He found himself in a huge white room, filled with all kinds of strangers. They were found in all shapes, sizes, races, and species. He noticed everything from humans to alien abominations that he couldn’t quite think of names for. What the hell was he supposed to call a creature with three legs, seven arms, and a slimy body leaking with some kind of corrosive fluid?

‘Welcome to the Testing Floor! If you want to live, you must continue to climb the Tower. When you reach the top, you will have obtained unimaginable power; and your deepest desire will be granted. This floor is designed to test your individual capabilities! Teaming up is forbidden, but killing other competitors and taking their items and stats is always allowed!’

Shortly after he finished reading, the walls fell down all around them to reveal that they were standing atop a literal cloud. A quest notification appeared in front of him.

‘The Four Generals serve as the sturdy walls that keep the Queen safe from all harm. They exhibit absolute control over their domain, so every sentient life form turns against those that covet the Queen’s treasure. Choose a location to land and defeat enemies. Players will have their points calculated at the end of the allotted time period.’

He looked down at the map. In the center was a tree so massive that even in the clouds he still wasn’t standing above it. All around him, participants were starting to vanish as they chose to spawn in one of the distinctly elemental biomes of water, fire, lightning, and darkness. But, his attention was drawn upwards, to try and get a glimpse of the top of the tree.

I have 72 hours until the time limit is up. Everyone else is already going, but I have an advantage in three elements so I’m sure I could catch up if I miss a few minutes.

He checked his status. He had the chance to enter a nickname, so he did rather quickly. Nothing really changed, but he was still put at ease by the fact that he had a full identity now, even if it wasn’t who he really was.

He wasn’t sure how he managed to miss it, but he had received another skill for reaching level 20, and the notification was sitting behind his others. He even had new information under his status. He couldn’t tell if 100 coins and 5000 DP was a lot or not so he moved on quickly. His new skill, Build, had something to do with dungeon management.

He found Seru and the wolf’s recruit cards and winced at the prices. Seru’s card was golden to show that it was legendary and the other was purple to signify uniqueness. Seru’s had a sparkle to it for some reason. Her price was cut in half, from 10,000 to 5,0000. The Blue Moon Wolf’s card was 4,000.

He only had enough DP for one of them. Thankfully, it was a no brainer who he should choose. His points depleted as he chose to summon the goblin woman, who materialized from a soft white light beside him. Once she was fully formed, she knelt before the man and fixed her gaze on the ground.

Thank you for summoning me as your first humble servant.

Did her theme change?

Go down to the water and fire environments and see if you can earn points in my stead. If not, subdue as many enemies as possible for me to finish once I return.

She nodded in understanding and disappeared, leaving him with three other people left on the platform. Two of them, a boy and a girl that looked around his age, looked mostly human. Sure, the guy had light blue hair accenting his pale skin and the girl was closer to his own brown complexion yet still had pink hair, but that was to be expected. The third person, the silver furred hulking minotaur that stood close to the pale man, might not have even been a person. He assumed it was the boy’s summon, and had some level of sentience like Seru, but were minotaurs too far from human to attain such a thing?

The girl looked at him with indifference, but the boy glared at him with nothing but animosity. He briefly wondered if he had possibly offended him. The other man was dressed in fine purple fabrics, so could he have been angry that he was also wearing purple? Was this a nobility thing? Was he possibly a follower of the Blue Moon Wolf, and it had been revealed that he killed the creature?

There was no way for him to know unless he asked, but did he even care to know? More importantly, would that even fit the character he was trying to build? The answer to both questions was no.

He let it go and decided he would just keep an eye on the dude. He returned his focus to the tree above him and imagined himself teleporting to the top, just like how others had done to get to the ground. A second later, he was on the tallest branch of the tree, which had an opening carved into the piece of the trunk that it connected to. Shortly after he arrived, the other people did as well.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He noted their presence and decided to set the tone by walking calmly toward the entrance instead of running. There was no telling what they were going to run into, so he would rather not have to race them recklessly.

Once they made it through the opening, he found himself in a tight hallway with claustrophobic walls. Torches on one side of the wall lit the way for them to travel quietly, mostly in a single file line. While they walked, he checked the leaderboard to find himself sitting at a comfortable fiftieth place out of the thousand or so contestants involved. Seru was doing a great job.

The hallway eventually opened up into a large room, with two sets of staircases on either side of the room respectively ascending towards a throne that was the centerpiece to the room. Atop the throne sat an elven with a caramel complexion and long ears with pointed tips. She was dressed in loose yet modest robes that seemed to almost flow around her as if the clothes were alive.

“There are usually a few that try to skip the formalities and go straight for my treasure.”

He looked around the room more. There were countless weapons that all seemed rather powerful along the walls of the room, but there were also five pedestals underneath the throne. From left to right, they held a bow, a round shield, a dagger, a sword, and a spear. They didn’t radiate power like the weapons on the wall, but there had to have been a reason why they were on special display, right?

“Th–” he was interrupted from speaking by the pale boy, who looked at him with hatred once again and stepped forward to speak. To everyone other than the Queen’s apparent surprise, though, the boy was cut down mercilessly. A sword dislodged itself from the wall and sliced straight through him, murdering him on the spot and sending the minotaur into a blind rage. Rather anticlimactically, the monster was killed in an identical fashion, leaving both bodies lying limp and dismembered on the floor.

“The smallest hint of hostility will not be tolerated even in the slightest.” stated the Queen.

He felt bad. Was that boy hostile towards him or the Queen? He was thankful that he didn’t have to worry about a potential enemy, but he was frustrated that he didn’t have the chance to pull information from the guy.

“Understood, Your Majesty. Is there some kind of test that we must go through in order to be worthy of one of your treasures?” asked the woman that had been standing silently up until then.

“No, not at all. You made it here with no ill intentions. These treasures do not serve me sitting in this room and collecting dust, so by all means take whatever you please. Just know that whatever you pick, you will be burdened by its upkeep. None of these items are without their flaws.”

He inspected the items again. The girl did not take the time to contemplate her decision. Instead, she picked the sword without a shred of hesitation and vanished from the room.

“Where did she go?”

“The base of the tree.”

“Is this the world tree?”

“No, a mere world tree pales in comparison to this one. A world tree will naturally evolve into a Tree of Life like this one you are currently in, and when that happens it will birth a spirit such as myself.”

“What’s the real difference?”

“The world’s mana quality. A world tree allows for mana to exist, but once it becomes a Tree of Life, the world is considered to be out of its beginner stages.”

“Can I get a seedling for this tree instead of a weapon?”

There was a pause that hung in the air awkwardly, almost making him regret asking. He figured that since he was a dungeon master, something like a Tree of Life would set him apart from all the others.

“You are the first to request such a thing. I’ll humor you and give you a sapling, but you must be careful when raising this child. If you do not do it properly, you will find that it consumes everything.”

He received the sapling in his inventory, then vanished from the room as well. There was a brief period of darkness, where he couldn’t see anything, but after a few seconds, he found himself at the base of the tree. The sun was no longer hanging high in the air as it was when he initially arrived. Instead, it was rising to its former position. Was it early morning?

He checked the time left in the trial to find that he only had fifteen minutes left.

Why did I get such a strong spacial distortion?!

Thankfully, Seru had rose his position on the leaderboard to thirtieth place. She maintained it dutifully so he had no real complaints about missing the first round.

Did that other girl experience something similar?

He was transported against his will once again, ending up in a white room filled with other Players and monitors. The top ten Players had their names and faces recorded on the screens, as well as their point values and notable achievements. The number one Player, someone named Nykal, had a whopping 754 points and the achievement of defeating one of the bosses. Compared to his own 160 points, Nykal had definitely earned his spot.

Seru found him quickly and knelt to greet him.

Did you accomplish your task, Sensei?

He nodded in response to her inquiry.

You did well, Seru. Were the bosses difficult?

Moderately so. The real challenge was all the Players surrounding the boss arenas. They did not want anyone else to defeat a boss.

‘Congratulations! You’ve made it through the first round of the Tutorial, so now it is time for the team trial.’