Jack found himself back three hours deep into the hiking trail. A few seconds later though stumbled on his feet and fell flat on the ground, emotionally drained.

A blue screen popped up out of nowhere in Jack’s field of view, and he would probably be startled if it weren’t for the situation he was in.

The Effects of the Heart Calming Elixir have been nullified.

Before he could do anything else, a loud voice assailed his senses from all directions, yet seemingly no direction in particular at the same time, as if Mother Earth :“Shit,” Jack groaned in protest, not knowing exactly when he had been microchipped. Though this time he felt virtually no time lag between meeting his meeting with the alien and being back at the National Park, which implied that… he was teleported? The four foot five inch red devil also seemed to mention shattering Earth to bits using her physical strength alone, and now that seemed more plausible- though it still didn’t feel real. None of it did.

“Humans, heed my words. I am Empyrean Valik Shan, acting in the service of the divine one. You have been conquered, and will be integrated with the Cultivation Alliance of the Three Realms. Welcome to a new world, where the only prevailing law is conflict. Each of you have been bathed in the divine fire, your feeble bodies transformed, your physical defects cured, and the effects of time nullified. This is our gift to you, in accordance with the will of the divine one. Your planet has been enriched, not only returned to its original state but is far superior. But there is a price to be paid. Your civilization is no stranger to war- those of you who are accustomed to it shall prosper in this new world, for there are no laws, no government and no enforcers to prevent you from taking anything you like: but by all means, feel free to try. Those of you that fail to adapt, shall without exception die. Only conflict and struggle on the verge of life and death can unlock your inner talent and let you progress upon the path. The three realms shall eventually be bathed in the flames of war, and for that day we require skilled cultivators if we are to have any chance. Are you angry? Do you feel that this is unfair? Will you feel grief at those who you lose? Then seize the power that is dangled in front of you and kill me if you dare, weak mortals!” His last words echoed in Jack’s ear, for they were said with such power and conviction that even he felt a little moved. Jack wondered if there was any voodoo magic involved in his words, which honestly seemed plausible at this point.

Another, more feminine and gentle voice took over the mantle from the clearly domineering Empyrean Valik Shan, “I am Empyrean Shal Xin, acting in service of the divine one. Those below eighteen life cycles, or years in human speak, are not qualified to cultivate and have been relocated to the Citadel of Paradisia, where they shall be trained in the art of warfare, along with advanced studies before they come of age. They shall be treated with the utmost care and no harm shall come to them. Those above the age of fifty can no longer cultivate, and they shall be relocated to the Citadel of Paradisia where they can live out the rest of their mortal lives in luxury- as a show of good faith, they have been cured of physical defects. The words of an Empyrean are absolute, and shall not be violated under any circumstance. If you survive the trial, you shall be allowed to meet them. Keep in mind that any adult who leaves the Citadel of Paradisia, shall no longer be afforded any protection and shall consider to have waived all their rights. Cultivators are not allowed access to the Citadel of Paradisia, and those currently eligible for cultivation shall never be granted entry.”

Jack sighed in relief, tears flowing down his eyes as he clasped his hands towards the sky and muttered, “Thank you…”. His father was 55 and his mother was 51 years old, having barely made the cut. They would not be subject to this insanity at least.

“Oh, it’s my turn?” Another gruff, slightly irritated voice boomed out in a lackadaisical manner. “Okay, okay, I get it, follow the protocol and all that. I am Empyrean Weaponsmith Zanis Kai, acting in service of the divine one. Notice how you can understand what I’m saying? Well that’s the work of the divine for you, the gift of languages. Anyway, I’m the guy that took away all the inefficient machines that were killing this planet, and the crude toys you guys call weapons. And yeah, your civilization has been replaced by our structures, to keep it all fair y’know. Though just give it a month or two, and they’ll be obsolete anyway,” Taking a pause, for dramatic effect and then continuing,

“Did I mention that if you fight well, you can extend mortal lifespans? So yeah, you can make your old man life for another 300 years, if you want. Oh, and you can become strong enough to fly off to space without any ship, strong enough to blow away mountains with a punch, and visit hundreds of other planets in your sector if you survive. Heck, even if you screw that, just manifest a good talent and you’ll be recruited the moment you get out of the trial. That means enough money, resources, protection and whatever else you ask for will be yours. The survival rate isn’t all that high, but those who survive will go further than the human race would’ve gone in thousands of years- pretty cool, isn’t it. Yep, that should be all, right? Can I go back to forging now?.”

Shal Xin took over to conclude, “ The trial shall commence in one hour. Please take the time to compose yourself and make your selections. You will not be attacked within this one hour:

Sensory restrictions are now lifted.

“Holy fuck!” Jack whispered to himself, as his eyes opened wide in astonishment. The first thing he realised was that the forest air that he thought to be fresh and clean before was toxic in comparison to what he was breathing now, because with each breath it felt as if his lungs got purified of the accumulated toxins.

The next moment he was onset by a sudden series of wheezing coughs, and he felt something akin to bile rising in the back of his throat until he couldn’t take it anymore- spitting out a black glob of what looked to be crystalized pollution, Jack felt repulsed but infinitely cleaner.

A sharp meow came from his side, in protest of his disgusting action. Jack turned around to face his cat, who seemed to be curled up in a ball as if it were afraid of something. Jack knew that loud noises were harmful to animals, but he wasn’t sure if that was the only reason she was scared.

Before he could comfort his cat, another screen popped up in succession.

Please choose a class (touch/ voice/ thought enabled):

Swordsman (Offensive, F-): Choose a F minus grade sword artefact (short, medium, long) and receive basic sword skill: Qi Blade.

Qi Blade description: Most basic form of qi-usage, channelling elementless qi into the sword and creating a sharp sword halo that increases sharpness and decreases wind resistance.

Swordsman (Defensive, F- ): Choose a F minus grade sword artefact (short, medium, long) and receive basic sword skill: Qi shield.

Qi Shield: Most basic form of qi-use, channelling elementless qi into the off-hand and creating a small circular shield that can block attacks.

Spear adept (Offensive, F-): Choose a F minus grade spear artefact (medium, long) and receive basic spear skill: Qi Spear.

Qi Spear description: Most basic form of qi-usage, channelling elementless qi into the spear tip and creating a sharp spear halo that increases sharpness and decreases wind resistance.

Note: There is no defensive class for spear adept available.

Assassin (Offensive, F minus): Choose an F minus grade dagger artefact (curved, serrated, long) and receive basic movement skill: Qi Steps. Most basic form of qi-usage, channeling elementless qi into the feet- significantly increasing movement speed while muffling sound of footsteps.

Mace-Knight (Defensive,F-): Receive an F minus grade mace artefact and receive basic shield skill: Qi Tower Shield.

Qi Tower Shield Skill: Most basic form of qi-usage, channelling elementless qi into the off-hand and creating a tower shield that covers all frontal attacks. Note: Skill cannot be maintained while running or jogging.

Explanations:

Skill: A boon granted by the system, allowing new cultivators to channel qi through their meridians in varying forms without any practice. Note: Basic skills can be learned by the users without any guidance or system assistance through practice and experience.

Class rank: A class is ranked from F- to [***]. F- is the lowest tier of classification. The progression is as follows: F-, F, F+.

Artefact: A weapon or equipment or other item that is manufactured with special materials to allow qi-channelling through it. An artefact cannot be destroyed, chipped or damaged by artefacts of the same rank.

Qi: An energy source that is not limited by human understanding of physics. Can be used to perform extraordinary feats.

You have 15 minutes to make a decision. Please note that the decision once made is final. Thought/Voice commands are now available. The system will answer any questions that are addressed to it, restricted by tier authorisation.

“Damn, those are a lot of options,” Jack muttered out loud, overwhelmed by the constant influx of new information. He had to make a decision that would directly determine his chance of survival. His heart was thumping with adrenaline, and his mind was full of chaos- thoughts layered upon thoughts complicating an already tricky decision.

Then, Jack did something unexpected. He sat down and assumed a meditative posture. His safety was guaranteed for an hour, of which barely a minute had passed. If the rules of this twisted survival game couldn’t be trusted, then he was doomed anyway.

‘Take a deep breath,’ thought Jack to himself. ‘The fear, the anxiety, the uncertainty, let it all coalesce at the centre of my heart’, he chanted to himself with almost religious fervour, and then concluded, ‘let it flow through you’ and then Jack exhaled, his tense muscles slightly relaxing. He repeated the process for a minute, and immediately felt much better.

“Focus,” he spoke out loud. “What is my objective, and what is the method needed to fulfil the objective?” he mused, looking at the timer the blue screen was projecting. He now had 13 minutes to make the decision, but he was focused, calm and steady.

“Survival,” he said, but then immediately denied it. He knew he was subconsciously ignoring the hard truth, and as hard as it was, he had to accept it. “Survival from the trial, and… survival from other humans,” He spoke, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. His sponsor had clearly spelled out for him that she had killed multiple people, or something else. She tip-toed around it, but Jack had picked up on it: Killing to stop the killing? Jack figured her point was that she did not enjoy, or wanted to kill, but was forced to because of the environment she was in. The first “empyrean” clearly encouraged and even enjoyed conflict, and went as far as to say their actions will have no repercussions. Jack knew the atrocities that were conducted around the world and even in his own country, and he knew that the ‘bad’ part of society will have no qualms. But the question was why? What was there to gain? He was unsure about this point. He had not missed the carrot and the stick approach, with the first empyrean trying to intimidate and make people understand that this was real, and they will most likely die, while the second and third empyreans talked about mercy and extending lifespan.

The objective had been ascertained. What method would he use to survive? What else was he not considering? Of course! The system mentioned that people could potentially learn ‘basic skills’ on their own. This meant that any bad actors he might face might not be limited to just one skill, and they might even try to mislead Jack. He would have to explore this avenue and see if he could learn a skill himself.

Jack opened his eyes to check the timer, and found that there were only ten minutes left. “Faster.” he whispered to himself, and started analysing the standalone classes. The first class that stood out was the spear adept, which did not have a defensive variant. Perhaps because a shield and spear combo would be too powerful? Jack knew that it was the primary combo used in historical warfare between armies of old, and it made sense. With the reach of the spear combined with the defence of the shield, it was a nasty combo. But using the spear alone, without understanding whom, what or how he would face whatever entity/animal or even automation they would throw at him, he needed a shield to guard him. If the apocalypse were to come in the form of a virus or a swarm of insects, that would be counterintuitive to handing him a mediaeval melee weapon, so that was the assumption he was going with.

The assassin class was ruled out, because Jack had no confidence in frontally assaulting anyone or anything with a knife, and found such an approach exceedingly stupid except in the hands of a trained soldier or professional. That, Jack admitted, would be a nightmare and he was yet to think of a counter to that. Well, if there was one. The Qi steps skill was an attractive option though, if it were paired with a better class.

Essentially, his decision was made. Mace Knight’s tower shield skill was attractive, but if it meant sacrificing mobility for complete defence it would leave his back completely unguarded and make him a target for stationary assault.

Jack checked the timer again, to see that he was down to five minutes. He had just enough time to analyse the Swordsman (Defensive) class. His objective was to survive against human and apocalypse related threats, and survival did not mean that he had to kill or grievously wound the opposite party. He wasn’t viewing things morally, that decision would be left for later, but objectively; The Qi shield skill would provide him defence with mobility, and if he chose the long variant of what should be a one handed sword, he would have an acceptable level of reach. He did have the means of offence, but it was a tricky situation: what would happen if a qi shield and a qi blade skill would collide? Which would prevail?

At three minutes left, Jack pressed on the Swordsman (Defensive) variant with his finger.

Are you sure you wish to choose Swordsman (Defensive)? Please give verbal authorisation.

“Yes,” Jack said, without hesitation. Once the decision was made, he did not look back. He simply followed the method he’d ascertained to achieve the objective.

Swordsman (Defensive) has been confirmed! Please select a one-handed sword size: short, medium, long.

“Long.”

Confirmed. Processing class selection…

Please say/think about the word status to view your current overall statistics.

‘Status’, Jack thought, feeling creeped out by the microchip implant or its divinity equivalent: but he had no real time to care about it right now, and he still felt like himself.

STATUS

Name: Jack Smith

Affiliation: -

Age: 22 Years

Cultivation Cycle[?]/ Level: 1

Race [?]: Human (F-)

Cultivation Stage [?]: Qi Channeler- Initiate (Current race limitation:???)

Innate Talent [?]: Not discovered.

Cultivation Manual[?]: -

Class: Basic Swordsman [Defensive]

Skills: Qi Shield

Primary weapon: F minus one handed sword.

Secondary weapon: -

Feats: -

.

.

.

[Not Unlocked]

Statistics:

Physical [?]: 1

Sensory [?]: 1

Thought Processing [?]: 1.5

Qi (Pool) [?]: 10/10.

--------------------------------------

Please maintain a standing posture to receive class confirmation.

Jack complied with the request, standing up and wondering how he would get his delivery.

Turns out when you’re the fragmented soul of a divinity, logistics isn’t exactly a problem. Jack was awestruck when the hiking clothes he was wearing metamorphosed or rather were transmuted into a pair of warm leather gloves, a full sleeved dark navy blue shirt whose sleeve ends were covered by the gloves, brown trousers that were tucked into long leather boots meant for weathering the terrain, affixed to the waist with a perfect fitting belt. Before he even realised, he was holding a straight double-edged sword with a sharp tip that was bluish-silver in colour, with a small silver cross-guard for balance and some sort of white covering wrapped around the hilt and a circular pommel at the end. It felt perfect, but it was only maybe twenty seven or eight inches long. It was long, but when Jack measured it up from his shoulder to the tip of his hand it still felt a little bit short. That was to be expected at his height, but he was satisfied.

The next instant he felt a presence around him, and then compressed information flooded his mind, causing him to drop his sword and grab his head in agony with both his hands. Thankfully, the sensation was gone the next instant.

This time though, Jack didn’t have a grimace on his face. Picking his sword back up and holding it in his right hand, he slashed at the air in front of him. Then, taking two steps back in quick succession he clenched his left arm in front of him and said “Shield.”

“Shit, I’ve always wanted to say that,” Jack grinned at having his childhood dream satied, and watched the magic happened. A perfectly round shield that was roughly nineteen or twenty inches in diameter materialised, connecting to the back of the hand and the upper portion of the arm. The shield was a shimmering, translucent azure blue and Jack could feel the energy coursing from somewhere below his heart, maybe near the stomach, and flowing through his arm. He unclenched his hand, and the shield dissipated.

What Jack was trying to do was correlate muscle memory by assigning the motion of clenching his arm with activating the automatic qi transfer process, and deactivating it by unclenching. If you asked him to explain how he did it, he would be unable to- it was like having incomplete pieces of information forcibly crammed together in his head.

Jack practised again, with two slow slashes in quick succession, then bringing his shield and opening it. Then again, but faster. Each time Jack practised, he would up the tempo by a notch, and three minutes passed in quick succession.

27 minutes have passed. You have 33 minutes remaining before the trial starts.

The Inventory has been unlocked. You have received a gift from your sponsor.

“All that talk about fairness and she sends me a gift? Is she playing me?” Jack looked confused, but complied regardless.

Inventory:

-500 nourishment capsules (One capsule removes food requirement for twenty four hours)

-500 hydration capsules (One capsule removes water requirement for twenty four hours)

- 5 Recovery Pills (Heals non-lethal wounds over the period of five hours)

- Familiar Collar (Rank F+, untradable, inventory-bound, restricted).

“Is that what I think it is?” Jack grinned as he looked up to the sunny sky with gratification in his eyes.

He selected it, and a light pink fluffy collar materialised in his hands.

Inspect skill unlocked. You may now inspect items.

Naturally, Jack chose to do so.

Familiar Collar, Rank F+ (untradable, inventory-bound, restricted)

Note from sponsor: Hey Jack, don’t think too much and put it on the cat. You can unbind familiars later, but this will make the cat smart enough to follow basic instructions. Also, %[email protected]%%$$% $#@$, ah, come on at least let me tell him to #$%#@%. Seriously? Don’t die, Jack. Oh, that one went through. And that wasn’t cheap, you know.

Description:

Restricted to unranked animals. Binds any one unranked animal to the user. Increases intelligence by 0.35 percent. Animals receive the gift of languages.

“Luna, come here,” Jack called out, and beckoned her. She was still curled up in the corner, and it was the first time he had seen her usually haughty cat act like that.

She still remained curled up on the spot, and as Jack went closer to her he realised that she was slightly shivering. She wasn’t sick from the looks of it, but Jack still reached for her forehead to check for the temperature. Jack felt a tingle run down his spine when he realised that his cat was fine, leaving only one likely possibility: Cats share a lot of common features with predators, and one of them is to sense another predator. Normally, she should have run away or hidden herself but she didn’t. She just sat there, cowering in fear.

Sweat ran down Jack’s eyebrows as he realised the most likely possibility: the predators were in every direction. There was no place to run.

“Objective. Remember the objective,” Jack whispered to himself, as his shaking, unsteady hands gently placed the collar on Luna’s neck.

Familiar Bond Detected: Do you wish to appoint a female cat as your familiar? You may only have one familiar at one time.

“Yes.”

Please decide the familiar’s name.

“Luna.”

Familiar bond confirmed. You may view familiar statistics in the familiar section. The familiar will now understand your command, but may choose or not choose to obey it.

“Hey Luna, can you nod to show that you understand me?”

His curled up, shivering white cat finally stopped, getting up and looking directly at Jack. Her intelligent eyes stared at Jack with curiosity overwhelming the earlier fear she felt. She tilted her head and then bobbed downwards, and then upwards, emotionally moving Jack.

“Okay Luna, if anyone or anything attacks me- you run away, okay? Run away and then come back when you feel the threat is gone. Nod once if you understand/”

Luna seemed to have gotten the hang of it, looking at Jack and nodding again. In friendlier circumstances, Jack would be the proudest cat owner in the world. His hands were still shaking, but at least he got to see a magical sight.

Jack then left her on her own, spending the next ten minutes speed reading through all inventory descriptions and detailing them in his mind, building an understanding of all the buzz words.

First Trial- Survival.

Duration- 60 Days.

Instructions- Cultivation can be achieved in two ways: cycling qi using cultivation manuals until you reach the next cycle, or killing another life form and receiving a part of their cultivation cycle.

For your purposes, you may choose to use either of the methods, or none. Be warned that the use of basic cultivation manuals will take a minimum of ten years to show any significant results. The objective is to survive for the stipulated period, using any and all means necessary. Killing another human will also result in an increase in the cultivation cycle along with receiving all the Tutorial Tokens in their possession, as well as the most valuable item in their inventory.

The Cultivation Alliance does not forbid cultivators from allying with each other, and there is no limitation on the number of allies you can recruit into your fold. Cultivators cannot trade or give away any item received from the system. Any such items traded shall lose their efficacy.

During the period of this trial, the cultivator may encounter the following: Genetically modified predators from Earth, weakened enemies or oathbreakers of the Cultivation Alliance, recreated dungeon[?] monsters and [???].

A Citadel that can contain up to 10,000 people has been positioned within fifteen days time of every cultivator at a brisk pace. Certain cultivators may have been randomly relocated to achieve this distribution. A Citadel is a safe haven where all manners of fighting is strictly forbidden, but requires 150 tutorial tokens every twenty four hours as upkeep.

Killing any of the three designated enemies rewards tutorial points, increases your cycle progress and comes with a small chance of receiving powerful artefacts or equipment along with hidden rewards. Reaching the next cycle shall automatically increase Physical, Sensory, Thought Processing and Qi Pool Parameters.

The Mini-Map has been unlocked.

Physical restrictions are now lifted. Your body has been upgraded to the minimum level of Physical, Sensory and Thought Processing the system considers for a cultivator. Those already above the parameters remain as they previously were. Note: Your physiology does not require sleep any longer.

Random blessings will periodically pop up across the map. These blessings will contain one piece of random artefact or equipment that may vary from F- to F grade. These blessings may be claimed within thirty minutes of discovery on the mini-map. Every blessing is guarded by a designated guardian, ranging from very weak to very strong.

Artificial light akin to daylight conditions shall be provided at night to ensure fairness of the trial.

Hidden pieces have been scattered near every citadel. No further information shall be disclosed at this stage.

Those who succeed in awakening a favourable unique innate talent shall be exempt from the trials and placed under the highest grade of protection.

Those who succeed in awakening a favourable Tier 5 talent and above, shall be exempt from the trials and be allowed to join a clan, sect or guild of their choice.

Note from Empryean Valik Shan: Those who don’t take risks, shall die. Those who take risks, might die. Choose well.

Note from Empryean Shal Xin: I shall accept the first three performers in the first trial as my personal disciples, the first fifty performers as honorary disciples, and the first thousand performers and core disciples of my sect.

Note from Empryean Weaponsmith Zanis Kai: I shall forge one, wait, whoa, whoa, Xin are you serious? Personal disciple? Really? When was the last time you took a personal disciple, again? If this old man’s memory serves him right, it was fifty thousand years ago…Damn it, I can’t have this primitive planet looking down on me. Uh, let’s see, first three get F- grade growth type weapons that can go up to C- grade personally forged with an Empryean Seal. For reference, it’s worth more than this solar system. The top fifty get a bunch of good stuff, and the top thousand get slightly lesser good stuff. Not like it’ll mean anything to you when you’re busy trying not to die, anyway.

Amendment from Empryean Valik Shan: I shall choose one personal disciple based on my own discretion.

Twenty minutes later, Jack had made all the preparations he could think of and could only wait for what was going to be the craziest two months of his life. He’d tried to get a head start and run back to the base camp, only to be violently repelled the moment he got more than a few dozen metres from his original spot.

All Jack knew was that he had an objective, and a method he’d designed to achieve it. That was all that existed and mattered in the present moment.

The First Trial hereby commences….