One by one, the rest of the top tens, Phillip, Sarah, and Ameer, appeared inside the council room with a colorful cast of expressions. No words were spared when their eyes spotted Idris and me, each decided to find an empty spot on the table instead. Ameer was shocked that I was invited here; his expectations must’ve been set low after watching me crumble like a building when I finished my workout before.

At first, the awkwardness in the room was… palpable.

Then, the other, less familiar members of the top ten showed up, livening up the room a little. First, the two katana-wielding swordsmen/women materialized, scanned the faces of those who were here, then nodded politely. It seemed like they were greeting us.

Afterward, the rest of the cast followed suit. Xin lee, an honest to god normal American man shocked us when he introduced himself as such, but otherwise, he was kind of plain. He wasn’t anyone I’d consider bad though, just a little boring, like me.

Then, came another unknown person; Maya Luthenberg, who greeted us with a warm hello. I had to say, she was quite the sight, but not in the way one might expect. What was her distinctive feature, you might ask? Well, she was just all white. The Albino sort of white. I thought Sarah was pale before, but I boy, was I foolish to think that.

Of course, to top it all off, the snake incarnate, Sidwell, slid into the room—somehow finding a spot beside Phillip and me—then sandwiching himself in the middle. His gaze peered from side to side, savoring the faces of the others, then grinned. It was an ugly sight, but at least he left me and Phillip alone.

“Everyone is here.” Idris spoke after everyone was seated, “Good. Let’s begin.”

Again, there was some kind of authority that played behind the sound of his voice. None of us interrupted his speech from start to finish, and there was no doubt that he drew our full attention throughout. There wasn’t anything new that he hadn’t mentioned before, with his ideas resulted in a mixed reception of his ideas and goals.

Of course, when Idris showed the buff he was willing to part with, everyone’s eyes were wide in excitement. Hell, I was astounded that they weren’t livid, opting to keep their mouth shut and their smile neutered. It made me feel like a child in comparison.

“This is…” Xin, the first of many who began to speak up, “-great, but surely, you’re not doing this for free?”

Everyone was waiting for this, for the conditional clause that this boon came with. Nothing in life was free, we all knew that. But Idris had to take a massive dump on his offer for anyone to ever consider a no.

He repeated pretty much the same things he’d mentioned before. The first request; mainly, the one where he urged us to prioritize Bruneheart—which earned a few raised brows—but those didn’t trigger any blowback as his second one did.

“One hundred of us?” The collective cast of people each displayed a different reaction; Some were horrified, like Maya, while a few others were somewhat reserved, like the Asian family, and then there was Sidwell, who took the news with a sly grin.

“Yes, and you’re allowed to pick one person outside of this range with you. This is as much as I’m willing to compromise; Our lives are all on the line here.” Idris answered, reinforcing his point.

Phillip, Ameer, and Xin took the news well, none of them were panicking, but instead, they used the downtime to think, I believed that they each had a person in their heads already, but among the three of them, Ameer’s frown was deeper than the rest, a sign that he was having problems choosing who to come with him.

“Think carefully,” Idris gave us the space to figure out our answers. “You’re free to disagree with me, but do know that the final decision will be in my hands.”

The council room remained somber, with everyone’s heads deep inside their thoughts. I shifted my gaze to the side, Sidwell closed his eyes with a little fake frown, appearing to be conflicted with his decision, but I knew that he had reached his answer the moment he saw what kind of buff he would get.

I rolled my eyes.

If there was any potential dispute, it would have happened by now. Idris’ rank limitation was a difficult ask for some of us, however, since he paired that request with allowing each of us a chosen person outside of the 100th range, it was a lot easier for them to accept.

But if you asked me if Idris himself was happy with that little twist from his original plan, then the answer would be no. At the end of the day, the one who lost the most from this meeting was him. From the loss of his strength to the compromise of his ideals; One of them would be enough for someone to not initiate this meeting, but both at the same time?

“Pardon me for interrupting, Mr. Idris,” The Albino woman spoke, brushing her hair aside, “Why do you choose to share this-” She pointed down to her invisible screen, “-amazing thing with us?”

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Idris and I shared a glance, “Does the reason matter? As long as you follow my rules, we won’t have problems.”

“I don’t, personally,” Her face lit up, “I have no issues with your rules, after all, I understand your viewpoint. And I have to say, the decision of choosing who lives or who dies…” She closed her eyes, imagining the burden that would be put on her shoulders, “I don’t think I can ever be put into that position.”

Xin then chimed in, giving no one, in particular, a thumbs-up. “No problems here.”

Their initiative seemed to rouse the same reaction from the others. Asuka and Hideo, who turned out to be a pair of father and daughter, readily accepted Idris’ help with a gentle wave. Then came Ameer and Sidwell, whose faces radiated with a passionate thrill.

Last came Phillip. He stared at Idris for a while, appearing to disagree at first, but after a shrug, he came to an agreement with him.

To be honest, we were relieved that this decision wasn’t pushed on us. As much as one might dislike Idris for his decision, the fact that he did not shrug his responsibility away earned at least a few points of respect in their eyes.

Once Idris realized that the whole ordeal was done, he sighed, letting the tension of his shoulders go. To be honest, I considered the feat of exerting his authority over us egomaniacs an achievement.

Idris wasn’t quite done with his speech, however. He rose from his seat, “Things will be turbulent once the Trial comes. If The Observer isn’t lying, then there’s a good chance that a lot of us will die today.”

With that kind of tone, I failed to doubt the truthfulness of his remark, “It will be a miracle if enough of us survived the first trial. And then, god knows what awaits us after.”

None of them were under the impression that the Trials would be easy, however, at least they had the confidence to make it through the whole thing. A confidence that came from each of their life experiences and their level of competence.

“So, things will get more difficult from now on,” Ameer said, interrupting Idris’ speech, “I mean, aren’t we all prepared for it? The first day isn’t exactly easy either.”

He turned his gaze downwards, “I… can’t fathom the fact that the two of you beat the orc during the test. Isn’t it… impossible?” The rest of those who attended nodded, a mix of admiration and disbelief clear on their faces.

Idris and I shared a look. We were both a special case; I knew my history and the reason I was able to beat it, but Idris… He remained a complete enigma. All I knew was that he had a split personality; a case of two souls living in a body, but other than that, I had nothing else worthy of note.

“It’s not impossible.” Idris’ cold reply came next, “We all carried secrets with us before we stepped foot in here, right? Secrets that might paint you as a monster on earth, secrets that science can’t explain.”

That reply seemed to hit close to home. At least, it felt that way from the shifting of heads after that statement was said out loud. Funny, I guess I’m a part of it too.

Phillip turned to his side, appearing to be lost in thought, but I could tell that he was considering listening to his gut from the little squint in his eyes. He wouldn’t accept Idris’ proposition if his instinct was telling him to refuse; so I felt safe trusting Idris at a basic level.

Then there’s Sidwell.

“May I?”

Sidwell reared his arm, garnering the attention of Idris, “I just wanted to thank you for your gift…”

His smile. It was that wormy smile you wished you could just ignore. Phillip and a few others knew it too, Sidwell was an outsider that nobody could trust.

While maintaining the same, unmoving grin, he continued, “In fact, if it was that important to keep our lives in check, I have a fantastic proposition.”

Idris studied Sidwell’s expression, keeping his thoughts to himself. I didn’t know how he felt about Sidwell in the slightest, but someone of his caliber should be able to measure Sidwell’s trustworthiness.

Every cell in my body was asking him to just… shut up.

“Sure. What is it?” It was brief, but Idris also sensed that something was amiss from him.

While yes, John Sidwell was creepy and unpleasant to be with, he had not done anything bad so far, technically speaking. Granted, he managed to ring every single alarm bell in my damned head—a feat which I had deemed to be spectacular, in a twisted way—but again, he had not done a single thing to harm us so far.

He’s just extremely annoying.

Sidwell shifted his snaky eyes to me, “As you know, I am positioned at number 10. The way it is right now, I am defacto, the weakest amongst all of you. So, I understand that my voice won’t be worth much in here, but here I come…”

Everybody shrugged. No one seemed to care, hell some of them were relieved that he wasn’t that threatening in terms of strength.

Sidwell scanned the look on everyone’s faces. None of us were interested to hear the things he wanted to say—a fact that nobody bothered to keep a secret—which caused him to retract his statement, “Nevermind. I’m just rambling.”

Like before, with the methods he chose to approach Phillip, it felt like he was doing something pointless, and yet, it was obvious he wasn’t so insensitive that he believed his approach would work. There was a reason behind his actions, and the fact he knew my name, my rank, and god knows what else without any prior knowledge was terrifying to comprehend.

“Good. Then this meeting is over.” Idris concluded the meeting by hovering his right arm with his fingers jutting outwards. “I will grant you the hand of the king.”

Our eyes were drawn by the screen that appeared in front of our vision. Right after that message appeared, I shuddered from the drip of otherworldly power forcing its way into my vessels.

The hand of the king (2/10)

Rarity: - | Affinity: - | Tier : -

The hand of the king grants you a buff to all of your attributes. This buff can only be shared in the council room once everyone is present. Once shared, all of the council members will receive this boon.

This buff could be kept to the king himself, and if he chose to do so, he alone will be granted all the bonus attributes, leaving his subjects dry and empty.

This buff is active after accepting the first mission on the second day of the trial. Once this buff is given, it cannot be taken back.

Cost: -

All attributes: + 5, if not shared, +15

“Whoa…” It was Phillip who broke the silent contemplation of our newfound strength, “This feels…”

Good. No, It feels euphoric.