Chapter 103 – Wandering

Tom stood silently in his system room and struggled to get his bodily reactions under control. His mind was spinning in response to what had happened. A thousand different thoughts were all shooting off simultaneously, crowding his brain with their clamour.

Each of the thoughts flared, often overlapping each other.

Briana was safe.                   

DEUS had actively manipulated MAKROS.

His good fortune of receiving gifts had been explained.

And courtesy of the title upgrade, his profit from that space was only going to increase.

Most importantly, Briana was safe.

And he couldn’t believe his spur-of-the-moment decision to call out the other GODs had set in motions the events that had occurred. That a single sentence had created such an uproar astonished him. Then again, he had known that the GODs took their rules seriously.

An impulsive act by him had allowed him to gain four levels on what had started off as a legendary title. It had already been powerful enough to earn him a tailored trait, and now he couldn’t wait to see what other goodies it would get for him. Better still everything he received would improve his allies. If he wasn’t barred from telling people about it, then it would have become an infinite money glitch, as it was. He wouldn’t be surprised if this was a multiplier to humans that was significant at the competition level.   

While that was amazing, it probably wasn’t the most important thing. MAKROS had been forbidden from giving instructions about humanity. On a macro level, that was the best of the bonuses. Personally, it was that DEUS had confirmed she had already spent a divine intervention to start the process of fixing the Briana situation. Once he was able to get the trio of them into a safe space, he could be honest with her and start healing the damage their fear had done.

He could hardly wait.  

But…

Now was not the time to do that, and it wasn’t just because it still wasn’t breakfast time. With a sigh, he returned to the common area of the divine trial, into the unpleasant smell and blue ground cover. Throm had been desperate to talk to him and Tom couldn’t refuse the request. The value associated with getting his Dange Sense disks up and running was too much to upset his primary teacher. The benefit didn’t just extend to the number of coins. The impact of denying Swift Hopes entry to the competition on ranking points had been significant. If he affected the trajectory of a species, then he would be awarded that benefit. A single species had been worth a million points. If that was the case what would happened if he started saving children across all the cohorts. If his disks performed as expected and saved lives, then he would get benefits from that. The potential returns were massive.

Crafting may yet be the catalyst for him to finish on top of the human ladder and potentially drag humanity to third place. Personally, he doubted it would be that lucrative. But the potential was there and only time would tell. The results could go anywhere, but while he feared they wouldn’t be valuable, he hoped for better.  

He had barely reappeared on the blue grass before Throm materialised in front of him.
Then a number of others, including Corrine, appeared a moment later. They seemed to have been brought by a teleportation spell cast by Vturalta.

The giant centipede shot forward the metre separating them and loomed over him. “Why did you leave? Your experiences are important.”

He raised his hands in apology, palm outwards. “Sorry. You know I had stuff to do. I just had to duck out for a bit to help DEUS. You know it would’ve been rude to keep her waiting.”

Vturalta and Connie laughed, Throm said nothing and Esedhuil, the DEUS priestess, shifted her posture in a way that the body language reading ability communicated as severe disapproval.

“And… I know what you want is important,” he continued. “Which is why I came back as soon as I did. I apologise. I just needed a few minutes to protest.”

“Next time don’t,” Vturalta ordered. “If you need to process don’t do it alone. You can do it in front of us. The way you did it there was a risk of false memories setting in.” Her tentacles were writhing in agitation. “I can’t force or anything like that, but debrief’s after running into a torturer matters. It’s certainly more important than whatever little crisis you felt like you are having.”

“He said he needed time,” Throm interrupted. “He’s here. Let’s let it go.”

“No, I won’t,” Esedhuil inserted, almost snarling. “None of us appreciated how flippant you were. You should not be using her name like that. She deserves more respect.”

“Presumably he had a crisis of self,” Throm said reasonably. “And wished to talk it out privately to his GODDESS. There’s no problem with that.”

“I guess,” Esedhuil said. “Next time just say that plainly.”

“Nothing wrong apart from the delay and the possible false memories that come with it,” Vturalta cautioned. “Next time, see us first.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m here now, so let’s go do the debrief.”

“Of course,” Throm said. “We appreciate you making the time.”

“Stop coddling him.” Esdehuil said. “He is here by the grace of DEUS. Doing this is his responsibility.”

All of Throm’s arms went up and down like a Mexican wave, which was a call for understanding and unity. “A bit of politeness can’t hurt.”

“Respect goes to those who earn it.”

Throm seemed to sigh at the hostility of the priestess. “His ritual disks demonstrates his value.”

“They are unproven. Both in construction and utility.”

“Not true.” Throm told her. “I’ve checked the archives and they’ve worked in the past. And he’s shown the technical expertise to create them as well.”

“Theoretically, I’m sure you’re right. Once they‘ve actually done what’s promised, I’ll be nicer to him. He joked about DEUS. I’m shocked he wasn’t smited.”

“It was a different way of saying praying.” Throm rumbled. “And the fact he wasn’t smited proves she was fine with it.”

“That proves nothing. DEUS is not that type of GOD, Throm. You know this.”

“We can agree to disagree.”

Having said that, he rushed off ahead and Tom was surprised by the centipede’s grace. It was like watching a freight train accelerate like a sports car and have the ability to go on stilts and turn at right angles to avoid people.

None of the others showed the same enthusiasm, and they accompanied Tom in what must have been a slow pace to them. Over two hours of gruelling interrogation, they teased out every detail of his encounter, down to what the bear’s breath had smelt like. Surprisingly, it had been pleasant, like honey mustard. The entire time they were cross checking everything he said to the archives, both to help them with the questioning and to supplement what he told them. After the bulk of the formal interview was completed, they switched approach to measuring him, and he was repeatedly challenged to duels against the open champions. There was no hope of success, but they used the battlefields to test him with a variety of different mind skills.

IT was enough to give him a headache.

“That was an amazing illusion. Can I get a few hours to practice trying to break it.”

“Yes,” Edeshuil told him. “I’ll do that if the practice benefit is higher than twenty percent.”

“What’s the practice benefit?” he asked the room.

“A little more than a tenth of half a percent,” a construct who had suddenly appeared answered.

“And that’s the problem.” She waved her hand as the construct vanished in a burst of muck. The open contenders, Tom had noticed really disliked the constructs. That had been an open secret from his first few minutes here. But he was surprised the Esdehuil given her faith, felt the same way. She must have sensed his thought patterns because her eyes narrowed. “They don’t self-dispose. They’re a joke the trial area does. If we fail to continually eliminate them, they built up to become a nuisance to navigating. Particularly for people in your bucket.”

“I didn’t realise.”

“No, there’s lots you don’t realise such as that training efficiency issue.” Despite the rebuke, she thankfully looked amused. “On that particular method of growing strength.” It was obvious they were both aware of titles, but she knew better to say it just in case. “Is why we don’t try that type of training. Mind you, your percentage is particularly high. Your aptitude or supporting ability must be very strong.”

Tom’s eyebrows rose. A fraction of a fraction of a percent was high? But given the exposure to powerhouses, he guessed that nerfing the acquisition method of titles that utilised that resource.

“For some of the others in your cohort two hundred hours would have been worthwhile. My time and theirs is cheap, but you’ve got the Danger Sense disks to occupy you and they’re a much better use of your time..”

“Yes,” Tom said stiffly, agreeing with her assessment. He felt embarrassed at having to ask. “Now let’s keep going.”

Finally, the tests finished. He felt like he had been thrust through a mental blender.

“Sorry again for subjecting you to this.” Throm repeated for about the tenth time. “But we’re pretty sure you have the following abilities.” On the table, a list appeared.

Tom read them and as he did so, he remembered that Dux had confirmed that he had hidden titles. They, he was sure explained the presence of these abilities.

·        Immunity from all illusions below tier 3.

·        Increased capacity to pierce higher level illusions.

·        Absolute resistance to all mental attacks up to tier 5.

·        Enhanced defences to higher-level attacks.

·        Immunity from language based mental influences. This includes audio, visual, and sensory languages.

·        Capacity to reflect back on caster lower tier mental attacks.

“That’s a lot,” he said neutrally while secretly jumping up and down inside.

“Very, very impressive for someone your age,” Throm praised.

“Agreed.” Esdehuil said. “Constructing this baseline allows us to derive the power profile of the trident’s abilities. And unfortunately, you being stronger than expected is bad news for the rest of your cohort.”

She wasn’t being judgemental or malicious, and she wasn’t joking. From the data he had given them, they had determined the species’ name and had constructed a high level estimate of the monster’s skill set, which included naming specific skills.

“Phillip and Zod are going to have to fight with a full GOD’s shield,” Esdehuil said. “At least until they can gain tier five mental suppression protection.

“Agreed,” Throm said. “Can you tell them?” She nodded. “Now everyone else clear the room. I need a moment with Tom.”

The others filed out.

The giant centipede focused completely on him. “Tom, were you aware that I have an Absolute Truth Sensing ability?”

“Um… No. I’m not even sure what that is.”

“It enables me to assess whether a statement is accurate and if there is an intent to deceive behind and, if so, the nature of how I’m being misled.”

“Sounds solid,” Tom responded while he tried to work out what he had said that was getting him in trouble.

“But it also does more than that. It allows me to interpret a statement’s absolute truth. Which is the test of not whether you believe it but if reality agrees with you.”

Tom whistled at that description. “Wow. You could use that as a divination ability.”

Throm snorted. “Like everything, there’s a backlash if it’s used outside of how it’s intended.” he was staring at him intently with all of his limbs stilled. “You haven’t worked out why I’m raising this have you?”

Tom scratched his head. “Um… Did something I said about the trident cause backlash? Did that allow you to more accurately assess what it can do.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then I…”

“The first thing you said.” Throm interrupted. “The very first.”

Tom tried to remember what that was. “Are you talking about my description of the alternative reality illusion?”

“No. The one Esdehuil got, incorrectly I have to add, upset about.”

“Ah, that one.” Tom cringed internally. It had been an inside joke that he had not been expecting to be challenged on. He went to apologise, but Social Silence stopped him. 

“I want to make this very clear Tom. I never want to ever hear anything like that again.”

“But it was funny because it was true even if no one believed me.”

“Tom please.” Throm’s legs were doing the anguished dance. “I know competition species are different, and humour can sometimes struggle to cross-cultural boundaries. But please refrain from doing so in the future. I don’t want to know. I’ll never want to know. You don’t understand the impact of what you let slip can have on natives. Never do it, again!”

With that, the centipede vanished.

For a moment, he stood in the empty room and then shrugged. There was more training to be done and of course, fixing things with Briana.   

Tom returned to his body to a flood of memories. Most of them were inconsequential apart from the most recent ones.

His eyes widened in sudden alarm.

There had been another confrontation.

Briana was running away from them distraught once more and Kang had grabbed his arm to stop him from following.

“Briana, stop.” Tom yelled after her, ignoring the other boy’s wishes, and then he violently shrugged off the restraining hand so he could run after her.

Kang didn’t try to hold on and free. He took a single step and then was forced to throw on the brakes.

A trial sphere, perfectly smooth in a way that defied reality was directly in front of him. He attempted to stop but was too slow, and his flailing arm made contact with the surface.

Instantly, he was suspended in the emptiness that occurred before entering a trial. Tom’s mind raced as he attempted to understand what was happening. It could be a new trial randomly appearing, but the chances of that even if the entire town’s community fate had been bent to that outcome was almost zero. That was not realistic.

Dimitri’s voice came back to him. “The darkhole trial will start wandering soon.”

A chill went down his spine at being so close to such an evil thing. Then worry gripped him. It wasn’t supposed to target children, but if it was targeting him, who else could it get? Panic swirled within him. If he had been entrapped because his mind was that of an adult, then that was fine. He found himself praying for that outcome.

Like his thoughts had summoned its attention black text appeared floating in front of him. Everything was perfectly dark, but he could still see it. The words were like a loot portal, burning itself into his awareness, and it was impossible to ignore them.

Do you wish to challenge the Explosive Growth, or as it’s known colloquially the ‘Darkhole’ trial?

“No,” Tom answered instantly.

If you do I can answer a question for you? Almost any question you can think of.

“No,” he repeated just as firmly.

For your peace of mind, everything I’ll say to you is truthful. I swear on the GODs.

Tom froze at those words. They were the truth, and he could rely on what it said and promised. It was how trial’s usually worked, but given the reputation of this one he hadn’t trusted it. But that oath meant it could neither lie nor even deliberately mislead him. It completely flipped his approach to the conversation.

If you do accept you have a significant chance of beating me.

There was no doubting the statement. It was the truth, but it lacked details, which gave it a lot of leeway, and it could be fooling him by omission. That was not something he would allow. “What does significant mean?”

Specifically, it means a greater than twenty-five percent chance of success. While it might be only twenty-five percent, it can also be far higher. The rules I act under mean that I can’t specify a percentage chance of success greater than that.

Tom’s mind raced as he tried to understand what had happened. No one had ever beaten this trial, and it surprised him that his chances were considered so high. He wasn’t a fool. The fact he had a chance was only due to his unique circumstances and that the trial obviously scaled to the challenger, whether that was based on rank, age, or physical development remained to be seen. On most aspects, he was well ahead of the bell curve. There was his relative over performance for his age particularly in combat, and he guessed his mental abilities. Immunity to all mind attacks up to and including tier five was not something that anyone else his age or rank would have. That might be what gave him a significant chance when everyone else had failed.

Tom licked his lips as always he needed more information. “Why did you offer this to me?”

I was randomly wandering.

“Can you swear to that?”

No more than I already have. To the best of my knowledge, this was random.

Tom hesitated, and he was annoyed that the communication was via text. He couldn’t tell whether his questions were making it angry or if it didn’t care.

He guessed it didn’t matter. His only play was to stick to facts.

What were the chances that the trial finding him was MAKROS trying to kill him. He remembered his recent encounter and momentarily his soul trembled. “Can you give me more certainty?”

Apparently, I can. That’s very Interesting such intervention rarely happens. Do you realise that you have the personal attention of GODs?

Tom did know. He tried to stop the involuntary reaction of his body and failed miserably. Adrenaline was pumped into his system and he started to sweat. “Yes, I did.”

Good. Then I can confirm that I was not influenced in the manner that you were worried about.

Tom mulled over that wording. He had been specifically troubled about evil GODs trying to kill him. By making the statement it had, that addressed that risk, but left open lots of other options for divine intervention. For example, DEUS could have organised it for his benefit.. Or even an act by one of the neutrals like GOBUS. She might have done it for her own amusement, and if she was running things, this could still be a death trap, even if it was not a malicious one. The specific phrasing the trial administrator had used concerned him. “Did you change the wording of that answer?”

No.

Tom bit his lip. “So, to summarise I have a greater than one in four odds of winning. This is not a malicious trap sent to kill me, but the GODs probably set it up.”

I can confirm the first two, but not the last. It could still be random chance.

“I understand. And if I beat you what happens?”

You are returned to this spot uninjured with rewards you have earned. No one will be aware of your acceptance or success at the challenge unless you tell them.

Tom sighed in relief.

What else? He wondered.

There was no point asking about rewards. They would compensate fairly for the risk he faced and given the fatality rate of the trial they would have to be material. “Has anyone beat you?”

Humans no. You would be the first. Champions from other species, then yes, they have beaten me.

“So you are beatable? How often do you lose?”

Approximately one in two million species beat the trial at least once.

Tom stared at those numbers and swallowed. A portion of him wanted to complete the trial even more now. After all, he had a significant chance of victory, but the sensible part of him drew away. Even if his odds of succeeding were above ninety percent. That was not a good gamble for him to take. The advantages that he would receive from the divine champion’s trial were significant, and that was on top of what the orphanage set up was giving. He did not need to engage in more high-risk high reward gambles to end up strong. “I’m not going to accept.” He told it formally.

But I can answer a question you have. Like why Everlyn wanted you to stop fighting? The best path to take to maximise humanity’s position in the competition. Or even how to go about stopping the assassins from killing any more people?

The trial knew its job and that middle question was very tempting. But it wasn’t enough. “No. The answer remains no.”

You know I don’t release those I contact easily. The fact you were selected implies there is a lever I can pull to make you accept.

“No means no.”

Absolutely. I can’t force you to do anything… But I wonder.  

Then he was expelled from blackness to the real world.

AG. Next chapter will be on Wednesday (two days time).

My season of misery continues. It's been a bad year (COVID, Glandular Fever, flu and now whooping cough). My eight year old was diagnosed with whooping cough (plus two other viruses) on monday morning after getting tests done on Sunday. He has almost certainly given whooping cough to me as I had an agonisingly sore throat last night.

The only good news is that the entire household has to go on antibiotics to control the spread (and I started my course before the sore throat got bad). Hopefully I've treated it before the more painful symptoms (cough) starts affecting me. And yes we're all vaccinated.