Arin took a long deep breaths. Illusion of his little peaceful world was slowly crumbling. It was quite unbelievable.
If I knew it all earlier, I would not have wasted my life just studying — thought Arin. But it's all in the past. Now, I should focus on the present.
[Now that you know, It's not a joke. Let us go over few things to resolve some of the confusion.]
Miss Second spoke again, attracting everyone's attention to herself.
[As you all noticed. Each of you has awakened a Talent. Your talent is unique and progressive. Two people can have similar Talent but not the same. It's value may not be obvious. It is, however, absolute.]
A few murmurs started across the room.
"Does that mean everyone's equal? And I just have to work harder to reach the top?"
"Finally an equal footing."
Arin's eye twitched. She absolutely didn't say that. She said all Talents are unique not equal.
After giving everyone some time to digest the information. Miss Second spoke again.
[You also possess baseline attributes. Physical and cognitive capabilities measured in numerical value. For unranked awakened like you all average range is 4 to 6. While for normal unawakened people in you world has maximum limit of 5.]
Everyone just listened silently, making sure not to miss any important information.
[These basic attributes are divided in: Vitality, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and sense. All of these being self-explanatory on what they represent.]
[These attributes will help you survive your present and build your future potential.]
Arin started to feel dizzy. There are too many things to keep tracks of. Talent, six attributes and the class too which she didn't explain for some reason.
[Some of you may also possess traits. These are passive characteristics gained through life experience or other means. Some of these are permanent and some are not.]
Fu#k, I totally forgot about trait, just after few seconds of seeing it. Arin cursed inwardly. —I hope I don't have to remember it all the time.
[Your primary objective is survival and secondary is exploration. I will now allow limited questioning. Please be advised, I will only answer valid questions within candidate Clearance.]
"Why did you bring us all here?" another one asked.
[As I said earlier, you are here as chance to save your world. But you cannot save it as you are now. So have to evolve faster. We are here to give you chance to evolve faster.]
Someone immediately asked.
"Who is we? And how did you bring us all here?"
[Your first question need higher level of authority. And as for second question, answer is teleportation.]
Silence reign for few moments after getting new piece of information. Then someone said,"Can't I leave? I genuinely appreciate your offer to evolve and save the world but I don't want to participate. I just want to go back to my family."
[No. You cannot leave now but Successful completion of the Trial results in conditional release.]
Hearing that person's shoulders slumped and shadow crossed his face. "I'm trapped here and worse may family will hate me, thinking that I abandoned them."
Arin felt a little sad for the man and his family but he focused on the matter in the hand.
"What would you advise us regarding the trial so that we don't in it?" Arin asked before anyone else interrupt.
[You do what your race do best — Adapt. And most importantly explore. Without exploring you will not have sufficient knowledge and without sufficient knowledge, you will just deliver yourself to death's door.]
[Now thats concludes our Q&A session.]
Someone asked how long it would last. Another about weapons.
But Miss Second didn't respond to their questions anymore.
The orb pulsed again.
[Starter packs will now be distributed. Candidates Will receive one pack each.]
Small panel on the wall slid opened without a sound, revealing multiple black cube.
Cubes started move on their own. One after another cubes slided to people's feet.
A cube slided to Arin's feet. He crouched down immediately and opened it without any hesitation.
Inside : An outfit. A cloak with reconfigurable clasps. A multi-tool, firestarter and a big knife, Water flask. And lastly, all black plate. It was like a smartphone but not buttons and completely black.
Another chime.
[Your survival will be evaluated holistically and rewarded accordingly. Your future potential depends on your performance during this trial.]
[Trial initialization begins shortly. You will be transported to your designated zone randomly]
The orb dimmed and orb slowly transformed into a transparent wall, dividing the room into two. And then wall slowly turned opaque.
The timer also reappeared on the wall:
[00:29:59]
No one moved.
Arin exhaled slowly.
What's this wall for? Arin thought. But as he turned around he noticed there were only males on his side of the wall.
Was it intentional or unintentional? Probably intentional. He thought.
He then again looked inside the box. So that's why. Arin nodded to himself as he realised the reason behind the wall.
Well no point feeling shy at this point. Arin told himself as he positioned himself beside the the pillar.
Just because I can't change in private, than it doesn't mean I should act like an exhibitionist. Right? Or... Arin kept his mind busy with numerous thoughts while changing into the clothes provided by the entity called Miss Second.
Seeing Arin change into new cloth. Others also decided to do the same.
While mostly followed Arin footsteps on going toward pillar to change. Some decided to just to change right where they stood.
After few minutes everyone changed into new cloths. They put old ones in the box.
Outfits were slate grey and olive green colored with subtle markings.
This outfit included : Light weight undersuit & high collar jacket with pockets inside for map or small gears,scabbard slot for large knife.
Trouser with multiple pocket with secure closures, reinforce knees and hidden sheath along the calf for back-up baby knife.
Last but not leaving ankle high grippy and insulated survival boots.
Arin started doing some stretches and jumps. Well it is fitting but also not restrictive. It feels a little... Weird. But hey, Shoes are quite comfortable.
Some others were also doing same things checking for fitting and how much moment can these tight clothes allow.
While other were standing with box in their hand. Someone broke the ice.
"Are we supposed to carry this stuff or should we leave it here?"
Yeah. Although new clothes are definitely expensive. It doesn't feel good to just throw the old ones. As Arin was pondering like others.
Wall separating males and females slowly turned transparent and vanished.
Arin noticed that like them. Female candidates also had changed into new clothes.
They started to mix in. And soon everyone made many small group of their own.
Just as countdown hit 5 minutes.
Orb appeared again.
[Looks like everyone is ready. Now one last few things. You can deposit or withdraw things from your inventory with nothing more than mere thought. This will not consume any energy but it does need energy to function.]
Miss Second paused for a brief second as if making sure everyone was paying attention.
[So if your energy hit zero you can't access your inventory. You can check your inventory in your 'Status' page.]
WTF. It hasn't even started and we are already getting nerfed. Arin thought with lines on his forehead.
[And if you noticed there is extra item called dataplate provided in the cube. This is something akin to a smartphone with many other benefits like scanner, herbiary and bestiary etc.]
Miss Second paused again. What's up with small rest period between these info dump. Arin questioned himself.
[So it's advised to fully explore on your own. It will help you survive in the trial. It will boot-up once you entered the trial.]
As Miss Second finished her info-dump.
Countdown also hit 1 minutes mark.
Arin soon noticed it and tried to put what he heard in use. He intensely stared at his cube with his old cloth and cube suddenly vanished from his hands.
It worked. It worked on the first try. Either I am a genius or this is stupidly easy. Arin thought looking at his empty hands with a smile on his face.
Noticing him do it. Other also follow suit and one by one Everyone started to put their cube in their inventory. But some chose otherwise and put down their cube on the floor.
[Get ready you all will be teleported into the trial ground randomly in less than 30 seconds. You may suffer from motion sickness due to it.]
Arin kept looking at the count down.
[00:00:24]
[00:00:23]
[00:00:22]
[What about to come is nothing but a tutorial to what your future holds, So do your best.]
[00:00:13]
[00:00:12]
[00:00:11]
[Good luck, Candidates.]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:01]
[00:00:00]
Just as countdown hit zero. Arin noticed that somehow the big white room started to get more Whiter.
Arin found himself with so much light that even with close eyes he saw all white. But before he could do anything.
He suddenly felt gravity shift. And he felt like as if grip of gravity has been slightly loosen on his body.
As he started to see dark with his closed eyes. He felt the cold wind cutting through his cheeks like a sharp knife.
He slowly opened his eyes.