Zhiodri's POV:
"I have found an anomaly."
"What is it?"
"There seems to be a human that can recover their soul. I noticed that the emergency concede was triggered. So I went to transport the experimental subjects to limbo until the construction of the third trial is finished. Everything went as we calculated. Except. The activator of the ritual seemed to retain a spirit body. They seemed to be conscious. I destroyed all traces of them. But they reappeared. Upon wiping them out again, they seemed to truly die."
"I see... well, they died in the end. After dealing with billions of experimental subjects, there was bound to be someone with a special soul."
"Master... their soul seemed completely normal."
"Interesting... perhaps it is someone blessed by the calamity realm? What if they also had this ability?"
"You mean to say that they respawned in the calamity realm?"
"Perhaps you aren't dealing with a mortal. Maybe a god was playing a joke. Although, it is interesting that they were able to hide the strength of their soul. So I'm thinking this person comes from the top."
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Meanwhile... John had no idea that the management for the trials had cited him as an anomaly. They had no idea he was alive and fine.
He was busy searching for the mechanism to open up the pathway to the dungeon. Finally, a brick he pressed into the temple caused the entire temple to shake.
Everyone looked at him weirdly as a path opened up.
"How did you know that was there?"
"I'm Destinatus."
"Fair enough."
"Those that can fight. Follow me down."
For some reason. The temperature dropped heavily after walking down the stairs. You could see the breath.
After walking for a few minutes. The stairs were covered with snow and ice. It was also snowing.
"How unscientific!"
It was somehow snowing as if ignoring the rules of reality. It was as if clouds had been summoned in the temple. But weren't rendered for those that hadn't come down.
It was getting colder and colder the further they went down.
John had runes carved on his body keeping him warm.
Others weren't so prepared.
Soon they reached the bottom and saw two big doors. These doors opened quite easily.
What they found was a skeleton sitting on a throne of ice. He had black armor on. His eyes weren't glowing.
"Stay back."
John told everyone. He then walked up to the skeleton wearing armor.
Its eyes then glowed as its armor began to creak.
"For ten thousand years..."
John interrupted him.
"How do you know it has been 10,000 years? Have you been counting?"
"No... I-"
"Then you have no idea how long you have been here. You are cut off from sunlight and have no concept of night or day."
At this point the death knight eyes were glowing red.
John had his disguise on at the moment.
"I am far older then you... tell me, what is your purpose here?"
The death knight was speechless. He had this big speech he had prepared for his foes that he had been happy to finally get to use. But this guy took all the wind out of his sails before he even started.
This person was shameless! You come into my base and ask me what I am doing here? Are you an idiot!?
"My phylactery can be used to become rank 1."
Now John was listening.
"So we just need to beat you? Then I can progress to rank 1 and leave this trial?"
"Yes... but only one person can pass this trial."
The lich stood up.
"Just try to beat m-"
"You're wrong. There are multiple ways to progress in this system."
John had already seen the concede route using the ritual.
"How would you know?"
"I'm Destinatus."
"Destinatus?"
At this instant the lich swerved to the side, dodging John's punch. He then stabbed his sword at John. John shifted, and punched the sword as if it was a toy.
He was surprisingly cut on his fist. But the blade only left a shallow cut.
John punched the lich in the chest sending it flying back. The ice throne shattered.
John felt danger and tried to dodge its next attack.
But it ripped through his chest and crushed his heart.
John coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground.
John kept watching in his spirit body.
The others tried to fight the death knight but were all killed.
The death knight was happy that it got to wipe out the party of that annoying human.
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Everyone had died. Except for the group of people that didn't travel with John.
As it was walking to its broken throne.
John had revived and jumped on its back.
"How are you alive!?"
"Did you really think killing me, would kill me? Do you think I die when I am dead?"
"What sort of bullshit is that!"
John laughed as the death knight jumped into the ceiling in an attempt to knock him off his back.
Finally... John managed to rip off his head from his body. But the death knight was still alive.
He ripped off its armor and looked underneath the ribs. There was a white orb.
"How do I use this?"
"Why would I tell you?"
"Don't be a sore loser..."
The knight remained silent and ignored John.
"Fuck it."
John crushed the orb to the screams of the knight.
An energy began to crawl up his arm and shot into his brain.
He felt his brain being upgraded.
"How interesting! It is similar to when I broke through to rank 1 as a wizard."
A passive spell was engraved on his soul.
John frowned.
He disliked other brands on his soul. He would need to deal with this. This was just asking to get taken advantage of.
"If my soul shatters... will I lose my progress?"
The passive spell carved on his soul was a rank 1 'Ice Skin' spell.
Name: Johnathan Time
Age: 20
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Constitution:40
Perception:10
Energy:250
Skills: ["Lvl3 Iron Finger", "Lvl2 Body Tempering", "Lvl4 Fitness", "Lv3 Meditation", "Lv2 Cultivator", "Lvl1 Existence"]
He could feel that this spell didn't rely on mana and instead took energy directly.
John felt it was a shame.
"Perhaps I could've acquired a better foundation had I saved-"
"Wait! It is registered as a skill! I'll be able to recover it even if my soul is shattered!"
This was bad news, he didn't wish for permanent adjustments. He would have to do something about this.
His thoughts were interrupted by a message.
"Congratulations! You have successfully passed the second trial."
"The concede for this node has been cancelled. Everyone that fails to become rank 1 in the next 24 hours will die. Good luck!"
John blew up on the spot and respawned at the temple.
He now could directly observe his soul. This was one of the perks of being rank 1.
It still looked ordinary. But inside of it was a brand.
John had an idea... He didn't wish to have a normal foundation like other people. No, he wasn't satisfied with that.
The cages had disappeared after the concede was cancelled.
John now realized what that mysterious man had said.
You could slaughter or save others.
John had gotten even more info from the discussion of the three questions among these people. There was a way to save everyone at the cost of self sacrifice.
If he kept things as they were. He would progress forward.
But if he sacrificed himself as a rank 1. Everyone here could become rank 1. But he would die.
John had a few ideas. Some even involving his concept.
Soon he told everyone there was a way for everyone to pass. They didn't believe him.
But it wasn't their life as the price. So some even encouraged him.
John laid down on the monolith in the center of the temple.
He tried to stab himself but any icy shield instinctively protected him. Using his great strength and aura he ignored this layer of defense.
He stabbed it into his heart as a familiar scene happened.
"Congratulations! You have passed the second trial!"
White light blinded everyone as a brand was engraved on their souls. John did this for a variety of reasons. One, he wasn't going to use the rank 1 'spell' that could have backdoors be part of his soul. That was just asking to get screwed once he became a supreme being.
He watched everyone get baptized by his soul. They all broke through to rank 1.
You see... John is capable of detonating himself. But his soul? He couldn't.
Except there was a way! An overload!
John respawned in his room on earth. He then connected to his concept.
The person that was assigned to reset the temple he was just in was confused. They had used their powers to clean everything in an instant and close the mechanism to the dungeon. But they noticed the corpse on the alter had vanished.
They however didn't report this anomaly as they thought they simply made a mistake and subconsciously cleared the area.
Those that broke through to rank 1 teleported into limbo awaiting the next trial. Their existences were frozen once again.
John was in his room about to connect to his concept.
By connecting to his concept. His soul could shatter.
"Origin of Calamity. The cursed! Emflowcreagen. I pray for a connection..."
A connection opened up and he felt like he had become a god. He ignored this feeling and began to look through advanced technology. Purposefully creating an overflow in his soul.
If he was going to do this. He might as well get some benefits by acquiring advanced technology schematics.
He blew up and his soul shattered from stress due to his concept.
His soul tried to reform.
The original essence he had took in from the lich wasn't there to brand his new soul. But the skill still was. So what happened?
(Resurrection failed!)
(You have died! Do you wish to respawn? Y/N)
(Resurrection failed!)
(You have died! Do you wish to respawn? Y/N)
If he clicked yes. It just failed.
If he clicked no. It just looped.
"Have I hard locked myself?"
He pulled up his status.
Name: Johnathan Time
Age: 20
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Constitution:40
Perception:10
Energy:250
Skills: ["Lvl3 Iron Finger", "Lvl2 Body Tempering", "Lvl4 Fitness", "Lv3 Meditation", "Lv2 Cultivator", "Lvl??? Existence"]
"It seems the problem has been created from the brand on the soul. This is a problem with the skill."
"Perhaps I'll have to make an edit."
John wasn't capable of directly adding or removing skills. That would've been a handy feature. But he was currently trapped.
But the system was an operating system created by his concept. He just needed to upgrade it!
"Origin of Calamity. The cursed! Emflowcreagen. I pray for a connection..."
Soon he saw a blue sun.
His will was getting stressed. But he had no other options. He would need to perform 'surgery' on himself.
After searching through an unfathomable amount of code and runes in an instant. He found the skill. He then directly edited the skill.
Name: Johnathan Time
Age: 20
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Constitution:40
Perception:10
Energy:250
Skills: ["Lvl3 Iron Finger", "Lvl2 Body Tempering", "Lvl4 Fitness", "Lv3 Meditation", "Lv2 Cultivator", "Lvl0 Existence"]
He also added the option to remove/reset skills. So that he wouldn't encounter bugs like this in the future.
John also added some brand new functions with this upgrade.
1.) Spirit Body Cloak - A disguise over the soul and the spirit body that makes it invisible to other existences (can be switched on/off).
2.) Teleportation - Can teleport to waypoints.
3.) The ability to reset/remove skills.
Hidden existences often had ways of observing the soul. This was the reason he had the spirit body cloak have a toggle. When he had it active, it would appear as if his body was a corpse without a soul.
He set up some automatic functions like turning the spirit body cloak on when he was in a dead state. This would prevent a similar case of being discovered from happening again.
John's soul shattered again from using his concept. But this time it reformed.
He successfully respawned.
The intelligence returned to his eyes.
"It would seem my existence skill is quite important as it has to do with the soul. The revival mechanism can get messed up when dealing with such skills. As the saying goes, if I want something done right. I'll have to do it myself."
John felt the barrier to breaking through to rank 1 wasn't there. He felt as if he could create a unique brand. Similar to a warlock.
But what ancient entity would he be pulling his power from?
Emflowcreagen! Why shackle yourself to the 'bloodline' of another entity, when you can shackle yourself to yourself.
His progress could also help his concept grow. It was killing two birds with one stone.
John didn't break into rank 1 though. He wished to explore more of the second trial first.
There was clearly a way to detect the level of a person. He didn't wish to trigger the end of the trial for others. As this was their only time to prepare themselves for future trials.
John had a schematic of the brand that was put on his soul.
But he decided to study more structures in this second trial.