"Alright," Alaric had appeared along with Mr. Harmon and Master Nguyen, "we've setup a formation that'll test each of your skills. Go into a private training room and activate the test formation to get started!" They herded us down the corridor and into the test rooms.
There were only 20 rooms, but my group of friends was lucky enough to be at the front of the line so we got to go first. Entering the room I said, "Activate Test Formation."
*Ding*
*Mandatory Mission Acquired*
*Score at least 80 points in the test*
*Rewards: A week off*
The room blurred, and I appeared in a dojo with a training dummy. Mr. Harmon appeared saying, "This is a test of how well you can take a hit. This dummy is a mechanical construct that will gradually increase it's strength until you can no longer hold on. You can use any method to withstand his strikes, but I'd suggest you avoid using your barriers." Then, he faded away as the dummy stood up.
*Ding*
*Mandatory Mission Acquired*
*Last until level 30 without using any barriers*
*Rewards: Graduate from Mr. Harmons "how to take a hit" class*
"YES!" I screamed in happiness, getting ready to put my life on the line to get out of that damned class.
Putting up it's fists, the dummy punched with the speed and strength of a professional boxer. I used my hands to deflect the blow while moving my body to the side and avoiding the attack completely. A mechanical voice said, "Level 1 Cleared..."
It wasn't even difficult for me until I got to level 18, that's when the pattern of attack changed. Instead of just standing there and punching at me, it started to move around. With every increase in difficulty it's speed and strength increased until at level 24 it punched out and I couldn't fully block the attack in time. Taking an uppercut to the gut, I grunted as my diaphragm spasmed in pain.
"Level 24 Cleared." The mechanical voice rang, and before I could fully recover it charged at me so fast that I knew I couldn't dodge. Remembering the numerous training sessions with Mr. Harmon I ducked my head and kept my eyes open. I just barely caught sight of a roundhouse kick flying from it's metal legs towards my head. Knowing that even if I blocked the kick it'd ring my bell, I dropped the floor as quickly as I could and rolled out of the way, avoiding the second attack as the dummy slammed his foot into the ground. Standing back up, I just managed to get arms up in time to use my forearm to somewhat block a punch heading for my sternum.
*Crack* I was pushed back a few feet with at least 2 cracked ribs.
"Level 25 Cleared." The robot's eyes turned red as it glared at me. It blurred, punching so fast that I couldn't even see it. *BANG* My right cheekbone broke as I flew across the room, bouncing off the floor twice. Despite the pain, I rolled to my feet as fast as I could. Mr. Harmon had beat it into us over and over again, staying down meant staying dead.
"Level 26 Cleared." This time, I felt the air move as it kicked me in the stomach. I doubled over and had to forcibly keep myself from throwing up, but I somehow managed to stay on my feet.
"Level 27 Cleared." A fist slammed into the left side of my chest, more ribs breaking. I coughed out blood as I barely stayed up.
"Level 28 Cleared." A blade appeared in the dummies hand as it rushed at me, my body reacted on auto pilot, shifting to the left I raised my left arm up. With a hacking sound, the blade chopped my left forearm to the bone, but couldn't cut through it because I'd reached the peak of the 2nd level of body refining.
"Level 29 Cleared." This time, it stabbed forwards trying to take out my heart, but I was ready for it. Over the last week, I hadn't had much time to spend in MSE, but I had managed to get a low-level Spiritual Staff. Timing it, I made the staff appear in my right hand as I held it in front of my heart. It was terrible form, but my left arm was incapacitated. The blade impaled my hand, slamming into the spiritual weapon and rebounding, ripping my hand nearly in half.
"Level 30 Cleared." The robot said, then it's eyes dimmed and the room went silent. A white light flowed from the formation, bathing all of my injuries in a gentle touch. Within a minute, I was perfectly healthy again as if nothing had happened.
"Good! I didn't think you'd make it Hughes, there's no reason for you to keep taking my class!" Mr. Harmon's voice came from the formation as he and Master Nguyen shimmered into view.
"Mr. Hughes," Master Nguyen looked at me, "the next part of the test is to measure your ability with your chosen weapon. As you are a mindscape cultivator you may choose to pass on this test."
*Ding*
*Mission Acquired*
*Win against a level 30 dummy while using only staff techniques*
*Rewards: Intermediate level staff technique of your choice*
*Accept . Decline*
Without a second thought I accepted the mission, after fighting with the abomination I'd talked to my parents and Grandpa about my lack of a weapon. They agreed that I should focus on my mindscape abilities, but that being able to protect myself when I ran out of energy was important.
That's why I'd spent most of the last week acquiring materials in the Forest of Death to turn into a Spiritual Weapon. I couldn't build my own weapon yet, but as a true disciple it was nothing for me to get an Outer Elder to help me out.
Making sure I had completely recovered, I took a stance and readied myself.
"Begin." Master Nguyen's voice rang out.
The dummy blurred into motion, chopping his blade down at me with incredible force. After passing the last test I felt stronger, it was a feeling that all of us had gotten used too. As Alaric had said on the first day, the secret to increasing your foundation and speeding up body refining is to fight, fight, fight, and fight some more. The last test had pushed me beyond my limits, and now I felt I could deal with this one.
After spending the last week getting cut apart by Master Nguyen over and over again, my body reacted instinctively, blocking the dummy's strike and stepping into his body. My staff rotated in my hands, and I stuck one end of it between it's legs as it tried to back off from me and regain it's distance.
*CLANG*
The metallic dummy fell to it's back. I hadn't realized this earlier but, despite the dummy's incredible strength and speed, it had terrible agility. It didn't even manage to climb back to it's feet as I slammed one end of my staff into it's face. Once, twice, it blocked the third attack but I used his blade as leverage to bring the other end of my staff down into it's crotch.
By the time it got to it's feet, it's face was deformed, and the blow to it's crotch must've damaged something because it couldn't move nearly as quickly after that. A few minutes later, I stood calmly as electricity sparked and the dummy came to a halt.
Master Nguyen could be heard talking to Alaric, "That dummy was worthless, tell them to make sure they can stand up quickly. Such an obvious weakness is just stupid."
Alaric snorted, "I'll bet that only 15 of them manage to beat the dummy, even with such a stupid design! It's plenty strong enough to deal with these wimps."
*Ding*
*Mission Completed: Enter learning space to choose intermediate level staff technique*
The formation cleared and I was bathed in white light again, this time Carlos appeared. "You already passed the third test with full marks. It's basically a paired down version of what we tested you on in the Trial of the Storm so there's no need to waste your time with it.
*Ding*
*Test Completed with 90 points, full marks*
*Rewards: Bragging rights, a week off*
Exiting the testing room, I wasn't surprised to see that I was the first one done given that I'd skipped the third test. So, I decided to take advantage of the time to try and break through to the third level of body refining. After recovering from the first test, I'd felt something in me shift. I knew I could do it this time.
Finding a private shower, I stripped before closing my eyes and focusing inwards. Pulling Air Elemental Energy from the environment around me, I focused on sharpening it, turning it into miniature blades. It worked, the blades slammed through my skin, cutting through the muscles and organs before finally shaving off the impurities of the bones. I'd guessed that this part might be painful, but I'd had no idea just HOW painful it'd be. Coughing up pieces of your organs that had been removed because they were full of impurities... NOT FUN!
After the blades ceased, and I'd stopped coughing up black blood and organ pieces, I gathered as much Water Elemental Energy as I could and washed my body with it. The damaged organs, muscle, bones, and skin drank the Water Energy in, and I watched in amazement as my lungs repaired themselves in front of my inner eyes. As the water energy repaired my body, the yellowish-black gunk oozed out of more pores yet again. At least this time, there wasn't nearly as much of it.
I'd finally broken through to the third level of body refining. Unfortunately, I'd have to repeat this process over and over again, until the blades didn't manage to do any harm to my body, before I could attempt to break through to the fourth level.