by John Gold
I spend the whole two weeks in the shroud boosting my mental and physical damage resistance to 1100000. It’s just a good thing that there isn’t any poison here, or I’d die without even noticing it.
Geronimo!
∞ ∞ ∞
Current location: Ninth Circle of Hell. Lake Cocytus.
Bank
Suddenly, I’m reminded of Death. It gave me the same sense of power.
There’s somebody I don’t know dressed in odd clothing and standing at the very center of the lake. The distance from the shroud to the center of the circle is actually so short that I can see him immediately, and that means that I feel his power, feel him watching me. We’re ten kilometers away from each other, though I can still tell that his eyes are fixed on me. What strength!
He looks human. He’s wearing something like a t-shirt and a light vest, and the shorts fit in well with the look. But he feels like an enemy, and I’m afraid he’ll kill me if I come any closer.
I don’t see an aura crystal in this circle. It looks like the guy over there is the origin of the power. The air quivers, snow falls, and space is distorted. And I can sense all this from ten kilometers away.
I’m grabbed by an invisible current and drawn toward him. As I go, I see pits between us, not to mention Level 900 titans that stand a hundred meters tall. They watch me go indifferently, as if I’m already dead. Then, they go back to stomping on the faces frozen into the ice.
Suddenly, I’m right next to him.
I don’t see a name, which is unusual for a bot. He’s no longer radiating power; he’s just standing there looking at me. Snow starts falling on the both of us.
“Congratulations, Sagie, your trials are complete, and you can return to your world. You can’t take anything you’ve found or made here, however. Your physical attributes will revert back to what they were before you were sent to Hell.”
“…”
I feel like I’m going to die. Everything I’ve done here is lost. But what can I do? All he would have to do to kill me is to wish it, and I would be powerless. Just one thought! If he released the power he had pent up, I would be a goner.
“Goodbye.” My body starts melting into a stream of light.
∞ ∞ ∞
The person standing in the middle of the lake smiled and turned to the block of ice to his right. His expression was forceful, his body muscular, his clothes rich, his movements smooth.
“Stop hiding. Come here and sit down.” With one motion, he created two benches and a table laden with food.
The illusion of ice faded, and the three people hiding behind it merged into one. By the time they’d moved over to the bench, they were indeed one person.
“Why didn’t you let me talk with him? I had every right to! And why drag him here through all the belts?”
“What if he’d killed the titans?”
“How? He hasn’t even finished the first level, and their power is on a par with the gods’! They’re only Level 900 here. If they found their way to the world of men, they’d jump straight up to Level 9000.”
“Set, how did you even get here? You weren’t keeping track of his trials.”
The odd fellow with the hair jutting up just shrugged.
“I did exactly what I was supposed to do: I tortured the sinners in the ice, the worst of them, obviously. Why? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just a few eensie-weensie issues.” The man did nothing to hide his emotion, and started counting on his fingers. There was an expression of rage on his face. “During the first trial, he hid from the guards, and then Death itself noticed him. He found Death’s throwing spike without even knowing it. That should tell you a little something about how capable he is of killing the titans. That isn’t the only thing he could have used, either, regardless of what level he’s at. He doesn’t feel auras of power anymore. He boosted his resistance gradually. Then, he found the guards and tortured both them and their helpers.”
“How? They’re even stronger.”
“He paralyzed them and pinned them to the ground.” The man ticked off one finger.
“Kids these days…”
“Have you forgotten how to think? That’s just the beginning. He killed the succubus, and then he flew right over the fields of strength.”
Set pulled actual, real cigarettes out of his pocket, the kind that didn’t exist in the game world.
“He’s from one of the flying races? I haven’t gotten any of those so far. They haven’t been unlocked yet, I thought.”
“He made a pair of wings for himself.” After waiting for a reaction, the man continued. “And off he flew! There wasn’t a single flying creature in the entire zone. Nobody uses the air to move around in the fields of strength, and the boy used that to his advantage.”
“It would have been simpler if he’d just used shields.”
“Kids aren’t allowed to use things like that in their world. They just changed that six months ago, though there are still a few conditions.”
“Well, I’ll be… And what happened then?”
“The second thing,” the man replied, ticking off another finger. “He came across Cerberus, though he jumped onto the dog’s neck and started choking him out. Cerberus realized what was going on and tossed Sagie, though the boy just killed the dog with one blow. He created eleven charges and crushed the dog’s ribcage.”
“How did someone in their first level learn tricks like that?”
“You idiot! That trial was created to develop the participants’ mental capacities. Have you done nothing? Did you read the officer instructions you were sent for that level? I guess not, otherwise, you would’ve known.”
“Calm down, calm down,” Set said. “We’ll resurrect the dog. He isn’t an officer, so what does he have to be mad about?”
“Oh, absolutely! Why would anyone get angry about a little thing like that? Then, he spent a month swimming around the trial zone, having fun where people usually rot alive. He dropped down and killed the next guard, too. He even killed the guard in the same way the guard usually kills his victims - beat him to death after pinning his whole body to the ground with stakes. After that, he used the souls of sinners to create semi-intelligent items. The grand finale was a weapon so strong that he could have activated it and destroyed the entire trial zone. The keeper noticed and sent a hint to the boy via the astral that he should go easy with that, though he just disappeared for two months before showing up again to grow a forest you haven’t noticed yet. He stole a power crystal, too, and you didn’t see. Then, he just walked on to the next trial. That’s when they called me, telling me we might have our first candidate. So, who was supposed to make sure the trials were beaten correctly?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you! If it weren’t for you, I’d still be off relaxing, but no, I’ve had to spend four months getting here. I still have nine years of relaxation left. Oh, by the way, he drowned the boatman in the Styx, and he created another one of those weapons in the swamps. That…that person…he didn’t even realize how powerful it was. The keeper got involved, though the boy figured out that something was wrong while the keeper was creating an avatar to have a chat with him, and told him to go screw himself. That’s when I got here. I had a hard time convincing them not to kill the boy, though I promised I’d take his weapons to make sure he doesn’t threaten the balance in their world. Then, the kid disappeared for another two months. The keeper finally calmed down at that point.”
“Hey, he isn’t here from the workshop, is he? That’s not how you’d expect someone from their world to do things.”
“No, I checked that. What I’m wondering is how you missed losing two and a half thousand souls.”
“I was busy having a philosophical conversation with a spirit.”
“Mm…” The boss practically moaned in frustration at his underling’s stupidity. “Sagie drowned the guards in blood, and then shot them with his bow. And he’s so used to monotony and serenity that he d
idn’t even notice anything. He beat the rest of the trials by activating his weapon.”
“So, you came to meet him so he didn’t kill me accidentally? And you sent him back after taking from him everything he picked up in the trial zones?”
“Yep.”
“Thanks. And what about the keeper?”
“He let him go. The boy beat the trials, and his punishment was having everything he had made and found taken from him. I even turned his body back to the way it was. He didn’t get a reward.”
“It sounds like their world is starting to move, Idzumi.” Set relaxed and looked up at the sky, which was where the light was coming from.
“Yes, and you need to correct your carelessness. The director didn’t get involved in the trial when the boy found his spike, and you could’ve died. Death knows that, too. It’s a hint. Have you figured that out yet?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then I’m off. I imagine we’ll be seeing each other again.”
Idzumi, or Lucifer, stood up, drank the rest of what was in his cup, and melted into the stream of light coming from the sky. He was off to see the director. That world has a saying: Death doesn’t wait.
End of Part One
Part Two
Prelude to War
Tiamat paced the room in anticipation. That day, the first chosen one had a shot at completing the trials. Even with his five-meter height and poorly concealed power, the director was graceful, appearing to soar across the ground. His aura of strength had a black tinge, giving him a terrifying look. Everybody saw him as a man in a black hood. Even those beneath him feared him, not to mention ordinary people. The gods lost their power just by coming near him; ordinary people died instantly or fell into a panic. He’d only ever used his weapon, a scythe, a few times in that world, but even that had been enough to change the shape of several continents. Only four beings could match him in strength. Three had already left, and Idzumi, second in strength in that world, was scheduled to arrive that day. But the director wasn’t nervous about an upcoming duel.
A year and a half before, Tiamat had been hunting in the shroud for relaxation. One of his throwing spikes had flown out of the shroud and fallen into the border with the trial zone, where one of the test subjects had picked it up. He hadn’t wanted to give it up voluntarily, and Tiamat didn’t step into the trial zone. He didn’t want to disturb the trials and kill the subject with a blast of power. All Tiamat did was grant the subject’s soul to be taken to the Gray Lands if he died in the trial zone. It would have been easy enough for Tiamat to pick up his spike there.
The boy had just approached Set’s territory, and his using the spike could have killed Set. The boss’s inadvertent misstep had created the opportunity to bring about the death of one of his officers. That was what the keeper was worried about. “Impeccable, pedantic Tiamat had made a mistake.” Right then, however, even the keeper wanted to punish the kid for all his violations.
Idzumi stepped into the office and immediately said exactly what Tiamat had been waiting to hear.
“Set is alive. I cut the trial short. It was too dangerous. The keeper said I could.”
“Ooph.” Tiamat sat down in his chair and turned to the window and the slumbering depths of the ocean on the other side. A second chair appeared beside him, and Idzumi sat down. “Nobody was killed?”
“No. As soon as the subject appeared in the trial zone, I brought him over. The titans are all in one piece, and the guards on the other levels have already been restored.” Idzumi looked out at the underwater world, too. “You’re still in this office?”
“It’s the only place in this world, where I don’t always have to contain my strength. And you’re the only one who can be next to me and see my real image, all without the black hood everyone else sees. So, what about the subject?”
“Oh, the keeper practically killed him. The boy used his opponents to create an activatable weapon, though he’s not supposed to be able to go past a specific threshold without the permission of his parents or until he turns eighteen. They had already fixed that. But just the fact that he was able to become stronger with each level he beat was scary—he was able to boost his resistance so high that he could move around the final part of the eighth trial zone without a problem. Can you imagine what would have happened if he’d used the full potential of that weapon?”
“Yeah, really. I watched his battle in the astral. The keeper was so furious with how cocky he was, not to mention all his infractions, that he smashed the island and summoned subjects from other worlds. The boy just started shooting all of them with his bow. Then, the other subjects fell back, unable to do anything. The keeper was livid, sending out one of his officers with the boy’s own sword. If you hadn’t gotten involved, we would have lost our first potential chosen one.”
“That problem is taken care of now. The weapon has been taken away until ten similar items have been created in the world or until the boy gets to a higher-order world. The second option will probably happen first. There isn’t anyone capable of creating weapons like that. The gods are supposed to keep track of their wards, too.”
The coffee maker whistled, and Tiamat poured coffee into cups. Fifteen hundred cycles had gone by, and he still had the same habits when it came to food and drinks.
“What do the locals think of that? Was Akashi able to pull off what he was thinking about?” Tiamat may have been responsible for the world, but he didn’t care much about those who had left it.
“Oh, absolutely. He created his own nation: Lunar. His entire team, along with everyone who left the crossroads of worlds, are living separately on one of their planet’s moons. Lunar is selling access to it, claiming to be the developers. Really, they just localized it, although, many who got to the crossroads do the same thing.”
“They certainly didn’t make much of a first impression, but he outdid everything anyone could have imagined.”
“Don’t worry, Tiamat. You think we were nasty to take away the boy’s power and weapons.” Hot coffee and cookies made Idzumi talkative, and Tiamat knew that. He’d been missing the chatterbox.
“Yep.”
“The whole artificial level was created to boost the intellectual abilities of the chosen ones. If they get through, they can leave with the skills and abilities they’ve earned relative to their intellect. If they die, they lose everything and have to create a new character. The plan was to have well-coordinated groups go through the trials and move farther in together. Nobody planned to have a chosen one show up and beat Hell, boosting his resistance over a year and a half local time. The other groups and lone chosen ones didn’t have the same wisdom and patience. We left what is most valuable: skills, smarts, and experience.”
“But an activatable weapon! Do you realize how many we’ve had beat the trials with one of those?”
“I do. You’re underestimating the boy, though. He’s a smart one. He’s the exception to the rule. If I’m right, he’ll be able to pick up much more than he lost. We left him a certain something, too.”
∞ ∞ ∞
A light sea breeze ruffles my long hair. I have grown over the past year and a half. I’m more muscular now, a little taller, and there is even some gray hair on my crown. My arms are very strong.
All I have in my inventory is the sack of books. All my rings and weapons are gone. But I’m alive! And almost home. My home, father, mama… I’m coming!
My map shows me that I’m on the other side of the world though. The fact that the in-game planet is three times the size of Earth means that it would take at least a month to swim that far, and that’s at my speed. Although, I’m not too excited about something eating me in the Ocean of Terror. That’s exactly what it’s called.
∞ ∞ ∞
Achievement received: Titanbane. First rank.
Kill an opponent fifty levels higher than you.
Reward: +5 to all attributes
…..
Achievement received: Titanbane
. Fourteenth rank.
Kill an opponent seven hundred levels higher than you.
Reward: +5 to all attributes
Achievement received: Styx Swimmer.
Anyone who can get across the Styx is a hero. The river offers the bravest some of its abilities.
Reward: One of Our Own, an ability that means all spirits will take you as one of their own
Achievement received: Genius.
You conquered all conceivable self-improvement goals twice over!
Reward: Access to probation with the Hunters
The probation will begin in seven months and fifteen days in the city of Zirda.
Go to the Three Solo Trips and order three portions of Koryak mussels.
∞ ∞ ∞
Skill received: Body Power.
This skill lets you empower part of your body with an additional magic stimulus for your nerve endings. Using it costs mana and health due to the strain placed on your body.
Body enhancement: +1
Body enhancement effect: +1%
∞ ∞ ∞
Well, I got achievements as soon as I left. There’s some logic there, I guess. The devil said something about a trial, so you only get rewards at the end.
“Naïve children! They think they can stop me by taking away what I collected? Attribute window!”
Name: Sagie
Level: 0
Experience: 0/100 (100 left until the next level)
Race: Human
Class: None selected
Basic attributes
Strength: 90
Agility: 90
Stamina: 90
Intellect: 90
Wisdom: 90
Available attribute points: 0
Additional attributes
Speed: 90
Athleticism: 90
Morale: 90
Survivability: 90
Derivative ratings
Physical damage: 45 (strength/2, but no less than 1)
Carrying capacity: 225 kg (strength*10/4)
Mana: 900 (wisdom*10)
