"Finally... the damn test.
Placing my leaden legs on the carcass of a chopped-up bug, I focused on the inscription looming before my eyes. The first test had been completed, albeit with tremendous effort. For a whole week, if I was to believe the hourglass, my nerves were stretched like steel cables, and from time to time they snapped under the pressure of the environment. I can't even say that I saw any progress in my actions. I slept little, ate poorly, and rested little, which greatly affected my overall strength. The further I went, the worse it got: my body's movements slowed down, walking became more difficult, and waving my arms... I just didn't want to do it.
I had to replace the movements of standard muscles with sand. I would even say that it was easier to do anything at all thanks to magic — cutting food, moving around, and cleaning myself up. This does not mean that my muscles did not develop at all; they strained harder than in all my previous workouts at home, but they simply wore out faster than the magic, and it became more difficult to trust them. Meanwhile, the number of beetles did not decrease.
After studying the hive, I quickly realised that I was only on the first floor. The hole in the centre, from which new drones periodically flew out, was a continuation of the local colour, and most of the honey went there. Presumably to eat. And the more I appeared in the hive, the less I wanted to go down.
"The test is complete. However, I am not only Death, I am also the keeper of poisons and medicines. As my champion, learn the necessary craft. Choose:
1 - Study the poisons in beetles (you will gain basic knowledge of how to use poisons)
2 - Study the useful properties of beetles (you will gain basic knowledge of surgery and medicine)
3 - Eat the beetles whole (you will develop a tolerance to poisons).
"So I'm already your champion? Anyway, this is useful knowledge," - it was difficult to choose just one thing. Some of it was the fantasy of a sick schizophrenic, but the rest... was normal. The main thing was to choose a path, so I didn't beat around the bush and decided on medicine. Hoping that it would make my body a little easier, I was forced to collect a huge pile of corpses and lay them out somewhere where no one would disturb me.
After days of fighting, this test was pure torture... you couldn't run anywhere, you couldn't keep track of your surroundings or anything in the three-dimensional space around you. You just sat there silently and carefully dissected the more or less intact corpses. Anubis demanded precision, that I cut ten asses in a row without damaging them with excessive roughness. I had to make the incisions and cut the skin without making any mistakes.
This, in turn, required me to start creating better materials. I hadn't cared about the smoothness of the blade before, and it wasn't realistic to make it high quality during combat. Now, however, I was tearing my ass apart to make the blade smooth and free of even a single grain of sand.
Without such materials, it was easy to damage nerves, blood vessels, muscles and organs, which I needed to store and cut separately. Sand tentacles worked for me while my hands rested. And already at this stage, it became clear how important it was to cut the carcass correctly. Excessive damage to the carcass could strain the muscles and make the meat tough; damaged organs secreted a terrible substance that spoiled the meat. And if the blood vessels were not drained properly, all the blood would become viscous.
I don't know how to describe it, but my desire to study medicine only grew stronger over time. I stopped eating the slop made from the poisoned meat of the beetles and started eating properly cut carcasses and drinking blood that was still disgusting but not oily. As for the organs, they had to be preserved in sandstone jars. It turns out that the luminescent liquid of glowing drones protected the organic matter from decay. This information was obtained through the cruel treatment of several fireflies. May they rest in peace.
Soon I began to wonder how much time all this was taking. I immersed myself in the available knowledge and the possibilities for acquiring it.
***
Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Sand inside a sturdy glass flask trickled into the lower compartment. Staring intently at the remaining grains of sand, literally slivers that counted down the seconds, I waited for the last one to fall and silently watched as the clock turned over. This movement marked the second year of my life in the bowels of the rock... and it was my last day.
"Anubis... is that all? - With a heavy gaze, devoid of any hope, I focused on the space in front of me. The difficulty of the present battlefield had taught me that one should only rely on proven facts and one's own skills. Only a cruel blow of reality to the face can set development on the right course, and I was ready to receive it again.
"You can come out now."
After two years spent here, I knew the nest by heart. There were at least five floors, and a giant hole ran through it all, which my sandy paws began to cling to as I tried to climb out. The horror of this place lay in its... ordinariness. The wasps behaved like those from my homeland; they had no magic and did not shoot acid, they just fiercely defended the Queen. The closer I got to her, the more dangerous the swarm became. They cared less about their wounds and wanted to kill the intruder even more — the words of the desert people about this place were true. But only partially.
Nevertheless, I was able to solve all the problems caused by the local bee-stealers on my own. The lair and the queen were destroyed. Walking down the long corridor, already accustomed to stepping on the slippery floor, I found myself in the fresh air. My rags began to flutter in the wind. Nothing unusual seemed to have happened, and I periodically stepped outside so that the sunlight would not blind me. But suddenly, my ears caught the sound of rushing water.
Approaching the edge of the cliff, I saw a boat with a couple of sand mages and a man casting a shadow on the mountain.
"Hurry up, I don't want to see the vulture-wasp bite your dick off!
"Let me sit down! When was the last time you saw them anyway?
"Maybe they feed on idiots like you? Hey, stop... who's that standing up there? - Four pairs of eyes quickly turned towards me. After calmly examining them, especially the boat, which could take about a day to reach the nearest settlement, I took a step forward and jumped.
Splash*
Landing on the hot sand, I looked at the people, causing everyone to flinch. A couple of them immediately made sand swords and pointed them at me. I had forgotten... my gaze usually causes slight panic.
"I won't cause any trouble. I just want to use this boat.
"Are you threatening us?" one of them barked. My gaze was fixed on him, and apparently, this was taken as an insult. "What the hell are you? You're just a bunch of rags.
"Oh, right... do you have any spare clothes? I had rehearsed this encounter many times in my head, but now everything was mixed up. How do you behave when people are afraid of you and plan to kill you?
"Are you planning to rob us?" At that moment, one of them, the one who had unzipped his fly, came closer. The blade was pressed against my neck, and I could see a smirk in his eyes. "You stink like shit."
"I wasn't planning on robbing you..." But before he could finish, he felt the knife approaching his neck. Moving out of the way, he found himself, as far as he could tell, in a trap. The guy wanted to grab my head with his hand and slam it against the rock, his movements seemed effortless. But after the last floor, where they were operating at their limits due to the queen's pheromones, his speed seemed terrifyingly slow. It was even unclear why he was using his hands instead of magic, which was stronger and faster. I dodged as quickly as possible, and the sand carried me away so fast that no one noticed. The bandit's body was encased in sand.
"Um! Um-m-m-m-m!" cried the mage, unable to break free. He was wrapped like a mummy. Just as carefully and neatly as the ancient Egyptian servants of Anubis, who buried the dead, had taught him. I had a hostage in my hands, so I thought the others would immediately start listening to me. But instead, I felt the sand moving, forming into sharp-edged waves that rushed towards me. But they didn't reach me. The magicians lost control as soon as they were submerged in the sand up to their necks.
"What? Quicksand?!
"What the hell are you doing!!!
All the heads shouted angrily as I approached the boat and searched the cabin for clothes. I found a surprising amount, several boxes of goods of completely different purposes. Plants, fruits and fabrics. Swallowing hard, I took a couple of juicy fruits. My eyes widened at their rich, cloyingly sweet taste. Taking the fabrics, I began to change my clothes.
"Free us!
"It won't work," he said, stepping out of the deck and sitting on the edge of the boat, looking at everyone from under his eyebrows. As soon as he gave them a really threatening look, they flinched and finally shut up. "You're bandits, aren't you? You have a lot of different goods. Some of them have blood on them..."
"Y-you... - someone wet their pants.
"We'll share, just don't kill us! No, take us into your gang, we need magicians! You'll live like a human being. "Shut up. Do you know a man named Tassad? He was attacked by gangsters two years ago.
The men slowly looked at each other and expressed complete incomprehension. As it turned out, they had been in this environment for less than a year. They had formed a gang and were operating near Mount Shi Wong, where merchants had begun to pass by more frequently. Therefore, it was useless to question them about their future plans. Standing up and climbing onto the roof of the cabin, he focused on his hands.
"Hey, you're going to let us go, right?
"We can't get out, the sand is too hard!
"...Why should I help bandits? " innocently bowing his head, he abruptly created a miniature tornado in his hands. The rapidly gathering vortex was immediately thrown towards the sail and grew to three metres in height. The wind that formed inflated the sail and began to propel the boat faster than the bandits could have dreamed of. The speed was reached in a matter of seconds. Soon I was rushing headlong, not even bothering to flap my arms. The tornado maintained itself steadily and allowed me to go wherever I wanted. But... "Anubis, which way is the settlement where we bought the wood? We need to understand why the bandits wanted to capture me and Tassad..."
"1 - Go back and ask the bandits (the least honourable options will become available, opening a direct path to the goal)
2 - Restore the events of the past and try to find the way yourself (a path for developing tracking skills)
3 - Wander in search of your goal (You will explore the desert and find it easier to navigate)
"...I am not proud. I will return and ask.
***
Advanced chapters:
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