〈 Episode 15 〉 Trial (3)

*

“I don’t really know the cause either.”

I found myself sitting in a white room.

In front of me was the doctor, and next to me was my mother.

“This is your son’s leg.”

The doctor pointed at the MRI of my leg.

A white skeleton surrounded by tangled muscles and veins.

It was hard for me to discern what was what, but according to the doctor, there were no issues at all.

“But if that’s the case, why can’t he get up?”

“Well…”

The doctor glanced at me.

He probably realized it.

Just as he said, there really was nothing wrong with my leg.

“It might be psychological factors. I recommend you undergo psychological therapy.”

The doctor expressed it delicately.

I merely hung my head.

At that moment, I simply… didn’t want to run anymore.

I was terrified of running.

The anxiety of having to win every time I competed.

And the repeated failures of not winning.

It wasn’t that I never had a chance of winning.

But every time, I was the kind of athlete who just missed winning at the last moment.

Even with hope that I could win next time, the results in the competition were the same.

Yet, I continued to run, looking only ahead.

I was exhausted and weary. The outcome of the next competition was just as uncertain as before.

All I had was an unclear hope that I’d win in the next competition.

At that time, I received the suggestion to switch to long-distance events.

Looking back, it was quite a good suggestion.

But to me at that time, it felt a bit differently.

Upon receiving the proposal to switch events, I finally glanced around.

Family harboring expectations for me, and an uncertain future.

Everything felt like a burden on my shoulders.

To make matters worse, my performance in the first long-distance competition wasn’t very good.

The coach said it was just my first competition, but having experienced so many failures in short-distance events, I couldn’t take that statement at face value.

I was terrified. Could there really be an end to this path?

So I just sat down by myself.

I lost my motivation, and initially thought I’d rest for just a week.

That week soon turned into a month, and eventually stretched into several months.

“Do you remember now? What kind of human you were?”

I remembered.

No, I had never forgotten in the first place.

I was a garbage human who chose to give up when faced with an uncertain future.

“So why not just give up? Just like you?”

I didn’t reply.

I just looked at my mother, who was crying beside me.

I couldn’t lift my head because I felt so sorry.

“Are you ignoring me? If not, have you already given up…”

‘Shut up.’

“Huh?”

‘Yes, I gave up. I was a coward. But that doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to give up now.’

That guy was trying to worm his way into my powerful traumas.

But he was misunderstanding. He didn’t realize why those traumas existed in me.

‘I always regretted it. Not being able to stand up. I wondered what would have happened if I had stood up back then. The thought drove me crazy every single day.’

I raised my smartphone to ignore the messages and unlocked it.

The screen displayed Hundred Braves.

Alan, sitting in the desert, faced with wolves.

‘For me, Alan’s nurture… was a kind of proof. He was undeniably uncertain about becoming a hero. I was curious about how far he could go if he didn’t give up.’

(…)

It seemed he was displeased with my words.

Without a word, he changed the location again.

This time, it was on a road.

‘If I hadn’t given up on standing up back then. At least if I had tried… would I have become something? I wanted to see that through Alan.’

The sound of a honking horn.

A sudden chill ran down my spine, prompting me to look in that direction.

This situation was vivid in my memory as well.

‘I had already become unable to stand up.’

A car, ignoring the traffic light, was speeding towards me in a wheelchair.

In that moment, I had a stupid thought.

If I got hit by that car… would I no longer have to run?

Because of that thought, I missed my timing to stand up.

That day, I completely lost my legs.

I could no longer even attempt to stand.

What would have happened if I hadn’t given up on standing up?

I lost the way to prove that to myself.

‘So I must prove it.’

Through Alan Pleuk.

That was the only method that my foolish self insisted upon.

“I thought you would give up easily. Seems I misunderstood.”

A car was approaching at high speed.

There was no time to hesitate.

No reason, either.

‘Standing up is all I need…’

I strained my legs.

Having been seated for a long time, my legs were weak and unresponsive.

But it didn’t matter. Even if I couldn’t run or walk.

All I needed to do was stand.

‘Now that I think about it, it’s really a simple matter.’

I had been the kind of person who couldn’t even do such a simple thing.

But I couldn’t make the same mistake again.

I kicked away the wheelchair and stood up.

The sound of a car crashing into the wheelchair as it swerved past.

With that noise, the space began to shatter as well.

‘Get up, you idiot!’

<Trait [Absolute Obedience] is activating…>

*

I finally returned.

It felt like waking up from a long dream.

I didn’t even need Absolute Obedience.

Alan’s body still had the stamina to stand, and in the end, it was my will that mattered.

I stood up right away.

And I reached out to retrieve my sword from the inventory.

It was the relic I borrowed from Gwen.

I swung the sword, slicing through the face of a wolf.

There was a way to definitely kill it by stabbing, but I didn’t do that.

I couldn’t deal with all these guys that way.

‘There’s no need to take them all out. For now, the priority is to chase them all away.’

In this urgent situation, my mind remained sharp.

While my body was hot, my head needed to stay cool.

I had to fight like a character but think like a player.

One of the methods was to use the relic.

I gripped the sword in a reverse manner and raised it high.

And I murmured.

‘Relic Gravitas Replicant…!’

The moment I spoke the sword’s name, I felt it.

The stigma on my forearm resonated with the sword.

It seemed I successfully activated it.

Now, all that was left was to activate the sword’s effect.

‘Release the weight. To the maximum.’

At that moment, I saw the area around the sword subtly distort.

I could no longer hold the sword.

The sword plunged into the desert sand.

Kaboom!

A loud noise echoed.

And the immense shock began to spread out.

Sand sprayed into the air like a fountain.

I could barely hold onto the sword as I struggled to withstand the shock.

“Ugh!”

Echoes of the explosion resonated through the soaring sand.

Amidst that chaos, I could hear the wolves retreating.

‘Yeah, if they understood, they should run away.’

As the sand began to settle, I was able to see my surroundings.

A large, bowl-shaped crater in the sand.

All the wolves were gone.

“Haah…”

I gasped for breath as I knelt down.

‘Let’s rest for a bit before moving on.’

A moment’s battle.

But my stamina was already waning, so I was pushing myself.

In the end, I chose to sit down and rest.

Sitting on the ground, I glanced at the distant hill.

‘Have I crossed 100 hills so far…?’

If so, the hill ahead would be the 101st.

Having crossed 100 hills, I was about to give up without even trying to climb the 101st.

I had imposed limits on myself without even attempting.

‘Who knows what lies beyond?’

I would go there.

As long as my stamina allowed.

There was no reason to fear a limit that hadn’t even arrived yet.

‘But more importantly…’

I looked at the sword I was holding.

‘Item info.’

And the information about the sword appeared before my eyes.

<Relic Gravitas Replicant>

Type: Weapon

Form: Longsword

Relic Grade: 2 stars

Description: The original is the 4-star relic Gravitas. It was replicated by (former) hero Heinz. The gravity manipulation ability of Gravitas can be slightly applied to the sword itself.

‘The performance is sure.’

Initially, I selected it thinking I could adjust the weight, useful from now until I built up my strength.

Of course, gravity manipulation isn’t just about reducing or increasing weight, so I had expected other uses…

But I never imagined it would be this powerful.

‘The slight application is this much?’

This thing is even a 2-star relic.

While operating it like this would definitely damage the blade if it weren’t on sand, the power it just demonstrated was incredible.

I couldn’t even imagine how powerful the original Gravitas, which could control the gravity around it as well as the blade itself, would be.

‘This is a relic…’

I realized that the game’s setting about meeting a hero with a 4-star relic stigma capable of splitting mountains was not an exaggeration.

How unfortunate.

It’s still not mine, though.

But I should return it to Gwen after the trial is over.

I should avoid becoming like those thieves I had seen on the way.

Suddenly, the image of Gwen, looking cold as she vaporized the blood on the sword, flashed in my mind.

‘But first, I must finish this trial.’

I still didn’t know where the end of the desert was.

I didn’t even know if there was an end at all. It might not exist.

But one thing was clear: I would not give up on this trial.

‘Then shall I set off again?’

Just then, everything suddenly went dark around me.

‘Huh?’

I looked up at the sky.

A raindrop fell onto my face.

Just as I wondered if it was my imagination, more droplets began to fall.

‘Rain!’

I pulled a water bottle from my inventory.

Thirst became an issue when I started walking again, so this was perfect.

‘Now, how do I collect water?’

I needed something that could serve as a funnel.

Just then, while looking around…

‘Isn’t it raining a bit too much?’

Rain was beginning to pour down from the sky, spilling as if it were being dumped out.

And as these raindrops fell, they started to accumulate on the ground unexpectedly.

The sand of the desert quickly became submerged in rising rainwater. Alarmed, I tried to climb up the sand dune, but the water swallowed me whole in an instant.

It felt like I was being pulled down.

It was the same sensation I felt when I fell into the lake to face the trial.

After a while, I broke the surface of the water.

“Gah, wheeze…”

I couldn’t grasp the situation at all.

I was completely overwhelmed by the sight of a great tree that appeared before me.

“What the…”

What I saw as I emerged from the water was a tree so massive it was hard to even call it a tree.

To compare it to anything in reality, you would have to bring in something like ‘Lotx Tower’.

“What is this…”

It was at that moment.

“Could you call me by my name?”

The voice was familiar and comforting.

“First of all, congratulations. You have passed the trial.”

*