Chương 1: Start Reading

-???? 1962"Congratulations! You and six others of your world have been chosen to pioneer the Trial System. Do you want unmatched power? Unending wealth? Eternal life? All can be obtained by completing the Trials." Silence.

"I can tell this is a lot to take in, but have no fear. There is only as much risk as you are willing to take on. Everyone gets one free life, and as a Destined, you will have privileges that few others will get." The young figure looked up at the entity that promised everything for nothing. It smiled while wearing traditional clothes from the young woman's homeland.

"Before you say anything else, why don't you take an example of the power you might obtain?" Three spheres of glittering gold appeared between them. The iridescent orbs mesmerized her and demanded to be touched. She reached out. The [Mage] was up against a tide of shadowy monsters, allies at her side. A surge of static poured into her veins as She should have been afraid, yet she wasn't. She knew what she needed to do.

"[Fireball]" The Manager smiled. It was never really a choice, was it? Earth 2025"GET DOWN!" Ryan shouted as he dove to push the orc to safety. There hadn't been a need for it at all. The ex-eighth realm adventurer had already moved out of the way as Ryan took his place, the bullets piercing his chest. And his body hit the floor. He spasmed out of the chair he'd found himself in, clutching desperately at his chest. Phantom pain rippled out as he went into a fetal position.

"My, that hasn't happened in a while are you alright?" Ryan was still grabbing at his chest, trying to cover the wound and put pressure on it. Firm pressure until the ambulance arrives. He looked down… to see no bleeding wound at all. In fact, while his Manaburger uniform was stained red with blood, it wasn't wet at all. The spoken words finally registered as Ryan looked around. A room of pure inky black surrounded him. The only things in here were a table and two chairs. A single person sat from across him.

From his perspective, he could only see the legs of the speaker. It was all he needed. The material of the suit pants looked as if it were made out of galaxies. They slowly swirled in motion with countless stars twinkling throughout. Somehow, Ryan's heart started beating even faster. This was the moment that everyone dreamed of. The dream that he'd given up on. His voice trembled.

"This is real, isn't it?"

"Of course, Ryan Robinson. Congratulations on being chosen as a Destined." A Destined, something that was only picked for a hundred twenty people a year. It was better than winning any lottery. Ryan would take this over ten million dollars, no, even a hundred million dollars couldn't compare to this. The now ex-Manaburger employee dusted himself off with the widest grin on his face. The shooting didn't matter, his life before didn't matter anymore. He was going to become an adventurer.

Taking a seat on the chair that had magically righted itself, Ryan sat across the entity that managed both the Trial System and The Realm. The entity called itself the Manager and would imitate the species and gender you were most comfortable with. Ryan guessed that even the most powerful of beings had to have a hobby. The Manager smiled back.

"Welcome to the Trial System. As you know, everything can be found here. Riches, power and immortality. All of it and more can be obtained by completing the Trial System. The entrances to these Trials will be located in The Realm. As a Destined, you also have privileges the others do not. You will be able to enter and exit The Realm without the use of System portals.

Further, unlike those that become Trialists the regular way, you will not be stripped of your powers should you lose your safety life and choose to remain on Earth. Do you have any questions?"

"No, that was perfect, thank you." Everyone born on Earth in the past sixty years knew all of that, but this was tradition, and Ryan would be damned if he was going to skip his own induction. The Manager smiled.

"Very well, now, shall we move onto your class selection?" The Manager spread its arms as three glittering spheres materialized over the table. Three combat classes. It wasn't like you couldn't get crafting classes, just that you would always start with a combat class. It really did show that the Trial System favored violence above all else. Ryan stared at the orbs and the classes reflected on them. [Warrior], [Rogue] and [Mage]. Each orb showed a reflection of his future self.

A sense of superhuman confidence on the faces of all three Ryans in the orbs. He was mesmerized, his hand reaching out to touch the [Warrior] orb. The hand froze mere inches away from it. Ryan had responsibilities and knew where he stood on the talent scale. He sighed and pointed at the [Rogue] orb.

"I'll choose the [Rogue]." The Manager shifted slightly.

"You do not wish to experience the power of a fourth realm?" This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Ryan shook his head.

"I don't want to cloud my judgment, thanks."" Very well." The Manager sounded annoyed as the [Rogue] orb floated to him. It might have been a bad move to disrespect the Manager like that, but he didn't want to be tempted by experiencing the class orbs. Even now, with all the information they had, plenty of people still changed their minds at the last minute. You could be the most rational person in the world. It would matter little when you experienced being a superhuman then have it brutally stripped away.

It was better to stay lucid. The orb melted in his hand as it made contact. The golden sphere vibrated then started melting. Thick golden sludge wrapped around his hand and started to seep into his veins. It traveled throughout his body as the first System message hit him. Welcome Destined, to the Trial System. Warning! Your body on Earth is in critical condition. The newly minted [Rogue] stared in confusion at his screen—for apparently a second too long. WARNING: Your Earth body is now dead.

As a Destined, you may still use [Return to Earth] and keep all your enhancements. The process for a new body will activate now and will cost you a safety life. Warning! You have one life left! No matter if you die on Earth or in The Realm that will be the end of your Trials. What? Ryan blinked for a few more seconds trying to make sense of his screens.

'end of your Trials' meant he would die. The Manager tilted its head in confusion, as if reading his screens for himself.

"Ah, my apologies. It seems that you have lost your safety."

"Wait, wait, hold on, how did that happen? I've never heard of someone dying in your abode before."

"Ah, a mistake I thought I'd stopped making a long time ago. Apologies."

"What?!" Ryan shouted at the Manager, completely forgetting about the entity's status.

"A mistake?! Aren't you supposed to be omniscient?" This wasn't part of the script. The Manager? Making a mistake? Impossible. The Manager almost looked embarrassed, also something Ryan had never heard of happening before. It cleared its throat.

"A misconception, I'm afraid. It is a tedious process to truly utilize my, for lack of a better word—omniscience. It only works if I take the time to check your circumstances before you arrive." Ryan just blinked at the Manager, it no longer even looked a little embarrassed, just slightly apologetic.

"I'll tell you what, if you pass your first Trial and become a real'adventurer' I will assign you a quest. That should help you with your next realm achievement." There was a mockery there with the word 'adventurer'. Ryan narrowed his eyes. Everything was completely wrong about this whole situation and he was uncertain if he was getting screwed over on purpose. It couldn't have been him breaking tradition and not experiencing the orbs. Plenty of people did that and the Manager hadn't screwed them over.

Ryan was probably overthinking it. The Manager wasn't an asshole, it was an impartial entity, an overseer. Ryan tried to process his situation logically. One step at a time. Logically, there was nothing he could do here. You couldn't shout at the Manager and get your safety back, the Trial System was nothing like a retail store on Earth. From the very moment the Trial System descended on Earth, not a single person had ever gained their safety back.

The Manager had explained to the other adventurers that it was not something that it could do. On the other hand the Manager was offering him a quest as an apology. A quest from the Manager, that was something others would literally kill for. Not that Ryan wanted anything to do with them, not with only one life. The plan was always to climb the Trials and increase your realm until you lost your safety. Then you could make a nice living killing monsters on the lower sectors.

The hope of course was always to hit the eighth, perhaps even the ninth realm. Then he could grind in Sector Eight and become filthy rich really quickly. That plan was in the bin now. The highest he would risk climbing was realm four. His dream of becoming a high realm adventurer and fighting giant monsters had died before it even started. Ryan sat back in his chair, his blood-stained shirt a stark reminder of his mortality. His laugh was hollow.

"Is it possible to talk to your manager?" The Manager laughed at the joke.

"I'm afraid they've been unreachable for eons. Now, you know what comes next." Four orbs rose in front of him. All reflecting different species that had been assimilated in The Realm. Elf, orc, dwarf and drake. Ryan just deflated, answering with only logical choice.

"I'll choose to stay human." If he had another life he might have considered becoming an elf. They had good [Rogue] upgrades and you got to customize a lot of your physical features. It pretty much meant that more than half the adventurers were incredibly beautiful elves. Unfortunately, elves were also quite a bit more fragile than humans. Orcs might have been stronger and tougher, but their [Rogue] upgrades weren't quite sane. Drakes were a new species and their class upgrades hadn't been mapped out.

As for dwarves? Yeah, no. Dwarves might be tough but they were by far the weakest starting species for obvious reasons. In the end, any different species took time to get adjusted to. The statistics said it all. If you were worried about dying in the lower Trials, you stuck with the body you were used to. You have chosen to remain human. No appearance selection will be given. The Manager clapped its hands, as if sweeping its mistakes under the rug.

"Well, I believe we are done here." The entity stood up and walked around the table towards Ryan. It reached its hand out while gesturing with its other hand for him to get up. He gave the entity a firm handshake as he stood up. Ryan tried not to dwell on it. Losing a safety sucked but his life was still going to be infinitely better than before. Hell, if the Manager's quest was something location based, the information would be worth millions. That made him perk up, now that was almost worth it.

Besides, even if it was looked down upon, there were plenty of ways to cheese the lower Trials. He could bring an assault rifle and shoot everything until the fourth trial. Then he could bring a bazooka for the fifth. Ryan might get stuck at realm five but new Trial solutions and unrestricted artifacts were being created all the time. By realm five he'd be able to live as long as a regular elf and he could still grind the lower sectors to get rich. His friends were going to be so jealous.

A firm hand gripped Ryan's shoulder as he was half-led and half-pushed around the table and facing the wall. The Manager clearly wanted to kick him out of its room. A creaky wooden door appeared in the inky black wall as the Manager opened it. A perfectly white room lay ahead, a stark contrast to the black of the Manager's Abode. The Manager looked expectantly at him. Clearly wanting to get Ryan out of its room but still trying to be polite. There was a slight push that he had to fight against. Ryan paused.

There was one last question that everyone needed to ask. The Manager would answer this question no matter what. It was almost as if it didn't want him to ask it.

"Do you have any recommendations for me?" The Manager tilted its head a little. It seemed reluctant to tell him anything. Its face twitching in resistance." Oh fine. Since you didn't choose to change your race, you might want to hold off on using the [Return to Earth] skill." The Trial Manager paused to let its words sink in.

"Due to your death here, your soul is no longer properly tethered to your original body. The higher your control over a primary form of energy, the greater the chance of your survival should you use [Return to Earth]. I don't recommend using a portal."

"What?" The words made no sense to Ryan. His situation was completely unheard of. The Manager coughed and spoke a little slower, like its words were supposed to make sense.

"Your body is still alive and will pull on your soul upon your re-entry to Earth. In cases where your body is determined dead, the [Return to Earth] skill will try to create a new body for you. In rare cases where there are two bodies competing for your soul, a greater control of energy will give you a higher chance of survival." Ryan took a moment. Then he finally snapped.

"You could have fuc-" The hand on his shoulder shoved him forward, making him go face first into the floor of the white room. And that was how Ryan started his journey as an adventurer.