Chương 2: The First Trial

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Now entering a safe zone, please pick your rewards. 5 minutes remaining until you are forcefully ejected from the safe room. The room was completely white. A stark contrast to the inky black that was the Manager's Abode. A large wooden table sat in the middle, an array of medieval equipment neatly organized on top. Ryan appreciated none of this as he tripped over his own legs from getting pushed. He saw the notification from the Trial System as he laid on the ground.

"What the fuck!" He jumped and stormed around the room, he paced around the blank white room trying to make sense of the entire interaction. The Manager, the entity that oversaw The Trials, The Realm, and was often hailed as a god, had completely screwed him over. Ryan no longer believed that the entity didn't know what it was doing. How was he supposed to deal with that? How was anyone? More importantly, why had this never happened to anyone else?

Ryan had poured countless hours into excerpts of others meeting with the Manager. None had been like this. Actually, who would admit that the Manager was a raging asshole to them? He sure as hell wouldn't be telling anyone about his encounter. 4 minutes remaining. He snapped himself out of it and went to the wooden table in the center of the room. Ryan pretty much knew all of the gear he'd find on the table by heart. From helmets to swords to bows of varying sizes, everything was there.

You may pick two sets of equipment. He picked up a one-handed sword and a strap with three throwing knives holstered in it. Holding the blade in his hand, he checked at the balance and weight. He was more practiced with two handed swords but against the boss of the First Trial, this was the safest option. Ryan was undergeared. Other Destined could exit the Trial, go to the Adventurer's Guild on Earth, get training and a free minor healing potion. Also, an emergency gun, that would have been nice.

Hell, he was still wearing his bloody Manaburger uniform. Ryan took his shirt off as he inspected his own chest. Surprisingly, no bullet wounds—that was odd. It probably had something to do with the fact that he'd technically died in the Manager's abode. There'd be some clothes in the Trial. The beginning was always the same.

"Skills." He didn't need to say it, but it felt appropriate. Trial skills: None Learned skills: None Free skills: [Return to The Realm] [Return to Earth] [Translation] [Inspect] Available Trial skill slots: 4 Available skill point allocations: 1 Now it truly felt real, he opened the skill selection menu.

Available Trial skill options: [Double Stab] (common, active) (cooldown 10 seconds) [Dodge] (common, active) (cooldown 30 seconds) [Double Step] (common, active) (cooldown 15 seconds) [Enhanced Vision] (common, active) (10 seconds active, 20 seconds cooldown) Ryan tried not to be disappointed at the lack of uncommon skills. Very few people did get them, only the truly talented and famous people would have them offered.

Not for someone like him, who'd fallen just short of hitting state qualifiers for two handed blades. Three times. He picked [Double Stab] without bothering to check the description. Common skills didn't have much variation and were fairly simple. You just stabbed once and a second stab would happen in the same location… It wasn't that good at level 1, but the other choices weren't much better. Low cooldown skills were the best early choices, and [Double Step] needed practice.

Practice he wasn't allowed to have because he couldn't exit to Earth. Manager's damned bullshit. [Double Stab] was the right choice. Probably. Trial skill selected: Double Stab! Double stab: level 1, (unlearned) Ryan spent a minute and a half throwing knives at the table and adjusting as needed. A minute and a half, that was all that he had needed with his new [Rogue] class. He could feel the muscle memory from years ago come back quickly.

Memories of a younger self that had practiced to earn a Trial sponsorship slot through merit alone. 30 seconds remaining. There was only one exit in the room. A simple wooden door, in the opposite side of where he had first entered. It looked like a decent kick would break it open. Ryan walked towards the door, gave the room one last look, and decided to march straight back to the center of the room. A claymore glinted in the white room, calling to him. There was a good argument to take the longer sword.

It would help with the early mobs, even if it would be a weaker fit against the boss. He hesitated, then shook his head. The damn Manager had messed with him so much that he was doubting preplanned strategy. He glared at the table with the neatly placed equipment. 5 seconds remaining. 4 3 Ryan grabbed the table and flipped it over, he watched the contents clatter to the ground as he was kicked out of the room. You are being removed from the saferoom.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Trial selected automatically. All forms of dimensional teleportation have been disabled. All forms of direct recording will be disabled. Good luck Trialist! He appeared on top of an old flight of stairs, staring down at the landing of a large room. He started walking down the stairs but stopped. The first Trial was supposed to be the most standardized.

A classic dungeon outbreak quest that the human kingdom had set up for beginners. It should have started him at a panicking waystation inn that was evacuating. There should have been an abundance of noise and chatter below. The only thing Ryan could hear were groaning and some scraping on the ground. His blood froze as he checked his quest notification. Trial Quest complete conditions??? Capacity 3/3 + 1 Oh shit. He had intruded in the middle of another team's Trial.

That by itself shouldn't have been bad news, there were protocols in place for Destined like him accidentally intruding in the first Trial. The problem was that the team in question had abandoned the inn and chose to take a nonstandard route. Most likely a team going for crafting classes. It also meant they hadn't taken care of the zombies. The groaning got louder as the zombies approached the stairs. He retreated back to the second floor. It was a simple layout, a hallway with five doors, leading to five bedrooms.

He kicked the first door open. No longer caring about the noise he made. The room was a mess. Scattered clothes and a fallen chair indicated that the adventurers had already searched for the map. A small oil lantern sat on a table, lighting up the room. Ryan picked out a simple tunic and pants and quickly shed his uniform pants. That was the last time he was going to be wearing a Manaburger uniform again. He walked to the bed by the window and looked outside, the scene made him suck in a breath.

The inn was underground in a massive chamber of old stone, that wasn't what took his breath away. It was the crowd of zombies that scattered around the inn. This current Trial was scaled to three people. That meant a mob of zombies three times larger than what his realm zero ass could handle.

"Oh shit. Plan B it is." It wasn't impossible for him to dodge the zombies, it was just far too risky. If he ran out, then he'd risk dragging the zombies to the village before they were ready. If he went deeper into the dungeon, then he'd have a horde of zombies at his back. Ryan slammed the window and started yelling.

"Oh nooo~ please I need help!" The zombies, hearing the noise, started to shamble towards the inn. Clearly wanting to give aid to the distressed caller. Good. No time to watch, he grabbed the bedding and linen on top of the bed with one hand and also picked up the only chair in the room. He ran back into the hallway to the top of the stairs--only to come face to face with a woman with stab wounds in her chest. No, not a woman, a very, very fresh zombie, with very, very fresh muscles.

It lunged at him as he swung--the chair slamming into the zombie, launching it backwards down the stairs. The zombie landed on another that had started making its way up. Another disturbingly fresh, slightly larger zombie jumped over the fallen pair as it started sprinting up. What the fuck? These two zombies were too fast. If all of them were like this the Trial would have been impossible to complete. He ignored a System notification. He had to focus on the larger zombie that was launching itself over the stairs.

It leaped at him, teeth open, ready to bite. Ryan smacked down with his chair. The wood coming down with a satisfying smack on the zombie's skull. The larger zombie tumbled down and crashed into the other zombies. Kind of like a bowling ball knocking down wooden pins. A strike he couldn't really admire. Ryan threw the bedding over the disgusting zombie pile at the bottom. Then left his first chair at the top as another obstacle.

There was no time to hesitate, he sprinted to the second room with a similar layout as the first. A bed, a chair, and a mess. Ryan grabbed more of the old linen as he ran back. Another fresh but half sized zombie had almost crested the stairs. He booted the small zombie along with the first chair down the stairs. That was a damned child, he realized, then he threw the thought in the back of his mind. Holding the second chair in his hand, he defended the stairs. It was getting busy at the landing now.

Zombies were scrambling to get past the fallen mess. They stepped, pulled and scratched as they funneled themselves to the top. At least there were only three fresh ones. The others were clumsy and actually messed up the footing of the more dangerous fresh ones. Ryan repeated his bedding trick until every room had been stripped and the chairs had been thrown. The zombies were too stupid to understand that they were making no progress. He held up a small oil lantern as the fire flickered in his eyes.

He chucked it down. Not at the zombies but at the landing on the ground instead. He had already knocked down the other lanterns on the second floor. The scattered bedding and broken chairs caught on fire. The zombies didn't seem to notice. They continued to scramble up at him as he hurled his last chair with all of his strength, the flying chair flipped in the air as it knocked the closest zombie back down the stairs. Adrenaline pumping in his veins, he ran to the first room and leapt out of the building's window.

Ryan's eyes widened when he realized he had jumped from the second floor. He braced for pain--as he did a perfect landing on the ground. Right, he was a realm 0 adventurer now. He couldn't spend any time processing that thought as he ran back into the building. He found the object he was looking for, a large round table. The zombies were still in the process of clambering up the stairs. There was no sight of the fresh ones, they were probably on the second floor.

He half dragged and half rolled the large table towards the entrance. A few zombies had seen him and started turning around. Too late for them, Ryan was out of the inn and slammed the table against the entrance doors. He angled the large legs so that the door wouldn't be able to open from the inside. Thank fuck for whoever had come up with Plan B. Plan B, or Plan Burn It To The Ground, was a strategy Ryan hadn't wanted to use.

Despite its effectiveness, it had issues with achievements- There was a crash from the second floor directly above him, he looked up to see two zombies jumping out of the same window he had come from. He'd completely forgotten about the fresh zombies. They fell far in front of him as they smashed into the ground. Unfortunately for them, they weren't quite as graceful as he was. Both of them splatted to the ground one on the back and one on its stomach.

He didn't hesitate as he sprinted forward and kicked the innkeeper zombie's head, snapping its neck. He took out his sword to stab the other on in the neck and it--dodged. Its eyes changed color, a purple hue reflected in the dead irises." Trialist ~" It moaned, " Won't you take my deal?" Ryan didn't listen, he lunged forward to try to stab the head as the zombie hurled itself at him. It was going for a mutual hit. He stepped sideways at the last moment and slashed out.

It would have been a good hit, if the zombie had been actually going for a mutual hit. His blade nicked the zombie at its side as it kept running forward, ignoring him. It sprinted straight ahead. Right at the table blocking the entrance. Now Ryan was the one sprinting at the zombie. He managed to close the gap and stabbed his sword right through the back of its head. A [Double Stab] just for good measure. It laughed as Ryan pulled the zombie backwards and threw it on the ground.

"Fuck." That had been way, way too close. He checked the table holding the door closed and breathed a sigh of relief. He was about to check his notifications when another body dropped from the second floor. A small figure crashed into the ground.

"You fool," it cried in a high-pitched voice.

"The other trialists will kill you. They did-" Ryan kicked the zombie in the head. Its head snapping backwards. He held the door for a few more minutes as the smell of burning rotting meat filled the air.

When the last of the zombies had burned to death, the notifications started streaming in You have slain an innkeeper zombie You have slain a trader zombie You have slain a child zombie You have slain a zombie x24 The zombies being controlled by the Trial boss meant that at least an hour had gone past since the other adventurers had arrived. The fresh zombies meant that the other adventurers had taken the path of slaughter. They'd probably already killed everyone in the village.

That was how you maximized combat achievements for the First Trial. Some people considered it necessary, considering how much penalty there was for pre-knowledge in the First Trial. Either way, it wasn't something Ryan wanted anything to do with. Not that he was judging, it was considered bad taste, but taking the demonic path wasn't against Guild rules. The dead kid lay on the ground.

"Okay, that's just cold." Maybe he was judging a little. Trial being or not, that was too far. It was one thing to talk about maximizing combat achievements, it was another to actually do it. Ryan shook his head, trying to put it out of his mind. The real worry was whether he could tell them he was a Destined before they tried to kill him. The worst case scenarios flashed in his head, stories where people argued about how they had been killed and the other team had called it an 'accident'.

There were worse stories floating around, those that had been caught on video, bragging about the lives they took. If he died, he wouldn't even be able to report it. He didn't have a safety life. Ryan stared at the path that led deeper into the dungeon. It was a gaping maw that promised to devour him whole. A three-man scaled Trial. He decided to take on the risk of telling the party instead. After all, the Adventurer's Guild of the modern era was nothing like two generations ago.

What group of insane idiots would try to kill him, only to end up blacklisted the moment they became adventurers? He was making the logical choice. Right?