The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop

One would think going to an entire other continent separated by the Sea of Uxumar, would be a goal reserved for later. Perhaps after exploring places nearer to home first.

Orodan hadn’t even seen the Republic’s capital city of Karilsgard yet!

But here he was, in a dinghy little boat, rowing himself across the icy waters of the sea in a journey to reach the northern continent, Guzuhar.

This was still the same loop since he’d stopped the ancient machine under the mountain at Eversong Plaza.

Ovuru had given him an explanation and a relatively detailed enough map of the north which Orodan had committed to memory. He’d then handed the ogre-man his weapon and had sent him to the afterlife through fair battle before setting off to the north.

Yes, Adeltaj had counselled him against being so murderous, but against the chief of a raider tribe Orodan had no such inhibitions. Not when Ovuru’s sort had killed his parents. They happily pillaged, murdered and did worse along his home continent’s northern coast. For a raider who reaped innocent lives, death at sword point was an acceptable outcome in his eyes.

Now, his journey was progressing decently, although he’d faced slight issues earlier.

He had never travelled quite far before. Even in all the loops he’d had to date, the farthest he’d really gone was the town of Velestok, still within Volarbury county.

Orodan would admit he’d lost track of his direction at least a handful of times until he’d begun getting the hang of traveling. He also obtained the Pathfinding skill, which made things dramatically easier.

At his current level, empowered by all his skills, Orodan didn’t need to eat or sleep, and he could fight at full power for multiple days in a row, and this was without using Eternal Soul Reactor which would likely allow him to fight forever if he didn’t let the power generation spiral out of hand.

With his ludicrous physical power, he had simply run right through trees, crushed thick vegetation, and bounded over hills in a straight path to the coast north where he finally saw the Sea of Uxumar. A nearby unattended rowboat, one of many belonging to a nearby fishing village, had been ‘appropriated’, and Orodan had begun his sea-bound trip.

It had been his first time gazing upon the sea, and it was beautiful.

Vibrant blue waters which glimmered like jewels. Cold winds which invigorated his spirit, and various forms of aquatic and aerial wildlife which drew his eyes in wonder. Truly, Ogdenborough was small, and the world was vast and beautiful.

And so, he found himself using his empowered physicality to push the rowboat hard, almost slicing through the water and waves of the Sea of Uxumar. The oars were empowered by his Weapon Aura and Wood Communion, as was the boat. And in tandem he shot across the water like an arrow.

The wind on his face felt exhilarating as he ventured deeper north, further into the sea, and even with his travel speed which could now allow him to make a month’s journey by ship into a single day… it still took time.

Orodan caused massive tidal waves as his titanically powerful rows propelled him forward, but it was halfway into his journey that his travel was interrupted.

The ogre-man from Guzuhar had warned him that even his tribe used designated paths through the sea for a reason.

And that reason came in the form of a mighty roar, teal-colored energy rippled from its form, and not one pair of eyes… but a hundred, glared at him. It erupted behind him thankfully but his furious travel across the sea had seemingly offended it.

It was a hundred-headed sea serpent. Teal-energy crackling from its mouths, a ferocious glare in all of its eyes. Pictures of sea serpents he’d seen in storybooks growing up didn’t do them justice. The specimen before him was truly grand. The largest living creature he’d seen to date.

Sailors and marines from the Republic and Eastern Kingdoms often culled monsters nearer to the coastline, but even they dared not venture too far into the waters. Orodan had been warned that certain monsters within the Sea of Uxumar were exceedingly deadly, and in certain parts of the sea they had hundreds of years to grow uninterrupted. Some of these sea monsters could even rival Master-level combatants in a fight.

One-hundred pairs of furious eyes glowed a teal energy as they glared furiously at his form. The serpent had risen to the surface too late and missed being able to block Orodan’s path, and now it could only glare at the annoying human that had caused a ruckus on the waves and interrupted its meditation.

It wasn’t willing to give chase and potentially delve into the territories of other similarly strong denizens of the sea either.

But what it didn’t expect, was for Orodan to stop, leap off the rowboat and charge at it with an excited gleam in his eyes.

On Orodan’s end, could he even call himself a warrior if he refused to battle a monstrous hundred-headed sea serpent? He had grown up hearing stories of such dangerous creatures, so the chance to actually encounter and fight one was too much to pass up.

All one-hundred heads let out a furious hiss at the same time which caused the air to dangerously tremble and a teal energy to begin filling the misty airs of the Sea of Uxumar for the nearby ten miles.

The very waters of the sea became empowered and came under the control of the hundred-headed serpent, and it began launching an apocalyptic flood of teal-colored glowing water at Orodan, who promptly ignored the entirety of the mana-based attack and instead ran right through the deluge to engage the monster in melee.

Running on water was complicated. The footing was choppy and awkward, but his physical prowess did allow him to blast off it with great force and make distance. This was how he managed to reach it with his rowboat left behind.

The serpent wasn’t stupid.

Monsters at the Master-level and above usually were sapient, even if they didn’t wish to communicate with the civilized races. So, when Orodan’s Mana Resistance allowed him to simply ignore a massive part of its arsenal, the creature’s hundred heads all immediately displayed a look of alarm. Or that was what Orodan assumed it was, given he didn’t know what serpent facial expressions meant.

The serpent’s scales glowed the same teal color, and all one-hundred heads swooped towards Orodan, rising to the challenge of meeting this strange man who dared intrude on its territory.

Sword and shield met fang and scale, and an epic clash of man against fabled monster began.

Ten seconds of absolutely calamitous melee ensued in which certain conclusions were reached by both combatants.

Orodan was definitely being overwhelmed. This sea serpent might even be near the Grandmaster-level, and the fact that it had a hundred heads wasn’t helping matters.

Orodan’s triple action increases and All-Strikes in tandem weren’t enough to bridge the gap. And he wasn’t willing to yet draw the attention of any Avatars by activating Eternal Soul Reactor. This far away from the Republic, who knew what dark Gods’ Avatars would come after him and what esoteric powers they possessed.

But one advantage Orodan did have, was his size. It must’ve looked comical, a man facing a hundred headed serpent the size of a large castle. But this was to his advantage.

The one-hundred heads were each massive, and together it was very difficult for even a few heads to hit him at the same time. And Orodan could in fact challenge one or two heads at once with skillful maneuvering.

As the seconds turned to minutes, the battle became one of attrition.

And this was where Orodan’s strengths began to shine.

He empowered every skill to the limit and fought defensively. Impregnable Bladewall, Perfect Parry, Evasiveness, it all came together with his Death Rage and Dying Struggle as Orodan allowed himself to remain just within the threshold where it would remain active, and a pitched battle began. His Regeneration and Unyielding Vitality keeping him within this slim margin of life.

Thirty minutes passed, then an hour, and then twelve more hours.

Orodan was still battling the hundred-headed serpent… but its heads began to lose some of their lustre.

It undoubtedly had an absolutely titanic amount of vitality, and also likely had a staggering amount of mana. But healing such large wounds on such a big creature took far more energy than healing wounds on himself did.

Finally, on the second day of continuous battle, a key event occurred.

Orodan’s Weapon Aura empowered sword ripped through the air in an All-Strike that connected with the neck of one of the heads… and broke through the toughness of the scales and carried all the way through.

The head went sailing off in an arc and made a loud splash as it entered the sea, and the remaining ninety-nine heads all erupted in a furious and synchronized roar that echoed for many miles.

The roar was almost one of frustration, and then the serpent attempted to flee.

Which caused Orodan to smirk, as his second Blessing from Agathor wouldn’t allow it.

It strained, it struggled, it shook with rage and desperation, and yet, a strange divine force prevented its escape.

The ninety-nine heads held an expression of shock, before it then turned to rage and the commitment to fight to the death.

***

It took another two days for Orodan to chop the remaining ninety-nine heads off, and even after that he had to do some serious damage to its completely headless body before it died.

He felt he now understood his enemies’ feelings at witnessing his ridiculous vitality. This formerly hundred-headed serpent was innately strong, durable and meant to take ludicrous amounts of punishment. He doubted it trained the Unyielding Vitality and Regeneration skills the way he did.

He’d often been told that monsters were typically stronger than mortals at the same level. A Master-level dragon for instance, would be superior to a Master-level human. Each level of any physical skill counted for more when used by the bigger and stronger body of a monster. And depending on species, the difference only got wider.

Some beings were simply born with natural advantages that others could only hope to match via brutal training. Quite unfair.

Still, even though Orodan had wasted four days of his time, he had managed to kill the damn thing. Its dead body lay in multiple pieces across the waters, which were now dyed red for a good hundred metres with the sheer amount of blood it spilled. A product of its naturally unreasonable vitality no doubt.

Frankly, this was one of the most fun fights he’d had in a while.

With all that done, Orodan resumed his journey northwards towards the continent of savages, towards Guzuhar. Or he wanted to, if not for the fact that his poor rowboat had been lost in the destruction of battle.

So, he decided to simply continue running across water the rest of the way. An awkward surface to run across, but doable if one had enough speed and momentum.

Twenty minutes passed and his sheer speed eventually allowed him to see tall mountain peaks and rocky spires piercing the clouds in the horizon. And then he set foot on land for the first time in four days as his legs touched the snow-covered ground of the icy coastline.

Guzuhar, the northern continent.

The weather here was as he’d heard, an icy and frigid land. In the distance he could see massive mountain peaks piercing the clouds, and occasionally his eyes, enhanced by Physical Fitness, could see shapes flying through the clouds, quite large even at a distance.

He didn’t know overly much about the geography, local factions and settlements other than what Ovuru had told him before Orodan put the ogre-man to rest. But from what he heard, Guzuhar’s southern coast, where Orodan had touched down, carried very few if any settlements for fear of Imperial and Republican funded privateers returning the favour the Guzuharans had inflicted with their raids.

Additionally, calling them Guzuharans was apparently a rather inaccurate and shallow thing. As Ovuru had explained, the people in this inhospitable waste referred to themselves as Guzuharan only in the broadest manner as figure of speech and when conversing with Inuanans, the people of Orodan’s home continent. Guzuhar was simply the name of the continent as designated by the people of the continent of Inuan.

The locals here considered themselves more affiliated with their clan or tribe, such as the Leviathan tribe Ovuru was affiliated with. And as unbelievable as it sounded… apparently not everyone on the northern continent was a bloodthirsty raider.

Ovuru’s tribe was one of raiders and uncivilized butchers, but further inland there were supposedly civilized settlements and villages which didn’t go around raiding the coast of Inuan. These settlements were reportedly subject to the attacks of raider tribes just as much, if not more, than the coastal settlements of Inuan were.

Orodan found this almost unbelievable. To him Guzuhar was a word he associated with savage and evil. For there to exist normal people in such a hellscape? He’d have to see it to believe it.

His sights were now set on the peak of the tallest mountain he could see right in front of him. According to Ovuru’s generously provided map, this mountain was known as Xilirdus’s Ascent, and it was a local landmark in the area used to reference and find the way elsewhere.

It was a mountain near the southern coast of Guzuhar, and the fact that Orodan could see it upon landing meant that he had veered a fair bit off course during his travels. His Pathfinding skill needed some more work.

But he first wanted to get a lay of the land from atop the mountain.

So, with empowered footfalls Orodan began making his way up the mountain at a furious pace.

Of course, as with the Sea of Uxumar which possessed various denizens, the tallest mountain in the area here was also bound to have various unfriendly and territorial creatures.

These came in the form of a flying creature that had a beak and looked vaguely lizard-like but instead of a dragon’s four legs it had only two. Orodan knew there was a term for them, but the last time he picked up a book was when he went through basic training in the county militia.

These creatures also had a shrill and annoying shriek that made the harpies flying above Ogdenborough seem polite.

Naturally, Orodan didn’t like them, and even though the flying pests were rather strong, with them being at least Elite-level by Orodan’s estimation, they still held no hope before him as he butchered his way up the mountain, killing every flying lizard in sight and tracking down any others via the irksome screeches they emitted.

Of course, this didn’t make their Master-level brood mothers higher up the mountain very happy, and soon Orodan was mobbed by nearly a dozen of these stronger monsters which were now backed up by a swarm of hundreds of the regular ones.

A brutal slaughter occurred over the course of ten minutes as Orodan slaughtered the horde. Multiple Master-level brood mothers and hundreds of Elites rushed him, but with time he butchered them all. And soon the mountain was blissfully silent.

He climbed for two more minutes and was nearing the peak when the very mountain began shaking, and a titanic roar echoed for miles. Its origin?

Right beneath him.

Orodan realized a bit too late that it wasn’t the mountain moving, it was the creature sleeping atop it. Gigantic enough that it had wrapped around the entirety of Xilirdus’s Ascent and had been peacefully sleeping until the noisy human had come by to cause a ruckus.

The noisy human being Orodan, who its ire was now directed towards.

It had four legs, so it could definitely be called a dragon.

And the magically empowered ice attack it sent at Orodan was akin to a death wave of apocalyptic proportions. Despite his Mana Resistance he was chilled to the bone and large chunks of his flesh crystallized and fell off.

For the attack to harm him so much despite Mana Resistance? It must’ve been incredibly powerful. Without his resistance skill, the attack would’ve killed him.

He briefly turned to look behind him and could only gape like a fish.

At least one hundred miles…

…completely evaporated and turned into a crystalline wasteland in an instant.

Orodan re-evaluated the power of this new foe.

This dragon was far stronger than the multi-headed serpent he had killed. But he refused to bow down before its ludicrous display of power. Orodan charged through the icy attack and furiously launched an All-Strike containing as much Mana Black Hole charged energy as he could safely deliver.

Which merely left a small scratch on the dragon’s nose. An annoyed grunt left its mouth after, and the wound swiftly healed.

“Hold… human… where are those annoying wyverns?” a booming voice that echoed for miles spoke, and Orodan felt that it was merely the conversational volume of the creature. “And you… a human capable of shrugging off my frigid gales that can freeze an entire kingdom… who are you?”

Orodan paused at the sight of the talking dragon.

True, he heard that incredibly powerful creatures at and above the Master-level were capable of thought, but for one to even be capable of conversing with the civilized races? And were those things called wyverns?

“I am Orodan Wainwright from the lands of the Republic in Inuan, I’ve come to adventure in the northern continent and learn how to evade detection from diviners,” Orodan honestly replied. “And I killed every single flying lizard on this mountain. Their shrieks annoyed me.”

The dragon silently pondered Orodan’s words for a moment before it spoke once more.

“Truly?” the dragon asked. “Those wyverns have plagued my restful meditation for at least a thousand years now… the stupid things are drawn by my essence as we share the same draconic nature, even if theirs is of vastly inferior stock.”

So, he had done the dragon a favor then?

“And although more will eventually come, you have given me at least a few years of peace. In light of this boon, I’ve decided to spare your life… killing you would likely involve destroying this most comfortable resting spot,” the dragon spoke. And although it rankled Orodan’s pride to be insulted in such a way, he knew he was outmatched. Given the sheer destruction it caused and the pathetic amount of damage a full power All-Strike did, this dragon was at least at the Grandmaster-level.

Frankly, Orodan didn’t know if Adeltaj could even beat this thing. The dragon seemed like the sort of creature to have the world bestow Quests on people to kill if it decided to go on a rampage. This was a true monster of calamity that was worthy of being the target of a Quest.

Beasts and creatures also held natural advantages and innate abilities that made them, in certain cases, far stronger than a member of the mortal races would be at the equivalent level. The Master-level multi-headed serpent he fought for example, could likely slaughter a dozen Masters like Ovuru. This came at the expense of an incredibly slow growth rate, however.

“Your ability to resist my icy prowess must be a Legendary skill at least… are you perhaps a fledgling Master hoping to gain insights through battle and adventure to reach for the Grandmaster level?” the dragon asked. “Ah… to be one of the mortal races and lack the ability to absorb world energy… such a pitiful existence.”

The dragon’s words seemed insulting, but its tone seemed genuinely pitying, as though it felt almost bad for Orodan being born a human.

“I’m not a Master, I’m an Adept, although I’m nearing the Elite-level in some of my skills,” Orodan answered, and the dragon’s face made a derisive expression.

“Such blatant lies… who do you hope to deceive with such falsehoods?” the dragon mockingly asked. “My Observe skill is powerful enough that it allows me to peer at someone’s Status directly, skill levels and all included, let us have a look, shall we?”

The Grandmaster dragon’s eyes glowed a fiery orange for three seconds and then the glow subsided. And it remained silent for a while as its face underwent a range of expressions.

“I should kill you here and now… reincarnators defy the natural order… but for you to also possess a Mythical skill? You could be a grave threat to the world if I let you live.”

Ironic coming from a dragon that itself would be the subject of a Quest if it decided to wantonly rampage.

“I’m not a reincarnator, I don’t know what that is, yet everyone seems to keep assuming I’m one,” Orodan replied. “The actual answer, is that I’m caught in a time loop. And even the Gods seem to be unaware of it. I repeat the same loop over and over until I die and then I wake up on the day of it again.”

“A time loop? And even the Gods remain unaware?” the dragon asked, and immediately its demeanour changed as it suddenly started to regard Orodan very carefully.

“Human, we must speak more of this situation…”

***

They spoke for nearly two hours as Orodan recounted all of his adventures, his skills, how he obtained them, and everything he had gone through alongside his enmity with Ilyatana, the Goddess of Fate and his current reasons for being in Guzuhar.

“Tch! The genocider… a few millennia ago when she was but an upstart fate-weaver in the south, she went about tracking some of the old dragon flights and butchering them to the last hatchling…” the dragon spoke. “It’s good someone of your kind can see her for the manipulative wretch she is.”

“She certainly does have quite the superiority complex… I can’t wait for the day I can finally teach her a lesson,” Orodan muttered.

“Do not look to the sun when you have yet to cross the clouds, human. You struggle and cannot even contend with an Avatar whose host is merely Favored,” the dragon warned. “The very strongest champions of a God are Chosen Ones, those who have at least three Blessings from their patron deity. And they’re usually at least Grandmasters, often in multiple skills. An Avatar using one of them as a host is someone even I would take seriously. And I’m a triple-Grandmaster who can slaughter Favored Avatars like chickens.”

“Are you that strong? Who even are you? You also speak rather… protectively of the world for uh… for a dragon.”

“Ah… and does your narrow-mind simply see us dragons as the target of Quests bestowed by the world once we decide to go on a rampage?” the icy draconic Grandmaster asked. “While some of my kind have erred in the past, most of us seek to live in harmony with the mortal races. I myself… am a World Guardian.”

And Orodan had absolutely no idea what that was, which prompted the dragon to have a resigned expression on its face at the fact that it was speaking to such an uneducated bumpkin.

“Human… did you crawl out from under a rock? Did you not pay attention in the academy your kind raise the young within?” the dragon asked, and before Orodan could protest it continued. “World Guardians are naturally born powerful creatures that serve the will of the world itself and protect it. We prevent great disaster and often step in if a Quest entrusted to one of the young races has been failed. In return we can absorb world energy at a massively increased rate.”

The dragon appeared smug and arrogantly proud of the fact.

“Why… just fifteen-thousand years ago it was I who stepped in once the Chosen One of the elves failed. My mighty ice breath put an end to the rampaging eldritch star-beast that threatened the entirety of the world with its corruptive and fell energies! Yes… the legendary dragon noted in mortal history books… was none other than I!”

And a proud and imperious roar of regal glory erupted from its mouth after it said this.

The seconds stretched on, and the silence became awkward. Orodan had no idea what the dragon spoke of.

“How… how stupid are you, human? Have you never read a book?!” the dragon asked. “It’s as though all that monstrous talent came at the expense of any sort of intelligence…”

“Of course I’ve read a book!” Orodan defended himself heatedly. He had read the training manuals provided by the county militia of his own accord!

The dragon exhaled a gust of frigid wind that was almost akin to a sigh of resignation.

“Let us shelve that for now and speak of the meat of the matter,” the dragon spoke. “There are higher levels of Gods which exist. This time loop you are in which you claim has even trapped the Gods unaware… could very well be the work of one of them.”

“So, you believe me?” Orodan asked. “Who are these higher-level Gods?”

“A part of me refuses to believe it… but your improbable skill levels, their rarities, and that my World Will skill hasn’t encouraged me to slay you on the spot are good enough for now,” the dragon replied. “As for the names of these rumored higher-level Gods, I do not know. Even the eldest dragons I knew when I was but a young hatchling simply heard rumours of them… and this was over twenty-thousand years ago.”

No real answer then. As Orodan expected. Not that he’d held any hope of getting to the bottom of that question any time soon. His current concerns were elsewhere.

While his presence on the northern continent of Guzuhar meant that he was effectively outside the reach of the Cathedral’s diviners at this time… he still needed to find a way to evade divination attempts moving forward. Else he wouldn’t be able to get much done with them hounding him for as long as he was on Inuan.

“Fair enough… but I’m not focused on that. Right now, my main concern is finding a method of evading the divination that allows the Cathedral’s people to track me in every loop. It began immediately after I acquired my Mythical skill,” Orodan spoke. “Speaking of, how common is a high-level Observe skill like yours that can unveil even the skill levels of a person? The Avatar of Ilyatana used something similar on me, but should I worry any time I encounter a Grandmaster?”

“To answer your second question, all Avatars are capable of peering into your Status unless you received a Reward from a Quest that specifically obscures it. As much as the Gods like to play at being supreme, the power of the world itself is above theirs and they cannot bypass or interfere with Rewards from a Quest,” the dragon spoke. “But as for who else can peer into your complete Status, I would say be wary of any triple-Grandmasters and above… those who have reached level 100 in not one, but three skills or more, have had enough time in their undoubtedly long lives to push the Observe skill to a very high level.”

“Understood, and about my first question? Where can I find a way to evade those who perform divinations through the threads of fate?”

“I’ve been asleep for thousands of years at least… I wouldn’t know who to go to currently… but a good group to consult would be the shamans of Ozgaric, the God of Trickery and Illusions. The people on the southern continents have always hated him, but if anyone can teach you such a skill, it would be the faithful of that trickster.”

“Hmm, I’ll go around looking for them then,” Orodan replied.

“Before you go, human,” the dragon spoke. “I need to know… just what do you plan to do with this incredible power of yours? If you plan on causing mass death and destruction that imbalances the world as the loops go on and you grow more and more powerful… I may have to put an end to you myself, even if it doesn’t last.”

“I only plan on slaughtering those who’ve wronged me and those who get in my way,” Orodan replied. “A good start will be the raider tribes on this continent.”

The dragon pondered for a moment in silence and spoke once more.

“I can kill you here and now… but if all you’ve told me so far is true… I cannot kill you permanently. And imprisoning you when you have that Blessing of Malzim is folly,” the dragon spoke. “Given the nature of your time loops… it’s inevitable that you’ll cause massive devastation and might even have a Quest issued by the world against you… but I can only ask that you do not, and in that respect… I have an offer for you.”

An offer? Orodan’s interest was immediately piqued.

“I have a Quest that was bestowed upon me thousands of years ago to defeat someone… but I’ll never be strong enough to do it,” the dragon spoke. “It’s as dire as it sounds. For a World Guardian to be unable to complete a Quest means the threat is truly great… but we still have one final ability, and that is to grant the Quest to someone we deem capable of completing it… and I Cyvrosdyr the Eternal Winter… wish to grant it to you.”

“This sounds suspicious… surely there’s a string attached?” Orodan asked.

“That there is… the Quest itself… it will restrict you into acting within the bounds of morality, as all Quests issued to World Guardians do. If you wish for the Reward from this Quest… one of the stipulations is protecting the world, and thus you cannot cause mass devastation like a rabid beast,” the dragon he now learned was called Cyvrosdyr spoke. “You’ve told me of your utterly unfair ability to repeat Quests and continuously acquire the rewards… and I assure you, Quests assigned to World Guardians have particularly powerful Rewards. But the condition is you’d have to remain within the bounds of reason in each loop if you wanted it. Mass devastation and killing of innocents cannot be allowed.”

Orodan thought about the icy dragon’s offer for a good while.

Another Quest? And another Reward? This sounded like an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. But he still had questions.

“What is considered an innocent for the purposes of the Quest? Surely you can’t expect me to show my enemies mercy. I’m a warrior.”

“No. Innocents in this case refers to uninvolved non-combatants and those who have had no hand in perpetrating sinful actions. Your enemies, and even non-combatants who’ve had a hand in knowingly perpetrating evil, do not count as innocents.”

“And I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what the Quest wording says before I agree?”

“No, either accept or I kill you and end your loop here and now. True, you can find me again, but I guarantee I will never tell you the wording of the Quest until you’ve accepted, this I vow,” Cyvrosdyr threatened solemnly. “I don’t know what your character is, I can’t risk you thinking the Quest is too difficult from me simply telling you of it and then refusing to entertain the idea from this loop onward. If anyone is capable of completing this Quest, it will be you, with the power of the time loop.”

Orodan frowned, but he understood the reasoning. Cyvrosdyr hadn’t seen Orodan’s sheer grit and willpower, the sort of infinite resolve that allowed him to ignite his very soul.

For Orodan, there was no Quest which involved fighting an enemy that he would balk at. His enemies were Gods, what did he care if he had to fight some terrifying opponent?

“Very well… I accept, I swear to work towards protecting the world and completing this Quest you’re going to bestow upon me. It might not be my immediate goal, but it’ll be one of my long-term objectives which will eventually be completed,” Orodan stated with sincere determination.

“Very well… open your heart and accept the connection I’m forming, simply will it.”

And Orodan felt the tether attempting to connect to his very soul, but it didn’t feel harmful or insidious, and he allowed it. It went deep within.

[Quest Bestowed → The Chosen Eldritch Star - On the eve of the current year the Chosen One of the Eldritch Gods will descend unto the world as a fell comet, defeat this being who is an Avatar of all of the Eldritch Gods and protect the world along the way]

“I… am sorry… you are the only one who can possibly do this… I had two-thousand years to prepare, but I lack the talent. My shoulders cannot bear the weight any longer, you only have six months left till this year ends,” Cyvrosdyr morbidly said as the dragon looked as though an invisible weight was finally taken off its shoulders. “Now it is your weight to bear… I will pray to the world that you do not break in attempting to surmount this impossible wall.”

A Chosen One of the Eldritch Gods? An Avatar for all the Eldritch Gods?

Orodan couldn’t even beat a regular Grandmaster yet… how was he supposed to do this? How was anyone expected to?

“How is this even possible? Does the world not know how impossible of a Quest it bestowed? Surely other Chosen Ones are better suited to receiving this Quest?” Orodan asked, as he felt the daunting weight of what he would be facing settle in on his own shoulders now.

“More beings and World Guardians will assist when the time comes. But, the problem with the Chosen Ones of this world, is that they are only the Chosen Ones of one God. Consequently, they can only be possessed by that one deity,” Cyvrosdyr explained. “Whatever is coming however, I do not know how it’s possible, but it’s an Avatar of all three Eldritch Gods, which means it has at least nine Blessings. It is an unfathomable existence that comes for us.”

“Why don’t the Gods simply Bless some powerful person with nine Blessings as well then?”

“Their soul could not handle it. Blessings are something the soul of a being bears. Even three Blessings is stretching the limits of what the soul can tolerate before it is unable to take more,” the dragon explained. “I tried receiving a fourth Blessing once, and although my draconic body can channel energy very well, the same can’t be said for my soul… it didn’t go well.”

“This is impossible… just what have you roped me into…” Orodan muttered.

“I genuinely apologize. To inflict this on you… even if you attained Grandmaster-level in multiple skills, I do not know how you would defeat this calamitous foe that comes for us…”

“No, I mean, this is impossible… so thank you!” Orodan exclaimed.

The dragon was taken aback and simply sat in silence for a second.

“The tougher the wall, the more gains I’ll make in breaking it down,” Orodan said with a manic grin on his face. “I was wondering what my long-term goal throughout the loops would be, but now, I have something to aim for!”

“What?” the dragon asked.

“I was in a rut for a bit after completing the first Quest I had bestowed upon me… and I didn’t know which way to go, but thanks to you I now do,” Orodan explained.

The dragon, Cyvrosdyr, looked as though he refused to believe what he was seeing. Who else would have such a reaction to such utterly impossible odds being arrayed against them in an inescapable time loop?

“Is this… the vaunted ‘human spirit’, I hear your kind go on about?” the dragon asked.

“Who knows? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m quite looking forward to the fights that are in my future thanks to you,” Orodan said.

After all, even among humans… Orodan Wainwright was an anomaly.

Who else would gladly fight to the death on their very first life? Who else would be torn apart thousands of times to hone his strength? Who else would challenge the Avatar of a Goddess herself to train his soul?

Orodan’s willpower was unbreakable, and even in hearing the dragon’s words it was stoked to greater heights. Strengthening the soul? He already had a path to that. Receiving multiple Blessings? He would eventually attain that too.

And being an Avatar for multiple Gods?

Orodan refused to even entertain the idea of needing to play host to Gods to beat this impossible death sentence coming his way.

No matter how many loops it took, he would defeat this Eldritch Chosen fair and square. With the might of his own arm and the burning light of his own soul.

***

Cyvrosdyr didn’t have it in him to say much to Orodan after that, and the dragon silently bade him farewell as he departed the mountain, although he did have a strangely relieved expression on his face, as though the weight of many years was suddenly off his shoulders.

Orodan now found himself in front of a tribal village, which according to Ovuru’s map, was one of the villages which weren’t raiders. And from a distance he could see a tense stand-off between the outnumbered gate guards of the village and a group of nearly fifty raiders being commanded by an Elite blood mage.

How did he know the old woman was an Elite blood mage? It was the casual ease with which she was cruelly pulling the blood right out of a helpless guard’s nose. His militia training taught him that any blood mage capable of controlling their target’s blood directly was typically at least an Elite.

Orodan wasn’t a soft person, but he disliked arrogant people who enjoyed torture. It went against his warrior instincts, and even those he had killed were given a straightforward and swift death. And he also had an unpleasant reminder of how he was once upon a time savaged thousands of times by an undead Demonic Berserker. The third factor was that he simply didn’t like mages.

This all contributed to him walking towards the situation and making his presence known.

“You’ve already won, why bother torturing him?” Orodan asked the fur-clad old hag who was sadistically manipulating the guard’s blood.

Upon hearing him and noticing the presence of a new person, the mage immediately stopped what she was doing and turned to Orodan. The guard she was torturing sagged to the ground in relief.

“And who are you?” she asked, and her eyes held a calculating gaze as she looked him up and down. “Decided to wear the clothes of the soft southerners, did you? Got those from a raid?”

The woman wasn’t reckless.

For someone to approach such a scene with no caution implied a level of confidence in their own strength, and the blood mage was rightfully wary of Orodan for simply waltzing up and interrupting her. Especially when she had superior numbers accompanying her.

This was a world where a wandering passerby could end up being a Master on the worst of days, so people, especially Elites, tended to be somewhat cautious when meeting new folk.

“No, I’m from Inuan. And I hate raiders,” Orodan declared, and the woman immediately stiffened in response. “Are you lot raiders? Why are you torturing this man?”

“I see… well I apologize for offending you… this village owes us tribute and we were simply negotiating the terms. We’re here under the authority of Warchief Bazdugul, who is a Master of course,” the woman backtracked and explained. She then raised her hands. “We were just leaving as a matter of fact, have a good day.”

It was funny to see how quickly someone could backtrack out of caution and paranoia. The woman immediately brought up her better’s name as a sort of protection and then proceeded to try leaving. He could see why. Some unknown wanderer claiming to be from Inuan and intruding on such affairs was likely able to handle themselves.

She was smart. Reckless and stupid Elites were usually the young prodigies, not the old ones like her.

Unfortunately for the blood mage, her feet refused to move as Orodan’s eyes remained locked onto her own. His second Blessing from Agathor would not allow anyone he considered his quarry to flee or evade. She would stand there along with her entire group for as long as Orodan felt like it, or until she decided to attack.

“You there,” Orodan asked the tortured guard. “Is your village under their authority?”

The guard quickly shook his head to indicate it was not, an act that caused the Elite blood mage’s face to pale. “These are raiders from the Blood-Dragon tribe! Please assist us, hero! Our village is under the authority of Chief Zoricval of the Iron-Bear Clan, he will surely be grateful for your help!”

Orodan heard all he needed to, and the blood mage had already begun attacking as she knew talking was a hopeless cause.

She threw both of her hands forward and attempted to take control of the blood within Orodan’s body.

Which in reality, thanks to Orodan’s Mana Resistance, made it look like she did a complicated hand gesture which amounted to nothing. As though a child was playing at being an imaginary mage and performed a silly hand gesture.

Her head was torn off her shoulders in the next instant and the other raiders immediately threw down their arms at the Master-level abilities Orodan had displayed.

Unfortunately, Orodan hated raiders. And he wasn’t squeamish about executing enemies if they were as vile as these murderous, pillaging scum. One by one, he ordered them to pick their weapons up and slew them.

Some prayed to their vile God Agorhiku before death. But most died cowering.

The handful that swore to renounce their ways were thrown to the village. They could sort those out.

Within two seconds, the group of near-fifty raiders were dealt with, the snow dyed red with their blood. Even the guards Orodan had rescued looked more than a little intimidated by what had just occurred.

The lead village guard, one of the older ones who was near the front of the group, approached Orodan gingerly. “Sir… is there anything we can do for you? We’re deeply in your debt.”

And in response, Orodan knew what his next order of business was.

“I need to speak to a priest of Ozgaric… I come seeking a unique skill set.”