Pete was born in Hopchester a small town roughly 3 days walk out of the capital. He lived there all of his 23 years where he was liked by all. The eldest of three children to his parents he moved out at 15 and completed an apprenticeship with the local woodcarver whom he continued to work for. Unlike the woodcarver, he favoured small toys and figures rather than the furniture that was more profitable and in demand. Despite that he was always popular and never struggled for food or shelter. He often gave away his creations to the children of the town which meant he was beloved by kids and parents alike and was frequently fed by others.

If the town had anything to say about Pete that wasn't favourable, and for even the nicest person they still had something to say. It was that he seemed perfectly content to be alone and hadn't been convinced to marry any of the delightful young women of the town. This wasn't however a real issue and besides occasional prompting after church services people didn't bother him about it. After all he seemed happy and wasn't hurting anybody.

The people of Hopchester are a more religious group than the village of Barrowmede and had several churches within the town limits around which the communities were built. While like everybody in the town Pete had a primary church, he attended, all the churches were delighted to see him as he would carve religious figures, especially around the holidays. He also had a hand in carving new pews for the churches and performing maintenance on them.

In terms of the Trials, Pete had been whistling when they first started, and while he was completely surprised having Tem there to chat to meant he got a lot of information right off the bat about the situation he was in. Unlike Bethany, he had asked her several questions and took all her answers at face value, believing it was all part of God’s plan. As such he knew the rough outline of how Trials worked and what to expect going forward. Obviously Tem still had a limit on how much information them could share but Pete maximised that in a way Bethany hadn't. In fact, he had talked so much eventually it was Tem who suggested it was time for him to move on as it was clear Pete had a never-ending list of questions and wouldn't leave unprompted.

Starting his first real Trial Pete had been expected to whistle back the tune of a bird matching it in pitch and tempo, he took great delight in this and easily completed 7 Trials in a row. At this point he grew concerned about what was happening back home and left feeling satisfied with his performance. Much like in Barrowmede the Trials caused a series of meetings as people were feeling unsure about their new reality. The town was too big for one large meeting and instead there were several dotted around the various churches who all exchanged notes after the fact to ensure they didn’t miss any information.

Obviously, not everybody got back at the same point as Pete as all his Trials were fairly short. As such he had headed up efforts to ensure the young and elderly alike were looked after while they waited for carers to return. He found his newfound skill had granted him the ability to whistle in a way that copied bird calls to the delight of the children he found himself entertaining who were fascinated and tried unsuccessfully to replicate his abilities.

Across the town the general consensus was that the Trials were from God, and they were to embrace the new way of life immediately. As such people were encouraged to discuss their experiences and to strive to pass as many Trials as they felt safe doing. Obviously not all town members were so sure about the origins of the Trial and for some they found themselves rejecting either God or the Trials. Regardless they were accepted by the wider community and were always updated on any new information about the Trials that had been shared in the weekly church services.

Pete's second Trial a week later had been while he was carving a small toy for a child who had tragically been resituated as their parent hadn't returned from their Trial. This took Pete to a general woodcarving Trial, in which he was expected to carve his best product. Unsurprisingly this was in fact the toys he took such delight in making. As such he once again sailed through the Trials having picked a skill, he naturally excelled in. As such he easily reached level 2. Much like with Bethany, despite the Trials being in woodcarving the actual skill was for toy carving. Most excitingly, for him at least, he found with the skill he was able to bring things he crafted into and out of his Trials.

For his third Trial he once again attempted to start by carving toys. Unlike Bethany when talking to Tem he insisted they explained the disparity between his Trial and skill. After all he wanted to be able to explain to his town. As such he got the explanation that it was required that 3 so called subskills reached at least level 3 at which point they would merge into the overarching skill. Or at least it would if he willed it to. Once that boundary was crossed these skills could be merged at any time, though they would merge to the level of the lowest levelled subskill. Further even if merged extra subskills could still be merged into the overarching skill if they reached the same level.

Having chatted Tem's ear off once more and been politely sent on his way he managed to complete another 10 Trials getting himself to level 4. His next week was more of the same, unlikely Bethany's case nobody in town had yet to receive a Sponsored Trial yet, however a couple had gotten system approved money, i.e., Bronze and Silver. This was already being implemented into the towns ecosystem however due to its scarcity and it being seen as from God it was operating at a much higher value than it would elsewhere.

More excitingly was his final Trial before meeting Bethany after all that was his Sponsored Trial. For this Trial he hadn't been working on toys but instead was making furniture in an attempt to get another woodworking skill. Much like the Trial Bethany had witnessed with Andrew and archery Pete was only summoned for a short-term project. On the planet of Halea he had found himself in a workshop of an overworked carpenter. He had foolishly over promised on creating benches for a big company and couldn't afford to let them down. As such he had to spend some of his precious Credits to sponsor a Trial to get somebody to help out, agreeing to pay Pete a single Credit for a full days work. Pete wasn't there for long, just a day where he did little more than sanding, but it allowed him to understand the system better and gave him exciting news to take back home. It didn’t however allow him to display all his skills getting him only 6 Credits in Furniture carving.

After returning home and outlining his experiences to his community he elected to leave for the capital in the hopes they had more information and if not to explain what they knew. Beyond that he had no real plans for the future except to explore as much of their new world as possible.

Bethany was amazed by his story and didn't even notice the several hours it took him to tell it. Personally, she felt it could be severely abridged however she had to admit that Pete was a good storyteller and that she had been drawn in by his saga. His experience certainly sounded more pleasant than hers but given his positive attitude she couldn't help but not resent him for that fact. She was even more shocked when he openly shared his stat screen, something she hadn't even known was possible. After he had finished his story, she naturally returned the favour by telling a heavily edited version of her story.

She lessened the impact of the imprisonment and didn't mention the Trial Taking skill and its uses but otherwise attempted to be as honest as possible. After all his charisma was naturally disarming. She notably didn't share her stat screen however, and if Pete noticed it or not, he didn't comment on it. Their talking had filled a lot of time and distracted Bethany from her monotonous walking. Unfortunately, she had had to slow down to match his speed, but it seemed a small cost to pay to have a potential ally and to have something approaching a friend to enter the capital with. Having both finished their stories they found they were among several other travellers approaching the capital and they could see the back of the queue to enter the city.

Name

Peter Sanna

Title(s)

n/a

Mana Type

Sand (uncommon)

Level

4

Trial Credits

34

Skills:

Toy Carving (common)

4 (20 Trial Credits)

Whistling (common)

1 (7 Trial Credits)

Furniture Carving (common)

1 (6 Trial Credits)