Jay fell into an urban area, strangely deserted of life. Stalls were left with goods strewn about, and many houses had their doors open. Ruby's voice suddenly appeared in the back of his head. "This test is held in the village of Crest. The village was evacuated because of a flood of monsters attacking. Defend against the monsters and fight the other participants. Do the least damage to the village possible. You will be graded on those three things. The top hundred pass."

  Ruby's voice was a lot colder now than it was before. Jay nodded at the sky. It might be because the trials had started and there needed to be an impartial announcer. He jumped, landing on the top of a building. For a village, they were pretty sophisticated, with their buildings made of concrete and cars parked on the road. This world is far further along than some of the other ones I've lived in.

  Jay blinked. Where had that thought come from. He suddenly focused, not having any more time to chase it. The flood of monsters that they had been told about was here. They poured through the streets, and Jay watched one run directly through a lamppost, leaving dents as it ran. Well, he should probably stop them, shouldn't he?

  Not seeing any particularly strong ones, Jay jumped off the building, landing directly in front of the flood. He raised his hands, ready to fight. Not having a Gift, Jay had trained his body day and night, to be one of the so-called 'good guys', the people who defended the world. Now, he could see how far he'd come.

  Jay ran forward, careful not to destroy the road. That would lose him points, wouldn't it? The monsters ran towards him as well, clearly intending to kill the single person in their path and move on. Jay pulled back a fist, ready to strike, when, suddenly, he heard a shout. "What are you doing, moron? You'll be killed! We're supposed to be fighting, but grab on to my water so I can drag you out of there!"

  Jay looked to the side, seeing a girl standing on a building. A whip made of water extended towards him. Jay looked at it curiously, eventually turning his attention back to the monsters. They were far closer now, but he had enough time to strike. Jay pulled his fist back once again, and slammed it directly into the monster in front of him. The boar shuddered for a moment as the entire wave stilled. The monsters attempted to move forward, but they couldn't. They were simply stuck. Then the boar that Jay had punched exploded. "Hm. Maybe go faster?," Jay muttered to himself.

  His feet became a blur as he started to kick off air, his feet moving so quickly that they compressed the atmosphere to a point that he was able to bound off of it. Jay started his rampage, punching his way directly through the wave. He made sure to take them all out, leaving piles of corpses leaking blood behind him. Another boar roared at him, and Jay held back just the right amount of power to kill it, and not destroy the street behind it. His fist smashed it, just like the last one, and he continued. Soon, all the monsters infesting the street were gone. "So I can handle this pretty easily, then. Maybe let's go find something harder," Jay said, once again muttering to himself.

  The girl stared openmouthed at him. "Are you like level 100 already?"

  Jay shook his head. "Status," he said, waving the screen that appeared at the girl.

Status:

Name: Jay Farrow(true last name: unknown)

Level: 0

Familiars:

World Spirit: )!(@#*&%&(

Affinities:

unnatural affinities-uncalculable

Stats:

Body Rank: Unknown

Strength: Unknown

Dexterity: Unknown

Agility: Unknown

Mind Rank: Unknown

Intelligence: Unknown

Wisdom: Unknown

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Perception: Unknown

Soul Rank: At least Dragon(true strength unknown)

Willpower: Legendary(Possibly higher)

Spirit: Infinite(Possibly Higher)

Control: Legendary(Possibly Higher)

Edge: Legendary(Possibly Higher)

Hidden Stats:

0 unlocked

Alignment: Good

  Jay retracted his status screen, jumping away. He didn't feel like beating this girl up, after she'd tried to help him. Meanwhile, she had developed a new habit of talking to herself. "There are soul stats?," she repeatedly spoke under her breath, still trying to get a grasp on the status she had been shown.

  Soon, Jay found another person, the area he had traversed covered in dead monsters and blood. The person turned to him and smirked. "We have another victim! Prepare to face my wrath!," he said, wearing gaudy clothes embedded with jewels. The child held a staff that looked to be made of pure gold and had the largest gem Jay had ever seen atop it. Multiple children were tied up behind him, hanging on one of the few remaining lampposts. Jay walked directly past the child and climbed the lamppost, freeing the children. He put them on the ground and walked back in front of the child. "So, we're supposed to fight?"

  The child attempted to chuckle, but it came out as a series of squeaking sounds. "Fool, you just released my friends. Together, we have a zero percent failure rate!," he shouted, waving the goons behind him forward.

  Jay sighed. "So, you're a rich kid, who was given everything they ever wanted, and you tied up your friends because you were pissed at not being let into the school without being tested."

  The child's face turned white. "Idiot, know my name! I, Adrian, will be the one to torture you for the rest of your life!"

  "Well, I'd better take you out then," Jay said, strolling over to the group.

  "What? You can't do that! You're supposed to cower and beg forgiveness!," The child shouted, his voice growing squeaky and most likely attracting the attention of every monster in the area.

  Jay shook his head. The child once again felt the need to speak. "Fine! I will utterly destroy you with my ultimate technique! Behold!"

  The child started pouring energy into the crystal on top of the staff he wielded. Jay winced; the energy he was attempting to use fell out of his control, being massively wasted. The child quickly ran out of his own energy, and started to gather energy from the crystals stuck in his clothes. Jay quickly analyzed the energy and nodded. This kid was using Mana. If he had been using Note, or god forbid, Thought, this would be a massive waste of energy. Jay's eyes widened and he stumbled. How do I know that?, he asked himself. What was Note? What was Thought? He knew they were some kind of energies now, but he didn't know what they were used for...

  The child interpreted his stumble as fear, his smirk growing larger. "Do you sense the immense amount of mana I have? Do you see the power of this attack?"

  Jay caught himself before he fell over and looked back at the kid. "You're pulling most of the mana from those crystals in your clothes and your goons' mana pools."

  The kid's face turned completely red. "DIE!," he shouted, pointing his staff directly at Jay.

  A massive fireball shot out of the staff, flying directly towards him. Jay jumped to the side, meaning to avoid it, when he suddenly noticed something. The girl who he had showed his status sheet to. She had followed him. The fireball now flew directly towards her, without him in the way. Jay kicked off the air, flying back towards the fireball. There was no time to waste. He analyzed it, watching for weaknesses. They were absolutely everywhere, covering the badly made spell. Choosing the one closest to him, Jay angled for it, kicking off the air once again. The fireball neared the girl as he reached the weakness in the spell, a slight amount of heat getting to Jay. His senses watched the girl close her eyes, apparently accepting her death, just as his hand struck the fireball's weak point, destabilizing the spell. It quickly popped out of existence, releasing a weak wave of heat outwards, which was easily ignored. The girl slowly opened her eyes as Jay landed in front of her.

  "You good?," Jay asked, looking into her eyes.

  She nodded, and he turned around, looking at the noble. His face was once again pale, watching his 'incredibly strong spell' be destroyed with a single blow. Jay shook his head, jumping at the kid. The noble waved his staff at him, but Jay ignored it, picking the noble up. Then he grabbed the rope that had been used to tie up the nobles' goons. "You're going to be stuck here for a while."

  Ruby extended her senses to the site of the trial. Thirty injuries, but, surprisingly, no deaths. She checked up on Jay and watched him tie up some of the agents who were after him. There was a noble pipsqueak along with them who did not stop shouting about his dad. Ruby quickly shifted her attention to the location's memory and quickly tallied the scores. It was time to bring them back.

  Jay finished tying the child, who was shouting incessantly about his dad, and torture, right before more portals appeared. He walked through the one which appeared in front of him, as did the girl, while the portals meant for the rich kid and his goons moved through them to accommodate their current condition. Jay reappeared inside the castle's walls, the stage once again in front of them. Ruby stood above it. However, this time, there were two sections. A right side and a left side. Ruby raised a finger. She pointed to the side he stood in. "This side is the people who passed."

  Her finger flicked to the other side, where he saw the noble, still tied up. "You did not pass."

 Jay extended his senses, and to his relief, found the girl on the same side he was on. Surprisingly, he had gotten slightly attached to her during the trial. It was nice to know she had passed.

  Ruby spoke once more. "You were not at the actual village of Crest. If you were, things would be a lot more serious and mistakes could not be tolerated. You were told that so you would participate to your best. This was a memory of Crest. Top one hundred, your classes start tomorrow. Your rooms are assigned to you, with your names on them. Pick up your soul key at the front desk. As to those who failed. None of you failed because you were weak. You failed because of your character, no other reason. We have many in the top one hundred who are weaker than you. Leave, and never come back."

  Jay found the girl and nodded to her. Eventually, he hoped to be at the level where he could defend the world against the strongest monsters, and stop the strongest evils. He would be the Good in this world.