Trystan yawns as he slowly opens his eyes, ‘Waffles would be good.’ he thinks as he stretches out only to have his limbs hit a solid surface on either side of him and keep him from fully stretching. His eyes pop open quickly as he remembers exactly what situation he is in.
A bright blue system box fills most of his view as he looks around, and not seeing any movement, tries to hear as hard as he can, stilling his breath and hoping that the sound of his own suddenly racing heartbeat doesn’t drown out the sound of anything else moving. After a moment he lets out a sigh of relief. Of course, had anything been there he’d likely have already been killed, but what should be wasn’t always what was.
Finally, he turns his attention fully to the system notification in front of him.
Congratulations!
The System is now fully integrated into the Host’s body.
Please note that access to Character Status and to the Store will be refused until the Test has been completed.
Trystan groans in frustration, of course, it still wasn’t available, that would make things too easy wouldn’t it. He dismisses the blue box with a grimace as he rubs the back of his head. A large bump on the back of his head stands out tender to his fingers. Turning and looking behind him he can see a small drawer opened, pulling it out more he can see that it appeared to be spring-loaded, obviously what nailed him in the back of his head before he had passed out. Reaching into the drawer he finds a small brass key with what looked to be some fancy looping artwork at the end. It looked like maybe an old fashioned desk or chest key. Odd, but something he could look into later after he finished getting his direction again.
Slowly getting to his feet as he climbs out from under the desk he is more able to see what type of room he is actually in. This was most definitely a library, one dedicated to having a wide variety of topics from the titles of the few books that he can see on the shelves and the floor around him. The desk he had crawled under was the primary librarians, or so he assumed from the setup of the library and the plaque on top of the desk. With clear sight, he breathes a sigh of relief, the lack of damage to the surrounding bookcases, to the room in general, which means that it was very likely that only the Wight was actually inside this building.
With the knowledge that he had at least a few moments of safety, he pulls out the first aid kit he packed in his backpack. It wouldn’t help fix his hand, healing just didn’t work that way without special abilities or magic, but it could keep additional harm from happening and could help get him at least somewhat more mobile in the meanwhile. Taking the time to disinfect before wrapping, splinting, and cushioning the wounds across his entire body he feels a bit more capable of movement and feels a little better as the Tylenol starts taking effect. It wouldn’t remove the pain, but it could at least reduce it to a dull roar.
Trystan starts walking through the stacks, paying attention to the books and shelves, who knew what could be hidden inside of this Library, and what points he might be able to gain. The building was surprisingly clean, all things considered. The smell of old musty books filling the air. The humidity in the air had probably some of the damage, but overall the books were in good condition, just not ventilated very well.
Trystan thinks for a moment and heads over to the card catalog, while the electricity may not be working, the Dewey Decimal system always works. Searching through the cards he finds what he is looking for and goes over to the identified shelving. Catching the title he was looking for, ‘Astrophysics for People in a Hurry’ he grabs the book with a grin, if he remembered right there would be a guy collecting books like this later on, and he ended up paying fairly well for it. Sticking it into his backpack he continues down through the stacks towards the rear.
As he walks, he thinks to himself and brings back up the blue box to review, Character Status and Store access would be refused, but what about the other portions of the system.
On a whim, he calls out in his mind, ‘Test Status’, and is pleasantly surprised to see the System’s blue box appear in front of him.
Test Completion Status
Objectives:
Survive the Horde --- 35%
Navigate through the Maze --- 50%
Find the Exit --- 0%
Optional Objectives:
Discover the hidden Treasure --- Incomplete
Discover the hidden Inheritance --- Incomplete
Defeat Hordemaster --- Completed
Base Rewards:
5000 Points
Current Category Rewards:
2000 Points *Survival*
1000 Points *Navigation*
0 Points *Exit*
2500 Points *Style*
3000 Points *Combat*
Total Point Reward on Completion:
23,500
Trystan grins, he may not be able to actually look at his personal status, but being able to see the Test Status would at least help guide him through the rest of the test. At bare minimum, it looked like he had made it halfway through the maze, and that there were a ton more zombies still out there available to ambush him if he got too clumsy. Reaching the back door he spots the keyhole and tests out the old key found from the desk with no success. The door, however, opens anyways as he jiggles the handle a little, not the securest room in the world, but hey, who was he to argue with success.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Walking into the back he sees what looks to be some sort of restoration station. Maybe this was less of a library and some sort of private museum. Not sure exactly what a museum was doing in the middle of a hedge maze, but the Tests didn’t always make sense. Heck the Test the first time around for him was a romp through a mall, while fighting disease-ridden animals and animated plants. There was one theory later on that the Tests were actually occurring in a real physical realm, somewhere tied to the Tower, but not actually within the Tower. But not being within the Tower meant that there was no way to ever verify whether these locations were real or just a simulation created for each individual.
Looking around the restoration station he spots something inside of the station, and attempting to open the station he finds that it is obviously locked. Checking around for the lock he tries the key found earlier and finds that it actually opens the case. Air rushes into the plastic enclosure as it is open and Trystan blinks in shock as he sees the book inside start to wilt ever so slightly. Without even thinking about it he grabs the book out of shock, looking around as he does so to try and find a sealable bag or something, maybe if it could remove the air again he could save the book. A dark black light flashes as his fingers touch the book, and he watches as the book disintegrates into dust as it is lifted out of the restoration container. Knowledge floods his mind for a moment as he glimpses the cover of the book, artwork of a blackhole that almost appears to be moving, but no readable title. A blue system box appears shortly afterward.
Congratulations!
The Hidden Inheritance has been located. Information and Access to the ability granted will be restricted until the Test has been completed.
The Hidden Treasure item has been lost and can no longer be completed.
Trystan frowns for a moment before shrugging. On the plus side he got a new ability, it may not be immediately available, but any advantage he could gain would be useful, hell, that was why he wanted to go through the Test earlier this time, the first comer’s had more luck and more access to things that the later participants missed out on. On the negative, apparently he did not think things through enough and he just lost a Legendary item of some sort, given that items like these could turn the tide of entire battles it was not something that he was happy with. But better to be happy with what he had then to regret something he could no longer change.
With the last of the bonus objectives out of the way though, now all he had to do was focus on actually leaving the maze, finding the exit, and getting out as quickly as possible. The time he spent doing that, and more specifically how he went about doing that would likely determine how many bonus points he would receive. As the tally was still running he could gain or lose more points from any of the identified areas.
Trystan tests out his legs for a moment, making sure that he has enough range of movement to actually start running when he needs to. He thinks for a moment and realizes that he’ll have to use the shovel again since the blades are gone. Looking around the room he sighs as he does not see anything that he can use as a true weapon, clubs or improvised spears sure, but nothing that could be utilized to ensure he could keep on swinging through the zombies. Plus he was fairly sure none of his memories would help him wield either of them any more effectively than the shovel he was taking into his hands now.
Preparing himself, he goes to the front door of the building and listens for a moment. There was the shuffling sound of zombie feet outside, but not too nearby. Going to each window he looks out briefly, peeking out from corners to try and reduce the chance of him being spotted by one of the undead. All it would take, at least until he found a weapon again, was another horde like the one he went against earlier and his time in the Test would end before he had a chance to earn the maximum number of points available.
Going between each window Trystan is able to identify the entrance that he came in from and luckily, the one exit that exists on the opposite side of the clearing. Slowly he slides the window on the backside of the building open, taking extreme care during the initial few inches that there is minimal sound. The window does make a slight scraping sound, but no major sound and so he finishes opening the window, taking off his backpack and getting it out first so that he’ll be able to fit through the window himself.
Crawling out of the window he grabs his backpack and puts it back on as quietly as possible. The metal buckles jingle for a moment before he stops them, but looking around it doesn’t seem to have attracted any attention. He then slowly makes his way across the open clearing area, the outside section near the exit of the center didn’t seem to have any zombies there, most of them having been drawn to the opening he came in from as well as the door of the building.
As he enters into the hedge maze proper he breathes a sigh of relief, while a lot of zombies could still come at him, walls were helpful to keep them from surrounding him completely. He starts making his way through the maze again, his left bandaged hand just barely not scraping against the leaves of the hedge maze as he uses the trick to get through the maze once again.
Following the left side of the hedge maze wall he comes across a solo zombie, he quickly dispatches it, attempting for as much style for the style points, but focusing on ensuring that he survives the encounters. As he does so he hears a loud screaming sound. ‘Another hordemaster?’ he thinks, well...there goes the slow and steady plan.
He pushes himself forward, the feeling of pain rushing through his body as he starts running forward, following the wall, and focusing solely on getting out now. He just wasn’t in the proper state to be able to fight another hordemaster, let alone the actual horde that it would be bringing with it. His breath starts getting labored as he continues the run, here and there a zombie pops up and he quickly dispatches it, but he can hear the sound of many many more zombie feet somewhere in the maze behind him. This propels him to try and run faster and faster, he’s got to find the way out soon, especially since the method he was using to get out was a slow one, a sure one, but a slow one.
Trystan keeps glancing behind him as he runs, ensuring that there weren’t more dogs, or red and black mist filled zombies inches behind him. His movement stops abruptly, as he runs face-first into a large metal gate, a clanging sound ringing out through the air and clearly identifying his current location. On the gate he can see a numeric lock on the door, holding the bolt keeping the gate shut. He desperately tries to remember if there were any numbers in the library, any writing, he looks around to see if there is any clue or hint nearby. The sound of movement continues to get closer and seems to be moving a bit faster now too. He spots some items laying around in the nearby area, a newspaper with one of the numbers circled, and a section of text highlighted.
“A mother-effing escape room.” the words escape his lips without him even thinking about it, they had an escape room, in the middle of the maze. What kind of new hell was this? Looking at the shovel in his hand he shrugs and starts bashing away at the lock, he didn’t have the time to solve some puzzle and riddle, the zombies would be catching up to him soon. The sound of metal bashing on metal rings out through the air repeatedly, the metal head of the shovel slowly starting to dent at the lock.
After a few more hits something breaks inside of the lock and the lock swings slightly open. He grabs at the lock, twisting it and removing it from the gate and opening the gate. He turns and sees a horde of undead starting to stream in from around the corner. Grabbing at the gate’s bolt he pushes it open and quickly steps through, just as he feels the first of many hands start grasping at him. A bright blue light fills his vision as the hands, and the area, vanish from sight.
First Test Completed
Scoring Results...