###

“Cassius! W-what are you doing? Step away… This is-”

The cold interior of an area inside the Sanctum, made from unknown materials, decorated as alien as the architecture could go, enclosed a group of entities that were gathered in the center of the room. In the midst of every living soul, an orb the size of an adult fist drifted on top of a dark-metallic pedestal, catching the attention of those around it.

Inside the group, an elf argued with the sole human amongst the others, acting like he was the voice of reason within the cluster of well-armed folks. “W-What are you talking about?“

“It doesn’t matter,” The human said, his deep, white eyes radiating with determination and grit. “I’ll make things right. Our kind had been slaved away, used, and abused by all of you…”

“You’re the- Subdue him!”

The human drew his sword from his waist, its blade glinted violet from the light above. “If you insist… I will do this myself. Leave.”

The elf’s eyes stiffened with rage, and so were the others around them. Cassius knew that this would be the outcome of his selfishness, but… he didn’t care. His humble beginnings as a human hunter had brought him nothing but suffering; the other races always treated humans poorly, and with this… with this, perhaps there will be hope for the next generation of humankind.

“Why… Why us?” The elf’s scream started the grueling battle, but as he drew his own blade, my vision faded to nothingness, leaving me alone in the empty and cold space.

The darkness allowed me to process the vision shown to me. While the origins of this Cassius person befuddled me, my mind clung to the events leading me here. My death.

Yes, I was dead. It took a few grueling minutes before I accepted that fact. The chief had separated my head away from my body, and well, for most, if not all humans, that would spell the end of their lives. And so were the others. They were dead along with me.

As I mourned my passing, the empty space gave way to another vision. It showed the aftermath of the battle inside the ‘Sanctum’ revealing the same man—Cassius, They called him—heaving with his battered armor and ravaged insides, clearly on his last breath.

“I just… wanted to…” He whispered, one of his arms reaching for the glowing orb floating atop a pedestal, “I had done it… I’m so close… Sonaria…”

But his arms never reached the orb.

The crowded scene had all but disappeared as corpses of unknown races were seen with their guts spilled out, some of them even losing their heads and limbs. If this had happened before I was thrown into the White Trials, then I’d be disturbed, but at this point, scenes of carnage were just another thing to witness; another thing to ignore.

But… who or what is Sonaria?

Silence filled the soundscape of the scene, and deep inside my thoughts, the orb beckoned me; Like a gentle nudge on the side of my face, pulling me closer. My hand touched the orb, and then…

My vision burned white.

[Paradox, the stone of rebirth activated. Charges remaining : 0]

[Personality degr….]

[…]

###

“Thank you for your participation in the White Trials.”

A familiar voice, a familiar sight, a familiar… scene. From the past; From the events that led to my death.

Standing in the middle of scene mockingly was the Observer. He spat the same speech, performed the same gestures, and mocked us all the same.

The figure bowed, “I… am the Observer. Tasked by the Sanctum to oversee your progress here.”

“GET US OUT OF HERE!” A brutish guy a few lines beside me roared, flexing his arm like it would change things. “WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE TO US? SEND US BACK!”

The same string of events happened, after this… “Wai-“

The Observer shook his head from our display of resistance. “Always like this… You lot never changed.” He lifted his arms high, then snapped his finger. Within less than an instant, the first person who lead this protest found himself beside the Observer, turning his head left and right, disoriented.

“You see… I’m never fond of this… barbarism.” He resumed, grabbing the fellow that just appeared on his left. “So, Let this be a warning.”

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“WHAT ARE YO-“

He turned to ashes. Again. His remains blew with the wind, ending with a chilling silence deafening the nexus. Meanwhile, my state of bewilderment twisted a knot in my gut, manifesting in a permanent state of confusion.

This happened before during the war once. That ‘miracle’. Which also proved that my death in that house was as real as my severed head… But, why? Why did it happen to me? That stone of paradox… I’d never seen it, nor did I ever touched it. Or… Did I?

I shook myself out of my daze. Focus. I could change the future.

It was difficult for my dazzled mind to process the events around me, as question after question bombarded every single inch of my brain, unable to find the correct answer to each of them. There was a message at the end of the visions I saw before… Something about a paradox stone, and It had no charges left? Did that mean that if I died without a charge, I wouldn’t go back again?

Clap. ”That’s it. Good Luck.”

His speech is over… Then, The aptitude test is next.

I rushed past the dazed crowd behind me, slamming on the backs of multiple dozen people without uttering a single apology. My brain was now a chaotic mess of unending thoughts, my nerve ends blared with heat, urgency filling the ends of my fingers.

The shadow of the obelisk fell on my body, and my hands made contact with it, eliciting a gasp when I read the message that appeared in my vision.

I am back.

Without a shred of hesitation, I entered the test right away. I knew the encounters and the difficulties that lay ahead, Could I, with the experience and knowledge I acquired, reach the top 10 this time?

I’ll make it happen.

Perhaps I was just being delusional. With my current body that had reverted to my original state, I had no chance of dealing with the lizardman without the help of my spell.

When my vision returned, my steps grew heavy. Then, I slapped both my cheeks, loud enough for its clap to echo.

If only I had access to my spells… Let’s see… Death bolt, it was like…

A surge of dark green energy was pulled from the core of my soul, gathering into a clump of messy hue floating on the palm of my right hand. My eyebrows unfurrowed, and the knot in my chest loosened. Hope.

Yes, it was, uh… ineffective compared to the usual death bolt that I used. The glow wasn’t bright, nor was I able to hold it into a perfect form on my own, and judging from how tired I felt after priming it, My attributes had fallen to their lowest possible number; Zero. Zero Arcane meant that I only had 10 mana to play around with. Zero Arcane Power wouldn’t do much compared to the first bolt I used, which was at 5 if I remembered it right.

And despite that, those zeroes were the best zeroes that I’d had in my life. While my attributes reset, I had access to more tools from the start, and once I got the staff after clearing the first three stages, I should have 20 mana to play around with.

Wait, if I can cast Death bolt, does that mean…

I laughed when the compendium appeared. No, I was ecstatic. Not because I could use the book itself, no, it was the pages in it; one of them was filled with souls of the orc I acquired before I returned. The feat itself was something I couldn’t explain, but hey, only an idiot would complain about this.

Out of the souls that I’d gotten, The Orc mage was the most useful out of the bunch.

[You have integrated with The soul of Orc Mage.]

Soul of The Orc Mage - poor

Rarity: Common | Rank: - | Level : 8

Attributes gained : 5 Arcane, 5 Arcane. Power, 2 Arcane. Defense

You already have death bolt.

12 attributes. Insane.

It was unfortunate that I wasn’t able to access my own status menu yet. But what I had now should be more than enough to clear most of the stages.

[Survive three waves of adversaries.]

[Wave 1: Green Goblin]

Here it comes.

Yes, this memory. The fear and apprehension I felt were all but fleeting nostalgia at this point. It spawned somewhere behind me, wasn’t it?

Just like clockwork, I found the goblin in the distance. It sniffed the air and craned its head around, looking for its target. I recalled how… ugly it was, with its malformed, elongated nose and another look at its face only re-confirmed my memories.

I didn’t want to waste my mana on a mere goblin, so I played it safe; Performed the same play of avoiding its assault until its exhausted play again, which wasn’t hard, not when I was so familiar with how it moved. It didn’t take long before I smashed its head with its own club, again. It felt… satisfying, somehow, it was like I was replaying a game that I’d cleared before.

A game whose outcome I’d already known. A game with no surprises and no mysteries. A game that was… safe. Comfortable, even.

The next two fights went about the same. The boar was a tough one to kill, but I didn’t suffer the same wounds I used to the first time. Although I must say, the reduction in my speed and strength was missed. I felt clunky. As for the nightblade, once you knew its weaknesses, it wasn’t that different of a fight compared to the regular one.

[You reached the first checkpoint. Health and Mana restored.]

The error message did not appear.

Strange… I’d just gone through this series of hardships the day prior, but it all felt like a distant memory now. It was jarring when I had to remind myself that I was right here, in the same spot, fighting the same enemies, just one day ago.

[Do you wish to continue the test? Doing so will earn you more points. The top 10 highest scorers will be granted a special reward.]

[Accept] [Return]

[You need more than 50 points to be eligible for the reward.]

[You have 5 minutes before we return you back to the Trial nexus.]

Of course, I accepted. With the mage’s soul, I held about 20-ish mana, enough to summon one of the orcs and I had 8 left to spare. The staff given by the Sanctum was a copy of the staff that I’d bought from the shop in my prior life, at least, it looked the same; I couldn’t check the attributes it provided because I couldn’t access my status menu yet.

Then, recalling all the steps to summon a soul, I conjured another orc warrior beside me. It looked a little less imposing than I remembered, but I could just be imagining things. Facing the distance, we waited for the appearance of my next adversary; The goblin Warrior.

When it appeared, my orc and I were able to dispatch it with small hiccups here and there. My biggest gripe was the difficulty in managing my summons and my own body properly, a type of mastery that I struggled to control, even after using it multiple times. This aptitude test gave me enough time to limp past the hoops of my summoning spell, which I wholly appreciated.

To be honest, I didn’t have to take part in this fight; the difference between a mere goblin warrior and the orc I conjured was too far even with its halved attributes. The lizard, on the other hand, might prove to be a challenge.

I couldn’t wait to wipe that pity off its face.