Is this really a Game?!

Reign travels through the darkness of the portal. He closes his eyes as a sharp golden light flashes before him. As he opens his eyes he finds himself in a massive hall that was seemingly made out of gold. The glittering gold creates an otherworldly atmosphere as he marvels at the sight before him. Looking around he can only see the huge golden walls and pillars that support the roof.

“This is the trial space, what kind of place is this exactly?” Reign thinks to himself as he continues marveling at the seemingly endless hall.

[ The first trial is starting. ]

The system suddenly says in his head.

[ Player 06, class swordsman, ability rank S lightning manipulation. ]

[ Mark of Zeus detected. ]

[ Proceeding with the trial. ]

Reign listens to the numerous notifications the system gave. He wasn’t interested in them as he simply swiped them away from his sight.

[ First Trial has started player 06. ]

[ Survive the onslaught of the dark army for as long as possible. ]

“Dark army?” Reign muses to himself. He tried to remember if there was a mention of any kind of army in Greek mythology, but he simply couldn’t. Putting the thought to the back of his head he takes out his katana and his broken sword.

[ Please be advised player 06, all skills and item abilities will be reset after the trial is finished, do use all your strength in clearing each trial. ]

“Oh, it will be reset?” Reign exclaims curiously. Looking down at his golden katana he clenches his left hand. “Seems like I will see the power you hold much faster than I expected.”

Suddenly.

Thump, thump

An organized series of loud footsteps could be heard coming from the end of the hall. Tens of soldiers clad in black were coming towards Reign.

[ Lvl 20 Dark Soldier ]

Even after using his inspect skill Reign wasn’t able to find out anything about the soldiers. He didn’t even know if they were normal or elite enemies. Looking at the way they moved and how uniform they all were he knew that the battle would be hard.

“Can’t let them surround me, that much is certain,” Reign says as he starts walking towards the soldiers. He looks at his free attribute points and decides to use them.

Strength + 2

Agility + 2

Endurance + 5

Vitality + 5

Now that his two lowest attributes hit 30 points he felt stronger. His whole body was slightly burning as he could feel every inch of it brimming with power.

“Hmm, so there’s a qualitative effect when all stats hit 30 huh, that’s good to know.” Reign smiles as he charges at the soldiers. Without holding back he immediately uses his lightning stab together with strengthening his body with mana. In a flash, he appears before one soldier as he stabs towards him.

Clang!

The soldier however managed to somewhat block his attack with the shield.

Screech

The collision however produces a sharp metallic grinding noise as the power behind Reign’s attack was a bit too much for the soldier to handle so hastily. His shield gets pushed back as the sword’s edge goes at the left side, making a gash on the shield before plunging deep inside the soldier’s right shoulder. The lightning explodes as the soldier gets electrocuted by its immense power.

Swish

Reign jumps back immediately as two swords slash at the place he previously stood at. Reign looks at the soldiers with a serious expression. The wounded soldier never uttered a single cry, even after being stabbed and electrocuted. They were either people that went through hundreds of battles and developed immunity towards pain, or they couldn’t feel pain altogether.

“Strength, speed, and reaction above that of a normal monster, but still beneath an elite, this is going to be troublesome.” Reign looks at the side as he was able to spot more soldiers approaching. Swinging his two swords he clads himself in lightning as he channels mana throughout his whole body. ．

“Let’s begin.”

At another trial space.

Bam!

Flames erupt everywhere as two draconic metal giants get pushed back.

“Damn it, what the hell are these things?!” Wolf curses as he dodges an attack from another draconic giant. The 5-meter tall statues had a head resembling a dragon’s while the rest of their bodies were humanoid, except their hands which were a pair of sharp claws that had a dangerous glint to them.

Bam!

The fist of the draconic statue leaves a big hole in the dark floor of the hall they were in. Pale blue flames hung in the air as they illuminated the ghostly looking hall Wolf was located in. The statues were relatively slow, but the immense strength and defensive capabilities of their bodies more than made up for it.

“They just had to be made of metal huh, no matter then, I’ll turn up the heat and melt you down, if that doesn’t work then I’ll just smash those huge bodies of yours apart!” Wolf shouts as he charges at the approaching giants, there were a total of five of them attacking him, with more slowly approaching from behind.

Swish, swish

Beast was jumping from one branch to another as he tried to navigate through a jungle. With every passing second, he would launch an arrow in a seemingly random direction. His forehead was covered in sweat as he continued going through the jungle.

Swish

Right after firing an arrow while in mid-air he was able to hear an arrow in front of him. Spinning in the air he could see the seemingly harmless, completely wooden arrow passing next to his head. With a swift motion, he grabs the arrow mid-flight, in one fluent motion he completes his 360-degree spin while notching the wooden arrow on his bow. Swiftly he releases it in the same direction it was fired off.

“Ugh!”

A cry of pain could be heard from the front as Beast continued full speed. As he was passing he could see a man falling down from one of the huge branches. The man’s upper body was naked with many tattoos decorating it. His lower body was covered by a simple fur rag that came down to his knees. He wasn’t wearing anything on his feet and many blisters could be seen, a consequence of climbing and running barefoot through the rough terrain of the jungle. The person looked similar to the natives of the jungles of South America.

The many archers going after him were evidently incredibly familiar with the environment as they were able to swiftly follow him and attack him. Beast still hadn’t brought out his wolves as the lush jungle would make it very easy for the enemy to simply hide and take them out from afar.

With a determined expression, Beast continued forward, shooting his arrows while giving it his best to dodge the opponents. His trial was different compared to Reign’s and Wolf’s, instead of surviving he had to kill all of his pursuers and find where they came from.

Bam!

Bam!

Bam!

Tank was down on one knee as he blocked three powerful attacks from a huge monster in front of him. The monster looked similar to an ogre but with some obvious differences. It was completely covered in fur and had three eyes on his head. The third eye was positioned in the middle of the forehead and gave a creepy vibe to it. Around the area, a couple of smaller monsters of the same type could be seen.

Tank was protecting a squad of soldiers he was given command on. The soldiers were terrified of the 3-meter tall monster that suddenly appeared before them, before the monster could crush them with its spiked club Tank rushed forward and blocked the attacks.

“Fucking piece of shit!” Tank shouts as he stands up and attacks with his scythe. The monster meets his attack with its club, and as it was wielding the club with both hands it managed to push back Tank’s attack. Before the monster could rejoice however Tank took a step forward and bashed it with his shield, making it lose balance.

Before he could continue with his attack the other monsters attack and he goes back to help the soldiers. That was his task, eliminate the monsters dwelling inside the huge cave while protecting his soldiers and minimizing the casualties. Babysitting wasn’t something Tank enjoyed doing, with his party he only needed to block the attacks of the strongest monster while the rest took care of the others. Sometimes he wouldn’t even do that, he would simply charge with the others to kill the soldiers.

“I hate this trial!”

In a dark hall where light could barely be found Shadow was crouching behind a pillar while looking in front of him.

“Tch, can’t see anyone.” Shadow clicked his tongue in frustration as he held his two daggers in his hands. He was already here for some time and managed to gain a couple of wounds. He was frustrated because his trial was something he found annoying.

He had to use the darkness to his advantage and take care of the many assassins found in the hall. The assassins however weren’t simply going to wait for him, as they were all moving around and trying to kill him as well.

“It’s like playing hide and seek, just much more annoying.” Shadow curses as he continues looking in front of him, unaware of the approaching figure behind him. The figure was already at an arms reach behind Shadow, slowly it lifts his right arm which was holding a dagger.

“I simply need to have patience and then, attack,” Shadow whispers before swiftly turning around and stabbing the figure in its chest. His two daggers immediately get the poisonous acid inside the body as the poor man’s intestines start melting. Slowly the man goes down before Shadow hugs him and softly lays him on the ground.

“On to the next one.”