Forcing himself up, Stanis picked up the dagger he had dropped, from the ground, before tensing himself. The ground which had been previously invisible was now visible to naked eye. This was due to the dead calf, now lying in a pool of its own blood, and also due to Stanis's last meal which now lay across the ground. It seemed the ground was some kind of advanced glass as you couldn't tell the difference between the air and the ground without something being on its surface.

His fur-coat, which had been light brown, was now tainted by blood outside and sweat inside. He would have taken it off was it not for the fact that his mind seemed to have short-circuited due to all this pressure; all that now remained in his head were instructions on how to fight.

One minute is up. Prepare to face the second trial.

Once again a metal pole formed in front of him: chained to it were two animals similar to the calf from last time. There were slight differences in the fact that these calves had bigger eyes and smaller, more defenceless bodies. However, the biggest difference was demonstrated when Stanis took one, firm step forward.

Both calves prostrated themselves down at him, before facing up with fearful, naïve gazes. Stanis couldn't help but stop as he saw this; their actions were far too much like humans, far too sentient to be just animals.

In front of you are two Monsters, both chained up. Kill both of them within 20 seconds or face your demise.

It was almost like the calves themselves also heard the vicious entity inside of his head as they repeatedly banged their heads into the ground as if begging for forgiveness. This was far too much for Stanis as he stopped dead within his path. He was only 4 steps away, and yet those 4 steps seemed so far. Enough distance for him to transform as a person, becoming a mutant unrecognisable with the current him…

Perhaps that's what the entity within his mind wanted; perhaps he would need to transform if he was to pass this godforsaken trial.

Tick

Tick

Tick

Once again the ticks seemed to be the biggest challenge to his morality: the pressure of closing death against the morality he lived by.

Tick

He let his body go; once again it was out of his control as it took a single step forward. The two calves seemed horrified at this as they began to weep, bawling with intensity as they stained the floor with tears. Perhaps that would have stopped Stanis, but this wasn't Stanis. It was the darkness within him, the evil inside of him which he had no connection to. And so anything it did was fine, right?

Tick

His other foot moved forward. Stanis tried his utmost to think nothing as he moved. He needed to detach himself from the moment as much as possible…

Tick

He was now within breathing distance of the animals. It was almost as if something had broken the switches inside of the calves as they now wept at a volume you would think impossible. Thinking nothing of it, Stanley placed his foot forward one last time before he stabbed downwards.

It was a clean strike, well bloody, but it was well performed. The blade slid through the calf's neck and out of its throat: it was dead in one strike. This time blood didn't shoot out like a fountain, instead, it was more like an open tap as the crimson liquid calmly flowed onto the ground, quickly creating a pristine pool.

In reaction to this, the other calf attempted to run away like its predecessor during the first trial. And as before, all that happened was that the chain grated against its neck, despite all its effort. Almost as if it was cursing him, the last thing it did was turn its head to look Stanis straight in the eye, before letting its trembling pupils let out one last tear as Stanis pierced downwards..

…

It felt like heart-ache, his chest felt extremely tight and hot. Finding no physical nor mental support, Stanis quickly found himself on the ground once more as he frantically attempted to clutch his heart. His whole body felt terrible, his whole mind felt horrible. Clearly he hadn't detached himself enough…

Well done. You have passed the second trial with 6 seconds to spare.

Here is your Status: [Average for your species is …]

Stanis Volkov

Age: 18 years

Level 2 (Progress to the next level is 0%)

Unallocated Stat points: 2

Strength: 12 [11]

Dexterity: 13 [11]

Constitution: 14[11]

Intelligence: 12[10]

Wisdom: 10[9]

Tenacity: 12[13]

Please allocate your unallocated points. You will have to remain strong to survive and thrive.

It was almost as if the entity was taunting him, poking fun at how he had fallen for its tricks once more. Stanis felt hatred blossom inside of him as he realised that he was only in this nightmare due to this despicable entity, whatever it was. It was slowly transforming him into its little slaughterhouse.

And yet he couldn't find anything inside of him to contest the entity's claim. Knowing such thinking would be useless, Stanis stayed on his knees for a few more seconds as he recollected his mind. He had to survive this; Stanis didn't know why, but alongside his blossoming anger had blossomed a strong feeling of self-preservation.

Within his mind, he expanded Tenacity.

Tenacity is the ability to go through pain and suffering, and remain in that path. It is the longevity of courage, the quality which defines how stalwart you will remain in the face of danger. You currently have Tenacity below your species' average.

Within his mind, Stanis told the entity to allocate both of his points into tenacity. Perhaps that would take away the immense, racking pain he was facing right now in both his mind and body. Instead, Stanis found himself disappointed as he noticed no difference whatsoever, to which he opened the Status once more to check that there had been a quantitative change. Because there definitely was no qualitative one.

Prepare yourself for the next trial. This time the monster will not be defenceless. Brace yourself for combat, the universal language of life.

You have one minute until your trial begins.

Stanis stood still as he waited, unable to decide what he wanted to do in the one minute given. He dared not to do anything to the three corpses of the calves that now littered the ground, since he knew seeing them anymore would only cause him to feel worse. It was by luck that his mind seemed to calm down a bit, and he instantly thought of stretching. And so he spent the remaining minute stretching his legs out and then his arms, followed by his neck. This would have little to no effect on the actual fighting, but it did allow him to calm his turbulent mind.

One minute is up.

As always, a metal pole appeared which was embedded in the ground. Chained to it was a calf as per usual. However, there were major differences from the previous ones, the biggest change not being in the calf but rather to the chain. The chain was twice the length of the previous chains around the calves' necks, allowing this particular calf far greater motion than the others had.

Next would be the calf itself: this one was a head taller than the others, so it reached his chest and was also not nearly as scrawny. On the top of its head, it had two pointed horns, both dangerous enough to cause severe damage in the right situation.

In front of you is a Monster. You have two minutes to kill it, else face your death.

While Stanis had stared at the horned calf, the horned calf did the same to him. It was during this time it saw blood dripping off Stanis's dagger. A quick scan of the area revealed to the horned calf where the blood came from. In response to this, the horned calf bellowed a roar wrought with grief. It then went on a rampage as it began attempting to charge Stanis, causing the chain to repetitively stretch out.

The growls of the horned calf alongside the clanging chains created thunderous sounds, which in turn heavily put Stanis off directly facing the animal. Seeing how active the horned calf was, Stanis decided the best way to kill it was waiting until it got tired, before going in for the strike.

For every second he waited, he could feel his adrenaline further build up as his mind and body anticipated the moment it would have to move against obvious danger. However, the adrenaline wasn't alone within his mind as fear hid at every corner. It was a minute later that Stanis noticed that the horned calf had neither calmed nor fatigued within the time.

He knew he had to make a move as he had already spent half the time standing still. And yet he couldn't bring himself to confront the enraged, horned calf. It was a few seconds later that Stanis noticed that calf was actually getting tired from moment to moment. In fact, it had been for most the time, it was just that it would glance at one of the bloody calf corpses before renewing its assault on the chain with greater vigour.

In an attempt to test his theory, and also an effort to build up some courage, Stanis ran over to the corpse in question before looking back at the horned calf. In a complete reversal to his expectations, the horned calf stopped moving and instead just stared at him with smoky eyes. If one looked close enough, you could see tears jumping off the eye-lid cliffs.

At this, Stanis picked up the corpse with both hands before walking slowly to the horned calf. He could clearly see the horned calf's calves fully tensed with veins bulging out. It was ready to strike the second he came into its range.

It was as he was a mere six steps away from the horned calf that he stopped. He could feel his adrenaline working its hardest within his body, and yet he still dared not walk any further. The calf's breath had turned white and rapid, adding to the tension alongside the other multitude of things at the moment.

Stanis could hear his own heartbeat as he stood there, staring at the calf. Within the next second, he could hear the horned calf shrieking in anger as its partner's corpse came flying onto it. Unwilling to harm its precious partner any more than it had been, despite it being dead, the horned calf didn't charge and instead dodged to the side. It was to its surprise that it saw Stanis right behind the flying corpse, his knife already striking down. The horned calf had no time to react as the knife flashed one last time before biting hard into the calf's neck, giving it just a few more seconds to squeal before it collapsed onto its partner's corpse.

Stanis had scrambled away in fear after he had stabbed downwards, before watching the calf collapse from a safe distance. Perhaps he would have felt emotion was it not for the fact that he forced himself to not think. He had no desire at all to think about what had just happened, each one of the calves had acted so much like humans and yet he had still killed them all. You could even see the intensity of love the horned calf had for its partner: that was obvious even to idiots…

Well done. You have passed the third trial with 11 seconds to spare.

You have levelled up!

Here is your Status: [Average for your species is …]

Stanis Volkov

Age: 18 years

Level 3 (Progress to the next level is 0%)

Unallocated Stat points: 2

Strength: 12 [11]

Dexterity: 13 [11]

Constitution: 14[11 ->12]

Intelligence: 12[10 ->11]

Wisdom: 10[9]

Tenacity: 14[13]

Stanis barely put any thought into his unallocated points as he immediately chose Wisdom. He needed all the wisdom he could get to remain sane in such a situation, especially with all the blood that was now over his hands.

Wisdom increased by two points to 12. The average living human has a wisdom of 9.

It felt the same as last time. He could not feel any instant effects, perhaps this was due to how low of an increase his statistics were having? Stanis' thought-track was quickly interrupted by the entity within his head.

Your next trial begins in 5 minutes. Prepare yourself well from the arsenal.

In front of Stanis appeared a small shelf of items. None of them looked very hardy, nor intimidating. Nevertheless, Stanis felt a small bit of sunshine after torrential rain as he saw pieces of leather armour.

A message from the host:" Well done humans. A far better effort this time. The next trial will be catered to fit your personal skill so far. Therefore do your best not to disappoint!"

Stanis Volkov, your skill in battle has been judged mediocre for your race. However, an exemplary example of cunningness and manipulation was shown by you in the last round. Therefore you will face the second hardest trial. Good luck!