Trystan stares at the grey fog encompassing the area ahead of him. They had all been gathered in the living room, awaiting the beginning of the Test. Trystan hadn’t gone through the very first Test, he’d only heard a few stories about the rare survivors of that first Test. Those who had gained extra points to begin the Tower with, those who had managed to claw their way up the Tower, only to be killed before the 2nd wave could even make it in. And so, because he only had rumors to go on, he attempted to give them all the information he did have on the Test he went through. The Maze, the creatures, and the prize, but it appears that the first Test was indeed different from the ones that followed.

Trystan was hoping that everyone else was doing better. They had at least been prepared for the next blue box, for transportation into the Test. But he wasn’t sure that they would do as well as they were hoping. Luckily, the Test was actually just a test, and so you wouldn't actually die during it, but the points received were based on how you completed the Test, how long you took, and whether you managed to actually complete it. Everyone only had so much time to pass the test, and the points received would be pitiful if the Test ended immediately because you ‘died’.

Trystan shudders as he hears once again the hungry moans, grunts, and scratching coming from nearly everywhere inside of the fog. The nails scraping on the wood of the small shack he had found during his brief wandering through the fog. He had heard these moans before, but it was on later levels of the Tower, who would have thought that Zombies would be the Test for the first volunteers. Maybe that was the reason why they had gained more points, more abilities that were unlocked. Not that it really did all that much to help them survive, but they were not prepared.

Trystan thinks back to the blue box that appeared in front of them all before being transported to the Test. If he remembered correctly, the last time the maximum points able to be gained was 15000 total, 2000 from each additional reward area, and 5000 from the base completion. Beyond that, the Optional objectives were never available, which must be something related to the first volunteer’s only. Which means that there are additional rewards beyond the accelerated starter pack. This wasn’t something that had been mentioned in the rumors, so it is possible that no one ever actually managed to gain access to the additional rewards.

Congratulations!

You have chosen to participate in the First Test. As a reward for being amongst the first Volunteer, you will be eligible for an accelerated starter pack upon completion of the Test.

The System is now in the process of being initiated.

First Test Objectives:

Survive the Horde Navigate through the Maze Find the Exit Optional: Discover the hidden treasure. **Only Available in the First Test**

*Reward* Hidden Legendary Item

Optional: Discover the hidden Inheritance. **Only Available in the First Test**

*Reward* Hidden Ability

Optional: Defeat Hordemaster

*Reward* 10000 Bonus Points

Base Rewards:

5000 Points

Additional Rewards Can be Awarded up to Maximum based on actions in stated Category:

Max: 4000 Points *Survival*

Max: 4000 Points *Navigation*

Max: 4000 Points *Exit*

Max: 4000 Points *Style*

Max: 4000 Points *Combat*

Beginning Test in…

3…

2…

1…

Trystan thinks ‘Stats’ to pull up his Character Sheet.

**Warning** The System has not yet been initiated.

Please wait for complete system integration before accessing the System.

‘Crap’ he thinks quickly, first things first, he had managed to find a small safe place, but he would have to start looking around for something to use as a weapon. He could try and use some of the equipment that he brought from the military surplus store, but without system integration, it was unlikely that it would actually manage to do any real damage to the creatures outside. Glancing towards the back he spots an old rusted shovel leaning against the back wall of the shed, shrugging he grabs it and adjusts his grip taking a few practice swings. Until the System managed to completely integrate he wouldn’t be able to actually tell the stats of the weapons being picked up, but at least they would be a part of the System and be able to be used inside of the Test to their full effectiveness.

He shakes his head for a moment, ‘I’m overthinking this. I can’t just ride out my time here, I could get some survival points, but I’ve got to think larger than that.’ With that thought, he opens the door and prepares to step outside of his little hidey-hole.

Only to find himself face to slobbery face with a slow-moving zombie that had been standing there till just a moment ago. But the sound of a door opening and the first step forward causes the zombie’s head to slowly turn towards Trystan. Its arms going up to grab him and it’s head going forwards for the bite.

Trystan swings the shovel quickly at the zombie, managing to hit its shoulder, a large clang ringing out, he just knows that other zombies have turned their head towards the noise, towards the commotion that can now be heard. He has to finish this quickly, he rapidly starts wailing on the zombie with the shovel, the wide blade of the shovel just ringing again and again against the zombies giving flesh.

“Why...won’t...you...drop!” Trystan shouts as he hits the zombie over and over again, each blow driving the zombie backward a step, but not far enough, the zombie manages to grab onto Trystan, pushing them both to the ground as it continues to try and bite Trystan. Putting the shovel to the side he manages to place the handle into the zombie’s mouth, keeping it from biting him, as he rolls the zombie over. Finally, pulling the shovel free and kneeling over the zombie, Trystan turns the shovel and tries stabbing the shovel’s head through the neck of the zombie. It deals more visible damage and makes it partway through, repeating the same trick a few more times in rapid succession the zombie finally falls to his blows.

He quickly checks the decaying corpse, which doesn’t have much on it besides the rags that it is wearing, and stumbles to his feet. Already the sound of dragging feet and moans start approaching his location. He takes off into the gray fog. He has to find his way to the maze, survive the zombies, and attempt to cash in as much of the bonus points as possible. Last time through he started with a little over 6000 points the first time, only gaining a few of the bonus points available.

Now armed with a shovel, and knowing how to use it, he navigates through the gray fog, using the blade of the shovel to separate the head from the body of any zombie he comes across, he thinks ‘Stats’ again but receives the same error message. It would be great if he could actually see what bonus points he was earning in real-time, but apparently, that wasn’t available yet.

The zombies appear to thin out a bit as he reaches the edge of the fog, instead, he sees a massive wall of green leaves in front of him. ‘A Hedge maze, just great.’ Trystan thinks and he works to find his way into the maze. He knows that inside of the hedge maze there are bound to be more zombies, and with less time to see and react, and with limited space to try and outrun them...well it could get very messy.

The hedge doorway opens out, dried blood staining the ground in front of it. He sees an arm, partially gnawed on, grasping onto a pair of hedge clippers, obviously something that did not help the previous owner. He grabs onto them, keeping the shovel and using the belt around his waist to create a sheath of sorts for the shovel. Walking through the opening he can already hear the shambling dragging feet throughout the maze. Reaching out with his left hand he starts his way through the maze, following the maze with his left hand always touching the wall. It may take more time to find his way through but at least it’s a sure-fire way to find the exit.

While walking he reaches back into his backpack and rummages for a bit, finally pulling out a multi-tool, which he uses to slowly undo the hedge clippers, separating the combined tool into two separate handles with blades. While not swords, maybe they’ll at least be usable enough to make fighting the zombies a little easier. Besides, if they’re looking for style points the only thing better would be a chainsaw and a shotgun.

Trystan chuckles as he thinks about how he looks, some teenager walking through a maze with a pulled apart pair of hedge clippers as swords and a large camo backpack on his back. Hissing softly he stops his chuckle as he realizes that his voice will start calling the zombies over to himself again. Gripping each blade tightly by the handle in each hand he continues his way through the maze. The left blade trailing against the leaves, the slightest rustling sound caused by this, soft, but present.

As he progresses the moans and rustling of zombie movement begins to get louder. As he enters into the intersection of a pathway he can hear that if he continues down the left-handed path he will start walking away from the noise, but if he takes the right-hand path it sounds like it will take him right into the middle of a ton of zombies. He takes a deep breath and turns down the right path. The only way he can succeed this time around is if he actually manages to gain the points necessary to train and grow, to grow strong enough to overcome the obstacles in his future. He briefly thinks back to his friends and family and hopes that they are making a similar decision, better to try and gain the points and fail, than to just remain stagnant, either way, the based points would be gained.

His walk becomes slower as he tries to hide his presence in the maze, trying to sneak up on the zombies that would pull him apart if they got the chance to. He wasn’t particularly good at it, never had been, but it was better to try and be as safe as possible, especially when he was hunting a hordemaster. From what he recalled of the hordemaster, it could summon a large number of zombies to itself, to raise their combat capabilities, and to increase their speed. Perhaps the most dangerous factor of the hordemaster was that they were far more intelligent than their regular counterparts. This meant that for all he knew he could be walking into a trap right now.

Trystan gulps slightly as he considers that possibility, the sweat on his hands gripping the handles of his blades suddenly far more apparent. The soft crunching of the dying grass underneath of his feat louder than everything but his breathing as he becomes acutely aware of each and every sound, the moaning and scuffing noise just around the corner becoming scarier than it was before. He quickly looks over his shoulder behind him, his paranoia beginning to imagine breath upon his neck, but nothing is there.

Taking a steadying breath he begins his slow walk forward again. In front of him, the maze opens up he had reached the center of the large maze, but not the exit. Over a hundred zombies seem to mill about endlessly in front of him, a large marble building stands in the center of the area. Gold and Marble dog statues stand at each corner of the building, their cracked visages seeming to be long dead guardians against the ever-present evil entities.

Inside of the marble building he can see through the window a lone figure's shadow appearing to be walking in front of the window. That was the most likely object to be the hordemaster. While incredibly intelligent, the hordemaster were not particularly known for their direct combat strength, but rather for their use of zerg like tactics, just sending out wave upon wave to wash across the defenses of their target. If he could find his way into the building, without alerting the other zombies, he would stand a good chance of taking out the hordemaster.

Trystan starts to look around the clearing, there doesn’t seem to be any path directly to the center where the entire mass of zombies wouldn’t immediately find him, and alert all of the others. There was no way that, without even a single active point, he would be capable of taking all of the zombies at once. But perhaps he could draw them out, he would need to find a way to make a narrow point, somewhere where he could face one of them at a time, if he could do that perhaps, he could take them all at once.

He moves slowly back towards the corridor again, thinking of what he could do to actually make a narrowed opening. Thinking about what’s in his pack he can’t think of much, he might be able to dig a ditch, but the noise involved in that would be just as bad as yelling for them to come over himself. He had a few pieces of thick and durable, tarp, as well as some rope, but it was unlikely that that would hold to stop them for too long. He pauses for a moment, and thinks to himself, ‘Actually, that might work.’. If he could use his heavy-duty tarp, folded a few times, tie it up with the rope and set it so that the rope tying it taught was out of the zombies reach, and pinning the ground corners down with a stake, well that might make them think that there was a wall in there way. That could force them across into a single access point, one that he could be prepared for, reducing their numbers quickly and efficiently.

Trystan smiles, happy that he has a way to deal with the zombies and to make his way to the hordemaster. It may take some time, but it would be possible, and if he did it right he wouldn’t even need to face all of the zombies, just enough to make a stealthy entrance into the center building. He pulls out his rope and the tarp from his backpack and quietly begins setting up the faux wall. Tying the upper corner to the branches in the bushes of the hedge wall itself he tests the strength by pulling steadily against the rope, it gives slightly but remains steady enough to be used for his wall.

Suddenly he feels the eyes upon him again, a breeze on the back of his arms, and goosebumps rise along his body. Jumping to the side and rolling out of the way in the corridor he hears the snapping of jaws right where he had been. Looking back, he finds himself face to face with what can only be the hordemaster and a small pack of six zombie dogs by his side. A hordemaster who had come up from behind him...not from the center building.

Eyes widening Trystan can only mutter, “Well fuck…”.