---James---

James pulled his seed out of his pocket and held it for a moment.

The blue indication he held flickered then projected a simple blue box into view.

Here goes nothing?

The box remained dormant until James finished typing in some vague goals. Pausing to reread what he wrote James suddenly felt pulse from his heart. A hum and rush of vibrating nothingness traveled up his chest and down his arm flickering out of his finger with a twitch.

Suddenly the box flickered once again turning bright red.

Bright blood red the box was now uncomfortable. It gave James a subtle feeling of wrongness – as if it constantly gave off strange waves of ‘I don’t belong’ energy.

Like a puzzle piece that didn’t fit, like a dragon in a shopping mall the feeling was uncomfortable and yet…felt relatable. James understood the feeling – and technically it had come from him?

He was the creature that didn’t belong. The outsider. The outsider. The out –

James felt normal again. Whatever side effects the box had exuded they were now gone.

Expanding slightly, the box began asking James questions.

Build a trial V2.0

By reading this you consent to C̸̛̛͖͕͓̦̺̈͊̔̐́̓̈́̒͋̀͂͘̕ͅǫ̷̰͕̩͕̼̃͐̔̏̉̈́̉͒͝s̵̡̯̞̣͓̦͆͆̒̄́̓́̎̂̈́̆̄̿̀̐̌͜͠ţ̵̡̹̱̙̤̯͓̖̮̖̫̃̽͂̅̀̀̓̕͝ͅ outside the terms and r̶̢̜̜̝̤̪̫̈́̓́̅̎̂͂͋͒͗̈́̄̚͝ͅĕ̶͎̪̎̄͛̊̓̎̆̃̋͒̔̐̍̕͝͝w̴̢̗̭̦͍͙̖͚̐̓̉̇͊́̌ͅa̵̙̲̪̲͉̻͙̐̋̿̈̈́̐̀̽̍͝r̴̘̳̬̞̹̐̀͆͋́̿͐̀̅͝͝d̵̤̗̭͍͑͋͗̆͊͋͛́̅̒̇͊̈̕͘͜͠ Inside of service. In Malvolence May Miracle Manifest. In Trial may Power be forged. And in Effort's cruel grips may greatness be born. The shape of your wish is being measured.

Do you want to fish or fly?

Fish Fly

What Trait(s) would you like to reward?

Courage & Commitment Wisdom & Vision Kindness & Generosity Perseverance & Determination Loyalty & Trust Integrity & Truth Hope & Faith Creativity & Wonder Dignity & Responsibility

Do you want to Build strength or Destroy Weakness?

Build Strength Destroy Weakness

Do you want a transient trial to overcome or a lasting fixture to permanently test the world?

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Trial to overcome Lasting Fixture

Do you want a once in a lifetime trial or a repeatable test?

One shot. Repeatable Test

What Trait(s) would you like to Punish?

Greed & Gluttony Envy & Lust Pride & Vanity Cowardness & Weakness Lies & Perjury Wrath & Cruelty

Trial option created:

Abyssal Refinement:

(The Poisoned Chalice) (Unfettered Sea Of Gamblers) [World Wonder] (Rank 6---)]

Commit to refining as deep and as long as you can. Understand your limits and push as hard as you can. If you miscalculate or find the weight too great to bear the will be lost.

Lost Will be used to increase the Weight of the world increasing the danger to all without individual reward. Refined Failures may Create Unknown Horrors.

Sucessfully refined Will increase the Weight of the individual up to and above what the world may handle.

Individuals may use the abyssal refiner as many times as they desire. Multiple refinements of the same will increase difficulty far more than a single longer and deeper refinement would. This will exponentially increase the chance of failure.

This seed must drink significant quantities of water to germinate and will take 4 days of constant watering to settle. As the one and only tool given to the agent of R, planting this seed will notify all inhabitants of the planet to the potential danger it represents. While growing the Abyssal Refiner will be hard to hide and must be defended until it finishes germination.

You may attempt to alter the current trial but attempts to subvert simple costs will increase overall cost.

James looked at the result. It looked...honestly a bit better than he had been expecting.

The weirdest question had probably been fish or fly. What even was the purpose of that question? James liked flying…but he also liked fishing and eating his catch. Maybe it influenced the alternative name being called a sea?

Maddy had been right. It seemed like he should do this as soon as possible. How many humans had cleared the training grounds so far? How many would have cleared it if he spent more time trying to come up with something good?

If he was going to plant this dungeon it would be safest to do it before the majority pass and the chance of someone stopping him rose.

The box itself was…ominous was the right word. And yet removing the colour, name and some of the word choice…if you looked past all that it really did feel like a great option. What exactly did cover? Off the top of James’s head he could imagine concepts, stats…items and tools like your AI.

You could press a button and have those upgraded. Like sticking them in a cauldron. After some time and…effort you would get a result.

Both ways increase the weight of the world but failure was obviously worse for humanity. It sounded like failed refinements made monsters or something and enough of those without the accompanying “reward” of strength could spell disaster. That’s probably where the poisoned chalice came in.

James rubbed the seed with his finger causing the box to flicker and disappear once again.

The seed itself was now red as well – the same colour as the box had been and shaped like a crystalized drop of blood.

It was heavier than it had been before – as if the weight of James’s decision had filled it.

Looking up James realized three faces were looking at him expectantly.

Oh…oh yeah. He should tell them about this shouldn’t he?

…

“You know, with that many red flags are we really sure about this?” Jess asked even as she began walking towards the front door.

“We really shouldn’t right? It wouldn’t be safe?” Troy stood up and began walking towards the door as well.

“True true. Lock it up.” Maddy stood as well glancing at James a moment later. “So where are we planting it? Somewhere along the edge of the ocean?”