Tom couldn’t help but agree. The outcome was so much better than he imagined it to be when he was in the ritual circle and discovered that he wouldn’t be able to use experience for over ten years. Back then, he had almost despaired, but now he saw the benefit of what DEUS had set up. Between these types of bonuses and the titles he could presumably earn while gaining them, he was going to be a powerhouse.
“Officially, it’s tier-zero; but what do you think it’s really an equivalent too?”
“Tier-zero,” she answered, laughing. “Well, obviously not. That last evolution puts it up a tier just by itself, and Superior Body is at least another tier on top of that. Somewhere between three and four would be my estimate.”
“I wish it had been classified on that basis.”
She looked at him quizzically. “To arbitrage your hypothesised title tiers for creating spells?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“I can see the appeal,” she agreed. “But I think that’s short-term thinking. By the time you’re fifteen, I doubt this being tier-zero instead of three or four will matter. It’s very unlikely to push you over a threshold, and, for all other purposes, this spell being tier-zero is infinitely better. It’ll mean a faster spell leveling, not to mention the benefit of future evolutions. Which, since it’s tier-zero, are far more likely.”
“I know,” Tom agreed, waving her arguments aside. He knew that he just wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. Once more, he read the list of abilities he had managed to tack onto what had already been an amazing spell. It was impressive, especially given all those passive bonuses. He glanced up and symbolically put the clipboard on the table with the pages he had been reading facing down, so they wouldn’t distract him. “Thank you for sharing that with me. Now, I hate to be that person, but I don’t have time to wait around and chat.”
He expected her to insist on a celebration, but she didn’t. “I assume you want to go straight into training Lunge.”
Tom shook his head. “Not today. I think, for this session, I would like to practice fighting. One versus one battles only.”
“I see. You want to train for the divine championship trial. Is that it?”
“Yes; do you know how it works? I mean, how I get selected?”
“If you reach the level they need, you’ll be told.”
“I guess proving myself against rank four is what’s needed for now.”
She shrugged. “I can’t see how it could hurt.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Suddenly, Tom found himself standing in a familiar meadow, waiting for his challenges to arrive.
What followed was a series of educational fights against monsters that were either significantly faster than him or much bigger. Surprisingly, the battles against the behemoths were actually the hardest for him to get a clean victory in. The challenges might all have been difficult, and he suffered many wounds, some of them grievous, but he didn’t die even once.
When his allocated time in the trial was at an end, he stood next to April, equal parts happy and sad. While the fights had gone well, he hadn’t received a notification.
“Do you think I’m general combat rank four?”
“I don’t know.” April told him. “Perhaps, there’s a particular opponent niche you can’t beat yet. Before Instant Strike, we knew there were speedsters that were beyond you, and there might be a similar category of monsters out there. Next week, I’ll push you against a wider variety of opponents and we’ll find the weakness. Once we know where the gap is, we’ll find the ability you need to close it.” She patted him on the shoulder. “We’ll get you there, Tom. I promise.”
“I have achieved everything I put on my list. This was supposed to be enough.”
“Maybe it is.”
He glared at her suspiciously. “Are you trying to pacify me?”
She laughed. “No, just because I know they exist doesn’t mean I know how people are informed. There might be a delay; you might need to sleep. There might be dozens of other minor conditions you have to satisfy before you get the message. All I can say is that you’re close. Hang in there. We’ll get you in soon.”
“Thank you, April, for always believing in me.”
She said nothing, and then the trial faded away, and he was outside in the real world.
Trumpets went off.
Then, without him controlling the process he was metaphorically pushed sideways as though he was stepping into his old system room. Reality shifted once more, and he found himself in a bare room with metal walls and no monitor screens or couch like those that existed in his pseudo system room. From years of coming here, he recognised what was happening.
He spun around to confirm there were no surprises elsewhere in the room. There weren’t. It was completely empty. Worried about what might be happening in the real world, he tried to leave.
Nothing happened.
He tried again and realised he was stuck. His heartbeat faster as an edge of panic entered his thoughts. “What’s happening?” he demanded.
Bolded text appeared on the wall he was facing.
Congratulations, you are now a Contender for the Divine Champion’s Trial.
Note. This room is a competitor’s room, and, when it is in use, the rules of the Pseudo-System Room apply without the time dilation penalty.
Additional functions of the room will be unlocked when you upgrade yourself from Contender to Participant.
Tom’s eyes widened as the implications of that message finally sunk in. He had done it. He had got an invitation, and while he was in the room, his avatar acted perfectly, so there was no risk of his reincarnator status being discovered.
Directly under the first message was a timer.
Contender Challenge Starts in.
23 days, 14 hours, 32 minutes and 12 seconds.
It was ticking down.
There was nothing else written anywhere, and, no matter what he said or tried, the room refused to respond further. With a shrug, he tried to return to the real world. There was no resistance this time. A few minutes had passed, and his body, along with the other two, was on their way to dinner.
Tom slid into his normal act, while internally he was dancing in excitement.
He had done it. He would complete the contender challenge and reap the rewards.