John laughed and looked at everyone around him.

He spoke:

"Killing someone is a felony. I suppose I'll have to get rid of all the witnesses."

He then walked towards the group of people as they backed away. Soon they were backed into a wall.

John smiled, then said:

"Just kidding..."

Everyone sighed in relief. They thought he really planned to kill them. John put his finger on his lips.

"If anyone ask. Those guys died to monsters... you can all keep a secret right?"

Everyone nodded their heads as if their lives depended on it.

John sat back down and began to meditate. He ignored the looks of everyone else.

Soon, water and food was brought to him.

"Sir. We have decided to make you the leader. Please help us distribute food."

John ate the food. It had no taste at all. He didn't eat for pleasure either way.

He drunk a bottle of water and felt refreshed.

"You can distribute it among yourselves..."

"Boss... there is only enough water to last everyone three days."

"Why don't you explore outside?"

"It is too dangerous outside the temple. Three more people have already been killed by those creatures."

"Fine. I'll assemble a team."

The person's eyes lit up.

"Call everyone for a meeting."

Ten minutes later. Everyone had gathered around John.

"Those who are proficient in manipulating energy, raise your hands."

Everyone looked back and forth at others.

Only seven people raised their hands.

John pointed them at the corpses of those who had fought him earlier.

"Pick it up."

There was hesitation at first. But they listened and picked up the weapons on the ground.

"Good. You will be in charge of exploring the outside."

"If you find anything, be sure to report to me."

John watched them stand there motionless.

"What are you doing? Go!"

They quickly scrambled to the outside of the temple.

An hour later, they returned.

"Boss, it seems there is nothing but desert as far as the eye can see. We seem to be the only structure here."

Their report was the same as what he had seen before. So he didn't suspect them of lying."

John began to think. He spoke with everyone.

"Everyone got to ask three questions in the tutorial. I'll say what I asked and let's share information among one another."

John's questions were quite simple. But not everyone had such shit questions and some asked questions which gave them vital information.

Through this. John learned the objective of this trial.

It seems that the initial apocalypse was the first trial. It also seems that billions of people failed.

Then even more died in the transfer process.

Now only 10 million humans were left alive. They were scattered across an infinitely big space.

John was suspicious already about this trial. He knew better then to trust those old monsters.

The objective of this trial is to evolve.

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

There were ranks to hidden existences.

One becomes a god at rank 7.

To pass this trial. One needed to reach rank 1.

This was inherently different then the cultivation level. If it wasn't, John would've instantly passed this trial and entered the next one.

There were layers to this dimension. The gods and eldritch entities had worked their powers together to make an entirely new universe for this trial.

Right now. They were in layer zero.

Everyone started rankless, even John.

Although some were strong due to mutations. Others were strong due to awakening. Some survived the end of days because of staying in a shelter. These people were the weakest.

Out of the 100 people that appeared here.

Only 87 were still alive.

Two of those were kids.

A few were women.

Most were men.

While everyone was discussing the questions they had asked the guide. A person came from outside that wasn't part of the search team. He was part of this group however.

"I found something!"

John asked with interest:

"What did you find?"

"There seems to be some sort of barrier outside. I tried walking into the desert, but some invisible wall blocked the way."

John frowned.

Didn't they say they could find other sanctuaries? What is the purpose of a barrier?

"About how far out is the barrier?"

"It is about 3 kilometers away from here."

"Is it surrounding the entire area?"

"I don't know."

"I'll go check out the situation."

"Those that can manipulate energy, protect those that can't."

The sun was starting to set. It was becoming night.

John walked alone as things got darker. Things started to cool down.

Pretty soon, he walked into an invisible barrier.

He covered his fist in aura as he punched.

There was a reaction. He felt the force he applied hit his entire body as he was sent flying back.

The area was completely dark.

John spent the entire night walking around the barrier. Seeing that there didn't seem to be any gaps. He gave up on this.

He walked back to the temple.

It was morning and everyone was stressed. As they were running out of water. One can go a long time without food. But water was essential.

"Did you find out anything?"

"Nope."

Somebody suggested drinking the blood from the corpses.

But everyone refused.

It could be contaminated. It was like drinking poison to relieve thirst. Not a good idea at all.

John had suspected to find a trial or some way to progress. But he hadn't.

This confused him. In the past, he had ran into and even created inheritances himself. What was the goal of the hidden existences that constructed this game?

If there was no way to progress. Everyone would die.

Except for John.

There was four exits in this temple.

John's mind was overclocking as he tried to find the way to progress.

Perhaps it has to do with this leftover ritual?

He analyzed everything the person had said.

He analyzed his memory:

"You have all done well to make it this far. Now, you will compete for a reward. We have brought every civilization across the universe into this test. You are to fight for the survival of your race. That's right! This is a fight for survival."

"The prizes are considerable. The winner takes all. You will become a god... the loser, well to be clear. You will be erased."

"Many of you will die. You can betray your kind to progress or work together. I don't care..."

"Betray your kind or work together?"

John then had a sudden strike of enlightenment!

The challenge was to evolve to rank 1.

John thought about how everyone was isolated.

He then thought about the mutants during the apocalypse. There were also harpy's outside that were hostile. This little detail didn't escape his calculations.

"That's it! Corruption!"

Gazing at a hidden existence could cause one to go insane. But it could also cause one to become corrupted.

Based on the type of entity, you could gain different powers.

Maybe he needed to summon such a existence?

John realized that the man with the robe had basically said two different paths.

One was of slaughter.

The other was cooperation.

These creatures had to come from somewhere. They were enemies made by the gods.

What if these creatures were here for some sort of ritual? That would explain the cages and alter.

There were two paths.

One could put humans in cages or...

You could capture the harpy's and place them in the cages. But the alter in the middle looked to be prepared for a human.

It was a monolith.

John walked over to inspect it. He could see runes carved into the stone.

He could tell from the runes that this was actually similar to his mantra used to connect to his concept. Except it wasn't directed at emflowcreagen. It was pointed at a different entity.

John talked about this with everyone and soon began the mission to fill the cages up with live harpy's.

He spoke:

"Someone will have to be sacrificed. I have no idea what this ritual does."

Everyone was silent. Nobody wanted to die, especially for something they didn't even know existed.

John smiled.

"I have decided. I will be the sacrifice."

Everyone was surprised. But also relieved.

John was secretly laughing. Even if he died. He could just respawn. He noticed from them not clearing his storage space. That these gods lacked information.

What would happen to this layer when everyone left?

John figured two possibilities.

He would be trapped in this area.

He still had the waypoints he had set in the earth before evening coming here though... If those worked...

There was a few things he had avoided doing because the amount of eyes on him. He figured there were multiple ways to escape. But he didn't talk about these. He made it seem like this was the only way.

There was then the more exciting possibility.

How lazy were the gods? Creating an infinite space was no problem for them. But to also manage and monitor infinite structures. Using those at the bottom of the totem pole. John expected them to cut corners.

He was was gambling that they weren't monitoring him at this very moment. If they were, and he went through with this plan. He would be in deep shit.

When the black cube collapsed. John felt his perception of time.

He had felt his existence 'freeze'.

This led John to believe that this temple would be reused. Based off the barrier... he figured there were other sanctuaries on this plane. But they were blocked off by a barrier.

There were millions of humans that survived the apocalypse. Yet... only 100 were in this temple? That was sketchy as hell.

That's why John was willing to bet his future on his hunch.

Trapped forever? Who gave a shit. He was a concept! He would have infinite time to study runes and formations.

If he was right!? He could perhaps cheat the system.

Soon all eight cages were filled with alive harpy's.

John laid down on the monolith that was an altar.

He had someone bring him a dagger.

The people were nervous John would back out at the last second. The brain was hardwired to struggle for life.

But he stabbed the dagger into his heart as if it was nothing.

The ritual had begun.