Using the escape mark felt like being tossed out of the plain while being blinded by a bright-blue light.
John tried flailing around but discovered that he couldn't even perceive his body. Luckily, before the panic set him, the process stopped and he felt the hard ground below his feet. His vision cleared up a moment later, revealing a dried mug of a zombie less than an arm's length away.
"Gah," he yelped and kicked it away.
Where did I get dropped off?
[Attention!
You have used your escape mark and left the trial.
Please touch the nearest pillar to claim your rewards and obtain more information for the immediate future]
After quickly scanning through it, John dismissed the prompt and refocused on the trio of zombies shambling toward him.
Pulling out his club, he pulled back and immediately followed by a swipe to the side of the nearest zombie's neck.
A satisfying smack announced the impact, but John only frowned.
Hmm, the angle was slightly off.
Finishing the injured zombie with a blow to its skull, he moved to the next and repeated the previous strike.
Aha! Exactly as I remember.
The blow hit below the ear, caught on the lower jaw, and tore its head off.
Evading the feeble attempt to grab him, John finished the third zombie and looked around.
Oh right, of course, it spat me out here, he noted after seeing the familiar intersection.
He was returned to the spot from where he entered the first trial.
Hmm, I should see what that message was about.
Summoning his archway took a considerable effort, which in hindsight made sense because he was calling it back from the Sunlit plane. Luckily there were no more interruptions and he soon made it inside.
Standing with his bare ass before the wardrobe filled with top-end clothes made him spend a moment cleaning up and put on another set of comfortable clothes and finally head to the blue pillar in the middle.
[Attention!
According to your previous agreement, all rewards from the event are null and void.
Total points: 0
Note: Skipping the reward selection due to the lack of points]
Well, that was not helpful.
[Warning!
You have 00:08:33 until the final announcement of Fate-ladder.
Following that, the gates to this world will briefly open, allowing small hosts of interested parties to pass through and carve their footholds on this planet.
May the worthy of you thrive and the weak get weeded out]
Oh.
That announcement made him frown.
Does that mean we are going to be attacked by sapient aliens?
Taking a moment to sit on the half-destroyed bench at the nearby bus stop, he wondered about the direction of the upcoming situation. John believed that despite being ruthless, the Apocalypse wasn't straight-up unfair. Those who proved themselves capable to adapt and work hard under the constant threat of death were reaping bountiful rewards.
No, if it wanted us all dead, it would have wiped us out already.
Until now, every day, every step of the way was a struggle and he had the inkling that it was not a coincidence. This brought up an important question. What were the best places to offer to interested alien parties, if the goal was to keep up the tension and create more conflict?
Deeming the possibility of them arriving in the middle of nowhere unlikely, there was only one other option. They would appear somewhere close to the shelters.
"Oh fuck." He realized the perfect places for them to take over—the shelters that got overrun by the undead.
Looking up, a white beam shone like a beacon in the darkness of the night sky.
Good, the Valiant's stand still stands, he chuckled, but then remembered the Iron Citadel and an uncomfortable feeling filled his chest.
On one hand, he regretted the way he handled that situation, but on the other, the previous days further cemented his belief in putting himself first.
Leaving his spirit companion for later, he sped up in the direction of the gilded district.
The zombies posed no threat and even the packs of Rothounds quickly fell under the combined might of his weapons and the three minions, letting him rush through the streets until he arrived at the foot of the bridge where he previously killed the third zone guardian.
Walking slowly forward, he noticed the beacon of light wink out behind him.
"C'mon, show me that damn beam," he mumbled as he advanced toward the other end of the bridge.
Any moment now… any mome… oh crap.
By now, his perfectly polished shoes stood on the well-kept sidewalk, and not only was there no beacon of light in the direction of the Iron Citadel, but worse yet, the other shelter that was in the northeast was also dark.
What in the hells happened?
Thinking back, he had knocked himself out for a couple of hours before the trials, so he had no idea what followed after the final wave of the assaults, but to lose both of the shelters in this district was alarming.
I should get closer and figure out what happe…
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
His thought got interrupted by the promised announcement.
[Congratulations! You are among those who participated in the trial of Sacred Six and the Honoring of Serath's first hunt.
Rewards: Fate increased by 2.
Special conditions met: Successfully overcome the seventh room inside the trial of the Sacred Six.
Rewards: Fate increased by 7.
Special conditions met: Successfully pass through the labyrinth and enter the Sunlit plain.
Rewards: Fate increased by 1.
Special conditions met: Land the finishing blow on a D-grade creature during the Honoring of Serath's first hunt.
Rewards: Fate increased by 1.
Special conditions met: Land the finishing blow on an elite D-grade creature during the Honoring of Serath's first hunt.
Rewards: Fate increased by 2.
Special conditions met: Land the finishing blow on a pinnacle D-grade creature during the Honoring of Serath's first hunt.
Rewards: Fate increased by 4.
Special conditions met: Participated in the successful completion of the unique event Reclamation of the broken peak.
Rewards: Fate increased by 3.
Special conditions met: Became the savior of an elevated beast species, playing both a crucial and significant role in their salvation.
Rewards: Fate increased by 6, beasts are naturally more amiable in your presence.
Warning: The Patrons and Patronesses sitting in the Pantheon of Ascendancy have noticed you and took interest in your foreseeable future!
This may bring great boons but also great misfortunes and dangers as they start nudging the events around you to either help or hinder your efforts.
Side-effect: Fate increased by 8.
Note: The seventh day is behind you]
"Seventh day?!" John exclaimed in confusion, but his vision was swept up by the following announcement.
[Congratulations! You are among the top 100 humans on the Fate-ladder.
These are the placements from the final round, signifying the end of the first half of the planetary integration.
From here on out, the only way to increase your Fate is to perform heroic deeds or achievements that are deemed worthy of a special reward.
1: Sparrow - 105 Fate
2: Reaper - 46 Fate
3: Sgt. Harrison - 45 Fate
4: Doomhammer - 44 Fate
5: Valerie - 39 Fate
6: Warlord Urr - 31 Fate
6: Galdath - 25 Fate
7: Silver - 24 Fate
8: Guo Chi - 23 Fate
9: Tomanov - 23 Fate
10: Ernson - 23 Fate
…
…
100: Joe Carnage - 21 Fate
Rewards: Stack of 3000 white, 80 blue, and 3 yellow piles of ash.
Special rewards will be available for the top 3 on the ladder shortly.
Note: Time to prove that you are worthy of the place you earned]
Before he even finished reading the screen, the world lost color and froze around him.
[Congratulations!
As the one who placed first on the Fate-ladder, you get the first pick among the four marks that link directly with your soul, granting permanent effects to the progenitors of the new world]
[Make a choice!
1: Gloves of the Fate-Weaver
2: Blade of the Fate-Searer
3: Shroud of the Fate-Stalker
4: Shield of the Fate-Warder
Note: Each mark represents one of the four main branches of utilizing Fate]
Huh.
At first glance, the options only hinted at their slight differences, but since he was currently stuck in the timeless phase, he could take his time and think about the choice deeper.
The first thing that struck him was the contrast between the first and the second half of the list. The gloves and the blade were tools for action, and the shroud and the shield were for protection.
Wait, could it be like that? Thinking about the difference between his and Harrison's usage of Fate. When he tried using Fate in combat, he wielded it like a hammer, overwhelming his enemies and brute forcing through weak spots, opening them up for debilitating injuries.
On the other hand, Harrison did not attack the target directly, only using the environment and something best classified as bad luck.
Hmm, if he is the Weaver, then I am the Searer… Which could mean that Wardens are those who protect against me and Stalkers against him?
It kind of made sense. Soft and hard approach to manipulation of Fate plus their defensive counterparts.
The problem was, what should he pick?
Ok, let's go with my tried and true method of crossing out those I won't pick first.
Gloves… Nope. Blade… maybe? Shroud… perhaps? Shield… Not likely.
The gloves were the obvious cut. John preferred the hard approach, and splitting his focus did not feel like a good idea. The shield had the opposite problem. He trusted his massive advantage in Fate to pull him through confrontations so it felt like a waste of opportunity.
That left the blade and the shroud, and frankly, if he hadn't seen how devastating the soft approach could be, he would have gone with the blade. Now though, it was the shroud that called out to him the most.
Give me the third option!
[Excellent choice!
The mark, Shroud of the Fate-stalker, grants innate resistance against divination and Fate sight plus offers more efficient active protection against negative indirect manipulation]
With a sudden lurch, the world regained color and what followed was precisely what John was afraid of.
In the distance before him, a new beacon of light came live. Unfortunately, it blazed with a deep red, announcing far and wide the imminent arrival of an alien invasion party.
[Warning!
The portals leading into your world have briefly opened, allowing the elite advance parties to claim their chosen footholds.
The use of either diplomacy, domination, or violence is advised because the second part of world integration is a divide-and-conquer race toward world domination.
The next phase will begin after a minimum of 200 Bastions, 10 Citadels, and 2 Capitols are claimed overall.
Note: There are world-imposed limits on what grades can the members of invading parties have and what rarity of cards and equipment can they currently use.
Note 2: Good luck, you are going to need it]
Damn.
Taking a quick dash to the other side of the bridge, he sighed in relief.
At least there are no red beams near the Valiant's stand.
As he returned, his walk turned into a slow jog and John headed toward the red beam.
The villas and mansions lining the streets stood half-broken, abandoned, and overrun with throngs of zombies and an occasional pack of Rothounds that wandered around the premises.
Uncertain about the strength, numbers, and disposition of the invading party, he chose to clear the majority of the undead in his way. After all, should he be forced into a sudden confrontation, it would be wise to at least keep his back safe.
It took twenty minutes of constant fighting for John to get close to the second-to-last intersection when a group of four humanoids rounded up the corner, took a couple more strides in his direction, and froze mid-step.
If he were to classify their physical builds, John would say they looked like professional dancers. Lean, tall—almost two feet taller than he—and dressed in simple yet elegant attire.
The one leading them held a curved bow with an arrow half-knocked, the two on the flanks were holding thin curved blades that slightly rippled in their hands, and the fourth held a staff with a deep-blue orb mounted on its top.
Using the trick he figured out in the last trial, he focused on his Feral intuition, trying to glean their strength. The skill resisted—not classified as one used against sapients—but after his use on Sareth, he knew it was possible if he was allowed to or if he pushed strong enough.
[Sap&*$t {E}]
[S$#ie$t {E}]
[S$pi&#$ {F}]
[#a$ie&* {F}]
Hmm, could be dangerous, but they don't feel like an imminent threat. Maybe I…
His thoughts were interrupted by the softest of brushes against his core being. The feeling he got wasn't malicious. It was somewhere between inquisitive and measuring, but John was not interested in what they were trying to do and firmly squashed the attempt before it obtained anything of importance.
"W-we mean you no h-harm," shouted the staff-wielding woman in a shaky tone of voice. "Would you be interested in a peaceful talk?"