The Alvari training chamber felt less like a place of learning and more like a personalized torture device. Drake had been at it for what felt like an entire day, though the ethereal light in the Chamber of Echoing Steel never changed. His [Basic Attack Combo R/L] remained fundamentally broken, not by his dominant right hand which still executed with 100% SCR every time, but by his clumsy, unreliable left. He was hard-stuck at a miserable 65% SCR baseline for his off-hand strikes.
This meant his combos were capped at a mere 7 hits (R-L-R-L-R-L-R). Worse, if he fumbled a left-hand strike below 60% SCR or instinctively tried to push past the 7-hit limit, the system slammed him with the brutal << COMBO BROKEN! Penalty Applied: Attack Cooldown (2s), Damage Output -50% (10s)! >>. He spent almost as much time enduring this penalty as he did actually practicing.
"This is… impossible. I can't build muscle memory for the left hand if I'm constantly locked out or debuffed. The rhythm is constantly shattered. How am I supposed to reach 80% SCR on this hand if I can barely string together enough hits to even feel the flow?"
He tried everything. Slowing down his entire combo. Focusing solely on the phantom guide for his left hand, ignoring the right. Trying to lead with his left (which the skill didn't seem designed for). Nothing consistently broke past that 65% barrier. [Perfect Recall] showed him what he was doing wrong – slight mistiming, incorrect wrist angle, poor follow-through – but knowing the error and correcting it with his non-dominant hand in a complex, timed sequence were two vastly different things.
Mental exhaustion was setting in, a profound weariness that even his grinder's mentality struggled against. He'd faced impossible odds before, but the Unbeatable Guardian grind had at least allowed him to focus on one action (blocking) and then build from there. This required synchronizing two hands, with one being practically untrained for this kind of offensive precision, and the penalties for failure were immediate and severe, hindering the very practice he needed.
"Maybe… maybe I just need a break. Log out. Sleep. Come back fresh tomorrow. This isn't working right now. I'm just reinforcing bad habits under frustration." He was already mentally reaching for the system menu, the thought of escaping this frustrating loop a powerful allure. He just needed to clear his head, recalibrate.
As his intent to log out formed, a new system message flashed across his vision, stark red, impossible to ignore. It wasn't in his usual log window; it dominated his central field of view.
<< WARNING: Exiting the Trial of Resonance instance before completion will result in PERMANENT FAILURE. This trial may only be attempted ONCE. There will be no second chances. >>
Drake froze, his blood running cold. "Permanent failure? Attempted ONCE?! What?!" He re-read the message, his earlier weariness evaporating, replaced by a surge of adrenaline and dawning horror. He'd completely misunderstood, or perhaps Jian hadn't fully emphasized, the absolute finality of this trial. He had assumed, like any normal game instance, he could leave and re-enter, or retry if he failed a stage too many times.
The "one chance" pressure crashed down on him with suffocating weight. Logging out was not an option. Resting was not an option. Failing this stage now meant losing the [Twin Soul Bladesworn] class, the mystery of the Hilt, the path Kallan and Jian had pointed him towards – potentially forever. Despair, sharp and immediate, threatened to overwhelm him.
"No breaks. No second attempts if I quit. I have to pass this stage now, with the mental fatigue, with the frustration, with this damn clumsy left hand." His mind raced. Sheer repetition clearly wasn't breaking through this wall fast enough, or at all. He was stuck at 65% on his left hand, and the stage required 80%. He was lightyears away.
Then he remembered. His emergency aids. The [Artisan's Focusing Charm] – single use, +5% SCR to next skill. And the [Medallion of Clarity] – reusable, but with a 7-day cooldown, significantly easing SCR achievement for 10 seconds. He had hoarded them for a truly critical moment. This, he realized with a sickening lurch, was that moment. There would be no more critical juncture in this trial if he failed here.
"It's now or never. Use them both. Stack every advantage I have for one perfect attempt with the left hand. If I can just hit that 80% SCR once for the left hand while these are active, Eidetic Execution has to lock it. That's the only way." The risk was immense. If this didn't work, he'd have wasted his most precious consumables and still failed the trial.
He took several deep, steadying breaths, pushing down the panic, forcing himself into a state of cold, focused calm. He visualized the left-hand strike, the phantom guide, the perfect timing he'd glimpsed only in his [Perfect Recall] analysis. He brought up his inventory, his virtual hand hovering over the [Medallion of Clarity].
"Alright, Drake," he muttered to himself. "One shot."
He activated the Medallion. << Effect Applied: Heightened Mental Acuity (10s)! Achieving high Skill Completion Rates temporarily eased! >> A cool, clarifying sensation washed over his mind. The phantom guides for his attacks seemed to resolve with greater sharpness, the timing windows almost… welcoming.
He had ten seconds. He approached the Resonance Construct, initiated [Basic Attack Combo R/L]. Right Hand: << Perfect Execution! SCR 100%! Damage: 30! >> Now. The Left Hand. He crushed the [Artisan's Focusing Charm] in his other hand. << Effect Applied: Artisan's Focus! +5% SCR to next skill execution! >> A subtle warmth spread through his virtual limbs. He poured every ounce of his being into this single, crucial off-hand strike, the Medallion's clarity guiding his perception, the Charm's focus steadying his intent, his own desperate will driving the motion. He felt his left arm move with an uncharacteristic grace and precision, perfectly tracing the now vividly clear phantom guide. SHINK! The connection felt pure, optimal.
<< [Basic Attack Combo R/L - Left Hand] Skill Success! SCR 82%! >> (The Medallion helped achieve a high 70s SCR much easier, and the Charm's +5% pushed it over the 80% threshold to 82%).
The moment the 82% registered, before the buff from the Medallion even faded, the familiar chime of his talent echoed. << [Peak Performance Replication] updated: [Basic Attack Combo R/L - Left Hand] SCR 82%! >>
And then, almost immediately, another, more triumphant system sound. << Stage 4 Complete: [Basic Attack Combo R/L] (Off-Hand) mastery threshold (80% SCR) reached! >> << Please await Stage 5. >>
The buffs from the Medallion and Charm winked out. The Resonance Constructs became inactive. Drake stood there, his virtual chest heaving, an almost painful wave of relief washing over him, so potent it nearly buckled his knees. He had done it. Against the wall, under immense pressure, he had forced the breakthrough. His left hand could now reliably execute its basic attacks at 82% SCR. His combo length, when both hands performed at their new baselines, would now be significantly longer [80-84% SCR tier = ~15 hits], allowing the +5% stacking damage to finally become a real factor.
But the relief was immediately followed by a profound sense of exhaustion, both mental and virtual. He had succeeded, but at the cost of his only single-use SCR charm and the weekly cooldown on his powerful Medallion. He leaned against the cool wall of the chamber, the weight of the "one-shot trial" rule still heavy on his mind. He had passed Stage 4. But the final integration test, Stage 5, still awaited, and he now had no more tricks up his sleeve, no more aids to call upon. Only his skill, his talent, and his persistence remained.