20 Only Slightly

"Is it another Arriver?"

"No, this light is green, that kid completed his trial.", that voice belonged to the barbarian.

Surrounding the fountain stood 29 people, each one with a different look. Some wore modern clothing, some wore clothing from Roman times and some wore simple peasant clothing. But every single one of them had a similar battle-hardened look in their eye.

Thud.

His small body dropped onto the concrete, blood spurted out of his left arm.

"Granny, take care of the kid.", none of them had much of a reaction to his bloody state, the old woman slowly walked forward crouched down before Neil.

A gentle blue light escaped from her hand and covered his left arm.

"It's been cut off from in between his shoulder and his elbow...", her healing didn't stop whilst she analysed his injuries.

An hour later everyone was still standing around his body, the granny finally pulled away from him and wiped a small bit of sweat off her forehead.

"His condition has been stabilised.", she informed the barbarian and walked off back to her home.

"I'll take him back with me, everyone else can continue on.", with one arm he grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder.

The crowd finally dispersed.

-----

"You good boy?"

"Hmm..."

What... Where am I... Who's voice is that...

"Wake up."

Huh...

"It's already been a day, wake up kid."

"Mmm..."

"Tch. I said wake up."

Smack!

"Ah!", he sat straight up with his eyes wide open.

"Took you so long."

"You're that man from before...", he tried rubbing his eyes with both arms then felt like something was missing.

He moved his right hand to where his left arm used to be, "I almost forgot that I did this.", all that remained now was a stub, from now on he would only have one arm.

"What happened to your arm?", the barbaric man asked.

"I cut it off.", he replied whilst staring at his missing arm.

Rumble.

An ache came from his stomach, "Before anything I need some food, give me a minute."

*****

Neil Levinski

Sex - Male

Species - Spirit, ???

Age - 16

Fate- Hell's Fall, [Second Gate Test]

??? Attributes:

Core Being - 20

Celestial - 0%

Fate Coins - 62

Gates - [First Passed]

- [Second 50% Complete]

-50 Fate Coins rewarded.

*****

His brows furrowed, 'Why have did I lose so much? Not only did I lose Core Being I even lost my tiny bit of Celestial.'

'Should I buy a nutrient meal?', Neil contemplated for some time and decided against it, he didn't know when the next time he would get Fate Coins was and the nutrient meal may not even provide him with enough satiation.

The barbarian watched him chug down a bottle of water and some beef jerky, then asked his question again.

"How did you lose your arm?"

"Long story short, I cut it off."

'This kid has some real will power, not even some of the more experienced people here would be able to do that.'

"I suppose you won't tell me the details?"

Neil bit off the last bit of jerky and with a piece sticking out of his mouth he raised his thumb to him.

"No cherio!", that was his effort at saying 'No sir'.

"Shut your mouth whilst eating, it's nasty kid."

Nodding his head he finally finished his food off.

"What year is it right now outside?"

"Outside? Are you also from Earth?", Neil looked up with fever in his eyes, if they also came from Earth then there may be a way to go back.

"That's right, now answer me."

"2019, December 25th, although it's probably 2020 by now, what about you? How long have you been here and since when?"

"2019, December 25th, and I've been here for 35 years.", his voice remained calm.

"...", Neil sat there confused.

"Confused right?"

Neil nodded his head and spoke, "But how is that possible?"

"Follow me."

The barbaric man lead Neil to the fountain in the middle of the village, "Look there.", he pointed at a number on top of the fountain.

It was the numbers 360000:1

"What does that even represent.", Neil was even more confused now.

"The hour to hour ratio, one hour in the real world is 360000 hours here.", his voice was slightly depressed.

"But then you said you've been here for 35 years, that means less than an hour in the real world, how about everyone else?"

"The person who has been here the longest have been here for 95 years, I think you can understand the situation by now right?"

Gulp.

He may make stupid mistakes but he could understand the meaning behind this situation, "Everyone has been brought here at basically the exact same time in the real world."

The barbaric man grew solemn, "That's right, and there's no way that this is a simple coincidence, there has to be some sort of reason why we have all been brought here and trained to fight and kill. Plus the competition to gain the ability to leave soon..."

'Alaeya Elaine...', that name immediately popped into his mind.

'She was telling me to not kill her, she must know something about this.'

"You good kid?"

"Ah! Yeah, I'm fine."

An ancient voice travelled into their ears, "What are you tellin this kid Ray."

"Granny, kid, this is the hag that healed you.", he introduced the two to each other.

Bowing down he thanked her for her help.

"Hahaha... No need little boy, I only helped you for a selfish reason after all.", her eyes widened and her wrinkles spread, but the smile on her face could not be faked.

"Now that your introductions have been completed it's time to inform the little boy of his situation."

The pressure in the air grew, the atmosphere shifted.

"In a bit less than 5 months we will have the ability to participate in the Lasting Competition, a server only gains the ability to participate once it has at least 30 people, and you are our 30th competitor."

"So what does that have to do with me...", a bad feeling rushed all over his body, his skin shuddered and it felt like someone was breathing down his neck.

"The 30th member must participate alongside an optional 3 positions available for the other people in the server, I for one am taking part."

'Ah... This is one of those times when fate laughs at me isn't it.'

That's right, fate, he should have died in the impossible difficulty, he had already altered his fate slightly, and so fate was fighting back now.

He was fated to die.

"How strong is everyone that's about to participate?", he wasn't calm in the slightest, he was afraid, but he wouldn't waver in front of fate.

"Oh? You're not scared?", Ray was slightly interested in Neil's gaze, he was expecting a look of despair but he couldn't find the slightest sign.

"I am. But I will never accept my own fate, I will fight till the end.

The barbarian gave a rare smile, "Good."

"I am above average in strength, the chances of me passing are above 60%, but there are still others stronger than me, but none of them is human, Server 027 is the only server with humans."

Neil wasn't surprised that there were other races, because that bastard was definitely not human.

"How strong am I in comparison to you?", Neil asked with a serious voice.

"I have an easy way of showing the difference between us, pick up that scythe and swing at the tree over there.", he pointed at a tree behind him with his thumb.

Neil accepted and made his way to the tree.

Behind him, the granny had a worried look in her eye, "How many bones am I going to have to heal this time?"

"None, that kid is stronger than you think, just watch.", Ray had been analysing the kid for the past hour, and the results were quite promising.

"He's about to swing, let's watch."

-----

'This isn't a normal tree.', it didn't require a master detective to understand that these trees weren't ordinary, otherwise Ray would have given him a much harder test.

'I'll use all my strength then.'

With his legs apart he swung towards the trunk of the tree.

Crack.

"What the fuck... I expected it to be tough, but not this tough..."

His scythe had barely entered the tree, it only dug 5cm into the tree.

Pat.

A tough hand landed on his shoulder, "You did good kid, not bad for an Arriver, but here's the difference between us."

In the distance, the granny shook her head as she watched Ray walk over to the boy, "He's about to overdo it again isn't he, he never grows up."

Ray lifted a single finger and touched the tree lightly.

"Is that it?", Neil asked him.

Ray turned his head to him, "Watch."

Crack.

The tree shattered, splinters rained all over them.

"And I'm only slightly above average."