Jack lay on the ground, trying to catch his breath after whatever he had just fought. The warm feeling rejuvenated his body back to its peak condition. The white light vanished, as did the pain and blood. Leaving a jack behind who was in his best health but visibly annoyed. He didn't even plan on doing this whole stupid test right now, but life was indeed such a bitch.

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, huh?" he repeated to himself, thinking that if he had been more careful and made some emergency plans for such situations, maybe he wouldn't have faced such a hard time as he did right now. But what was in the past is in the past. It's better to learn from that and not make the same mistake again.

He finally got up after collecting his will to live and looked at the box, which he had done so much for. He walked towards it as the box shone brightly in a golden color that honestly matched his eyes. He knew the rewards would have been really good. He lost the inferior weapon, which he didn't mind all that much since he still had his intermediate-grade blade, but that inferior armor would have been really useful considering how fragile his own body is. But there is nothing he can do about it now as he places his hand on the box.

[Congratulations! You have finished the trial of paths.

1× gene skill received

+100 merits]

[You have unlocked the skill tree.]

[You have unlocked the merit shop.]

[Your gene trait has been recognized.]

He had no idea what the fuck even the gene skill, trait, or whatever that bullshit was. It all went over his head as he looked at the merit shop notification, though his face did light up. It was a shop where he could spend merits, so it was still possible to buy some armor. He was in desperate need of some actual armor; the snake scales he was wearing right now hardly did any more than aesthetics. He sighed, but just at that moment, the screens disappeared, unlike last time when the box disappeared. This time, the box started spinning as a blue light projected upwards from it.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

From that light, a projection was produced midair, right in front of him. It was an old man wearing a blue robe and a hat too big for his own good as he looked around at himself and then at Jack. The hologram spoke.

"Ah, so you have cleared the path of trials. I congratulate you, you one."

Jack wasted no time and grabbed the goblin's spear, throwing it towards the old man's head as it passed right through him. In response to which, the hologram of the old man only clicked his tongue.

"Tch,tch, tch, you can't harm me, kid. Give up on that. I'm not even a real person. I'm just what you humans call a program. Left behind to guide you and give you some much-needed information."

"Information, huh? Then start speaking for fucks sake, you old fart. I have spent the last seven days in hell, so you better start saying what the fuck is going on here," Jack said with a certain anger resonating from his voice. Maybe it was the frustration from the goblin incident, but he was not happy.

"Seven days, huh? Explains the shitty attitude, sigh. Then listen, kid. The phenomenon you are experiencing right now is called a tutorial. It takes place when a game master chooses a planet as their candidate. And-"

"What the fucks a game master? And candidate for what?" He cuts off the old man, more visibly confused. The old man looked a bit annoyed at the invention but continued nonetheless.

"Game masters are beings with absolute powers. Some may call them gods; others look at them as demons. But the only fact is that they are the strongest beings. As for what, it's complicated."

"Wait, wait, so you're telling me an absolute god did this because?" Jack asked, Every passing moment, his anger was somehow getting worse.

"Tell me, Jack, have you ever thought about what will happen when two gods fight? It's not pretty, I'd tell you that."

Jack's face changed expression from anger to fear as he slightly understood what the old man was hinting at. Then the old man's hologram held his hand up, and a hologram, or rather, a map of a weird wave-like structure, appeared. The waves were bright and filled with color and light. They were enclosed within a ball, and one corner of the ball was absolutely pitch black, as if nothing existed there.

"This is our universe, and that black part is where the last war among the game masters happened; no life or even light can exist there anymore. It is called the abyss. Do you understand now?"