Chapter 1: Adam – Footwear (Rank I)
Walking, walking, walking. He had been walking for what could have been hours, days, or years. There was simply no way to tell. The landscape was black and charred. A deep fog covered the horizon. Sometimes he stepped on the rocks that gave the world its black color. They hurt, but he didn’t really notice. He didn’t really notice… anything. His mind was as blank as the landscape itself. He didn’t know who he was, or where he was, or where he was going. All that mattered… was that he was going *somewhere*.
Until, at some unknown point, the man entered an area where the fog cleared up, ever so slightly. He continued to walk, but some strange instinct prompted him to, for the first time, look upwards at the sky. It was gray, the same color that filled in his unblinking eyes. In the very center of the visible sky, a small white dot was visible. A sort of sun, not that the man had much notion of what a ‘sun’ was. Or a notion of anything else.
And yet, the dot called to him. Voices began to whisper in the man’s ears, the first sounds he could recall ever hearing. But the whispers were not just being heard, not in the proper way. They were burning into the man’s mind’s eye, in a way that he had no words to describe, for he knew no words to speak of. And yet, he could understand the whispers perfectly. For they said…
Name: Adam
Trials Taken: 0
Trials Available:
-Equipment Trial (Rank I)
-Technique Trial (Rank I)
-Refreshment Trial (Rank I)
-Rank Up Trial (Rank I => II)
The man stopped as he heard/saw/felt the whispers. They meant essentially nothing to him. What was ‘Name: Adam’? What was ‘-Rank Up Trial’? He didn’t know. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t know that he *should* want to know. He looked back down at the bleak landscape in front of him and began to walk forward once more. That was, until, that the whispers spoke once more.
Error: Lack of Context detected. Alleviating…
A vast, almost unthinkable number of thoughts entered the man’s head. A whole language was building itself from the ground up. His grayed-out eyes slowly filled with white, along with blue pupils. The man collapsed to the ground, groaning in agony. And when he got up, he was no longer ‘the man’ but was, in fact, Adam.
“…Where am I?”
No answer came.
“How long have I been here? Why am I here?”
The whispers remained silent.
“What was that about a… Trial?”
Name: Adam
Trials Taken: 0
Trials Available:
-Equipment Trial (Rank I)
-Technique Trial (Rank I)
-Refreshment Trial (Rank I)
-Rank Up Trial (Rank I => 2)
The whispers returned, saying precisely what they had said before Adam’s strange awakening.
“Yes… that’s right. Uhm. Trials. Yes. What are they? What are they for?”
Equipment Trial: Gain a useful item upon completion.
Technique Trial: Gain knowledge of a useful technique upon completion.
Refreshment Trial: Restore a person or item to good condition.
Rank Up Trial: Prove yourself in combat, unlocking additional trials.
“Who are you, then, to put on these ‘Trials’?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
No response. Adam *sighed*.
“Fine, then, I would like to do an… Equipment Trial?”
Describe desired reward. Reward may be any category of useful item. Reward may be improved or downgraded depending on Trial rank.
“Alright… shoes, then. I have been walking for… I don’t even know how long, and while I have this tunic, my feet are bare.”
Equipment Trial: Footwear (Rank I).
-Trial Details: Run 15 meters in a straight line.
-Trial Constraints: None.
Continue?
“Wha- I have to run a distance just so that I can have shoes? May I at least get my reward in advance?”
No response. Adam made a deeper *sigh*. “…Yes, continue.”
Trial Selected.
Adam then looked around for a bit at the surrounding area. There were some places where the fog was thick, and others where the ground was rocky. He eventually decided on a strip of relatively flat ground. He then proceeded down the strip at a slow walk, to ensure there would be no surprise outcroppings. While he did so, he examined the ground a bit more closely. It was pitch-black rock, yet it didn’t remind him of the rock known as ‘obsidian’… it was more like ordinary rock that had been scorched black in its entirety. He didn’t know what to make of it.
Having cleared his little course of debris, Adam then turned around and *ran*. He had spent an unknowable amount of time walking, but this was his first time in memory that he had picked up the pace. It was… soothing, in its own way. But tiring. And made him wish he had his shoes. But in the end, he succeeded.
And for his efforts, a burst of light and a loud *POP* appeared, startling Adam greatly. After he regained his senses, he looked over to the objects that had appeared. A pair of slippers made of some form of leather, which could be drawn closed via a twine string.
“This… could I not get anything *better*?”
Trial: Footwear (Rank II) is locked behind Trial: Combat (Rank I)
*Sigh* “I see… in that case, I want to take another Equipment Trial, this time for some sort of weapon. Primitive as a ‘Rank I’ weapon must be, I bet I'll need it…”
Equipment Trial Unavailable for 00:57:23… 22… 21…
Adam had been unaware that these trials required time between them.
“Please tell me I can do those other trials… I don’t want to sit here for an hour with nothing to do…”
Trials Available:
-Technique Trial (Rank I)
-Refreshment Trial (Rank I)
-Rank Up Trial (Rank I => II)
“Good, good. A Technique Trial, then. Something to help me fight, I suppose.”
Technique Trial: Combat (Rank I)
-Trial Details: Receive a blow from the Training Dummy. Then, give it a blow of equal or greater force.
-Trial Constraints: 5 attempts.
-Failure Penalty: +1hr delay for next Technique Trial.
Continue?
“Training dummy, hmm… Yes, continue.”
With a corresponding agreement from the whispers, a burst of light appeared, though without the *POP* from before. It revealed a strange-looking construct, a mannequin dressed in similar clothing to Adam. With the same strange shoes, even. As Adam focused on its featureless face, he was startled when it walked of its own accord towards him. Before he could even react, the thing reared back and punched him!
“GAH!”
Adam stumbled back, having not expected the thing to attack without him initiating combat. Though, he supposed, he *did* agree to the Trial already. He struggled to his feet and swung his fists at the mannequin. Sadly, the blow never landed, as the thing disappeared in a puff of light. “What?”, Adam yelled to the empty space.
He then saw a bit of light shining from behind him. Before he could fully understand what that meant, he was punched from behind. Adam once again sprawled to his feet, and managed to look around to see the same damn mannequin disappear in another puff of light. ‘Damnit, does that count for 2 attempts of the 5…’, Adam thought.
When the next light shined, Adam turned to face it. Sure enough, the so-called Training Dummy had appeared once more. Adam figured the thing couldn’t be too smart and decided to duck under its next punch. It didn’t make contact, but the dummy instantly disappeared instead of giving Adam time to react. He suddenly recalled the Trial’s description. Namely that it said he had to *receive* a blow.
Adam steadied himself on his feet and waited for the next blow to come. The dummy thankfully appeared in front of him this time, and he received the hit. It certainly hurt, but he avoided falling over this time. Even better, he swung a counterattack with both fists, and it made contact. The Training Dummy’s ‘skin’ felt a bit strange, somewhere between leather and real human skin. Not that Adam could remember much experience handling either substance.
The mannequin froze midway through sprawling to the ground. Adam wasn’t sure what to make of that, until the thing disappeared in a *POP*. In its place was a small book (really a booklet) that said, in rather nicely calligraphed writing, ‘Punch (Rank I)’.
Adam eagerly opened it, expecting it to explain how to punch with better efficiency. Instead… two different things happened. The first was that the book turned to ashes, dissipating in a nonexistent wind. The second, was that Adam became instantly aware of how his punch at the mannequin had been rather lack-luster. His form had been all off, and it only succeeded due to him throwing his entire body weight into it.
It took him a second to realize what had happened. He had learned how to throw a punch, not through reading, but on an instinctive level! He also had a sense that it was only the basics, though. He would have to actually *use* the skill to truly get better at it.
He checked what the whispers (he needed a better name for them) said about his Trials.
Equipment Trial Unavailable for 00:39:13…12…11…
Technique Trial Unavailable for 04:56:22…21…20…
‘Hmm, so that mannequin only took 10 minutes to nearly kick my ass…’, Adam thought to himself. ‘And technique Trials take 5 times as long to reset. Unfortunate. I should spend that time practicing my new skill…’
Adam spent the next half-hour punching the air, imagining himself fighting that stupid Training Dummy. And while he didn’t expect to get incredibly good just by shadowboxing, he also didn’t expect when a new message suddenly entered his awareness:
Punch (Rank I) Level 2 reached!