I wake up, and three seconds later, I die.

It's not particularly pleasant. The first time it happens, I don't even get the chance to scream. All I see is a blade speeding towards my head, and then all I know is searing pain. It takes a full moment for me to die properly.

That moment is agonizing.

The second time it happens, it takes five seconds. I'm still disoriented, and although I try to jerk away from whatever it is that stabbed me in the head, all I manage to do is end up with a blade in my throat; a powerful jerk later, and my vision detaches from the rest of my body.

The third time, at least, I see my assailant.

The moment consciousness hits me — the moment I feel the cool breeze on my skin again, the dirt beneath my back, and the coppery smell in the air that tells me this is very much not a dream — I throw myself to the side. I hear a skittering cry of confusion and anger, and I snap my head up to see the thing that I assume has been killing me again and again.

It's a monster. An actual, bear-sized mantis-thing that has a few too many limbs to make sense; an insect blown up into horrifyingly large proportions that let me see every grotesque detail. There are tiny hairs embedded in its carapace, veins that somehow connect two of its arms to long, metallic scythes...

And one of its eyes is gouged out. There's a cracked mess of carapace and flesh where it should be, and the feeling of revulsion at the sight vanishes when the monster lets out another screech. It's tugging frustratedly on one of its limbs, which is stuck firmly in the ground.

You know, from when it tried to stab me.

Right. Life-or-death situation. I've already died twice, and I have no desire to die a third. There's some text hovering in my peripheral vision that's starting to really annoy me, but I don't exactly have time to read.

...I run away.

What else am I supposed to do? It's a giant mantis monster. I'm not equipped to fight it.

It occurs to me — as the vegetation speeds past, and I stumble my way around cactus-like plants with thorns nearly as long as my fingers — that I don't even know where I am. I don't recognize anything around me, and even the sky is a distinct shade of purple that paints the horizon with shades of unfamiliarity.

My thoughts are interrupted by a deafening screech, and I risk a glance back, counting the time in my head. It's been four seconds. It takes four seconds for it to pull the scythe free. Before I can react, it launches itself at me unbelievably fast.

I don't even get the time to scream.

The fourth time, I change things around. Dying is incredibly unpleasant, and I'm not inclined to keep doing it; I need a way to beat this thing and then assess what's going on. The dodge-and-roll is almost instinct now, burned into my brain from my multiple deaths.

I have four seconds. The clock is ticking.

You know what? Might as well try something risky.

I run towards the mantis monster.

I need a weapon. There's a ball joint holding that scythe attached to the rest of the limb, supported just by a thin layer of sinew.

It roars at me when I get close — bug-spittle lands on my face, but I don't have time for disgust — and swings its spare blade at me. I'm approaching it at a weird angle, though, so it doesn't have the full range of motion it needs; I duck underneath, and it scrabbles at me with its other claws—

—and I gasp as I feel them dig into my skin, scoring a particularly deep cut—

—but it's not enough to stop me.

I kick into the joint right as it tries for a final, powerful yank. It's not fast enough. There's a morbid snap as the joint breaks off from the rest of the limb, and I grab at the base of it, ignoring the way the cracked carapace digs into my skin. My momentum is enough to pull the blade the rest of the way out, and I roll, trying desperately not to stab myself with the weapon I've risked my life for.

Okay. Still alive. The monster's angrier than ever, and no longer stuck to the ground; it's rushing towards me, and — yep, definitely too fast to run from.

I make a split-second decision to leap to the right.

It's the wrong choice.

Thankfully, that time, it does me the courtesy of killing me instantly.

The fifth time, I dive to the left just as it swings to the right, and I take that opportunity to jump onto the damn thing. I yell as I do it. There's no actual point in yelling, it's just a release of frustration and stress and fear. It does help me ignore the pain as a half-dozen pseudo-limbs claw into me, though.

I climb up its back and stab the scythe into its other eye with a triumphant shout.

It's almost satisfying. The mantis-thing doesn't even make a sound. I've hit a vital spot of some sort, it seems; it just collapses to the ground, and sends me sprawling. I don't bother moving from where I've landed. I just lie there, panting.

Everything hurts.

But I'm alive. I actually did it.

...It's almost a miracle that it only took me five tries, and it's a miracle I really, really hope I won't have to repeat. Which brings me to my next task.

I need to figure out what's going on.

That subtle text that's been hovering in my peripheral vision calls to me again. It's pulsing insistently now that I'm out of the fight, and when I focus on it, it expands.

[ Congratulations! The Integrators have selected Earth to be the next Integrated planet. Please stand by... ]

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

[ Integration complete! 3,000 individuals will be randomly selected for a Trial. Note that at least 10 individuals must pass their Trial, or Earth will be destroyed. ]

[ Congratulations! You have been selected for a Trial. ]

[ Welcome to Hestia 307B! Your Trial details are as follows:

Danger Rank: SSS

Type: Willpower

Base Anomaly: Temporal

Every time you die, reset to 0:00 and spawn at the designated location. Your trial will end when you give up or escape the Trial grounds. The exit has been placed in a random location within 12 kilometers of the initial spawn point. ]

[ You have been Integrated and granted a Status. Your Status is as follows:

Name: Ethan

Credit Distribution:

Strength: 0

Durability: 0

Reflex: 0

Speed: 0

Firmament: 0 ]

I pause, stare, and take a moment to process.

Three thousand people selected for Trials just like this one, by a species that, I assume, calls themselves the Integrators. They want ten people to pass. That means they expect most of us to fail, and considering what I've just been through — considering I've just been mauled to death four times in a row — I'm under no illusions as to what failing will mean for the other candidates.

I hate everything about this.

And then there's what those messages said about what they would do to Earth if we fail. I clench my fists, and then take a slow, shuddering breath; my heart is still pumping wildly from my near-death experience.

From my actual-death experiences.

There are more messages waiting for me, and I distract myself by looking through them.

[ You have died. +1 Durability credit. ]

[ You have died. +2 Durability credits. +1 Reflex credit. ]

[ You have died. +1 Durability credit. +2 Reflex credit. +1 Speed credit. ]

[ You have died. +2 Strength credits. +2 Durability credits. +1 Reflex credits. +2 Speed credit. ]

[ You have defeated a Broken Horror (Rank E)! +2 Strength credits. +3 Durability credits. +2 Reflex credits. +2 Speed credits. +2 Firmament credits. ]

There's... a lot to take in from that. My actual status is probably updated from the notification I got earlier. Thankfully, bringing up a new notification is as simple as thinking about it.

[ Status:

Name: Ethan

Credit Distribution:

Strength: 4

Durability: 9

Reflex: 6

Speed: 5

Firmament: 2 ]

That's... good?

I don't feel any stronger — and I definitely don't feel any more durable. The fact that it's called a credit distribution says a lot; the implication with a credit is that I need to spend it, though I'm not sure how. There's a part of me that's clinging very firmly to the idea that this isn't real, but...

I've died four times, and I don't want to go through that again. Better to assume this is real until I have a reason to believe otherwise.

I need to figure out my priorities.

It's not survival — survival isn't a problem. I can't die until I give up, and I'm not going to give up. If it's a willpower test, I'm going to pass it.

What I'm more concerned about is the implications of ending the Trial. The message said the Trial would end if I give up or if I escape the Trial grounds. It did not say that I would pass if I escaped. It feels like a pretty safe assumption to make, but "waking up in bed" had seemed like a pretty safe assumption to make last night, so I'm not in the mood to make any more "safe" assumptions.

"How do I pass the Trial?" I say out loud. There's no guarantee that this Interface responds to verbal commands, but I'm hoping it does.

[ Details of the passing requirements are locked until further notice. ]

Interesting.

"Is there anything else I'm missing?"

[ Interface features will be unlocked as your Integration progresses. Such features may include, but are not limited to: Inventory, Market, Chat, Guilds. ]

I frown.

So I don't have everything unlocked yet. Sure.

"How do I spend credits, and what do they do?"

[ Credits may be banked, allowing you to acquire skills associated with that particular type of credit. Note that all credits of a particular type must be banked at once. Banking more credits increases the likelihood of the resulting skill being of a high grade.

In addition, bonuses will be granted when the total number of credits banked in a given category has reached certain thresholds. The first threshold occurs at 100 credits banked, each subsequent threshold occurs at every power of 10 thereafter. ]

Most of the categories are pretty self-explanatory. There's only one that really needs explanation for me.

"What is Firmament?"

[ Firmament is the energy that the Interface — and much of the wider universe — runs on. It allows an imposition of change onto reality, often bending and sometimes outright breaking the laws of physics.]

Okay, so it's magic. They couldn't have just called it mana?

I can keep saving my credits. That's probably what I should do, even, except I don't have any examples of the type of skills I'll get from each category. If I bank them now, I'll get an example...

No. I'll bank Durability first. It's the highest one I've got, and it'll help me survive the next few encounters with that Broken Horror. I have no illusions about my level of skill right now — I'm going to die, and I'm probably going to keep dying for a while. Durability will give me an example of what I can get with nine credits, and then I'll try to get a skill at twenty-five, fifty, and a hundred. That'll give me an idea of the relationship between credits and skill quality — there's got to be diminishing returns somewhere.

I'll also bank Firmament, because it's the one I'm most uncertain of in terms of what type of skill it'll give me. That leaves... I'll bank Strength once I've earned twenty-five credits, Reflex at fifty, and Speed at one hundred.

Okay. I feel pretty good about this.

Spend Durability credits.

[ Are you sure you wish to bank 9 Durability credits? ]

Yes.

[ 9 Durability credits banked! Rolling for results... ]

[ Select between:

Tough Skin (Rank F)

Blood Production (Rank E)

Iron Bones (Rank F) ]

I'm going to have to fight this mantis thing again, and the main danger it represents is making me bleed out, not breaking my bones. Blood Production being at a higher rank is interesting, but I can't imagine it having good synergy with anything else. Anything it would have good synergy with is not a skill I'm particularly interested in.

The other problems with tracking blood all over a strange forest full of alien bacteria make my decision for me.

[ Tough Skin (Rank F) obtained! ]

Spend Firmament credits.

[ Are you sure you wish to bank 2 Firmament credits? ]

Yes.

[ 2 Firmament credits banked! Rolling for results...]

[ Select between:

Temporal Echo (Rank D)

Bladeshift (Rank F)

Multifaceted Vision (Rank F) ]

I think about the situation I'm in. The adrenaline, at least, is fading away — and though I know I should be exhausted, I find myself with a certain clarity of mind instead.

There's a fundamental truth here: the Integrators are not doing this as some good faith attempt at uplifting Earth. They're phrasing Integration as a reward, but the fact that they're pairing it with the threat of destroying the planet... I'm inclined to think that there's another purpose to the Trials. I'm inclined to think that there's no reason to test us in a trial by fire like this, involving less than a fraction of a percent of the world's population using a random distribution that barely begins to represent the whole of humanity.

But they're going to regret choosing me. They're going to regret putting me in this specific Trial. In this Trial, I'm free to take as long as I want. I'm free to scrape up every last scrap of power I can.

Integration is an interesting translation. It implies the Integrators use this technology, too. That they're integrating us into their system.

That, to me, sounds like a weakness.

I'm going to find out what you're really up to, and then I'm going to tear all this down.

[ Temporal Echo (Rank D) obtained! ]

I'm coming for you.