Chapter 27: Encounter and trials
Around noon, I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted by Anise who was sleeping in my arms, her head rested against my chest.
Not wishing to wake her up, I didn't move and instead told Ai to bring me inside my soul space. Once inside, Senna appeared right next to me and said in a sarcastic tone:
"Did you have fun last night?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't expect that to happen. I'm also embarrassed by the though that you and Ai were able to see that. Thank you for your help in the fight earlier by the way."
"Hmph.. I don't need your thanks, I did it since I didn't want to leave my vessel and return to the dark dimension. Well, you can also give me more spirit."
Ignoring her remark, I spent some time practicing some spells before Ai let me know that Anise was waking up. After I returned to the real world, I found Anise staring at my face with a gentle look.
"Morning, Anise" I whispered, and she gave me a quick peck on the lips before saying: "Good morning. Should we start heading north again?"
I nodded and we both stood up and started ridding north on Zephyr.
As I was reading out loud the lesson Ai made appear in my vision for Anise, my thoughts were on a totally different matter. Everything that happened last night was weighting heavily on my heart. I really like Anise, but I couldn't get over the feeling that I was betraying Alison. After mulling over it over and over in my head, I couldn't really come at a conclusion and just decided to accept Anise and see where it will lead. Whatever happens in the future, I will deal with it then. For now, I wanted to make the girl who was ready to give up her life for me happy.
Tightening my arms around her, I paused my lesson for a moment and kissed her on the back of her head.
Confused, Anise turned towards me and asked: "What was that for?"
"Nothing. I just felt like it."
She smiled and gave me a kiss before we resumed our lesson. Our journey was uneventful for two whole days ,until we came across a man sitting on a rock by the side of the road with his eyes closed. As we were about to ignore him and simply pass by, he opened his eyes and said:
"Fellow travelers, if you're here for the trials, you will have to wait until tomorrow."
We stopped in our tracks and I looked at Anise with a puzzled look. Seeing her shake her head, I looked towards the man and asked: "What trials are you talking about?"
The man seemed surprised as he answered: "Everyone who passes by this place is either fleeing from the war or coming to try passing the Trials of the Eternal and since you were coming from the south I thought you were here for the trials."
"Can you tell us more about these trials?" I asked, a bit intrigued by what these trials were.
"No one really knows what they are, since once you finish them, either if you pass or fail, everything that goes on inside gets erased from your memories."
"And do you gain anything if you win these trials?"
"Yes. Sometimes people come out carrying weapons, knowing some new spells, someone even managed to increase their level by a total of 50 levels once."
"Oh, I know now." Said Anise all of the sudden." But the royal family took control of the trials and closed them for the public. How are they open again?"
The man nodded and said: "That is true, but since the war started, they started allowing people to take the trial again, hoping to increase the overall power of the human race."
"Are you here to take the trials as well?" I asked the man, thinking this might be the reason that he was just sitting there.
"I am. I arrived a few hours before the two of you and have been told to wait until tomorrow by the guards at the entrance."
Nodding, I turned towards Anise and asked: "So, what do you think? Should we give it a try as well since we're already here?"
Anise pondered for a moment before saying: "If you want to, we can, but you must know that around half of the people taking the trial ended up dying inside."
I was about to ask Ai what she thought about it, when a line of quest appeared in my vision:
//Trials of the Eternal - quest//
//Participate in the Eternal's trials//
//Rewards: For three or less trials completed, 100 points//
For three to six trials completed, 1000 points//
For six to nine trials completed, 10 000 points//
Curious about why I was given a quest, I asked Ai: 'Do you know anything about these trials?'
[Yes. According to the information inside my database, these are trials created by the world's will to help and test the heroes of that world. They are found on almost every world and save the same purpose. They are a treasure ground for the people able to pass the trials.]
I was even more intrigued about these trials now as I thanked Ai and said to Anise: "I want to give it a try. You can stay here and wait for me if you don't want to go inside."
Anise shook her head and said: "No, I actually wanted to give it a try as well when I first heard about them but never had the chance. Let's take the trials together."
Nodding, I turned towards the man and said:
"Friend, we decided to take the trials as well. Do you mind if we wait here with you? We'll really appreciate it if you would let us join you on the way towards the trials since we don't know where they are held."
The man nodded and said: "No problem, they are not far from here. My name is Oliver Aranna."
After that, both me and Anise also introduced ourselves and took a seat on the grass nearby to resume our lessons as we waited for tomorrow to come. As the sky started to darken, Oliver stood up and walked up to us. Hearing his footsteps coming closer, we turned towards him as he said:
"It's getting late and I'm going to hunt for some food in the nearby forest. Do you two want to join?"
Me and Anise looked at each other for a moment and, seeing her shake her head, I answered: "We'll pass. Thank you for the invitation."
Oliver nodded and walked towards the forest as Anise said to me: "I feel sorry for him."
"What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled by the sudden remark.
"The Aranna family used to be a famous in the royal capital. They were one of the best blacksmithing families, but around twenty years ago, their entire family was wiped up in a single night, leaving behind only two young siblings that were hidden by the family. He should be one of them."
"That is indeed a tragedy." I remarked with a sigh as we both returned to our lessons. Three hours later, Oliver came back dragging a huge boar behind him. As he approached, he said:
"Ethan, Anise I caught a pretty big one. Do you want to join me for dinner?"
I wanted to decline, since we didn't participate in the hunt, but Oliver didn't give me the chance as he said: "It's not like I could eat this whole thing on my own anyway. It will be stupid to just throw half of it away so just join me."
Since he insisted, we agreed and helped with the cooking. After the food was done, we started feasting as we chatted casually.
"Ethan, I know of the Cloven family, but are you also a magician? I noticed that you're not carrying any weapon." Asked Oliver as he was gorging on a piece of meat.
"Yes, but I can also fight with a spear. Sadly, my spear was broken in a recent fight. Are you a swordsman?"
He nodded and answered after swallowing the food in his mouth: "Yeah, I can fight with a lot of weapons but I prefer swords. Too bad about your spear, I would have loved to spar with you for a while. What level are you, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Nineteen, what about you?"
"Damn, you're strong. I'm barely fifteen. You would have probably wiped the floor with me. Ha ha."
The joyful atmosphere lasted until the entire boar was eaten and the tree of us all went to sleep. As morning came, we all woke up and Oliver said to us: "We should head there early, before the line at the entrance gets too big."
We agreed and followed Oliver towards the place where the trials were taking place with a fair bit of expectations in my eyes. Once we reached the place, a pyramidal shaped building appeared in our sight. Looking at the building, I asked Oliver: "Is that where the trials take place?"
"Yeah. There are eight entrances at the base of the pyramid, meaning only eight people can take the trial at the same time. We're lucky this time, as there are not a lot of people and we should be able to enter in just a few hours."
I nodded and all three of us joined the queue of people waiting before the pyramid. As I looked around, I noticed that most of them wore adventurer badges on their chests.
Two hours later, we finally arrived at the front of the queue. The two guards, who I figured were from the capital, let us in one by one. Oliver walked in first. Ten minutes later, another spot opened and I wished Anise luck as well as she walked inside.
Once my turn came, I walked through one of the entrances at the base of the pyramid and found myself in a pitch black corridor. As I activated Owl Sight and walked further in, I reached a door with the number one on it.
[Behind should be the first trial.]
'I figured. Do you know anything about it?'
[No. Each world has it's own trials so I don't know what you might encounter in there.]
Nodding, I grabbed the door handle and tried to open it but nothing happened. I tried pushing and pulling on it, but the door looked like it was stuck in place. When I was about to give up, Senna's voice sounded in my head.
[*The trial might be able to sense us, or at least me. I'll try to hide myself in the very depths of your soul and enter slumber.*]
[I'll also pause your connection with the Nexus for a while.] After Ai finished speaking, a small 'Connect' button appeared in the corner of my vision and both of them didn't answer no matter how I called to them.
Sighing, I tried the door one again and this time it opened wide. After passing through the door, I found myself in a completely different place. Looking around, I could only see a sea of fire and I was sitting on a two square meters pillar in the middle of the sea, at a height of around five meters. Also, all my clothes seemed to have disappeared without me noticing anything at all.
While I was feeling confused about what I was supposed to do, a small ball of fire came down from the sky and hovered in front of me. From it, a young male voice sounded:
"Welcome to the the first trial challenger. The Trial by Fire. Difficulty: Hard."
"Who are you?" I asked, figuring he must be some sort of examiner.
"I am here to guide you through the rules of the first trial, so listen closely. The pillar you are sitting on will slowly sink at the rate of one meter per hour. You will receive one point for every meter the pillar sinks to a maximum of ten points. To pass the trial successfully, you need to earn at least five points. You can stop the trial at any point in time by telling me you give up. You can use any means at your disposal to try and pass the trial."
I looked down at the lava surround me and asked: "Does this mean that if one wants to earn full points, one will have to last for five hours submerged into lava?"
"Affirmative. Any other questions?"
"What's with the difficulty?"
"The difficulty is set by the trial itself and it's set according to your affinities and strength of your soul. Your trial is set at the second to last difficulty. Any other questions?"
"What do those points mean?"
"At the end of the trial you will be rewarded according to the amount of points you gained. More points equals a better reward. Any other questions?"
"Why couldn't I open the door at the entrance before?"
"I have no information about that. I'm only in charge of guiding you and supervising the first trial. Any other question?"
Wondering if that means I could now connect with the Nexus, I focused my vision on the 'Connect' button. The button disappeared from my vision and Ai's voice sounded in my head.
[Welcome back, Ethan.]
I was about to reply, when the ball of fire that was the guide slowly shook and it's voice sounded again.
"Change in the challenger's soul detected, reevaluating difficulty. Difficulty now set to the maximum level. New rules are in effect. The pillar's sinking speed decreased to one meter per two hours. Temperature increased. Extra obstacles added. Any questions?"
"Fuck" I cursed out loud and asked Ai: 'Do you have any idea what happened?'
[At the door, the trial formed a connection with your soul and was able to sense when you resumed your connection with the Nexus.]
'Maybe I should have waited to reconnect with the Nexus. Well, no use in crying over spilled milk. Ai, can you tell anything about this place? Where am I?'
[Your soul appears to have been forcefully drawn inside a simulation, similar to the ones I used to run for you inside your soul space when you wanted to practice combat.]
'Does this mean that it's impossible for me to die?'
[Negative. Inside your soul space, I was in control of the simulation, assuring no risk will come to your soul except exhaustion, but here I have no control. If the situation gets out of hand, I am able to summon your soul back to the Nexus, but that would mean giving up on this world.]
'I understand. Can you wake up Senna as well since the difficulty is already at the maximum level? I might need her help as well.'
[You risk getting disqualified. I would suggest waiting until we reach a situation that we can't find a solution to before risking it.]
'All right. I can only hope the other trials won't take as long as this one or I'll be stuck here for a long time.'
[You don't have to worry about it. Time flows differently inside this simulation than the outside world. An entire year inside this place means one minute on the outside.]
'That much of a difference? That's good.'
Taking a deep breath, I looked at the guide and said: "I have no more questions."
"Affirmative. I'll begin the trial in a moment."
The ball of fire sunk into the lava underneath and it's voice sounded loudly in the space around me:
"Let the first trial, begin!"
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