The dry man set up a safe house near the old castle site in the form of a repurposed cave. There wasn’t much space here, just enough to stretch my legs a bit. It did emanate a lot of dark mana, which had led to the dry man’s recommendation to advance in this very cave.

A lack of mana to absorb could lead to issues upon tiering up, after all. While I went through the trial, the old relic of a man had promised to start working on the array schematics by mapping out the old castle. If all went well, he would have a preliminary schematic ready by the time I completed my trial.

With that to look forward to, I settled down and made myself as comfortable as possible. I sat in the lotus position and breathed in deeply, savouring the calm that washed over me. I would need it, considering how bad the last trials had… hold on, what had the last trials been about again? Something upsetting, I remembered, but beyond that… Huh. Was it normal to forget? Was I missing something? Why hadn’t I thought about this at all? Why had the contents of the previous trials never been something to worry about in the past? Now that I was close to the next one, the strangeness of it all felt alarming. As if I was missing something. Unfortunately, my memories of the trials themselves showed no signs of returning. Thinking back on how panicked I had been after each one, perhaps that was for the best…

TIER 3 MAX LEVEL REACHED

Advance to tier 4?

I gathered some courage and initiated the system prompt floating before me.

Ding! Class evolution initiated....confirming background....noting behaviour....noting status....calibrating....

Ding! Commencing evolution!

Time to advance to the next tier. No matter what, I couldn’t let things end here. There was so much I still wanted to do, that I couldn’t do as a tier 3. As the light faded from my eyes, I steeled myself. I wouldn’t let the trial shake me this time. No matter what the system decided to test me with, I would be ready.

I opened my eyes on the other side, finding myself in an oddly familiar white space that I remembered from… from- from the first trial! Right, and the second one too! It was coming back to me ever so slowly, though I couldn’t remember any specifics.

I felt sluggish, as if my body weighed far more heavy than normal. Even small movements took more out of me, somehow. I could still mover freely, mind you, but it felt like all of my strength had been sapped, as if I had been rendered an un-awakened. My skills weren’t usable either, giving credence to this theory.

It took a moment for me to get used to this weakness but once I did I had to admit that this didn’t feel that bad. Not as bad as I seemed to remember, at least. Maybe my growth had affected my older memories?

I didn’t have much time to consider this further, as a system prompt appeared at that moment.

Gain 1?

“Gain 1? What did it mean by ‘1’? One of what?” I grumbled irately, before relenting and answering the system with a mental affirmation. Once I did, a rush of energy flowed into me, allowing me to breathe easier and returning some of my lost strength.

Ding! 1 gained. Are you happy?

“Happy? I suppose so…” I wondered aloud, not sure whether the system was listening in. The prompt disappeared without further action from my end, so it must’ve been. ‘Happy’ was a broad term, but I couldn’t deny that I was content to have some of my power returned.

A few moments later, I jumped back in shock as something appeared on the ground beneath me. Where previously there had only been me occupying this endless white expanse, there was now a body of an old man as well, its grey beard falling to the floor.. Or was it?

The corpse seemed completely still at first, but upon closer inspection, I noticed that the old man was still breathing, albeit barely so. Unfortunately, I didn’t know any healing skills that could heal others. Even if I did, I wouldn’t have access to it anyway. I was about to give up hope when another prompt appeared.

Give 1?

Lose 1? That seemed detrimental. But I couldn’t let the poor man in front of me die, could I? Surely the system meant for me to help out others in this trial. After some more consideration, I decided to take the risk and nod.

Ding! 1 lost. Are you sad?

I felt my body weaken, the air leaving my lungs with a forced sigh. I slumped slightly, adjusting to the change, before noticing that the old man beneath me seemed to breathe a little easier. This was no longer the raspy breath of a dying man. No, he simply looked like he was sleeping now.

The system prompt from before hadn’t disappeared yet, so I decided to indulge its curiosity.

“Knowing that the man might live, no I am not sad.” I replied to its voiceless ask, watching the prompt disappear a moment later. Strangely, the blue box reappeared above the old man’s sleeping body.

Take 1?

I shook my head, refusing to undo the gift I had given him, no matter how illusory the old man might be. Thinking that there had to be a different way forward, I decided to wait the prompt out.

While the prompt didn’t end up disappearing, no matter how long I waited, a new prompt did appear about ten minutes later. Unlike the former, this one wasn’t floating above the old man in question. Instead, it was addressed to me personally.

Lose 1?

I frowned, not having ‘1’ to give. Stubbornly, I decided to leave the system to its tricks and ignore it until something new came up.

Unfortunately, nothing new came up. I waited for quite a while, too… It seemed that the system was going to force me to choose. I would have to either take 1 from the old man or lose some energy myself.

I remembered the promise I had to myself before starting the trial. I wouldn’t let the system shake me, wouldn’t let it compromise my own morals. In a moment of impulsivity, I decided to ‘lose 1’.

Ding! 1 lost. Are you sad?

Instantly, it felt like I had been punched in the gut, I doubled over, falling to my knees as the energy left me. It became harder to move, each breath a laborious task. Despite this self-inflicted punishment, I couldn’t help but smile victoriously. I wasn’t used to such discomfort, but it would take a lot more than this to make me cower. I shook my head stubbornly, refusing to give the system the satisfaction.

A minute or so later, the system decided to try my patience. While the ‘take 1’ prompt remained ever present, the new prompt felt decidedly unfair.

Lose 1?

Great. Another one. By now my mind had been made up, however. If the system wanted to force me down this path, then who was I to deny it?

I didn’t hesitate to push it further. More energy left my body, now causing hunger on top of exhaustion. Another feeling that had become foreign to me. My stomach was warping, trying its best to make me aware of what I was putting my body through. Still, I remained steadfast in my decision.

This time, I waited even longer for a new system prompt. Only ‘Lose 1’ and ‘Take 1’ reappeared, however. At a certain point, I felt like I had waited for at least a day, yet nothing had changed. I only had three Helios-damned days to begin with! With a groan, I decided to push my body one step further and lose another one.

Ding! 1 lost. Are you sad?

At this point, it became difficult to keep my eyes open. A piercing pain ran through my body, but I was too listless to respond to it. At minus two, I was approaching the limit. An unawakened body couldn’t handle such torture…

I couldn’t give up, though. Stubbornly, I shook my head.

Lose 1?

I nodded.

Ding! 1 lost. Are you sad?

With raspy breath, I realised that I was on the edge of death.

Realising that the system was only going to continue down this path if I let it, I decided to nod this time, affirming that I was, in fact, quite sad. It wasn’t much of a nod, to be honest, but the system understood.

Gain 1?

Surprised at the system’s generosity, I hurriedly affirmed its request.

Ding! 1 gained. Are you happy?

Some strength returned to me as I returned to ‘minus two’. I could breathe again, but starvation was still an issue. I could only crawl to get around, which made the ‘Take 1’ prompt infuriatingly tempting. I refused to give in, but I did nod to signal that I was happy, hoping to be offered more energy.

Instead, a new body appeared a few meters away from the old man. This time, it was a little girl and she wasn’t looking good. She looked impoverished, her thin frame showing her skeleton hidden only by her skin and a thin rag that served as clothing, covering her body and leaving only her face fully visible.

All the same, it was obvious that this child was no older than 7. She was close to dying.

Thankfully, a system prompt appeared above her body.

Give 2?

I was about to nod in the affirmative, when I realised that doing so would result in my death. I didn’t have two to give…

I turned to the sleeping old man to my left, my eyes going wide as I realised what the system wanted me to do.