In the underground chamber, no wind blew at all. Instead, the air was completely still as time seemed to pass incredibly slowly. The bottom level of the guild hall resembled a colosseum and at the edge of the circular ring where the stands met the stone ground floor, potential Adventures were waiting to take the trial to prove their worthiness of entering the guild.

One of those adventurers had caught the attention of Zayd. That person was a blonde man wearing a ragged brown cloak with a gleaming golden sword, not even sheathed, an opulent jewel at its hilt.

‘That’s him. He ends up betraying me-the player character in Chronicle Oydssey right before we enter the Chaos Realm. Should I just avoid him, or should I prevent him from causing trouble for the player character, does the player character even exist outside of the game?’

While Zayd’s mind raced with frantic thoughts, Milonia noticed his gaze in that direction and got the wrong impression.

“Hello there, fellow! It appears my liege would have words with you. It may be due to that magnificent sword that you wield.” Milionia announced with all the subtlety of an opera.

“Huh?” Zayd exclaimed but that person had already noticed them. The man turned to face their direction. This revealed that he had an eyepatch over the right side of his face. Combined with his haphazard wardrobe, this gave him the distinct look of a fantastical pirate.

“Who the hell are you guys? Do you have some business with me?” He asked casually.

Zayd was the first to speak up. “Uh, we just couldn’t help but notice that fancy sword of yours. Where did you get that?”

“Oh, you have nice taste.” The eyepatched man raised the sword. “ There’s an incredible story behind this find, but first, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Chryasor and I’ve traveled the entire stretch of the Mediterran coast.”

“I’m Zayd and we’re from a small island far out at sea,” Zayd admitted.

‘I don’t trust this guy at all, knowing what he’ll do in the future, but no point in hiding unimportant information.’

The two exchanged a handshake and chatted over meaningless things. Zayd used this chance to verify his information about the human kingdoms and learn about some holes in his knowledge. This conversation only went on a short time before an examiner at the other side of the arena in a high seatbox spoke up. He was a man with brown hair and green eyes wearing a gold and blue outfit.

“Attention aspiring adventurers, today’s Trial will soon begin. It will be split into four separate trials to test one’s might, magic, navigation skills, and combat skills. The man’s voice was amplified by a small magic circle in front of his mouth.

“That sounds about right,” Zayd stated out loud.

“But why test our abilities when they can just look at our statuses?” Milonia asked.

“Just because one has great stats and skills, that doesn’t mean they can use them effectively enough. These Trials are to test one’s practical performance.” He knew this all too well with how difficult they had been for him to complete even after he had grinded for hours before even deciding to take the Trial in-game.

“Hmm, you sure seem like you know a lot. Have you washed out before?” Chryasor prodded wryly.

“Nah, I’ve just heard about it from the few Adventurers I’ve run into,” Zayd responded and that seemed to be a good enough answer for Chryasor.

Their focus returned to the examiner who was continuing his explanation.

“The First Trial is known as the Trial of the Sun.” A magical circle covered the arena and morphed it to have the dirt ground transformed into a massive mound with a clear blue surface. A glowing yellow sphere the size of a basketball appeared at the end nearest to the examinees.

“For this Trial, you will carry the yellow sphere you see below that will act as the sun. The goal of this challenge is to carry the sun from one side to the other and vice versa for as long as possible.”

“Hmm, that doesn’t sound too bad.” Cecilia chimed in while listening uncaringly to the situation. “My magic allows me to carry spheres by mimicking the rotation of celestial bodies like stars and planets.”

A strained grin appeared on Zayd’s face. “About that…”

The examiner finished what Zayd was going to tell her for him. “Take note, this is a challenge testing one’s physical stats such as a STR, AGI, and VIT. As you carry the sphere back and forth, it will increase in size. The amount of trips you can make will be your score for this trial and a score of ten is needed to pass.”

“What? I’m a mage who hasn’t done any physical training in years. How am I supposed to pass that?” Cecilia asked in disbelief.

“Well, maybe it’s not that bad.” Zayd bemused hopefully before seeing the first examinee undergo the Trial. In just one trip, the sphere grew to the size of a lion and it only got bigger from there. By the time the examinee finished with only eight complete trips, it was the size of a car.

Examiners had to rush to the arena to keep them from getting crushed under the fake sun’s weight. Cecilia could only look on in despair as more people began taking the Trial. Out of around fifty aspiring adventurers, only twenty-nine passed the challenge before it reached their group.

“I guess we’ll just have to hope for the best.” Zayd tried to be as optimistic as possible while even though he was worried about whether he could pass. Despite all the training he had done beforehand, he was still level 0 and most of the examinees had probably been honing their abilities for years to take this trial.

An examinee signaled it was Milonia’s turn to go and she cheerfully began walking down to the arena. As she moved through the stands, she patted Cecilia on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, even if you don’t pass. You can always try again next month.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Cecilia said sarcastically but Milonia paid no mind as she went to take on the challenge.

She lifted the basketball-sized sphere with one hand and proceeded to carry it for thirty-one trips. At that point, the reason she could not do anymore was because it became hard to balance the sphere that had grown to the size of a two-story house on her hands as she walked up and down the mound.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Everyone in the colosseum was shocked by the impressive display of might. Chatter began resounding throughout the area to Zayd’s chagrin. As much as people were complimenting her strength, there were also those wondering why she had not already taken the Adventurer Trial if she was that powerful.

It was then time for Zayd to go as well. When he picked up the glowing sphere, it felt surprisingly smooth and light. He suspected it would not stay light for long.

“Alright, it’s now or nothing.” Zayd put one leg back and reeled his hand behind him.

As soon as it was signaled that he could start, he threw the sphere into the air and sprinted to the other side. In a matter of seconds his already there. He caught the sphere as it hurtled to the ground and proceeded to launch to the other side once more.

‘I just gotta place my hopes on this speedrunning strat I heard about from people trying to complete the story quest as fast as possible. As long as the ball doesn’t touch the ground and I’m not using magic, this should be allowed.’

All the onlookers were shocked at this bizarre strategy as Zayd continued this process over and over again. Fortunately, though the examiners were also bewildered, they did not stop the Trial. Zayd was allowed to keep going until eventually, the sphere became too heavy for him to either throw or carry. When he finished, he had been able to make thirteen trips back and forth.

“...You’re up next Erasmus. Good luck.” Zayd let out ragged breaths with a strained smirk. After having his status patched, his stats were lowered as well. It would be a struggle for him to pass as well. “How about you try out the trick I used?”

Erasmus crossed his arms as he walked down to the arena. “Hmph, no way am I going to rely upon such a cheap trick as that one. I’ve had decades of honing my physical expertise. My score will surely surpass yours with minimal effort.”

When he finished, he only managed to get eleven before dropping the sphere and collapsing as a total mess with sweat all over him. He stayed completely silent after barely making his way back to the stands.

Next up was Cecilia, who surprisingly was able to carry the sphere for twenty-four trips. She seemed completely unimpressed by the whole Trial and made her back to the others with a deadpan expression.

“It seems that was way easier than it looked. Why did you two have so much trouble if I could do it easily?”

Erasmus grunted while Zayd had a flash of realization.

“Hey, could I get a look at your stats?’ Zayd questioned the Astrologer.

“Hmm, why do you want to see them?” She responded standoffishly

“C’mon, I just want to give them a look to verify something. It might be important when we get into a battle.”

“Hmm, I’m not rushing into any battles any time soon, but fine, I’ll show you my status.” Cecilia relented and pulled up the transparent screen.

Name: Cecilia Brooke Age: 23 Race: Dark Elf Title: Island Hermit Level: 11 Class: Astrologer Health: 141/141 Mana: 405/405 Stamina: 212/212 Strength: 203 Agility: 201 Perception: 248 Vitality: 196 Resilience: 192 Intelligence: 223 Skills: 10 Spells: 12 Items: 3

“Wow, just like a thought. Your stats have increased across the board as your level went up.” Zayd explained.

Cecilia’s brow wrinkled. “I knew that was the case, but didn’t expect it would make such a difference despite never training for those stats.”

“Well, that’s the charm of video game setting. You can become super strong without spending a single second at a gym.”

The rest of the Trial of the Sun continued without uproar. Chryasor managed to make seventeen trips. After every examinee had taken the challenge there were thirty-eight left. The next trial started immediately after.

“This is the Trial of the Moon. This challenge has been designed to test your magical power. Since many Adventurers don’t possess an affinity for magic, this Trial does not need to be passed. However, you will still need an overall score of 40 to be allowed into the guild.”

“Four trials within a minimum score of ten to pass each one. Even if you’re able to squeeze by with all the rest, if you can’t pass the Magic Trial, you’re chances are null and void.”

“Yeah, for pure warriors like me, scoring twenty on the combat trial is a must,” Chryasor commented.

“Yeah…same goes for me.”

The arena floor was morphed into a magical circle again. The mound receded, the hue of the ground turned to pitch black, and the yellow sphere became the same color. The sphere then rose into the air above the center of the arena.

It was explained that anyone taking the challenge would fire magic at this dim moon and how full it became would determine the examinee’s score for this trial. Cecilia was the only one who did and could take on the trial out of the five of them. She passed with flying colors. Not only did the moon fully light up, but stars beamed into existence around it. Her score came out to be thirty-five points.

The next one was the Trial of the Labyrinth in which a large stone maze from the ground. The key to this trial was noticing the faint markings scattered throughout the walls of the formation and making your way to the center of the labyrinth. Zayd and Erasmus were able to do better on this one than the others, even scoring higher than both Milonia and Erasmus.

Now, Zayd needed three extra points to pass the Adventurer Trial while Erasmus needed five.

Up next, was the Trial of the Pit. In this one, a random monster would be released and they all had to take turns fighting. How much damage you were able to deal with it determined your score for this trial.

Even knowing this, Zayd was still surprised by the sight that he beheld as the chosen monster was released from its cage. It was a colossal nine-headed hydra with acidic poison dripping from its maws and claws that could rip through iron.

“We’re going to have to fight that?!” Cecilia exclaimed in exasperation.

“Yeah, I don’t know any way around it…” Zayd replied with trepidation clear in his voice. Other people were also worried. Unlike the other challenges, there was not anyone trying to go first.

That lasted til one figure did decide to descend to the level of that hill-sized monstrosity. This was a masked woman wearing sky-blue garbs. Although her appearance was a bit strange, Zayd had not taken much notice of her since the examinee had scored average results on every other trial.

‘Wait, those results were too normal. She got a ten in every single trial, only just enough to pass. There’s no way that was by accident. Is she trying to hide her true strength?’

“Are you ready?” The examiner called down from his high seatbox after the masked woman reached the ground. She simply nodded without any hint of hesitation.

“I guess now will be like the other times. She’ll just barely get enough wounds on it to pass.” Zayd inferred.

Meanwhile, Milonia had a doubtful expression on her face. “Are you sure about that my liege? I didn’t get that impression from that warrior while observing them myself.”

“Hmm?”

Before he could ask what she meant, the Trial of the Pit began for the masked warrior. All nine heads of hydra lunged at the aspiring adventurer with their venomous fangs. The warrior seemingly stood still until the last moment. Then, in a blur of speed, a blade of water appeared in their hands and extended at supersonic speeds to slice the beast apart.

In just an instance, the challenge ended as soon as it had started with not only the hydra’s heads being chopped off. Its entire body was diced into pieces beyond any hope of regeneration. Everyone in the colosseum’s mouth hung agape as the masked warrior nonchalantly walked back to the stands.

Milonia turned to Zayd with a shaky voice.”That woman did not make all tens to hide their strength. …She simply took the fastest path to her goal possible.”