Chương 10: The Instant Trial?

The more you look into it, the more sinister the achievement system becomes. It rewards reckless behavior and penalizes sensibility. Is this truly how the Trial System wants our society to be? Where most of the power is in the hands of the mad? @Fallenangel - (unverified, R10) Zedart asking him for a spar? Ryan's blood was already pumping from the workout, now it moved up to eleven. He wanted nothing more than to see how much of a difference there was between the two of them.

"Sure, why-""No sparring! Artigan's been practicing for two hours already!" A voice yelled from behind as, once again, the [Rogue] got jump-scared by a [Mage]. It was embarrassing at this point. How the hell had she gotten behind him? Then he saw.

"Fucking hell, Gamielle." The [Mage] was dangling on the fence from the other side. She looked like she was struggling to pull herself up over the fence. An unlikely scenario with a realm one body, even if she was a [Mage] class.

"Gamielle, get out of there before the neighbor complains again." Zedart said. She stopped pretending to struggle and did somehow flipped herself up to handstand on the fence. Her [Mage] robes defying physics by staying at her ankles. Then she lost her balance and fell towards Ryan, butt first.

"Aaah! Catch me!" [Instant Dodge] The [Mage] fell on the grass, she rubbed her butt, pretending to be hurt.

"Oww, negative points! You're supposed to take care of your [Mage]!" Ignoring her, he turned to Zedart.

"We should spar. I'm a little tired, but I want to see how I stack up."

"I agree."

"Wrong!" Gamielle cut in.

"Dueling gives little indication of Trial navigation ability. We have stuff to do, you–you dueling maniacs. Zedart, do you want your first time sparring with Artigan to be when he's tired?" Ryan rolled his shoulders.

"I feel fine. one spar can't hurt."

"If Zedart loses, he's going to keep asking for a fight until he beats you." He shrugged, "Eh, that's fine. There's like zero chance I win anyway." Zedart stopped mid-stretch and gave Ryan a look he didn't understand.

"Nevermind, let's spar later."

"What? Why?" Gamielle clapped, distracting him.

"Alright, Artigan, rest up, we've got the instant trial to get to. You two can spar all you want later."

"About that, aren't we moving a little too fast?"

"Don't worry about it. This is a Sector 1 instant Trial, every one of us should be able to solo it. C'mon, we should go shopping and get you another knife." Gamielle dragged him off as she looked behind at Zedart.

"Don't get competitive and practice for three hours, okay? It's childish, and we'll move when we get back."

"I'm the captain of the team." Zedart said.

"Sure, sure." You are now exiting a leveled zone. Higher realm Trialists can roam in free zones, hostile magic and skills from high tier Trialists will be stopped if they pass into a leveled zone threshold. Be warned, the Trial System will not save you from higher realm Trialists in free zones. You may also encounter hostile monsters far exceeding your current capabilities. The notification would have been more of a warning if they weren't in the First Sector.

The continent sized area had been thoroughly mapped with only Trial breaks and monsters sneaking in from higher sectors being the major dangers. They were traveling away from the city and the starting town. They'd stopped by a few general stores and Ryan was 'allowed' to pick up a regular throwing knife, replacing the one he'd lost to the Skeleton Lord's [Firebolt].

"So what skills did everyone pick?"

"I have [Cleave] and [Unnatural Parry]." Ryan whistled. [Cleave] was pretty standard, but unnatural parry was a high-tier Uncommon skill. He looked to Gamielle.

"[Firebolt] and [Magelight] for little old me." Ryan noticed Zedart giving her the side-eye.

"Oh fine, [Threaded Thoughts] and [Magebolt]."

"I fucking knew it! Goddamnit." It was an absurd thought, but he refused to believe someone could act the way she did and not have some form of mind split skills. He still remembered how [Parallel Processing] had felt. Then he groaned.

"We're never going to outsmart you, are we? Why did I even try."

"Eh, that's not how it works." She said, waving her hand in annoyance.

"Indeed, the best way is to ignore her outside of combat." Zedart nodded sagely.

"Hey!" Ryan ignored her and nudged Zedart, "What score do you think Gamielle got on her Trial?" Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I'm right here!" Both [Warrior] and [Rogue] looked at their fuming [Mage]. Ryan had noticed her enchanted robes, and [Threaded Thoughts] was a Rare skill. Zedart seemed to realize it as well as he turned to Gamielle while ignoring her words. The [Warrior] frowned.

"Apparently she was traveling between towns for months, even before I got here." Ryan nodded.

"Makes sense, I guess. Who would even agree to take her?" Gamielle stomped on the ground.

"This is bullying! I won't stand for it!" Ryan and Zedart continued to chat for another hour. Zedart… wasn't the most entertaining conversationalist, but the bonus of an angry Gamielle managed to spice things up. The [Warrior] clearly enjoying it too. Until Ryan had to dodge a [Magebolt] with an [Instant Dodge].

"What the fuck, Gamielle?" The bolt had appeared at the corner of his vision and he had barely reacted in time.

"Just checking your reflexes." She said, staring at her nails.

"No checking your teammates' reflexes with a skill. Throw a rock instead." Zedart chastised.

"What do you mean, throw a rock? My [Instant Dodge] is on cooldown now."

"You should have been able to dodge that without your skill. Remember that for next time." He scoffed, "Thanks, but the next time you cast a [Magebolt] at me I'm throwing a knife back in return." They walked in silence for a few minutes. Gamielle spoke up.

"Why [Instant Dodge]? You must have been offered a better skill. Or did you manage to get an S+ rating?"

"S+?! If I'd gotten an S+ I wouldn't have picked equipment for a reward. I picked [Instant Dodge] for survivability. I'm a [Rogue]. Actually, I'm not sure why you didn't pick something like [Barrier]."

"You better start picking rarer skills or you're not going to keep up with the rest of us." He suppressed a groan. She was right of course, but picking either of his Rare skills seemed like a stupid decision at the time. Zedart seemed to disagree.

"I think it's a fine choice unless he got offered a rare movement skill. It means we won't have to worry about him as much." That totally made him feel so much better. They walked for another twenty minutes, the scenery changing drastically. Rolling hills of turquoise and black grass surrounded the path as another team approached them.

"Hello there! Is that little Gammy with an actual team?" A team of four waved at them. They all had well-fitting gear that was a match for Ryan's own.

"Fourthers, head up," Gamielle muttered. Ryan snapped up at that. These were real adventurers, and behind them was an enormous wolf carcass in a cart. Gamielle waved cheerily at the fourthers.

"Hi Patrick! Yup, found a good team. We're just doing a try-out for our newbie [Rogue] here." He just waved awkwardly at the real adventurers. They looked at him up and down, and he suddenly felt a little inadequate.

"That's good, hah, this [Rogue] is looking mighty scary~, careful, too much bought gear hurts your achievements."

"I didn't buy my gear." He said, a little more stiffly than he wanted to. They all looked at him confused. Gamielle chuckled at them.

"Oh yeah, don't worry, our new [Rogue] here achieved an S-grade clear in the First Trial." There was a bit of silence and shock as they looked at him differently. Not in fear but in curiosity and something else he couldn't identify.

"Well, shit sounds like we got a newbie team to look out for. What's your name, son?"

"R- Artigan" Ryan said. Quickly remembering his adventuring name. There was an awkward pause. Patrick, their leader kept looking at him with an expression Ryan still didn't understand. Their leader flinched slightly when he turned his head towards them. Patrick quickly coughed.

"Ahem, there is a den of midnight wolves roaming to the west by the flatlands, not sure what spooked them. Take care."

"We will, thanks!" Gamielle said, still cheerful. Once they were clear and out of earshot, Gamielle muttered something he barely caught.

"Trash." Ryan paused and just looked at the [Mage]. She looked pissed. He hadn't seen her actually angry before.

"What? Why?"

"Nothing." Ryan looked around at Zedart for answers. He was looking pissed off too.

"Gamielle just called them trash right?" Zedart didn't say anything.

"Oh." He understood, "you both think they're trash for being fourthers grinding the First Sector. Now I understand why you two work together so well." Gamielle tutted.

"They aren't just ruining their achievements by grinding the lower sectors. Patrick hurt our achievements by giving us a warning we didn't need. General etiquette is to ask if we want a heads up first. It's stupid at best or malicious at worst. Considering they're lifetime grinders, that piece of trash was jealous of you."

"Oh." They had been jealous of him. That was what he had missed. Ryan laughed. Now that was hilarious. He doubted anyone would trade a safety for an S-grade first trial. The reality was, what Patrick had done was a minor thing. It was a little petty, yes, but something like it wouldn't even change a minor grade. Zedart and Gamielle were still pissed to all hell that it had even happened. Yikes.

"Well, at least I know you can take a loss." Ryan grinned at her, trying to lighten the mood.

"Hmph. Nobody gets the better of Gamielle for long." She spoke in third person.

"Just don't do anything that will get you blacklisted." Zedart said. Ryan tried to swerve the conversation from whatever dangerous thing Gamielle was planning.

"How'd you even find the location of an instant Trial, anyway?"

"Bought it and then paid someone else to verify it." Gamielle said idly.

"Ok, now that's bullshit, the rich just get stronger." – They had gone off the road and onto what were mostly flat plains. Ryan actually remembered this area on the sketched maps he'd studied. These plains stretched all the way into Sector Two and could get a little risky. Maybe he should've written down a will. Then he spotted a particularly thick patch of black grass and remembered reading about those too. These grew in circular patches with dark purple on the fringes.

They were supposed to be slightly magical and used for alchemical reagants. Gamielle nudged him in annoyance.

"Stop staring at grass like they're a goldmine. You're making Zedart uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry I'm poor and work for minimum wage."

"You'll be less poor if you pass, so focus." Gamielle's rudeness aside, they reached a completely normal patch of grass where she stopped.

"It's here." Ryan looked around, he saw nothing but the same grassy plain as everywhere else.

"This doesn't look like any instant Trial I've ever heard of." Gamielle rolled her eyes.

"Yes because you know every single type of instant Trial out there." As Ryan bit back a reply, Gamielle pointed right in front of her and cast [Magebolt]. The ground disappeared beneath their feet. The trio fell into complete darkness as Ryan screamed and tried to steady himself.

"Damnit Gamielle!" He must have dropped ten feet. Even with his enhancements, a sudden drop like that had hurt. If it had hurt for him then -"Gamielle you alright?" Ryan tried to look around but only saw darkness.

"Gamielle? Zedart?" No system notification, nothing telling him he was in an instant Trial or anything like that. What the hell was going on? He started to think, it was possible that someone had already cleared the instant Trial and they were sitting in its remains. That or they had failed the Trial so spectacularly that there was a Trial break. Ryan put his guard up as he took out both a knife and his sword. A magical orb lit up, almost in response to his preparation. The light illuminated the tunnel he was in.

The stone looked eerily similar to the material the Skeleton Lord's chamber was made of. He looked up and just saw the same stone above him. Okay, this might actually be an instant Trial. But then again, where the hell were his notifications? More orbs lit up, illuminating the only path he could take. Ryan stood still, this whole thing felt off. He wasn't going to follow an obvious trap like that.

"Hello?" Almost as if the dungeon itself was impatient, the light closest to him started flaring, then disappeared, taking the light with it. The next set of lights closest to him started to do the same. The answer was obvious. Take the path, or be stuck in darkness. The skittering noise behind him was what forced him to move. For a moment, Ryan wondered if the Manager was still fucking with him somehow. Maybe he'd set up another trap for Ryan by switching the Trial he ended up in.

He didn't know if the Manager could do something like that but he wouldn't have put it past it. The lights he followed wrapped around a narrow bend. Lights going out quicker as it forced him to jog. A round entrance led to the room the lights were taking him to. Ryan readied himself, his heart beating quickly. He expected monsters, a trap or a boss. What he hadn't expected was Zedart, looming over Gamielle's body, a bloodied sword in hand. The [Warrior] turned to him as Ryan took a step backwards.

A multitude of loud thuds crashed behind him as he turned around to run. The entrance had completely filled up, a solid stone wall enclosing him in. Zedart's voice cut through the silence.

"You asked who would get blacklisted for an S-grade clear?" Fuck.

"I would."