Don’t remind me.
Alan had thought his previous experience in the Game had pushed his limits before. He had, after all, experienced mind numbing pain in the Tutorial. But this was different. Before, he had to simply sit still, and watch as the Predecessor advanced. Now, for each second that passed, he had to force himself to endure greater pain. It was like he was at the end of a set in a grueling workout, but on a completely different level. Pushing himself to take another step, pushing his body forwards in a full on sprint, was experiencing each moment of the muscle weary pain and tiredness for an eternity. His body, his mind, surely couldn’t take more.
Keep going. You are barely at the 35% of your body’s limit.
WHAT!? Alan moaned into his head, a large sense of dread coming over him as he pushed himself onwards.
To what limit must I push my body to in order to escape?
Simply 70%, the point of near-collapse. I am not unreasonable, and do not expect you to push yourself to the point where you would die.
Alan swore at Eve.
You are wasting energy.
Sighing, Alan focused on but one thought. Move. He let Eve worry about where, and when. The details didn’t matter, only the motion. Alan pushed himself forwards, through the pain, the fatigue that couldn’t possibly get any worse. Of course, it did worsen, slowly but surely, as Alan felt his body seem to almost tear itself apart. He was pushing it too hard, harder than should be possible. But Eve guided him onwards.
Exhaustion and discomfort was soon but a remnant of the blissful past. This was torture, a torment so unbearable that Alan almost wished to die, to step into the oncoming bullets rather than dodge them. But, for some reason, Alan managed to persevere, finding a quiet strength within that he didn’t know he had. The pain, the weariness? It didn’t matter. All that mattered was forwards. Something clicked inside Alan’s head, and an in-game message appeared before him. Alan ignored it, and it closed automatically. Eve would have directed him if it were important.
Suddenly, Alan realized he was nearing the market district once more, as the crowds began to swell. Alan was able to deftly maneuver past people, but the guards chasing were having a great deal more difficulty, as they were trying to chase down a person no one else could see, firing into supposed nothingness. A few people began firing back at the chasing guards.
Realizing, that he might escape, and soon, Alan felt a short-lived burst of energy, only to have it soon be replaced once more by the mind-numbing agony of continuing onwards. A few seconds later, the guards lost Alan, a sensor they threw forwards knocked aside by an enraged old woman, shouting something about public decency.
Alan felt himself slow down as he escaped the sensor’s range, relief washing over him.
DON’T STOP. ONWARDS.
What? But—
IF YOU STOP HERE, THEY WILL FIND YOU. ONWARDS.
And so Alan pushed himself onwards, as his vision began to blur and his consciousness began to fade. As he even began to lose his sense of feeling, the pain somehow blissfully disappearing, he continued forwards, where Eve directed. Then, his body could take no more, and Alan collapsed onto the ground, oblivious to his surroundings.
***
Alan awoke in an alleyway, a shrill ringing sounding in his mind. Groaning, Alan rolled onto his back. Every part of his body felt sore, his legs hurting so much he almost couldn’t feel them. As soon as he was fully conscious, the ringing stopped.
Welcome back. I allowed you to rest as long as possible, I activated and deactivated the armor’s invisibility to avoid detection while you were asleep. We have an hour and a half to get back with the package.
Groaning, Alan pushed himself up, staggering as his legs felt weak underneath the strain of the weight of his body and the Revenant armor. Now that he was able to check his messages, he saw to his surprise he’d gained a number of new abilities:
Through sheer willpower alone you have managed to push yourself to your limit, and beyond! Enhanced Control sub-abilities Ignore Pain and Programming a Path unlocked. Indomitable Will has been reclassified as Transcendent Will, an ability under the Enhanced Control ability tree, increasing its effectiveness.
Alan checked out the tooltips of the skills:
Ignore Pain allows the user to ignore a portion of their pain. Not all pain may be ignored, and if a player’s concentration is broken this effect may be nullified.
Programming a Path allows the player’s thought out actions to become almost second nature, allowing inhuman feats of precise movement.
Transcendent Will appears when the user musters their willpower to transcend normal limits, accomplishing an impossible feat through sheer willpower. Passively increases willpower, and in extreme situations allows the users to accomplish unattainable feats of will.
Endurance +15, Willpower +20
Grinning, Alan slowly managed to make his way back to the entrance he came through. There, he found the man with the dark formal attire and purple glove, nonchalantly talking with one of the guards, holding a sensor behind his back.
Through a different exit, then.
Alan made his way over to the next closest exit. Just as he was about to approach though, Eve highlighted a woman, leaning against the wall next to the entrance. Holding a sensor.
Damn.
Yes, all the exits out of the Undercity are likely guarded. I am uncertain what organization might have the manpower to guard every entrance though… I wonder what it is that’s in that package.
Yeah, so, how do we get out then?
I am unsure. If they are guarding all the entrances to the Undercity, they are likely guarding the lift back up to the Administrative Center as well. Also, I doubt we could even get back in time. At least, not alive.
Wait, what do you mean?
Right now, if we want to have a high probability of joining the Black Rose guild, completing this quest, which is clearly not a simple task but a major test to get into the guild, is of the utmost importance, correct?
Um, yeah.
Well, I noticed there was an Administrator outpost within the Undercity. It will, for a price, teleport a player’s items into their secure vault, which we will then be able to access. After we die and respawn inside the Administrative Center, our last respawn point, that is. Due to its proximity our respawn time should be negligible. The only difficulty is that the item must not belong to another player for us to teleport it in our name, and I am uncertain whether or not the black box is registered to someone else. As it is unmarked, I highly doubt it, especially if it contains some illegal substance, as the Administrators would confiscate and scan the item.
Dying, really? Is there any other way, like shooting or teleporting ourselves out?
No, this is our best option for completing the task. Player teleportation is unimaginably expensive, even short distances. Additionally, in any other scenario, if we die, we would undoubtedly drop this item.
All right…
However, since we are planning on dying…
Yes?
I think we should take risks I’d otherwise advise against. As making it out is unlikely, with little chance of gain, I suggest we explore the Abyss Labyrinth Dungeon, and maybe try to get lucky in a dungeon far above our level, trying to steal or ambush unsuspecting, chaotic players. Don’t attack any normal, non-chaotic players as you will lose more if you die with chaotic status for attacking other players.