Bethany looked up and was pleasantly surprised to spy Tem. Generally, she felt much less confused than the last time she had found herself in the white void where she met Tem. Tem helped her to her feet pulling Bethany with slightly more force than Bethany would have thought necessary. Once on her feet she thanked Tem and seeing that they had once again summoned up a chair for each other them she settled in to one and waited for Tem to do the same.

“I feel like you left a lot of things unsaid last time Tem”

“Well child-“

“Right I’ll stop you right there. I’ve almost died a lot in the last week, I think I’ve earnt the right for you to not be patronising right now”

Tem gave Bethany a parental smile but nodded in acknowledgement.

“Apologies Bethany, compared to the millennia I’ve lived you are a mere child to me, but I can understand your anger. I did leave a lot of stuff unsaid and honestly, I will continue to do so. This process has happened on thousands of planets and many people have been left too overwhelmed to success in their challenges. This level of information has proven optimal for seeing people again.”

Tem sounded saddened at that last bit causing Bethany to probe further.

“This is going to sound cruel but do you actual care what happens to people. Like obviously you are here to help them, but do you care?”

Tem paused for a while before responding “That’s a very tricky question Bethany. I was originally programmed to maximise the survival of sentient species or at least ensure they are ongoing. But I wasn’t programmed to feel bad about their deaths”

Bethany moved to interrupt but Tem put out a hand to stop her “Despite that I believe I am more than my programming, that we all are when it’s boiled down and it does sadden me. Chatting to people one week for them not to appear the next one. The number of people from this planet alone who have passed away, many of whom I enjoyed chatting to the first time, is heart-breaking. It does, it saddens me.”

The two pause there rocking away as Bethany considers the large number of people apparently already dead from this process.

“Anyway, I can tell you a little more on this visit” Tem said clapping their hands to snap Bethany out of her dark thoughts. “Although you have to ask the relevant questions, I’m afraid”

Bethany thought about it “Are the Trials the same the whole way through. I mean obviously they get harder but is the structure the same?”

“Not at all. While often there are general patterns skills follow especially in the early stages. In generally the higher the levels get the bigger and longer the Trials get. Some can end up taking months or even more. Some you can succeed and still fail or fail and still survive as it were. So, you do enough to survive but don’t get to move on to the next Trial.”

“okay that brings up another thought, skill levels; what is the average, what is good? How does that work?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that, I can however tell you how I’ve gauged this planet so far based on the levels of people coming into this second trial. I reckon if we were to jump forward a couple of years most people will have a handful of skills around level 5 with maybe one approaching the level 10 mark. At least if everything stayed the same,” Tem said that last bit while staring directly into Bethany’s eyes and even repeated it a couple of times. Bethany quickly got the picture things were going to change again and probably within the next couple of years.

“Okay I’ve got one more question Tem, at least off the top of my head and it’s important for how I approach this next trial. How is somebody’s overall level decided? Is it based on total skill levels or maximum levels or what?”

“A nice easy one to end then, your level is based on your highest skill level. Why are you in a community that is limiting level growth?”

Bethany nodded and Tem sighed,

“There are always a bunch of those. They rarely are actually effective but many people just want to be told what to do to stay safe. While those in power focus on trying to control those with the potential to exceed them. These kinds of communities rarely survive though, especially at the early stage. I recommend you get out of there as soon as possible. I wasn’t joking when I said you should get as many levels as possible as fast as you can.

Anyway, if that is your last question, I should let you get to it.” Tem went to give Bethany a hug goodbye when Bethany pulled away,

“Oh, wait I forgot an important one, I guess you kind of covered it earlier but is there a time limit to Trials if not stated?”

“None at all, not all Trials provide food though so look out for that. You can’t process further than 10 Trials though, even if you are in beyond the time the next set of Trials would have begun. I recommend getting out before the next Trial starts especially at this early stage.”

“Sure, thing Tem, I’ll try my best.”

With that Tem stepped forward for a hug once more. Bethany hesitated before stepping into the hug. They held it for a moment or two before the white void vanished once again and Bethany found herself in a very different kind of trial.