CHAPTER 16-The Unexpected Trial

If one manages to find a legendary system owner and ask them what made it so different from the other systems, they wouldn't tell you about the personality. Nor would they tell you about its weird beginning quest.

What they would tell you however was its inheritance quest.

Every legendary system had an innate SSS ranked skill that the host could obtain.

And in this world most people who didn't believe in myths considered SSS to be the absolute peak. So a legendary system could be said to take one to the peak immediately.

However to obtain this skill, one had to go through a trial.

Not a quest, a trial.

After completing the beginner's quest, in the system screen one could see an optional inheritance trial.

One could attempt it to obtain the skill, or just leave it and do quests.

If one fails the trial, they die. Simple as that.

And for that reason, Ray was laying down on his bed, looking at the black screen on his divine system where a message was blinking.

[Host has 7 optional trials remaining.]

He had attempted just one of the trials in his second life and almost died. Even after the trial ended, he had nightmares and mental problems for some time.

The trial of sin would show the host hundreds of futures where he died gruesomely, was killed, ripped to shreds, blown to smithereens, crushed to fine powder, and also some where he was being tortured for eternity.

It showed him mental images of how obtaining the skill could become his worst curse.

If one had the proper mindset to obtain success even with so many possible failures, one would inherit the skill, but if they did not, their heads would explode, killing them.

Right now Ray had a smile on his face as he looked at his SSS ranked 'Calm' mind.

He had already seen every sort of cruel and brutal thing he could. And these trials now posed almost no difficulty to him.

But even then…

'Even in my third life where I had a SS ranked mind, I completed only 6 trials…'

'I failed the trial of pride and had to use a onetime skill to return back to life…'

Strengthening his resolution, he closed his eyes.

Each trial would take just one second in reality, but Ray would see hundreds deaths in that one second.

'Begin the trials…'

[Trial of Envy has begun]

Ray saw himself getting killed by his subordinates for the throne. He saw himself getting poisoned to death by his maids. He found himself assassinated in his sleep… and finally he saw himself getting stabbed by his mother and aunt who had conspired to take away his everything.

[Trial had been cleared.]

'Begin next trial…'

[Trial of Gluttony has begun]

…

[Trial has been cleared]

…

[Trial of…]

…

After about six seconds, Ray opened his eyes.

He had cleared six trials. Now, only the pride remained.

'It's all or nothing… Begin last trial!'

[Trial of Pride has begun]

This time, Ray didn't see himself die. Not once. This was nothing like the pride trial he had faced in his last life. He stood in empty white space with nothing around him.

Suddenly he was surrounded by thousands of people. He couldn't see their faces, but they stood all around him. He was just another member of the crowd.

There were old people, young people, from the oldest men and women to as young as literal children. He stood in the crowd, just like anyone else.

Slowly all the people present turned their heads in a particular direction.

Ray tried to see what they were looking at and what he saw sent a shiver down his spine. He saw a person clad in the most elegant and regal looking white armor walking towards them at an extremely slow pace.

He couldn't see his face as he was completely covered in white and gold armor from head to toe. The moment Ray's eyes fell on the figure even his 'Calm' mind started shaking.

He was filled with an instinct to kneel and praise the figure.

But he didn't.

He fought with his mind, clenched his teeth and tried his best to stand straight, defying the almost mind crushing instinct screaming from within.

All around him slowly, people started kneeling. The moment someone kneeled, they broke into white light and disappeared.

Each step the figure took, more and more people around him kneeled and disappeared, but Ray held on.

After what seemed like an eternity, the figure was now standing in front of him. Compared to its huge and mighty figure, Ray looked weak. Extremely fragile.

In the entire white room only Ray and the white figure stood. Everyone else had disappeared.

Ray stared at the figure's 'face' covered by armor, without showing any sign of his knees buckling, even though he felt like his muscles were tearing and his head was splitting apart.

After what felt like hours of silence, a calm voice filled with power and might came from the white figure.

"Why do you want power?"

Ray started thinking.

Why did he want power? To become the strongest in the world? Hell no, who cares about that. Did he want to rule the world? Nah, lot of work. Did he want to obtain freedom? Kind of, but he could do that in other ways.

Then… why did he want power?

"I'm curious."

"Curious?"

"Yes. Even if my plan includes becoming the strongest in the world or ruling the world, that's not my goal. They are merely things I have to do to achieve my goal."

"What is your goal?"

"The systems. How do they supply such huge amounts of power like nothing? I mean yes, physical strength and mana training are normal and have been backed up by lots of research, but what about the system?"

"What about them?"

"Systems are said to be like a pipeline. Connecting a user to a source of power. If so… where is this source?"

"…"

"I'm pretty sure you know about my divine skill which keeps reincarnating me, and I'm pretty sure there is something above the divine level."

"…"

"In fact… I believe the divine level is just the beginning of a whole different playground. A playground we are too weak to enter."

"…"

"The world believes the Gods gave us systems, but we both know that's not the case."

"…"

"If so, who is this fucker that keeps messing with the world deciding to reincarnate me over and over?"

"…"

"I'm pretty curious. And interested too you could say. At first I was scared, I was a sheltered prince who was suddenly thrown into utter chaos. But then I discovered a new side of myself."

"…"

"You see… I don't like others controlling me. So I decided to do my best to find the truth about the systems. There's also this one immortality skill that I fancy and it's out there somewhere and I'll try to find it. And while doing so I would enjoy myself to my fullest!"

"And you need power to find the truth and the immortality skill?"

"No. I'll find them either way. I need power to enjoy myself to the fullest."

"..?"

"If I want to enjoy myself and do whatever I want without any consequences, I need power. I'll do whatever I want and only what I want, and power is a necessity. So stop asking stupid questions and let me pass the trial."

Ray had thought for a long time in this life about his plans.

Preventing betrayals? Just another task in his path.

Becoming the king? He kind of wanted to kill all the cheeky arrogant royals from the other empires who keep plotting behind his back against his empire.

Revenge against people? Of course yes! It's extremely satisfying!

Taking things from others? Why not? When others had power they took everything away from him, so why would he remain a gentle goody shoes?

Having a harem? Is that even a question? Which man doesn't want a life surrounded by beautiful women?

The white figure was astonished before it burst into laughter.

Immediately the pressure disappeared and Ray started feeling extremely comfortable.

"Hahaha! You are right about almost everything!"

This was Ray's turn to be astonished. The high mighty and somber figure was suddenly acting like a friend.

"What do you mean?"

"Everything you said was correct except that you made one small mistake!"

"…?"

"Alright, you have passed your trial, but as a parting gift let me correct what you got wrong…"

"…?"

"There isn't just one source of power for the systems. There are three."

"..!"

"Alright then, off you go, I'm sure we'll meet again in the future!"

"Wai-"

Before Ray could finish saying anything, a bright flash of light forced him to close his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was lying down on his bed, and a screen was floating before him.

[All trials have been cleared!]

Ray sat up and started thinking everything that he saw and heard.

If everything that he said was the truth and there really were three sources of such massive power, then the playground was a lot larger than he imagined.

A devilish smile appeared on his face.

He was suddenly feeling a lot more excited looking forward to the future.

'Well, those things are still far away… right now I just have to enjoy myself and find out the people plotting in the shadows. My plans remain unchanged.'

It was still noon.

Ray still had a lot of time before the slave called Claire was sold.