Chapter 3

***

+ Mini Task Concluded+

+ Time- 00:00:00+

***

The 3D text-panel popped up again. How happy did he feel reading its content. His surroundings changed the moment the panel appeared. Silver was back in the white room.

He planted the spear in the ground and fell to knees while holding it for support. 'I survived!' His heart was still racing. Any later, he may have died.

***

***Mini Task***

+ Show Your Worth - I +

Difficult- Low

Time Limit- 10 Minutes

Summary- Pick a weapon, and survive.

Reward- Entrance Ticket

Failure- Death

Current Status - Completed

+ You Have Gain The Entrance Ticket To The Celestial Tower. Climb The Tower And Gain Your Place In The Celestial Banquet +

***

"Your number is higher than I expected. To think nineteen of you will survive," Lucarus voice sounded. Silver looked up to see him seated. "Last time only seven from my group survived," he adds and got up to his feet.

"Well, congratulations to you all. I'm sure you've read it. You have the right to enter the celestial tower." His voice sounded mischievous. "There are two paths before you. Enter the tower now or complete two more mini-task. I should warn you before you make your decision. The tower isn't as luxurious as the mini-task."

He turned to Silver, then turned to the bald man. "It seemed someone among the top three died, so before you all make your decision, we would have to decide who gets their skill," he said and snapped his finger.

Silver's surroundings moved, and he arrived before Lucarus. Beside him was the bald man who was also moved by Lucarus.

"Honestly, I would love to see one of you die but the bosses have decided on this. It sad I don't get to see you spill each other's blood."

Silver frowned at Lucarus's words. He could barely understand what he meant. In other to decide who gets the skill, Lucarus would have made them fight until one person dies. Luckily, he was unable to because the method had already been decided by his higher ups.

"Pick one," Lucarus ordered.

Two images appeared before Silver. One was of a golden crown and the other of a silver crown. Without much thought he picked the silver crown.

"Hm, he picked the silver. Most people will go for the golden one," Lucarus said as the image of a golden crown moved to the bald man's front. Both images turned into silver and golden envelopes respectively. "Open them."

At Lucarus order, both Silver and the bald man opened the envelopes before them. A small black box shot out of Silver's envelope.

"Congrats, you've earned your second skill so easily," Lucarus said. "The top three of the mini-task will be given a mini-space as an additional reward. I am sure everyone has made their decision. Select from the options before you. As soon as you pick one, you will be transferred to the required place."

"Um, excuse me Lucarus," Silver called out. "There's no option for me."

"Take this as a warning, others will kill you for what you just did. I will not because I failed to warn you all," Lucarus said and turned to those behind Silver. "For your own good, do not address a celestial's name without respect, no matter the rank of the celestial. A low ranked celestial has his pride and would not permit disrespect from a lesser being. And a high rank celestial's name holds power in it. Just by calling it could kill a weak lesser being."

Lucarus turned to Silver, whose head had lowered to him. "I apologize sir," Silver said.

"Concerning your issue. There is no option for you because you've been granted another identity." Lucarus touched Silver's forehead with his index finger. "Your entrance ticket will remain valid. Best of luck to you."

Silver's mind grew hazy. His vision became foggy and his body lost all strength. It felt like his body was falling down. He closed his eyes and fell unconscious.

***

"Silver! Silver!"

The sound of someone calling out to him causes Silver to open his eyes. Dark sky and black cloud greeted him alongside a tremendous pain in his abdomen.

"Silver! Get up!"

He could hear someone shouting, but couldn't find anyone in his view. His head hurt and so did his abdomen. He placed his hand on his abdomen. Definitely, he could feel it, but he didn't want to believe. His hand raised into his field of view and he found his palm dyed by blood.

'How?' he thought. His hand fell back down. He could feel his body loosing strength by the second. Was he just going to die like that?

"Someone! Anyone! Go heal Silver! We'll hold them off!" someone yelled.

"He is dead! Concentrate on the monster!" another yelled.

What followed was the sound of an explosion, then the sound of metals clashing. There was a scream or two, however, Silver didn't have the luxury to bother about them. Several thoughts clouded his mind. Water droplets fell from the sky. Unexpectedly, his lips curled into a smile. When was the last time he experienced the rain fall on him?

Thirteen months ago? Fourteen? Maybe sixteen? He had stayed in his home for so long that he deprived himself of various experience. Here he was smiling at an old experience that felt entirely new. The feeling of the rain washing his face felt like ecstasy. He couldn't help but wonder what being under the snow would feel like. Maybe it was because he was about to die, he finally wanted to try the things he had not done in a long while. He wanted to try something new one more time.

'Why?' he thought. 'Why did I stay locked up?'

The feeling of regret filled him up as the rain poured down. He should have stepped out earlier. He should have left his house ages ago. Go back to school, meet his friends, studied and lived life. He should have made up with his best friend earlier and not push her away like everyone else. Now, it was too late to do so.

"Ah," he sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe it was better he died. A part of him wanted it. 'I can't die.' However, a bigger part of him wanted to live. He finally understood the desperate struggle of characters in the movies he watched. When met with death, most people realized they didn't want to die.

"Help... help me..." he cried out with what little strength he had.

"Silver? He's alive! Where are the healers?"

Someone entered his view range. He couldn't see the person clearly. "Stay with me," the person said and placed two hands on his wound. He felt a warmth envelop him. The pain began to subside and he could feel it, his wound was healing. "I'm sorry, for arriving late. I didn't think your situation was critical."

"Thanks," Silver said and closed his eyes fully. He wanted to enjoy the warm feeling before it vanished.

***

*** Attributes ***

Name : Silver Jarl

Age : 17

Stats : Strength- E Mana- D Stamina- E Agility- E Luck- B

Rank : E

Skills : Avatar. Copycat.

Occupation : Hunter!

***

A ding sound caused him to open his eyes. He was greeted by a 3D text panel, having his ability ratings.

'Jarl? Who is Jarl?' he thought. 'Skill? Avatar? Copycat?'

***

+++ Skill Summary - Avatar +++

I want to do so many things. I want to go to so many places. I want to meet a lot of people. There's a limit to what I can do, where I can go and who I can meet. What if there was another me?

This skill allows the user to create an avatar (clone). Depending on proficiency, the avatar is capable on taking the form the user wishes for it.

Cost : Memories. User has to share at least one percent of their memory with the avatar. A memory can be retrieve once the avatar is retrieve. If the avatar dies, said memory may get lost.

+++ Skill Summary - Copycat +++

I want to be like you, do want you do, and have what you have. So I'll copy you, copy what you do, and copy what you have.

This skill allow the user to copy the skill of an intended target. Depending on the degree of understanding of the target, user may copy something other than skill. However, this skill can only be used once per day, and for every use there is a forty percent chance of loosing your sanity.

Be careful what you wish for, in this case, what you copy.

***

"Can you hear me?" a voice says to Silver as he reads.

Before him was a girl with long white colored hair on top a cute round face, that was endowed with emerald colored eyes, a small nose and slender lips.

"I'm done healing you, get up on your feet," she said and was about to rush away when Silver grabbed her hand.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Huh? What do you mean by..."

"Who are you?" he interrupted her and got to his feet.

The rain was still pouring down from the sky. And the scene before him wasn't a pleasant one. Three people before him were fighting with a green creature. It was about six feet tall, had four arms and one eye that cover most of its face. In one of its left hand, it held a round shield and in the other left hand a sword. One of its right hand held a mace and the other a round shield. One person fought it up close while the other two fought from a distance.

"What do you mean?" she asked Silver. "You don't remember me?"

"No, I don't know..." Silver frowned as he remembered Lucarus's words.

'The big bosses have noticed your presence and have concluded on what to do with you. They'll grant you another identity in one of the lesser worlds.'

'Is this the lesser world he was talking about?' Silver thought to himself. 'Then..."

The girl touched his head interrupting his thoughts and causing him to turn to look at her. Her palm glowed and the warm feeling from before encompasses his head. He had wanted to remove her hand, but right now he wanted it to remaining in place.

"Not good," she said and dropped her hand. She turned to the people fighting the four armed creature. "Hunter Jarl took a heavy blow to his head," she yelled.

Silver frowned at her and opens his mouth. However, one of the men up ahead yelled before he could speak. "Fall back first!"

"Yes sir. Follow me," the girl said and pulled him by the hand.

Silver found two dead bodies on the ground. A man supporting a lady and another man carrying an unconscious young man on his shoulder. Other than the corpses, everyone was running away.

They were in an open forest with a very low tree density. This allowed them to move quickly through the forest. In no time, they were out of the forest.

"Shit," the man supporting the lady cussed and pulled out a pair of daggers.

Silver didn't know how but a spear appeared in the lady's hand. The man carrying the unconscious young man dropped the young man down, and brought out a sword. The white head girl pulling Silver brought out a small wand with an orange gem on top.

The reason for this were the pack of wolves in their path. They had thick grey fur and large bodies. Each of them had two heads that bare their fangs at them.

"Sol wolves. Everyone be careful, there's eight of them," the man with daggers said.

A growl caught their attention, and everyone turned to its direction. On top a boulder was a two headed wolf with three tails. It fur was much thicker and its body much larger.

"That's..." the man with a sword gasped.

"A Third grade beasts... h_how?" the white-hair girl stammered. "How are there two D-rank monsters in an E-rank gate?"

000

Hi everyone :)

This is the author, King_Ace. I'll like to thank you for reading this far. I hope you enjoyed it. Do leave a comment and very importantly a review. I want to hear your thoughts about this novel.

Once again I appreciate you for reading, and I urge you to look up to future chapters. It's going to be amazing. You don't want to miss it!!!