3 Reed the Bookworm

"Alright, it seems you lot finally understand your new positions in this world. Don't ever forget."

Axtorius honestly hated bullying the kids, but it was the most effective method to save them from themselves. By breaking down their naive preconceptions about their strength, they'd begin to seek self-improvement.

If he coddled them, some of them would inevitably conclude that they were strong. A fatal error in judgment. One that would cost them their lives down the road.

Throughout hundreds of years, he had lost count of how many students he had taught. Thousands of younglings that have come and gone through the proving grounds in search of their dreams...only to end up being buried by them.

A long sigh escaped his lips as he stared at the newest batch, no more than fifty of them. Things were getting dire up here in the North. A regular-sized batch would have been around eighty kids a hundred years ago.

After a short moment of contemplation, Reed and his new peers were told to follow their new instructor and entered the spear-shaped building. It held a large altar in the middle and nothing else. He expected more out of the residence that housed such a powerful person, but it was a training ground. It'd be weird to expect elegance and class from a place that was designed to train people to fight.

Axtorius snapped his fingers and several dozen floating books appeared out of thin air, which began to disperse toward the group, as each book chose a student to hover around.

"The floating books are called 'tomes' and their job is to do just that - to guide you ignorant whelps. They are the crystallization of thousands of years of wisdom and innovation, creations of the three great guilds. They exist to help bridge the connections between different races and people from different worlds if I had to describe them."

"Some of you are native Mulians, and some of you come from outside of Mulia - that is, other worlds. You're all generally human, albeit some of you have unique bloodlines depending on where you hail from, no doubt. The north is claimed by a legendary human conqueror, the Moon King, and as a result, this region has the greatest human population. But make no mistake, other intelligent races live here too. That's why the tomes were created, otherwise, it would have been impossible for any kind of proper dialogue to have been established here."

"Way back in the day, everyone had to learn Mu, no matter where you came from. These days the tomes do all the work for you. I'm certain some of you have burning questions you need answering, and that's another reason why the tomes were created. There's no time to sit down and learn about this world, the myriad races, and cultures that inhabit it so we simply crammed all that knowledge into the tomes. Ask your tomes for answers if you need to, so don't bother coming to me or other instructors."

"For now, you'll be given the day off since we have nothing planned at the moment for you. Use this free time to learn the layout of the spire, your dormitories and of course, make some introductions amongst yourselves. You'll find that friendships, alliances, or whatever you want to call them, will become incredibly important in the future."

"Fighting alone is almost always a death sentence in Mulia; only madmen and real geniuses stand a chance at surviving outside alone. You'll see soon enough..." As soon as he finished speaking those ominous words, the instructor's body disintegrated into particles of light as he vanished out of view.

Reed couldn't help but wonder why everyone in this world had to leave in such flashy ways. Were doors not in style in this world? It seemed that every person who used magic hated walking with a passion...

Having been left to their own devices, the group of youths that had originally been as tense as wound-up springs finally had an opportunity to calm down. For some of these kids, the introduction that instructor Axtorious gave was too much for them to handle.

On their first day, they had been beaten half to death and back on what seemed to have been on a whim. A tinge of doubt and concern began to creep up on the faces of some of the weaker willed individuals. A few girls began to talk amongst themselves, wondering if they had made a mistake in becoming contenders.

"It seems like I wasn't the only one who got scammed by the whole, 'you can fulfill any dream you want if as long as you earn can it' spiel. I won't lie that I sort of fell for it too, but I had a more concerning matter at the time, you know? Can't be completely blamed..."

A large majority of the group began to congregate around the few people who withstood the instructor's attack, praising and asking them questions about their origins. Reed scoffed as he saw how they fawned over them without end.

A horde of mice trying to cling on to the biggest piece of wood out at sea. What good would it do to get in their good graces if they were the ones who were most likely to get the toughest training out of all of them? What would they gain in helping lesser folk - nothing at all. They'd only receive an extra burden to take care of; who'd willing do that in here?

Those geniuses were on a different path than the rest of them and despite that, those idiots still hoped for a free pass out of this mess. Truly hopeless.

Reed let out a long sigh and contemplated what he'd do: stay here and find a couple likeminded 'friends', or rest up for whatever was in store tomorrow? He felt that it was a hopeless situation to form a relationship with most of these people and the ones that mattered would probably never give him a chance.

He was never the outgoing type in the first place, most of the time he just went with the flow and tried not getting into trouble back on Fairis. Blending in and not stirring the pot was what he was best at.

Ahh, whatever. I'm better off just catching up with the tome and resting up. It's not my style in the first place. I'll just play this song and dance safely from a distance...

With that said and done, Reed began heading up the altar after he learned from the tome that it served as the main hub and method of transportation across the 'spire' as the instructor called it. A familiar burst of light came out from the altar and Reed was whisked away to the dormitories.

Reed found himself in large hall reminiscent of the one had met that gentleman in not too long ago. It was a slightly smaller, cleaner version of that hall that had looked more like an alien temple than a dorm because of the white marble floor and stainless steel walls. They were so polished they that reflected everything like a mirror. The whole place had an unnatural, artificial feeling to it. Felt like the walls were watching you.

Dozens of doors stretched across the hall, too many to count. The place had enough rooms to hold at least a hundred people comfortably given how many doors there were in the hall. Did they need so many rooms? There were only fifty or so people in our 'batch' as the instructor had described his group.

He walked around the hall and began inspecting the rooms out of curiosity. They were all the same in their layout: a bed, desk, a small closet, and a bathroom. Nothing out of the ordinary aside from the fact that none of the rooms had windows. Why not include them? Who knew.

Once he chose a room for himself registered it under his name with his tome, he heard a soft clank that came from the closet in the room. Reed found that the previously empty closet was now stocked with several sets of uniforms similar to the one that instructor Axtorious had worn. A golden crown that had a full moon behind it was emblazoned on every uniform.

Didn't take a genius to put the pieces together. He didn't have a say in the matter, but for better or worse he belonged to Moon Empire, at least for the meantime.

Having nothing better to do, Reed began interrogating his tome for answers and after several hours of questioning it, he finally had a decent grasp of where he was and what this world was 'made' for.

'Mulia' as everyone called it was a world of unknown origin, even to the oldest and wisest of its inhabitants. It was a place that pulled in many creatures from different worlds and tested their will to survive, essentially. For what purpose did it do this? No one had a clue despite the incredible efforts to find out throughout thousands of years of research and debate.

The world tested people by pitting them against impossible odds, and if they succeeded in surviving, they'd be rewarded handsomely by it. It originally kidnapped people and forced them into 'climbing the staircase' as the ancients called it.

A series of trials given to the 'contenders', or rather, the unlucky souls who had been forced to fight for their lives. For every completed trial, the world itself would reward them with its blessing in proportion to the feats they accomplished.

They became stronger, faster, and even discovered that their lifespans had been extended. Given enough blessings, some people even became immortal in the truest sense of the word.

But even that wasn't enough, as records stated that even immortal warriors had been killed on their 'way up the staircase'. You need something more to pass through these trials, or even stand a chance.

That missing piece was called 'Alma'. The saving grace that gave all contenders a slim chance at making it to the top.

The earliest records told the story of a very special woman that deserved the gratitude of every contender, alive or dead.

She was the first being to ever successfully clear all the trials given to her by the world.

Having completed what was asked of her, she had the right to ask for anything she could ever want. No one had the right to judge her wish, no matter what she asked for.

Instead of using her one wish for her own sake, she chose to use it for everyone else instead. She asked the will of the world to grant everyone that would climb the staircase a spark of her own will, a piece of her own essence.

By that point, she already had been strong enough to have been called a genuine goddess in both body and spirit. She could do anything with but a thought. Part the seas, turn mountains to dust and pierce the sky into the stars.

A boundlessly powerful being was shattered into dust and was turned into a blessing that would protect all that come after all henceforth after her.

Every contender from then on would be granted their own 'Alma' - a fragment of that woman's divine will. Although small and fleeting, it was still a piece of an actual goddess. It contained incredible power within.

With an Alma, contenders became capable of feats that had never been seen before. Contenders were granted with a divine ability that only gods had the right to use.

The right to control and absorb 'Anima', the fundamental essence of the universe. It is the power that holds all of creation together and people that can control it become capable of doing anything that they can will into existence.

Controlling the forces of the universe at their fingertips, natural phenomena at their command, anything they could properly conceive into real-space from their minds.

Gifted mortals might be able to control diluted, lower versions of 'Anima' present throughout the universe. Some primitive cultures called it 'Mana', 'Chakra', 'Qi' and the like. These energies allowed mortals to perform limited feats of creation and destruction.

The truth was finally made clear to Reed after he finished his studying session. He had actually been inducted into a road created to turn mortals into gods!

Not the magicians of his world as he mistakenly thought, but true, bonafide deities that could shape the world at will! That is if he could survive all the trials that the world threw at him...

"I can't tell if this is the luckiest opportunity in my entire life or the biggest mistake I've ever made. What have I signed myself up for..."

A deep sigh escaped Reed's lips as he stared at his room ceiling. What would he do now?