"It still took that long!" said Kellen out of breath.
Osiris only laughed as he spun around in the air causing his copy's body to fluctuate.
"Don't be discouraged kid. It was already impressive you finished in around four hundred years the first time. I was betting it would've been well over five hundred, not to mention you cut your previous time down more than a half!" said the wispy copy as it hovered about.
Osiris continued to laugh as he whirled around the kid before continuing.
"Looks like we might finish a little ahead of schedule at this rate!"
Kellen still didn't know what other plans the old man had in store for him and could only shake his head with a small smile. If he was still himself from his time back at the secret laboratory he could never had imagined his predicament now or even consider climbing more than couple feet up the cliff, let alone miles.
He thought that he could just understand a little for the reason Osiris had him doing this seemingly useless task.
Finally finished laughing to himself about the potential this kid possessed, Osiris pushed him forward again.
"Continue! Keep on climbing until it only takes you a year. Then the real training can begin!" said Osiris heartily as he goaded the kid onwards.
If he hadn't witnessed the difference between his first and second times Kellen would believe that the old man's demands were impossible! But after seeing his growth from just the two times he had scaled the cliff, Kellen knew he was making a difference.
Four hundred years passed with cliff after cliff being scaled. Kellen couldn't remember the amount of times he had climbed this same cliff but it had definitely become easier with every peak he reached.
Reaching for the last handhold of the current cliff, he easily hoisted himself up onto the ground with one hand. For the last couple of climbs he noticed that he was able to climb faster with only using his hands to continue pulling himself up and did not need any breaks in between, which made his feet useless.
Seeing the usual annoying face of the old man's ethereal copy floating towards him Kellen smirked as he waved his hands quickly back and forth in front of him.
"Hey! Stop that!" wailed Osiris angrily.
After being harassed by the annoying copy after every climb, Kellen discovered the flimsy copy's body couldn't handle certain things such as this. The characteristics of the ethereal form of the old man was really intriguing since things such as space or gravity didn't seem to apply to it, but Kellen discovered air or pressure from an external source could make it waver.
'This ethereal form thing is really something else.'
"Ok! Ok! I won't do anything annoying this time!" said the flustered copy.
Kellen decided to stop his pestering actions after seeing the old man wouldn't be playing any of his usual annoying antics on him and halted his flashing hand movements.
"You really are no fun, ya know that kid..." said the copy dejectedly as his blurry body began to reform again.
"Says the nuisance who likes to take my clothes while I'm resting to try them on himself!" said Kellen with irritation.
"Oh come on! You know I can't do anything fun while I'm in this form. I can't even change my appearance like I always do... tch!" complained the copy as it crossed it's arms and pouted like a scolded child.
"Is this really how a mighty god is supposed to act?" ridiculed Kellen in faked disbelief.
"Whatever! Let's see you not grow bored after having nothing exciting to do besides watch your creations have all the fun!"
Kellen ignored the complaints of his annoying benefactor and looked towards the pixelated cliff in front of him.
"What was my time?"
Osiris stopped his ranting as a serious smile replaced his child like tantrum.
"Eleven months. Looks like it's time to readjust some things" said Osiris as he chuckled menacingly.
"What do you mean? I thought you were gonna show me how to use the blessing!" said Kellen in frustration.
"Ha, you think after just climbing that little cliff your body or mind would be able to withstand it's powerful effects. Get real kid! This hell, as you like to call it, is just beginning!" said Osiris laughing at the kid's ignorance.
The laughing copy of Osiris snapped is fingers, but after a few seconds Kellen still didn't see any changes in his surroundings.
"Wow, that's it old man?" said Kellen as he snorted.
"Just wait for it to set in..." said the copy as it continued to laugh.
Kellen looked at the copy still confused but then noticed something strange. For a split second he could have sworn that the copy fluctuated a little and became more corporeal before a heavy weight was slammed down on Kellen's shoulders.
Kneeling down with one knee on the ground to support himself, Kellen gritted his teeth as he stared at the old man.
"What did you do you sly bastard" said Kellen as it felt like with every word his throat was being punched.
"Oh, that little thing? I only increased the gravity by about three times!" chuckled the copy evilly.
"Let's see you climb the cliff so easily now! You said it was easy just awhile ago right?"
Kellen felt like his entire body was three times heavier as he tried standing back upright. Once he was steady on his feet again, he began slowly walking over to the cliff face. With every step it felt like a mountain was being pushed down onto his shoulders.
'This is insane! I can barely walk right now not to mention climbing!'
He gritted his teeth as he reached for his first handhold on the cliff. Just raising his hand to grip the side of the cliff face was extremely difficult!
With every few feet he climbed it felt like he had ran a marathon on his hands and forced him to stop and take a breather, but even breathing was painful. As Kellen inhaled, it seemed like the air had become three times heavier inside his lungs and made his head spin.
'I swear this old man is more sadistic than that wretched Goddess!'
Kellen cursed Osiris all the way through his first mile while taking a couple breaks in between climbing. If his first time climbing the cliff was in hard difficulty then this could be considered a nightmare.
At the end of his second mile he was drenched in sweat and breathing haggardly.
'This might be my limit..' thought Kellen as his vision began to turn blurry like before.
After progressing so quickly before, he had began to create a winning complex and had begun to think climbing the cliff was simply easy.
However, after this increase of gravity, Kellen knew he was severely incorrect.
'No I can't give up now! That bastard will just get another laugh out of this!'
Even though it was extremely painful, Kellen would rather suffer the climb than be ridiculed by that lousy god again for being weak.
Pushing himself upwards, he continued to climb, even if it was at a slower rate, and took a breather when it felt like he would fall if he continued. Just like his first climb, this cycle of rest and ascent repeated itself until his body went completely numb from exhaustion.
However, unlike before he was still far from the top and had only reached a little more than halfway up the cliff.
Although his body was numb he continued his climb as his body slowly began breaking down. After another mile his body began to cave in and the pain that had numbed his body resurfaced at a greater extent.
Kellen quickly stopped climbing and tried to rest his body, but just holding onto the side of the cliff under the intense pressure of the three times gravity continued to break his body. Blood vessels began imploding within his body and dark bruises could be seen all over his skin from where they broke.
He gritted his teeth at the immense pain of his body being destroyed from under his skin.
'I don't think I can hold on for much longer!'
Kellen felt his arms starting to give out as he desperately tried to hold on to the cliff face.
'No! No! I can't fail! I'm so close... Just a little further!'
And with that thought, the remaining blood vessels in his arms burst, unable to withstand the pressure and exhaustion any longer.
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Another chapter finished! Like I've been doing so far, another chapter will be released later. It's been a pretty crazy day since some work is being done on my family's house at the moment. Unfortunately we couldn't get the heating system in because of all the ice outside preventing the trucks and machinery from getting here. Sadly that's one of the downsides from living up on top a hill/mountain. Kind of ironic considering the mountain like cliff our mc is currently stuck climbing.
Anyways, I appreciate any support you guys give me and hope you're enjoying the story. This chapter was a little shorter than usual so lemme know what you think and leave a comment if you see any mistakes. (It helps me out since I sometimes don't catch everything when editing) As always much love guys :)