Tide clenched his jaw, forcing another mouthful of the foul mana potion down his throat. As he began muttering the incantation for his go-to spell, several spikes of earth and stone shot out of the ground, skewering a number of zombies charging him; it was an all but futile attempt. The endless tide of zombies was simply too much for even Tide himself.

Cursing, Tide backed away while starting up another spell. He kept an eye on his mana to make sure that he had enough left for his next couple of spells. Luckily, the mystery potion had been A-tier. His mana rose steadily, ready to meet his demands.

His next spell created a trench in front of him, and the zombies mindlessly tumbled down into the pit, allowing the defenders around him a moment of rest. Tanks and Dps all began to down as many potions as they could while the undead slowly filled up the ditch and began to grab onto its edges. Without taking another breath, Tide immediately casted his next spell.

This one, titled “Burial,” made the trench collapse in a cloud of dust, putting the undead to rest once more—albeit it would only be temporary. Around fifty or so corpses were removed from battle with that one spell, earning Tide some attention. Unfortunately, not only his allies were watching his performance. Behind the lines of rampaging undead, a death knight noticed the bothersome magician and decided to end his interference.

Tide reached into his storage ring for another mana potion while the melee fighters once again engaged with the hoard. From the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of green moments before it collided with him. He died instantly: a one hit KO from a trial leader, just because he somehow gained agro.

Some games were just unfair. Especially this one, because it was real life. So just like that, Tide Blackwater passed away into the darkness, wondering what was to become of him.

**************

Suddenly, Tide saw a bright light, feeling a weird pull. When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in the middle of a large, panicked crowd. A large screen popped up in front of him.

Thank you for participating in our test run of the system and providing us with some insight into the human race’s capabilities. As a reward for your struggle you will start with an additional 10 silver this round. You are now a participant of the real deal. Please try not to die this time.

While some aspects of the test will be kept, many things will change. You will be spawned into a brand new starting village in order to curb any advantage you have over other subjects.

Tide read that over quickly before checking one thing.

“Really? What the fuck!” he shouted, making the crowd quiet and stare at him in confusion. Tide didn't care. He was pissed!

Tide Blackwater

Lv:1

Class: None

Health: 15 (Regen 3/h)

Mana: 20 (Regen 12/h)

Stamina: 15 (Regen 9/h)

Vitality: 3

Strength: 2

Endurance: 3

Reaction: 5

Agility: 3

Willpower: 5

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 4

Control: 6

All his levels, stats and skills were gone just like that. He had spent two years in a test struggling to perfect and hone his character, and all he was given was some god damn pocket change!

“Come on, couldn't you at least given me an op skill or something?” he muttered to himself, ignoring everyone else’s stares and decided to sit down while he waited for an announcement.

He might as well get his first skill while he waited for the world announcement. While everyone else around him yelled and tried to figure out why they were here and dressed in rags, Tide began to cycle his breathing rhythmically. He willed his mind to clear and attempted to reach down into himself.

He let his consciousness sit there until he found a trace of mana. It was a barely recognizable small wisp, but it was enough. He followed the mana’s trail to his mana well, the place it originated from. Just like any other person that started, it was clogged and could only be opened by more mana.

In the test, an old frail man was the first person to discover and unlock his mana well. From there on, he began to impart his mana onto others and opened up their wells for them. While that was certainly appealing and happened to him last time, it was really fucking painful and sometimes crippled the recipients as well.

This time, Tide decided to be the first to open up his mana well rather than waiting for someone else. In order to open up one’s mana well, one would need to weather away at the blockage by using the small amount of mana that leaked through. For the average starter, it would be incredibly difficult to use their mana in this way; it was like trying to move another hand that one didn't even know one had. Fortunately, he was not the average starter.

The world announcement took a bit to start last time to allow the people to calm themselves before receiving the message. Hopefully it would be enough time for Tide to open his mana well.

After a couple of minutes, a small crack appeared in the blockage and another strand of mana leaked through. By concentrating some more, Tide managed to grab it and bring it into fold with the other strand, increasing his speed.

As time passed more and more cracks appeared and allowed more mana through, exponentially increasing his whittling power. Finally, the blockage was weak enough to break through. He gathered up all of the mana inside himself into a ball and morphed its shape into a cone. By using his willpower like a hammer, he slammed the cone’s point into the blockage. It shattered, dissipated and allowed his mana well to spew out mana unfettered. The surge of mana coursed through his body and meridians before cycling back into his sternum, leaving his body saturated.

As the energy went through his body he felt revitalized and smiled as the comforting feeling of his mana returned to him. Tide kept on sitting on the ground with his eyes closed, lost in the feeling of the mana cycling throughout him, until a loud monotonous voice brought him out of his trance. A window popped up while the voice spoke and showed the system’s message.

Welcome to the Trials. Your species whose self-declared name is “Humans” has reached the end of the incubation period. As such all of you which are suitable candidates have been taken from your world to participate in the Trials. Right now, there are a total of 2 million of you that were selected to participate. Only two thousand of you may proceed to the next stage of the Trails.

The Trials are systematic challenges given to sentient races to separate the strong from the weak. If you persevere and struggle you will be awarded what you are due, but if you wallow in self-pity and do nothing you will die. Let me be clear, YOU WILL DIE. This is not a dream, a joke or anything else! It is a contest of survival.

After the first week, monsters will begin to spawn and will actively try to kill you. Additionally, at the end of every week after that there will be a monster wave during which a large number of monsters will attack in bulk. As time passes the monsters will grow stronger, more intelligent and more complex, so you have no time to waste and must continually improve.

Don't fret, order to give you some chance the system will give out classes and skills.

Each of you has been given a status page that will allow you to keep track of your progress. In order to look at it just think “status screen” and it will appear.

As a last piece of advice, train yourself as hard as possible during this first week and embrace the system. You will need its power to survive.

Good luck.

Alianda

Contender of the Third Trial.