Hope was such a powerful feeling, but it was very much a double-edged sword… because the disappointment and sadness when hope was squashed truly sucked.

And for Jake, things very much sucked right now. He had still held onto hope that he would be healed after leaving the Challenge Dungeon, but that had turned out not to be the case. In fact, it was nearly the opposite. Getting his C-grade status back had instead resulted in Jake feeling far fucking worse than before.

At least he had his equipment back now, so he could cover his face and head with his cloak as he stumbled through the city floor while trying to go somewhere he could sit down and relax. When he appeared outside the Challenge Dungeon, he found himself surrounded by people, and he instantly felt an assault of murky auras, while every sound reminded him of nails on a chalkboard. Not to mention the lights. The lights were the damn worst, as they all appeared either blinding or far too dark.

After stumbling into an abandoned residence in the city, Jake went inside and headed straight for the basement. If in the arena, his senses had been far too muted, now they just seemed inconsistent. Some sounds were deafening, while others were entirely silent as if the spectrum of sound he could pick up was entirely out of whack.

However… the worst of all was the smell. People stank, period. Jake himself stank, too. Everything was just horrible. So, with all that in mind, Jake decided that the best course of action would be to find a quiet little cellar to relax in as he tried to get a full understanding of what had happened.

Well, okay, he knew what had happened. Jake was currently experiencing backlash from unleashing far more power than he was capable of. He had more or less used an aspect of his Bloodline he wasn’t capable of handling, which had left damage on his soul and body alike. Damage that the system didn’t heal.

What he had to figure out was the extent of the backlash. He knew his usual senses were all off, but nothing seemed entirely gone. Even the sphere was there, and in an act of recklessness, he even released a Pulse of Perception. Let’s just say that the average Van Gogh painting was way more discernible than the utter mess Jake got back.

But it worked. Next, Jake checked something else he really hoped wasn’t messed with. Something he had a feeling still worked as it should, which was a good start. Reaching into his spatial storage, he pulled out a small metal coin and tried to flip it.

Heads.

Catching it, he saw it landed on heads. Of course, one result didn’t really say anything as he tried again.

Heads. Heads.

He continued this and did about ten more throws, predicting all of them right. He then even tried to do it with three at once and predicted all three accurately, too.

Okay, so my intuition seems fine, Jake thought with relief. If that had also been screwed, Jake wouldn’t even have been able to trust his own gut, which would be a serious problem. That it worked also meant that Jake’s feeling this backlash wasn’t permanent and would heal with time was likely true. Then again, even without his Bloodline-empowered intuition, he would likely have been able to know it. The Sword Saint at least said that he had an uncanny understanding of the backlash he suffered upon using his Transcendent skill. So, there was a good chance that even if the system didn’t help heal these kinds of injuries, it did at least allow the one suffering to understand their situation.

As for how long it would take to fully recover, Jake quite frankly had no idea. What he did know was that it wouldn’t just be a day or two. However, even just sitting there in the cellar for a bit, Jake began to slowly adapt to his messed up senses, making everything slightly less overwhelming. Fighting was still not on the table, but at least he should be able to function within a reasonable timeframe.

While sitting there and just relaxing his head, Jake felt a mental nudge. One he hadn’t felt in quite a while as he faintly smiled and allowed it.

on your list? Eversmile? Oh, maybe Stormild! Or wait… is it me? Sorry, you will have to get in the queue for that one; you

be the easiest,” Jake responded jokingly, relieved that at least telepathic messages seemed fine. Also… it felt damn good to communicate with a real person who would actually retain their memories.

to what you did there in the arena, including any backlash you are currently suffering.

I went ham in there,” Jake sent telepathically with a smile. “As for the backlash… actually, who else is

me, no worries,”the Viper assured him. “No way I would give them a free sneak peek

fair enough,” Jake surrendered as a thought struck him.

as they are all currently taking part in Challenge Dungeons,” Villy cut

with them or at least hear what they had been up to. That would at least have helped him burn some time while recovering. “Are they also all

aren’t. Maybe. I guess you’ll find out at some point, but for

while also giving me a scoop on the

non-intrusive questions from him, and he will give you a tip on what Challenge Dungeon should do next, including a tip for performing well there, probably packaged as advice that somehow doesn’t

he did have one concern. “Not sure how good my answers will be, though. I

it's taken without permission from

know if you are lying, but if the genuine truth is that you don’t know how you did something, that still counts as a spent question answered genuinely, right?” the Viper

back and leaned his head against the wall of the abandoned

on your Bloodline and not any other skills or abilities you

skills were involved, no,” Jake answered. He couldn’t exactly say it was all Bloodline, as it also used his arcane affinity as

experiencing from doing what you

as Jake could have easily answered: “I don’t know, too early to tell,” if he asked for a definite answer. Instead, this question pretty much asked him what his own

am also unsure as to how long it will take to recover,” Jake

the third and last question. Is what

“Yes.”

one was easy enough to answer, as Jake was absolutely certain he could if he was once more put in

of silence followed

of the Architect, and Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth all require you to be at your best, leaving only the Test of Character one. Luckily for you, no matter how weak you are in that one, it doesn’t matter for shit. At least

the Test of Character

vague: As individuals

if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna force myself to

just stay true to yourself. Now, considering I have a Primordial staring daggers at me, I should probably end things here. See

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