Too Stubborn to Die

Book 4: Chapter 35

Aaron opened the dungeon rankings and searched for names he recognized.

Voidrin VoxAaron DoberBorgok Corg Raksha Tiksus VakmalRed SongErdek FoulbreathSloorzlaxElmira FeraraErnest SheridanTalia Rhineheart Elador MistwoodTerry Cadillac Cairon Kilrak Big King Redscale Kim Soohyun Vikran Takeshi Udon Ifiti Van Dryte Emmy Sharp Aewan Swiftblade Torwrathadax“Huh? Voidrin at the top, huh? I guess he hasn’t been slacking.”

He continued down for a short while, scrolled through the rankings. But stopped shortly after. There were so many names he didn’t recognize, and he hardly cared to inspect them all.

“No Mo’han…”

If the asura wasn’t at the top of the list, he wasn’t in their local cluster.

“Guess we’ll catch up on the next floor, mate.”

Mo’han was hardly the only one he wanted to catch up with. But seeing him absent from the list inspired him. There was no way in hell he was failing to pass this floor now. Not that he had been planning to.

Returning to the top of the list, Aaron nodded. So these were the most powerful people in their cluster, were they?

At least Voidrin and Elmira are here.

Aaron smiled. It was nice to see some names he recognized.

Time to fire up the global chat.

Aaron Dober: @Voidrin Vox@Elmira Ferara, Hey there, mate! Fancy seeing you two here. I guess that makes us rivals, huh?

Voidrin Vox: @Aaron Dober, Look who it is. Just who I wanted to see. Y’know, I’ve been waiting for a chance to get my win back, pal. This is gonna be sweet.

Elmira Ferara: @Aaron Dober@Talia Rhineheart, Hey, look! You’re both here! I hope you two haven’t been slacking. Pentival has been quite insistent that we win this dungeon. And I have no intention of letting him down.

Talia Rhineheart: @Elmira Ferara, Bring it on, Elmira. I’ve changed a lot since you hit me with that rune during our sparring back in the trials. You won’t find me so easy to beat now.

Elmira Ferara: @Aaron Dober@Talia Rhineheart, Oh, really? Interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’re capable of.

Voidrin Vox: Hey, hey, hey! Stop trying to steal my limelight, girlies. I’m at the top of the rankings. I’m the one you should all be chasing. Then again, you don’t really have a chance now do you?

Aaron Dober: @Voidrin Vox, Yeah. We’ll see about that, Voidrin.

First wave of the Cursed Horde coming in 10…

9…

8…

7…

Elmira Ferara: @Aaron Dober@Talia Rhineheart, Looks like we’re out of time to talk. If we don’t get a chance to see each other during the dungeon, I’ll be looking forward to a threeway back at the auction house.

Aaron dismissed the chat notifications. No one was going to be talking while the waves were incoming. And besides, he had his own challenge to focus on.

A smile crept across his face, and a burst of energy flooded into the crystal. There was nothing better than a little friendly competition, and he was damn set on winning it.

However, less than a minute later, he felt the weight of the crystal’s draw on his shoulders. Immediately, he realized he had massively underestimated the task.

The reality was that keeping the crystal charged was a marathon. And those who had been testing it before he took over had only been on the runes for a short while. If this kept up, he would collapse before he could make any progress with his energy organs.

This is… not good.

He had a backup plan… There was always his C-grade core that he could push. But if he were to push more energy from it, there would be consequences. It was something reserved for life-and-death situations. If he used it here and damaged his soul as a result, he might be force him to leave the dungeon early, and there was no way he wanted to risk that.

No, I can’t. The dungeon floors are only getting quicker and deadlier. Wounding my soul now would be the end of my journey in this dungeon.

First wave of the Cursed Horde incoming!

But as the exhausting pull of energy from the crystal grew thicker, it was obvious he needed solutions. Aaron already began drawing from his adipose reserves, and he had only been there for a few minutes.

Soon, his belly shriveled up, and his muscles pressed tightly against his skin as his fat was sucked out and funneled into energy.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Damn, this thing is hungry, isn’t it?

He desperately needed to pace himself. But there was no choice. At this rate, he was going to fail, and he began to dip into his spatial storage.

Aaron did not like where this was going. Even with his huge energy reserves and ridiculous energy regeneration, he was already forced to eat to keep himself in the game.

And there was an obvious problem with that. His food reserves were limited, and while he had cooked a little on the trash floor, he had gone on an eating rampage thanks to the corruption. And the reality was, he hadn’t recovered his reserves fully.

Food flew into his mouth, crunched down, and was consumed in seconds. But as soon as his energy pushed back up, it was quickly drained back down.

If this continued, he was at serious risk of exhausting his food reserves on this very floor.

Think, dammit!

Aaron huffed as he kept eating, trying to stem the flow of his mana. It was pouring out as the hungry crystal sucked it all up, and he did everything to try and narrow the flow of it in an attempt to prolong its life.

There was no way he was leaving this dungeon early. And there was no way he was letting his friendly rivals from the trials beat him. But perhaps he had bitten off more than he could chew.

For a moment, he even considered asking for help. But immediately discarded the thought. This was his domain. If anyone could find a way to power this crystal by themselves, it was him. And he would be damned if he was giving up this early in the challenge.

But fucked up multiverse physics were physics, and there was only one way to feed the enormous energy drawn from the crystal, with energy.

As another minute ticked by and Aaron’s hunger grew more insatiable as he struggled to hang on, he realized that there was no way twelve regular people could keep this going. They would have had to rotate regularly to maintain the crystal. It was just too damn hungry.

I could rotate with someone else…

Aaron snorted away the thought. No, he could do this. He could keep it going the entire time without a break. He just had to work harder.

Taking several deep breaths, he closed his eyes and meditated. If he tried to muscle his way through the challenge, he wasn’t going to make it. But perhaps he could manage his energy consumption better.

He had already been trying to do this. But he could think of no other option than to try to center himself.

As he did his best to restrict the flow of mana, he began drawing in aether from the atmosphere, cycling it all through his energy organs and core. Looking to improve any inefficiencies he could as he tried to squeeze every ounce of energy out, and into the gaping maw that was the crystal’s hunger.

But every minor gain he made felt so insignificant against the draw that he felt. The crystal was laying bare every flaw he had with energy control, and he could see clearly how much he needed to improve. But these changes weren’t things he could fix with a snap of his fingers, and every passing second his reserves shrivelled up.

He was getting heavier and heavier. He could have all the determination in the world, but at this rate, he was going to need to take a break. And every second they weren’t feeding the crystal, the timer wouldn’t be ticking down, and the longer they would have to resist the hordes crashing against them.

Aaron couldn’t know how powerful the waves were yet. He could hear the song of battle singing out, but the rankers had taken the battle beyond the walls, and he couldn’t see a thing.

He was even limited in what he could sense. The draw of the crystal being as intense as it was, he struggled to focus on anything else. And while he could use his senses to get a better feel of what was happening in the battle, he chose to focus on his own task.

But one thing was certain. It wouldn’t be easy. This floor was bound to be harder than the last. And if he didn’t keep the crystal lit, then his companions would have to fight harder, and then…

A shiver traced his spine as he imagined people dying. Exhausted and broken down as wave after wave crashed against them because the dungeon floor dragged on. Day after day of struggling because he couldn’t keep the crystal alight.

Aaron gritted his teeth, and a line of blood trickled down his nose. He wasn’t letting that happen. He wouldn’t be the weak link.

Keep it together, dammit! This is nothing! Absolutely fucking nothing! I can go forever if I have to!

Aaron grunted and refused to give up. But the crystal couldn’t care less for how determined he was; it just wanted energy. And he was forced to pick up the pace of his eating as the crystal hungrily drained him.

This wasn’t good. In fact, it was terrible. At this rate, he was going to run out of food long before they reached the final floor. Stuff that, he wasn’t even going to get there. He was going to run out before the end of this floor.

His adipose reserves grew thin, and he shriveled up like a skinny, cross-lagged monk. He was getting delirious. Seeing doubles as he struggled to keep his grasp on the energy flow. Nothing mattered besides keeping the flow going.

Not even death.

Vitality, Stamina, Mana, and Aether were all hungrily drawn into the crystal. It was endless. A void consuming everything he could throw at it without slowing for a second.

Even the atmosphere around him seemed to grow still and empty. The aether had been completely sucked free from it, as if the crystal had actually used Aaron as a tool to draw in energy from around it.

“Ahhh,” he murmured, mouth dry and senses starting to become confused.

There was nothing left. He was a shriveled-up stick of a man, only hanging on thanks to his determined attitude and his lingering ability to convert energy at an absorption rate, but wouldn’t last much longer…

*Bang!*

Suddenly, his eyes flung open as he heard something crash down beside him.

“A giant, ugly fish?” Aaron weakly murmured, his breathy voice sounding like he was on his deathbed.

“Murlocks,” Talia corrected. “They were the first wave. Surprisingly tough. Anyway, I thought you looked hungry.”

“Huh?”

Aaron straightened at the mention of hunger, a glimmer shining over his eyes.

“Yeah. You’re like really, really skinny,” Soohyun said, dropping down beside Talia and adding several murlock corpses to the pile.

“Wait, are you saying you don’t want these?” Aaron said, greedily eyeing the murlock corpses as saliva bubbled over his lips and traced his chin, pooling beneath him.

“It’s fine.” Talia grimaced as she looked at him. “You can have them all. Anyway, the next wave is in a few minutes. I need to get ready. Enjoy the meal.”

The murlocks smelled like the worst kind of rotting fish, and not even Zero looked like he wanted a bite. But Aaron, on the other hand?

His eyes were shining wide, and he quickly pulled out his portable kitchen, setting it up around him so he could remain on the rune.

And just seconds later, as he turned the heat up on the grill, Terry, Joseph, and Ernest also dropped by to add corpses to the pile.

“Eat up,” Ernest said, flashing a smile before heading back to the wall.

“Protein for the gains!” Terry shot a thumbs-up and sped off with the roar of a powerful engine.

Okay, maybe they’re not so bad after all.

Aaron grinned widely as he pulled out chef knives and prepared his kitchen.

Within seconds, quickly butchered murlock steaks were grilling away, while bones were piled into stockpots.

Aaron licked his lips as his mouth watered, dicing up some sashimi as an appetizer while he cooked.

He slurped the raw murlock down with a satisfied grin, never pausing for a second, eating and cooking simultaneously.

The sashimi didn’t even put a dent in his hunger, the crystal drawing in as much energy as it could.

But that hardly mattered. Not with all the meat around him. Barely cooked steaks were thrown into his mouth, and he barely chewed as he vacuumed down one meal after another.

This was his realm. He was the ultimate power generator. Consuming food and turning it into energy in an instant, and the crystal could go to hell if it thought it was beating him at what he did best.

But he wasn’t resolved to brutishly force his way through this challenge. He had felt the inefficiencies in his energy. As he infused his mana into his dishes, he noticed a fair amount of waste. But at the same time, he also saw a way to make it better. It was the thing he had originally intended to do while waiting here: work on his energy organs.

His Mana Anchors had served him well in combat, but he had never really paid attention to how they interacted with his Profession. Of course, he knew that the mana got routed through them when possible, but he never really paid attention to the specifics. Until now.

This… could be better.

The mana flowed faster and better through his Mana Anchors, but the Mana Anchors were designed to let him output more mana, not output it more precisely. It took a conscious effort to scale it back and reduce the waste, but maybe that was exactly what he needed. He had been focusing on his Mana Anchors a lot lately, both with adding the ones on his feet and learning to use them better, and he was sure that Yendal would be very happy with his current use.

And what better way to train than under immense pressure? The insatiable hunger of the crystal had enlightened him, and now that he had pulled himself back from the edge, he could properly muse on these thoughts.

And in the meantime, he would be cooking up a storm.

Aaron’s eyes went white, and a devilish smile creased his lips. One side of his mind delved into the insights of energy that were dangling tantalizingly close, just over the horizon of his understanding, while the other half took up the mantle as a mad chef, dishing out countless murlock meals, one after another.

And he had but one errant thought; perhaps becoming a battery wasn’t such a bad thing after all.