The Hidden Trial

But I did not understand. Did he not also think that his trials were over a moment ago? "That's strange. What about your trials?" I asked.

"It's complicated..." He responded, then further explained why he claimed it was such. I nodded my heard to his words, as it now made sense.

"But what makes everything strange now? Since you are now going through your trials, whose to say the water spirit is not your trial?" I inquired once again.

But what answered my words was not him, but a notification that came from The Primordial Source instead.

[ TING!!! ]

[ Your partner has killed the Lvl 4 Water borne Spirit, Narrd. You have obtained 21,96 (22) units of Life Essece ]

[ Bonus effect has been applied. You have individually obtained 43,9 (44) units of Life Essence. Your partner has obtained 57,03 (57) units of Life Essence ]

[ Congratulations. You've obtained the following resources: Tier 1 Spirit Shard(Impure), Bracelet of Narrd(Superior) ]

[ For defeating a trial opponent, you have obtained the following rewards: Extra Ability(×1), Tier 1 Random Treasure Chest(×1), Spirit Fragment(1/4) ]

[ You have collected all the required Spirit Fragments to birth a Spirit. Would you like to fuse them? ]

"..."

I was surprised by the last notification, but more importantly, I was now affected by big brother Damien's words. 'Was something strange going on?' I thought to myself.

'No, the act of jumping through Time should be a problem in and of itself. So maybe a butterfly effect has taken place?' My thoughts continued, and I tried to tell it to him.

"The butterfly effect is true. And I am not afraid of it. I will do what I want to do, regardless of what effects it has on the overall timeline." He responded with such words.

Then he added, "I never worried about the timeline to begin with. But this problem has nothing to do with the butterfly effect."

He paused, then sighed and continued with his words, "The butterfly effect cannot affect potential. At least, it should not."

Indeed, it should not be able able do such a thing. I further assured with a nod.

"..."

"..."

Both of us then paused, and waited. The next trial would be big brother Damien's fifth trial, and the one after...

We paused our thoughts and faced the opponent that appeared a moment later. It was a cyclops that stood at three meters tall, and had a large club in hand.

Big brother Damien was impatient and wanted to verify his thoughts, so did I. So we both laid waste of the poor fellow in less than a minute, big brother Damien obtaining the rewards.

Then we waited.

We waited to verify if the next opponent would be my trial, or his trial, or if no trials would follow.

The first suggested that this timeline was different from the one big brother came from, as I was quite talented compared to when he remembered.

While the second suggested that the limit of talents was not actually five trials, but that no one was monstrous enough to trigger the sixth trial and onwards.

While the last suggested that everything was normal, and only a few, minor errors occurred. In the form of my potential.

"..."

"..."

Thus we waited with baited breathes. And what appeared after two minutes, made us hold our breathes even more.

It was a spirit.

One seemingly made out of nothing but Mana, as I could feel a powerful connection with it. Like the blue sparks I saw when absorbing Mana.

"I guess this explains it. I appeared within a different timeline altogether?" Big brother Damien thought out loud, as he prepared towards the opponent.

"Or maybe the me from the future lied about her true potential?" I suggested, and he paused, then frowned, then later clicked his tongue. "I shouldn't have completely believed her."

Did, did he have so much trust in me?

I subconsciously smiled, then thought of another possibility either than the fact that I would lie to him, "Or maybe a chaotic effect took place?"

"A what?" He glanced back at me in stupor and asked. Yes, I know. It's a very confusing term, but it exists. "Let's deal with this, and I'll explain to you what I know."

"..."

He nodded and we simply took care of the Mana spirit, and I obtained the rewards. It was nameless, and it gave me an extra Mana Core.

Anyway, "A chaotic effect is something small, or a small action that ultimately leads to a very magnificent change that affects everything completely."

I said, and big brother Damien nodded at my words. He then affirmed, "It's like saying my appearance back in time, might have affected everything, and not just the timeline?"

"Yes." I affirmed his words.

A butterfly effect is like saying: A butterfly can flap its wings, and that small, insignificant everyday action might result into a storm taking place somewhere around the world.

Yet the range of influence is only regional. The world is not negatively affected, and so are the countless lives and the environment from othe regions.

But a chaotic effect is as such: The harmless action of killing a single exotic bug within a forest, can result into a pandemic that negatively affects the world. And ultimately leading to the death of all life.

Yet the cause of such a sever matter, was the action of seeminglessly stepping onto a bug. An unknown creature. Insignificant to the human mind, yet significant to the existence of life.

Or in simple terms, "Its like saying a single butterfly can cause a tornado across the world, but if thousands upon thousands of butterfly did the same, at the exact same time..."

"Would be devastating." He finished my sentence and I nodded at him. We were now waiting to verify if any other trials could appear after defeating the Mana spirit, or if five trials really was the limit.

"To what extent do you think your descent might have affected everything, if this really is a chaotic effect?" I suddenly thought, my eyes blinking at him with curiosity.

"At minimum, mostly us. At maximum..." He then paused, as he looked ahead, the environment changed once again to resemble a forest.

"At maximum?" I also followed his gaze, looking ahead as there, we could both see a giant red bear that stood at five meters tall when it stood upright.

"...The whole structure." He sighed, and it seemed like his guess inched closer to the latter option, for... his sixth trial was about to ensure.

I sighed, and we continued our treacherous battle against these trials.

From the red giant bear, we next fought a large bird within the valleys, which represented big brother Damien's seventh trial.

Later it was a golden earth mole which we fought underground, his eight trial.

Followed by a group of seven to eight large wolves, each at Level 9, being quite powerful and fast, yet we succeeded.

The last trial we had so far was that against tens of zombies that rushed at us with inhuman speed and might, and also having terrifying defenses.

Each with different Abilities.

This was what caused big brother Damien to go rabbid, as without leveling up, he for once, went all out and unleashed his Bloodline and childhood training to release the slaughter machine humanity carefully forged.

"..."

The infamous Damien Gray, Successor of David, womb of Esther... a monster blessed with an inhuman bloodline, that increases their strength depending on the threat they are up against.

...I wonder, if such a bloodline exists within an ordinary human family, how insane would it be if it was evolved through The Primordial Source. I wondered to myself.

But my wonder did not rest there.

I wondered... if something is still coming even after this. Is this still even a trial?

Or an unprecedented error?

*** Narrative ***

Damien stood at the top of at most ten corpses, looking down at the results of his rampage with apathy and no emotions.

He could feel his blood boiling hot, so hot that he felt like he was going to burn. Yet at the same time, his mind was frozen, no thoughts flashing within.

The current him was no different than a zombie himself, for he had no thoughts, and was driven by instinct, intuition and his blood.

"..."

Reason? Intelligence? Rationale?

All these were thrown out, and as he was just a killing machine. Worst of all, he was still himself. He was still Damien Gray.

He was more than aware of that.

Yet at the same time, he was aware of his nature. To kill. Of his current purpose. To kill. Of his next action. To kill.

Far from him, Juliette only watched as she felt like something was wrong, yet her intuition did not respond whatsoever.

Even her heart was calm, showing that her soul did not feel any threat from the killing machine in front of her.

"..."

And as the young maiden stared at the tall figure of Damien, The Primordial Source reacted and sent out a notification to both of them.

[ TING!!! ]

[ You have made history, and succeeded throughout all ten trials ]

[ You have triggered the hidden stage: The Final Boss ]

[ This is not Trial related, and every participant has every right to pull back. Yet... if you stay and fight, you can reap great rewards, and unforseen treasures ]

[ You have ten seconds to make your choice. Would you like to leave the trial grounds? ]

[ YES ]    [ NO ]