Chapter 31: Trials of the Flesh

Midas' face was gloomy as he walked through the forest.

After mending Julio's broken bones and keeping them in place using some self made wooden sticks and woven ropes, Midas then went and buried Aydin's body in the forest. Midas hesitated for a moment, before deciding to come to the Shrine to have a talk with Gwen.

He had no real expectations when he went to ask for the now newly crowned Coalition's stance on Andrew. He merely figured that since these people exist and they are acting as leaders, then they may as well make themselves useful by making the life of Andrew the Slaver very difficult.

Midas did not think himself infallible. He knew that even if he had a Skill that allowed him to be untouchable for a few minutes, that did not mean someone else did not have a skill that could counter his.

As such he never attacked Andrew, he would rather collect information first. Information on who was around him, and what he did on a day to day basis. Tings like those would ensure that Midas wins the fight before he even fights it.

But while collecting information, why not play some tricks on the side?

He decided to play it safe while doing his own investigations, and simultaneously use those S Rankers to weaken Andrew's prestige and image. After his investigations, he would later prepare to land the finishing blow, making sure that Andrew could never try anything against him ever again.

He did not expected the S Ranker Squad to immediately agree to his suggestion as he felt like there was more to the story than meets the eye. It would be okay if the S Rankers were at least made aware of the existence of Andrew and his dangerous Skills and thus acted in a way to damage Andrew's reputation among the people.

But he was met with a disappointing reality… It turns out that not only would they not do anything against Andrew, they would even protect him. Andrew was apparently an integral part of the Coalition.

Midas shook his head, thinking about how naive he had been to expect anything less from other people.

People will always do what is beneficial to them and only them. Andrew's capabilities must be beneficial to the Coalition and therefore that made him worth protecting, even at the expense of incurring losses in reputation in the future.

Heck, they could even deceive the masses with regards to any unwanted rumours. Even a lie, if said many times can turn into the truth. That was the way of the world.

Midas thought this far when one of his parallel computation lines gave him an alert that it had completed a task. Midas smiled brilliantly. He immediately forgot all about his gloominess from before.

This was incredible news…

He had finally completed his analysis and deciphering of the Stone Tablet's writings and he could now understand what was being communicated.

Previously, he had focused on reading the book with the purpose of deciphering the Uzgiyesh symbols on the Stone Tablet. After reading farther and farther into the Testament 0 of the First Holy Book, he realised that every symbol is the equivalent of human sentences.

The ability to hypercondense whole concepts into discrete symbols is an incredible concept even to Midas, and this made Uzgiyesh very good at storing and conveying information.

The symbols had a subject part and a predicate part. He could therefore deconstruct the meanings without fully learning the vocabulary. Even better still, the Testament 0 had a Vocabulary section with all possible symbols and their meanings, allowing Midas to decipher the Stone Tablet after working at it arduously for a few day.

It might sound like this was easy work, but Midas estimated that it would take a normal person at least 100 days to decipher if he had the right tools for the job like, for example, a computer. Even a well coordinated group of people would take at least 30 days to decipher the writings with the right tools.

But they did not have access to tools in this environment. So they could only muddle onwards unless they had a similar ability to Midas' ability.

Using his [Divine Database]'s ability to parallel-compute, he was even more efficient than a whole team as he was able to accomplish this much in merely 2 days.

Midas let himself imagine the Stone Tablet. Then, there it was in front of him. A large silver statue with golden symbols engraved on it. Those golden symbols even seemed so life like that they seemed to squirm around, move and vibrate as they sat on the face of the large Tablet. Midas read the symbols on it with fervour.

(From now on, any Uzgiyesh will be italic enclosed in `` quotes)

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`A Chosen One was given an opportunity by the Great One's Will to determine the fate of their people. The Chosen One was told that they would be given some time to make their preparations before entering the Ascension Trials.`

`The Chosen One, after discovering this, made a journey to a Scryer of Fate in order to prepare for anything that may come. According to the writings of the ancestors, the Scryer could see through the past, the present, and the future, and as such, the Scryer was very knowledgeable about all things in Creation. The Chosen One hoped that they could find out anything pivotal that could help them conquer the Trials.`

`The Chosen one arrived outside the Scryer's Shrine with excitement and expectation. But they would be met with disappointment, for the Scryer does not easily permit any person to enter their Shrine. The Chosen One would be given three opportunities to prove their destiny. If they could not give the correct answer to a question given by the Scryer, they would not be allowed into the Shrine.`

`A voice from the inside of the Shrine came out resonantly, asking, "What Gift has the Great One given to you?". The Chosen One stood silently. The Great One is the reason for all existence, everyone knew that. The real question was what Gift the Great One hadn't given him… But he still gave an answer, saying, "Life."`

`"Incorrect!" said the voice coming deep from the Shrine. Then it immediately asked the same question again. The Chosen One was stumped and after some time, they replied "Sustenance!".`

`"Incorrect!" said the voice coming deep from the Shrine. Then it immediately asked the same question again, this time for the last time. The Chosen One took time to answer and after some more time, replied, "The ability to obtain all that I desire!"`

`"Correct! Now you know what the Great One has given you and you shall also know how to enter my Shrine," said the voice, causing the Chosen One to immediately be joyous. Now they knew how to enter the Shrine, and they would use this opportunity to receive the answers to all their questions.`

`The Chosen One stood outside the Shrine and said, "As the Great One ordains, so shall I Obtain all that I Desire!" and then immediately, the Shrine radiated rays of resplendent golden light that shone everywhere around. The light shone onto the Chosen One and after a moment, swallowed them into the Shrine.`

`Inside the Shrine, the Chosen One found no living physical existence but they felt as if they was being watched by an incredibly powerful existence and thus chose to respectfully ask for guidance.`

`The Scryer then spoke, saying, "I know what you seek. What awaits you in the Trials is Seven, however my eyes can only see the Three, and the Chosen One can see the rest if they be fated to do so. These Three are the Trials of the Flesh that would test the Chosen One's ability to survive the harshest of physical conditions. As such, The Chosen One will need several crucial Items."`

`The Chosen one respectfully asked what supplies they needed and the Scryer's voice came and said, "The Chosen One needs the Book of Survival which holds knowledge and wisdom on how to survive in the Trials of the Flesh. The Chosen One also needs the First Holy Book which holds knowledge and wisdom on how the Chosen One can evolve their Flesh to thrive in the Trials of the Flesh."`

`The Chosen noted all this down in their soul and asked if there was more they could do to ensure the survival of them and their people. The Scryer's voice said, "The Trials are incredibly difficult to survive alone, and thus forming a Clan with a Clan Totem would allow higher beings to take pity upon your plight and offer assistance when the Chosen One's Clan is in need."`

`Before allowing the Chosen One to speak, the Scryer continued, "But beware of overestimating yourself in the presence of higher beings, for they are far more powerful than you can imagine. There is nothing left to be said. You may now leave." The Chosen heard all this and thanked the Scryer before turning to leave the Shrine.`

`After coming out of the Shrine, the Chosen returned to their people and spoke nothing of their discoveries. They merely collected their supplies and waited until one day, the Great One's call descended from the Heavens and took them away, giving them a chance to fulfill their destiny.`

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Midas read all this and was shocked in his heart.

This was full of information that Midas felt the need to unpack and dive into.

Firstly, this was not the first time Midas had heard of this "Great One". He remembered the moment vividly when the green life-form gave praises to some "Great One" and his voice reverberated all throughout the field leaving him shocked and fearful.

He still had no idea who or what this "Great One" is. But he received another clue. The "Great One" is apparently responsible for all of creation. So does that mean the "Great One" is a God? Or maybe The God?

Midas still felt that he knew too little to truly answer such a question. So he focused elsewhere: The Shrine.

The direct translation of the Uzgiyesh micro-symbol meant "Shrine". And the green life-form literally told them the glowing structure at the center of the field is called the Shrine… Midas felt it uncanny that the Tablet had mention of a Shrine that could be entered and then right there in their own Trial, there was also a Shrine.

Actually he had always felt like the Tablet existed to give the Chosen some clues which would help them in the Trial. Otherwise, why would the Tablet exist?

Therefore, he reframed the story as an allegory, that hid truth in it's obscure writings.

Could this Shrine also be entered just like the one in the story? Was this Shrine also a gateway to finding out the secrets of the Trials?

This was why Midas felt that the Uzgiyesh phrase for entering the Shrine might have something to do with the Shrine they currently had in the Trial.

`As the Great One ordains, so shall I Obtain all that I Desire!`

Such a simple phrase, and yet, it may hold the keys to something much much more meaningful. It may be the key…

After thinking this far, Midas felt himself get excited. The Green Life-form had said that there were ways of surviving. After solving the riddle of the Tablet, he felt himself get one step closer to figuring things out.

Midas then thought back to the Writings on the Southern Stone Tablet and thought about the next piece of crucial information: The Items.

`Book of Survival` which is a book holding knowledge on how to survive in the Trials of the Flesh. The Trials of the Flesh are the First Three Trials apparently, and they test out the Chosen's ability to survive in harsh conditions.

`First Holy Book` which is a book that gives Chosen the ability to evolve their Flesh and Thrive in the Trials of the Flesh.

`Clan Totem` which is an item that allows Midas to setup a Clan. It also would give Midas the ability to communicate with higher beings? And apparently these higher beings were terrifying existences that should never be underestimated?

Midas had no real clue what any of it meant. He could only deduce what he could based on the information he had and his limited understandings. Luckily, he felt that he already had the second item spoken of by the Scryer, which is the First Holy Book.

Midas felt like it might be the exact same book that they received for free as one of the Gifts that they received when they first stepped into the Trial of Self after coming back from the Actualisation Test

He wondered how many Holy Books there are and how different they really are.

Midas also thought about the Trials of the Flesh, and what that could mean about the first Three Trials namely The Trial of Self, The Trial of Life and Death and the Trial of Vitality. Were all these three Trials physical challenges where Chosen would have to suffer through hardship?

Midas was currently walking in the South Westerly direction, preparing to turn towards the north West and heading back to his Camp. He had an inexplicable look on his face as thoughts kept running through his head about the things he had discovered.

The time was currently 8pm and it had already gotten dark in the forest. Midas enjoyed the peace and quiet. It helped him think. But before he could enjoy the calm, his reverie was disturbed by the muffled sounds of a woman.

"Mff Mfff"

Midas felt himself blush as he turned away and thought, 'Wow… In the forest like some voyeurs?'

But Midas didn't walk too far when he heard those same muffles turn into a scream.

"Stop!! Please, someone help mmmmmmm!!!"

'Eh? I know that voice,' thought Midas.

"Shut up! Nobody's coming to save you, bitch!"

"Mmm—"

"Shut up! Let's have some fun hehehehe..." *Rip* *Rip*

Midas could now tell that this woman was probably being assaulted and someone was keeping her mouth closed using some method. Midas was not the type to meddle but he felt the need to do something about this. And it turned out that he knows this woman.

Midas did not hesitate to run forward only to see a green eyed rosy cheeked girl being held down by a big burly ugly bastard who was ripping the girl's clothes off with a lascivious expression in his eyes.

Worse still, Midas saw the unconscious bodies of two other women that lay nearby. These turned out to be the same two that were with the green eyed rosy cheeked girl the first time Midas had seen her right after he woke up in the Trial.

The girl, seeing Midas, made even more noise and started crying out loud with tears flowing down her face. The man also noticed Midas and stopped his movements as he turned to Midas and threatened:

"Hey! You better not get involved, little boy."

"It's too late for that, don't you think?" said Midas with a smile on his face. The man frowned and stood up, allowing Midas to witness his two meter tall large body. But because the man had already taken off his pants in preparation to violate the girl, he had no pants on, causing Midas to laugh hysterically at the sight of the man's crotch.

The man, seeing this, was even more furious and maliciously shouted, saying "You're laughing? Let's see how you laugh after I cripple you. And then afterwards, I'll make you watch as I fuck this girl."

Midas sneered at the man's pathetic display and said, "If you're going to fuck someone, at least do it with a dick that's bigger than my pinky finger... LITTLE BOY."