[Your Races {Heroes} have failed to pass the testing]

A grunt and the whip comes sailing down, its vicious barbs tearing into my back, digging in deep before being ripped out, taking pieces of my hide with it. Not that I care much, I haven’t felt pain since I was just a measly whelp. The Bull raises his whip once more, and once again it slams home, ripping into my hide. He’s angry today, angrier than usual. Someone must be coming, one of the Broodmothers? One of the Guard? Maybe even the Warlord himself? Whatever the case, something has pissed him off more than usual.

When the Bull isn’t happy he usually takes it out on me. After all, I am in line to take his place, I just have to kill him first.

 The whip comes down again. What does he think he’s doing? I haven’t felt pain in years! The only thing that whipping does is piss me off, I growl, turn around and bare my teeth at him. He should know better, whipping me only makes me more likely to rip him apart. He stops.

First, though. I need to eat. I start searching the grove, chopping at trees when the Bull is watching but otherwise looking for a morsel.

AHA! A Troll Whelp, my favourite meal. It sees me at the same time that I see it, I grin and show my teeth, he whimpers and tries to run. I go down on all fours and start to chase after him, we weave through the woods for a little while, playing a game of tag--the Bull will probably whip me again after this-- not that I care though.

Finally! I reach the Whelp- slippery little bastard- grab it by the waist and shake it making sure that it gets all the boogers and other stuff out before I eat it. I proceed to rip apart the torso and grab a piece of the leg.

[Your Race has lost its freedom and will now be classified as a {Monster} type creature]

I wipe at my face trying to remove the piece of weirdly shaped entrail, then grunt in satisfaction as it drops from my face. I reach for a piece of whelp calf and chew on it, and groan in satisfaction, it has just enough fat and muscle. Not too hard and not too soft, it’s just right! I close my eyes and chomp down blissfully, savouring the taste of the succulent Troll baby.

[Your race has lost its status as {Free Sentient Race} and will now be repurposed as {Enslaved Partially Sentient System Monsters} due to the partial success of your {Heroes} should you perform well your race will regain its previous status]

I open my eyes and growl. What is this!? I cuff at my eyes once again and bare my teeth as it falls off my face. I continue to chew, and start to walk back to the camp. I grab a small sapling and pull it out of the ground, gotta bring something back, otherwise, the Bull will take out the whip again.

It’s true that at this point I don’t feel the whip but that doesn’t mean that I like it, getting whipped is a waste of my valuable time, and makes me wanna eat the Bull.

I get back to the clearing just in time to witness more squiggles come across my vision.

[////Error\\\\....Reanalysing….Analysis Complete…. Due to foul play among {Heroes} your race has been penalised. Only a select few will be able to remain self-conscious and possibly redeem your race. All others will be reverted to {Enslaved Non-Sentient Monsters}...Selecting Individuals….]

I start to scratch at my eyes trying to remove what is undoubtedly vengeful pup entrail. I see the Bull come towards me, stop, and start to unfurl his whip, I brace as I see it coming down…. Only it misses? I turn around and see the Bull also scratching at his eyes, I wonder what’s up with him?

[Congratulations! You have been selected to remain an {Enslaved Partially Sentient Monster} Do you wish to accept?]

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

{Y/N}

The entrails of the dead pup are just not leaving me alone! Maybe I shouldn’t have killed it. It tasted so good though! I wipe my eyes to take away the pieces of liver that still cloud my vision, then take another bite of the leg that I'm still holding in one hand.

[You have selected {Yes} fully installing {System}..... Transporting to (Secondary Test World A.)]

I fall asleep quickly, cursing the entrails all the way.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I wake up in a place that I don’t recognise, a place that is very close to the sun, I hurry backwards, Trolls don’t do well in the sun or at least the Trolls that I have seen. I glance around and…. Yep, I don’t recognise anything. Nothing in the Pit is this close to the sun except for the Tunnels and we were very far away from those...and where are all of the other Trolls and the Bull? Maybe they dragged me here somehow?

[Congratulations! The {System} has been successfully installed.]

This time I ROAR! Why does the whelp continue to haunt me? I don’t want to deal with haunted entrails right now. I start to roll, trying to get all traces of the Whelp off of me. I roll and roll and roll right out of my cave and into the sun.

Urrrrrrrrg. So. Bright. Trolls are not meant for the sunlight. Trolls die in sunlight.

So why am I not dead? I close my eyes and touch my hide, expecting to slowly turn to stone or roast Troll or something. Thing is, nothing seems to be happening. Only thing wrong about this moment is that the sun is hot and bright and I still don’t like it. At all.

I am alive though so that’s good. Now. Only one question left, why am I not dying? As far as I know, only Bulls and other bred Trolls are resistant to the suns rays, so why am I resistant? Am I one of the bred Trolls?

A question that has just been answered considering I am rolling around in the sun right now.

[World Event! Kill The Earthlings!]

[Earthling are set to spawn in 24 hours. Prepare yourselves. Your job is too kill them and prevent them from reaching the {Safe Zones} Succeed and rewards will be given based on contribution. Should you not do this your race will be penalised]

I wipe at my eyes, not only shielding them from the sun but also shielding them from the weird squiggles that refuse to leave. I slowly start to get up and walk back into the cave that I woke up in, looking for any tunnels that I will be able to use to maybe get back to the Pit and ask one of the leaders what is happening.

I look for a little while, running my hands along the wall of the cave, trying to see if there are any hidden tunnels, goblins are most renowned for hidden tunnels but Trolls are by no means bad when it comes to mining. I turn up empty. Not a tunnel in “sight,” what I do get though are more squiggly lines.

[Congratulations! Skill Earned: Prospecting (Level 5), Where others see rock, you see ores.]

[Congratulations! Specialisation Earned: Prospecting{Tunnels} (Level 8), Where others see a flat surface, you see a mile-long hole.]

I wave them away again and decide that I’m going to have to find a way to get rid of them for good. They are distractions, bad distractions. Something like that in a battle will get you killed. I move out of the cave, look around at all the brightness, sigh, and then choose a direction and walk.

And walk.

And walk.

It starts to get boring after a while, all of this walking. Reminds me of the Pits actually. Laying bricks for hours at a time, then cutting wood for hours at a time, then killing enemies for hours at a time. Boring.

I continue to walk. And walk. And walk. And-

[World Event Update!]

[First Earthling Humans spawning in 10….9….8….7….6….5….4….3….2….1. Humans (Earthlings)have spawned. Good Luck.]

I wave away the squiggles, then stop suddenly. I heard movement in the bushes. Food? My stomach grumbles, confirming that food is a priority. The bushes rustle again. What is in there? Even a whelp is better at stealth then whatever is hiding in that bush.

I snort, and roar at the bushes, making sure that whoever is in there knows that I am coming to eat them. Sure enough, I hear a little “eep.” And my prey comes running out of the bushes and away from me.

Works every time. I charge, grab the elf looking thing and stuff it down my mouth and into my growling stomach.

[Human Killed. Experienced Gained.]

I ignore the squiggles, sit down and think about what just happened. I saw something that I had never seen before, it tasted good though, like orc with a side of elf and some ground gnome. Still, though, it might be dangerous. I’ll have to eat more and test them.

[Congratulations! Title Earned! {First To Kill (Human). You have killed the first Human, as such all attacks made by Trolls against humans double in affectiveness, and humans now see you and your kind as their mortal enemies. Attributes double when in conflict with humans}]

[Congratulations! Title Earned! { First Human Eater! You have not only killed the first Human, but you have eaten it as well! Bite attacks from Trolls deal triple damage to humans. Your bite attacks do quadruple damage}]

It was a shame that I had failed to get a whiff of the scent of the creature, it tasted good and it would’ve been nice to eat more.

I grunt and think no more about it, the only thing on my mind right now is sleep.

….

A week passes or around that amount and it seems that I had scared the squiggles almost completely away. Which is nice, after all the only thing they were was an annoyance. I had eaten a couple of other humans which had made the squiggles pop up, as well as a couple of animals, but that was the only time that the squiggles came back.

I rest my back against a tree and try to fall asleep only to be interrupted by the shouts of Trolls and the screams of what I now recognise to be the creatures that I ate.

[System Order. Save your Kinsman. Trolls are in danger and you must save them, good luck. Should you try to resist your race will be penalised.]

Ugh.