'Welcome to ECLIPSE!' Large, stylized letters appeared in front of Kai. 'Before entering the trials and character creation, please read through and accept the terms and conditions.' the writing changed, revealing the multiple page long block of text. Like usual, Kai read the occasional sentence, 'QUANTA tech is not responsible for any modifications Al the Ai might make to the users mind and knowledge...' There were multiple mentions of Al the Ai, and that anything that happened was purely his fault, and no laws existed to hold Al legally responsible. Kai didn't think too much about it, and instead kept scrolling until he reached the bottom, where he clicked accept.
'You will shortly enter the trials. Based on your actions in the trials, various skills will become available for you in character creation. You can learn new skills, and change the skills you have at any point after character creation. You can prematurely end the trials at any time, and begin the character creation by saying the word "end," or skip to the current scenario by saying the word "skip," please enjoy your stay in ECLIPSE!'
The text once again faded, and the next thing Kai knew was standing in the middle of his preschool playground, as his child self. How the heck was he in his memory! No, nevermind that, the game was run by the singularity, there was no guessing what was possible. More importantly, Kai was standing, he could feel his body, hands and legs, everything. Kai started running around the playground, climbing everywhere he could, and after a few minutes, he was suddenly standing in a plane, stuffed with other passengers in the economy area.
"Everyone down! This Is a hijacking!" Someone shouted. Kai could barely see a man waving a pistol in the business seating. Another man behind him, had a laptop with him, seemingly attempting to connect to the plane and open the door to the pilot.
Kai made his way through the stuffed economy passengers. "I said, get down!" The hijacker shouted louder, as Kai made his way towards her, starting to run as he reached the thin passageway that spanned the entirety of the plane. There was a bang, Kai kept running, then a second, and Kai fell down. He'd been shot, Kai realized as a dull pain slowly made itself known.
Kai was holding a broken spear, facing skinny tall purple humanoids in all directions. The pain was gone, he wasn't in the plane anymore. But there was another threat, and he had a broken spear. A sword came slashing down towards his neck, and this time, Kai would do better. He fell to the ground, dodging the sword, before stabbing the creature with the broken end of the spear. A second creature, one directly behind Kai, stabbed him in the back before Kai could pull the spear from the first creature.
Kai was standing in front of a table, filled with glass vials of various liquids. But he barely could register the fact, before he felt the pain. Kai looked down, and saw his own intestines. In panic, Kai looked at the table. He was in a game, wasn't he? Reminding himself that yes, he was, Kai took the only vial filled with red liquid, and poured it on his abdomen.
A student raised their hand up, clearly wanting to ask a question. Kai had changed locations again, he was no longer injured, and standing next to a chalkboard in a stone classroom. What kind of messed up trial was this?
"Yes?" Kai said, pointing at the student.
"Do you have any tips on mana coalition? I've been trying to form a core for a week, and I still haven't succeeded. I need help. I did everything I could to condense it solid, but it just doesn't want to work!"
Kai was lost. "Umm… that is a good question. Is there anyone who might be willing to help her?" Nobody said a word, patiently waiting for Kai to answer. "Well, one trick you can use is… to uh, imagine your mana is like water. Water that's freezing! It flows, but wants to gather together into a crystal! It doesn't have to condense, it can even expand, but it still… becomes… solid?" Kai slowly explained, stuttering to a stop as half the class had started writing notes.
The scenery changed again, and again. The scenario changed from fighting, to exploring, teaching various things and being part of classes, to writing answers to exam papers. Sometimes Kai was in his own home reliving his past, other times he was playing a role in his favorite movies and games. A few times he hadn't even been human at all. It was sick, and not in a complimentary way.
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After a few hours of suffering through everything Kai could imagine, words appeared in the air, 'In the next scene, you will have access to skill: Arcane pyroburst (Epic), Master 8. Allows the user to harness the fusion of arcane energies and pyromancy at a masterful level. When activated (at the cost of 12/n mana per second, where n is the skill level), the wielder conjures a burst of intensely hot arcane flames, creating a devastating inferno in the targeted area. The flames are not only highly destructive but also possess a unique property – they adhere to the magic of the target, causing the fire to burn everything targeted, and nothing more. In every scene after this, you will have access to one random skill. No two scenes will have the same skill available.'
When Kai was done reading, the text disappeared. A moment before the next scene started, Kai could feel something more at the core of his being, something warm and chaotic. Then the next scene started, and Kai found himself inside a school bus, filled with extremely noisy children. "Oh hell no!" Five minutes later, the scene changed again, and Kai was midair, falling towards the ground.
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'skill: lightning manipulation (uncommon), beginner 1. Allows user to conjure and direct a lightning strike, at a cost of 120 mana, dealing 10n damage, where n is skill level.' the information visible in Kai's character sheet stated. He'd learned to open it a bit earlier in the trials. He was in a small one bedroom apartment that consisted of a kitchen, the living room where he had slept, and the bedroom, where he could hear his parents shouting.
Kai remembered the words, he knew exactly what would happen next. "And how much did it cost? You know we can't afford it, we'll become homeless you asshole!" Kai's mother shouted at his dad. Then there was a low smack, and something in the room shattered. "I- I'm sorry, I just thought he'd deserve something nice."
The bedroom door opened, and dad came out. One eye was closed, and one arm was bleeding profusely. Kai brought his dad a towel, before walking into the bedroom. There was a shattered pot, and Kai's mother was sitting on the bed, tears flowing from her eyes as she was scrambling for something on her phone. Lightning crackled between his fingers. Moments later, everything went dark.
'Congratulations! You have completed all the trials! Next up, character creation: please enter your name.'
It took a moment for Kai to gather himself together. The trials had been fucked up, but at least it taught him the basics. Then he proceeded with character creation. 'name: Kai'
'For finishing the trials in its entirety, you have earned the title: Master of the trials. EXP gain on any novice, and beginner stage skill is doubled. Reputation + 100. You may now customize your appearance.' Kai decided to design his character after himself, plain looking with green eyes and dark hair.
'Based on your actions in the trials, you are free to choose up to three skills of the following skills: Arcane sprint (uncommon), Thunderclad lunge (rare), Elemental Agility (uncommon), Spear combat (common), Lightning reflexes (rare), Earthen grasp (uncommon), Arcana (common), Mana Coalescence (uncommon), Thunderspear dance (rare), Shadow stride (epic), Melee combat (common), Shield combat (common), Mana manipulation (common), Magical awareness (uncommon)...'
The list was long, consisting of two dozen skills. Kai wasn't bothered to read the details on all of them, instead he sorted them by their rarity. Shadow stride was the only epic skill, so Kai chose it without much thought, after that Kai chose Thunderspear dance, and lightning reflexes. The last two would even be easy to merge together at a later time, since both were focused on lightning. It was something Kai had learned of in the trials, because of the limit on skills and titles a character could have, two or more skills or titles could be merged together.
Finished with the skill choices, Kai was left with choosing his starting equipment. A single weapon, and armor, or two weapons. Kai chose a spear, he had a skill called Thunderspear dance after all. Kai decided to take a second weapon instead of armor, he had just gotten his body back after all, Kai didn't want to be slowed down by armor at all. He quickly found a nice enough shortsword, simple in its appearance.
With his choices done, Kai entered the world of ECLIPSE.