"Just the tip, chat."

JamieWasTaken3: naughty

I extended a single index finger out toward the doorway and let it touch the mist.

It felt… heavy, somehow. Like it would take a lot of effort to lift the finger. The same feeling began spreading through my arm as well and I quickly withdrew it and took a few steps back.

The feeling of heaviness receded and everything returned to normal.

I frowned.

"Okay, so… It feels heavy. Like some kind of… curse, maybe? I guess walking between the towers will be mega exhausting like this, ugh…"

I could already see it. While the previous floor was fast and frantic, this one will test my patience, won't it?

KaiEbikoOfficial: augh… KaiEbikoOfficial: sending you energy nana! SunOfABeach: any side effects?

"Thanks, Ebi! Umm, I don't think so...? I think the mist is Ether-based, actually. It's like… hmm… like Echo's…" I paused, pursed my lips, then sighed. "Like Echo's anti-aggression mental thing? Except instead of Intra invading me, it's Ether…? Really weird, to be honest."

Jeofffff: can you just filter the ether out then? Jeofffff: or fight it with your own ether?

"Hmm…"

I extended my hand out again and touched the mist. The heavy feeling quickly returned, but this time, I tried to combat it by pushing it away with my own Ether.

I grimaced.

"Sort of...? This is kinda difficult, though… Hmm…"

Damn. Even though I'd trained using my Ether so much, it wasn't enough.

I pulled out again and let myself recover. A moment later, I dipped my hand into the mist again and tried once more.

It took a very long time until I figured out the trick and was sort of able to keep the heaviness out. It actually involved using Featherfall in a specialized way that I hadn't even known was possible before.

Unfortunately, it took pretty much all of my concentration to do that.

...And that was just for a single arm in the mist.

I groaned.

"It's impossible, chat. I might have to just… go there feeling all heavy. Ugh, but…"

Feeling that heavy, even with Featherfall, I doubted I could slow down my fall enough to matter if I were to fall off the bridge. And if I couldn't even see how high up these bridges were because of the mist...

"I fucking knew it. This shitty trial is testing my fear of heights..."

JamieWasTaken3: gasp le swear KaiEbikoOfficial: maybe you can try going up or down the tower instead? Jeofffff: theres gotta be some protection charm or something

"Oh! You're right! These towers are super tall. There's gotta be something important in here! I don't need to go outside yet!" I snickered. "Actually, wouldn't it be funny if that was the trick? If everything else was just a red herring and the green staircase is like… just above me or something?"

That would have been quite cruel, to be honest, but funny if I could make it there before even going outside.

I looked up and hummed.

"The only question is: How do I go up or down…? Oh, right. I have ninja shoes. Duh." I shook my head. "Hey, shut up, chat! My brain's still a bit scrambled after the last trial! Yours would be too!"

I huffed.

"Anyway…" I crouched down and placed my palm on the ground. "Is there a hidden trapdoor somewhere…? Or can I break through? I doubt I can. It's probably the same indestructible material as dungeons, isn't it? Hmm…"

I spent about half an hour prodding the floor, trying to find any way to descend, but couldn't find anything. Then, I proceeded to walk up the wall and do the same to the ceiling.

Nothing.

I sighed.

"I have to go outside, chat. I hate it… Come on, Fate Weaver! I'm a Vcuber! Don't you know that going outside is impossible for my kind?! This is cruel and unusual!"

Alas, my complaints remained unanswered. And since I couldn't just sit in this box forever I eventually had to give in and go.

"Okay, chat… I already know this will suck, but…" I sighed. "Okay. Let's go."

I touched the mist again and felt the heaviness enter my body. I did my best to counteract it with Featherfall, but as soon as I dipped my whole arm into it, I could no longer keep it at bay completely, and the moment I stepped into the mist completely, the heaviness flooded my body in its entirety.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

I groaned and almost fell to my knees.

"Oh gooood…" I whined, looking at the very distant end of the bridge.

Despite the difficulty though, I kept going.

I stepped onto the thin bridge with shaky legs, then looked down–

And immediately backpedalled out of the mist and fell backwards on my butt.

I took a deep shaky breath before exhaling.

"...Chat? I thought this couldn't be that much worse than the centipede cave." I paused. "It's so much worse and I haven't even started yet."

Maybe an exaggeration. After all, drinking a giant centipede's stomach acid was eugh, but…

The problem with this place was that while in the last trial, I'd had to act quickly with no moment to hesitate, I had been given all the time in the world to hesitate and back out here. And knowing myself, I would keep backing out and never actually make any progress at this rate.

It was weirdly… devious.

I stood up with a sigh.

But at the same time, there might be some kind of hidden time limit, so I couldn't truly be sure that I had all the time in the world.

"Okay… Okay…" I took a deep breath and exhaled. "Okay… Round two, chat. Let's do this. There's nothing to be afraid of."

I grit my teeth and once again stepped into the fog. The heaviness quickly spread through my body despite my efforts to keep it at bay but I forced myself to keep going. This time, I didn't look down when I made my first steps onto the bridge.

"Oh, boy… Chat, why is it so far away? Why couldn't it be closer? And why is this bridge so damn narrow? Dammit… I wish I had wings. I envy Echo…"

I kept mumbling random things to distract myself from the bottomless abyss below me and the fact that the bridge I was walking on wasn't even wide enough to do jumping jacks on.

"Do you guys think I'll get a flight skill with tier three? God, I hope so. Think how cool it would be to just fly around. But yeah, probably not. Doesn't really feel like a human skill. Unless I get advanced engineering or something and create a plane. Hah, imagine that! That would totally fit. What? Doesn't fit a fantasy world? What do you mean? Didn't we all watch an ad for a giant flying spaceship hotel? It could totally happen! Just imagine–"

My endless random rambling was interrupted by a series of loud sounds of metal rubbing on metal behind me.

I immediately tensed up and summoned John behind me to check it, so that I wouldn't have to turn on this very thin bridge.

My heart sank at the sight.

There were now long needle-like spikes on top of the bridge behind me – the same ones I'd seen on the underside – blocking me off from returning.

"No no no no…" I mumbled but forced myself to keep going forward.

Because if I knew anything about video games–

Swoosh. More spikes. Closer to me than before.

"Seriously?!" I shouted and flooded my body with Ether to move faster through this damn heaviness.

As expected, the spikes kept appearing, faster and faster, in no time at all, I was running full-sprint forward as my body screamed to take a break already.

Then I tripped.

"Fu–"

I channeled all the Ether I was already channeling into my feet to stick to the ground on instinct, just to prevent myself from falling off.

Naturally, that led to my sprint momentum abruptly changing direction and me face-planting into the bridge.

At this point though, that didn't even phase me and I quickly got up and kept on going.

Chat's laughter and their attempts to recreate the noise I'd made when I'd face-planted in text form was pretty annoying though. Fortunately, I didn't exactly have time to focus on that annoyance at the moment.

I kept running. The spikes kept appearing behind me, faster and faster, and I had no choice but to push myself to my utmost limit.

But running this fast meant running through more of the cursed mist. The more I ran, the more exhausted and heavy I felt, which in turn made it harder to keep it at bay with Featherfall, which made me feel heavier and so on.

My mind was screaming at me to just close my eyes and take a nap but I forced myself to keep going.

One leg in front of the other.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Keep.

Going!

I jumped through the opening at the end of the bridge moments before the spikes sprung up behind me.

I hit the ground with a gasp and rolled for a moment before coming to a stop. Part of me was terrified that the spikes would begin appearing inside the room as well, so I forced my aching body to stand and back away from the entrance some more. It wasn't until my back hit the wall and my knees gave out, that I decided that I was probably safe from the spikes for the time being.

I collapsed into a heap and just gasped for breath for a moment as the heaviness gradually lifted… though it didn't get rid of the exhaustion I still felt.

I then took the moment to look around the room I was in.

It looked identical to the room in the tower I'd started in. High ceiling, Two doorways – one of which was blocked by needles – and a red door.

Just to confirm, I sent out John through the other doorway and had him look around.

Other than one of the bridges now having needles on both sides, the view looked pretty much the same as last time.

"Chaaaat!" I whined. "Why does it feel like I made absolutely zero progress with this?"

Jeofffff: maybe you need to draw somethng with the spikes KaiEbikoOfficial: there could be something in this room KaiEbikoOfficial: hold on I'll make a map of this place

"Draw something? What? Like… make some kind of pattern with these spiky bridges?" I groaned. "That sounds like such a pain… Yeah, thanks Ebi. I'll look around again I guess."

One quick exploration session later, I sat in the middle of the room again, annoyed that the room was equally as empty as the first one I'd been in.

"What am I supposed to do, exactly…?" I asked with a sigh.

SunOfABeach: I know you'll hate it but maybe you need to jump off to a lower layer

I grimaced.

"Jump off to a lower layer…?" I repeated under my breath. "Ugh… I hate that you might just be right about that…"

Or alternatively, I was somehow supposed to get up a layer… Not that these bridges were neatly organized into layers or anything. I could see some in the distance that were slanted, so it was possible to get higher or lower without having to jump.

Unfortunately, all the ones that I could see on the same 'layer' as me all remained at the same elevation. So unless I had to travel very far to find one that went between different elevations, my only option would really be to jump off, if I wanted to explore in the third dimension.

I glanced at the red door with a tired sigh.

So tempting.

This trial was like the exact opposite of the previous one.

The centipede cave had made me want to leave in the heat of the moment, but this place was slowly whittling down my willpower.

And I hadn't even gotten that far yet! Just one bridge crossed!

I slapped my cheeks and then stood up.

"Okay, okay! No time to get depressed! I'll shelve the whole… jumping off idea for now. Let's keep going and we'll see if we find anything."

Then I turned toward the exit without needles, took a deep breath, and steeled myself for yet another exhausting bridge crossing.

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