Savage Awakening 510. Challenge of the First Ones (IV)

A/N: Sorry for the late chapter, folks!

//

His rewards would be decided right here.

Nic thought he was doing pretty well so far. The Rhino said he was new to this Spirit Guide thing—he’d only gotten the job a few years before the Monsters invaded. That had been a very sad day for Nic. Then it had been a few million years of nothing.

But of the six Rhinos Nic had scored, no one had gotten max scores on both trials before.

Nic gave him an encouraging horn bump.

Zane was feeling pretty beat up from all that exertion. It reminded him of some of the max efforts he’d given in the Festival of Might.

He still had more than enough in the tank for one more, though.

Nic hopped once, and the whole Inheritance structure shook.

The Rhino’s horn above cracked open, revealing a section of sky. There lay a scattering of asteroids—all ivory white, outlined against a distant hulk of a moon.

The Rhinos called them the Maker’s Stones, said Nic.

They were another time-honored benchmark for the Rhinos, discovered when they first settled in these Ruins.

There were ten of them. The chief Rhino thought they were made of some kind of extremely dense moon rock. Ages ago, they’d broken off the moon they called the Face of the Maker. And there they stood now, a test for all the most promising Rhinos of the future.

Zane inspected that moon closely.

It was an impressive enough chunk. But he had to quibble with it. He’d seen Aiwe’s face, and that didn’t look much like it. Maybe it was a Rhino’s artistic interpretation.

The Maker’s Stones themselves kind of reminded him of the moons he’d pulled back in the Sage’s training gym in the Steelheart Conclave. These things were orders of magnitude heavier, of course; there had to be dozens of planets’ worth of weight in just that first stone; just the way it bent gravity made that clear. And each stone was a clear step up from the last.

Each was also thick with its own tranche of Gravity Law, and when Zane made a fist with his mind and gave it an experimental tug, he faced stiff resistance. Like the things were fixed in space.

But they were easy to hold, easy to throw his soul at—the same way a barbell made for an easy tool to load weight.

This was doable.

Nic confirmed the task. He just had to pull as many as he could from that starry perch. He had until time ran out. Nic showed him a little hourglass. He wasn’t sure why Rhinos liked tiny tools—he’d seen tiny hats in his time and tiny whistles, now this. Maybe it was just a Rhino thing.

Nic set the hourglass down.

Ready? wrote Nic.

“One sec.”

Zane grabbed his Dreamer’s Core and took another few big bites. He’d loaded up on his way here, but he figured he might as well be full. Just to get more Gravity Law into his system.

As that steel digested, he felt the insights firing up his mind. The more he worked his gravity, practicing it, the faster he felt he grasped them.

He had a feeling this test would make a good crucible.

That done, he gave Nic a thumbs-up. The Rhino tipped the glass.

Zane wasted no time with his first hard pull.

He’d already warmed up his gravity working it in the tunnel. He just went for it—made a fist with his soul around those first few asteroids and blasted them.

Instantly the first Maker’s Stone broke away. The second and third started trembling badly too, and it only took another easy effort to send them tumbling.

The Rhino blinked at him in surprise. But Zane already knew his gravity was stronger than any right to be. His Law was stacked heavy with Destruction. That jacked up the potency of all its Concepts too.

He’d only needed half effort for that one.

He threw himself into another, and Stones four and five fell almost as easily as the first few.

The sixth and seventh stones put up more of a fight. But even when he started those pulls, started fighting those gravity wells in the sky, he knew he had what it took to finish them off.

And the harder he worked, the more he gritted his teeth and sank into them, the more he felt a heat rising in his gut—more Core steel digesting with his effort, more insights sparking to mind.

Strengthening his gravity even more… it made for a vicious cycle.

Ivory mountains thudded into the plains.

The eighth stone was the first stone that called for what he considered a serious effort. He fought for a grueling thirty seconds before managing to drag it free.

The ninth stone was another hard fight.

The tenth stone didn’t budge at all when he threw his mind against it at first.

There was no trick to it. No subtlety. This was a test of pure gravity strength. He either had it, or he didn’t.

He threw his soul against it again. And again, each time a bruising effort—and as he did, more Core steel burned in his belly. Burned Gravity Law into his mind.

He couldn’t move it yet, but he had this burning intuition he was close. And as he tried again and again, he forged that Concept greater in his mind…

He felt that final Stone wobble.

That was all the encouragement he needed.

He let out a primal roar, stomped, and slammed his soul against it. Strained so hard he saw black spots.

His heart pounded like he’d thrown himself into a life-or-death bout. His muscles strained hard too.

It felt like the pull of his soul got stronger. Almost like it had become a physical thing for him.

He gave it one last wrench, clenching his fists.

And that Stone was forced to obey.

It made one long arc and flattened a string of distant mountains.

Zane wiped a line of sweat off his brow.

He still had steel in his gut, still felt pumped. He let out a grin, looked down at his hands.

In that moment he almost regretted finishing the Trial.

It had tested him, sure. But all that challenge had fired him up, and with every test, he gained more and more Gravity.

He was just enjoying strengthening himself too much. Just when he’d pushed his limit, the Trial ran out of challenge—he was satisfied, but also a little frustrated.

The only thing left up there was the Face of the Maker. Looming tens, maybe hundreds of times bigger than the biggest of the asteroids…

Zane’s eyes brightened.

Then, without a second thought, he threw himself at it in body and soul.

Threw himself at it until all the steel in his gut had burned up, until all he could think about, teeth gritted, straining with everything he had, was bringing down the sky.

***

All the while, Nic the Rhino blinked at him. The Rhino was baffled.

There was silence.

Then—for a single heart-stopping moment—the moon wobbled.

In the end, the man gave a grunt.

He keeled over, blood leaking from his nose. He hit the ground with a resounding THUD, face-first.

***

The moon was still there when Zane woke up, which he found a bit disappointing.

The Rhino Spirit came over and showed him the scorecard again. There was a hastily scribbled 10 on it.

He was pleased that he’d conquered this last Trial. His mind was still on that moon, though.

Zane had grown much stronger in just the past few years. Strong enough to call himself among the strongest in this Galaxy, and he took some pride in that.

He quite liked being reminded, though, just how much stronger he could get.

He remembered the kind of gravity the Sage had shown, taking down that dark elf Empyrean.

But every time he felt a limit he couldn’t reach, every time he saw strength he didn’t have, his heart started beating faster. It was the same since he’d first started this long, strenuous journey of strength.

He might need the full Concept before he could take something like that moon down. But from all he knew of himself, from all he’d seen of his journey—if he just kept working, it wouldn’t be long.

He wasn’t satisfied. But that thought satisfied him.

He took another bite of that Core, felt more insights solidifying into something solid, like protein making muscle; felt the knowledge become Gravity.

He quite liked this Core—as he ate, he gained in other ways too.

Friend of the System 69% -> 74%

It wouldn’t be long before he unlocked that next tier of the System Store.

Then there was Destruction. He was pounding away at both sunsteel and his Dreamer’s Core, and he had plenty to show for it. His fifth Shard of Destruction had gone from 20% to 48%.

He was making good progress everywhere he looked, it felt like.

And he was just about to make another upgrade to his physique.

He gave the moon one last glance.

Next time, he vowed.

He headed over to Nic to collect his rewards.

The Rhino Spirit had been running around in a circle for no reason Zane could tell. It stopped and gave him a friendly bump.

He’d gotten the max score, said Nic. That meant he’d get every reward from every previous tier, along with the maximum number of Prime Blood droplets.

The rewards began to drop.