

  [ Class: Empty-Handed Energy Monk, lvl 28 ]

  [ Profession: Ogre Gastronomist, lvl 26 ]

  [ Stats ]

  [ Strength: 231 (+98) ]

  [ Vitality: 310 (+149) ]

  [ Fortitude: 272 (+131) ]

  [ Dexterity: 203 (+98) ]

  [ Agility: 290 (+134) ]

  [ Intelligence: 108 (+47) ]

  [ Willpower: 164 (+80) ]

  [ Charisma: 81 (+36) ]

  [ Perception: 183 (+78) ]

  [ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer, Stamina Control Prodigy, Mana Control Prodigy, Vitality Control Prodigy, Holder of a True Blessing, In the Eyes of the Gods ]

  [ Traits: Fate Weaver (Alpha), Major Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund, True Blessing of Yendal the Empty-Handed, Herald of a God, Death Cheat ]

  [ Racial Skills: Inspect, Lingua Multiversa ]

  [ Profession Passive Skills (3/3): Questionable Recipes, Conductive Gut, Adipose Fusion ]

  [ Profession Active Skills (4/6): Concoct Toxic Gloop, Ogre Breath, Foul Ichor, Unsightly Degustation ]

  [ Class Passive Skills (2/3): Faux Core, Equal and Opposite ]

  [ Class Active Skills (6/6): Thick Skinned, Relentless Scourge, Gorgon’s Time Dilation, Overclocked Haymaker, Gust Step, Spectral Fist ]

  Aaron didn’t get much opportunity to enjoy looking at his Stats. A commotion was taking place in the hallway, and he spotted Mo’han and the insectoid walking toward it, with Sooty skipping behind them like a playful puppy.

  “More Tutorial takers, I hear?” Mo’han boomed.

  “Yes. That. Is. Correct. It. Is. The. First. Raiding. Party. To. Arrive. I. Heard.” The insectoid clicked as it walked.

  “Oh, hey, A-ran!” Mo’han waved. “Join us! We’re headed to see the new arrivals!”

  Just in time!

  “Coming!” Aaron raced over, eager to see if anyone else from Superearth had arrived.

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