Chapter 123 – Stretching Fate

“So, are you going to spill?” Corrine asked. “How did you gain those abilities? Did someone give you a treasure?”

Briefly, he considered the gifts that Eloise had given him. In a way, they counted. Of course, he no longer possessed them as nothing could go in and out of the trial, but they had been a priceless possession at the time. While a tier three weapon in the greater scheme of things was nothing to humanity, it had been critical on the last day. But it was not why he had the abilities that had let him beat her, or at least not directly. The cause of them was different, and she wasn’t going to like it.

He scratched his head ruefully. “Nothing so simple. I kind of did something stupid.”

Her face grew alarmed. “Dangerous?”

“You could say that.”

“Why the fuck would you do that? Are you an idiot? You’re sitting on a gold mine of ranking points with your danger sense ritual disks. Why the fuck would you jeopardise that? Out of every reincarnator, you’re the last of us who should be gambling our lives.”

“There were mitigating circumstances.”

She cradled her head in her hands in mock despair. “Really Tom. You’re so fucking thick sometimes. I’m not sure you understand how valuable those disks are going to be.”

“I do.”

She snorted. “No, you fucking don’t. I’ve seen it. People get a warning when their time is up. The number of kids who survive for months and months with a cautious strategy and then throw it away in their final weeks is astronomical. They do the maths and discover they need more coins to make a difference and think they have no choice but to fight without a GOD’s shield. They’re the hope of their civilisation and my friends as well. And Tom, they die. Almost all of them. Your invention can stop that. Instead of dying they get the coins they need to transform their species. You’ll be saving fifty plus people a year. That’s fifty geniuses that will live because of you. The direct contribution just from them will be massive. Then beyond that there’s the impact on the diminishing species. No ones guaranteed to succeed but out of that many potentials some of them will. That’s the point of this setup. Just think about it. How many ranking points is changing the fate of a dozen species worth. It might by itself get us to third.”

“I know.”

“That benefits too valuable for all of us for you to be taking stupid gambles.”

“Corrine, I understand.”

“Then why did you fucking do something dangerous? Are we talking deadly dangerous?”

“Yes. Some would say suicidal.”

“Fuck. Why?” Then, in contrast to her anger, she yawned, a massive involuntary expression of her exhaustion. “Fuck, I don’t have the energy for this conversation. I’m seriously struggling here. You have no idea how hard the survival course is, and it’s mostly environmental, so my magic did shit all.”

“You should have invested more into healing.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s dumb. There’re healing crystals and top-notch healers everywhere. For most circumstances I’m facing, healing is useless. I need abilities to help me win battles in here,” she gestured at their surroundings, but he knew she meant in the official duels. “No amount of healing will help me win those fights. Anyway, stop being an evasive and mysterious arsehole. What stupidity did you get up to?”

“Do you know the darkhole trial has started wandering?”

She yawned again. “Yeah, our class was told.” Then his words seemed to penetrate, and her gaze snapped to him. “Wait, you didn’t?”

“Didn’t what?” he queried innocently.

“Challenge it.”

“No. It wandered, and it asked me. Tried to bribe me with an offer to answer any question I wanted. I refused.”

“It asked you personally?”

“Appeared right in front of my face. I was walking along and literally ran into it. So, yes it was a personal invite. I think a GOD might have interfered to make it happen, but that’s a different story.”

She raised an eyebrow. “A GOD. Are you fucking kidding me?”

Tom had to admit he was enjoying the whiplash of her emotions his words were generating. Corrine had a very expressive face. “Nope. I can’t prove it, but I’m sure it was a GOD. Scout’s honour.”

Her expression switched back from disbelief to focused intensity. “Wait. Stop playing games. Tell me exactly what happened.”

“I am. As I said I think one of the GODs of GODDESSs interfered to make the trial offer me a spot.”

“Stop mucking around and tell the fucking story without the pointless embellishments. We’re in a world where I command the essence of the inferno. I don’t need to listen to made up shit.”

“I’m not playing games, Corrine. As I said a GOD.”

“Tom,” she interrupted warningly.

“Corrine. I swear on the GODs that I have empirical reasons to believe the trial only approached me because of a GOD interfering.”

She squawked in horror and threw herself away from him. She paused after she had opened up almost three metres between them and looked anxiously at the sky.

“Stop being dramatic. I’m not about to be smited” His multiple levels in Known Heretic and what Adam had implied in their conversation meant he was pretty confident that his guess was accurate.

Corrine’s eyes didn’t leave the sky.

“Look I’m still alive,” he told her. “Guess I was telling the truth.” The GODs had been invoked. He knew that she would have felt it and as a result there was no doubt about the accuracy of his claim.

Another ten seconds passed during which she scanned the environment. Finally, she looked at him. She did not look at all happy. “Tom, that was beyond reckless and dangerous. You should know fucking better.”

“Maybe I know stuff you don’t.”

“Never do an oath like that again!” She almost shouted over his protestations. “That was fucking dumb, a moronic risk.”

“Would you have believed me otherwise?”

“Does it fucking matter if I believe you! What I think doesn’t change a fucking thing! Don’t do oaths of that kind. It’s fucking dumb.”

He winced. When he looked at it like that, even if the chance of it back firing was only one in a million, that was not a worthwhile trade. “Good point.” He conceded.

She calmed slightly, but he could tell she was determined to hear his whole story. “So, the darkhole trial approached you, proposed an incentive, and you rejected it.” She prompted. “And then let me guess. It returned with a better offer.”

“In a way. But how did you?”

“I don’t need to be fucking Nostradamus to work that out. It’s pretty damn obvious don’t you think? So it came back with a different bargain, and that made you challenge the fucking darkhole trial of all fucking terrors out there.” She covered her eyes in despair. “You’re a loose cannon, aren’t you?”

“I challenged the Explosive Growth Trial,” he corrected with a grin.

“Who cares what it calls itself. I still don’t get why. Your disks are going to make you millions of ranking points and not to mention the coins you’ll get to shape your build. Why risk that?”

“Briana.”

Exasperation flashed across her face. “You risked everyone for her? For one stupid child?”

“Corrine,” he snarled and glared at her. She registered what she had said, and her cheeks flushed red.

“Fuck. Fuck. Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Fuck. I’m guessing she got sucked in and you felt obliged to rescue her.”

“Basically. But I didn’t just jump in blind. I knew it wasn’t a guaranteed death sentence. The trial made certain representations guaranteed by an oath on the GODS. I had a greater than twenty-five percent chance of winning. Its rules prevented it from quoting a higher percentage. Victory could have even been a certainty.”

“Was it?” she shot back.

Tom shook his head as he remembered what they had done to win. It could have easily gone bad.

“So Briana accepted an invitation.”

“She was approached because of me, and she agreed because of my actions. I couldn’t walk away. She’s just a child.” 

Corrine looked pained. “That’s a shitty situation.”

“It wanted me, so it found a lever and exploited it.”

“And an easy one too,” she agreed. “Fucking kids. They’re fucking crazy and simple to manipulate. What a fucking cunt of a trial.”

“I felt I had no choice.”

“Oh, I understand, and I’m sorry for what I said earlier about Briana. If I were put in that situation, I would have done the same thing. Logic be damned! Right?” While she was talking, she was picking up little clumps of sand and flicking them away in agitation. “So, long story short, you beat the darkhole trial?”

“I did. As did Kang, Eloise and Briana.”

Corrine whistled softly. “Eloise?”

Tom rolled his eyes. “She was a surprise. She joined up to save Briana too.”

“So the four of you won. Were the rewards good? Did it teach you those skills? Is that where your Lightning Javelin came from.”

“Not directly. I earned that with hard work and practice. The darkhole trial has perfect time dilation. For me, two months has passed, and that’s what my training got me.”

She whistled. “Two months is significant.”

“It is, but you won’t get that long.” He hesitated. “I have certain advantages that extended the duration.”

“Yes, I know what you mean. I have similar bonuses that apply elsewhere.”

“As for the actual rewards, they were incredible. You should aim to get them.”

“Maybe after I have a sleep.”

“No, no, too soon.” Tom shook his head vigorously. “No don’t rush. If I was in your position, I’d spend a couple of months using fate to shape the trial.” He had half expected his throat to choke up, but Corrine obviously already knew that function of fate, so his geas didn’t stop him from speaking the truth.

 “I guess that makes sense. But you beat it without preparation.”

“It was close and if I could do it again, I would spend more time preparing,” he interrupted and then quickly explained the escalating nature of the threat.

Corrine nodded thoughtfully. “That’s why everyone who challenges this dies.” Then she frowned. “I’m almost too old, aren’t I?”

Tom shrugged. “You’ve got a better feel for your capabilities than I do. But too old no. Worse case is once you hit fifteen, you spend a few months farming experience to buy spells and skills to boost your combat readiness.”

“True. And I’ll use the weekly trial to prepare,” she mused. “I can get it to test me against rank twelves and improve my strengths to beat them. That’s some synergy between the weekly trial capabilities and preparing for the dark hole trial. Almost like it was planned.”

“Very suspicious.” Tom agreed.

“Do you think I can cross that sort of ranking gap? Because the higher rank monsters that I’m facing are all going to have multiple abilities.”

“Kang and I carried two non-combatants, so it’s definitely doable. What rank are you?”

“Two and a half, well closer to three to be honest.”

“So, that means you’ll be facing rank elevens?”

“Yeah. But that’s not necessarily a problem if we get them tailored. If fate makes them vulnerable to fire, I guess I could beat them. And Dimitri has pointedly refused to let me see the community prayers, so I’m sure there’s something there helping me too.” Her fingers tapped on her thigh. “With the right preparation, some treasures from Dim I can do it. When I am successful, what amazing abilities can I expect?” she grinned at him.

He explained both of the traits he had received. “And there’s other stuff as well of course.”

“I’m sure there was.” She agreed. “So, in that first duel with me, you only used the equaliser trait?”

“Yes, it doubled my speed and perception, which let me dodge the fire whip.”

“Then, in the second, you used a burst to sprint away.”

“Exactly.”

“Your build is definitely coming along, but you still need magic shielding,” she waved her hand, and a pane of glowing light appeared attached to her palm. It was the size of a small buckler.. Then she flicked it again and another more opaque version materialised, doubling up the protection. “Your problem is your tool kit is only offensive.”

“And crafting,” he said with a grin.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes, and I agree with you completely. Now that the first layer of my offense is sorted. I’m going to get some magic shielding.”

Abruptly, she stood. “Now that you’ve confessed your secrets do you feel up for another round?”

Mentally, he went over the abilities that he knew she had. Her wider area of effect spells and some of the instant cast ones could definitely counter his mobility. Now that she understood how fast he could move she would be able to stop him and then there was the double layered shield. It would take two spears to get through that. Basically, without the element of surprise, he was screwed, and that was just based on the bits of the build he knew of. She was bound to have other stuff in reserve. He pretended to look at his non-existent watch. “Unfortunately, I don’t have the time now.”

“Come on, Tom. Don’t be a pussy. It’ll be fun.”

He looked sheepish. “Yeah, well. I know you’re exhausted from training, and it’ll be unfair to take advantage.”

“No, I’m fine. You won’t be taking advantage. I’m up for another round.”

He sensed magic forming around her and hastily he cancelled the session, and a moment later he was back in the study hall with Corrine next to him. Throm had already left.

Corrine was laughing at him. “That was the worse excuse ever. Did you really pretend to check your watch?”

“The key takeaway from this is that sometimes I can show good judgement. I’m not always reckless.”

She frowned slightly. “Tom, I know what I said at the start, but you have to be true to yourself. Well done keeping her alive.” 

“I still feel shit prioritising her.” he admitted, even while internally acknowledging that he would take similar risks again if it was needed.

“She’s part of humanity’s future, too. There’s nothing wrong with looking after her.” Then she yawned again. “I really have to crash.”

There was no flash or anything like that, but between one instant and the next she was just no longer there.

It was dinnertime and then he settled into the evening routine and apart from his hidden spell practice he allowed himself a few hours without training.

All too soon, he was lying in bed ready to sleep, but his brain wouldn’t let him. His thoughts kept repeating not the events of the dark hole trial, but what had happened immediately before it. The memory of him repeatedly flipping the coin and then after that what DEUS had allowed him to see.

A monumental event that had come from nothing. Just a tiny bit of curiosity and shaping fate in a direction it wasn’t meant to. The flipping of the disk, a failure of his discipline and the improbable run of results that had followed.

A trick that every other divine championship human competitor had discovered independently and applied to various levels of success.

A way to allow fate to see the future.

A substitute for a divination ability.

If his hunch was right, it meant the innate human racial trait could duplicate a skill that would otherwise cost millions of experience.

To be honest, it didn’t feel quite kosher, but the truth was there to be observed. It might feel wrong, but the technique worked, well, not for him yet but for the others. Corrine had success with it, and the historical results of the other humans confirmed the technique’s validity. 

Used properly, the method was potentially even stronger than the DEUS Chosen trait and he knew from personal experience how powerful being able to ask yes or no questions and have them be answered truthfully was.

He was almost salivating at the thought of what he could investigate. There were so many questions he could profit from getting answered.

Should my focus be on killing the dragon?

Should I concentrate on genociding terror races?

Once I’m an adult, is my time best spent uplifting other species?

Should I prioritise buying the divine fruit even at the cost of everything else?

There were so many lines of inquiry he could pursue to shape the future. He knew he was going to get a much-reduced version of DEUS’s Chosen due to his title, but if fate let him ask a question daily instead of monthly, that was a massive difference.

He was almost giddy imagining it and he realised there was no way he could sleep without testing this. The idea was too huge to not investigate immediately.

When he strained his ears, there were no noises that suggested others were awake, so he slipped out. The hallways with the illusions that made them terrifying for everyone else did not bother him, and a short time later he entered one of the isolation rooms.

The usual barrage of tests occurred to ensure there were no unwelcome presences within and his Danger Sense likewise picked up nothing.

It was time to do the test.

He was so excited. This, if it worked, would change everything.

Living Wood manipulation loped off the end of a spear, and in moments he had a coin. One side was given the image of the head and the other of a bird.

Mentally, he created the image that he wanted. The plan was that twelve straight heads in a row would mean ‘Yes.’

As prepared as he was ever going to get, he took a deep breath. “Is the best result for humanity achieved if I cut off all contact with Briana?” he asked out loud. The term ‘best for humanity’ was defined around the expected number of ranking points humans would receive. This was not a question he wanted to ask, but he felt compelled to do so.

As Corrine had said, Briana was part of humanity. This question was as much for her as it was for others. Nevertheless, he truly hoped the answer was not a yes. The thought of having to do so after what she had gone through in the darkhole trial was enough to make him almost want to cry. But he had never been one to let sentimentally get in the way of the greater good.

Bitterly he spent twenty fate and flipped the coin fully intending to be bound by the answer.

Discordant trumpets went off in his head.

A sharp pain spiked through his skull, and he crashed down onto his knees as he was suddenly unable to support his weight.

The whole world rocked, and he felt dissociated from his body. His sluggish mind struggled to understand what had happened.

He was dimly aware of the coin landing and bouncing and then rolling away from him, but he didn’t care.

His head hurt.

With all of his focus, he activated Touch Heal. Instantly, the diagnosis component reported the results.

There was nothing physically wrong. No damage in his brain for it to fix and yet he still felt like the universe was wrong, that the walls were not stable and that he lacked the energy to shift from his knees. If anything, he wanted to keel forward and collapse fully onto the ground.

He was too tired for that.

It was weird. He knelt, unable to move, his blood thundering in his ears.

There was a dripping sound.

He looked down.

Plop.

There was a small puddle under him, with splashes radiating outwards. It was red.

Plop.

The dripping sounds, the funny feeling he was suffering.

Confused, he stared at the wooden floorboards and the splatter of blood.

Another drop fell and added additional complexity to the pattern.

He was bleeding, he realised, and he raised a hand to his nose and then looked numbly at his now red stained fingers.

His nose was literally dripping, and Touch Heal had found nothing!

The world swayed.

Plop!

It was a mess that he was going to have to clean up once he got energy back.

What’s happening? He asked himself.

Plop!

It had just been a simple use of fate. Then the strange trumpets gone off and there had been a spike of pain followed by this bleeding.

He had done something wrong. Something, somehow, but the question was what? Why was his nose bleeding? Why was the world swaying? What did the noise represent? Trumpets were good, weren’t they?. Was this backlash from receiving some sort of overpowered skill.

A thrill of excitement went through him. He wondered what he might have received.

Plop!

The blood drained the excited energy away. He wondered if this was what death felt like. He hoped he wasn’t dying, but he didn’t think these symptoms were consistent with getting a reward.

He glanced at the ritual status screen and then pushed to his feet.

That was the answer.

He stumbled over to it and with clumsy hands activated it, and then he focused his scattered thoughts on bringing up the most recent ability he had received.

The negative symptoms were fading, and he hoped that was a good sign. Maybe he had gotten a title for discovering another use for fate.

Writing filled the screen, and his brief burst of joy collapsed into ashes when he registered the contents.

Plop.

The dripping blood landed on the screen and splattered. A radial circle of mini droplets spread out from the impact point.

He sniffled and placed a hand to block his nose as he stared at the contrast between the bright display and his very red blood. “Fuck,” he whispered and then reluctantly focused on the writing.

Internally, he prayed that he had misread but knew he hadn’t. 

Title: One Exploit too Far (I)

You have attempted to arbitrage the system and use fate for a purpose beyond the bounds of its intended use cases. You were at a conscious, or at the very least in your upper subconscious aware that this action went against the GOD’s plan for the ability.

Tom re-reading that description was suddenly thankful that the title was as benign as it was. It was basically accusing him of deliberately exploiting something against the wishes of the GODs. That was a dangerous path in Existentia. Everyone knew the consequences of accidental blasphemy. To do so willingly would ratchet the corresponding punishment to another level. For him to have done so when GODs were actively hunting him was the equivalent of committing suicide by volunteering for a month long torture session.

It’s the kind of thing that would get a named term assigned to it. The Tom award, which would be like the Darwin award just reserved for people even more monumentally stupid.

He was very glad the reaction was constrained to this title versus the alternative.

Plop!

His perfectly healthy nose continued to bleed, but the frequency was reducing, which told him that it would stop soon. Grimly, he resumed his re-read.

The transgression was for using fate for divination.

The human racial skill has a loose relationship with the future when it is used. By design, the ability influences probabilities to achieve a future impact. To maximise efficiency, this involves a level of precognition to determine what random chance event to influence now to get the maximum benefit in one, ten, twenty minutes’ time or in a week, month, or year.

As a result of your attempt to exploit this link, the following penalty is applied.

Permanent Penalty: Any fate you spend will be barred from using precognition at any time horizon greater than four minutes. As a result, your fate’s efficiency in time frames beyond four minutes will be materially nerfed.

Tom considered that penalty and what it meant. For combat, he would mostly be okay, but longer time periods would be problematic. Building fate up over days to help with a perfect cast of a spell became a lot more troublesome. As would influencing levels like he had done in the Explosive Growth Trial. Shaping of battle grounds for anything other than the most immediate of benefits was now pointless.

It was not terrible. A lot of the core behaviours would continue to function as powerfully as ever. Chaos Bolts could still be enhanced at will to defeat powerful enemies, lucky moments in battle would continue to occur, loot portals could be directed to meet needs and his capacity to influence evolutions and perfect casts at least the final step hadn’t changed.

The biggest impact Tom realised was on his newly created earned skill. That hundred points of fate he was generating daily, in one unit increments, could no longer be used efficiently. His current method of sending them to influence future events would be ineffective.

That was sad, but he was confident he would be able to think of a method to continue to gain benefits for it. 

He felt like hitting something, but he didn’t. Flexing his willpower, he kept reading to absorb the extra’s that he was sure that DEUS had insisted on being included. He wondered if it would have any hidden meaning.

 Note 1. This is a contagious title. If you give guidance about it, instead of the recipient being barred from it, they will instead receive it immediately. 

Note 2. The ability for fate to predict the future was explicitly allowed by the GODs within the Divine Champions Trial. This title does not supersede that GODs placed mandate and Fate within the divine champions’ trial will continue to have the same impact it always has.

Note 3. Known Heretic has influenced this title and been changed in turn. This title has contributed a small amount to upgrading Known Heretic to a new level. In the other direction these notes have been made available due to the boost.

Note 4. The core functionality of fate remains unaltered. The only component that has been restricted is nebulous intentions towards the future. Short term use within the four minute window remains unaltered. For full clarity investing future fate towards a perfect cast attempt with a sideways evolution is unfortunately impacted because the innovation into the weaves is done in the future. This method for all humans was already suffering a seventy percent reduction in efficiency versus having the fate act in real time. 

Tom paused to consider the wording of the text which he presumed DEUs had caused to be included. That last line pretty much told him that him sending fate into the future was a mistake. He had been losing seventy percent of the impact by saving it up like that. Ideas of how to adjust his approach occurred to him but he would worry about that later. The GODs must have argued long and hard about what to include and it sounded like his patreon GODDESS had won.

Probably only because Known Heretic was at such a high level.

He continued reading.

As for nebulous use of fate in the future, like what was previously done to shape trials this will be heavily nerfed. However, a more concrete application of intention will get better result. An image such as ‘make it so my party can beat the trial,’ might suffer a 99.9% penalty, while defining ‘the monster to have a speed less than rank four along with significant lightning vulnerability’ might drop the penalty to only 80%. If this image is refining further the penalty might reduce to less than 50%.

Tom sighed and then felt the subtle movement on his nose and caught the next drop just before it splattered on the screen.

He glanced around the empty isolation room. Even though the effort had backfired, even though it had resulted in his fate being nerfed the potential reward for success meant that the attempt had been worth it.

“You can’t win them all Tom.” He told himself. And the cost of this title was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. He could still use his coin trick in the divine trials and if he had to shape future events, there would be allies around who would be able to do that on his behalf. 

Really, nothing had changed.

There was still a competition to win.