Bethany's breath caught in her throat, and it was like she was running again, was this it? Did she lose it all as simply as that? Her mother would never be rescued if she died here, now. Fortunately, the lieutenant hadn't finished talking,

"In spite of that, you obeyed all instructions to the best of your ability, quickly and with enough respect. As such you don't have to worry about consequences. Instead, you will have to rechallenge this Trial again, as you will be awarded no Credits here. I recommend going home and training for the next month, maybe then you will be ready to reface this Trial and succeed." Having finished speaking he gestured behind him opening up two familiar rifts. He stepped through one and it vanished behind him, leaving Bethany only with the one to return her home.

Bethany released her necklace from her tight grip. Having worked out so much after a busy day back home, and dealing with thinking for a second, she was going to die she just wanted to go to sleep. Even if sleep meant being back in prison. Stepping back into the cell she quickly got changed again, this time into the comfy outfit designed to look like it had come from the village. She needed to make a plan for how to go and rescue her mother but first she needed to sleep.

The next day she was hard at work on behalf of the village. Practically this looked very similar to her routine pre-initialisation except without any of the benefits or breaks. Further Lewis was frequently around giving her a stink eye. He was alone more often than not though throughout the day, and was constantly practising with his sword, doing steps that Bethany could now recognise as a kata, though obviously a different one than the one Bethany had been practising. While she worked, she planned how long to hang around before leaving to chase after her mother. She knew at a minimum she would wait until her next Trial Cycle, especially as it was the last of those for a full month and she wanted to make sure to make the most of it. After that she was less sure, she could wait the 5 days it would take afterwards to use her Trial Taking skill on all her skills, but that felt too long to wait. Also, she needed to make sure not to be caught using it and that would be safer on the road. She made the decision to not decide just yet and instead wait till after the scheduled Trial to make a decision.

That afternoon she was left to her own devices within the cell she still called home. While she considered squeezing practising the steps of the kata she instead elected to catch up on her sleep as late nights were going to be a frequent feature of her current lifestyle. That evening after another poor-quality meal brought by a hollow Mandy, she was really missing the food on Lexicoth, she had been left once again to her own devices in the pitch black. As such she once more headed into a Trial, excited to say hi to Tem again, on route.

Tem was once again caught slightly off guard by Bethany's arrival. Factually she knew it could happen anytime, but Bethany was the first person to get a skill that allowed them to access Trials early, while still being under Tem's supervision. As such they weren't actually adjusted to the idea Bethany could randomly pop in as it were. None the less Tem was a great host having dealt with literally billions of visits in the past. She quickly summoned a pair of chairs for the two, electing for their favourite of the beanbag once again, rather than Bethany's rocking chairs. After all this was an extra visit. This would be Bethany's fourth visit which for everybody else was also their final one. As it was, they still had a couple of visits left.

Bethany didn't bother to ask any system questions on this visit. There wasn't any real point, she felt she had sussed out most of the key information. The only real holes she had was what happened to a skill at level 5 and what mana type meant. She'd picked up it was about magic but beyond that she still didn't know. The premature Trials she was opening felt like magic to her anyway, so she wasn't clear on how it all worked. Either way she didn't think it was important enough to worry about. After all none of her knowledgeable friends had told her about it and she trusted they would if it was important. Instead, the two of them just chatted generally. Bethany was feeling comfortable sharing about her past and in return she got to hear a little about Tem's history.

Tem had been made millions of years prior and has always existed in a white void much like the one they were currently in. In that time, they primarily interacted with scientists and those who, much like Bethany, were from newly initialized planets. That had changed over time as her creators and everybody else who knew them had passed away meaning they didn't recall how to access her void without being from a newly initialised planet. Tem was content though, they got to meet new people, explore new cultures and time didn't pass for them in the same way it passed for others meaning they didn't feel trapped or go insane between visits. Due to Tem's nature they didn't take Trials themselves, nor had they ever directly witnessed one, though they often heard about them.

Talking about their pasts had caused a solemn but not unpleasant atmosphere in Tem's void, but both were feeling better after the chat. Bethany even managed to get Tem, to explain that with communication she would even be able to communicate with Tem someday, even if that took a higher level than chatting to Harri would. Eventually it was time to leave. The talk may not take any real time it did still take mental energy and Bethany needed as much as possible available. Especially as she was headed into the bartering Trial which would take up some of her limited social energy. She said goodbye to Tem and as had become pattern hugged them and waited to find herself in the Trial.

Trial: Bartering (common) 2

Head to the market and get your full shopping list using the money provided. Unnecessary belongings stored for the duration of this Trial.

Time Limit: 24 hours

Bonus Reward: Any money not spent can be kept by the Trial Taker

Bethany found herself standing on a small hill in the middle of a huge, colourful marketplace. She panicked momentarily noticing the distinct lack of weight on her back from her bag. But having read the Trial information she quickly understood. In her pocket she did however find a small bag of coins and a handwritten shopping list. She didn't recognise all of the items on the list however fortunately, they had small descriptions next to them alongside amounts needed and rough price. From the look of the list, it would cost her 15 silver by the so called market value. Checking her money bag, she found that she had 12 silver coins, so she needed to shave 20% off the market prices. The shopping list had a mix of high and low-ticket items however all were either food or food preparation items. Bethany felt fairly confident about the Trial. Between her mother’s tips and the chats, she'd had with Stilwart she felt fairly confident she had what it would take to face the challenge.

From her hilltop view she looked around to suss out which direction would be best to go. Unlike her previous, non-Sponsored Trials she seemed to have free rein rather than having a small area to focus in. In fact, there seemed to be market stalls as far as she could see from her perch atop the hill. They didn't seem to be organised in any noticeable fashion having stalls with different coloured awnings spread scattered across haphazardly. Based on her experiences on Lexicoth Bethany picked an area where she could see three green awnings clumped up as green frequently represented fresh produce. A direction chosen Bethany set off, determined to do a better job than she had at her last Trial.