Chapter 33: Eternal Trials. Sixth part
I felt lost for a moment, like the name resonated with me, but I couldn't understand why. Seeing me lost in thoughts, my coworker said:
"Is it that bad?"
His words woke me up and I fixed my eyes on my coworker.
"I didn't say it's bad. It's actually pretty good. It's simple and you'll instantly know you're speaking about an artificial intelligence system."
"Then, why are you crying?" he said with a puzzled expression.
"I'm what?" I asked as I lifted my hand and touched under my eye. Feeling the wetness in my palm, I became dazed again and mumbled to myself: "Why am I crying?"
"Ethan, are you all right? Maybe you should take the day off if you're not feeling good."
"I'm all right." I replied as I wiped away my tears. "I don't really know why I started crying, but I'm fine. Let's get back to work, I have a date tonight with Alison."
My coworker nodded and we both resumed working on the preparation for Ai going online. In the afternoon, after everything was triple checked, all the people who worked on the project gathered together inside a conference room. I looked at everyone in the room and said:
"This is the moment we've been waiting for since we started working on this program. This program represents a small part of each and everyone of us…" after finishing a lengthy speech prepared by Alison for me, I pressed the power button placed on the table in front of me. A couple of minutes later, a monotone voice sounded throughout the conference room.
"Initialization complete. Self-diagnosis complete. No errors found. Hello Ethan and fellow creators."
Her voice and words again made me become absentminded. Feeling all the eyes in the room on me, I forced myself out of my reverie and said.
"Good morning, Ai. Can you start going through the testing schedule we set up."
"Right away."
We kept performing test after test, even Alison joining in midway through, but I couldn't really focus on the task at hand. A strong feeling of forgetting something kept bothering me. After we were done for the day, we turned Ai off again and I made my way home with Alison inside a taxi. Alison grabbed my hand and said softly:
"Are you all right? You seemed distracted the entire conference and even now you are lost in your thoughts."
I shook my head and grasped her hand harder before replying: "I'm sorry. I don't know what going on with me either."
She rested her head on my shoulder and said: "If you don't feel like going our for dinner anymore we can just order something and stay home."
"I might get distracted from time to time, but I'm fine overall. It's been a while since we went out for dinner and I want to as well. Plus, we have to celebrate the project's success."
We went home and got changed before going out again. When we reached the restaurant it was already 9pm. After we got seated, I looked at Alison and said:
"Sorry for not tell you this enough, but you look beautiful."
She arranged her golden hair behind one of her ears as a small smile and a slight blush appeared on her face.
"Thanks. You as very handsome as well." Replied Alison shyly, "I really missed going out like this."
"Me too, but work was really hectic for the last couple of months."
We kept making small talk and laughing as we waited for food. Once the food was served, we both enjoyed a nice romantic dinner. We asked for the check and headed back home.
Once we were in out bed at home, I hugged Alison's small body with one of my arms as I kept staring at the ceiling. She started playing with her finger on my chest as she said:
"You know, Ethan, I love you."
I look down and was about to reply when the image of Alison with a face full of worry in front of a hospital appeared in my head. Before I could focus on that image, Alison's voice sounded again.
"You will never leave me, will you?"
I looked down and unknowingly started tearing up. I wiped my tears and mumbled in a low voice: "Why do I keep crying today? It's so annoying.". I used my other hand to wipe away the tears before saying: "Of course I would never leave you. What made you even thing about that?"
"I don't know. I just felt like I need to hear those words. Maybe there's something wrong with your eyes. You should go to the hospital and get that checked out."
As her words ended a similar conversation played inside my head and my memories started returning. Me dying, the Nexus, the other world, the trials, everything.
"I remember now." I replied with a sigh as I turned to look back at the ceiling.
"What do you remember? asked Alison as she looked up towards my face.
"Nothing, let's go to sleep." I looked in to her eyes and said, doing my best to not look sad.
"But, don't you want.."
"Not tonight." I interrupted her words and pulled her completely into my arms "Just let me hug you to sleep tonight. I love you, Alison."
Alison nodded and we both closed out eyes in each other's arms. As soon as I felt her falling asleep I opened mine and said softly.
"Are you here, guide?"
Everything around turned into fog and the old man from before appeared again:
"Why did you choose to break the illusion?"
"I already came to terms with everything during the last trial."
"During the last trial, you eventually had to wake up, whether you want to or not. In this one, you can stay inside the illusion forever, enjoying a life of pure happiness. Are you really going to give up on that?"
His words took me a little by surprise, but my heart was firm this time as I laughed out loud and said:
"Just wait for it old man, I'll turn this fantasy of yours into reality on my own. What need would I have for that fake happiness?! Did I pass your little trial? If so, you can send me back."
The old man nodded with a smile and said: "Congratulations on passing the seventh trial, challenger. Trial by Present. If your past is what made you who you are today, the present is a result of all your achievements and failures, choosing to give that away for a perfect version of it will nullify all the effort you put in throughout your life. Continue struggling, from a painful past, through a broken present unto a brighter future. Good luck, challenger."
As the old man's words ended, I woke up inside the real world again and mumbled: "A brighter future huh…"
[Congratulations Ethan.]
'Haha, Ai. You will be happy to know that you also had a part in my perfect present. Thank you.'
[I'm afraid I don't understand, Ethan.]
I put the pink ball that appeared in my hand this time inside my robes and said: 'Doesn't matter. Let's go and take the eighth trial.' After saying that, I stood up and walked up to the door of the eighth trial. Reaching the door, I stepped inside and surprisingly nothing happened. I looked around, confused and said in my mind:
'Ai, are you still here?'
[I am.]
"What is going on?" I asked, confused that nothing was happening. I was a little paranoid that the test has already begun and I just didn't notice, until the old man from before appeared in ethereal form and said:
"Challenger, your future is unreadable and the eighth trial has been canceled."
"Huh? That can happen?" I asked the old man with a tone full of suspicion. "You guys kept trying to trick me. How do I know this is not one of your tricks again?"
A completely dark ball appeared in mid air and floated towards me as the old man replied: "That is the truth. You have no fate to read. With no fate, your future can't be read or estimated, not even by the trial. We will consider you as having passed the trial and you can go forth towards the ninth and final trial. Good luck to you, challenger.". After his words ended, the old man disappeared and I grabbed the floating ball.
After putting it with the others, I said to Ai: 'Well, that was easier than I expected.'
[It makes sense. The trial might be able to read and simulate your past and present from your memories, but your possible future is impossible to read by any being in the multiverse.]
Nodding, I stopped worrying and continued forward through the tunnel, wishing to finish the last trial as soon as possible. After walking for a couple of minutes, I walked into a large circular room with a hand print on a stone tablet that was sitting in the middle of it. After looking around and seeing nothing else special, I put my hand on the hand print and woke up inside a huge circular room, the size of a football arena with a platform in the middle.
I carefully walked up onto the platform and looked around trying to figure out what the last trial might entail. Slowly, I could feel mana building up in the platform under my feet and a mirror image of me formed on the opposite side.
A deep voice sounded throughout the surrounding space:
"Welcome to the final trial challenger. Trial by Self. What you see in front of you is an avatar created in your image, possessing the same amount of mana, body strength and spirit. You can consider it an almost perfect version of yourself. You'll understand what I mean in a few moments. Your trial is to defeat your avatar in direct combat. You can take as many tries as you want and can even give up if you wish and you will be transported back. Your opponent will not grow stronger and the attacks he can use are limited by your current knowledge. The time here also flows differently from the outside world at a ratio of 1000 to 1. 1000 days here means one day on the outside. The trial starts now."
His words barely ended when I felt a horrible pain in my chest. Before I could figure out what happened, I appeared outside the platform and the voice of the guide sounded again:
"First try failed. To retry, please step onto the arena."
'Huh?' I touched my chest and, noticing nothing wrong, I sighed of relief and asked Ai: 'Ai, what the hell happened?'
[Your clone teleported a small fireball inside your heart and killed you instantly.]
'He did what? Is that even possible?'
[He used space magic to extend the range of his mana manipulation and formed a fireball right inside your body. It is possible.]
I read through some spacial theories with Ai, wishing to learn teleportation myself, but never actually succeeded in using it. I was a bit surprise that my clone actually did.
'So that's what he mean by an almost perfect version of myself…'
'Ai, try to analyze his attack and figure out how I can do that as well.'
[Understood.]
Hearing her answer. I stepped into the arena again and dashed towards my clone. One step later, the same thing happened and I appeared outside the arena.
"Second try, failed."
'Damn, he's too fast. How am I supposed to even defend against something like that?'
[You might not be able to use the same move yet since you don't understand space magic completely, but you should be able to lock space around yourself.]
'Lock space? How do I do that?'
[Just spread mana throughout your body. Like this, the clone should not be able to wrestle away control from you and create a fireball inside your body.]
Nodding, I did exactly how Ai said and started to circulate my mana all throughout my body. It took quite a lot of mana to do so, but once I was done I stepped inside the arena again.
Sadly, I died the same way once again.
"Third try, failed."
'Ai, I lost control of my mana as soon as entered the arena.'
[The trial must restrict any preparations made before stepping into the arena. You will have to do it after you step inside.]
'That is impossible. I takes me at least three seconds to spread mana inside my body and he kills me in less than one.'
[You will need to increase the speed at which you channel mana.]
'How do I do that?'
[Repetition.]
'All right. Let's see how fast I can do it.' I channeled my mana throughout my body as fast as possible before immediately dissipating it. After repeating this cycle for around ten times, I was completely out of mana.
'There was no progress even after using all my mana. There's no way I can do this.'
[Incorrect. Your channeling speed decreased from 3.7532 seconds to 3.7482 seconds.]
'This will take an eternity.'
[You can go and die inside the arena again. Every time you fail, your mana is reset. This will allow you to keep practicing with no consequences.]
I sighed and stepped into the arena. After dying, I noticed that indeed my mana was completely recovered.
I kept repeating the process over and over again. Thankfully, I died so quickly every time that I didn't have the time to feel that much pain.
"Eighty-sixth try, failed."
'Ai, how's the progress in my speed?'
[2.95 seconds, Ethan.]
'Damn.' I cursed as I massaged my chest around the heart area and said: 'Ai, I'm going to take a break. The pain started to leave a slight aftereffect and I can feel it constantly.'
After saying my peace, I started looking through teleportation and space theories again for a couple of hours before going to sleep. Once I woke up, I started practicing my mana channeling again.
Days, weeks and soon four months passed in this rhythm. In this morning, I woke up and asked Ai after I channeled my mana:
'How is it now?'
[0.7621 seconds. 0.0152 seconds faster than his combo speed. You should be able to do it now.]
'Finally.' I looked at my clone for a moment before charging right in again. He tried using the same trick, but this time his mana was blocked by mine. Happy that I finally managed to pull one over him, I dashed towards him only for wind blades to spawn all around me and cut my body into hundreds of pieces.
"Eleven thousand, four hundred and eighth try, failed."
Waking up outside, I threw up instantly, a terrified expression on my face. The feeling of having your body cut into hundreds of tiny pieces was horrible, a lot worse than the instant death from before.
I took a couple of minutes to calm down and said to Ai: 'Space magic is terrifying.. I never knew I could be so scary..'
[He used a similar tactic to the last one. He extended his mana control using space magic all around you but outside your range of influence and attacked you with wind blades from every angle.]
'I figured, but what can I even do against that?'
[You can try casting a barrier..]
Sighing, I came up with a decent plan and stepped inside. As I saw the wind blades forming all around, I created a bubble around my body made our of rotating wind as I charged towards him. This proved effective as it was able to repel all the wind blades.
As I finally reached close to him, his body disappeared and was replaced by a pure white fireball which exploded in my face, disintegrating my entire body.
"Eleven thousand, four hundred and ninth try, failed."
As I appeared outside the arena again, I fell to my knees, my entire body shaking and tried my best to not throw up again. The burn flesh small still lingering in my nose.
"He's a monster." I mumbled, the experience from before lingering on my mind.
[Looks like if you don't find a way to lock him in place you will keep losing before you able to even land a hit.]
'How do I do that?' I said after taking a couple more minutes to calm down, 'Do I learn space magic as well? But that would just get canceled by him as well since he also knows space magic.'
Ai stayed quiet and I eventually said:
'Could time magic work?'
[It's possible, but you might not be able to learn it. I kept running simulations on time magic using the knowledge from Earth but something seems to interfere with it.]
'Wake up Senna, she might have an idea.'
A few minutes later, Senna's crispy voice sounded in my mind:
[*Your little friend here me already showed me the situation. If you plan of using time, I would suggest you find another way. There is now way for you to use any time magic.*]
'Why?'
[*It's a long story. Just know that it will not work. You need to try something else.*]
'Do you have any idea?'
[*Learn from it. Everything your clone does, you should be able to do as well. Once you can mimic his attacks completely, you just need to go one step further and you will win. Since your clone can't grow any stronger than it already is, your victory is set in stone as long as you don't give up. It's also a good training experience.*]
'But, how many time do I have to die before that happens?'
[*You already died a few thousand times. What is a couple hundred more?'*]
'Easy for you to say.' I replied as I sat back up and walked towards the arena.
'But you are right. This is a great opportunity for me to get stronger fast.'
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