Damien looked at the man across from him with shock in his eyes, “You’re alive?” Adam chuckled at his question and said. “I had the same thought when I saw you earlier. You went missing before the system appeared, everyone thought you got kidnapped.”
‘Pretty much’ Damien mused, “How have you been man? I asked Ela about you but she told me she has not seen you since the system arrived.”
Adam was someone Damien had known since high school, they had become close friends during that time and it stayed that way even after graduation even planning to go to the same college.
“I’ve been the same as everyone else, just trying to survive and become stronger.” Damien nodded his head in understanding. Being weak in this world was like being homeless in the old world.
“What about you? I’m interested in what happened to you after you disappeared, were you really kidnapped?” Damien then explained what had happened to him and how he escaped.
“Wow, your experiences sound horrible.”
Damien scoffed and said, “Thanks for the kind words.” they then looked at each other before bursting out laughing. Finally taking the chance to look around he noticed that the walls around him look very similar to the temple walls from earlier.
“Where are we?” Damien said aloud.
Before Adam could say anything in response the old spirit from earlier appeared in front of them, he gave both Adam and Damien a deep look before speaking. “You will have to wait here for a while until the rest of the participants finish their trials, once everyone is gathered I will explain the third test to you all.
With that, the man vanished once more leaving Damien and Adam a little annoyed but nevertheless, they moved on and started to chat once more about their experiences, and before long they arrived at the question of strength.
“So how strong are you?” Asked Damien his face beaming with curiosity, Adam gave a smug smile in response and said. “Well, I arrived before you did so you should be able to guess that I am stronger than you.”
“Phst, please Adam no need to joke around I can already tell you that you’re nowhere close to my level.”
“Oho really? How about we test it right now then?” he asked itching to see if Damien’s words were true. They both had a love for fighting as before the system came back in high school they had talked often about what it would have been like to have such powers.
A massive grin appeared on Damien’s face before taking an offensive stance, “Good luck Adam.”
With that, they both flashed forward fiercely battling. The spirit being watching the battle shook his head at their actions but ultimately did not stop them, ‘to be young’ he thought to himself with a slight smile before returning his attention to the trials.
The original group of people that had gathered was around one hundred or so, now after the first trial which most failed around 40 remained currently doing the second trial. Looking at each participant the spirit-like being was mostly satisfied with the results, based on what he was currently seeing the final trial should have 25ish people left once everyone finishes.
Changing his focus to the ones he put the most attention on he watched their trials, one was of course Ela but there were a few others of which one was the burly-looking man who tried to attack Damien, he surprisingly made it this far and had managed to catch the spirit’s attention.
The other was the woman who warned the man, a tall lanky dude, the rest were all of Ruby’s group including Ruby herself. ‘There are quite a few that have managed to surprise me or impress me in some way but for the most part, I think it comes down to those 4.’ the old spirit mused.
Inside Ela’s trial, she was currently battling the man Damein had earlier, and like Damien, she had impressed the man quite a bit. ‘This girl is quite impressive, especially her foundation of martial arts.
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Since the system arrived Ela had been in thousands of fights, each honing her combat prowess further, and when she reached the level cap Ela focused even more on perfecting her combat style and advancing her mana control.
Now that the level cap had been lifted Ela was easily able to level up even fighting against stronger-level beasts than herself Ela had no issue beating them.
Backing up Tobisha gave her a deep glance and smile before speaking, “Alright girl, you pass. What’s your name?”
“Ela” she responded curtly.
“Well congratulations Ela, you passed if you have any questions ask them now if not I’ll send you on your way.”
Ela shook her head in response indicating she had no questions, Tobisha seeing this was a bit surprised but ignored it in the end and sent her to the next trial. Similar scenes continued to play out one of the other and before long there were 25 people in the final trial room.
Watching as the last person failed to pass the second trial the spirit nodded its head as everything was within his expectations, “Alright now that everyone is here time to explain the rules of the third trial. I said outside that this trial would test your combat prowess and potential but I was not entirely truthful with that statement.”
“While this trial with test your potential like I said before it will not be testing your combat prowess in the way you think. You are probably expecting to fight each other or some beast or someone like the man from the second trial but what you are really going to do is quite simple.”
"I will personally test your abilities and potential. Once I identify the best candidate among you, that person will have the opportunity to select a few treasures from the temple and learn the truth I mentioned earlier. For those who do not meet my expectations, that's perfectly fine; you will still have a chance to earn other rewards."
Everyone agreed feeling that it was acceptable and were mostly glad that they could still earn something if they did not get chosen by the spirit. Seeing everyone agree to his words the old spirit smiled, “Alright now then, shall we get started?”
With that, he began to pick people out of the crowd starting with a random person Damien had not seen before. It was an average-looking woman, being happy to go first she strolled up to the man with swagger while swaying her hips for whatever reason.
Upon reaching the spirit he sealed off the area around her and himself making the others unable to see what was going on inside. After a short while the woman exited with a depressed look apparently not having been picked.
Many people were happy at her failure whether it be because of her previous actions of showing off for no reason or because they themselves were hoping to be picked. One after the other people went up and left with disappointed looks on their faces and before long it was just Adam, Ruby, Ela, Jake, and Damien, even the man who attacked Damien or the woman who warned him had not been chosen.
Looking at the last reaming the spirit being smiled, he had left them for last on purpose as they were the ones he was placing all his hope upon. Thinking carefully he decided to call up Ruby first.
Hearing the spirit call out to her, she turned her head in his direction for a second before turning back to Ela. They had been casually chatting while waiting for their turns. “I’ll be back; just don't cry when I’m picked," Ruby said smugly.
Everyone smiled at her words but wished her luck in the end. Ruby made her way to the spirit, inwardly excited about being selected. She had a love for treasures and wanted nothing more than to add whatever rewards she might receive to her collection.
Once she was in front of him, the spirit waved his hand, encasing himself and Ruby in a barrier. Once they were alone, the man gave her a penetrating look before speaking. “Take this,” he said, pulling out an object that resembled a meter of some sort.
Holding the object, Ruby examined it with curiosity before looking back at the spirit. “What is this?” she asked.
“It measures your future potential. Imbue it with your mana, and the number it shows will indicate your potential. Higher numbers represent more potential, while lower numbers indicate less.”
Nodding her head, Ruby followed his instructions. Soon after, a number appeared: “1000.” Seeing the number, Ruby smiled, thinking, ‘That has to be a good number, right?’ She turned it toward the spirit, but as he looked at the number, shock appeared in his eyes.
He raised his gaze from the meter to Ruby, but this time the expression in his eyes made her feel a bit uneasy. ‘He’s looking at me like how I look at treasures,’ she thought, chills running down her back.
After a few minutes of silence, with the man glancing between the meter and her, he seemed satisfied and finally spoke. “You pass as a candidate. I will test the rest, and if you are the best among them, you will be chosen.”
With that, he opened the barrier, revealing himself and Ruby to the outside world. She made her way back to Damien’s group.
As she approached, Damien asked, “So how was it?” Ruby quickly explained what had happened inside and what her results had been.
As he listened, Damien recalled his previous feelings about the spirit, realizing he had experienced a strange sensation from him.
Quickly alerting everyone to keep their guard up in case they were chosen, he waited for the spirit to call the next person.
“Jake, you’re next.”