Final Trial (1)

--- Chapter 6 ---

"Holy..." I stared at the giant before me. 

The giant standing before me was nothing a child should look like.

He's standing over 170 centimeters with a muscular build, which desperately bulged to get out of his combat bodysuit. 

He has short, white hair and this baby face that shouldn't exist with that huge body. 

Maybe because I am slimmer and shorter, I felt this imaginary pressure from him. 

"Form team with me!" The muscular boy demanded again.

'I know I'm in alternative reality, but what the fuck.' I was still hanging on to my previous world's common sense. 

I gazed at the muscular boy's clear blue eyes and said, "This..."

"Why did you want to form a team with me?" 

"You're practically invincible at the same age." 

The muscular boy shook his head rapidly and responded, "Me? I'm not invincible. On the contrary, I can't amount to you." 

"You're stronger than me." 

I raised my eyebrow. Am I?

He noticed my confusion and added, "My parents are part of the Guardian Squad. They taught me how to gauge my enemy's strength and danger." 

"Out of everyone here, you're the second most dangerous." 

"Not the first?" I gave him a weird look.

"The first is Mother Earth. Of course, she wasn't an enemy." The muscular boy laughed. 

I gave him a grin, "Touché."

What a funny guy. 

"What's your name, smartass?" 

"Simon Hunt!" The muscular boy proudly answered. It was clear that he put seriousness in his family name.

"Yours is Adam, right?" 

Well, it seems my middle name is circulating among the contestants already. 

"Adam Gates." I introduced myself. 

"So, what kind of cooperation do you want exactly?" 

"You can call me Simon." Simon Hunt crossed his arms. "You see, in this massive battle royale, everyone is definitely going to form a team. Even our predecessors have been doing this since the Age of Ascension." 

"Only a fool would go by themselves." 

Hey, don't judge my first option like that. I snorted at Simon. 

"This trial will test our survivability." Simon gave me a stern look. 

"And if I want to survive, I need a reliable teammate." 

"What do you think of a duo? We can watch each other's backs until the final trial ends?" 

I gauged the pros and cons before agreeing with his proposal. At the very least, what Simon had been spouting so far is true. 

He also doesn't feel or sound like a liar. Yes, he doesn't fit any criteria my father told me about the rotten part of humanity. 

"But aren't Raia going to teleport us randomly?" I couldn't help but ask. 

"Dude, have you been living under the rock all this time?" Simon gave me a weird look. "Don't tell me your family is like those old monks in the movie." 

I tilted my head. Am I that ignorant?

Simon sighed, "When you form a team with someone, Mother Earth will tag you with them. It has been happening like that since the first Gifted Program." 

"That's why many people wanted to invite you in." 

"Don't you notice that three to four contestants arrived back at once after the second trial? They are a team." 

"Wait, what?" I was speechless. 

After the second trial, I noticed people were passing simultaneously and had this giddy smile and intensity, as if they had gone through the same trial. 

I thought it was a one-person trial. Fuck, no one told me!

I frowned at my muscular teammate, "Since you said so, where is your teammate?"

"Actually, I also had a teammate... We argued, and she failed because a mutated tiger ambushed her." Simon scratched his cheek awkwardly. 

"Aih, her spatial awareness is the worst." 

"Thankfully, Mother Earth teleported anyone who failed. She probably cried outside." 

"Dude, please don't drag me down." I put on a pleading look. 

Simon laughed at my joke, "Don't worry. My ex-teammate is the reason I need someone like you." 

We made some preparations, and Mother Earth's voice echoed again. 

"You will enter the Barren Land in thirty seconds. My children, if you have any questions, you may ask now." 

I raised my hand, "Raia, I want to form a team with this guy!" 

"This... You don't have to tell me about it. You have a verbal agreement with Contestant No. 778 already, no?" 

"Dude..." Simon facepalmed.

And once again, everyone looked at me like I was an idiot. 

I blushed slightly. That was embarrassing, not going to lie. 

Cough! 

I cleared my throat and asked other questions, "M-Mother Earth, I have another question." 

"Hmm... Go on." Raia was definitely entertained again with my second tomfoolery.

"What kind of dangers awaits us in the Barren Land?" I asked straightforwardly.

I don't know how, but I somehow feel Raia raising her brow.

"Mutated Beasts, 1st Ascension Realm... I hope this answer will help you."

Sixty contestants' expressions changed drastically upon hearing her answer. 

They thought she was playing with them.

But how could it be? Mother Earth is their number one support.

"The countdown is over, my children. I will teleport you now. May all of you become the new pillars of humankind." 

Mother Earth, Raia, used her authority. 

"W-Wait, what kind of mutated beast?!" Before I could ask more questions, the bright white light swallowed Simon and me. 

Mother Earth lingered in Block G9 and mumbled after getting her hand on Contestant No. 6920's information, "Theomars Adam Gates. You're such an interesting child. I hope you can give me a surprise later." 

...

I blinked and found myself on top of a mountain. Simon is lying down not far away, checking his backpack. 

"Damn it," I said in frustration. 

Simon glanced at me and sighed, "Why are you more frustrated than afraid?"

"Afraid?" I walked to him. "Why should I be afraid?" 

"Dude, seriously? A 1st Ascension Realm Mutated Beast is roaming freely in the final trial. Once we met it, we basically had to say goodbye to the Gifted Young Hunter Program because we couldn't fight it!" 

"It's just a 1st Ascension Realm." I drank sterile water that my mother had packed for me. "As long as we know what kind of beast we had to fight, we can win." 

Simon couldn't believe his ears, "Jeez, you're insane." 

"We haven't awakened our Leveling System yet, so 1st Ascension Realm Mutated Beast would shred us apart. The difference in the strength between ordinary people and the beast is too much." 

"Say the giant." I joked again. 

"Like, how old are you, Simon?" 

"Ten." Simon shrugged at me.

"Hmph, you heard yourself. A ten-year-old like you could shred any kids in my neighborhood apart." I retorted with a grin. 

Simon was helpless at my comeback. 

Of course, I didn't compare him with 1st Ascension Realm for nothing.

I need to build his courage a little.

Aih, who would have thought this giant would be this coward? 

No, maybe there is something wrong with my head. I still haven't adjusted to this world's common sense.

After the mood eased, we started planning our survival plan. 

If viable, we agreed not to fight with other contestants and survived as long as possible.

We also agreed to move to a more mobile place where we could observe, sleep comfortably, and run. 

"Phew, are you ready?" I asked my first buddy in this world. 

Simon flexed his muscles, "I was born ready." 

"Well, you're not born ready to fight a 1st Ascension Realm." 

"Shut it." 

"Hahaha~!" 

As we laughed, we climbed down the mountain and met with some wild beasts. But Simon quickly demonstrated his strength and chased them away. 

After getting down, we started to notice the landscape was too freaking vast.

Some might be confused by the vastness. I will shorten it. 

Before my eyes, I saw three different forests(dry, rain, and tropical), two massive bodies of water(muddy and glacier), and five plains of different seasons surrounding our original spot, the mountain. 

"This is going to be annoying." I shook my head bitterly. 

"Mm." Even Simon agreed with me. 

"What should we do next, Adam? It seems the mountain is the best place for us." 

"We can observe everything from here and react properly based on our problem." 

"I agree, but..." I looked at the looming mountain behind me warily. 

"But I feel something is odd about this mountain." 

Take me as paranoid, but this mountain is a literal center of this trial ground. As an experienced RPG player, the map's center is always the boss's place!

"The mountain?" Simon looks puzzled. 

"Is there a problem with the mountain?" 

I shrugged helplessly, "I don't know. I just felt something was wrong about it." 

"It's just my intuition." 

Unknown to me and Simon, the mountain will be a biggest nightmare for everyone in the last trial.