I’m not going to subject you to his speech because it was very long and proper and told the history of the school and made three students kill themselves. We had to have a funeral right there on the stage. It was all metaphorical of course. Anyway, eventually he got to

“…and so, without any further ado, here are your rankings!” With a sweep of his hand he revealed a board to the right of the podium he was standing on. 1st place, Kel. She was so used to using simple magic that her speed was comparable to mine, and with her basically leading one of the teams in the first trial I’m not surprised. 2nd place, Grey. Not a shocker, his leadership and holy magic are untouchable. All he lacks is practice. 3rd place was Kari. Ok this one was a bit surprising but it looks like she got second or third place in virtually every trial. Also, she was the dark-haired girl who played an active part in the information control in the first trial. It stung that I lost, especially in espionage. 4th place was me, and fifth was a giant of a kid named Georg. No, he was literally at least half giant. The kid was huge. Like, 12 feet tall and typically shirtless, huge. After that I didn’t look at any of the rankings but Jules was crying all over my shirt saying

“Why did I lose to that giant and only got 6th” -and other such stuff. It was a bit gross so I poured some paralyzing poison on him. He’ll be fine.

“Now then. Will the individuals with the top five ranks please follow me?” The principal clapped his hands and waved to the students gathered before walking calmly out of the THUNDERDOME.

“Ah, sir?” I ran up to the principal and got his attention. He blinked his eyes and looked down at me. Mind you, I’m a good 5.75 feet tall and he was leaning over. He was much taller up close.

“Yes young man? What is it?” I recovered from my surprise and recollected my thoughts.

“Are we going to the lower vault now? I thought we weren’t allowed in there until we had gotten the magic novice skill?” The principal smiled widely while straightening his back.

“To answer your question, you might want to look at your status.” I did.

NAME: Jin ﴾Third Prong﴿

TITLE: Enigmatic/ Endless Sleeper/ Graduate of the Third Prong/ Beginner Magus

AGE: 20

RACE: ???

LEVEL: 23

CLASS: Assassin

STRENGTH: 97

VITALITY: 153

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

SPEED: 201

AGILITY: 192

LUCK: -12 (+30)

INTELLIGENCE: 119

DEXTERITY: 208

MANA: 157

SKILLS: Origin Lvl 2. Traveler (+lighten load/+quick travel/+distance travel). Enigma Lvl 5. Mental resist. Aura of Misfortune. Projectile weapon proficiency. Lock-picking. Silent movement. Treatment Lvl 9. Hide. Quick Climb. Bluff. Emphatic Cry (+increased tear volume). Pain Resist Lvl 3. Trap Proficiency. Magic Novice.

I already had the skill. So they must have given it to us at some point during the speech perhaps? Well that’s surprising.

“And to answer your other question, no. We are not going to the vault just yet.” This caught my attention. As far as I remember from the letter from my boss, the top five rankers of the beginner’s trial were given the right to visit the lowest vault once. And that wasn’t where we were going? The principal raised his eyebrow as he looked down at me. “Patience, young one. There are things we must do first.” I nodded at his response and fell back with the other four rankers. After some time we came to a door. “Now, everyone, step through.” We did and found ourselves in a large corridor filled with archways. “This is a right we’ve decided, after too many incidents, will be given only to the ones who rank in the proficiency tests. This is the beginner’s trial. You may help each other here, but after you choose a door you are on your own.” With those words the principal went back though the door we’d just come and disappeared.

“Well. So that’s how it was.” I remarked mostly to myself.

“Indeed.” The Kari girl answered. Sparing none of us a glance, she strode down the corridor till she was just past halfway and entered an archway. The archway immediately wrapped itself with chains, preventing further entry.

“Uh. Anyone know what’s going on?” I looked at the remaining three rankers. Kel slapped me on the back.

“Easy, Noob. Pick a door!” She laughed then hopped into an archway nearby. Grey offered me a grin of his own before walking to the very end of the corridor. Once there, he shook his head then came partway back and walked into a door. I looked at Georg. He looked at me.

“Thes’ door’ too smah.” Georg gestured with an arm at the archways, which promptly grew to a height of fifteen feet. “Ah.” He remarked before walking into the closest one.

“Alrighty then. Pick a door I guess.” I walked up to the nearest open door and looked at it. It was an open archway covered in dark green brick wrapped in black and maroon ivy. I wasn’t a fan. Walking further along, I noticed that the color patterns of the archways became more complicated the further I walked. At the end, the archway was an absolutely resplendent mix of ivy, fire, ice, and every other elemental representation in a strangely cohesive amalgamation. It was chaotic, but pretty. As I looked at the door a voice echoed in my head.

Will you tempt fate?

“No.”

I now knew exactly why Grey had shaken his head and ignored this one. I turned around to go back to the front only to see the front had disappeared. In fact, the entire first half of the corridor was now shrouded in what looked like black jelly. As I watched, the jelly oozed forward, eating more of the hallway. Shiiiiiit. In a bit of a panic now I looked at what doors were left. On the left, two of the three doors had been taken by Grey and Kari. On the right there was only one door that was completely black and covered in scythes, skulls, and black cloth. It was also moving slightly which was pretty much the clearest ‘fuck that’ I’ve ever gotten from a door. To the left, the only door left looked like an actual coliseum-made-door and was covered in super muscled arms and hands arm-wrestling. The door was basically screaming come in here if you wanna fight like a real man! Except, I’m slightly cursed so I can’t. I turned around one more time to look at the door. The voice echoed again.

You will tempt fate.

“Well that’s presumptuous.” But I really was out of time. Taking one last glance behind me, I jumped through the archway.