The Orphanages Trial's

Turning around to face the front of the temple, Alaric could see Sister Greta in a simple white dress. Although the dress covered her body, her face was like a perfect gem.

Calming himself, he gave a slight nod.

"Ok, just walk inside, and the instructions will be there."

Sister Greta moved out of the way and watched Alaric walk in.

Walking inside, Alaric saw a small room with a stele in the middle. Behind him, the door had already closed.

Before Alaric could do anything, a ding sound could be heard in his head.

<Emergency Quest

Clear all of the trials and enter Blue Orchid Orphanage. (Reward: 9 Celestial Star Manual)

Punishment: Cripples users mana core.)>

Seeing this panel in front of Alaric made him slack-jawed. Who would have thought that the system could give random quests?!Alaric could've never thought of that.

But what is this about punishment's?! Breathing in and out, he looked at the reward first. Like how he can expand quests, he could expand the rewards and punishment.

<Reward: 9 Celestial Star Manual (Celestial Rank)

A cultivation manual that can be used to go beyond the heavens.>

Alaric rolled his eyes as he read the vague description. But after the eye roll, his eyes shone as he read the ranking of the manual. He didn't know how high that rank was, but considering the name alone, it could only mean it was a once in a lifetime treasure.

'Not only do I have this godly system, but I also get a Celestial rank manual; how blessed can I get!

Calming himself down, he looked at the punishment tab.

<Punshiment: Cripple users mana core.

The user will be unable to cultivate or use mana.>

This single line made all of his excitement go away. His warm heart was frozen solid by a fierce ice age. His back grew cold, and he became frightful.

'You can't just give me a chance for a billion dollars, then say that if I don't get it, I will be beaten and have all four of my limbs crippled! What kind of joke was this!'

Alaric was on the verge of tears, even having some form in his eyes, but he jolted out of his shock as he remembered the encouraging words of the Lieutenant saying that Alaric would definitely pass.

'He believed in me, and I should believe in myself too.'

Steeling his heart, he walked forward.

When he walked up to the stele, a man's voice was heard in his head.

"To start the trial, please place your hand on the stele."

Acknowledging the man's words, Alaric walked up to it and put his hand on it. After doing that, a weird sensation reverberated through his bones.

The stele shook before turning into a bright green. It then began to lower before eventually assimilating with the floor.

The man's voice appeared again and started explaining the test.

"There are five tests to take: speed, physical strength, magic strength, mental strength, and intelligence. In the first test, we will determine your reaction speed. Stakes will shoot from the walls, and you will have to dodge. The longer you last, the higher the score you will get. Good luck."

All around Alaric, the walls changed, and small holes could now be seen on the walls. Preparing himself, he stood steady as he watched the walls.

Seeing one of the holes move slightly, he reacted fast by moving his body back. When he did that, a black arrow was shot, making a piercing sound.

The arrow hit a hole on the other side of the wall and disappeared into the wall as if it was never there. Seeing the arrow, Alaric felt a chill run up his back.

'This is just too fast! If that hit me, it would be no small wound.'

This made him rethink this world. In his old world, no harm could ever come to him. Society had become advanced enough to stop many threats, and there wasn't even as much war in that era. So, the only time Alaric was in any harm was after he left Earth and came to this new planet.

Even then, he didn't overthink it because the time's he was hurt in the beginning was just him overworking himself. The only other point he felt this fear was when those soldiers chased him in the forest.

However, at that time, he had a weird feeling that they weren't trying to hurt him. That's why he was so friendly and gave up quickly after running out of mana.

This, on the other hand, was a different feeling. It seemed as if that arrow was heading straight for his heart. This change of view on the world made Alaric transform.

It wasn't to a significant extent, but now Alaric knew his life could be in danger at any moment in this new world, even in an orphanage. He now was starting to slowly accept this new world with danger at every moment.

Alaric had only thought of this for a couple of moments before he had to move again.

Each arrow seemed to be going for each of his vital points. Luckily they were all in view, and he could react in time. As he thought of this, he felt a weird sensation behind him. He quickly ducked down. A sound like that of a dart could be heard.

PFFSSSHHH

An arrow had been shot out from behind him, missing his back by a inch. This realization made his hair stand up. By this time, he had only been standing still and reacting but now they were coming from all directions, even behind. So, now he had to move constantly.

As if he had a sixth sense, Alaric could feel when an attack was coming, but if he didn't have high stats in speed, he wouldn't have been able to react to them. He could dodge them for over 10 minutes, but when 10 minutes hit, he felt that the speed had gotten faster.

Only after a minute had passed did he see an arrow he couldn't dodge. It went straight for his head. Seeing this arrow, he felt as if time slowed down. He could see it moving slowly as it came closer to his nose, but he couldn't dodge it.

He was having one of those near death experiences where his mind was moving faster than his body. After moving for over 10 minutes on constant alert, his body had already grown tired.

Feeling the scent of death in front of him, he gritted his teeth and transferred a free point into his speed. He felt lighter as he moved his head to the side.

The piercing sound of the arrow was like a weight dropping from his chest. He didn't have time to rejoice as he had more arrows coming. After persisting, he had another near-death experience.

This time it felt different. He could see the arrow mere inches from hitting his side, but the feeling of death wasn't there. The only way he could dodge this was to use another point, but this was only the first test.

So he finally let the arrow hit him. Preparing for a sharp pain, he held his breath while looking at the arrow. As the arrow came mere hairs from his skin, a blue shield covered him and blocked the arrow.

Seeing this, his legs went limp. All his tight muscles collapsed at once, making him hit the floor.

"Congrats for surviving 12 minutes and 23 seconds. You have been awarded 120 points. Please drink the healing elixir to continue."

After the man's voice faded, the stele rose from the ground beside Alaric. It was just tall enough for him to reach it from the ground.

On the stele was a dark red potion. Alaric didn't even think before chugging down the potion. After sitting for 2 minutes, Alaric could feel his energy was back to tip-top shape.

'I gotta ask Sister Greta for some more of those potions! If I can have one for every daily quest, that would be amazing.'

If any alchemist heard this, they would scream curses and profanities at him for not knowing the value of one of those potions.

Getting up, Alaric looked around, hoping for the old man to continue speaking. Just as he was thinking this, the old man spoke again.

"When the mechanical dummy rises from the floor. You have 20 seconds to do as much physical damage to the dummy. It starts in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

He barely had any time to react and shot forward with a hard punch. His first punch hit hard on the chest of the dummy. He continued hitting punch after punch.

His focused state was activated again as he used all of his power to destroy this dummy. This had happened in the last test too. He was in a hyper-focused state until that first deadly arrow shot.

Not minding the timer, a flurry of punches landed on the dummy. Sounds of the punches were constantly heard in the room. Not noticing the time had ended, Alaric still went to punch more, but as he hit it, he felt something different.

He felt like he had hit a solid wall as he recoiled in shock. The same blue barrier that popped up around Alaric during the arrow trial came up again. However, this time it was on the dummy.

Alaric was already accustomed to the stinging pain in his knuckles due to the last time this happened, so he didn't scream out like before, but his muffled groans echoed throughout the small room. He felt down as he clenched his fists. The dummy slowly went through the ground as the man's voice came out again.

"Congrats for dealing 132 points of damage. You have been awarded 132 points. Please drink the healing elixir to continue."

Seeing this, Alaric was a little surprised. He got more points from this than from the first test. He didn't think much about it as he grabbed the potion and drank it all again. Glancing at his status, he was surprised.

<Name: Alaric Droy

Species: Inferior Human

Level: 1 (0/100)

Stage: No stars

Stats: (Strength: 10) (Speed: 10) (Stamina: 8) (Intelligence: 10) (Mana: 50/50) (Mind: 6) (1 Stat Points)

Skills: (Wood wall) (Water Ball)

Quests: (Expandable) >

His once drained mana was up to 50. It seemed that the potions not only healed Alaric but restored his mana.

This made Alaric rethink the value of the potions. He didn't have much time to think it through because another dummy arose from the ground.

"In this test, you have 5 minutes to set up a single spell that will be used to hit the target. Only the first shot that hits the target will count. Good luck."

The blue shield around the dummy disappeared, only leaving Alaric and the dummy alone in the room. Since he had 5 minutes, he decided to think.

He only had a wood wall and water ball. The only thing he could do was use those. Alaric couldn't help but feel a little giddy thinking about the water ball.

'I am a water bender!'

As he saw the timer, he didn't wander off too far in his thoughts. He seriously thought about those characters with water powers.

'Wait... can I do that stuff too!?'

Calming himself, he finally took his stance. Using as much mana as possible, he created a big water ball. He thought of the water spears the cartoon characters he watched used to fight and shaped the water. The once big ball turned into a giant needle and pierced down. He didn't know if it would work, but he made sure to make it as solid as possible. Watching it fall on the dummy, he had a smile.

BANG!

An ear-piercing bang sounded and rebounded off the walls multiple times before stopping.