Traitor?

"But it wasn't enough just to survive. I had to endure it fully, to accept that I might never make it out. The breaking point came when I was on the very edge of death. I'd lost count of the days, lost hope. My body was barely holding together, my mind half-gone. I'd abandoned everything but the will to exist, even if it was just in that empty void. And then — right then, the System notified me."

He looked back at Alex and Mira, his gaze heavy with memory. 

"I'd completed my requirements to reach B- rank."

The silence that followed was profound, as both Alex and Mira absorbed the sheer magnitude of Farnes's trial. 

The idea of being abandoned, alone, and starving in such a desolate place without any hope of escape chilled them both.

"That sounds… brutal…" 

Mira said quietly, her voice laced with respect. 

"Not even your ascensions to A or S rank were as difficult?"

"No." 

Farnes said, his expression resolute.