16 Chapter 16 - Test of Mark

The moment Jin Hyoon walked past him, she suddenly let out a yelp.

"What happened?" Claire asked worriedly.

"It feels like something is pushing me to the ground," Jin Hyoon replied and added, "But it's manageable, it's just like carrying a bag of foods."

Jeemin stopped just before his foot was about to step on the ground leading up as Dmitri and Seiji simultaneously went up.

"It's much heavier than a bag full of foods, but I can endure it." Dmitri described coldly.

Seiji frowned and said, "It does feel heavy, but I can ignore it."

Then Li Jing and Claire followed. Li Jing didn't say anything but sweat dripped from her forehead as she climbed up.

"Strange, I don't feel anything at all. In fact, I feel lighter," Claire creased her brows and looked behind her.

Jeemin immediately had a guess when he recalled the constraint written on the task window.

[Test of Mark]

"It must be because you're an S mark. I think this mountain test one's mark. Anything below S mark suffers from a constraint," Jeemin explained in a solemn voice.

Claire nodded and asked, "Why are you still staying there?"

Jeemin fake a cough as he replied, "I'm just catching my breath. Go on, I'll just catch up."

As soon as the party were nowhere to be found, Jeemin willed the status window to appear.

[Status Window]

Name: Liu Jeemin

Titles: None

General information

Current state: Normal.

Physical: 62kg/167.3cm

Cause of Transmigration: Suicide

Mark: g

Level 0

Class: None

Talent: Average

Skills:

A. Unique skills:

None

B. Acquired skills:

None

Personality:

-Inconsistent (Does not have fixed traits)

-Confused

-Delusional(Imitating other traits)

-Projection(Tries to present how he think of himself)

Mental level:

-Weak-willed (gives up easily)

-Depress(not enough desire to live)

-Logical(thinks reasonably)

-Impostor Syndrome(fear of being exposed as fraud; gaining success though hardwork and luck is not interpreted as matter of true, personal ability)

Overall Stats:

Power: 1(0%)

Agility: 1(0%)

Defense: 1(0%)

Stamina: Low

Mana: None

Universal Points: 0

He fixed his eyes on the 'Mark' as he thought for a moment.

He then lifted his index finger and pointed at the status window before him, specifically at the 'Mark'.

When nothing happened, he pressed the 'Mark' on the status window screen floating in front of him.

[Bonus experience +0%, Bonus Universal Point per allocation +0, Chances of forming a core, aperture,(information unavailable), +0%, Mana Absorption +0%, Breakthrough bonus +0%, Information unavailable (Please increase your level).....]

"..."

He closed the status window dejectedly as soon as he finished reading just how much benefit he wasn't given. He don't even want to imagine what would an S rank has.

Even if he did not understand some of what was shown to him, he could estimate just how much he lost.

Could it be because I committed suicide? What decides one's mark anyways?

Looking at the path in front of him, he couldn't help but feel nervous.

He jumped, stretched his neck, and shook his legs. He even lied down to do some curl ups as a warm up.

Meanwhile, the people observing a panel, glued their eyes on the screen with anticipation, specifically on a one-armed man doing a curl up on the ground.

"What hell is he doing?" The white haired man asked as he watched with a confused expression.

"Dylan, just watch. I'm sure he's the one responsible for completing the hidden task, I'll be the one who'll guide this kid after he passed the adaptation zone," Old man Zai Zen said as he brushed his thick white beard with his hand.

"I thought you said you'd take that one," Dylan pointed at a man with tiger's coat draped on his back trekking the dessert leisurely.

"I changed my mind. That guy seems to behave like mafia boss, he's more interested in collecting people than doing things by himself," Zai Zen scoffed as he added, "I mean look at him, why does it look like he was forming an army behind him. If he didn't waste the credits he had to feed them, I wouldn't have any gripe with him."

"Look he is—"

When the girl who had a katana on her ponytailed blue hair was about to speak, her jaw suddenly dropped.

Jeemin who finally entered the path after stretching for several minutes immediately fell face flat.

His face was buried on the dirt as he let out a grunt.

An incredible pressure suddenly descended on him the moment he walked forward.

His body twitched several times as he made an abject expression, his eyelids drooped down, almost covering his eyes.

When he tried lifting his head, it only resulted in his head being slammed on the ground.

Seeing this, Dylan couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Has this ever happen before?"

"..." Zai Zen neither reply nor made an expression as he averted his gaze from the panel.

Ling Tian covered his face with his fan as he supressed his laughter.

But Nameless, the girl with a blue hair wearing a windbreaker, creased her eyebrows.

"Even if you had the lowest mark, you'd still be able to climb up the mountain. I remember a mark F being able to reach the top of the mountain in five hours and fifty-six minutes," she spoke as she recalled, "Even then, that mark F was able to reach the top without falling face flat on the floor."

"This is just unprecedented."

Meanwhile, Jeemin tried to prop himself up several times, but ultimately failed.

Thoughts whirled in his mind as he tried to think of ways how to reach the top of the mountain in his current state.

Then a sudden thought struck him. He activated his natural Origin to force himself up.

But as soon as the natural Origin shone in black, numerous small teeth appeared at the center of his palm.

The pressure pushing him down gradually disappeared. He then smiled in joy underneath his black face mask as he stood up.

I don't know what happened, but one of the gods I called must have heard my prayers.

The people watching on the panel had quizzical expressions on their faces as Jeemin started running up the mountain like nothing happened.

*

"What's taking him too long?" Claire asked as she looked below from the top of the mountain.

"Perhaps he's taking care of something." Jin Hyoon said while she peeled a banana on her hand.

"Are you sure that's not poisonous—"

When Claire was about to ask, Hyoon already swallowed a piece of the banana she just took a bit off.

After she took another bite she replied, "Guess not, wait—"

Suddenly, Jin Hyoon's face contorted as her body trembled, and the hand holding the banana shook. Her irises went up as white took over her entire eyes.

"Hyoon!" Claire shouted as Li Jing climbing up the mountain immediately ran towards Jin Hyoon.

Even Seiji, who was constantly cursing as he climbed up was alarmed as he quickened his pace and reached the top.

While Dmitri uncharacteristically smiled when he saw Jin Hyoon suddenly burst in laughter.

"Geez, you guys are too tense. It's dreary as it is on the mountain, a little laughter could brightened up the day... Or night. Whatever," Jin Hyoon waved her arms as she passed the remaining bananas to the rest of the party.

Claire was about to scold her but swallowed her words when Hyoon put a banana on her hand.

"The last one is for Azrail," Hyoon waved the last banana as she announced.

"Where did you get this?" Seiji asked as he quickly munched the banana Hyoon just gave.

"There," Hyoon pointed at a normal looking tree.

"That isn't even a banana tree," Seiji frowned when he turned his head towards where Hyoon was pointing.

"Yeah, I thought so too. Everything's weird here, so it being weird is actually normal, don't you think?" Jin Hyoon casually shrugged as she spoke.

"Like Captain's name?" Seiji muttered out of nowhere.

Claire and Jin Hyoon immediately bursted out in laughter, even Li Jing almost choked on the banana she just bit.

"I mean, how is it possible to be named Azrail in this Era, it just sounds... wrong," Seiji said as he added, "But it is normal if we were in game like world."

As the rest of them quieted down, Dmitri suddenly asked in a serious tone, "What's that?"

When they went closer to Dmitri, they took a look at where Dmitri was pointing.

The other paths became visible as soon as they went further on top of the mountain.

What they saw made them shiver in fear.

On the right side was a path full of dangling weapons, there were even hounds and humanoid wolves loitering around the path.

Luckily, there was an invisible wall separating them at the end of each path, making it impossible for any creatures to cross over to their location.

On the left side was even more scary. Although the mountain was dark, the right side was even darker to the point that it was even impossible to see where you're stepping on.

"Dessert," Seiji suddenly spoke as he pointed in front of him while walking forward.

He then soon stopped as he was about to reach the sandy part of the top of the mountain leading towards the dessert.

"How is it even possible?" Jin Hyoon asked as she turned her head back and forth between the dessert in front and the mountain she was stepping on.

The top of the mountain could only be described as a part of the dessert, and the path they just climbed on could be considered as also a part of it.

But when Jin Hyoon look further right, she soon noticed that there was nothing there.

Seiji suddenly spoke, "Ahh I see, it's like the division between stages in a game. Every zone is an incomplete terrain and if you could get a bird's eye view, the whole place is just like floating in space."

"It's like the whole place is just ... Floating in space?" She asked doubtfully.

"Captain is here." Claire immediately spoke when she saw Jeemin's figure emerging behind them.

Well, that was relatively easy. Jeemin rubbed his nose when he fell in thought. But the dark surroundings made my skin crawl all the time, I should have just went with them. I almost fell and rolled on the ground when the trees suddenly rustled, I could have died of heart attack.

"There's still, hmm, surprisingly four hours left. We should rest for awhile," he spoke as he observed them observing something.

He then went further up to take a curious look to what they were looking at.

He was immediately stunned when he saw the dessert in front of him. His eyes glanced at the sky as he suddenly had an idea.

Hyoon walked towards him as she handed him a banana. "It's safe, I picked it out from that tree. And yeah, it doesn't look like a banana tree."

Jeemin had a weird expression when he looked at the tree she was pointing at, but what's weirder to him is their eyes was obviously avoiding him.

He suddenly felt anxious about what they are thinking.

Is it because I went last? Do I not look dependable anymore? Oh no, have they forsaken me?

It was true that he gathered them for his own use, but he still haven't broken from the shackles of trying to think what they think of him.

He anxiously asked, "What's wrong?"

Seiji immediately bursted out in laughter as Claire and Jin Hyoon guiltily averted their eyes away from Jeemin.

Claire coughed as she spoke, "We're just thankful because you picked the right path captain. The other paths are littered with traps."

But why is Seiji laughing? He asked inwardly as he nodded and spoke seriously.

"We should cross the dessert as early as possible, while the sun is still nowhere to be found," he then walked past Seiji as he added, "Who knows, maybe consuming the time left would make the night into a day, like how a day awhile ago, turned into night."

"And I don't think it's a good idea crossing the dessert when the sun is around," he said as he added, "We would perspire a lot causing us to lose water reserves quickly. So it's better if we start crossing now."

When his feet went over the line separating the dessert and the top of the mountain, his heart pounded in anticipation.

I hope I'm not making a mistake here. He thought as he kept the banana in his pouch and stared fixedly at the night sky, as the cold wind blew, making his long black hair flutter with the wind.