To watch one’s body vanishing without sensory feedback was an experience I’d never be used to; Yeah, it was unsettling, to see my own limbs disappear like that, but, hey… The fact that I was still feeling things meant that I was alive.
However, The dagger I obtained from the test was gone when I stepped away from the field, leaving me weaponless once more.
Upon regaining my vision, I noticed a few curious heads turned to me.
Inside the waiting room, more than a few people sat mindlessly on the white floor, crestfallen expressions plastered on their faces. This wouldn’t be the first or the last time that they’d seen a person appearing from nowhere; Which proved true as they lost interest soon after looking at my sorry face.
The ones here were those who’d passed the test before me; the same people that died before I did. It wasn’t easy to hide that kind of experience right after you went through the agony of dying, so I wouldn’t blame them for being the way that they were.
Some of us, however, were born different.
It didn’t take a genius to ascertain which of us belonged to that category; The few standouts among the shallow sea of people here. If this was a typical fantasy story, they would be the main characters; someone that isn’t me.
One of them; A gargantuan man, whose head hung at least one foot taller than mine, strode past me. His eyes showed no sign of fear nor concern, in fact, his eyes were almost too alive — like a set of glowing orbs that demanded your attention. His dark, almost reddish mane flowed gently against the wind, and perhaps due to his eyes, I felt that he was quite far up there in terms of looks. If there was anyone who stood a chance against that lizardman on his/her own, that would be him.
I was so distracted by his presence that I almost missed the Asian old man who’d somehow made it past the trial. That wasn’t all, however, another person — female, this time, and also Asian — followed closely behind him. They looked quite similar if you paid close attention to their faces, Relatives?
Then, there were those who possessed those kinds of eyes. You know, the eyes that you typically saw in the middle of a dangerous street. Yeah, those eyes. They weren’t privy about killing, so the fact that they made it past the first three stages didn’t surprise me one bit. Alas, I didn’t care about what they did in their previous lives, as long as they didn’t bother me.
I watched the droves of different people from different lives mingling about in the somber scene. But that was only at the start; As time passed, the scene was livened by the conversations from one to another; Small talks about their lives before they got here, among many others. It was obvious that the majority were seeking comfort through some level of companionship, leaving only a few of us who didn’t bother to do so, or were strong enough to face their devils by themselves.
Well, safe to say, I was in neither of those groups.
On topics related to anything other than the people, there wasn’t anything else that was worthy of my interest here. Stretching all of my limbs as wide as I could, I yawned when I let myself go on the spot I sat on.
As for me… I was relieved that I got through the test. Yes, I was ashamed that it ended the way that it did, and yes, I wasn’t proud of the result in the slightest, but I am alive. Though, if I was given a chance to redo the test, I could do some things differently to achieve better results, but the last fight…
With my current state, The lizardman was… impossible.
Hours passed, or at least that was how it felt as more and more people filled the room. The quiet scene had evolved to one filled with random chatters, grunts, and constant whining as our patience ran thin. I couldn’t give an estimate of the number of people in this room, but it filled like I was in a packed concert, but not so packed that I couldn’t breathe properly.
[Everyone had taken the aptitude test. You will be transported back to the Trial nexus.]
The noises disappeared while I was teleported back to where this all began. The massive hall with the obelisk. And this time, we had the same guest expecting our presence in this hall.
It was the same human figure from before. The Observer waited, his legs spread as wide as his shoulders. His lanky, shapeless figure swaggered forward a few steps, then he coughed, clearing the air in his throat before he spoke.
“Thank you for participating in the aptitude test. I have to say, you bunch of humans are… disappointing.” He shook his head, shifting his feet aside. ”I already have low expectations for you, but this? This is just depressing.”
The appearance of the observer was expected. On the other hand, his mocking attitude was pissing the crowd off. I was too stunned by the recent events to rebuke his statements — or ask any questions about what the fuck is going on — and just… stood in silence.
A sick chuckle was heard after his initial speech. “Now that you’ve cleared the test, I can talk about the reason you are here.”
He raised both arms and pointed one of his index fingers upright, “First. Clear the White Trial, and proceed to the Outer sanctum. Do not even think about returning to your old life. You lot, as incompetent as you are, were chosen by the Sanctum, and I…” He bowed, “Am the instrument of its will; You will do what I want, when I want it, at all times. You understand?”
A collective outcry from the crowd boomed inside the massive hall. None of us liked to be treated this way, but I had a feeling that this… Observer, whatever he called himself as didn’t care. He couldn’t look more aloof than he was.
The yelling and protest ceased to stop. Did they forget what happened before? That he dissolved one of us out of existence with a mere touch?
“Ah…. The humanity’s folly.” He snapped his fingers, “How quickly you forget.”
In an instant, the loudest of our bunch turned to ashes, flowing with the passing wind, silenced forever. The mob turned into a herd, with the shepherd standing proud, scoffing at our foolishness and a spineless act of defiance.
The observer shook his head as if he’d expected this to happen. No, it was more like he was welcoming it, from the way he spoke, and the way he antagonized us… He wanted to show that we couldn’t even touch him. A show of complete dominance.
“Like I said. You will do what I want, regardless of how you value your own freedom.” Taking a deep breath, he raised his head, locking both arms on his back. “But don’t worry, I won’t micromanage everything that you do here. You will get stronger at the pace that you wanted, just note that if you fail to do so, you will perish, and the sanctum will simply find another of your own kind to replace you.”
He turned back, looking at the list on the scoreboard.
“Let’s see… Only 20 of you managed to pass stage 5.” He paused, being in some kind of disbelief, “And only one on stage 6? Wow.”
That wow didn’t sound like a good, happy wow. It sounded like how a father was disappointed that his child failed his math exam again — Which I admit, hits close to home — Yeah, that sort of Wow.
Stage 5… The lizardman. It made some sense that only 20 of us were able to kill that thing, which amazed me, but this also meant that I did not reach the top 10.
A part of me understood that this was the most likely outcome. I was rather out of shape — it has been a while since my last workout — and I wasn’t equipped with the right skill set to deal with… fantasy monsters.
The slight pause from the Observer gave me time to look at the scoreboard. And I was right, My name wasn’t on the list of the top 10. Only 20 or so people earned a score above 200 — the highest being 312, by someone named Idris Bruneheart; What an outlandish name, and the bottom end of the top ten was 241, by someone named Katherine Gillian.
As for myself, I sat at the average spot of 3476 out of 10513 of us that remained.
Aptitude test Leaderboards
Position
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Name
Total points
1
Idris Bruneheart
312
2
Sarah Winters
298
3
Miyamoto Hideyoshi
297
4
Asuka Hideyoshi
289
5
Phillip Jager
284
6
Xin Lee
278
7
Ameer Assaf
264
8
Maya Luthenberg
253
9
John Sidwell
246
10
Katherine Gillian
241
I’m not even close to these monsters. Yeah, I was disappointed, and so were a lot of others that winced at the sight around me. But not reaching the top 10 wasn’t the end of the world. The Hideyoshi on the list must’ve belonged to the Asian pair, and the rest of the list was filled with names I’d never seen in my life.
What am I thinking about? How do I even come to the conclusion of deserving the top 10 spots? I shook my head, ridding my mind of the unfounded sense of entitlement. Those guys were up there for a reason.
“Hate me, love me… It doesn’t matter, and I don’t care.” He resumed, “As… your observer, I was appointed as a representative of your kind. How… lucky of you.” A light moan escaped his mouth. “Nevertheless, Let’s focus on getting stronger for now. I’ve observed your kind since the dawn of time, and through generations of experimentation, this…” He motioned to the giant space around him. “This is the method that the Sanctum found to be the most successful.”
He snapped his fingers, prompting a screen to pop up. “Before I explain your situation further, let’s give you access to the Sanctum’s systems.”
[You have been granted access to [status] and [inventory]]
[You are given 1x Trial pass #1]
[You are given 2x Free weapon vouchers.]
[You are given 3x Mission passes.]
Status?
STATUS
HEALTH
20/20
MANA
10/10
RANK
-
Level
0
POINTS
168
RACE
HUMAN - 1
ACTIVE CLASS
none
SUB CLASS
none
FREE ATTR. PTS
5
ATTRIBUTES - BODY
ATTRIBUTES
Progress (%)
Total Attr.
STRENGTH
0
86
-
SPEED
0
24
-
TOUGHNESS
0
35
-
VITALITY
0
65
-
RESISTANCE
0
0
-
ATTRIBUTES - MIND
ATTRIBUTES
Progress (%)
Total Attr.
ARCANE
0
0
-
ARCANE. POWER
0
0
-
ARCANE. DEFENSE
0
0
-
WILLPOWER
0
0
-
AFFINITIES
??? - unlocked after clearing the trial
My jaw dropped. What am I looking at?
This looked like a carbon copy of the progression systems used by games back on earth. While I would love to prod this status page at a deeper level, the Observer wasn’t quite done with his speech yet, demanding our undivided attention.
“These are the tools that will help you along your journey.” The figure continued. “Don’t ask me how these features came to be, these existed before the dawn of the universe itself. That doesn’t mean we can’t use these to our advantage, and I expect all of you to do so. In essence…”
He stopped talking for a second or two; At a glance, it seemed like he was hesitant about what to say next.
Or he’s judging us?
“Explaining won’t do much to help you. After all, once you leave here — if you survived, that is — there won’t be anyone that is willing to help you. So, I’ll leave it to you to figure out what the things that you see on your own status page yourself.” He smirked.
Cocking his head upwards, he pointed towards the scoreboard. “Also, I have also given rewards to the more… competent members of your own kind. If possible, you should think of them as your leaders, since competence and strength matter most here.”
He clapped his hands, then pointed to the crowd. “Those who had achieved the best spots, you’d see a set of rewards on your screen right now. Use them wisely.”
Obviously, none of us knew what kind of person those names were attached to. For all I knew, these could just be fake names serving as our source of inspiration, but we knew better.
The Observer couldn’t care less about the term ‘motivation’.