SOML – Chapter 11: Trial by Fire

 Chapter 11 – Trial by Fire

…

A tattooed man stepped on the alley. Before him was another man. The shadows of the houses covered the latter. But his posture emanated the power of position.

“I did what you asked.” The man with the tattoo uttered. He shook his head. “But the wall was tough. There are only a handful of walls can compare to this one.”

The man within the shadows moved, leaned closer. “That is, of course. You don’t know the power of money. Anyway, help me one more time.” He dropped a small bag in the other’s hand. “Pick someone easy to dispose of.”

Craning his neck, the tattoo trembled when the man was fondling the bag. “This is the last time.” He turned around, footsteps silent, and vanished into the vast crowds.

The man stood and spoke towards the darkness. Behind him, a figure walked out. Black clothes covered its small built. “How about it? Done observing the school?”

The figure didn’t answer and vanished like a lie.

…

Von felt tired like the other days. The decreasing interest of his students troubled him. Not that he didn’t have a solution. He already inferred on what they wanted to hear. But it would spoil his teaching.

Thinking about it made his forehead creased. Strong people? Can he tell a story about murder? Or what about a massacre? They said massacring a million would make a hero. So, was it still inclined with morality?

Von wanted for these guys to become useful in the society; become strong and help build the Mortal Lands, not murdering people.

Von’s intentions were pure. He wanted to spread the same views he had with his master. The people’s innocence made the Mortal Lands a beautiful place. And Von just wanted to keep it.

“Knock. Knock.”

The sound alerted Von. He went up and opened the door. He saw Ryan waiting.

Ryan nodded at him and strutted inside. Von unbothered though. They had known each other for years. Before the birth of Meteor, the two of them were the priced genius of the county. They were even friendly rivals. Hence, they knew each other like brothers.

“What do you want?”

“Sarah is coming back.”

Von waited on what declaration Ryan had.

He imagined many scenarios, even including Sarah withdrawing from the academy.

But he was surprised that Sarah was coming back instead.

For a moment he lost himself and gripped both Ryan’s shoulders. Ryan scoffed from his reaction.

“I only heard it from the maid. So, calm yourself. Anyway, why someone as reputed as you become excited this easily?” The teacher could hear sarcasms from his voice.

Von released his hands before rebutting him. “You know it. If she came back, it will make news for the students.”

“Old fool. What do you think about the children, gossipers?” Ryan’s face darkened. But even he felt it funny.

“Aba. Children nowadays just like to idolize people so much. They haven’t seen the actual world. If they saw how brutal it is, they might just want to become normal people instead.”

“Von, don’t be a smart braggart. Even us were just born when the era had started.”

“That’s the difference between us. You have lost sight in front of you.” Von said with derision.

Ryan thought about the problem plaguing him and countered. “Don’t make me punch you, stupid fool. It is because of your unnecessary idealistic views that you are losing your mind. If you learn to become flexible, then this would not happen.”

“And here’s the one who is flexible. If you are capable, then why don’t you lovey-dovey with your daughter?”

“You wanted a punch, no? And when did you learn to use such words?” Ryan’s nostrils flared up.

“I’m just being flexible.” Von crooked his chin.

“Just an idealist.”

“Stoic yet hot-blooded.”

“An old man who wanted to be cool and mysterious.”

“Crybaby.”

“Sleep deprived.”

“Daughter complex.”

“Gay.”

“…”

Two pairs of eyes looked at each other before bursting into laughter.

“Thank you.” Ryan said, before hurrying to leave.

Von only watched him go before saying under his breath, “What’s wrong with being single?”

Funny enough, Von felt refreshed. Of course, he knew his friend felt the same too, judging from the difference of the latter’s face when he arrived and exited.

“Flexibility huh… Okay, tomorrow we will do something different.” Von smiled. He immediately cleaned his table and redid his notes.

…

After a long session of training in foundation arts, Sarah finally opened her eyes. The curtains were open, but there were no lights entering. Looking outside, there was a grey sky.

Standing up, she went to wash her face and her body. She took off her clothes, letting everyone to see the weights hidden inside it. Every time she removed each weight, a small thud sounded.

Done washing herself, she dressed herself, but different from the last time she went to school. She wanted to wear a dress again. But remembering her injuries from her father’s fight, which just scabbing, she shook her head off that idea and just dressed with a white t-shirt and black shorts.

Sarah hummed as she went outside, notifying no one. She glanced back and saw that no one was coming after her. A devilish smile appeared on her small face.

“Old fool, you think I’m going to school so you don’t have guards on me.”

“…” After a thousand years, her face crooked.

Though there was no one guarding her, there were many guards patrolling. Sarah could also feel the gazes from the shadow. So she knew she couldn’t sneak away.

“Did he calculate this? No, he is too stupid to do that. This is just a coincidence.” Sarah wiped off the sweat from her forehead. “Well, this is it. If I can’t then I can’t. Might as well gate crash through the academy.”

Thus, when the other students arrived, they could see a figure. A petite girl crouching down looking at the ants while beside her was the removed academy’s gate. It surprised all of them she was back. They whispered while continued glancing at the gate.

“I took an hour removing that stupid gate. These junks are really durable! What is the purpose of having strength when you can’t even remove such a lousy gate easily?” Sarah frowned while terrorizing the ants.

She snorted, but inside it delighted her. “Bullying the weak sometimes feel strangely enjoyable.”

“Sister, why are you targeting the ants?” A voice sounded behind her. She looked up and saw three boys standing together. And one of them was looking at her with a worried expression.

“They are ants.” She said.

“But they still have lives.” Ben became even more worried.

“Oh, if a Beast sees you, it will probably catch you.” Sarah enunciated. She stood up and walked away.

Ben became speechless and a little nervous. “Why would Beast want me?” He asked both of his friends.

But what Jigen said next scared little guy even more. “You are asking why? Of course, to eat you. A naïve kid like you are the most delicious thing ever.”

Ben blinked his eyes multiple times and stuttered, trying to erase the situation in his mind. “B-bros! L-let’s go now! It is almost time to enter.”

The two looked at each other before laughing.

…

Von entered the room right after the last student seated. He scanned the room and saw Sarah. An untraceable flicker of joy appeared in his eyes. Von steadied himself and coughed to get everyone’s attention.

“Ehem. Due to the coming of the festival, I would like to have a rice planting activity in the school’s garden.” Von paused, looking at the weird faces of his students. He nodded imperceivably.

“I know you are thinking. That’s why, I’m going to change it. And now, you are going to have a Trial by Fire.”

It was like a bomb the moment he said that. It exploded and rendered everybody shocked.

“Of course, to make it competitive, I’ll be giving rewards to those who accomplish the trial.”

“It can be a Formation Art.”

“A Precious-Grade Treasure, one that made especially for you.”

“Or a Precious-Grade Combat or Spell Art.”

Everybody immediately woke up when they heard the rewards and got super excited.

Only Sarah had peculiar face, hers was… twitching.

This teacher wants to kiss my boots, isn’t he? Sarah thought. Thus, she wasn’t happy at all. She even almost snorted.

Meanwhile, Jigen was having his time of his life. He felt that the god had given him this opportunity to shine.

Sarah? So what? She will still lose if I pulled my ace! Jigen thought. His face became evil.

His mother finished her project and finally came out of the lab. Then, she once again let Jigen play with a construct. He decided that he won’t be giving it back anytime soon because he didn’t know when he could play with it.

“Hm. Teacher!” Ben raised his hand. He rubbed the sweat from his nose and said. “What is Precious-Grade Treasure?” Jigen and Jed grinned at their friend’s expression. He was self-aware of his lacking knowledge.

Von nodded. “We call everything that can help human in a situation. For example, the chair you are sitting on is called a treasure.”

A few children who knew were skeptical. They looked at their chair for a second, thinking how it was considered a treasure.

“Everything you can see can be considered a treasure. This is because we don’t know when we will or can use it.”

“You might think that a junk is not necessary and cannot be of use anymore. But that’s where you are wrong. It can be recycled, in that situation, it can be a treasure for some or benefit everyone.”

“Everything in the world is sustainable. The things you thought are no more are only transformed into different things or as we call it different state.”

“However, if we only specify everything as treasure, then we will think of them having the same importance. So, we categorized treasures into four.”

“Common-Grade Treasures are the most frequent things we use in our lives. We use them in day-to-day works. The chair, your refrigerator in your home, etc. are examples of this category. Though, some of them have useability for fighting or survival. A knife is an example of the latter.”

“Next is Precious-Grade Treasures. This category pertains to the treasures that has capability of producing powers.”

“Some intellectuals called it Embryonic Form because they believed that these treasures have life but it was still a baby.”

“What I can tell you is that they are lifelike due to a one particular effect—it can choose its master. Drop a blood in it after forged so it will recognize you as its owner. After that, even if you die, it can never produce powers again. Unless, they are smelted and reforged again, they won’t recognize others aside from you.” Those who didn’t know raised their eyebrows and were wide eyes.

“The third one is Grand-Grade Treasure, a treasure that only Grandmaster can use. Only with that level, this treasure can exhibit his full potential.”

“A dagger of this grade is capable of stabbing through a couple houses a hundred meters away. It was called as Custom Prepubescent.”

“All Grand-Grade Treasures are once a Precious-Grade Treasure before.”

“However, the upgrade from Precious-Grade to Grand-Grade is very arduous because it needs to be in your possession at all times and be fed with your powers.”

“And lastly, Supreme-Grade Treasure. Though, Venerable can use it to some extent, only a Transcendent are capable of wielding its true might.”

“All of these treasures became the heirloom and cornerstone of humanity.”

“That’s how strong these things are.”

“Of course, Supreme-Grade comes from Grand-Grade before it becomes its current strength.”

“And its promotion is also much harder, it needed to accomplish certain criteria.”

“Though, unlike the first three categories, anyone can use the powers hidden within this treasure that’s why, every Supreme-Grade Treasure left behind by Transcendents become the heirloom or the cornerstone of the humanity.”

Transcendent, every time Ben heard this, he felt increasingly awe instead of being numbed to it. Others were like that too. Regardless if they were from a clan or not.

“You might ask why there’s no treasure categorized for Venerable Level. This is because… the reason is still too far away from you so there’s no point telling.” Von teased. It was rare for him to tease others, excluding Ryan and the people closed to him. But today, Von wanted to make an exception.

This might be too late, but changing means he was progressing. Von thought and felt refreshed.

“So, that’s it if you don’t have any question. Line up and go towards the garden.” Von clapped and everybody hurried to fall in line. Ben, Jed and Jigen stood together while Sarah was on the very back.

When the children were finally in the garden, Von once again caught his student’s attention.

“Before anything else, I’ll explain the trial.”

“First, the location of the trial is in the Illusory Realm. Of what is Illusory Realm, that is something you need to discover in the future.” Von smiled.

“Second, there is no injuring of classmate and more importantly, no killing.” Von became stern this time. An overpowering aura appeared from his body, shaking the children to their core. Even though they knew their teacher was amazing, but they didn’t know the extent.

Strong! Sarah thought. Even for a Grandmaster, this aura was so strong. She considered him top class if compared to others.

The aura disappeared as if it was a lie. The children only woke up when his voice sounded again. “Third, this is not on the level of Life-threatening danger. In short, your life will not be in danger. You might get injured and because of that I will evict you. But don’t worry, I’ll only count the heavy injury. If not, what’s the point of trial if you can’t experience hardship.”

“Fourth, there are many traps and ferocious animals inside, so you will get injured.”

“Fifth, I want you to find me flags. Though, you only need one flag to get a reward.”

“Sixth, you will be in a team of three people but with a twist, once any of the team member exited, this also disqualifies all other members. Hence, you will also accompany your teammate to exit the realm.” The teacher said with a hint of satisfaction and glee.

Sarah, oh, Sarah. You might think I’m here to kiss your boots. But I’ll teach you a lesson to be a good girl. Feeling satisfied, Von called the members of each team.

“Because we have fifteen students, we will have five teams. The first team—Sarah, Ben and Jed.”

“Second team—Jigen, Nina, and Mimosa.”

“Third team—Jay, Ayill, and Terrence.”

“Fourth team…”

Finished, Von scanned each team and nodded. But he seemed to remember something and opened his mouth. “Oh, I remember. You may need one week to search for a flag so you may not be able to attend the festival.” Von chuckled. “Do you still want to go to the trial?”

The children hesitated. But the chance of experiencing this made them affirmed to go. They knew only strong people were qualified to undergo a trial.

Seeing them agreeing, Von let out an ivory grin. His eyes turned into saucers and chuckled. He pulled something out from his pocket and threw it at center of the crowd. A few took a step back. But most of them were only looking at the slow object flying towards them. Then a swooshing sound emerged. Like a black hole, air and fallen leaves were soon sucked to the thing. Right after it was the distorted image of the helpless children.

And with the final swooshing sound, the place became silent and tranquil. The only difference was an orb appeared, tumbling down the grassy ground.

…

“Argh! Too irritating.” Like a volcano, Sarah erupted in so much fury that she punched a boulder beside her. Crack. Her fist dug a layer of piece on the boulder. Two youths gawked at the monstrous sight.

“Bro, with my sturdy body, I still probably live, right?” Ben asked Jed while the latter look at him speechless.

“Probably… not.” Jed pursed his lips.

“What you two babbling about?” With both hands on her hips, Sarah glared at two. “If you have the energy, let’s think of something so we can survive this thing.” Then she climbed on top of the rock and sat there.

There were many types of Trial by Fire. Sarah had joined one of it before, so she knew how hard it was to complete.

One and the most straightforward was to fight several individuals one by one. They also used this when the taker was still weak. Thinking of her classmates, she thought that this was the most proper trial. The thought didn’t cross her mind that they were going inside Illusory Realm. And had to stay for one week.

Honestly, she wanted to go in the festival. It was not because she finally had time, but because of her feelings towards her father softened a bit. She wanted to spend the festival together with him if possible. She had hoped that maybe their relationship could become closer.

But Von just messed it up, at least for her.

Steadying her breathing, she glared at two boys and gestured for the two to sit beside her. They looked at each other, their thoughts were visible in their face. “She definitely has more energy than we are, just look how she punched through the boulder.” The two were uncomfortable, but they nodded at Sarah before sitting together with her.

Sarah cracked her fist and started. “First, we are trapped in an Illusory Realm. Do the two of you know what it is?” The boys shook their heads.

“An Illusory Realm is another world.” The boys were wide eyed by her first sentence. Sarah continued her speech.

“Though it’s called another world, it doesn’t mean real. But also, it doesn’t mean it’s called illusion, then not real anymore.”

The duo became confused. What is it, really? Is it real or not? Is it an illusion or not?

“The rock we are sitting can be real or not real, depending on how much resources the teacher has procured and consumed to build this.”

“Any individual owning an Illusory Realm can use resource to gradually make illusion into real objects.”

“Most people describe this as similar to building constructions, but actually, the best description is that Illusory Realm is like a baby. Then, its owner needed to feed it milk in order for it to grow into a grown man.”

“In that situation, the Illusory Realm will grow into a new world if our teacher succeeded.”

“And being the owner of such world, you can do whatever you want within it.”

Both Ben and Jed were tongue tied. Creating a world? The amount of their imagination could not keep up with Sarah’s information.

“He is basically a god…” Ben muttered. His eyes were dreamy.

Sarah scoffed from their reaction. “It is just creating a world, not enough to be amazed.”

“Creating a word is not amazing?” Ben asked, taken aback.

“Nope.” Sarah denied him without hesitation.

“…”

“And from my point of view, this Illusory Realm is more than half completed already hence, we can expect and be wary of all things here. They might not be deadly due to our teacher’s manipulation and he might even make an order to the realm to automatically saving everyone who is in deadly situation, but we still can’t expect things from going our way.”

“What do you mean by order? Is the realm alive? Like a pet?” Ben blinked hard and stare wide eye at Sarah.

“Didn’t you hear what I’ve said? The realm is like a baby! Of course, it is alive.” Sarah gave a disdainful look at Ben.

“That’s it with the realm. It’s true that Illusory Realm is too far for us to know, especially you two. So, we need to plan our days here, unless you want starve for one week?” Sarah took a side glance.

Jed cleared his throat. “Then we need to find our food first. You and teacher said that there are animals here so maybe we can use them as food.” However, he thought of something and looked at Ben. “But our hunting skills are poor, so we can’t do much.”  Ben only replied with scratching his head.

Sarah looked between Jed and Ben. “Then, what the two of you can do?”

“Why don’t we introduce each other first? I am called Ben and…” Ben spoke when he saw Sarah looking at him. But before he could continue, her angry face interrupted him.

In a flash, Sarah arrived in front of Ben. She punched resolutely, making Ben stunned, scared and not knowing what to do. He could only cross his arms in front of him and close his eyes while awaiting the impending fist before him.

Bang.

Ben opened his eyes. He saw a figure flying backwards. It was a furry animal standing on all fours. The development shocked the two boys. The duo thought Sarah was furious with Ben, but she was actually saving him.

“Hey you two! Stop looking like a fool. Help me corner this animal.” Sarah barked. She licked her lips and took a stance.

The boys stared at each other. They stood beside the girl in caution.

“You two attract it. I’ll strike at its blind spot.” Afterwards, Sarah circled around the animal.

The animal growled at Sarah, but it felt something moving in front, so this took its entire attention. Jed slowly walked forward. His entire focus was on the animal.

He didn’t have time to train because he needed a lot of resources. He hadn’t earned because the shop was new. So he was stuck in only exercising. But he was still positive that he could kite the animal if he focused.

Meanwhile, Ben didn’t know what to do. Thus, he made a noise he thought that might attract the creature.

Hulala~ Strange words coming out from his mouth while waving his arms and stomping his feet. Ben started to enjoy what he was doing, which almost made the others slipped on their feet. They didn’t know if they were going to cry or laugh.

Growl. Unfortunately, Ben caught its attention, and it sped towards him.

Scared, Ben threw his entire body on the side to dodge. However, the animal was nimble and pounced again towards him the second it landed. This time, there was only a small space between them. Thus, Ben crossed his arms in defense.

The furry creature uses his paw to push him. Its animalistic thought was to push down the prey before snapping his neck. But the furry creature was instead bounced back.

Ben looked at his arms and to the animal before he started laughing. He raised a finger and shook it a little before proclaiming, “You can’t do anything to this awesome lad.”

The speechless Jed looked at him. But Sarah grasped the opportunity. Like a cheetah, she dashed with vigor and jumped towards the animal. She kicked its head before it could stand. It knocked the animal unconscious, but Sarah still checked it to be sure. Feeling its breathing, Sarah caught hold of its nape and its mouth before twisting it.

This action scared the lights out of the boys. Especially Ben. He was still gasping out for breath. But when he saw Sarah finishing the weakened animal, he felt muddled headed and fell deaf from his surroundings.

“Hey, Doofus. Come, carry its body.” Ben woke up when Sarah called for the third time.

“Me?” The little boy looked blank, pointing at himself in confirmation.

“Hm. And you Turtle, skin his fur. We are going to have some feast tonight.”

…

Chapter 10 | Chapter 12