〈 Chapter 16 〉 Trial (Complete)
*
First of all, congratulations. You’ve passed the trial.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in my head.
It was a youthful voice, impossible to distinguish whether it belonged to a boy or a girl.
But I had a good idea of who it was.
That ‘Caller ID restricted’ guy.
“Why don’t you tell me who you are first?”
I didn’t know exactly who it was.
Who am I? I’m a god, you know.
“Someone who digs into others’ pasts without permission can hardly be called a god.”
Ah, I apologize for that. But you did agree to this, didn’t you?
“What?”
By the way, shouldn’t I not be saying this? It’s nothing.
There are two ways to annoy a person.
First is to start a sentence and not finish it.
The second is…
Anyways, congratulations on passing the trial.
“Wait, what was that earlier about!”
Huh? What did I say?
It seemed the voice had no intention of revealing anything.
In that case, I had to ask something else.
“You say I passed the trial? I haven’t even reached the end of the desert yet!”
I hadn’t even crossed the hill.
I had just been swept here by the rain.
Reaching the end of the desert was never the trial. Did you think it was some kind of stamina test?
I thought it was.
Really? There’s no way! Sure, your stamina stats were garbage, but your mental state was even worse.
“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”
Do you not consider someone who was about to kill themselves on the very day they returned to their original world to be garbage?
I had nothing to say.
Because it was true, I was garbage.
But there was something that bothered me.
“Wait a second, original world? Do you even know about Earth?”
Earth? Oh, I suppose that’s what they called the planet where you lived back in that world? By the way, I don’t know anything about that world. I just read your memories.
“You read my memories?”
I’m the God of Regret, after all. Naturally.
God of Regret?
I had heard of it before.
It existed as one of the blessings.
[God of Regret’s Blessing］
During this attempt, the character gains increased experience from failures.
Of course, it was better than having nothing, but for most characters, it was not an efficient blessing.
Those talented guys barely ever failed.
But Allen was not one of them. He failed countless times.
For him, this blessing was the best there was.
So I was using that blessing in this attempt as well.
“God of Regret’s blessing. Is this your blessing?”
Of course. Who else could it be but the God of Regret? The reason I helped you was also because of that blessing.
“You helped me?”
Yeah, originally, it’s supposed to be a trial where one discovers their own weaknesses through regret. But since you had my blessing, I helped a bit.
Even so, to completely resurface a person’s dark history?
What a terrible god.
But I wasn’t confident that I could have passed the trial without him.
At that moment, the God of Regret brought up another topic.
Well then, since you’ve passed the trial, there should be a reward. I see you already seem to know what it is.
A reward.
Finally, the thing I had been waiting for had arrived.
In truth, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I came to the trial for the reward.
Especially since the trials in this place tended to precisely reward characters for their deficiencies.
I wonder what will come out…
“Isn’t the reward something you give?”
I have the authority to grant rewards. However, choosing the reward is not up to me.
It was then.
Suddenly, a shadow loomed above my head.
A diminishing shadow. I quickly retreated from the spot.
Then, something brown fell right in front of me.
It was a fruit.
‘That was close!’
The tree was so large that I couldn’t tell how high it had fallen from.
But judging by the indentation in the ground, it was certainly from a considerable height.
By the way, the color leaking from the crack of the fruit was a bit concerning.
Huh? Purple?
The self-proclaimed god seemed puzzled as well.
And rightfully so, because as far as I knew, purple rewards rarely appeared in trials.
I had only received a purple reward a handful of times while nurturing hundreds of characters.
Gulp.
I wondered what was inside.
I carefully picked up the purplish fruit. It felt lighter than I expected.
‘What could be inside? It can’t just be air, right?’
With such thoughts, I inserted my finger into the crack of the fruit.
Splish.
The fruit split easily.
Finally, the inside of the fruit became visible.
And I had no choice but to be flabbergasted.
‘Why does this look so real?’
There really seemed to be nothing but air inside.
I stared intently at the great tree.
Huh? Why are you staring like that?
Was it brazen enough to show itself?
“There’s nothing inside!”
Countless thoughts raced through my mind.
What if I really struck out?
Could this somehow allow me to draw again?
Just as those worries crept in, the God of Regret spoke.
What? That’s the Wind’s Power!
‘Wind’s Power?’
Immediately, I used my emotions on the empty space inside the fruit.
Then, a window of information appeared in the space I thought was empty.
<Wind’s Power (C) = “”>
Category: Skill
Type: Intangible
Description: This is the power possessed by the God of Wind. Under the assumption that there’s nothing in the way, it can accelerate all matter within a certain radius.
Wind’s Power, huh?
I had never seen a skill like that while playing nor even in the community.
From the description alone, I couldn’t grasp its effects.
‘Guess it’s best to just acquire it for now?’
It was an invisible power.
Holding it as is made me anxious about losing it.
‘Skill acquisition… is this enough?’
At that, the skill information window disappeared before my eyes.
I quickly opened my status window to check the skill.
3. Skills
[Swordsmanship (B)］
[Wind’s Power (C)］
Wind’s Power was indeed added to my skills.
However, I had no clue how to use it.
It felt slightly different from when I acquired [Swordsmanship (B)].
As I was checking my status, the God of Regret spoke again.
Even if it’s partial, to give away the god’s power like this. You must have been chosen by the God of Chains.
‘Hmm?’
I thought I heard a name that sounded familiar.
God of Chains?
My gaze dropped from the status to below the skills.
4. Traits
[Absolute Obedience］
There must have been a specific reason I gained this [Absolute Obedience]…
[God of Chains’ Blessing］
During this attempt, the character will unconditionally obey the player’s commands.
It was clear that the God of Chains was closely related to me possessing Allen’s body.
I felt certain of that.
“Hey! Do you know about the God of Chains?”
Huh? Well, that guy…
It was just then.
Suddenly, a voice interrupted.
Still picking paths where one would regret, God of Regret.
The voice came from overhead in the great tree.
I looked up to see.
*
“That’s too bad.”
I felt like I was on the verge of discovering something.
Without a doubt, the God of Regret must know something about the God of Chains.
But just as the God of Regret was about to speak, I was forcefully ejected from the place by the great tree.
‘Speaking of which…’
I returned to the lakeside.
I realized that the person who should have been there was nowhere to be found.
‘Gwen hasn’t finished her trial yet, has she?’
Well, I was still weak, so I only managed to defeat the wolves at the edge of the desert, but for someone as strong as Gwen, I couldn’t even begin to guess what trial awaited her.
‘What were Gwen’s stats like again?’
I tried my best to recall the stats I had seen last time.
‘Stamina was B, Strength was B, Agility was A+, Magic was E-?’
Magic was nothing to be surprised about since she wasn’t using a magic type of hero. The other stats were generally well-balanced.
It would be hard to guess the content of the trial just by looking at those simple stats. Given that my trial tested mental strength, non-statistic aspects could also be part of the trial.
“There’s no way she went ahead of me.”
From her standpoint, she probably came here hoping to receive a relic as a reward from the trial, but her relic could only be obtained by reaching a specific location.
So even if her trial had technically ended early, she wouldn’t leave without hearing about the location of the relic.
‘When will she come out?’
As I contemplated whether to keep waiting here or head outside to hunt the easy Chaos Beasts, my vision suddenly wavered.
‘What is this? Another trial?’
Surely the trial must have ended?
In that moment, I realized.
Though the physical injuries and exhaustion from the trial had all healed, the mental fatigue remained intact.
As soon as the tension dropped, it began to sweep over my body like a tidal wave.
‘Wait, wait, let’s rest for a moment.’
I didn’t feel like I could do anything right now.
I ended up leaning against a rock by the lakeside and sank down.
And then, my eyes closed.
*
“…Look.”
Suddenly, I heard a voice.
“Hey.”
It was a voice calling out to me.
I opened my eyes.
There was no one in front of me.
“Over here.”
Turning my head sideways, I finally saw her sitting there.
Gwen was resting against a rock, utterly exhausted.
She seemed to be panting heavily, struggling for breath as she spoke.
“Do you have any idea how much I rushed?”
I thought about how long I might have slept.
Since the weariness was still lingering, it didn’t seem like I had slept for long.
If so, Gwen had come out earlier than I expected.
“You really did come out earlier than I thought.”
“Of course. I was so anxious wondering if you’d ditch me without fulfilling your part of the deal. But when I returned, I found you sitting here leisurely napping?”
“Isn’t that your fault for not securing the important part of the deal?”
“That’s…”
A brief silence followed.
Then Gwen spoke.
“Thank you.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“For waiting for me.”
Of course, that was true.
Although I had collapsed from fatigue along the way, making it somewhat involuntary.
Still, I had no reason to be thanked.
“Thank you too.”
“Hmm?”
“Thanks to you, I was able to pass the trial.”
At those words, Gwen looked at me with a confused expression.
She didn’t know anything about the content of my trial, so it was only natural.
But I couldn’t deny that thanks to our deal, I was able to overcome one obstacle.
‘I could’ve jumped into the Han River if it wasn’t for her.’
I asked her.
“So, were you able to acquire the relic in your trial?”
Gwen shook her head.
“No, after barely surviving for a week against an army of Chaos Beasts… all I got were two potions of mana.”
That made sense.
To me, it seemed like there was hardly anything Gwen lacked.
But still, two potions wasn’t a bad reward.
“Then aren’t you going to ask? About where the relic is.”
Gwen seemed to ponder for a moment.
After a while, she finally spoke.
“I’m pretty sure the deal was that I get to ask one thing I want to know?”
*
