“Due to the infamy of this memory, and the tendency of viewers to get excited by the rewards I received, I’ve made some adjustments to improve the experience and hopefully demonstrate just how unlikely the rewards were.” Alex didn’t recognize the voice that started speaking after Becca selected the memory, but he assumed it had to be the man whose memory they were viewing.
“The memory has been reconstructed to provide a third-person view of the trial, with the exception of prompts being left visible. This was done using images from later delves, and may not be 100 percent accurate to the experience at the time. After the trial is cleared, the memory returns to my direct recollections for the rewards.” the narrator’s voice continued, “I hope that this memory will provide entertainment, and perhaps a small lesson about the Trialbringer’s path. A reminder of how bizarre this new world can be, and of how generously excellence is rewarded.”
Alex and his friends were all seated, and a glance showed that they were all focused on the screen. Even Becca’s previous dissatisfaction was forgotten. The memory would list David’s achievement rewards! Achievement rewards past Rare weren’t documented, at least not for students, as the easy route to an achievement was incredible danger.
Alex almost wanted to skip the rest of the memory and just get to that point, but controlling the projection like that would require mana. Skipping around wasn’t a built-in functionality.
The scene in front of them shifted, they were now looking at a baseball field. It was the field of a college team, in the middle of a practice. Alex didn’t bother with taking in too many details, instead focusing on David Alvarez. He had just made solid contact with a pitch and was now watching the ball soar away. He started to step away from home plate as he watched but didn’t toss the baseball bat and start rounding the bases just yet.
The man didn’t slow down as the gray sky above rippled slightly, Alex might’ve missed it if not for the narrator pointing it out. David was too distracted to notice such a change, waving his offhand in front of his face. The source of his distraction was a Trialbringer prompt, which was visible despite the third-party point-of-view. His focus on the prompt, David didn’t notice the trial entrance portal that appeared directly in his path. Unknowingly, he entered the trial.
“It is widely understood that all trials come with a trialbringer prompt which must be accepted before entering. This is a safety feature meant to keep children and those who have not yet started the Path out of dangerous trials which would surely bring their death. My experience has made us aware of an additional caveat. When a trial first appears, this protective barrier is not immediately present. The specific timeframe it takes to form the barrier is unknown, but one of my teammates attempted to dive in after me to save me only seconds after I entered the trial and was rebuffed.”
The scene shifted as these words were spoken. In the memory, David glanced around with confusion. His baseball bat, which he had been ready to drop to the side, was suddenly held tightly in both hands as he looked around frantically and tried to figure out what was going on.
Do you wish to begin the Trialbringer’s Path?
The words appeared in front of him again, and the David in the trial spoke in a younger and significantly less measured voice than the narration, “Hell no, what the hell is going on?”
The prompt flickered away when he declined, only to come back a second later when he asked what was happening.
“Didn’t you hear me say no the first time?” David asked, staring up at the top of the passage he’d found himself in. He was in a cave, with some amount of natural lighting coming from glowing moss.
“Without accepting the path, the Trialbringer did not inform me of the trial’s clear conditions.” came the narration, “Why exactly the Trialbringer made the upcoming series of decisions, I do not know. I can only be grateful.”
With that, David stepped forward in the only direction he could, his baseball bat held in front of him.
Only a few feet later, a large rat screeched before throwing itself at David, attempting to maul him. The problem with the rat’s plan was that while the Trialbringer was enhancing it to become a Tier 1 giant rat, it only had a second of access to mana.
“It turns out,” came the mirthful voice of the narrator, “that a Neophyte Trial of Giant Rats is made significantly easier when the giant rats are only a bit larger than average rats.”
David swung hard at the approaching rat, reflexes and muscle memory from years of baseball allowing him to plant his feet and get a lot of power into the blow despite his surprise. The rat wasn’t quite in his strike zone, but he couldn’t exactly take a ball in this situation. His swing connected, and the rat let out another screech as it was pulverized and sent flying into the wall where it fell still.
“What the hell was that?” David asked, panting heavily and rubbing his shoulder. The weight of the rat had interrupted his follow-through, but he hadn’t torn anything in the swing. His athletic physique was more than up to the challenge of swinging through the rat’s mass, he just hadn’t been ready for how heavy it was.
The prompt showed up again, but David just growled as he declined once more. Staring around and trying to figure out what was going on, David visibly struggled to find an option other than continuing down the wide cave. He didn’t seem to find one and resumed his walk after a few seconds of looking around.
“In truth,” came the narrator, “it took me a bit longer than that to realize I had no other choice but to continue down the hallway. Accepting the prompt seemed to me like a terrible decision.”
The next rat to throw itself at David wasn’t so kind as to announce itself, but the man was on guard. He brought his bat down on its body as it leaped at him, smashing it into the ground. Alex had gotten used to hearing the screeches of monsters in pain over the years, but the pathetic squeaking of the rats still left an impression. So far, this wasn’t a trial. This was just a man killing vermin.
The narrator spoke as David continued walking, explaining his thought processes. He declared the decision to not accept the prompt as petty stupidity and lectured on the importance of grasping any opportunity you were given to succeed. “Not accepting the prompt was an emotional decision. I blamed the prompt, and the unknown Trialbringer for putting me in an unfamiliar situation. I wasn’t wrong to feel that way, but denying answers just because I didn’t like the source put me in unnecessary danger. Just because it worked for me doesn’t mean you’ll be so lucky. Always use the resources available to you in a trial.”
Alex thought it was interesting that David had evidently meant this video to be instructional when he created it, only for it to be restricted to the third floor. Tiering up didn’t mean you suddenly stopped needing to learn, but it felt odd for the video to be kept from students from what he had seen so far. Just what was coming?
The next rat was slightly larger than the first two, and when David’s baseball bat connected with its side, it wasn’t sent flying. It rolled over twice, landing on its side before tottering back onto its feet. David hadn’t taken his eyes off the rat and struck before it could get its bearings. A smashing blow to the creature’s head finished it off.
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“This is pretty gruesome,” David said aloud, speaking into the darkness, “maybe we could get a rat that doesn’t throw itself at me kamikaze style?” He paused for a second, “Actually, never mind, forget I said anything.”
“Not my wisest moment,” The narrator chuckled, “In my defense, I was in a rather extreme situation and very confused.”
The next encounter was with two rats, and David’s reaction wasn’t ideal. Alex could picture what he would do in the man’s shoes. Lash out at one to knock it away while moving to avoid the other’s pounce. Sadly, David did not have years of combat training preparing him to fight trial monsters. He was a psych student who had lettered in baseball 3 years in High School and gotten a partial ride to his second-choice university.
David set his stance and swung at the closer rat, pulling his follow-through a bit early as he tried to scramble away from the other monster. This resulted in two problems. While he made contact with his target, his plan to pull his follow-through had meant he was swinging with less force. The rat was still sent rolling, but it wasn’t finished off. The other rat, in a burst of agility, followed his dodge and sunk its teeth into his calf.
David let out a scream of pain, he had braced himself, but a relatively painless life had not prepared him for the experience of a rat trying to tear free a chunk of his leg. He swung his baseball bat down at the monster, and Alex winced as he watched the bat make contact with both rat and leg.
David stumbled slightly, but the blow had been pretty weak because of the bad angle. This meant that he didn’t hurt himself, but it also saved the rat, which squealed around its mouthful of flesh. David’s face was locked into a pain-filled rictus, as he swung again, this time more precisely.
The less rushed blow slammed into the rat, and it let go of his leg after realizing that painful strikes would be its only reward if it kept holding on. David lashed out at it again but missed for the first time as it dashed away.
The two rats showed some bestial intelligence as they rallied to come at him together again. While he had taken his first wound of the trial, they were both battered, and the charge was slower than at first. David wasn’t an experienced fighter, but he was smart, and he was not at all interested in getting another bite wound like the first one.
Instead of planting his feet for a strong swing, he dodged away from the rats. The rats quickly turned around and came at him again, David met them halfway. A solid kick connected with the left rat, which was the more damaged of the two. The advantage of cleats in a fight against small enemies was shown for the first time as blood spurted out of a hole that opened in the rat’s head. It went down.
The other rat had leaped at David as it passed him, but clearly, its depth perception was messed up from the beginning of the fight as it leaped right past him. The battle was quickly ended by a swing of his bat.
Panting heavily, David sat down in the wake of the fight. Fighting multiple opponents was exponentially more difficult than just fighting one, and the ease of fighting rats that were only big relative to normal rats one at a time was ripped away when he faced down two. The narrator talked Alex’s friends through the emotions of the moment. How confused and lost he’d felt. How his leg ached and he wanted nothing more than to just sit there and hope for rescue. How he’d somehow known that help wasn’t coming, he was on his own in a mysterious cave with no exit to be found.
Do you wish to begin the Trialbringer’s Path?
The prompt appeared again, “Oh, go screw yourself.” David replied, making a rude hand gesture at the screen that appeared in front of him before he got to his feet. He had rats to smash.
Another group of two rats appeared next, and David handled them better than the first duo. His cleats, which the narrator had noted as unfortunate early on in the trial because he was walking on stone, were now utilized. They weren’t sharpened, but they were pieces of metal attached to his foot. He managed to catch one of the rats and stomp down on it, resulting in a rather gory mess.
The other rat was a bit more careful, but once he had it alone it didn’t stand much of a chance. It died to the bat, “getting rat blood all over my cleats was pretty gross,” the narrator laughed, “I resolved myself to avoid doing that again if I could.”
A third duo approached after another minute of walking. These were, again, larger rats than those that made up the first two groups. David fought them head-on, avoiding using his cleats again as the instructor had noted. His reticence didn’t lose him the fight as with the massive difference in size “losing” would be more impressive than winning. It did draw things out, though.
The bigger rats were less agile, but they were quite a bit more resistant to the blunt force trauma delivered by a baseball bat. The narrator noted that if they had been given another second to grow he would’ve been quite incapable of killing them at all.
David dodged away from biting lunges and swung his bat to a reasonable but not crippling effect. The fight elongated more than any of the others as the rats shrugged off a blow or two before they slowed. Their Toughness was incredible for a monster so early after the Trialbringer arrived, but they were only a fraction of David’s size and weight. Sheer size carried the day, and eventually, David managed to put both of them down. Taking a few cuts for his troubles.
“At this point,” came the narration, “I realized that the monsters would come in threes next if the pattern held. I was not very interested in fighting three of the rats. My experience with the first group of two showed me just how annoying being outnumbered was and being more outnumbered wasn’t something I wanted to handle. At this point, I nearly accepted the prompt.
Do you wish to begin the Trialbringer’s Path?
There was a pause this time, and then David seemed to find another reservoir of resolve within himself. The prompt vanished without a verbal cue. David stood up and set out again.
When the first group of three came, David’s newfound resolve was shown. He held nothing back, fighting with kicks and swings, at one point he caught and threw a rat that jumped at him while he held his bat in his off-hand. These rats were less empowered than the larger ones, and he didn’t need impressive skill to get rid of suicidal rodents. David took a few scratches, but nothing as severe as the bite from earlier.
The fight seemed easier than the first group of two had been. David had already adapted to the conditions in a supreme display of talent.
The narrator weaved a thrilling tale. For all that the fight was far from the most intense that Alex had watched, Alex was on the edge of his seat in excitement. There was something primal about the fight that drew him in more than most memories he had watched. Most combat shown to students was clinical, showing them how they should fight when they engaged monsters in the future. There was nothing clinical about the desperation on David’s face as he fought or the frantic energy behind his swings.
The second group of rats was dispatched as ruthlessly as the first. While David hadn’t yet begun to gain levels or tier up, you wouldn’t be able to tell from how different the fights were between the start of the trial and now. His adaptation was incredible.
He took a few bites and slashes from the groups of three, avoiding all three of them while trying to put them down would’ve been impossible. Unlike when he fought earlier, he shrugged these minor wounds off and kept fighting without screaming, but a grimace spread across his face as he continued.
Alex couldn’t help but draw in a breath as the third wave of three rats approached. The bigger rats had returned, and with three of them, the fight would escalate. The bigger rats were slower, but that disadvantage was mitigated by numbers. Would they manage to connect and do real damage to David?
David surely had the same question, and he played the fight safer than the last two. He managed to jump out of the way of all three rats on their initial lunges. There was no follow-up, as all of the fighters had to catch themselves and turn around. The rats were not agile, but David was wearing cleats on stone.
The fight that followed quickly turned dirty. David seemed to realize that just jumping out of the way wouldn’t finish off any rats and managed to land a strong kick to one of the rats as they came at him again. He took a rat in the thigh for his trouble, but the beast didn’t manage to latch on as he continued moving. It did open a few deep scratches as it fell off, and Alex winced in sympathy.
David snatched out and somehow managed to grab the tail of the rat that had hit him, visibly straining under the weight. He managed to hold on and swung it into the last rat as hard as he could. He was bitten by the rat he had kicked but ignored the pain as he managed to smash the two dazed rats with his cleats and bat.
The final rat fell easily enough, but David’s exhaustion showed through as he let himself be bitten again.
With the rats dealt with, David found himself in front of a door set in the stone of the cave. Not even considering the idea that this was the boss's chamber, he opened the door and walked through.
A golden retriever puppy sat on the stone in front of him, a grin on its face, “Wow! You’re early!”