He woke up with a heavy yawn, his arm had been healed and he felt refreshed. He tried to sense the ability he got and felt nothing, it was gone as the voice said it would.
(Congratulations challenger, you have passed the trial of earth with exceptional grades. Would challenger like to receive his reward or challenge the next trial?)
He thought about it, if he recieved his reward now he would get an earth grade ability. Although the abilities from the next trial might be stronger, he doubted getting them would be easy.
If passing the trial of earth was that difficult he couldn't imagine how hard passing the next one was. Earth grade abilities were already powerful, if he could get a defensive one he could sleep with worry of being stabbed in his sleep.
Challenging the next trial did not seem like it was worth it. I'll take my reward please, he said with a yawn. ( Are you sure? Don't you want to wield stronger abilities than earth grade? Based on your performance I've concluded you're highly qualified to challenge the next floor)
Are they free? (Excuse me?) The voice sounded less robotic, there was a hint of humanity in it. Those so called stronger abilities, will you give them to me for free?
(You have to pass th....) Not thanks, he cut it off before it could finish it sentence. I'm tired, I just want to sleep, earth grade is good enough for me, I'll leave the stronger ones for others.
( Affirmative) it was back to it mechanical voice. A list of earth grade abilities appeared before him, he scrolled through until he saw one he liked, just as he was about to touch it, the screen disappeared.
(Error, Error, transporting challenger to the next trial) wait what? No no no, don't you dare. He was disintegrated into blue particles mid shout.
He reappeared in a jungle, his eyes dark from fury, or maybe he was just sleepy. He looked at his surroundings. The trees were tall, standing at an avarage of 15 metres.
The entire jungle was shrouded in darkness of the night with only a pale silver moon as the source of light . The winds were chilly and the grass was covered in frost.
His ragged clothes did nothing to provide warmth not to mention he was barefooted. Had the tower not infused his body with essence he might have caught a cold.
He stood there waiting for something then it came. ( Welcome challenger to the trial of Sky.
Objective 1- survive a week in the icy jungle of the moon hound.
Reward upon completion- Any sky grade ability from low sky grade to mid sky grade.
Objective 2- kill the moon hound within a week
Reward upon completion- Any sky grade ability from Low sky grade to peak sky grade
Notice 1- Challenger can quit and will be transported out of the tower but no rewards will be offered
Notice 2- challenger can choose any 1 earth grade ability for the duration of the trial)
He contemplated quitting but if he did so he would not receive any ability at all so the next best option was to survive because he was not fighting the boss of this jungle. A screen with a list of earth grade abilities appeared before him.
He was about to choose the defence ability from before when he stopped. Although the idea of defence without putting in any effort sounded nice, he doubted it would mean anything here.
The ability would give incredibly high defence in exchange for mobility. Unlike the mortal grade one, this one did not stop it user from moving.
However the longer you stay immobile the stronger the ability get, the issue though, this trial was of the sky grade while the ability was mere earth grade. He highly doubted an earth grade ability could perfectly defend against a sky grade beast.
With a sigh he chose another ability. He hated abilities that required him to move around too much but what other choise did he have, they were the most suitable for him, fate was truly cruel to the just.
He clicked on the screen and felt something enter and settle on his chest. ( Good luck challenger) fuck you. ( I detect hostility from challenger, had I done something to offend you?) The voice had a playful tone.
Veins popped on his head. He sighed, there's nothing he could do to it right now but one day, if it not too much trouble he would punch it.
He looked around, he couldn't see much except tall trees with colourful leaves and flowers. He walked slowly in a random direction, a few hours passed without any sigh of life.
After a few hours he finally saw something else other than trees and grass. A hill stood in the distance. It had a few sparse trees and bushes.
He arrived in from of the hill, near it base was a cave, it entrance was only 2 metres in diameter. Just as he was about to enter the cave he heard a loud screech.
He looked up and flying up in the sky was a bird so large it wingspan casted a shadow over the hill. The bird was pure white with silver eyes.
He could tell at first glance this thing was powerful. He might be able to defeat it but it would not be an easy fight, in conclusion, it was just not worth it, too much work to be honest. He entered the cave In a hurry.
The cave entrance stretched for 8 metres like a dark passage then opened to a much larger space. With a height of 6 metres and with diameter of about 40 to 50 metres.
Just as he entered this space, hundreds of blood red eyes opened and gazed at him. Shit, without a second wasted he turned back and ran.
Just as he was about to reach the cave entrance a huge creature landed with a bang blocking it. He could hear the bats behind him.
He looked around for a solution and above him was a slit on the cave wall. Wide enough for one person to queeze in. He jumped and his inside the it.
The bats flew below him and multiple screeches and loud bangs echoed outside. He waited until the last bat flew past then he dropped down.
He stood in the cave mouth and watched the chaos ensue in the night sky.