Stanis lay on the ground, for the first time in the day having a long rest. Next to him was Jayesh who sat there meditating. Stanis thought about the most recent fight between Jayesh and Lucas, stuck on whether what Jayesh had done was right or not. In the moment he had felt it was just to kill Lucas, but now he felt different. Someone as strong as Lucas would survive, and more importantly thrive in a place like this: he could have tagged along to gain equal success alongside. It also seemed weird now: why had Jayesh been so enraged in the moment?

"Jayesh, do you think we were right in killing Lucas?"

"Ha-ha, it was me who killed him, not you boy."

There was an awkward pause before Jayesh carried on talking.

"Let me tell you a little about me. I used to have a high managerial position in a very successful company in New Delhi, a company which had exploded into success and was following that very path onwards.

I had a daughter, a lovely thing. I don't usually let her go out at night, but it had been one of her closest friend's Birthday parties. I also knew her friend's parents, so I had felt fine with letting her go. The night passes, and the day comes around. My daughter isn't home yet. I had felt pain in both mind and body, I feared this was a sign by the Gods telling me she was dead.

It was the next day when I found her, to my luck alive. However, it wasn't all to my luck, neither to hers. She had been raped…"

Jayesh was now heating up, his face hardening and voice getting louder as he carried on,

"I had refused many arranged marriages, not wanting her to be stuck with some stranger she wouldn't love. Needless to say that I was enraged to know that some shit had raped my own daughter, causing her trauma and injury. So I took her to the Police, and we filed a report. She vaguely knew the boy, and so I was quickly able to get information on the bastard.

The week passes by, and I hear no news of the bastard being arrested. Instead what I do hear is many stories from my close colleagues, they say my daughter is a slut. They've all heard of how she was raped, and more importantly, they have all heard the real story.

In the real story, my daughter is a slut who was asking to be raped. Instead of blaming the bastard, they instead pity him. What if he caught some kind of STI or bad karma from fucking such a beast? They blamed and insulted my daughter, the victim!

I then went to the Police, only to realise that the report was proven to be wrong. Despite all the trauma and physical marks over my daughter, despite all the eyewitnesses, apparently, there is no evidence to convict him. Instead, they tell me to make sure my daughter doesn't lie again, but not before telling me to not mess with the bastard. He's a big-shot, easily able to grease a few hands, especially corrupt policing ones.

I was furious and yet powerless, it was obvious that injustice had been done on all accounts and yet the world still blamed my daughter. I quit my job, and took my daughter far away from that hell-hole, far away from that hell of a society.

But you know what Stanis? You know fucking what? The trauma stayed in her mind: that stuff isn't easy to forget. It ruined the previous life she had, and it continued to ruin the life she was having. She was betrayed by the people close to her who she trusted, and she was betrayed by the people in power and control, all for a few extra rupees.

Now you tell me how I could have ever let that bastard of a boy Lucas go? One of them already ruined my life, and more importantly my daughter's. Why would I let another go when they are right in front of me? Perhaps this is a curse, a curse that I am now living due to all my bad karma. He willingly let that Wolf go, allowing it to tear that poor girl apart, all for a bit more experience! I will tear apart bastards like that, that is now all I can do for my daughter and any other victims like her.

Jayesh's brown face had begun to flush red, sweat flowing down his face as he talked. It was clear that he was passionate about this, it was clear that he had no regrets about killing Lucas.

During the following silence, Stanis thought about why he had disliked Lucas.

"Jayesh, I can't say that I have gone through anything as hard as you or your daughter have been through. But I don't need that to make a judgement on Lucas.

And you know what? I don't mind him being dead, he was a prick, a man in love with himself. I can trust my back to men like you, but I can't do the same for men like Lucas. Instead, I would fear my back with him…"

The mood between the two warmed as they kept talking. Humans had reached the apex of the Food chain due to their social skills, and communication was how people connected. Stanis and Jayesh might be separated by age, but they were brought together by their beliefs and judgements. Soon the two had completely forgotten about the time limit on the preparation time as they relaxed, talking about things they dared not to in real life due to real-life consequences.

It was then that Stanis asked Jayesh, "Jayesh, did you get an ability as you passed level 5?"

"Yes I did. I got one called Titan's Taunt, apparently, it forces all the enemies around me to attack me. They have no choice but to attack me."

Stanis meekly smiled before replying, "Are you sure that's a skill and not just a suicide wish. The trials haven't gotten any easier as we have carried on. I feel like using a skill like that will just have everyone around you attack you, and kill you. Ha-ha, have you been fighting suicide style all this time?"

Jayesh chuckled, the first time he had laughed in a long time. "That's what I had also thought at first, what is the point if I will just die after using this skill. But I also upgraded my Constitution above 20 as I levelled up. The thingy in my head then said that the first attribute to pass a multiple of 20 could then be used to buff a skill. I only had Constitution over 20, and only had Titan's Taunt as a skill, so I just upgraded that.

Stolen novel; please report.

I then got Stone Skin, which greatly toughens up my skin during Titan's Taunt. Pretty good, eh?"

Stanis was still not convinced as he said, "Are you sure that's going to stop swords or hammers?"

Jayesh must have felt challenged as he then stood up, before motioning to Stanis to do the same.

"I'll activate Titan's Taunt, try and hurt me during it."

Jayesh's body slightly grew, whereas his skin went dark grey, before also growing in size. The already large Indian felt only like a Giant now, like true Titan. Jayesh then motioned to Stanis, before putting forward his arm.

Stanis, not wanting to do too much damage, first smashed his fist against Jayesh's arm. It was to his surprise that he found out that it felt exactly like, well, punching rock. Jayesh's arm hadn't even moved, whereas he felt like he'd broken his fist. Next, he picked up his axe before striking downwards with the blade. This was a far better attempt as the blade caused Jayesh's skin to crack slightly, but nothing else…

Knowing that he had no way of breaking Jayesh's defences, Stanis was about to sit down, having gained a dead fist and nothing else when he remembered his own skill.

"Wait a second Jayesh."

Jayesh gave him back a look of impatience as he stated "You better hurry. This uses 1 mana per second, and I've only got 8 in total".

Knowing that he only had around 4 seconds to test his skill in, Stanis quickly activated it.

Unlike Jayesh's body, his didn't grow whatsoever. Instead what he felt was boundless energy flowing inside of him: he needed to release it! Not knowing how much damage he would do, Stanis decided to kick Jayesh across his chubby stomach.

His leg sliced through the shrieking air, followed by a much louder roar of pain.

"ARRRRGHHHH".

Jayesh was literally shot into the air, before smashing back into the ground. There were small cracks under the heavy stone man, and more importantly, countless cracks across his stomach. Jayesh released Titan's Taunt, before rolling over onto his side as he tightly held his stomach.

He managed to utter out, "You're a fucking cunt", in between his groans of pain.

On the other hand, Stanis was all smiles as he saw his new friend lying on the ground in pain. He had genuinely felt downtrodden as he had heard Jayesh's skill's name. "Titan's Taunt" compared to "Layman's Rush". Now he felt great knowing how powerful his skill actually was. That showed Jayesh to gloat in front of him again!

It was then that his skill ran out. The only way to describe it is akin to being absolutely high on drugs, before falling back to the reality of your situation. Stanis truly felt his fall from grace as he fell to his knees, his body, especially his leg, aching like hell as rivets of sweat dripped down. He now understood why his skill said that it was best used in serious moments to quickly turn the tables. It should have also included "You better kill your enemy in this time, otherwise, you are fucked!"

Once the dull pains were over, the two of them began laughing as they realised their situation. They were in life or death situations, constantly up against vicious monsters with the constant fear of betrayal, and yet here they were beating each other up for fun!

It was a bit later that the two of them began to warm up, the preparation time was nearly over. Jayesh showed Stanis how to properly warm up, as he had once been an amateur wrestler.

Your preparation time is over! You will now be sent to your last trial, the last part of the tutorial.

Here is a message from the host: "Remember Humans, be truly vicious. That is what you will need to survive, and that is what you will be learning now. As for your reward for surviving, how does your own planet sound?"

Both Jayesh and Stanis felt the now-familiar sting, just before reopening their eyes. No longer were they on a plain landscape with nothing but dry ground. Instead, they were now in a luscious, green forest. The ground was ruled by moss and grass, and all around them were countless trees and bushes. You could only vaguely see the blue sky behind the canopy of emerald crowns, although the blinding sun still shone through like Gold.

Following a swift scan of their surroundings was a quick scan of their new teammates, which there were 8 of. It seemed they were now in groups of 10s. There were three girls, and seven boys, including Jayesh and Stanis. All of them were standing in a circle within a wide green opening. Now that everyone had glanced at their environment, they should have all started talking, but instead the groups of people colluded together with others from their previous trials.

A blonde, toned European girl walked across the circle towards an Asian girl, who had a nasty cut across her right foot. She was sitting on the wet ground with a few leather bandages wrapped around the cut, although they did little to staunch the blood flow.

Next to the two girls stood an African woman. Unlike the other two girls who looked to be in their 20s, she was most likely in her 30s. Her posture was perfectly straight and erect, and next to her she held a very intimidating spear the length of her body. She had foreign blood across her face in stripes, and also had her hair in long braids knotted together into a half-ponytail. Overall she gave a very threatening image, and although the other two girls didn't know her, they clearly felt safer around her as they had edged closer.

Closest to Stanis and Jayesh stood two men, one African-American and another European, possibly North American. The African-American was taller than everyone there, standing at around 6'2 and was incredibly muscled which matched his grave face. He was wearing a basketball vest, which was important as he had countless tattoos ranging down his toned arms. Next to him stood the white man who was just shy of the African-American's height. However, instead of being muscled, he was quite chubby and looked innocent. Although that would be a mistake for anyone to think, considering the fact that he had already passed several trials…

Both men seemed to know each other and seemed in mutual trust of each other. Being the closest, Jayesh decided to talk to them, who was followed by Stanis. The African-American turned out to be Caleb whereas the White man was David. It turned out that both were from U.S.A and had both been living in the same City, although neither had known the other.

Finally on the far end stood two Indians and one Asian man. None of the three was very unique, as both Indians had dark brown skin alongside thin moustaches. Both were also wearing shirts and jeans, although in different styles. The Asian man was just as typical, he had yellow tinted skin alongside slanted eyes and short, black hair. The most interesting thing about him would be the fact that his face was quite chubby, especially when in comparison to his slim figure.

All three of them had been through the previous trial together and had quite a bit of blood on their clothes. There was, however, something far more interesting about the three than just their appearance. It was the fact that all four of them would have survived the last trial together, it had been a pity that the fourth had been a Mexican girl who was far too good looking for her own good when in the company of wolves. Now the three scumbags were entranced by the European girl's appearance… The entity hadn't made its message yet, and the men far outnumbered the girls here.

They were sure they could have a bit of fun before the trial started…