B.F.HUUPS
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Chapter 44
🕑 Added 2025-07-28 20:24:00 +0000 UTCModerate Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund.
Provides: Trait unchanged from Minor Blessing.
+5% All Stats
Skill [ Epic - Legacy ] Adipose Fusion.
The ogre chef Oozagh requires vast amounts of energy to fuel their cooking and transmutation of ingredients, and to do this, he harnesses his greatest asset—adipose tissue. The ogre god takes the storing of energy within his adipose tissue to an entirely new level. Passively, the user can store additional energy in their adipose tissue, greatly bloating the tissue. The stored energy can then be expelled as required for cooking or other purposes.
“Huh.”
More energy was always welcome, but was this Skill going to make Aaron look like an actual ogre?
He took a sideways glance at the ogre’s rotund belly.
Seriously? Oh well, as long as it makes me stronger, he thought as he accepted the blessing upgrade.
“Good! Eat well, puny human! You have what it takes to be a great ogre, remember that! Bahaha!” The ogre's belly chuckled, sending ripples through his lard-laden form as it dissipated into the wind.
“Great, just great,” Aaron groaned, but he didn’t have long to linger on the thought, as he was immediately transported back to the pillar where he had started the trial, and the chains returned, wrapped tightly around his wrists.
And then the giants pulled, and barely a second later, he was ripped in half.
Sighing, Aaron appeared on the tiles of the obsidian hallway.
“What the hell am I doing?”
On one hand, he was heading down a path of supreme control and precision, on the other, gluttony and overabundance. It was a bit contradictory, he realized.
Was he going to turn into a round, robust little ogre backflipping through battle?
Dammit, imagination! Quit it!
Getting back up, he turned back toward the trial again. He didn’t need to speak to Oozagh again, although he still picked the ogre. The Trials of Endurance were kinda their thing. But the main reason was so that he could test out his new boons and try his hand at a few more dishes. Cooking with Oozagh had got him thinking, and he wanted to expand on what he had learned. After all, passing the Trial of Endurance would upgrade his crafting station again.
But before he did, he wanted to test out his new Skill. He started with stamina, cycling it through his veins, and then pushed it into his adipose tissue. As with other Skills, it came naturally to him, and he could literally watch himself in real time growing fatter. He then did the same with mana, and again, he grew bigger as more mana was channeled into the tissue.
He was bigger, he thought as he glanced down over his form, but not that much bigger. That was good news, and while getting stronger was his main focus, Aaron preferred to do so without looking like an ogre.
“I feel a little bloated, but if it works,” he shrugged.
Aaron then waited for his energy reserves to recover before entering the trial.
“Alright, let’s see how this goes.”
Appearing in the trial again, he looked across at the two giants holding the chains tied to his arms and nodded to them as he stretched.
But this time, when they started to pull, Aaron pulled the energy back out from his adipose tissue and flooded his veins with an influx of stamina. Unfortunately, for as great as the rush of power was, his arms were still ripped out of their sockets.
The giants were incredibly strong, and Aaron still wasn’t very strong or durable. The sudden burst of energy was a lot, but it wasn’t enough to overcome his disadvantage.
“Okay, maybe I’ll need to be a little more intelligent about it,” he sighed from the tiles.
He had no idea how many trials Mo’han had speedrun through, but Aaron still wanted to prevent the asura from lapping him too many times. That meant he had to start passing these things a little quicker than he had been.
“Maybe I can just kill them?”
With that thought, he recharged his energy-storing fat and re-entered the trial.
This time, he tightened his grip around the chains and expelled energy outward, shooting mana in shockwaves along the chains. The shockwaves slammed into the giants but caused no visible damage. However, Aaron’s brow perked as the two giants stood stunned for half a second.
Unfortunately, they quickly recovered, and barely a second later, Aaron was ripped in two.
However, he had taken this opportunity to gaze into fate’s future, and he had seen something very interesting. If he had blasted the giants with energy again, they would have once more been stunned, which gave him an idea.
Cycling mana through his fat and mana anchors, Aaron roared and released his energy on restarting the trial. As expected, the giants were once more stunned, but this time, he released another shockwave of mana before they had fully recovered, which reached the giants before they could pull on the chains, stunning them again.
“Hah, gotcha now!”
Aaron didn’t have them. Less than a minute later, he was out of mana, and his arms had been ripped from their sockets again.
He didn’t necessarily want to complain about a new Skill that gave him more power, but it was remarkably mediocre. [ Adipose Fusion ] was an Epic and a Legacy Skill, and yet it did fuck all. He drained his energy out of his engorged fat in seconds, and was really relying far more on his control and mana anchors to attempt to keep the ogres stunned.
He was so frustrated with the Skill’s poor performance that he didn’t even care about the cosmetics of it anymore. He just wanted a Skill that would be useful.
But complaining about it wasn’t going to get him anywhere, and so he cycled stamina and mana, eating random food items to restore what little he pushed into this adipose tissue before restarting the trial.
As usual, Aaron wasn’t about to be deterred, and so he restarted the trial and got back to work. However, he noticed something interesting this time. He seemed to have more energy stored within his adipose tissue.
Moments later, he was returned to the hallway, but this time, he was lost in thought.
What did I do differently?
Then it struck him, he had eaten before taking the trial. That made too much sense. It was adipose tissue, after all.
In a mad frenzy, Aaron dove into his ingredient pouch and took out all manner of food as he stuffed his face. He kept eating and eating, pouring endless amounts of food into him, and it was working. He was getting bigger and bigger.
The difference was worlds apart. He had plumped up a little, pushing his stamina and mana into his adipose tissue, but now, now he was going straight up big boi style.
He even felt taller and broader, like an ogre, as he kept eating and eating. But most importantly, he could feel the bubbling energy stored within his fat.
Now he understood why it was an Epic Skill.
Nice and plump, he restarted the trial. Aaron did the same thing as before, except this time, he was absolutely loaded with energy. However, he did not lose track of who he was as a warrior, and he reduced the amount of mana used in his shockwaves, and lo and behold, it still worked.
Aaron had theorized that less mana would work since his shockwaves didn’t appear to do any actual damage to the giants, and therefore, it likely wasn’t related to damage.
This was a fusion of two styles that were opposite to one another. The abundance and overconsumption of Oozagh fueled him with far more energy than he should have for his level, whilst the careful and meticulous style of Yendal allowed him to use just what he needed.
Together, he possessed the best of both worlds, and even after hours and countless shockwaves, he kept the ogres stunned, showcasing just how long he could last now.
This trial was no joke. It just went on and on. Otherwise, it’d have been a walk in the park for a ranged combatant or caster. This was an endurance trial, after all, and it would require endurance to complete it.
Aaron couldn’t rely on stuffing his mouth mid-trial with his hands tied to the chains. Nor would others be able to easily recover during the trial. To complete it, one would need to have enormous reserves and likely control to go with them.
He died over an hour into the trial. But he was far from deterred. He just had to eat more. And that’s what he did, stuffing his face for a good while as he grew larger and larger.
Re-entering the trial in his bulbous form, Aaron tried the same thing as before. But this time, he was bigger, filled with more energy, and focused harder on rationing his mana usage even further.
It was difficult, and he had no idea how anyone not built for a trial like this could pass it. Perhaps Mo’han would have no trouble, but he imagined most wouldn’t stand a chance.
To keep the shockwaves going for the hours that the trial took, you needed to have absurd amounts of mana. But that was exactly what Aaron had as his body gradually deflated as he consumed the stored energy.
But even then, he wouldn’t have stood a chance at passing this trial without control. He had to find a perfect rhythm between blasting out controlled shockwaves with just enough mana and preventing the giants from recovering long enough to pull on the chains.
But by doing so, his control over his mana continued to grow. The detailed and delicate touch he had with his mana was growing exponentially and was by now far greater than even mana-focused casters of high E grade. The reality was, they would never be tested like this. Not only would they have more mana when arriving here, but their ranged attacks would be more suited for the task than his.
Aaron’s clumsy shockwaves weren’t even Skills. Just pure outbursts of mana, and to power them enough to travel along the chains and shock the giants without wasting mana was art.
It might have looked easier than it was on the surface, but his control was out of this world. Not only that, but he was relying on both his passive regen and Faux Core to help power his mana-filled adipose tissue, and even a leftover serving of Velvexalot’s Migraine Cure for its mana regen bonus. Not only that, but if someone’s ranged Skills didn’t provide the ability to tune how much mana went into them, then they would likely have zero chance of passing this trial.
What he wasn’t sure about were ranged Classes like archers. He had no way of testing purely physical attacks against the giants, but he had a feeling that either mana or stamina was necessary to stun them.
It had taken a few deaths, but finally, Aaron was managing to do it. His control was excellent, and his huge form was overfilled with mana, and so, despite having a melee-oriented skillset that was horribly suited for the trial, he managed to keep the giants stunned.
His training over all the trials had forged him into a version of himself that could pass the trial, and his energy-infused adipose tissue turned that up to eleven. His focus had become absolute as time drifted on; his control over the bursts of energy flooding out from his mana anchors was released with perfect harmony between mana outlet and regeneration, boosted by energy pulled from his fat. And as the trial continued, he grew skinnier and skinnier.
Though he did start to sweat and tire, after all, he was still mortal. But mere fatigue wasn’t anywhere near enough to weigh on Aaron at this point; he had gone through far too much for that to matter.
His sprang open as he sensed mana filling the air, and the chains slackened. By the time he had finished, he was completely emaciated.
Chain Quest: The Trial of Endurance
Stage four of [ Trial of Endurance ] COMPLETED!
You have tested yourself against the might of two Bog Giants and outlasted their crushing power to survive.
Quest Rewards: 1 x packet of Bilijonk’s Anti-Toxins [ Elite ], Crafting Station upgraded.
Experience rewarded for completing a quest stage!
Aaron was calmly stretching and yawning as he reappeared in the obsidian hallway. He had fallen into a deep meditation as he channelled his mana, and now that he was back, he felt as if he had just awoke.
Glancing over the notifications, nodded appreciatively. Quest rewards were nice, but in reality, it was his Skill that impressed him the most. It had seemed lame at first, but in the end, it turned out to be even better than he had first thought. Who really cared if he looked a little bloated?
His thoughts moved on to the trial rewards.
Anti-toxins? He wondered as he inspected his new loot.
Bilijonk’s Anti-Toxins [ Elite ]
A favorite among portal-hopping adventurers, and a cautionary tale to those who forget to pack the Bilijonk’s Anti-Toxins™ before heading out to explore the multiverse.
Bilijonk’s Anti-Toxins protect against a wide range of harmful status effects throughout the multiverse.
“Ookay, well, they sound handy, at least.”
“Oh, there he is,” Sooty groaned as he walked over. “Your shit,” he added, throwing a bunch of ingredients on the ground before him.
“Still in a bad mood?”
Sooty glared back.
“I’m sorry, okay? I told you, it’s just a force of habit. I didn’t intentionally cut you out of the decision-making.”
“Whatever you say, bossman. How can I serve ye highness?”
“C’mon, Sooty. Don’t be like that. We’re buddies, aren’t we?”
“Are we?”
“Sure. Of course we are.”
“Whatever, bossman. I got Mo’man now. He’s a real bro.”
“Mo’man, right,” Aaron groaned. “How about we reset, okay?”
Sooty’s glare narrowed.
“C’mon, I’ll let you help pick my next Skill, promise.”
“Fine, one more chance for ye, humy!”
“Okay, I can work with that.”
Aaron wasn’t entirely sure why he cared. But then again, Sooty was useful. It would be a shame to have ongoing gauge with his magical companion, even if he didn’t feel like he had really done anything to deserve the attitude. Not intentionally, at least.
“Come, wanna check the new crafting station out with me?” Aaron probed, hoping for nicer parley.
“Fine, why not. Lead the way, bossman.”
Eh, he’s still shitty. C’mon, it was a freaking accident! Well, there might have been a few of them, but still. Everyone makes mistakes.
The crafting station seemed to inherently know what he could and couldn’t do, because only the kitchen stocked up each time he leveled it. So, no, he couldn’t go filling his pouch up with rare ingredients from all the other stations to sell later. The reward was good, he thought, but it wasn’t that good.
There were a bunch of new, Rare ingredients, and even a couple of Elites waiting for him, though nothing above that. Still, there were a decent number of additional ingredients, and Sooty had a good amount saved up, so he had plenty to work with.
Pulling up his sleeves, it was time for Aaron to get to work. To put everything he had learned from Oozagh to good use, and make some real sludge worthy of an ogre, to hells if it was revolting to everyone else. This was about utility.
“Now to get some good buffs!” Aaron said with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes as he rubbed his hands together in preparation.
Comments
Ekko
I really hate the visual of the New skill and what kind of OP monstrosities he's been making recently. Well done, lol. I wonder how our favorite Martial Gpd will react, when they meet again
LOLZMAN
Come on let sooty at least have his say
