Red P.O.V

Red was thoroughly annoyed long before Mash had managed to succeed. She knew her skills and class, and she highly doubted that this kind of trial would work for her. A product of her family’s grooming meant that their classes were already highly specialized. She had known a little about what Fifty-One had said already, and even a little more too. This process of evolving skills would create more narrow and specific classes. Contrary to what most people believed; a highly specialized class was far stronger than one that could do everything. Then she remembered Mash and amended her thought. In most cases, a specialized class was stronger, but there were always some exceptions.

She knew that her friends were good people, but she couldn’t help but be a little envious of their situations. Mash and Luke especially. For all Mash was demonized, he was able to do so much with his class. He was powerful, strong enough that his race mattered little to most. Luke was another monster in his own right. While he probably wasn’t as strong as Mash, his class had even more significance. Yes, she was jealous.

Her class was a mockery; a callous reminder of the mistakes she had made. It was a consequence of her own weakness. She pushed the negative thoughts down and moved her focus back to the task at hand. Her class wasn’t weak. In fact, it was probably one of the deadliest classes someone at her level could get. Although it was hard to figure out what she could change easily. She had spent the first several hours trying each of his skills a little. She didn’t know how Mash knew which skills to pick, but she didn’t have the same insight. Thus, she had spent the first few hours just going through her skills one at a time.

She didn’t really know what she was doing either. The thing Mash had going for him, was the fact that he had done this before. She wasn’t so lucky or talented. The skill she thought she could change was her Perfect Bloody Clothing. It wasn’t that the skill wasn’t specific, and the perfect in the name implied that it was complete. However, she wanted it to be more than just simple clothing. She could change the shape or reinforce it with another skill, but it didn’t really protect her naturally. It was flimsy, and she wanted it to be more like an armor.

She had tried a few things already. It was easy to manipulate the shape, so she had changed into a set of plate armor. The skill let her manipulate its appearance perfectly, and it even changed color and texture to match what she had in mind. The texture was the strangest thing. It was still blood regardless of how it felt. It was hard to reconcile the cold metal on her skin with the knowledge that it was just blood. Her skills gave her a connection to all blood, but the chill that she felt on her body was too real.

There wasn’t much else she felt like she could do. How did she actually change the skill? Appearance alone was obviously not enough, but it wasn’t like she could actually turn it to metal. What if she layered it like Mash did with his skill? It was a thought and one that took all of a few seconds to accomplish. It didn’t work. It wasn’t exactly unexpected though. If it was as simple as replicating another’s tricks, then everyone would have evolved their skills.

What was the point of all this? It wasn’t like upgrading her skill would change anything. Her class was what it was, and she didn’t even really want armor. The protection might be nice, but it would be mostly worthless in most situations. Her blood body made most traditional forms of protection completely worthless. She let the armor dissipate and return to being simple clothing. As the armor broke down her helm vanished too. As the faceplate slowly melted away, she caught sight of Mash from the corner of her eyes.

A sharp prod of envy filled her as she saw him sleeping in one of the corners. He had finished the test and just rested now. Fifty-One had implied that Mash could go the next test if he wanted to, but he said he would wait for her. Well, everyone in the group, but he believed that they would all succeed. It annoyed her. It wasn’t just envy and jealousy either. His faith in them reminded her eerily of the expectations of her family. The way they silently forced her to try her hardest when she didn’t even care about the subject. That had been one of the many reasons she had left her family, and now she was feeling it again.

Her thoughts were like venom. They slowly filtered into her mind and exasperated her petty envy. Mash was just sleeping, and Red knew that her anger was unjustified. It was the childish response of someone who had a bad relationship with their family. Her pettiness made her feel pathetic, and she turned away in frustration. She didn’t hate Mash. No, her friends meant a lot to her. That realization only made her feel more self-loathing. She felt a slight but familiar rush of energy and grimaced. She just leveled up.

Mash P.O.V

The test had finally reached its end. Mash was well past bored at this point. He had tested his new skills a little, but they weren’t really all that complex. He had seen golems before and this wasn’t all that different. Instead of using his time on that, he slept while using his hibernation skill. Despite the name of the skill, he had never actually tried that before. There was a small hope that it would upgrade the skill.

The skill didn’t change, but he did feel like it was one of the most restful periods of sleep ever. He had to be woken by Priscilla which in itself was rare. Normally, his body would automatically wake him after one or two hours of sleep. According to Priscilla, she thought that he could’ve slept indefinitely if he wanted to. The healing effects of the skill were restoring his body while he was asleep. It would even deal with things like thirst and hunger. He could truly hibernate like an animal, and sleep for months at a time. Although that wasn’t something he really cared for.

Mash stretched his arms, as he looked over the others. The southerner was noticeably missing from the group. He had apparently passed the test already and had moved on to the next test. It seemed like Fifty-One didn’t need to observe. The only other person to pass the test was Red. Although she did by leveling. Mash had no idea how she had managed that, but she hadn’t talked about it either. He didn’t press her for information either. One look in her eyes, made him feel like she was depressed about something. He didn’t know everything about her class, but he just nodded and let the matter drop. Fifty-One had some way to know that they were telling the truth, and trusted them.

Currently, they were just waiting for him to send Timor off. He said that all four of them could proceed even though only Red and he had succeeded. Apparently, he would’ve let them go the next test, even if he was the only one to succeed. Mash stood close enough to the others and heard what Fifty-One was saying.

“Timor, I am sorry to say that you have failed the test. Thank you for trying, but I cannot let you proceed.”

Timor didn’t look offended or even bothered by the news. He spoke with a frankness that Mash liked.

“I am not talented. I didn’t expect to pass. My levels came from the monsters that surround my city. I had tried, but I am nothing more than a fighter.”

He didn’t sound the least bit dejected as he spoke. He seemed glad to learn of something new and was satisfied with his attempt. His failure really didn’t seem to matter to him. Mash could get that. Whether he passed all of the tests or not, he wouldn’t join this organization. It was useful to gain some information, but he didn’t really want anything else from them. Nor did he want to feel obligated to do any work or the like. He had done that already and hated it.

“There’s nothing wrong with simple!”

Jill shouted the words like a chant, and Timor smiled a little at it. Mash didn’t let Timor just like that though. He thought that they could be friends, and the mention of monsters interested him.

“Wait, take one of these. I can visit your home and help out with the monsters.”

Timor stared at the proffered sculpture. It was an imitation of Priscilla. With the changes to his skill, the creations were able to form even stronger connections to Priscilla. Not to mention that they formed a similar connection to him too. He would know where it was regardless of distance, and he was fairly certain he could communicate through it as he did with Priscilla’s real bodies. As the realization hit him, he made a few more and handed them to each of his friends.

“We can talk to one another through them.”

Mash explained to everyone involved including his friends. In the past, they had used the imitations for location, but now they could use it for communication too. The imitations of Priscilla were especially intelligent and could handle complex things like sending messages. He probably should’ve tested before this very instant, but he wasn’t the best at remembering the niche things. Although, he would be sure to test more of his creations later. If only to see how complete the creations' skills were, and if they could mimic his abilities fully or not.

“Thank you. Do come, although there is nothing to do other than fight.”

Timor didn’t sound all that grateful, but he acted it. Mash grinned broadly, showing his teeth as he spoke.

“That is exactly what I’m hoping for.”

Those were words that Mash loved to hear. He wanted to fight monsters, not worry about all the other stuff that keeps getting thrown his way. This place, these tests, and even the information all felt like a hassle. He was tempted to ask Timor if they could just join him, but he held his tongue. Information was too valuable to ignore, and he didn’t think that the others wanted to leave. They seemed curious about the next test and kept glancing toward Fifty-One. Mash was curious too, but he didn’t want to sit through another test like this.

Timor left shortly after saying his piece. The way he disappeared was interesting though. Fifty-One had pulled out a small knife from his storage. He walked over to one of the many doors in the building and thrust the knife into the door. The door didn’t splinter or resist the blade. The blade seemed to part the wood without actually damaging it. Mash didn’t get how that worked, and he understood even less as Fifty-One pushed open the door. It opened to a snowy landscape. In the distance Mash could barely make out some lights. He heard Timor sigh beside him.

“Home.”

It was a single word, but it obviously meant a lot to him. Mash wanted to follow him. The landscape was covered in snow, and he didn’t see any trees either. Interestingly, he saw no mountains too. Timor’s people were known to live by mountains. Mash was about to ask Timor about it, but Fifty-One closed the door as soon as Timor had stepped through. He grabbed his sides and exaggerated a shiver.

“Now that is cold. Well, let's get on to the next test.”