Walking around the empty space within his mind, Kellen thought about the blessing he accepted and the status system that the Goddess had implanted in him.
'That status system might have been a curse in disguise but what was the reason for those skills being restricted?'
The more Kellen thought about the restrictions, the more he began to question himself and his existence. However, he couldn't find any answers he could accept before a small ethereal figure appeared in the distance.
Squinting his eyes, Kellen walked towards the only other thing inside the dark mental space as he curiously studied the ethereal figure. The strange figure fluctuated within the dark space as it slowly drew closer to Kellen as he continued to approach it.
Once the ethereal figure got closer, Kellen recognized some familiarity in its appearance.
'Strange... It looks like a hologram or clone of Osiris.'
Eventually Kellen and the ethereal figure that looked like Osiris came face to face.
"I really hate this form! Look how flimsy and weak its body is." said the ethereal figure as it continued to wave its arms about in a weird manner causing its ghost like body to turn more transparent.
"Osiris?" asked Kellen after hearing the familiar voice of the old man.
"Yeah, unfortunately it's me kid... I figured we wouldn't have enough time because of the pressure my original body stresses on your mind. So I put an ethereal copy containing a strand of my conscience in the coin along with the blessing." said the copy of Osiris while continuing to mess around with his wispy body.
Finished playing around with his form, the copy floated over, while lying in the air in a relaxed manner, resting in front of Kellen at shoulder height.
Kellen chuckled a little at the flimsy and loopy version of the old man thinking about how ridiculous his actions looked when he moved.
"Yeah. Yeah. Laugh all you want now cause soon you won't be able to even spare the energy to do so!" said Osiris in an irritated manner at having his copy being laughed at.
Kellen tried recomposing himself before turning serious to listen to the old man's copy.
"Did you get that all out of your system? Good, now we can move onto the real fun!"
Snapping his fingers, the previously dark space brightened as white glowing lines forming a square grid spread out across the floor.
"I guess this could be the equivalent of what you call a simulation back in your old world." said Osiris casually as he drifted away from Kellen a grid square away from him.
Once he reached the next square over, Osiris snapped his fingers again and a towering pixel like cliff emerged from the grid.
Looking at the smirking face of the old man, Kellen got a sinking feeling in his heart.
"You are still far to weak to be considered my inheritor so we will be doing some "training" to fix your scrawny ass appearance. For starters let's have you scale this cliff. Don't be afraid of falling! Your still stuck in your mind so you won't be injured terribly but it'll still hurt like hell!" said Osiris as it was now his turn to laugh.
Kellen felt bipolar after going from spirited laughter to heart wrenching tears seeing the mountain of a task that was now before him.
He was agitated at seeing Osiris laughing at his misfortune but deep down he knew this was something he had to do if we wanted to uphold the promise he made to himself.
'Annoying old man... Just watch I'll complete this task and then we'll see who's laughing after I kick your ethereal ass!'
Walking through Osiris's ethereal figure, Kellen walked over to the foot of the cliff and gazed up to its peak. From where he stood the top of the cliff was nowhere in sight. Sighing, Kellen began his ascent up the mountainous cliff using his arms to find handholds to boost himself up and his feet to find places he could have a sturdy foothold.
Due to his scrawny build and undeveloped muscles, he found it quite difficult as he continued pushing forward.
'I can't fall or all the ground I've covered up to this point would be useless.'
He repeatedly told himself this phrase as he continued to climb the cliff one hand and foot at a time. Any time it felt like he would fall from overexertion Kellen would stop and take a breather. However, he still had to use some of his strength to stick to the side of the cliff.
'Luckily, I'm just climbing straight up or else just holding myself here would be exhausting.'
This cycle of actions repeated themselves continuously and he began losing track of the time he had spent just reaching his next level of elevation. It felt like days had begun to pass, and then months, until finally years.
Still, he never was able to see the peak of the cliff as he continued his ascent. There were many times he began to question his reason for even being here. Multiple times it felt like he was trapped inside an elusive reality that never fully would form itself as he had long ago lost sight of the bottom where he started.
However, a single image that replayed over and over in his mind helped him prevail and continue to climb.
'I will have my revenge on that damn Goddess! If I can't climb one stupid cliff then how could I face a deity!'
With this train of thought he would be brought back to his current task and reach above for another handhold.
Kellen was soaked from head to toe in sweat which had made the climb increasingly more difficult since his handholds would become slippery upon his touch. His joints and the bones in his fingers felt like they were constantly shattering at this point with every next handhold he grasped as he hoisted himself upwards.
He was finally at the point where he could no longer feel his body as it went numb from the constant wear and tear from the climbing but he still forced himself to push onwards. Feeling as if his hands were only attached to his shoulders by a thin string of tendon now, he began losing his sight from the intense amount of exhaustion his body was enduring.
After it felt like another couple miles were scaled up the side of the cliff, Kellen suddenly felt air when he reached for another handhold. He knew he had finally reached the top. He thought he could feel tears running down the sides of his cheeks but it was only his imagination since his body could no longer secrete any more fluids.
"Oh! You finally got here. I've been waiting for ages for ya kid! Although I do have to say I'm impressed. I thought you would have fallen a couple times. Your pretty gutsy ya know that!" said a cheery voice that seemed to be hovering above his face as Kellen gasped for breath while laying face up on the ground.
After a long time slowly passed with the constant annoying voice echoing above him, ranting the entire time, Kellen's vision gradually returned to him along with his voice.
"Just shut up already old man." said Kellen with a dry voice.
"Well that's pretty rude! I was all alone up here with no one to talk to for ages since you took so long, Humph!"
Kellen rolled his eyes at the weird behavior of this so called god and slowly stood up stretching his body. Since he was physically incapable of moving even an inch he hadn't been able to look around yet but what he found shocked him.
"What! I'm back at the damn bottom!" said Kellen with disbelief.
How long and grueling had it been for him to scale that never-ending mountain of a cliff face, but when he thought he reached the top he was greeted by the same cliff!
"What's going on here Osiris!" said Kellen angrily while gritting his teeth.
"Wow, someone seems to have crawled out the wrong side of the bed! And here I've been helping you this entire time." said Osiris, still annoyed with how this kid had treated him.
"I just climbed this cliff! Why am I back at the bottom instead of the top?"
Osiris crossed his arms as he floated around the angry kid upside down with his head cocked to the side.
"Well, yes, you did indeed climb the cliff to its peak. Here, look behind you." said Osiris as he pointed his arm from his upside down position behind the kid.
Kellen gazed at the floor, or "through" the floor, and saw a mirror image of the mountain behind him underneath the square grid flooring. The mirror cliff face continued for what looked like an eternity down with no end in sight.
"Why is there a replica of the cliff underneath the floor?" said Kellen in shock.
Osiris laughed and and twisted his arms and body, pointing wildly in all directions, as he spoke.
"This is the space within your mind remember? Anything is possible and everything is relevant. Space? Time? These things have no limit nor boundary here! You could say that this is the universe's perfect training area!" said Osiris as he laughed madly spinning in a plethora of directions.
Looking carefully around him, Kellen notice the distant walls of this space were identical to the floor he stood on and had cliffs rising from them as well.
"This is madness! How can this help me? This is not a training area but a spatial hell!" screamed Kellen while clutching his head.
Osiris's laughter died out and was replaced by a serious voice.
"Useless? No help? Hell! Well, I guess that is actually a fair description, but that's besides the point. Let me ask you this... How long do you think it took you to climb that cliff?"
Kellen scratched his head before replying.
"I don't know. A couple years maybe?" he said.
"Wrong! It took you four hundred!" boomed Osiris.
"What! Then how am I still alive?" asked Kellen in dismay.
"Remember what I just said. Time and space is irrelevant here. Meaning your growth is also considered limitless!"
Kellen felt like someone had dropped a toaster off a skyscraper onto his head.
'I don't completely understand what this old man is going on about but limitless growth seems beneficial for me.'
Kellen was unable to make much sense from Osiris's explanation before he was pushed from behind towards the cliff in front of him.
"Your too stupid to understand these things right now and I don't feel like wasting anymore of my time explaining. Just go climb that cliff!" said Osiris with a frustrated voice as he continued to push Kellen towards the next or same cliff technically.
"Won't this take me another four hundred years!" yelled Kellen as he was forcefully pushed onto the cliff.
"Hm, we'll just see about that won't we!" chuckled Osiris.
Having no other options presentable to him as he stared in every direction only seeing the same cliff again, Kellen accepted his task begrudgingly.
However, as he began climbing, he noticed the cliff was no longer as difficult to scale when compared to before.
'Huh?'
Seeing that he wasn't even tired after the first mile up, Kellen decided to push on without rest this time until he would be forced to take a break. But after time began passing he had only stopped for one break at what felt like the halfway point.
'What the hell is going on?'
Continuing his ascent after that little break, he proceeded on until he finally reached the top with clear vision and minimal exhaustion.
Looking around, he found himself at the bottom of the cliff again with Osiris smilingly waiting for him.
"Welcome back, it's been awhile. I'd say around roughly one hundred and fifty years!"
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This chapter took a little longer than expected due to its length. I really liked this chapter since it feels like these two characters' personalities are really starting to develop more. This has been really tiring to write since I just found out I'm unable to drink coffee for awhile due to some stomach issues :'( My staple and holy grail has been taken from me unfortunately... But I will still maintain the two chapters release per day goal! Lemme know what you guys think so far of these characters and the story. I'd appreciate the support if you like the story so make sure to vote. As always, much love guys!