Chapter 8

"Did I die?" Alex asked with a confused look on his face.

"Hmm~ no. You're here to pick your first sin. Pick one of the balls that are placed on the table."

Alex looked at the table that appeared in front of him. There were seven white balls placed on it and they were all of the same size, making it impossible to guess what sin was inside which ball.

He randomly picked one ball and it floated over to the angel when she snapped her finger. Dark brown letters began forming on the ball and in just a second, the word revealing the sin was shown to Alex.

"Greed huh… okay."he murmured while the angel simple stared at him before shaking her head slightly.

"I expected more from you. I gave you one year to prepare and all you did was spend all the money on books and random useless things. At this rate, the other angels' mercenary candidates will overwhelm your progress. You're progress is directly related to my promotion so I hope that you do better."

Alex looked up at her for a second, "… So there are other people too…"

"In other worlds that are a mostly similar to the one you're in. It's a competition and there are a total of four candidates including you."

"Hmm…So you're telling me that I'm lagging behind in progress?"

"Yes."

Alex rubbed his chin as he thought for a few second, "How is progress affected in this so-called competition?"

"Hmm, things that affect progress you say? Okay so, there are a few conditions that do affect your progress so listen properly. There are three main conditions and failing at one of them basically disqualifies you and then there are a few rules for calculating your rank and progress.

One, your test will finish one year after Tom Riddle dies.

Two, he should die in the seventh year of your school life. How he dies doesn't matter.

Three, Harry Potter shouldn't die before Tom Riddle and you shouldn't die at all until the test finishes on its own.

Now, a few rules of calculating your progress.

One, your progress is calculated on a few parameters like magic, knowledge, wealth, accomplishments and a few other things.

Two, the number of allies you have and also enemies you make. Both of them will be considered and have the same value.

Three, the more you act according to the sin that you are assigned every year, the more points you receive.

That is all for the conditions and rules. Any questions?"

Alex took in everything and nodded, "So, the other guys, how far are they from me?"

"Hmm… I guess I can tell you that too… Okay, one of them used to be a normal reader of the book which has been installed in your mind. He simply robbed and stole money from the muggles and made contact with Harry before the letters arrived since he knows a few loopholes related to the ministry. This kid is at the first place currently and he has access to all the memories of his pervious life.

The guy in the second place continued his father's business unlike you and made some money with the marketing skills from his previous life but unlike the first, he knows nothing about Harry potter series.

You are in the third place… with just magic and knowledge, but you definitely are the best at those two categories.

The fourth guy chose to live with his uncle and was beaten to death in a few months. Hence, he has been disqualified."

Alex nodded and replied confidently, "Thank you for this valuable information. I assure you that I will soon climb these so-called ranks and it will probably be a breeze."

"Whatever, just go. Your sin this year is Greed. Keep that in mind."

Before he could say anything, he was back in his dormitory. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before observing his surroundings. He felt no pressure on himself and it relieved him a lot as that pain was something he did not want to go through again.

His four other roommates were sleeping soundly as he surveyed the room which was of a decent size. After doing that, he closed his eyes. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't sleepy and his mind wandered to what happened a while ago as he reviewed everything.

There was only one reason he wanted to avoid Slytherin and that was the fact that the house was always in the spotlight right behind Gryffindor and was also hated by all the other houses.

He personally didn't really care about the house he belonged to but it would turn out to be annoying if he had gone there.

'Hmm… Greed… can be applied to power, knowledge, money and maybe a few more things too. It'll be an easy year for me I guess.'

It took him a while but eventually he fell asleep and was woken up by his fellow classmates when it was time for breakfast. He looked at the four other guys who were busy changing into their robes. He recognised three of them but he didn't know a single thing about the last one.

"My name is Alex Jordan. You can call me Alex."

"Good morning, Alex. I thought introductions were already done yesterday." Michael said as he pulled his robe on.

"I was too busy thinking about our headmaster. Sorry for not paying attention."

"Oh well, I am Anthony Goldstein. This guy here is Terry Boot, that's Michael Corner and he is Aman something…"

"Aman Bakshi.", Aman said before turning away and continued polishing his wand.

"Hmm… I didn't know we have another Indian other than the Patil twins."

Aman turned around but his hands continued to rub the wand, "You know about Indian surnames?"