I’ve been here for 8 days. It didn’t feel like 8 days. It felt like a lifetime to Hudson.
He had spent the last day in solitary confinement in his room. Working out, meditating, thinking about what he needed to do. He had some ideas; he wouldn’t call it a plan yet, but at a minimum he was going to stop being reactive and start being active; start making others dance to his tune.
All of the participants were lined up in the hallway outside of their rooms. Hudson had put his armor pieces back on before stepping out into the hall. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever take them off again. Across from him on the wall, Hudson saw his updated progress.
Trial Day 8
Name: Hudson Appleseed
Age: 22
Rank: 11
Cultivation Stage: Bone (Upper)
Cultivation Technique: Unknown
Overall Physical Fitness: 4 (Standard)
Strength: 3 (Low)
Flexibility: 4 (Standard)
Dexterity: 4 (Standard)
Endurance: 4 (Standard) -> 5 (Standard)
Visualization Training: Step 31
Trial Merits: 0
Progress to next Sigil Challenge: 5%
Hudson looked to his right, and met the intense gaze of his nemesis. George’s face was completely frozen, showing no emotion, but his eyes… His eyes were staring a hole right through Hudson.
Hudson smiled.
He wondered if this particular feeling was how a cockroach felt when the people living in a house couldn’t kill it, no matter how hard they tried. He had survived, despite the odds, and despite his lack of strength. Even if he wasn’t technically winning – yet – it was starting to feel like winning.
The participants filed down the hallway and into a large open chamber for the Challenge of the day.
“Cor! It’s good to see you back on your feet!”
“Right as rain,” Cor replied, slapping his legs. “Weirdest doctor visit ever – straight-up horror show. Robot arms with surgical implements, neon-colored IVs crawling up your arms before jamming themselves into your veins, a creepy robot voice whispering soothing nothings in your ear… Zero out of ten, would never do it again. Next time, just give me a bottle of whiskey and a couple of band aids and we’ll call it a day.”
Hudson wasn’t sure if he was being serious, but he did look like had recovered fully from his broken leg, blood loss, dehydration, and who knew what other internal injuries. A weight of guilt lifted off of his chest.
“We need to talk,” Hudson said. “I’ve got some ideas, but we can’t really talk inside the trial with the director listening in.”
Cor nodded, and Clara shrugged. It felt good to see Cor and Clara; they had been through a life-and-death experience together, and that meant a lot.
Another familiar face ran over to speak with Hudson..
“So guys…” Vince started to speak, and his smile faltered. “I’m sorry I just ran off and left you behind out there. I didn’t think… and when you didn’t come back… I thought– I thought–”
“We all survived,” Hudson said, trying to brush him off. He knew that Vince had taken the logical choice, but it still stung, and he didn’t want to deal with it right now. “Let’s talk about it later.”
“I felt so bad after I ran away, I’m just–” Vince continued, but was cut off by the director as he announced the new challenge for the day. He looked at Hudson, Cor and Clara, searching for something from each of them, some nod or gesture, but none of them acknowledged him.
“Today’s Challenge,” Director Ix said, “is a physical fitness challenge.
“There are three elements to today’s Challenge: strength, dexterity, and endurance. Each element will be tested and each participant will be ranked relative to all other participants.
“A reminder of rule #3: you must not purposefully harm or obstruct another participant. In the case of this sanctioned Challenge, ‘obstruct’ is interpreted as physically impeding the performance of another participant.
“The highest ranked, by simple average of their strength, dexterity, and endurance scores, will receive 10 trial merits. The highest scoring within each element will receive 5 trial merits, the second highest 4 trial merits, and the third highest 3 trial merits.
“All who complete each element will receive 1 trial merit.”
While the director was describing the rules of the day’s Challenge, the large, empty room they were gathered in began to morph and change. The walls receded, making the room larger and taller, until it was the size of an indoor basketball stadium.
Watching the dimensions of the room change so rapidly gave Hudson a brief feeling of vertigo.
A span about ten feet wide, all around the edge of the room, raised up out of the floor, forming a circular track about 3 feet off of the ground. Inside of the track, on one side, a brief wave of inky blackness swept over the floor, materializing a large series of weights, from what looked like small 10 lb dumbbells to ridiculously-sized kettle bells the size of a small car.
On the other side of the room, a series of thin, matte-black poles rose out of the floor. Each pole was thin enough to grasp with a single hand and segmented in approximately 1 foot sections, with 8 sections to each pole. There were quite a few of these poles – Hudson couldn’t count them quickly, but more than fifty, less than a hundred – and they were oddly distributed. A few poles were separated far from the rest, while others were grouped together in tight clusters.
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“To complete the strength element, a participant shall lift a weight completely over their head. There is no limitation on the number of attempts. Participants will be ranked on the highest weight lifted.”
That seemed simple enough. Hudson was curious about how well he would do with his Engine Breath technique, compared to the other participants.
“To complete the dexterity element, a participant shall enter the yellow circle, and touch each lighted section in the order in which they are lighted. Participants will be ranked on the speed with which they are able to touch 30 lighted sections in sequence. Only one participant may utilize the dexterity challenge at any given time. Participants are limited to a single attempt until all participants have completed the dexterity challenge at least once.
Hudson had not noticed the yellow line circling the area of the room with the poles. That was one challenge he did not want to try first; instead, he wanted to see what it would look like and possibly learn from others attempting it.
“To complete the endurance element, a participant shall run 100 complete circuits around the room on the raised track. Participants will be ranked on the speed with which they complete the element. Participants are limited to a single attempt.
“All elements must be completed within 2 hours.
“Begin.”
Despite the command to start, no one moved toward the various challenge elements. There were three groups of people – George, and his cheater group from S.E.C.T.; a small group of Hudson with his friends; and the rest, a loose and dispirited group of twenty people who were listlessly sitting or lying on the ground.
This challenge was actually perfect for one of Hudson’s ideas, but he had hoped to have more time before he needed to galvanize the rest of the participants. One thing was very clear to Hudson: he was very grateful for the few friends that he had, but to succeed, he needed more people involved.
“Cor, I have a favor to ask,” Hudson said.
“What is it?”
“I need you to help me get the rest of the participants to well… participate.”
Cor frowned. “Why bother? How’re they supposed to help?”
“It’s all part of the plan…” Hudson started.
Clara shook her head. “Cor’s right. The strong get stronger, and the weak stay that way because they choose to. Better not to mess with them, and focus on ourselves.”
“Listen to me,” Hudson said, passion rising in his voice. “I thought about this all day yesterday while in solitary confinement. You’re not wrong, Clara, but you’re also not right. Both of you are telling me to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
Hudson shook his head. “I refuse to play that way. If we really want to win at this trial… and at what comes after… we can’t do the same thing that George and his cronies are doing. We can’t just do what the director of the trial says or S.E.C.T. wants us to do or even what common sense tells you to do, because if we do, we will just lose.
“They are more prepared. They are stronger already. And there are more of them.
“And you want to compete directly with them? Play the same game, when the cards are stacked so far against us?”
Hudson paused and stared at Cor, then Clara, then Vince in turn. He hadn’t thought he would need to convince his friends to follow his plan, but they clearly needed some convincing.
“We survived and are even stronger now and will continue to get–” Clara started to say.
“But at what cost?” Hudson interrupted. The three were quiet. “No answers? Then I’ll tell you the cost. Guo Huang’s life, among other things.”
“Death happens. It’s a part of a cultivator’s journey, and Guo was our enemy. Defeating him made us stronger,” Clara said.
“Did it really? Did you magically level up your cultivation base after he bled out in the dirt of an alien world? Did you?” Hudson’s voice rose in his anger and guilt at the death of Guo.
Clara said nothing, and looked down, unable to meet Hudson’s gaze.
“Guo was our opponent, but he was not our enemy,” Hudson ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. “You’re not getting it, and frankly I’m not sure you ever will.
“Everyone from S.E.C.T. wants to be stronger, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I want to – need to – get stronger. But I had a long conversation with Director Ix the other night–”
“You spoke with the director?” Clara interrupted, unbelieving. “That doesn’t happen.”
Hudson ignored her and continued. “And I realized something afterwards. I realized why all of you from S.E.C.T. make me so angry with your talk about the weak and strong and all of that.
“Cultivators from S.E.C.T. want to get stronger so that they can call the shots. So that they can be in charge. But also – and here’s what makes me angry – so that they can take less responsibility for their actions. Not more. That’s just wrong to me, on a fundamental level.
“All of you just want to be the biggest bully in a crowd of bullies. And this whole system and trial,” Hudson gestured around him, “is set up to feed into that. But I refuse.”
“Big words from a little kid,” Cor interjected. It was the first time Hudson had seen Cor speak with such bitterness and despair. “What do you think you can do that’s different?”
“I don’t know if I can change anything. But I’m gonna try.”
Cor just shook his head.
“Look,” Hudson said, making one last plea. “I promise you this: I’m not asking you to sacrifice anything for these other participants. I’m not asking you to make yourself weaker. Just the opposite: we all need to be stronger.
“But the way we do it is important to me. And my goal isn’t just to beat George. It is to break this trial, thoroughly and completely. And George too while we are at it.
“I want to win. Help me do that.”
“You’re dumb and stupid,” Cor said, but then he grinned. “And I don’t get what you’re trying to do yet. But you’re a crazy kind of stupid, and I’m a sucker for crazy. My three ex-wives oughta attest to that.”
Clara sighed. “You are the strongest one of us,” she said simply. “And I will follow your lead. Until I am the strongest, of course. And then I will be the young master, and you will follow me.”
“I’m not a ‘young master,’” Hudson growled under his breath. “And neither will you be.” Clara’s way of thinking was very deeply inculcated in the way S.E.C.T. operated. It was going to take a while to bring her around.
Vince coughed into his hand. “Yeah, well, uh… I guess I’m with you fellas.”
The other three looked at him briefly and shook their heads.
“So Cor,” Hudson said. “Can you whip these other people into shape? Get them to actually participate? We need them all to get that trial merit for just participating today. It’s key that we get them earning trial merits… And the director clearly stated obstruction was ‘physically impeding’ someone else…but…”
“Physically or mentally ‘encouraging’ them should be on the table?” Cor finished, an evil grin spreading across his face. “I see what you’re getting at, and also why you’re asking me.
“We could have skipped this entire conversation if you had just led with how I could have me a good ole time.”
Cor marched off towards the rest of the participants, his hand straightening into a knife-like shape. The sound of Cor’s drill-sergeant voice screaming profanities at the other participants began echoing through the large chamber.
George, huddled up with his group, paused in giving them directions to look over at first Cor, and then at Hudson.
Hudson met his gaze and smiled.