The First Trial

[Welcome participant! You are now in the presence of the Path, where the Path will conduct your Trial and give you blessings depending on your Performance. Good luck and have fun!]

Draven heard the monotonous voice echoing in his surroundings. He was then distracted by his environment. Similar to before, it was dark and grim, with a blue hue and crimson blood at the horizon. Draven was filled with awe as he admired where he was.

He then processed what the Path announced, and could not help but felt nervous as he stretched to force out the limits of his body. He was then startled and could not help but take a vast cold deep breath.

"Holy fuck! My Strength clearly diminished unlike before."

Draven felt it was illegal for the Path to rob him of his powerful weapon. He wanted to rely on his boosted physical strength to win the Trial, but as though fate was playing with him.

"The Path! Why my power differed in the outside world?"

[The participant should have known the answer already. However, to clear your doubts, The Path will explain them to you. You are in a different dimension, where we could only take your soul, not your physical ones. Please bear in mind that you are in the Spiritual world, not in the material world.]

Draven's eyes widened while having a hard time accepting reality. However, the Path's next words assured him greatly, causing him to feel as though a burden disappeared from his back.

[The Path is currently gathering the data of the participant's overall physical soul. The Path hope for the participants to be patient as it will not take a minute to be finished.]

"Noted! Thank you!"

Draven immediately showed gratitude and politeness. After all, he could not afford to keep throwing tantrums and cursing the Path, when the latter had the final say when it comes to rewards. If he gained the goodwill of the Path, it would not be strange for the Path to give him overpowered blessings.

Moments later, Draven strolled over trying to cure the boredom. The Path then announced.

[The Path is done by assessing the overall physical soul of the participant. It took a long time for the Path to conclude the participant's physical soul since it seemed it was blessed by the Goddess of the Moon. However, please be assured we will not be biased toward our participants because there is no rule regarding this situation for this is the first time we face such circumstances.]

'It seemed it worked!'

Draven cheered internally as he tried not to miss out on any details on the Path's announcement. After the Path announced its piece, Draven felt a sudden reinvigoration happening on his body. He closed his eyes while letting the sudden intake of energy revolve in his soul.

Once Draven's strength completely came back. He was now confident while he was gripping his fist as though he was ready to fight. Draven only needed to wait for the Trial to start, and the Path did not disappoint him.

[The preparations are all done. The participant is now ready for his trial.]

Draven was looking forward when he saw the pile of bones he ignored earlier suddenly moved and reconnected to each other. He was astonished and dumbstruck at the same time while letting the pile of bones form a humanoid shape.

It was small similar to the height of eight years old kid. It would take two of them to stand each other to have a similar height to Draven. However, Draven did not take the little skeleton lightly, for he knew that it was not simple as it seemed. As expected, the moment the little skeleton completely finished the rebirth, the Path continued to explain Draven's first trial.

[Welcome once again, Participant, on your first trial. As the participant can see, the skeleton in front of the Participant will be dueling with the Participant, and the Participant needs to defeat it in the allocated time. The time only needed for half an hour, and if the Participant could not admit the little skeleton to concede, the Participant's blessing quality for the next reward will diminish greatly!]

Draven grew nervous as he could feel the cold on his hands and feet. He could not be blamed, though, since he studied in high school well and understood the consequence of failing the trial. Hence there was a reason there was a ranking among the awakeners, which was created despite the balance of the blessings quality of the Path offered to the participants.

"As I expected, the first trial is not easy. Although there was no rule indicating not to cheat. Who would cheat if the Path determined their performance and their grade would base on the quality of blessings they would receive? Now, come to think of it. It was not an exaggeration when my teacher said that only sixty-eight percent failed the trial."

Draven gazed at the little skeleton as he tried to assess it as he could. He even tried to differ the little skeleton in terms of strength together with Isabella and Selena, while hoping it would not be the latter.

Draven then caught a glimpse of a single bone lying beside the little skeleton. As though sensing the start of the trial, the skeleton bends its skelly knees while it picked up the bone in which half the size of its arm. It then swung it in every direction, while Draven stood in amazement.

After all, it was hard for him to follow his gaze whenever the little skeleton swung its new weapon. He was frightened when he thought if the little skeleton swung the bone in front of him, it would be hard for him to block it.

"Will that bone arm weapon is stable as my strengthened bone? How many times will my bone endure before breaking?"

Draven kept thinking pessimistically, while it made logical sense, so he was immediately persuaded by his judgment. However, Draven remembered it was also the best moment for him to test and understand completely his body. Hence he decided to refrain from using the little blue flame on him unless he badly needed it.

"He is making a move?"

[The Trial will begin. In 3… 2… 1…

The Participant has three hours to complete his Trials. Good luck and have fun!]

…..

"First things First. Let's test the waters."

Draven stood still even though the Path announced the start of the Trail. He was not in a haste to finish his Trials, for he thought it did not matter as long as he could defeat his enemy that would satisfy the Path.

"The Path said I should defeat this little skeleton in under three hours. Although, the Path was aware of my overall physical strength and the seed I possessed. Why does it appear the Path was still confident I have trouble defeating this little fellow?"

Draven's processes of thoughts were likewise enhanced, causing him to ponder not a second passed. While Draven was lost in thoughts, he was aware the little skeleton made his move. Its bone legs moved upward while it was about to walk.

However, when its bone feet finally landed on the ground, it suddenly vanished, causing Draven to feel a chill crawling on his back.

Draven's mind turned blank, and his eyes were moving ceaselessly as he tried to find his enemy's point location.

"On my blind spot!"

There was only a single blind spot for the little skeleton to take advantage of. It was his back which was completely unguarded. However, Draven realized too late, as the little skeleton struck its bone fist on his back.

Crack!

His spines broke, while Draven flew while his face contorted from so much pain. He did not anticipate despite his being in his Soul form, he could experience the pain when his spines were broken.

However, the little skeleton was not finished yet, as it dashed immediately while Draven was still in mid-air. Draven's body trembled in fear while he could not help but raised a thought to surrender.

However, he was awakened when he heard the sudden cry of the little blue flame, and he immediately understood the little blue flame was maddened by something. Probably for the little skeleton.

"Little Blue Flame!"

There was no sun and moon at Draven's current location. However, before Draven's soul was grabbed, it was midnight, so the little blue flame's current firepower should be chill and cold.

The little blue flame immediately erupted from Draven's body, which completely covered him with blue flame while a chill of smoke came out of Draven's mouth. The moment the little skeleton saw the little blue flame, it halted. It stood frozen on the spot, as though it had its own intelligence and wisdom.