Throughout his whole vision phase, he could tell he was still dying, and his brain was eroding too. He was also healing, but the rate of healing could not match his dying. He had forgotten what exactly he was doing here, but he'd made a choice, if that.

It was his whole thing. Reliability. If his life were a path, Rafael Kingsley only really wanted to be competent. Competent enough to be wanted, to be needed, to not be abandoned. Like a simple swordsman with the simplest sword swings.

The vision played out before him again. And again, and he forgot everything aside from the swings. He forgot everything about his life, his near death, his family, his team, his girlfriend who sucked face with that annoying kid.

What annoying little kid though? What family? He couldn't remember a damn thing. But he had to survive, he had to live, he had chosen to live.

****

Six soul remnants watched a body float in the void, time suspended for it as it was for everything here. Their attention, though, was focused on the blue screen in front of them.

Name: Rafael Kingsley

Race: human (lvl-)

Class:N/A (lvl-)

Health: 5/50

Stamina:50/50

Stats

Strength: 5

Agility: 7

Coordination: 6

Vitality: 5

Endurance: 5

Intelligence: 3

Wisdom: 4

Paranormal: ???

“Hmm,” the enchantress started while she rubbed her chin. “Why have we never thought of offering the legacy to a non integrated person before? This status sheet may shout weak to most, but it says nothing more than potential to me.”

“I think it's pretty obvious why we've never tried that, En,” the red haired damsel next to her spoke, “most would never survive a glancing blow from any beast worthy of being in any dungeon. It's why we set such conditions for the trial.”

“In any case, this boy is very interesting, very raw. Did you notice that skill he learned, before even unlocking the system? You cannot deny this boy is worthy of inheriting my path.”

“No one is worthy, surely, of inheriting the genius of the multiverse,” a black haired female spoke. “Besides, what he's going to get from a skill, you had from an innate bloodline ability or whatever.”

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“I never had a bloodline, nor innate ability, only one of us did,” the enchantress replied, staring at one of the males, the one who was most focused on the slowly healing body.

“Yes, only one of us did,” the male spoke, “and only one of us was unable to pass on their most prised possession as they passed on the mantle of Skyholm. My innate ability could not be transferred through my blood, or through the mantle.”

“Let me guess,” another of the males stepped forward, “you wish for the boy to carry on your overpowered bloodline for you?”

The first man shrugged. “I do. And it's not a bloodline, it's an innate ability.”

“Same thing,” someone commented.

“Good luck getting them to concede that. I've been telling them I didn't have a bloodline for millenia. My willpower was only a product of my trials as a chi-”

“Yeah, the mother of the system was born a normal person like the rest of us. Shut up, Enith,” the thief spoke, “I also think the kid might be good for a rogue like path. He was stuck in that spatial fissure overly long. I feel I could get him a spatial affinity that fast.”

The gigantic man in the corner grunted, but other than that said nothing else. The red haired woman decided to join him in his corner. They had no business joining in this particular discussion.

“My sword style cannot die with me,” Enith shouted.

“Such a happy accident cannot be dismissed, this is surely fate,” the thief cried.

“I think his little skill, even if it is just basic, might help me graft the strongest lost weapon onto his soul. The time dilation will not affect his mental state at all. You must leave him to me. This is a chance to return the strongest bloodline ability to the multiverse.”

“Hah, so it is a bloodline ability,” the thief said smugly.

“No, it's not!” the enchantress and the first answered together.

The two stared at each other in surprise and appreciation, and they never noticed the thief looking at them and rolling her eyes, and mouthing something about geniuses having to die, and millenia old virgins and the like.

Someone cleared their throat.

“So funny and selfless of all of you to make plans for my apprentice. But…he is my apprentice.”

The enchantress groaned. “Come on, Noid. This boy would be perfect for an experiment I've been thinking of.”

The swordsman shrugged. “You have so many hypothetical experiments, Enith, I'm sure you can think of one to carry out even after I've had the kid for a few centuries.”

“Centuries? Surely you don't plan to keep him under suspended time that long?” The first asked.

“What does it matter. I've never had an apprentice finish what I felt was the appropriate time a swordsman should. I'm not letting go of an apprentice who conveniently forgot everything about their old life. This whole scenario is perfect.”

The other three groaned. They did have rules, and the boy had gravitated towards the swordsman. There really was nothing they could do.

“Well, centuries might be over stated depending on how he performs. Remember I prefer to train mine without the system and what not. That kind of thing makes soft warriors, warriors always ready for their mother to bail them out. In our time…”

“Yeah, yeah. The system did make me, you know?” the enchantress quizzed.

Everyone in the room just stared at her until she snorted and clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“Does it matter if I take the boy? He'll only ever be able to leave here after his body is healed, not to mention his soul. He did get that skill, so we can expect him to at least have a strong enough mental state and will power to survive extreme time dilation, even the void. In fact, he might even have a void affinity by the time he leaves the trial.”

By the end of his speech, the two women were following his explanation like two victims of hypnosis. They stared at each other with stars in their eyes. The swordsman shuddered on behalf of the kid.

“You think the boy's mental state will survive the amount of time it will take me to graft the librarian onto his soul?”

“Are you sure you want to do that? Although, yes, I'm sure he can survive that long. Is that your contribution then, to making my apprentice a multiversal power house?”

The first shrugged. The enchantress just scoffed, but she looked at the floating body with a little interest. There was already another experiment in her head, the swordsman was sure. She was always quick to bounce back.

“Good, then,” the first spoke again. “You may start your training then. The rest of you should prepare your …gifts, for the latest trial taker. His circumstances do indeed seem ideal, but we cannot control what he'll do with our gifts.”

All the excitement vanished from the three humans’s faces. The thief really was considering the matter, but the swordsman was sure the enchantress was only thinking about the kind of results she could get from an evil powerhouse.

He sighed as all six of them went their own way, preparing for the first thing that might have interested them in eons.