章 9: Second Trial
After all the "Beast People" had left, I snuck off onto the balcony, which was open up to see the landscape. At night, the view seemed like a fantasyland. The tree's leaves now were glowing a neon cyan color, which wasn't too bright, but it made the forest look like one giant firefly. I stood there, just staring at the stars when I realized I'm exposed to meet with Ziya and the king. I felt a weird sensation tingling through my body.
I heard a small breath and jumped to the left. A large man with a buff build stood where behind where I was standing. He wore a dark brown cloak, which covered his body and face. Only small hints of red scales were the best I could see of his face, besides the arrowhead that was peeking out from underneath the hood. His black gloves covered up the skin that was underneath, so I couldn't tell what he his features really looked like. He was intimidating, even without seeing his face.
"I see you have keen senses. You could feel my breath even when I was only a few metres away from you," a deep voice said quietly. This voice was gentle, but also firm. It was almost comforting.
"Yeah. I guess I've always had high senses."
"Well that is a gift you got there kid. Maybe you'll pass..." The figure's voice drifted off.
"Pass what?"
"Nevermind that. Lady Ziya and King Burcham are waiting down below."
I don't know what the man was saying when he meant pass, but I now know what the king guy's name was.
We walked down the flight of stone-like stairs, which seemed to go on forever. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we had reached Burcham and Ziya.
"Ah, there you are. We have been waiting for you my good sir," Burcham welcomed us.
"Took long enough," Ziya whispered, but we all completely ignored her remark.
"So why did you call me down for?"
I was starting to get a little impatient. I was starting to worry that someone would notice I was gone. My left foot repeatedly tapped on the floor out of habit. I always did that when I was starting to get impatient.
I think that my tapping was a little too obvious for everyone.
"Do not worry about the time Andrew. You see, Jaguer works differently than that of earth's time," Burcham seemed to answer my problems. "One week here would be less than a minute on earth. Not only that, but you also age the same as here in a year as the same of earth."
I relaxed my shoulders, now realizing that I was really tensing up.
"But that is not why we called you down here for. We called you down because there is one more thing after the test of the mountain."
"What thing would that be Ziya."
"A second trial."
My stomach did another 180. I was already afraid of where this was going. Another test? I barely survived the last one based on sheer luck. If I pull another move like last time, I would probably end up dead. But if a test was what they wanted, then a test I was gonna do for them.
"Ok. What's the second trial," I asked after a few seconds of processing.
"The trial is a hunt. Two competitors race to hunt for a specific animal and the first person to catch the animal wins. The loser has two paths after the trial: they throw themself into the volcano or receive no training."
Death or no training!?! Who in their right mind would pick death over no training?
"He forgot to add one more thing. If you don't train, you can't level up, and if you don't level up, your system automatically shuts off all of your internal organs within three days. Doesn't that sound fun?" Ziya added happily.
So either way I chose, I was gonna die if I lost. That means that I'd have to level up constantly if I didn't want to die. A question suddenly entered my mind. "Although there is an exception once you have reached level 1000. The moment you hit level 1000, you don't have to constantly grind for more and more levels."
"Wait, how do you know about the game system?"
The three exchanged looks before finally giving an answer.
"Well, you see, there is a category that is hidden from the government on purpose. Not a lot of people know about Jaguer either, unless you were told stories of it. This fourth category is called a system," the cloaked man said. "We keep it hidden because it's more rare and has more potential than that of 'Heaven'."
A category more rare than heaven? But wasn't heaven the most powerful category out of all of them? Even I wished for heaven, but if there was something more powerful than heaven, then this brought me more curiosity.
But before I could ask, Ziya went back on track talking about the second trial.
"We'll explain more about 'System' later, but for now we need to stay on topic. Right now, you need to know as much as possible about this test."
"Ziya here has been practising every day for this. She didn't think that anyone else could pass the test of the volcano. That is, until you came along. There is something different about you Andrew. Something... unique."
Yeah right. Me? Special? That was pure horse crap. But there was something special about my watch. I couldn't quite tell what it was, but the way the system worked was differently with me.
"How does this hunt work? Is there two different animals that one of us has to catch faster than the other or is it one animal we have to try and catch before the other person gets it?"
"Tomorrow at dawn, you will get to choose any weapon of your choice to kill the beast with. You will oppose each other in trying to catch one animal before dusk. If both of you fail, then you will try again and again everyday until one of you..." he gestured his hands at both Ziya and I, "...eventually catches it."
"That seems pretty straightforward. Also I have one more question King Burcham."
"Yes?"
"Will I be staying here for the night or will I have to go home?"
He let out a loud and hardy laugh, which probably woke up everyone that was asleep.
"My boy, you will be staying here until you are at least level 100 on you chasm watch. That is how the rules work. Even if I tried to take you back, the portal wouldn't let you back into the real world unless you are a high level, which is how Bruce got through."
I stared at the cloaked man. Could he be Bruce? Or was Burcham talking about a different tall man?
"Follow me Andrew. I'll take you to where you'll be staying," the cloaked man said.
We walked back up the stairs before eventually arriving at a large room. In the center was a bed big enough to fit eight people across its surface.
"Here is your room. Get a good night's rest. You'll need it for tomorrow," the man said before he left the room. I didn't have any night clothes, so I didn't have anything to wear to bed. I decided that was just gonna sleep in my clothes.
I kicked off my converse, which were a pain to walk with today. If I was gonna train with these, I was going to either get hurt, or incredibly large muscles on my feet.
But all these thoughts simply went away as soon as my head landed softly on a white pillow. My mind drifted off, not even caring that the light was still on. Before I could fall asleep, I got up and checked my watch.
'Time' I said in my head. The holographic screen appeared in front of me. Nothing had changed, except my experience was now 90/100. I only needed to do a couple more quests before I could level up.
I still wondered what the question marks in stats meant. If anything, I couldn't make much sense out of all of this. 'Today was the most confusing and interesting day of my life,' I thought, drifting off before my body finally gave in to the comfort of sleep.
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