Top 10

Everyone present stared up at The Host, confused. How exactly were they meant to see what she meant when what she was pointing at was just a giant white wall?

The crowd remained silent for a few moments as they all gazed up at the angel. After a few seconds had passed, the angel's face twitched ever so slightly, the movement going unnoticed by majority of the crowd. Why did it remind Kai of when a talk show host would get upset when there was technical difficulties?

Just as some people in the crowd were about to speak up, another collective gasp rang out and echoed through the vast space.

The wall that the angel had pointed to, which had just been a plain padded white wall just a moment ago, had suddenly changed.

The entire wall shimmered as it took on the facade of an extremely large cinema screen, some static covering the massive wall before a video finally appeared.

Kai's eyes widened as he realised what the video was of.

"In the number ten spot we have a woman who managed to overcome her fears and push through, managing to delay an army long enough for the main forces to gather themselves and launch an offensive. This inadvertently led to their victory. Time for some of her highlights!"

Kai instantly recognised the woman in the video, how could he not, it was the woman he had rescued after all.

The massive wall which had now turned into a cinema screen projected a video of the woman trembling as she watched humans get slaughtered by the abominations, cowering in fear behind one of the gargantuan trees of the forest.

Then, it cut to her watching a tall flaming Lycanthrope that was singlehandedly holding back the tides of weaker abominations. A weak sense of determination seeped from her eyes as she made her way from behind the tree as the earing in her ear started to glow a sinister shade of purple.

Then, well, Kai already knew what happened, but all the people in close proximity to him were shocked by what they saw.

The woman cut through abominations with her bare hands, not an ounce of fear in her eyes. She cleaved her way through the horde, killing without hesitation until the video finally cut when all the abominations that had attacked her were dead.

"An incredible performance that is certainly worthy of the tenth spot. How she managed to overcome her fears by seeing the one who she idolised fight without restraint, that shows growth.

Sadly, she only really came to her strength at the very end of the tutorial, meaning that is the only highlight we have for her. Still, that one performance alone was enough for the number ten spot.

And even though it was all done with the help of an item, she managed to use it to perfection, not everyone would be able to do that.

As a reward, she will receive a five percent bonus to her point total and she will be allowed to choose a singular item that compliments the function of her earing."

The crowd rang out in a cacophony of cheers and applause, to which Kai clapped along with as there wasn't really a reason not to.

However, he was more sure than ever that this angel was definitely trying to pitch them to someone.

But the fact there was extra rewards for being in the top ten had Kai by the nose. Surely if the woman he rescued was in the top ten then he had to be somewhere in there, right?

"Now, onto our number nine spot."

The screen suddenly changed and the dark forest that Kai had gotten used to was replaced by a beautiful meadow. Unlike the Forest of Ethania, a bright sun shone in the sky, casting its light down on the luscious land below.

A party of five wandered through the meadow, all of them alert for any potential threats.

Sadly, even with how alert they were, they could not anticipate an enemy that had come from below ground.

A gargantuan worm shot out of the ground below the parties feet and swallowed two of the members whole. It was larger than any subway, in fact, it looked to be the same size as a rocket ship.

The other three managed to dodge in the nick of time, but one of the members that wielded a greatsword was injured in the process.

The body of the worm was heavily guarded by plates of dirt that looked sturdier than any metal Kai could think of, the only weakness was the small cracks in its body.

The worm had no eyes and was a dark shade of black, the three remaining people couldn't help but tremble in fear as they looked up at it.

Well, two of them trembled, one of them quickly sprung into action.

Instantly, a man with light blonde hair who looked to be about mid twenties started dashing to the side, his hands gripping onto the strange looking staff that he carried.

His bright blue eyes narrowed as he looked backwards and saw that his two party members weren't moving.

Judging by the way his lips moved but the video had its audio cut out for that split second, Kai could tell that the man had cursed, but... Did they really censor it?

As soon as the man's mouth closed, audio returned as his body snapped around as he faced off against the worm.

Even though the worm had no eyes, it could tell where the man was. Kai thought that it had to be something about the tremors in the ground or echolocation or something like that.

The worm turned its ugly head towards the man and instantly started rushing towards him. The worm must have realised that he was the only true threat and decided to leave the two weaklings alone for now.

The man gripped his staff and waved it in a wide arc. Instantly,  around a dozen shards of a mirror appeared out of thin air and started zooming to surround the worm.

The worm paid them no heed, deeming them useless as it continued the pursuit of the man.

A bad move on the worm's part.

The man let go of his staff with one hand and pointed a finger at the worm. Instantaneously, a beam of light shot out of the man's fingertip and zipped towards the worms massive body.

However, much to the worm's surprise, the attack missed.

The man simply smirked as the worm ignored the missed attack and continued its charge.

The beam of light hit off one of the floaring mirrors and reflected it backwards, to which it hit another mirror. The beam continued to pick up speed as it bounced off a few more mirrors before it finally flew towards the worm just as it was about to reach the blonde man.

The attack reminded Kai of Wa'rak, how the wolf would bounce around to gain more speed to empower his attacks. Is that what the mirrors were for?

The beam of light slipped into one of the cracks of the worms dirt armour, doing some damage, but nowhere near as much as the man thought it would do as he saw the worm continue its charge partially unfazed.

What followed was a brutal clash between that man and that hideous worm. The man continued to make use of his flying mirrors and light based ability to try and deal damage to the worm through the cracks in its armour, meanwhile the worm just kept trying to swallow the man whole, never really going all out.

Kai watched the fight in awe. Was he supposed to believe that this was the Light skill he had been offered in his first skill selection?

Obviously not, this had to be a different skill, a skill that created light from one's fingertip could not be compared to the destructive power of that man's light.

Still, that skill was pretty similar...

The two surviving party members that were still standing to the side watched in awe as he continued to fight against the worm, it looked like they actually had no idea what he was capable of, only making Kai question what the hell sort of tutorial they had been in.

Honestly, that meadow area looked much, much more peaceful than the dark and gloomy forest Kai had been in.

And even more, if that worm was one of the strongest in that Subdimension, then how weak was that Subdimension? That worm was nowhere near comparable to Aldred, Failure or the Demon.

Eventually, the worm got sick of its food dodging it so it used one of its abilities. Instantly, the ground around it shifted and turned water like, almost as if all the dirt had turned to a liquid.

The man was caught off guard and the bottom half of his body was submerged in the watery dirt. It looked like the end of him, the maw of the worm descending upon him like a guillotine that signified certain death.

However, at the last moment, one of the mirrors zoomed towards the man and he gripped onto it with one hand, the other gripping tightly onto his staff.

The mirror cracked with how hard the man gripped it, but it managed to pull him out of the quicksand like dirt a few moments before he was eaten whole.

The mirror then shatted completely a few seconds later, but the man was already high in the air. The worm raised its head and started to climb into the air, trying to swallow the man once more.

At the last moment, the man used another mirror as a foothold and kicked against it, straight towards the open mouth of the worm.

Just before the worm devoured the man, Kai caught a glimpse of what looked to be a spear created from pure light manifesting in the man's hand just as he fell into the worms maw.

The worm then simply closed its mouth as it started to fall back towards the ground.

Then, it shrieked in pain as rays of pure light shot out of the cracks of the worms dirt armour.

A minute later, the man emerged from the dead worms mouth covered in a weird black blood and some burns that looked like they were caused by acid.

The recording stopped there.

The angel clapped her hands and smiled before speaking.

"How splendid. That man managed to take on a C rank beast before even forming his own soul core, isn't that incredible? And he showed some incredible levels of determination along with a strategic mindset, and if you combine that with that final attack where he showed no fear for his own life then he would definitely be a fine target for your bids."

Kai was now positive that there were others watching the current situation. As for how, he had no idea considering there was no cameras, but this angel that called herself The Host was definitely trying to pitch her stock.

As for the fact that that worm had a C rank soul... Was Kai supposed to be as strong as that worm? Even though it was nowhere comparable to the likes of Failure or Aldred, it seemed that C rank was somewhere that Kai was not meant to be at this stage. Turns out, Failure possessing him had boosted his soul by a lot.

"As for his reward, he will receive a five percent bonus to his point total and a special light affinity item."

More claps erupted from the crowd, only to be silenced by the angel's smile a moment later.

"Now, we move onto the number eight spot, a woman who showed an unparalleled level of grit so she could carry out her revenge."

Kai's eyes widened as the screen changed once more, recognising the person in the video.

Is that Noelle?