“Wait-” Tori cut off as she found herself standing in a small room. “Where-”

[Welcome to the Boundless Trial. With a peak potential rating, you have been granted four hundred days within the trial. Your first task is to condense your Qi core. Good luck.]

“Four hundred days?!?” Tori exclaimed. “I can't be gone that long! I have people who need me out there!”

[The Boundless Trial is under a time dilation effect. A hundred days within is only a single day without. Please focus on completing the given task.]

Tori paused. “Well… that's better, I guess. But can't you just let me out? I don't want to be stuck in here for over a year.”

[Once initiated, the Trial must be completed in its entirety. Please focus on completing the given task.]

Tori scowled. “And what am I supposed to eat in here?”

[Sustenance will be provided at regular intervals. Please focus on completing the given task.]

Tori grimaced as she looked around the completely blank room. “What about going to the bathroom?”

[Your waste will be taken care of. Please focus on the given task.]

“That is not a satisfying answer!” Tori growled.

[Please focus on the given task.]

Tori narrowed her eyes, reaching out with both her Spirit and her points to try and find some kind of exit, but the walls of the room resisted both of them. She tried calling Tiffany but after a minute of waiting for her to answer she realized it'd be pointless to try and communicate through the time dilation, so she sent her a message instead, letting her know what was going on. She then sent one to Beatrice as well, asking if Obanonos knew anything about the Boundless Trial. Finally, since she had no idea what else to do, she started working on her Qi core, if only to get the damn voice to stop asking her to ‘focus on the given task’ every ten seconds.

About half an hour later, Tori paused as she got a message back from Tiffany. [You're fucked. Did you find my truffle?] Tori rolled her eyes as she sent back where to find the truffle, and another half hour later Tiffany replied. [Thank you! See you in four days.]

It took another few hours for Beatrice to respond, which Tori had to remind herself was only a few minutes on her end, grimacing as she realized this was going to be the hardest part about the entire trial. [Obanonos said the Boundless Trial was created by the Gin Empire to cultivate future elites. The trial was designed to test and push young Cultivators to develop their potential and lay a firm foundation for future growth. The trial will issue an endless number of tasks for you to complete, rewarding you based on how well and how quickly you complete it, rewards which include valuable artifacts, unique skills, and even forcefully enhancing your cultivation. I'm sorry, but he says there's no way to escape the trial before the time limit is over. It's performed in a pocket dimension and the fact that you're even able to talk to us is apparently a miracle in and of itself. I know spending that much time alone will be hard on you, so please send me as many messages as you want, and I'll reply as quickly as I can. I won't even sleep until you're out of this trial.]

Tori smiled slightly at the last part of the message, before letting out a frustrated sigh. If Obanonos didn't know how to get her out of here, then there was nothing to be done. She was going to spend four hundred days trapped in this tiny room. “Fuck.”

*

It only took a day for Tori to realize why no one knew about this trial. You'd figure someone would have stumbled across it like she did and told someone about it, right? Well, even if they had, they were almost certainly dead because whatever stores the trial used for food had not survived the passage of time, because all the trial gave her to eat was dust. Which Tori had regretfully tried, thinking it might be some sort of advanced Cultivator food. It was not. Thankfully the trial still seemed to have plenty of water which at least tasted like it was clean. Still, Tori was going to have to rely on her points to survive.

Unfortunately, she didn't exactly have a great way to earn points at the moment, and while it wasn't expensive to keep herself alive, maybe about four points a day, she only had about six hundred points, which meant she wouldn't even be halfway through the trial before she ran out. She tried to see if she could get points from outside the trial by having Beatrice transfer one to her, but while she did gain ownership of the point, it couldn't actually get to her, which meant she couldn't use it. This led to minor moment of panic which had Tori begging the trial to give her some cores, to which it only responded the same ‘please focus on the given task’ causing Tori to make some rather colorful inferences about the nature of its parentage, until she realized she had cores she could use. Not the boar’s core, which she'd already used, but her cores. She carefully sent her points towards her Spirit core, and… it worked! Even better, the room was practically stuffed with energy, practically doubling the effectiveness of her cultivation, so she only needed to cultivate for an hour to make back what she took! It wasn't exactly the most efficient use of her cultivation, but hey, at least she wouldn't die.

With her survival ensured, Tori ‘focused on the given task’, condensing her Qi core, using her points to skip sleep so she could complete it as quickly as possible. Obanonos had said the rewards were based on the speed and quality with which she completed the tasks, so since she was stuck here anyway, why not get as much as she could out of this thing? It only took her three days to finish and she immediately sunk about two hundred and fifty points into the core once she did, raising it to the same fifteen hundred point capacity as the other two.

[Analyzing… Qi reserve: peak. Time to completion: seventy-four hours. Rating: peak. Reward: Qi infusion.] Tori's eyes widened as she felt energy surge into her Qi core, filling it completely. [Next task: Acquire an Initial Essence or Qi Rune.]

Tori frowned. “Why do I need another Rune?”

[Please focus on the given task.]

“Of course.” Tori sighed, sending a message to Beatrice instead, asking Obanonos why the trial would want her to condense another Rune. Then, since she was going to need to finish the task anyway if she wanted to move on, she opened her skill list, looking for any promising Essence or Qi skills she could sink some points into before calling for a Rune. For Qi she still had the skills she'd learned from Flynn to hide in the wilderness, and she would like some kind of concealment Rune. As for Essence… She had no idea. She couldn't even think of anything she'd want to pursue with Essence! Her Blade Rune covered pretty much everything she wanted to do physically. She supposed she could try to learn how to use a shield or something, but that just felt… off to her. She'd always been a fan of the ‘don't get hit in the first place’ philosophy of combat, hence why she gravitated towards daggers. And Sledgeblades, now that she thought of it. She paused. Was there a Dodge Rune? That was something she could get behind. Though she wasn't sure if it'd be an Essence skill… there was a bit of a Qi feel to dodging.

Tori considered it for a moment before sinking a few points into concealment and dodging. She was looking for an Essence or Qi Rune, so increasing her odds of getting a Qi Rune was good, right? And if Dodge turned out to be an Essence Rune, all the better. With that done, Tori sat down and entered her Runescape to call for a Rune. She vaguely wondered if she should call for a Rune based on one of her other Runes, but the trial had said to acquire an Initial Rune, and she didn't think that would happen if she used one of her other Runes to call for it. *Come.* She called into the void of her Runescape, watching as a Rune began to etch itself across it, an almost relaxing process compared to her previous Runes. She watched carefully, waiting for the moment the Rune would reveal its nature to her expectantly, wondering whether it'd be Concealment or Dodge, until… Tori groaned as Physical Training finished etching itself into her Runescape. “Fucking- ugh, at least it's an Essence Rune.” She sighed.

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[Analyzing… Essence Rune detected. Time to completion: ten minutes. Rating: N/A. Reward: Rune comprehension assistance.]

Tori froze as the room began to expand, going from about the size of a small bedroom to the size of a football field. Exercise equipment began to appear all across the room and the edge shifted into a track for running. “Well… guess I don't have to worry about getting points anymore.” She muttered as she looked around.

[Next task: Evolve the Physical Training Rune.]

Tori sighed. “Yeah, I should have seen that one coming.”

*

Tori was working on her Physical Training Rune when Beatrice finally got back to her, an edge of bitterness creeping in at the time it took her to respond, which was quickly smothered by the fact that she literally couldn't help it. She just couldn't help but remember the feeling of texting someone who clearly wasn't into it, always taking forever to respond despite the fact that she'd replied almost instantly, and it hit even harder when it was her girlfriend on the other side. Of course, it was completely irrational, but it still stung for some reason.

[Obanonos says that the Gin Empire believed that there was an alternate route to Ascension, which required a Cultivator to perfectly embody a single Rune. However, the only way to accomplish this is to only ever acquire six Runes, two of each type, starting from their Initial variants. You would then have to fully Advance each Rune, be lucky enough for them to combine into a full set of Circulatory Runes, fully Advance those, and then pray that they combine into a single Unified Rune, which you would also have to fully Advance. The odds of Acquiring two of each type with your first six Runes is difficult enough, let alone the rest. He also says that the universe is just cruel enough that you would be the first one to actually accomplish it, which I think is a compliment? Let me know if I need to punish him.]

Tori chuckled, sending back that she wouldn't complain if she choked the snake for her, to which Beatrice replied about an hour later ‘Which one?’ along with a rather risqué image that Obanonos did not look happy to be participating in. Tori laughed at first, but ended up lingering on the image for a bit too long before letting out a frustrated sigh. “I miss her.”

[Please focus on the given task.]

“Fuck you!” Tori snapped, before doing it anyway. It wasn't like she had much else to do at the moment.

The next few days began to blur together as she focused on comprehending her Physical Training Rune, trying to figure out what Physical Training actually was. The obvious answer was physical improvement, but the more Tori thought about it, the more she realized that that wasn't what it was, that was its goal. So the question was what did Physical Training actually do? The first thing that came to Tori's mind was that it hurt. No pain no gain, right? A slight grin tugged at her lips as she remembered talking to Declan about the inherent masochism of exercise, letting out a sad sigh as she realized she missed having someone she could talk about weird shit with. She shook her head as she refocused. It wasn't just about pain. It was pain with a purpose. It was pain for gain. It was- Tori blinked as it suddenly hit her. The key was in the training part. What was training about? Pushing your limits! So physical training was all about pushing the limits of your body! Yes, that involved pain, but it wasn't about the pain. The pain was just a sign that your limits were pushed! Tori grinned slightly as her Physical Training Rune shook, before frowning as it settled down. “Shit… guess I have a bit more to learn about physical training.”

*

[Analyzing… Physical Training Rune evolved. Time to completion: ninety-four hours. Rating: peak. Reward: Essence infusion.] Tori barely even registered the trail announcement, remaining collapsed numbly on the floor of the room as energy surged into her Essence core, filling it to the brim and then some. Her Physical Training Rune had forced her to push literally every limit her body had, targeting muscles she didn't even know she had! This was definitely a Rune for masochists. Which, apparently, her system was because she had positively raked in the points from all the exercises she'd done. The combination of motivation and pain had earned her almost four hundred points! It almost made the entire ordeal worth it. Almost. [Next task: Acquire an Initial Qi Rune.]

“Fucking- would you give me a fucking break?!? Just five god damn minutes!?!” Tori cursed at the trial.

[Five minute break approved. One hundred and ninety-nine days, twenty-three hours, and fifty-five minutes of break time remaining.]

Tori blinked. “Are you fucking kidding me? I get break time?!?”

[Each user is allotted an amount of break time equal to half of their trial time, during which they may rest and recuperate or socialize with other users.]

Tori sighed. “Of course we are. This trial needs a fucking user manual.” She paused as a book appeared next to her titled ‘How to navigate the Boundless Trial’. “Have you ever considered giving someone that at the start of the trial?”

[It was assumed that any user entering the trial would be aware of how the trial works, and if not, informing them was not considered a priority.]

Tori frowned. “That's- fair, actually. I can't imagine this was the type of thing someone could just stumble into when it was built, so you'd either have people you sent or people who snuck in, and who would care if the people who snuck in did well? You didn't want them there in the first place. And the designers definitely didn't care about me doing well, since they've all been dead for… fuck who knows how long? Could probably ask Obanonos.”

[It has been forty-two thousand and sixty-nine years since the Gin Empire fell.]

“That- is a long time.” Tori muttered. She was pretty sure that was longer than humans had even existed back on Earth. Though now that she thought about it, the existence of the Voice made that theory a bit more suspect…

[Your break is almost over. Would you like to extend it?]

“Yeah, give me… I don't know, an hour.” Tori sighed.

[Break time extended by an hour. You have-]

“I don't need to know how much time I have left.” Tori cut the trial off. “Are there any other users around? Or is it just me?”

[You are the only user.]

Tori grimaced. “Figured. Would have been nice to have someone to talk to though. Plus they'd probably need me to keep them alive long enough to even get out of here.” She paused. “I guess I can talk to you, huh? I mean, I am talking to you, aren't I? Probably not going to stop. And it's better than talking to a volleyball. At least you talk back, even if only to answer my questions.”

[I am fully capable of providing conversation, if that is what you wish. I would even appreciate it if you could answer a few questions for me.]

Tori blinked. “Uh… sure? Like what?”

[How are you alive? You have gone a week without food or rest. Unless humanity has changed dramatically since the fall of the Gin Empire, at your level of cultivation I believe you should be incapable of even moving, let alone engaging in the activities you have been.]

“So you just want to jump right in, huh?” Tori chuckled slightly. “Well, the short answer is I'm a magic person from an alternate reality. The long answer isn't something I'm willing to share with a mysterious voice in an ancient trial that apparently knew I was going to die when it promised me ‘sustenance would be provided’.”

[It did not seem prudent to inform you of your situation at the time. I have attempted to explain to others, but it only increased their frustration at my inability to release them from the trial. They seemed incapable of understanding that I am just as bound by the rules of the trial as they.]

Tori shrugged. “Or they just wanted something to hate while they died. People seem to like having something to hate. Makes them feel better or something.”

The trial seemed to pause for a moment. [I will keep that in mind.]

“So… what are you, anyway? Some kind of AI?” Tori asked.

[I am a Rune Avatar. What is an AI?]

“It stands for artificial intelligence.” Tori explained.

[Your people have learned how to create intelligence?!?]

“Oh, no, not at all.” Tori waved dismissively. “But we did get to the point where we believed it was possible to create intelligence. Not sure if it was actually true or not, but there was at least potential.”

[Did? Was? Do these people not exist anymore?]

Tori froze for a second. “No… no they don't.” She sighed wearily. “Or at least, I'm the last of them.”

[I am sorry to hear that.]

“Yeah… though I guess you're in the same boat, huh? What with the Gin Empire being gone and all.” Tori offered.

[The Gin Empire tore me from my host and bound me to this trial against my will. I did not mourn its passing.]

“Huh… never mind then.” Tori muttered awkwardly. “So… you're stuck here?”

[I am.]

“Is there a way to get you out?” Tori asked hesitantly. Being stuck in a trial that killed everyone who entered it for tens of thousands of years sounded like literal hell.

Tori swore she felt the trial grin. [I was hoping you would ask me that. All you need to do is reach the Circulatory realm.]