The sky was blue, but it wasn’t the right shade of blue.

Alex Moore stared up at a sky that bordered on turquoise, not bothering to hide his grin at the bizarre sight.

Not much more than a week ago, he’d been a normal human being.

Well, compared to the high-tier mages that ruled the city of New Chicago, at least. From a young age, Alex had been exceptionally talented in his control of mana and his swordsmanship. These two talents led to him standing out among his classmates, who were already the best of New Chicago’s younger generation.

That talent had given him a bit of a lofty opinion of himself, which was made worse by the fact that it wasn’t undeserved. Alex was cocky because he was good, and there wasn’t anyone around who would claim otherwise. It was a cycle of victory that had him feeling nearly invincible by the time graduation approached.

That feeling of invincibility hadn’t been the real cause of the disaster surrounding his entrance into Tier 0, but it had informed plenty of the decisions he made along the way.

Following the events that kickstarted his Path and the disaster that was his first Mana Body, Alex had been left with only a limited amount of time to reach Tier 1. With his friends by his side, he’d fought hard and overcome the toughest obstacles any Aspirants from Earth had ever beaten. He’d earned rewards that pushed him to levels of power well beyond what any Tier 0 should be able to achieve.

Now, he was exploring a long-abandoned world with two of his close friends.

The thought wiped the grin off his face. With all of the power he’d gained over the last several days, culminating in an Uncommon mana type that felt right in a way he couldn’t describe, it would be reasonable to expect that he was happy with how things had gone.

That wasn’t the case. His group had triumphed against harsh foes and taken on a high level of risk for days leading up to their last trial. It hadn’t been enough to emerge unscathed against the Trialbringer’s greatest challenge for Aspirants like them.

Their group had been five strong when they entered Hell Mode. Now, there were three of them. The fact that Becca was only temporarily gone, chasing power of her own instead of fighting alongside them in a trial they were far too powerful for, did nothing to lessen the sting.

The slight hope that Muhammad was still out there was more bitter than anything. Every flicker of hope was just a reminder of how unlikely his survival was.

With Becca chasing a Mythic Mana Body and Muhammad gone, Alex’s team in this trial consisted of himself, Anthony, and Jess.

Anthony, their group’s healer, was staring up at the sky with the same wonder Alex had felt. He was taking the loss of Muhammad better than Alex and Jess, or maybe he just hid it more adeptly.

The healer had near-perfect Mediterranean features under a crown of golden-blond hair. His physique easily picked up and held muscle, and combined with his height he looked like a Greek god. Well, demigod. The fact that Anthony’s parents were both Tier 3s with powers that far surpassed any mortal only made the comparison more obvious.

Jess, the tank, hadn’t even allowed herself the flicker of wonder Alex felt at the strange new sky. As Muhammad’s romantic partner and childhood best friend, she’d taken the loss of the archer hard. Despite that, she was keeping herself together. For now, that meant pushing things down and focusing on what was in front of her. Alex knew she was strong, and he pushed aside any doubt that she would manage as soon as it appeared.

Jess’s features weren’t anywhere near so obvious as Anthony’s, courtesy of the heavy armor she wore. Her gear offered the coverage of plate, but magic and science allowed for advancements well beyond what had been possible in the Middle Ages. Instead of steel, she wore kevlar enchanted to minimize blunt force trauma. At tier 2, it became better to use metal earned from rifts, but a mixture of pre-Arrival synthetic gear and magic proved the king of protection at their level.

Whether or not Alex would manage was also a topic that was immediately buried. He understood that Becca’s choice to stay behind was the right one, and he’d even supported it in the moment. Now that they were in the trial, he was left wondering if that was a mistake. Had Becca, his closest friend for years and recent girlfriend, wanted him to push her to come with?

The most obvious change coming from the beginning of Alex’s path had been the mana type he’d acquired, Inspire. While normally a mana type was an incredible boon, Inspire had been a mixed bag at best. Alex thought of it as a parasite more than a powerup, though it was definitely both.

While he had Inspire, Alex’s thoughts had been generally quite focused. Whether that was a result of the mana type or just a reaction to his situation, he couldn’t be entirely certain. Two days had passed since he’d removed the mana type, one spent in constant pain fixing his Mana Body and the other spent resting, and he was finally starting to relax again.

With Inspire gone, Alex’s thoughts definitely felt more clear. With the benefit of that clarity, he found himself frequently going over his interactions with Becca for the last few days and cursing the lack of attention he’d paid her.

He knew Becca well enough to know that she wouldn’t hold his focus against him. They’d all been fighting for his life, for a while there. And when it came to preparing for Hell Mode they’d been working to preserve all their lives.

But still, couldn’t he have at least made some time for her? He’d been in relationships before, and they’d all come to an end for the same reason. Alex hadn’t placed enough importance on his significant other. He’d focused on training, schoolwork, and, honestly, Becca too much for a relationship to work.

Now, when he was dating his best friend, he made the same mistake. Weren’t you supposed to learn from those?

Alex pulled himself out of his thoughts. Ultimately, even if he blamed himself for the awkwardness between himself and Becca, he had to accept that her staying behind was for the best.

Mythic.

The quality of your Mana Body when you pushed into the next tier determined the benefits you received from the tier up. While someone with an Uncommon Mana Body would only receive three points to each attribute when they reached Tier 1, a Legendary Mana Body would provide ten.

No one knew what a Mythic tier-up from Tier 0 to Tier 1 provided, but it was safe to say that it was good. Attributes weren’t even the only advantage, a better tier-up would empower your soul as well as your body. Gaining and progressing mana types would grow easier following a high-quality tier-up. Improved self-control while experiencing an Ethereal Drift was another benefit he’d learned about from Alice Stirling, Anthony’s mother and Imprinted Creation mage.

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Becca chasing that reward was obviously the best possible choice. Especially when she would also get a powerful Mythic Achievement from creating a Mythic Mana Body.

The rewards might even be enough to catch up to Alex if he didn’t get his own Mythic tier-up.

Of course, Alex would definitely be reaching the Mythic standard. He had the power of the Trialbringer on his side, after all. With unlimited Body Guidance, he would figure things out. He’d have to be a dunce to fail, and he wasn’t anything of the sort.

The silence was broken when Anthony spoke up, “Any ideas how we’ll accumulate points?”

The question pulled Alex out of his considerations, and he reviewed the prompt they’d all received upon entering this broken world.

You have entered a broken world through a trial. As this world does not hold sapient life, you will not find any additional trials on the surface.

This is a Competition Trial. No other competitors are participating.

Primary Victory Condition: Survive 14 days.

Secondary Victory Condition: Exploration. Competition points and rewards earned will scale with important locations and items you find.

The prompt made it clear that while the trial was focused on survival, just surviving wasn’t good enough if they wanted to receive a good number of competition points. The rewards were likely more important but less exciting. Alex had received so many Tier 0 rewards over the past few days that they were all starting to blend together. Sure, each bit of Guidance made a difference, but the thought of making an impact on the Competition was far more enticing.

The task would be made more difficult as they were down their scout. The thought brought Alex up short. It was such a detached way to think about the loss of Muhammad. The man had been their scout, but he was more than just that. He was a close friend.

He was still alive. And Alex was going to find him. He had to believe that.

Jess had apparently been having similar thoughts, because she didn’t answer Anthony’s question either. After waiting for a bit, Anthony continued speaking, “Sitting here won’t help anything. Let’s head West. If we stumble across any clues we’ll use them, but even wandering blind will do more for us than sitting still.”

The plan wasn’t a great one, but Alex didn’t have anything better to offer. There wasn’t anything screaming “come here” in their surroundings. They’d arrived in a small valley, but it was clear that the area was predominantly flatlands.

Quickly ascending to the top of the hill surrounding their valley, Alex saw little but more plains. The land even seemed to be barren of monsters, although the overgrown grasses made it hard to be certain.

“Small monsters?” Anthony asked.

“Not sure,” Alex replied, “I can’t see anything that would imply monsters.”

“Anything around would have to be a herbivore,” Jess pointed out, “Aggressive monsters would’ve left for a place with more prey.” There were no herds of prey animals as far as the eye could see.

“Unless the prey is small,” Alex pointed out, “Stealth magic is also a possibility.”

Anthony winced, “I forgot about that,” Anything that’s survived at this point will be descended from monsters that escaped trials. There’s a chance they’ve inherited some odd powers.”

“Concealment magic is complex,” Jess argued, “Mana Bodies wouldn’t be passed down, and any monster that had magical stealth as an inborn trait would be rare on a Tier 1 planet.”

“You’re probably right, but we can’t discard the possibility,” Alex said, “We’ll have to stay on guard.”

Jess nodded, and the group set off to the West.

The nice thing about flatlands was that you could see for miles. Alex hadn’t been able to see much at first, but after only a few minutes of walking, he saw something on the horizon.

The others didn’t share his Perception but they followed his lead as he adjusted their trajectory.

Levels added up quickly, especially early on in the path. The trio moved at a light jog that surpassed the speed of a mundane human’s sprint, and they could keep up the pace for hours without problem. Enhanced Strength lengthened their stride, and Toughness kept them going where a level zero would’ve faltered.

Miles went by as the scenery steadily changed. Alex started to recognize what looked like huts, but they were interrupted by the first sign of life they’d found in this world.

Alex noticed the approaching monster first out of the group and called out its approach.

“There’s some sort of snake in the grass! My three o’clock,” He stated the direction the monster came from.

The three of them pivoted to face the ripple he’d seen, and his guess that it was a snake proved accurate as it leapt out of the grass straight at Alex.

Terrible mistake.

The boosts he’d received during the Hell Mode trial had pushed Alex’s attributes to incredible heights. It was at the point where he was stronger at baseline than he had been with Inspire flooding his body at lower levels. It would take him a while to approach the power he’d reached while fighting the undead abomination, Aldrek, at the end of their Hell Mode trial, but that monster had stood at the pinnacle of a Tier 1 world.

This snake couldn’t hope to compare. Alex moved forward, swinging his sword in front of him.

The snake swayed away from the strike, showing incredible dexterity. While Alex’s attributes were balanced, most monsters were anything but. This snake’s Agility seemed to be higher than his, even with his ridiculous stat line.

The monster was certainly no Aspirant, but it wasn’t Alex’s first fight against Tier 1 beasts. He’d fought monsters faster than him before as well.

The snake got past his guard, opening its fangs to chomp down on his exposed neck. Alex saw the telltale colorful glow of an Enhancement, but wasn’t worried for a second. By the time it reached him, Alex was elsewhere.

Alex’s fighting style was very evasion-heavy. Even as he’d attacked, he’d been moving out of the way. The snake, not used to foes smart or quick enough to avoid its opening blow, was slow to retract its head.

The mistake led to it becoming acquainted with Alex’s biggest advantage in their not-so-honorable duel. Jess.

Similar to Alex, Jess had seen a transformation in her power following the Hell Mode trial. The Area Mana Baptism they’d experienced hadn’t resulted in a mana type for her, but she’d received attributes. The Legendary Achievement she’d gained from her work in Hell Mode gave her even more Attributes. The day that Alex had spent sleeping, Jess had spent drilling to get used to her new power.

The result? Jess was on the snake immediately as it went to retract. She didn’t even bother taking out her spear, knowing that trying to poke something that fast was a fool’s errand.

Instead, she jumped on it. The snake tried to get out of the way in time, but couldn’t overcome its own momentum that easily. Quickly, Jess took advantage of the snake’s low Strength to grapple it into submission.

She held it in place, and Alex motioned for Anthony to come in behind and kill it. No point wasting the kill, he wouldn’t be getting anything out of it.

Jess was holding the snake’s mouth shut, with her other hand further down the body. As Anthony approached to stab it, Alex went to hold down the monster’s other end.

A few seconds later, the first monster of the trial died with Anthony’s spear through its skull.

Alex waited in anticipation for a few seconds, but Anthony just shook his head, “Looks like it isn’t enough.”

“Seriously?” Alex asked, “That snake had to be Tier 1. There was no aperture, but still. I noticed an Enhancement on its teeth.”

Normally, any levels you received in a trial would come at the end. On a broken world, it was different. Open-world rules applied, which meant that you could level up by killing enough monsters.

Expecting a level from one monster would normally be stupid, but they were Aspirants facing down a Neophyte. Alex had never heard of a feat like that failing to reward a level.

“We’re ten attributes above baseline,” Jess reminded him, “We have to take a rough penalty.”

Alex frowned but nodded, “Right, I guess it makes sense. We had it three to one as well.”

“I’m sure we’ll get there soon,” Anthony grinned. The healer was looking forward to his pending Legendary tier up, “I can’t wait.”