In an unfamiliar cavern, only the occasional sound of water droplets falling to the stone floor could be heard. A thick veil of darkness covered the whole area, the stalactites and stalagmites had scattered like teeth hidden under their dark cloak.
A clear sound similar to that produced by the glass goblets stood out in the whole place, with it an invisible wave that seemed to propagate through the very fabric of space and time momentarily deformed the cavern where it went through.
At its epicenter absolute darkness seemingly filled it, although it would be more appropriate to call it nothingness, this was a space-time gap barely two meters high, one meter wide and one meter "deep".
A figure was ejected from the gap as if spawning from nothingness itself. Within moments of this, the gap began to shrink until it disappeared by the constant reformation of the space-time fabric, the invisible wave created by the tearing it caused slowly fading in its path....
Two striking red circles stood out from the foreign figure to this plane, his white skin and hair reflecting the meager light that kept this place from becoming total darkness.
The cycle of darkness and silence that had been created in the cavern by time was interrupted once again, this time by a stranger. The ancestral rocks of the ancient place were destroyed beneath his fingers.
The stranger, pathetically lying on the ground, clenched his fists. He pulverized the rock he was holding, his hands trembled before the pressure along with his whole body, his mouth opened slightly instinctively, revealing his teeth clenched against themselves.
In his eyes and face different emotions could be noticed. A great rage and hatred, as well as frustration, along with immediate disappointment.
After a few seconds, the stranger screamed heartbreakingly, a scream of pain, frustration and helplessness, not out of anger. He had no worries about damage to his throat or vocal cords.
During the scream some tears gathered at the edge of his eyes, just as they spilled down his cheeks a blow echoed through the cave, creating a sizable hole and releasing rock fragments.
The stranger wasn't like this because of his earlier failure, but because of the significance this one had for him, the fact that he had put his life at absolute risk, even though there was no real way for him to know about it.
Even though it might seem like a small thing to many, to him the significance of it was one of the worst things, to have exposed all the work of years and wasted the potential to achieve his goals, to have let himself get carried away with the situation, even though he had no way to have changed it when the moment came, the helplessness overcame him.
The S-cells he thought he had great control of at this point burned incessantly, worsening his situation even further.
Despite having the ability to calm down at this very moment, he decided not to do so. He stayed in his pain and self-deception, trying to vent and see how he could stop making so many mistakes, after all, almost every time he was on the brink of death it was because of them — he managed to make fewer and fewer mistakes, but even now he couldn't use any plan to somehow fix his mistake, something he had always managed to do before.
Meanwhile, close to his mental plane, another white-haired figure was standing, lost in his thoughts, just like Baël the situation had touched a weak point in him. He thought he was extremely cautious and paranoid, that he could protect himself without a problem in the world, however even he had not been able to notice that dagger before it appeared out of the void itself.
Killiath's performance had even come to convince him that he had no hidden ace.
They both focused on themselves for an unknown amount of time for them....
Finally, in a few tens of hours Baël was up, he was calmer than before, but to say he wasn't still upset would be lying....
(POV Baël)
I started walking on the only path that was available in this strange cave, surprisingly that dagger didn't kill me directly.... But whatever lurks around here surely can.
~I swear I'll kill him~
My body felt heavy, but it definitely wasn't because of the gravity... I know fully well it's because of my mental state, it's not my first time feeling like this after all...
~Crack all of his bones~
~Break his very soul~
The sound of my steps extended while I tried to focus on my surroundings. I haven't been able to find anything yet, and these small puddles didn't go further than my ankles... Is this place artificial?
~YOU MUST KILL HIM~
As I moved away from the place I appeared in, the stalactites and stalagmites got bigger, I even managed to see some columns.
Is the path too long? The place I stood at was a few meters high, I'm not sure if it will be?
~END HIS EXISTENCE~
~TEAR HIS EVERY MUSCLE~
After what was probably a minute, the path came to an end, it had narrowed to no more than 3 meters wide even though it used to be about 15 meters.
A puddle lied the end of the path.
I grabbed a rock from a wall and threw it into the water, it sank smoothly, no strange reaction occurred, besides, I couldn't sense any Ki inside the water, although there were some creatures capable of hiding their Ki, it shouldn't be a problem to detect it with my level of [Ki Detection], I even have its divine variant.... Although...
~KILL HIM, KILL HIM~
~MAKE HIM SUFFER~
~SNATCH HIS ARMS~
~RIP OPEN HIS CHEST~
Ugh... God-damned intrusive thoughts....
In conclusion... Everything pointed to that liquid being nothing more than plain water, it wasn't acid or any kind trap, nor did there appear to be any form of life.
There was always the possibility of escaping from here by breaking everything, but... I don't have the physical strength for it, I don't even know where I am, if I make the cave collapse I will die crushed without a doubt, especially knowing that in this universe there are much denser materials. I can destroy a planet like the Earth was in my previous life, but if it's too dense....
Even if I could break this planet, the trick to do it is to explode it from the inside and collapse it, I can't manage to destroy everything above me with techniques, I would run out of Ki and die under the weight of the remaining materials. As for destroying a planet or part of it with blows? I wouldn't dream of it... I still have a long way to go to achieve anything remotely similar.
Well... I guess there's no other way, if I get attacked by something I can always try to do a controlled collapse with my [Ki Bomb], for one there's not as much risk....
Too bad my armor isn't here.... The device Killiath used seems to only be usable on organic matter.... I don't even have my Frieza's army suit...
I cautiously approached the water, extended my left index finger and readied my [Scarlet Death] in my right hand, the Ki sword would be ready to cut the finger or even my hand if something tries to grab it.
My finger got closer and closer, when it finally touched the water an icy feeling assaulted me.... This was closer to ice than to water...
Ugh... It looks like there's no other way, I won't feel the pain, but I still feel the cold.... Besides... With my Saiyan body strengthened by Ki, thanks to meditation, I'll be able to make it through... But how cold even is this?! And yet it still hasn't frozen.... Definitely not regular water...
It was strange, it didn't give off any steam like this kind of liquids used to do nor was there a violent reaction upon contact with something with such a different temperature....
Without waiting any longer I submerged my body in the liquid.
Damn... This is freezing...
Looking around cautiously I saw nothing strange, just a continuation of the path as a tunnel, it went straight with a downward slope, I took my head out to take a breath of air and began to swim immediately.
A few tens of meters further on the tunnel started to go mainly downwards, I could do nothing but continue swimming, however.... I could feel the liquid getting colder and colder....
~It's all his fault...~
~Kill him~
[Due to constant exposure to low temperatures the Host has obtained the passive skill (Cold Resistance), congratulations]
[Cold Resistance Lvl. 1]
[The skill reduces the damage received from low temperatures, ice elemental damage and the like by 1%, also the Host's endurance to low temperatures is increased]
Not bad, I had to be at this temperature to get the skill.... Doesn't even surprise me anymore...
I kept swimming, although I was mainly using flight at a few kilometers per second, the water meanwhile was decreasing its temperature even more, the feeling was fucking horrible...
Without much thought I activated [Physical Buff], after all I still hadn't figured out how long this fucking tunnel was....
[Due to the Host's constant exposure to cold temperatures the passive skill (Cold Resistance) has been raised to level 2].
I mentally nodded as I continued on my way, however within seconds another system message reached my ears.
[The temperatures in this place are extremely low! Host Hp has begun to drop, I recommend you leave the area immediately]
... You think I'm not trying? Besides... I could tell before you said it.
How low is the temperature in here!?
Ugh... I've experienced this situation before.... Only this time it's cold liquid instead of magma.... Is the universe running out of ideas?
~HIS FAULT~
I tried to calm myself down by making jokes, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. The temperature was too low, I could feel how some parts of my body were starting to freeze.... I know my body is different from a normal one but.... Freezing someone will make all their cells die, it probably counts as true damage or some sort of immediate death.
I added as much Ki as I could in [Physical Buff], after all there was no use reserving it if I was going to die.
About 1 minute had passed, normally I wouldn't hold my breath much longer than that, but my body buff allowed me to hold it a little longer.
My health was starting to drop at a rather worrying rate, luckily the cold resistance skill was rising quickly, the bottlenecks of the resistance skills were breaking exposing you to what protects you, so I just had to keep an eye on putting in the experience needed to break the bottleneck when it required it.
As I began to worry a voice rang in my head.
Zak: "Use [Ki Domain]!"
Ki Domain?
Despite my doubts I simply used it as Zak said.
After a moment I understood what he wanted me to do.
Ki was nothing but energy, even though, normally, people usually prevent energy from going elsewhere by heat or similar ways, the opposite could also be done.
A large amount of Ki started to come out of my body, very different from the quiet and imperceptible Ki I used to emit when I activated this ability, however the Ki quickly faded into the liquid before being replaced by more Ki coming out of me.
Just as I said before, the liquid did not produce a violent reaction from the change in temperature, I didn't get to understand the reason, but for now I'll just play knowing that this is the case.
After that the path became a walk in the park compared to what it was before, I only had to worry about holding my breath and my Ki, which was getting exhausted.
When I was 4 minutes in that place, it finally happened..... I had run out of oxygen.
[The Host has run out of oxygen, the Host's Hp will start to decrease].
Baël: "Zak!"
Zak: "In 14 minutes! Because of the true damage! However, with the cold you will last less!"
I see...
I continued without slowing down in the slightest, I felt myself starting to get dizzy, but the Ki was flowing continuously temporarily improving my body and warming the liquid around me.
In two more minutes [Cold Resistance] finally rose to its maximum level, 50, that eased the burden on me quite a bit.
But... That didn't last long, two minutes later the cold around me had increased drastically, an alternate state appeared, I didn't have the time to read it carefully, but it was about freezing.... It made me... It made me move slower...
I put more Ki in [Ki Domain] without hesitation, but after a minute it came back to not being enough...
How much is left?! Come on, damn it! COME ON!
~GET OUT OF HERE!~
~I CAN'T KILL HIM IF I DON'T!~
Baël: "Zak! Did you see any more helpful methods?!"
Zak: "You think I wouldn't have told you already, dumbass?!"
I could only watch my Hp drop as I kept trying to go as fast as I could.
The frozen state increased, suddenly my speed dropped greatly, I quickly looked to see that it had been reduced by 50%, I could even feel my thinking speed start to slow down due to the lack of oxygen.
During all of this only 2 more minutes passed.... Still, I couldn't see anything remotely similar at the end of this tunnel....
Thirty seconds later, my speed has been reduced by 75% due to the increased freezing, the horrifying sensation of the terrible cold did not alleviate it, neither did feeling different parts of my body frozen.
Ten seconds later, my health had already reached dangerous levels. I was starting to drop below 25%.
All of this only got worse and worse.
My body seemed numb from lack of oxygen, I was having a hard time processing what my eyes were seeing, I hate this feeling...
Suddenly, a great light blinded me, I could no longer see the road in front of me.
An incredible pressure appeared in my whole body, as if I had hit a train with the body of my other life.
But that didn't matter, because.... I no longer felt submerged in liquid.
My eyes adjusted to seeing myself lying on a floor apparently made of rock, I breathed air immediately feeling the dizziness start to go away.
Some altered states caused by the lack of oxygen went away after a few puffs.
If I could have traumas... I'm sure I would have claustrophobia from these two experiences....
I deactivated [Physical Buff] and [Ki Domain] and looked around.
It was a cavern similar to the one I saw when I appeared here, however here there is much more illumination.... And evidently this isn't regular stone if it can stop me with 25% of my full speed without even cracking.
I sighed in relief, however a movement alerted me.
Who's there? Shit, I couldn't even feel anything!
From behind a large column a dark figure appeared, walking slowly, for every step he took the darkness filled the formerly luminous cavern.
I braced my body by immediately getting up, I looked at the figure cautiously, whatever is in here.... It can't be good.
When I looked at him, despite being hidden by the darkness that followed him... No, it was not like that, it seemed as if the darkness was part of his body.... It was a humanoid figure, specifically it looked like an old man, about.... 1'40 meters probably, unkempt black hair, his body was covered by some kind of extremely dark fabric, it looked like part of the darkness.... Maybe it was...
His eyes were also extremely dark.... I felt as if I was staring into the abyss.... I guess the abyss stared back at me, technically....
When he was 10 meters away from me, he stopped, and with him the darkness stopped advancing right in front of him.
¿?:"Welcome, chosen one"
Baël: "Chosen one? Who are you?"
I asked, almost commanding, seriously.
¿?:"This decrepit old man? There's not much to say about my actuality, but if you're looking for a name.... Hm... In a language you can understand... Ugh, just call me whatever you prefer."
The old man shook his head with a sigh.
¿?:"At least as long as you don't want to pronounce pointless words for the next five minutes..."
Baël: "Why did you call me "chosen one"? Answer me"
¿?:"Wow, I thought it was something obvious... Just by looking at you, I can tell that you are the chosen one of a divinity, plus, technically the user of the Dagger of Xarucothar has also chosen you to use it on you."
Killiath... SHIT!
Baël: "I haven't come across any gods or the like."
¿?:"Oh... Can it be one of those who prefer not to show themselves? Yes..."
The old man sighed.
¿?: "Those weirdos liked to do it that way, I guess you're one of the chosen ones of those weirdos, interesting enough..... I wonder which one of them chose you."
So he knows that I'm a reincarnated?
Baël:"... What are these divinities you speak of?"
The old man was silent as he touched his black beard and looked me straight in the eyes.
¿?: "It's not something I can tell you, boy, but I guess it's okay to tell you that you are facing a minor divinity? At least a part of it."
Baël: "A part?"
¿?: "Divinities are extremely difficult to kill, even a minor one, a small fraction of my original self was stolen by another divinity, and locked me in the Dagger of Xarucothar."
A single fraction is capable of creating such a powerful, self-aware being...? These beings... Are... Too much...
Wait... That means that...
Baël: "So... The dagger user is a chosen one...?"
¿?: "That's right... Although I have to say that this young man is very lucky, he managed to please the divinity enough to save himself... Let's just say that many previous... They died in an attempted initiation test of that god using the dagger."
Baël: "I see... So this dagger is a challenge."
The old man nodded with a slight smile.
¿?:"The divinity didn't feel like losing such a good chosen one, so he decided not to, he quickly became his favorite and gave him the dagger, let's say it's a... Entertainment for the divinities, but well, I can't tell you anymore about it, boy!"
Entertainment... Heh... Someday I will rise up even before those divinities, no one, not even the person who brought me here and gave me this system is going to do whatever he wants to me.
That aside... That Killiath, it turns out he's a reincarnated like me.... That... Explains a lot... Does that mean there might be more?
¿?:"Well, rest young man, because there is still a way ahead of you, this place suits your power, only your skills, intelligence, courage and willpower can let you get out of this place."
I see...
I sat in a secluded place away from the old man, even though he revealed so much information to me, I couldn't fully confirm if everything he said was true, and what I really cared about was if he was going to attack me when I was unprepared.
Without further ado, I rested while I mentally prepared myself for the next test.... The good thing about this was that being a selection test, thanks to my neutral luck I will gain quite a few benefits....
...
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