Meeting Oculus and Combat Assessment

[Welcome to the combat assessment Hendrix.]

[Error outside interference detected.]

[Searching for solutions...]

[...]

[Solution found, lowering difficulty for the player.]

'Are you Guide by chance?'

[Yes, I am. Hello again Hendrix.]

'Hi, may I have a detailed explanation of how this combat assessment works?'

[Sure]

[The combat assessment is for all new players to test their skills and obtain a temporary boost to help them in the crown world.]

[Though I'll increase your assessment difficulty exponentially as the original was too easy for you. You will gain a temporary set of weapons and armor explicitly used for this assessment.]

'Is it okay if I make my armor and weapons?' Hendrix thought, remembering his class restrictions and strengths.

[This is a bizarre request, Hendrix, though it Is allowed. The assessment will provide basic materials to make your tools, armor, and weapons. But that is all, to keep it fair.]

'Can I build a building as well with fortifications? And build traps, among other things?' Hendrix thought as he felt it was best to prepare for anything. He didn't know what madness the curse of Majesty could cause.

[I am afraid this request will be den- Wait...]

[...]

[Oculus has interfered with the assessment and forced the acceptance of your request.]

After Guide announced this, the darkness began to warp, fold, and whirl as a phantasmal eye materialized before him. It had two silver-colored and crescent-shaped Iris's on its sides before they flipped, forming a circle. This circle contracted as it stared at Hendrix. It had many metaphysical blood vessels pulsating out its back, with blood and tears dripping from itself, seemingly crying.

"The price for accepting your request is your opponent will equal the preparations you make, and the reward will scale the same way. I look forward to the entertainment your battle provides me, immortal," A voice announced. It sounds like thousands of insects crawling over one another.

'Who are you?' Hendrix thought, horrified, as he saw the gigantic eye and heard its voice. His consciousness blanked for a second in terror before returning to normal.

"I am Oculus, tormented one. Your achievements in your tribulation have astonished, shocked, and impressed me. As a mortal, you destroyed a citadel, an act worthy of being made a myth." Oculus's veins began to crawl around its body, shifting and wriggling before detaching and flying around itself in many rings, seemingly like Saturn's.

'Oculus, why did you call me the tormented one?' Hendrix thought, alarmed, thinking Oculus knew his past too before lifelessly sighing, feeling infinitesimal and haphazard.

"Because of your past, I have spoken to Alagdalla, and together we devised a title for you. Very few gain titles Tormented One," Oculus stated. Before beginning to circle and study him like a person using a microscope to examine a cell, its twin Iris's separating and dilating, and contracting and merging.

[You gained a new title]

[The Tormented One]

'Why are you looking at me like I'm a unique specimen in a lab?!' Hendrix thought, feeling constant chills through his soul, body, and mind, like everything about him forcefully read like an open book.

"You are a unique specimen, Tormented One. You are immortal," It responded. While Amorphously laughing, sounding like multiple lunatics hysterically cackling while merging, contorting, and ever-changing into one another.

{Enough, stop scaring Hendrix!}

"Ahh, one of Hendrix's entities. Intriguing and wonderous. Oh, your kind used to be extinct and unable to grow in strength, born as they are." Oculus began analyzing Ackalons scroll form, curious how she came to be, her powers, and everything about her.

{What do you mean?}

"I think I shouldn't tell you. After all, that's passed, aren't I right? It doesn't matter to know the history, right?" Oculus responded as its laughter echoed throughout the darkness. And its blood and tears continued falling from its body into the abyss.

[Oculus, I don't wish to disrespect you, but isn't it time for Hendrix to begin his combat assessment?]

"Ahh, that is indeed true, Guide. I'll take my leave." Oculus nodded as its body began to deconstruct until it disappeared entirely.

[Commencing transfer to assessment with all requests granted and variable difficulty. Good luck, Hendrix Alford]

After Guide teleported Hendrix and Ackalon's scroll form out of the darkness and into an empty white area, it was silent and seemed to go on forever in all directions.

[Hendrix Alford I warn you not to make insane defenses, or else the difficulty will match it according to the law of equal exchange. Generally, If you die here, you die for real. But in your case, you'd fail and enter the crown world without any rewards.]

[What biome do you wish to use?]

'Why not a mix between mountain and forest, with weak monsters inside? That should suffice for what I plan to make.' Hendrix pondered for a moment before sighing while looking at the screen.

[Noted]

{If only I could help you right now. But I'm still too weak to leave my realm in another form.}

'I'll try to invent something in the future, Ackalon. Though now I can't as I need to build the fortifications.' Hendrix thought while looking at his surroundings change from an empty one to a vast forest with a red sun in the sky. And an extensive mountain range in the distance. The trees had long vines hanging from them while tiny monsters crawled along the forest floor and through the canopy above. Their noises made this place feel alive, and the air was fresh without any pollution. Small insects flew through the air and towards somewhere.

{Perhaps you can invent custom traps or weapons using needles for your fortifications. It will be easier for you here, and perhaps you can recreate them in the crown world for defense or something.}

'I'll try it. However, I must make an obscene amount of wooden needles, Ackalon. Because my main strategy will require those.' Hendrix thought his melee skills should only be used when necessary due to his abysmal stamina.

[Your assessment awaits you, Hendrix, please begin.]

'Alright, Guide, may I know if I have a time limit?' Hendrix thought, worried his preparations may exceed the possible time limit if one existed before sighing and picking up a branch and using it as a cane.

[You have no time limit, Hendrix, don't worry. Remember what Oculus said?]

'Yes, it wants me to entertain it.' Hendrix thought, irked by his life being nothing more than a show for beings he barely could fathom. Before sighing, knowing he could do nothing about it.

[Indeed, so it doesn't want to give you one.]

'What happens if I die in the preparation stage? Will I have to start over?' Hendrix thought as he felt that he might waste a lot of time.

[Yes, and there are no save points.]

'Will erosion eat away at my construction, making all I did for naught?' Hendrix thought this might limit his capabilities if the weather messed with his creations.

[No, it won't. Now please begin.]

'Alright, I should begin my grueling and arduous projects then.' Hendrix thought as he picked up some sticks and rocks for his preparations.

***

Hendrix began making all the tools he needed, using the same methods from his tribulation. Though he had some issues, his stamina problem hindered and delayed his progress significantly. Once he finished making tools, he built a makeshift hut out of sticks for shelter before beginning his main construction.

Hendrix began exploring the area, looking for a perfect place for his fortifications. While searching, he came across a large canyon with a dry riverbed. He smiled as he began building a gigantic wall from the bottom of the canyon.

He did this by cutting rock into cubes from boulders scattered throughout the canyon, slowly but surely. As he did, the canyon's loose rocks slowly disappeared while Hendrix built the base of a wall at an even slower one.

Many days and nights passed while he continued building it. Eventually, he finished the wall alone after six millennia while dying many times. However, it looked barebone, except for little holes lining the sides. The wall is five miles long, seven hundred feet wide, and one mile tall, with a fifty-foot thick layer to protect from attacks.

***

{Hendrix, I think the difficulty for your assessment will be harrowing from this wall alone. I wish you luck in winning this.}

'I never plan on facing my foes head-on here. They're too strong. Hence I plan to outsmart my opponents and plan carefully. I always assume the worst is coming, hence my insane preparations.' Hendrix thought while shrugging as he tried to invent something through trial and error.

{May I know what you're trying to invent?}

'A large ballista-like thing that shoots one long thin needle at immense speeds. Though I've been having issues creating it.' Hendrix thought as he pulled back the rope and long needle before shooting it with twice the momentum he had when he launched one with two fingers and a tiny bow.

{Please take a break, Hendrix. You tirelessly worked like a machine for so long. I worry about your well-being.}

'I need to do everything I can to get a good reward. Remember, I'm trying to make sure I don't get captured. Plus, if I use this place to create, I can increase your power, even if it's just a little.' Hendrix thought as he sighed before getting up and walking with his cane to pick up the needle. He wheezed, and his eyes lifelessly looked around.

{I worry about you, Hendrix.}

'I have two choices Ackalon, either I run into the wilderness in the crown world and never return to civilization. Or I do what I do here whenever it causes no risk to me regarding my secrets. I plan to choose this option and hide in plain sight in cities.' Hendrix thought as he began tinkering with his invention, trying to figure out what went wrong before giving up and leaning against the wall tiredly.

{You're right about this, and I hate it. I hate that you have to live in fear of everything because if you don't, you'll become a guinea pig for experimentation. I feel so helpless that I can't help you in any other way.}

'You don't need to, Ackalon. I'm grateful for all the comfort and care you gave me in your realm. Letting me vent my emotions and nurturing me.' Hendrix thought while smiling weakly and grabbing a branch along with a stone knife before sitting down in his chair and beginning to carve a needle masterfully and carefully. The wood shavings cut off fell to the floor while he sighed and coughed.

{You're welcome, Hendrix}

Hendrix nodded as he continued carving the needle and coughing. Eventually, he'd fall asleep in the chair from exhaustion.