“…”

As he stood alone in the Church’s main square facing the statue of the Goddess, the Elder, his real name discarded long ago when he came to power, resolutely closed his eyes, and took a long, deep breath before exhaling slowly and calmly out.

The Initiation was already over, and he had seen it as a great success, but there were still many things he had to complete before he could pat himself on the back and congratulate himself on a job well done.

For one thing, the first trial out of three was currently being prepared, with the kinks still being ironed out, and based on what he and his team had prepared for it, it was going to be very challenging to pull off.

The fact that this was also the first time in almost five years that enough candidates were available for the trials to be held did not help matters, and all the potential problems that could arise from his team’s relative rustiness in planning them out could not be overlooked.

Overall, this entire process was still going to be an important milestone for the Church of Enlightenment. Finding someone who would not only be capable of wielding the Goddess’ Gift, but to use it for everyone’s benefit was a monumental task, and all the stops had to be pulled for it to be possible.

“I swear to you, my Goddess…” he muttered with conviction as he placed his hand on the unmoving statue, “I will make you proud, no matter what.”

Etching the vow that he made into the bottom of his heart, he began to head back to his headquarters, a small, unassuming building on the southwestern corner of the Church, where his team was still in heavy discussion.

“Hey.”

“Hm? Oh, good evening, Elder,” his team members, solely part of his elite circle of followers, all looked up at once and formally greeted him as he walked into the meeting room.

“Good evening to you, too. What’s the update?”

“It’s going well,” one of the followers briefed him, “we’re finishing up our planning for the first trial, and soon we can start the physical preparations for it.”

“Are there any changes we need to make?”

“None whatsoever, Elder.”

“Good, good,” he nodded as he sat down on an available chair before taking a closer look at the plans that had been laid out on the table for the team’s discussion.

True to their word, there was nothing in them that was different or had been modified since the last time he had seen them, and that detail reassured him. There was no need for any sort of extensive overhaul, and the team was clearly on the right track to creating a successful trial.

“Is there anything we might have missed out, Elder?”

“Actually, I want to talk about something else.”

Seeing no purpose in going through them any further, he lightly pushed the planning papers aside before placing his hands firmly on the table. Noticing his action, his team all swiftly gathered around him, patiently waiting for his next instruction.

“I have seen them during the ceremony already, but just to confirm it, can I get a rundown of all the applicants who have qualified for the trials this year?”

“Right away.”

The follower closest to him bowed before intensely signaling towards another one who was further away, and in response, that follower immediately pulled out a list and promptly began to read it out loud for everyone to hear.

“Ahem. Of the eight applicants who have qualified, five of them are followers of the Church, while the other three are from outside. From the followers’ side, Brother Simon Bailey has obtained the highest aptitude score at 98%.”

“And for those outside the Church?”

“From those three, two of them are from one of the Wasteland Clans. We had received an advance message from their chief announcing their participation prior to the Initiation, so there are no problems there.”

“Which leaves the last one then.”

“Yes, Elder.”

The singular person, who had no affiliations to either the Church or the Five Clans of the Wasteland, who had scored an impossible 110 percentage score during the Initiation. The anomalous figure that had been a hot discussion topic for the team over the past few days.

Such a score could not obviously be overlooked by them, and even though they had received enough confirmation that the results had not been rigged or falsified, that did not change the fact that she remained a great mystery for them.

“Her name is Anten. So far, she has never specified who she is or where she came from, but our records indicate that she had formally entered the premises a few days before the Initiation, with another female who she has also registered to be her official mentor during the trials.”

“Hmm…”

The Elder lightly drummed his fingers on the table as he began to think, with his brow furrowing and his eyes slightly glazing over.

“If I may intrude, Elder,” the follower who was reading the list continued to speak despite not being asked to, “the fact that we do not have any further information on the girl may be problematic for our trials. Should there be a deep probe?”

“…”

Many of the other followers nodded silently in response to his proposal, but to their surprise, the Elder did the complete opposite and shook his head in disapproval.

“There is no need to probe her,” he replied as he stopped his finger drumming and instead sternly folded his arms, “the trials will tell us what kind of person she is.”

“… uh…”

Seeing the troubled looks on his followers’ faces, he explained his reasoning to them in a calm voice.

“If we push her too much, the whole thing might backfire on us. Above all else, we need to ensure that she follows our narrative and trusts the Church to deliver what she expects. Remember, belief is the key to maintaining trust, and the trials we have planned, if they are successful, will instill that quality in her, along with everyone else.”

“That’s fair…”

“Makes sense to me…”

As he finished his explanation, his followers began murmuring to each other, indicating their understanding to his logic. However, some of them were still not fully convinced.

“Sorry, Elder… if I may intrude as well…” one of the skeptical followers raised his hand before speaking up.

“You may, Father Cassius.”

“Forgive me for this, but… I am still slightly concerned about this whole thing. Are you sure we can properly determine how much faith these outsiders have on our Church through only the trials? Shouldn’t we at least make sure that they do not have malicious intentions towards us before going forward?” the follower named Father Cassius asked hesitantly.

To answer his question, the Elder simply gave him a judgmental stare and a serious frown.

“… are you questioning my methods, Father Cassius?”

“Huh?”

Immediately sensing the upcoming conflict, the other followers slowly backed away from the two of them such that the both of them were now in each other’s direct path with no visible obstructions in the way.

“I said,” the Elder repeated, his tone dropping down low, “are you questioning my methods, Father Cassius?”

“I… uh…”

Despite the fact that he was older than him, Cassius dared not move as his leader slowly got up from his chair and walked over to him with deliberately loud steps.

“Let me ask you something.”

As soon as he had reached him, the Elder used one hand to forcibly grab his tunic and pull him up to his eye level, emphasizing his height over him.

“… who do you work for, Cassius?”

“… you, Elder. I work for you,” Cassius hurriedly answered, intimidated to the point of breathlessness by the brown eyes forcefully staring into his own.

“That is incorrect.”

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“W-what?”

Keeping his steely frown, the Elder snapped into his face, “you do not follow me. You follow the Goddess and what she has taught all of us. I am just merely carrying on her will. When she gave us her Gift, the Church made the promise that anyone who had proven themselves worthy can receive it, regardless of what they may think about us. Simply put, the fact that I am your leader does not matter, but do not doubt the Goddess, am I making myself clear?”

“But—”

“Am I making myself clear?”

“Y-yes…”

“Good.”

Satisfied with his follower’s compliance, he let go of his tunic and allowed him to breathe normally again before continuing.

“Of course,” he clarified as he looked back towards his other followers, “you are still correct, Father Cassius, in that while we must believe in the Goddess, we must also ensure that the Church remains strong, such that we may continue to spread her teachings. Therefore, taking from her teachings, we must also take steps to make sure that the Gift is received by a suitable person, one that we unanimously agree will not only embody its power well but also help us in the long run. That is our responsibility as the leaders of the Church.”

“…”

As his followers remained speechless, he concluded his personal thoughts with a stubborn finality.

“Over the course of the trials, I need all of you to put in your best efforts to ensure that we reach that goal. We will not discriminate against anyone; we will merely test them to see how worthy they all are. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes, Elder,” everyone in the room echoed.

“Good,” he smiled, “now, we must begin our preparations for the first trial. May the Goddess help us on our path.”

“May she help us!”

Just like that, the team’s work on the first trial continued without fail until the day before it began.

**********************

A week after the Initiation had ended, the first trial was finally starting.

As they gathered just outside the entrance of the Church compound, the crowd was getting their collective hype up to the maximum as they came to watch their favorite candidates take part in the challenge.

“Boys and girls, esteemed followers of the Church, after everything that we have been through as a unified collective, now is the time to focus our energy into supporting our future champions!” the Elder bellowed as he stood on a prepared stage that had been used for the announcement of the Initiation candidates and other events before that.

“Champions! Champions! Champions!”

As his voice was carried through the mass of supporters, it riled them up even more, bringing the excitement to a feverish intensity as they yelled and cheered, giving him the response he desired.

“Alright, settle down,” he shouted, prompting the crowd to lower their volume before continuing, “now, I want all of you to look at all of our eight brave contestants, the ones who will soon undergo the trials to prove themselves worthy of receiving the divine Goddess’ Gift!”

Pointing behind the crowd and forcing all of them to turn around and look, he watched with satisfaction as they whispered to each other, with a few occasional stray cheers directed towards the successful candidates.

They were all separated into four teams of three, comprised of two of them and accompanied by an elite member of the Church. They all stood neatly in a straight row, a slight distance away from the crowd such that they could all be seen prominently.

“…”

As he felt numerous pairs of eyes closely staring at him, Simon gulped before waving happily at them together with the others beside him, eliciting a few more loud cheers from the crowd before the Elder quietened them down again.

Differing from the usual Church robes they normally wore, all of the participants, himself included, were dressed in much thicker and warmer clothing including heavy boots, even though they were all still colored white as snow, and it still left their faces uncovered and exposed to the strong winds.

“As you all know, to receive the Goddess’ Gift, one must be worthy enough to do so,” the Elder repeated his point, “and in order to prove that they are worthy, they must practice good faith and strong belief in everything that they do. There are many beliefs, but there are certain ones that we are looking for specifically.”

The crowd patiently listened, waiting for him to drop the big reveal, and he did so with extravagance.

“Therefore, the first trial shall test for… the belief that our candidates place in other people!”

Having already learnt the details of the trial a few days prior, Simon simply kept quiet as he watched the Elder explain it as concisely as possible to the unknowing audience.

“Now, behind our dear participants is the wasteland, a vast desert of emptiness and danger. Under the watchful eye of my Elite Circle, all groups must live for three whole days in this hostile environment before they are allowed to return to the compound. They must return as a full group by the end, or they will fail the trial. This will serve not only as a test of belief and trust, but also teamwork, as our participants must rely on those three factors to survive.”

“…”

As the Elder continued his briefing, Simon found his eyes gradually shifting away from him and towards Anten, standing away from him in another group, appearing to be listening attentively to it.

“…”

In an instant, she had noticed his gaze and immediately turned her head towards him, still carrying a big, irritating smile on her face. As she discreetly gave him a small wave back, he frowned and turned back to the front in response, unwilling to return the favor.

I will finish this trial. I will wipe that smile off her face. Then we’ll see who’s taking this seriously.

If he was going to survive, he was going to make sure he came back in a condition that was better than okay or barely so at minimum. If that was what was required of him, he was ensuring for himself that he would definitely protect everyone in his team at all costs, regardless of what was going to happen to them in the wasteland.

All of this had to be done to beat her. That was all he could think about, and that was all he cared about.

“I now ask the participants to turn around and look at the wasteland that they will be challenging. Participants, this will be your ‘home’ for the next 72 hours. Use whatever skills you have learnt to good use. I wish you all the best of luck.”

The Elder’s voice was merely a distant echo inside his head as he followed his teammates’ actions and turned, staring determinedly at the sand dunes ahead.

72 hours. That’s all I need to endure. Should be a piece of cake.

“Without further ado… I, the Elder, in the name of the Goddess, declare the first trial… BEGUN! Believe in faith, everyone!”

“Believe in faith! Believe in faith! Believe in faith!”

The crowd once again erupted into cheers and shouts as the four groups, armed with their wits and confidence, slowly ventured out into the wasteland, leaving the safety of the Church behind them as they faced the incoming dangers of the rough three days ahead.

**********************

To Simon’s surprise, the three days went by much faster and easier than he had expected, with no big issues or problems that he and his team had to confront and fix.

“We have arrived.”

For one thing, they had to remain in one spot in the vast wasteland for the entire duration. Deemed the ‘meditation zone’ by the elite Church member who was supervising them, it had already been prepared ahead of time for their arrival, with sticks, cloth and other materials for food, shelter, and fire.

The biggest problem about the ‘zone’, if anything, was its strange and dangerous location, as all of them had to wind up sitting on top of a giant boulder balancing precariously on a smaller rock that was wedged into the sand.

That meant that not only were they still exposed to the harsh sun and the wind, but every so often their makeshift home would also shift from one side to the other due to the aforementioned wind, breaking their concentration or disrupting their current actions.

However, none of those bothered him in the slightest.

Under the strict and direct instructions given to them, he and the other candidate were tasked with meditating for the entire day, stopping only for dealing with threats or fulfilling their basic needs.

“I take it that you two have seen the Goddess’ Gift in person already?” their supervisor, a middle-aged lady with tanned skin and a pixie haircut, had asked them the moment they had all settled down on the boulder.

“Yes.”

“Mm.”

“Very good. Now,” she explained carefully to the both of them, “these meditation sessions which you two will be doing are meant for candidates to prepare themselves mentally for the heavy responsibility of using the Gift. Hence, for your meditation, I want you two to visualize what you saw in your heads with great detail, and do not stop.”

Huh, that’s… simple.

However, despite his confidence that he could ace it, the task was easier said than done. While it was not difficult to visualize what he had seen that day in the bowels of the Church, maintaining that visualization was the harder part.

As the hours ticked by, there were continuous obstacles that abruptly stopped his meditation. The constant shifting of the boulder, the occasional beast sniffing around, the biting cold winds, and last but not least, the eccentricities of his teammate, the other candidate participating in the trial as well.

Simon had not remembered his name, even though it had been mentioned during the announcement ceremony, and from the looks of it, he did not seem to be keen on sharing it either, as he had quickly deduced based on his cold and distant attitude towards him.

Other than a few grunts and one-word answers, it was clear that he was not the chatty or extroverted type. That would have been fine to Simon, as it would have meant that he would be disturbed less often during his meditation, if not for his other actions that broke his focus at certain times.

The most important thing to take note of was that he was not a Church member, which was apparent to him from the start, but he had no clue where he exactly was from either. He had remembered the Elder saying something about him being from the ‘Wasteland Clans’, and he recalled learning a little about the Five Clans in the library, but other than that, he was in the dark.

As a consolation, his appearance did shed some light on which clan he seemed to be from. Compared to him and the female supervisor, his ears were long, covered with fur, and pointed upwards, his yellow eyes were slightly elongated like almonds, and his nose was completely black.

It was hidden underneath all the layers of clothing but, based off occasional gusts of wind exposing his skin below, he was sure he had also seen that the hair on it was significantly longer than his as well.

“Ngh… ngh… mmm…”

Apart from his appearance, his behavior was also animal-like, for lack of a better word. Much to Simon’s discomfort, he would often get disturbed by him loudly sniffing the air, periodically making random growls and moans for no reason, or jerking his limbs uncontrollably as they both meditated.

All of those unusual facts came together to one conclusion for Simon, as there was only one possible clan out of the five that fit all the criteria.

The Wolf Clan… territorial, led by strength and wits, expert hunters…

The mere fact that such a powerful clan, let alone one where its members were actually considered worthy to receive the Goddess’ Gift, did slightly unsettle him for a while, but as he spent more time together with him, he slowly got used to the fact of having an unpredictable teammate by his side.

I shouldn’t discriminate… after all, we need to work together, even if we don’t seem to get along… that is the only way we can pass the trial.

And for the most part, Simon’s fears seemed to be unfounded, as the beasts that could threaten the team could now be easily taken out.

“Hmgh.”

From the sneaky serpenas or lizard beasts that were attracted to the fires and crawled up their boulder, to the irritating mimifowl that distracted them with their false cries for help, none of them could stand a chance against his teammate’s instincts and speed.

Not to feel left out of the team, Simon had also used his extensive knowledge of beasts to help his teammate understand what they were going up against and their various weaknesses, which in turn further allowed the threats to be taken out more quickly, and their meditation sessions to be more relaxed and less dangerous.

In the end, all of the lucky factors only allowed him to have an uneventful three days in the wasteland, much to his gratitude, and he used those valuable hours to focus on his thoughts and feelings about everything, from the trial to the detestable Anten.

Am I too harsh on her? Nah, I don’t think so. She has to learn what she signed up for. These trials are not a joke, she must know that.

If I do get the Gift, what should I do first? Should I help Sister Renare? I owe her a great deal after all. Maybe I can share it with her if that’s possible.

I admire the Elder. He has it all worked out. He’s a great leader. I know I will make him and the Church proud, as thanks for what they have done.

I have to win. I need to win. I must win. That is the only outcome I will accept.

…

…

Before he knew it, the three days were already up, and he was on his way back to the Church compound, where the Elder and the crowd of supporters welcomed his return with open arms.

“Simon! Simon! Simon!”

“…”

Even though he had not gone through any grueling adversities or experienced any life-changing events during the trial, hearing his name being called out by the people made him feel satisfied with his own efforts.

It all felt right to him, like he fully deserved it, and he knew he could prove it with all the mental training he had gone through.

“Anten! Anten! Anten!”

Without looking back, he already knew that she would undoubtedly pass the trial too, there was no question about it.

As it should be. After this come the true trials anyway.

“After much deliberation, we have decided that two of the four candidate pairs, namely Anten, Simon Bailey, Gail Abbott and Fenris Grey, will be able to proceed to the next trial! I extend my heartiest congratulations to all the participants who have passed! The second trial will come soon, so continue honing your beliefs, my beloved followers, and we will see you there!”

Once the Elder was done announcing the results of the trial, which he had correctly predicted he would pass, he continued to wear a proud smile as he walked past the cheering crowd and back into the Church compound, where his dorm room and the tender allure of sleep awaited him.

… not yet.

However, he was not relaxing or going to sleep right away. Instead, he swiftly made a beeline towards the library, immediately parting ways with Fenris, his Wolf Clan teammate, without so much as a quick farewell.

I’m not done.

Going through the first trial had not changed his mind at all. On the contrary, it had reminded him of the responsibilities he had to face as a candidate, both for the people and the Gift. Therefore, he was keen to continue his work, as quickly as he could. As far as he knew, there would be no wasting of time on his watch from now on.

After all, time is short, and I still have things to do if I want to play my part.