The Trials (6/6)

[You will now be sent to the fifth Trial, the Trial of Talent]

"Talents? They can be measured?"

[Yes. Talents are divided into Stages:

[Low-Tier Talent

[Mid-Tier Talent

[High-Tier Talent

[Peak-Tier Talent

While we 'talked', the bear corpse disappeared and a simple wooden chair and table appeared and on the table a metallic-colored helmet with many wires going in and out was lying.

[Sit on the chair and wear the helmet]

"This looks like some torture device. Do I really have to wear this?"

[Yes]

"And you are not going to harm me?"

[The process of scanning the body for talents is very painful, as spiders as small as molecules will be released into your body to look for peculiar occurences in your body, which are talents, but some can be curses too, like the seven sins-talents.]

"Fuck. At least give me a few minutes to prepare."

[You have to wear the helmet in the next 30 Seconds or the Trials will count as failed and you Soul will be eradicated.]

"Chill! I'm wearing it, okay?"

Instead of an answer I felt excruciating pain all over my body. No, worse, even inside my body!

*aaarrgh*

-5 Hours later-

*yawn*

"Why do I have the feeling that I got more sleep in the Trials than in the last week at all?"

[Your Talents:

[Combat Talents:

[Low-Tier Sword Talent

[Low-Tier Spear Talent

[Low-Tier Bow Talent

[Utility Talents:

[Low-Tier Cooking Talent

"Great! Probably? I think I got the Combat Talents from sparring with my father and the cooking talent from my cooking habit. When I had the chance to cook I would always give my best, I love the feeling of anticipation when you look at a plate with something you worked on for an hour or even more and it turns out great. Or even if it didn't, you can always try again..."

But before I could start reminiscing, I heard a notification:

[Would you like to receive your rewards now?]

[Yes] [No]

"Of course! I worked hard for this!"

The chair and table and the bloody he.. Wait! Bloody?! 

I started touching my head to look for wounds, but I found none.

[You were fed a healing potion to heal any wounds that were caused by the Trial.]

"I see... But thats not important right now, where are my rewards?!"

Suddenly a big wheel of fortune materialized in front of me. It had a big WEAPON plastered in the middle of it. The outer ring consisted of four parts: Spear, Sword, Shield and Bow

I took a deep breath and spun the wheel.

"Please not Shield, please not shield..."

Spear, Sword, Shield, Bow, Spear, Sword, Shield, Bow, Spear, Sword, Shield, Bow.... Sword, Shield, Bow and it finally stopped on Spear! 

"Not bad at all! A spear is pretty good actually!

.

.

.

Where is it?"

[You will receive all rewards at the end]

In that moment the wheel literally puffed into smoke and started wafting away. But when I accidentaly inhaled the smoke, I felt not as much pain as in the 5. Trial but pain nonetheless. 

"Why is everything painful as fuck? And what is this smoke?"

[A hidden reward. It improves your constitution.]

If there would be anyone else in the white space, he would have seen a human sniffing air as if he was high.

After I inhaled all the smoke I could, I collapsed on my back and was breathing heavily.

"*pant* That was painful as fuck! But now I should *pant* have gotten access to the system Interface, right? Status?"

[Anthony Merin]

[Lvl. 1]

[0/10 Exp]

[Age: 21]

[Race: Human]

[Class: None]

[HP: 15]

[MP: None]

[Soul Power: 750]

[Stamina: 52]

[Strength: 9]

[Defense (race-based): 2]

[Agility: 11]

[Dexterity: 14]

[Instincts: 1]

[Talents]

[Combat Talents:

[Spear Talent (Low)]

[Sword Talent (Low)]

[Bow Talent (Low)]

[Utility Talents:

[Cooking Talent (Low)]

"Oh? Even my Soul Power was increased? That´s great! And the rest except Instincts and Stamina and also Defense were increased by two... I see, Defense seems to be race-based.... Wait! I have a genius business idea! I can sell that smoke and I will be rich in no time!"

[Humans don´t have the means to produce ´Empowering Smoke`]

"Such an uncreative name.. Maybe I will be able to replicate the effects of the smoke with human technologies! What does the `Empowering Smoke´ do?"

[To understand what it does you have to know two things:

[1. That the Human Body is full of impurities.]

[2. The Soul Power storage of your body is in your brain and every five to ten minutes it sends Soul Power in the blood that flows through your head, so it provides every cell in your body with soul power.]

[The `Empowering Smoke´ rips your body into its parts (Muscles, Tendons, Blood Vessels, Organs...) and pressures them to the point where the impurities seep out and the parts condense, all while providing Soul Power to every single part and then it relinks the parts and produces a time-accelerating-bubble around your brain so it sends Soul Power more often and the body can regrow the Muscles, Tendons, Blood Vessels, Skin, Organs..... to fill the space that was produced when the body parts were condensed. And the stats just show what your body is:

[The higher strength and agility stat is a result of the much more powerful muscles (But without the stregthening of bones and Tendons to support the new strength, your body would blow apart)]

[The higher dexterity is because although your Muscles were condensed, they are very flexible, as without bones and tendons to support them, they would be very wobbly and not able to do anthing. Also the Tendons and joints were strengthened, so you can do things you could theoretically do before, but you would either dislocate an arm or rip a tendon]

[The higher Soul Power and HP are a result of the brain and organs being empowered and the Soul Power storage in the brain is slightly larger and also the organs can now use the Soul Power more efficiently, so it takes more to kill you]

[Lastly, the Defense of the Human Race is 1, but because your body is harder to injure (strengthened Skin, Muscles...), 1 Defense was added]

"I get it, I give up on this genius business idea... Oh and before I forget it, where is my first-stage skill scroll and.... Mana awakening Orb? What´s that?"

(Author´s Note: If you don´t know what first-stage means, look it up in the `Skill System´ Auxiliary Chapter, I recently added it)

[You received a first-stage skill scroll and `Mana Awakening Orb´]

[If you use the `Mana Awakening Orb´ you will be able to use Mana and unlock the stat `Intelligence´]

And with that I was teleported out of the Tower of Trials.