Chapter 91: First Trial

A pure white room.

This was the first thing I saw when my eyes opened. Surrounding me was nothing but a mass of pure white.

I observed myself and saw that I was naked without a shred of clothing on me. I was uncomfortable, but there wasn't anyone here with me.

Just then, I realized my circumstances.

"Shouko! Kaori! My family!" I screamed as I scanned my surroundings for more clues as to where I was. Every little bit helps, but I couldn't even find that "little bit" I needed and wanted.

"System!"

[Affirmative.]

"Thank God you're still here. Where am I? What happened to my family? Were they saved? What is happening to me now?" A barrage of questions left my mouth, and the system replied to me patiently.

[Currently, the host is in the main room, where you can rest before your trials start. The host's family is safe as you have successfully awakened your lineage and saved them before the plane could crash towards the ground. Currently, you are awaiting for your trials to start.]

As much as I was relieved hearing my family's safety, a specific word caught my attention.

"Wait a minute, trials?"

[Affirmative. Trials are tests of the performance, qualities, or suitability of someone or something.]

"I know what a trial is. My question is, why do I have to go through your trials?"

[There are several mistakes in your question, host. It is not "my trial", but rather, "a trial" that you have personally volunteered to go.]

"I don't remember volunteering for anything like that, though?!"

[Because the host is a unique existence, trials are one way in which you can prove that you're worthy of owning such a power. If you had created Holopsicon by yourself, you would have also needed to undergo a trial for that. You were exempted from the trial because the system gave you Holopsicon instead of getting it yourself.]

How on Earth would I have managed to invent something that would allow me to manipulate space, time, fate, and destiny with a gun and a sword?!

[Your awakened Lineage was initially found in this body, to begin with, so a trial would be necessary. Coupled with the fact that the Special opportunity token was used, the trial had further increased its...uniqueness.]

[Initially, your nine-tailed fox would have forced you to choose the difficulty of the trail, from Rank I, the lowest difficulty, to Rank A, the highest difficulty. Of course, the reward would increase together with difficulty. But with the Special opportunity token, there is only one difficulty left - Rank S.]

Well, shit.

[Rank S doesn't necessarily mean the most difficult trial. S represents Special, meaning that there would often be other variables included that might make it more challenging or make the trial easier.]

Is there any risk?

[While the host will not die in your current reality, the host will definitely receive some form of setback, which sometimes might be comparable to the host using Holopsicon to its fullest extent.]

That doesn't make me assured at all! It doesn't calm me down!

[But no trials will be impossible. Every trial would have a way to be cleared; the participant just needs to be observant and intelligent instead of brute-forcing their way through everything.]

"Sigh...can I skip the trial?"

[Yes, but everything will be lost, including your memories within this period.]

Losing memories is definitely out of the question, and losing everything doesn't make it better. Holopsicon may be strong, but its drawbacks are really too harsh for me.

But a Lineage power is different. It has almost no drawbacks whatsoever and depending on the rewards of the trial, it might even be comparable to Holopsicon. It was a gamble I was willing to take.

"How long would the trial last?"

[The faster you complete, the quicker you will "wake up" from this.]

So it depends on me, huh?

I look at my twelve tails swishing behind me...wait. What? I thought I had nine tails?

To be safe, I counted again.

1, 2, 3, 4...11, 12.

So unless I suddenly became so shit at math or am just hallucinating badly, there were definitely twelve tails here.

I only heard of Nine-tailed foxes from the legends and myths, but a twelve-tailed fox never came up before. It sounds like some crappy fan-made idea for some stupid fanfiction.

Having tails sounds fantastic and all, but now, I couldn't even stand up properly. My center of gravity had shifted considerably now that I had twelve additional tails, and the fact that my ears were at the top of my head instead of by my side is weirding me out.

Plus, it was like I gained an additional twelve limbs from a baby - I couldn't control their motion at all. It was just there swishing and flicking without a care in the world.

With all my knowledge on amazing isekai anime, control was almost at the top of the priority list to master most of the time. After all, without control, your power could run out of control and harm your loved ones. Without control, you might exhaust yourself unnecessarily and die to your enemy (in a violent world, that is).

So, I started to practice my control.

Or at least, I planned to do so when a portal opened in front of me, beckoning me to enter and start my first trial.

I was no cautious hero, so I didn't think much of it and entered. One can run, but they can't hide forever. I'm already missing my family, so I just wanted to get all this done as fast as possible. While the system has already reassured me of my family's safety, I would only truly be relieved after seeing them with my own eyes.

Seems like it's time to start my first trial.

∞

[Two new quests are generated. More will be revealed after you finish the first trial.]

[Due to the trial environment, most system abilities will be locked. All rewards will be distributed at the end of the trial. All Proficiencies can be utilized, but everything will drop by two levels except for basic and intermediate proficiencies. Gacha is locked. Inventory is locked.]

[The only thing that the host can use is your Lineage abilities.]

[System tip: Always have faith in yourself and never give up.]

[Other system programs will be shutting down until the Host completes the first trial. Good luck!]

The moment I opened my eyes, a wave of notification flooded my vision, and I groaned. This wasn't very good.

In simple terms, I was nerfed to a mediocre degree. It wasn't the worst, but it wasn't good either. At least I had my tails to comfort me...

...I think I'm already getting addicted to touching and cuddling with my own tails.

So, first things first when it comes to isekai - find out where you are.

So I did. I was in some sort of room. It was relatively bare and empty, save for the basic essentials. Everything looked rather big, though...

No, it wasn't that everything looked big. Finding a mirror, I looked at myself in it and saw a rather childish face.

Am I back to being...a child? I still have the same white short white hair with the same face. But I really hoped that I wouldn't be back to this point again...being a child is challenging.

My room was filled with toys...something called a...Aceman figurine? I scoured through my memories, hoping to find more information, but I didn't get much in return.

My name in this trial is still Uesugi Fuutarou, but I had a different set of parents. All this made me confused and disorientated. This will be my third set of parents already...never mind.

They died some time ago, so now I'm an orphan at some orphanage. Or at least, that was what the adults wanted the past me to believe. Maybe because the past me was just a child and easy to lie to, I believed everything blindly.

I wasn't a paranoid person, but it becomes very suspicious when everyone wears a white coat with barely any doors and windows outside the area.

My fox features popped out of existence, and I inspected them again. While I couldn't do much with my ears, my tails were relatively easy to control as a bundle of fluff.

It was like my arms, but a lot more flexible and stretchable. Together, it was pretty easy to move about, but individually, they just flop around like some decapitated tentacle from an octopus. So instead of multitasking 5 limbs (including my head), I now have to multitask 17 limbs.

A knock on the white door immediately made all of the fox features retreat into my body. Just in time, too, as the door opened without my permission, and a rather gentle-looking man in his early thirties came in.

"Fuutarou?"

"Hai!"

"Oh great! You're awake! I was worried that you suddenly collapsed all of a sudden, but the medical tests showed that you were fine. How are you feeling now?"

"I feel...fine, I guess?"

To be honest, I was more worried that he would realize that I wasn't the same person as before since I don't have any memories about how I used to act. And it was rather apparent that the man currently in front of me was very close to me.

"I see...well, rest up. Or would you rather go out and play with Shiro instead? Shiro was just getting her own free time now."

Shiro? Who on Earth is she?

"Are you not excited to play with Shiro?"

"O-Of course I am! Shiro is my friend!" I randomly said, but it seems that it worked. Don't underestimate a person who became a five years old child before.

"I see. Here, take your Aceman figurine and go to Shiro." The man spoke while giving the Aceman figurine to me.

"Thank you." Holding on to the figurine, I left the room and turned right.

"Where are you going, Fuutarou?" The man sighed and spoke, "You are forbidden to go there without any people, remember?"

Boy, am I glad I am treated like a retarded child who doesn't know the rules.

I don't know a single place in this "orphanage", so I just let the man guide me to wherever Shiro is. Of course, I also made full use of the eidetic memory, which, thankfully, wasn't removed or nerfed in any way, and memorized the entire layout of this place.

During this short two-minute walk, I also found out that fox tails and ears weren't just the things that my lineage gave me.

While foxes are in the same family as dogs, foxes are more like cats than dogs. Due to my vertically slanted pupils (which I can control at will), I have increased visibility in dim light. It wasn't anything too difficult to control; all I had to do was think that I wanted to see better, and poof! I can see better.

Like foxes, I also have claws that I can retract as well - just like cats. It made me feel like I was wolverine for a moment. I experimented with it for about 10 seconds or so, so I'll need to try it out later when everybody is asleep.

Foxes even tread like cats, using the balls of their feet to silently and elegantly stride - and that was how I now walked. It was something ingrained in me in an instinctual way, so I wouldn't have noticed it until I realized that the ball of my feet hurt more than it usually would when I walked.

And, yes. I am elegant, and no one can tell me otherwise.

It also gave me a strong sense of smell (like a fox) and hearing (if I have my fox ears out).

For other features, I probably needed to learn more about foxes and mythical foxes to see if I had anything else. Since I had nothing but my lineage, I needed everything I could get my hands on if I wanted to survive.

I'm not sure what the trial is, but seeing that I needed to survive to not experience the punishment, I can tell it would be dangerous.

We didn't take long to reach my destination, and the moment I stepped outside, a gust of cold breeze hit my face.

"FUUUU-TAAAAA-ROUUUU!"

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[Image of the Day ->]

A/N: Since the title I originally planned to put was a spoiler, I changed it. But after everything becomes clearer and you guys know what world we are in, I'll put in a better title.

Btw, the actual MC wouldn't appear since Fuutarou had taken over his place, or at least wouldn't be the main character anymore. Take note that this is also AU, so things will be different from the original anime.

Hmm...there will be a Christmas special tomorrow, so you can look forward to that.

If you want to support me or/and want chapters in advance, link:

https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere. We are currently 8 chapters ahead~