The Trial lands (1) (Re-written)

"Mom, is the food ready?" I asked my mother while I was getting ready for the departure to the Trial lands.

"I would be done in a minute", my mother answered.

At exactly eleven in the morning, the gate would open for us to enter. We can return whenever we want and re-enter as we wish but this is not how everyone does things with the trial land.

We would have only a year before the Trial land disappears on this day at ten, and a new one for the new batch appears. We who would have already gone through Trial lands would enter the Ascended Space after gaining whatever they can gain.

Unlike Trial lands where everyone would be a newbie, ascended space is filled with old powerhouses who occupy vast territories. So most awakened try to keep to themselves from pissing off some big family's descendant.

Most either join them or keep away from them.

---

Coming to the topic of territories, trying to occupy them doesn't work in the usual manner.

Though many territories are already occupied by the big families, there are still vast territories that aren't occupied and new territories that never existed before would come to light, from time to time far away from the occupied or known territories.

The right to claim new territories or find unknown territories was done in four ways.

One, the awakener can claim a land deed in Trial land. This deed can only be earned under rare conditions. The conditions were not set and vary, so no one can take advantage of the loopholes, though sometimes some lucky one finds a repetition.

Second, similar to the Trial Lands, deeds can be found in Ascended Lands but it was much rarer than finding one in comparison to the trial lands. Once a deed was found in a place, a deed would never appear there.

Third, many powerful families would bring new ascended who had claimed the deed under their wing as their subordinates. The deal is decided between them and the system has no role but only acts as a witness to the deal.

Fourth, the ascended can defeat other ascenders and claim their territories. This can't be done every day, only during events.

Since it could be done only during events, the system acts as a referee. The attacking awakener would have to bet something that equals the value of defending territory. If the attacker loses the battle, the defender will claim the bet.

Of course, newly claimed territories would have a 30-day protection. It doesn't matter if an event is ongoing but the protection would disappear if they decide to attack other territories.

---

In this age, there are very few loners who still hold territories and claim independence. This is because of their territorial position. They can't keep independence if their territories are near other territories.

They would be either forced to sign an agreement or would be defeated and thereby lose all their hard work. So, if their territories are near the territories of some big families, they would opt to sign an agreement.

Though they would be on the losing side, it would be better than to lose everything.

Most ascended use the fourth path if the new territories are near them. The third path is if the new territory is either far away or in between them and their opponents. It is also the most used way if the attacking one is from a big family.

War costs a lot of resources. The smart way is to make them submit without waging a war, which was possible for big families. If it was someone who doesn't hold much sway, the other party wouldn't relent in his claim over his territory.

One way or another, new territories always find themselves in the hands of new lords. The ones that still possess independence are the ones in remote locations that are not easily accessible or don't possess many resources.

The only other way to stay is to become strong enough to beat their opponents and deter the enemies from even thinking about attacking their territories.

---

Hmm, I am getting off the trail. I should concentrate on what is important for now. For now, what I should worry about is the trial lands.

There are many things to worry about after entering the Trial lands and the two most important things are food and water. This is not a game, and one has to eat and drink in order to survive. One could die of starvation or even thirst if one could go long without food or water.

This is my immediate concern. I decided to stay in the trial lands for a week before returning home.

My family agreed to my proposal that I would return home every once a week.

They understand that if I can't make the best of the Trial land, I will remain weak my entire life. I too don't want to miss my family in pursuit of power. I lost my chance to live with a family in my previous life.

I remained an orphan without a proper family, but I had a true one. The orphanage became my family but I couldn't spend with them either and became a burden to them. I don't want to be in such a situation again. Only by becoming strong can I avoid such a future.

Since I will be away from home for a week, I need a lot of food and water. Water can be collected from rivers and lakes in trial lands and even food is available to buy or one can cook if they know how to.

Even though the trial lands appear as a game, it is so real. Whatever we can do in Athos, can be done in those lands.

I decided that I would bring a few bottles of water with me when I entered the trial lands. I can collect water if the stock appears almost out.

On the topic of the food though, my parents are chefs and make better quality food than that is available in the Trial lands. So it was decided that I would bring food enough for a week. Once I returned home, I would collect food for another week when I was about to re-enter the trial lands.

After entering the Trial lands, everyone would get access to their own inventory space. This would disappear once we enter Ascended lands. The only items that can be stored in the inventory space are the ones that are obtained in the Trial land, except for food and water.

Only food and water, and common grade equipment without any enchantment are allowed into the Trial land. Even weapons aren't allowed as each would get a beginner weapon after their classes are chosen.

If anyone tries to bring items other than the aforementioned items, nothing much happens to the person, but except for the allowed items everything else would be dropped at the location where the awakener enters the gate.

Of course, there is a loophole to override this and bring other items. A space storage device that was crafted inside the Trial zone could help with this problem, but it was nigh impossible at these stages. Even geniuses could only make a low-level ring that was though not stable, able to hold outside items to be brought into the Trial lands. It was a risky endeavour though.

Many new awakeners who had the speciality tried to build them but they were almost unstable and blew up. This brought a lot of losses and not enough profits to cover those losses. So no one dared again to try or at least that's what everyone is saying.

There are rumours that the top families are trying to stabilize the storage devices, but as far as the public knows, there has been no success.

This isn't much of a problem for me. My family isn't rich enough to waste money like that. My only problem would be eating good food and this was easily solved for me.

I got ready and walked into the hall to pick up the food which was already packed by my mother.

My parents along with my sister are waiting for me in the hall. Since it was the first time, we decided that I enter the Trial Lands in the hall, in everyone's presence. There is less than five minutes before the entry opens. So I gave them hugs and said temporary farewell for now.

All three wished the best for me and to return safe. They even closed their restaurant for the last two days so they could spend time with me.

If they had a choice they would have me not enter the gate. The life of a combat-based awakener is dangerous. It is the reason they didn't continue to enter the ascended space as much as they did before they had me.

Even if they wanted to stop me in their hearts, they didn't. They knew not to limit the growth of their child for their own wishes and also in this world strength is the only thing that matters. Even though there are laws that protect the citizens, there are many that abuse and find around those laws.

I spent the last few minutes talking with them, consoling them that I would be fine in there. After all, unlike ascended space, there are three lives in the trial lands.

The moment the clock chimed at eleven, I stood in the hall in front of my family and uttered, "I wish to enter trial lands".

This was what one had to say to enter the trial lands.

Once I uttered those words, a white portal opened in front of me. The mark emitted a bright light, saying that I am eligible to enter the trial lands now.

I stepped into the portal, which took me from my home to begin my new adventure in the trial lands.