NOVEL FROG Chapter 194. The first Trial
Leo opened his eyes and blinked, yet the notification was still there, waiting for his answer. He looked around, confirmed that no one was anywhere close, and reached toward his link to Nyx.
Are you awake?
He had to wait a bit for an answer to come. 'Now I am,' the feline muttered groggily. 'What's going on? It's the middle of the night, and I'm tired from yesterday.'
He frowned. Neither of us needs sleep to recover. Why didn't you just consume some Voidlings?
'I'm mentally exhausted,' she grumbled. 'You try listening to annoying humans who think you are some kind of a pet for almost the entire day and don't get tired. If Malcolm wasn't there, I would have eaten them all.'
That bad?
'Like you wouldn't believe,' she whined. 'So what is it, Leo? I really want to go back to my nap and forget this past day.'
Got ya. I will be quick then, Leo promised. I finally decided to check out those Trials of Primes. The System isn't too forthcoming with information, and I'm wondering if I should go for it.
'Why not? At worst, you can probably cancel whatever happens.' Nyx paused for a moment. 'You think this trial will trap you in something?'
He furrowed his brow. Trap? Not not sure about that, but if it's something time-consuming, then I should wait. We have enough going on as it is. The Trials aren't going anywhere.
'I still think you should go for it. At least see what happens. You have been helping people in Eden almost the entire day. You can spare a few hours for this.'
I guess... He sighed, looking back at the notifications. I will do it then. Thanks for the push. Go rest. I will let you know what happened once you wake up.
'Wonderful,' Nyx mumbled, already half-asleep. 'Have fun, Leo.'
Sweet dreams, partner, he said back and closed their link. His focus then returned fully to the System prompt, and without any more hesitation, he gave his answer.
Begin the trial.
Acknowledged. Please relax and don't resist the pull. The land behind the Veil is waiting.
Leo didn't have time to react to the new notification, as his world turned black within a second. The feeling in his body disappeared, yet his mind's consciousness remained. The pull came next, sending him flying across the infinite darkness.
Like the notification warned, he didn't resist and let the alien sensation take over. Thankfully, it didn't last long, and just as quickly as the darkness came, it disappeared just as fast. Of course, like most methods of travel within the System, it had to be painful.
Shit. He grunted as his body crashed into something hard. His eyes opened a bit and then widened as he spotted a vast tropical jungle surrounding him from each side. The Void had no claim on it, and even the sky above him was blue.
"Where the hell am I?" he muttered, picking himself off the ground.
"On the edge of reality and the Veil," a voice, or rather a combination of voices, filled the small clearing.
Leo spun around and narrowed his eyes at the black ghost floating a few feet above the ground. It had no unique features—just a mouth attached to a half-transparent blob.
"And you are?" he asked cautiously, remembering his last meeting with weird ghosts.
"A collective," the voices spoke as one again. "We're the shades of Primes chosen to guide you during this trial. Our name is not important. Our past is gone. Here, only your progress matters. Are you ready, young Prime?"
Leo frowned. "What is the Veil? Why are you helping me? What are the trials?" he fired off question after question, hoping to gather more information.
"The Veil? You will learn soon enough. Why are we helping? Because that's the purpose of all dead Primes. It's our responsibility to assist the new generations and find the strongest among them. As for the trials?" The ghost smiled. "Tell us, are you ready to begin?"
Guess that's better than nothing. He noted, mulling over the collective's answer. "Say I am. What about the real world? How long will this trial take? I can't stay here for too long."
"Time is inconsequential here, youngling," the ghost informed. "Once you finish the trial, you will go back to your real body as if nothing ever happened. You won't lose even a single second."
Time dilation? And to this extent? Leo blinked. But how? Nikra said that shit like that isn't possible even inside a soulscape. Just what the hell is this place?
Despite those thoughts whirling inside his head, he gulped and nodded. "I'm ready."
"Excellent!" the ghost exclaimed. "After much consideration, we've decided to begin with the Trial of the Hunter. After all, you're a hunter who cannot hunt. We shall fix that."
Leo bristled. What did they mean by that? He might not be the best hunter out there, but he sure wasn't the worst. His job and previous evolution pretty much guaranteed he wasn't hopeless.
"You aren't hopeless, that's true," the collective reacted directly to his thoughts. "However, you're missing plenty of the basics. You have no idea how to properly track your target. You have no idea how to use your Hunter's Pulse effectively. That's what happens when you progress too fast without ever stopping to practice all of your abilities."
He winced, unable to deny any of that. While he tried to train as much as he could with his skills, he pretty much ignored his chosen job and everything that came with it. To him, Hunter's Pulse was just a way to scan buildings for danger.
"All right." Leo looked up at the ghost. "What do I need to do to complete this trial?"
"Nothing too hard. It's your first time here, after all. We shall begin with the proper use of Hunter's Pulse," the collective explained. "It's an ancient skill, one developed before the age of the System. Its potential is nigh limitless if used currently."
"Up until now, you have been using it in combination with your will, intent, sense of sight, and very limited Essence detection," the ghost continued. "For a beginner, that's not bad, but to use this skill to its full potential, you must utilize all of your basic senses and improve your Essence detection. Only then will nothing be able to hide from you."
Leo furrowed his brow. "And how do I do all of that?"
The ghost smiled. "Immerse yourself in the environment. The rest will come with practice."
"That's all?"
"Indeed. That's all you will get from us." The collective nodded. "If we led you by the hand during each step, you wouldn't learn anything. Good luck, youngling. We will return once you succeed. Then the real test will begin."
The ghost faded out of sight without giving Leo a chance to speak, leaving him alone in the clearing. He still tried to call out for it, hoping that it might return, but of course that didn't happen.
"Dammit..." he muttered, sitting on the ground. "Nyx? You hear me? System?"
Again, no answer came from anywhere. He was trapped here, just like he had feared.
"Brilliant."
At this point, Leo just had to hope that the collective's statement about time dilation was true and that he had unlimited time. If he didn't... Well, he was pretty sure Nyx and a few others would have some nice things to tell him once he woke up.
Better get to work, then.
Crossing his legs, he gathered some Essence into his hand and pushed a general intent of 'detect' into it. He also tried thinking of all his basic senses while doing that.
To no one's surprise, it didn't work. The Pulse still went out into the world and lit up some stuff in different colors. However, it wasn't any different from what he had done when following the trail left behind by Lily's group. His other senses definitely had no impact on his skill.
So thinking about them isn't enough. Could've expected it wouldn't be that easy. Maybe I need to let out a Pulse from my ears, nose, and mouth at the same time... No, that just sounds stupid... stupid enough to work.
And so, Leo gave it a try, and of course it didn't work. Not that he could even use two Pulses at the same time, much less three or more.
"All right, another thing to cross off the list," he muttered. "Let's try to go with what the ghost said."
Similar to his meditation when he worked on his soulscape, he closed his eyes and filled his body with Essence. He didn't release a pulse; instead, he allowed his power to seep slowly into the environment in small waves. At the same time, he focused on his sense of smell, hearing, touch, and even taste as he tried to feel everything around him.
Then suddenly, a massive Pulse escaped his body, and his eyes snapped open. He watched as his vision filled with dozens of colorful trails and other weird points of interest. A wave of whispers, scents, and tastes assaulted his senses, only to disappear a second later, along with everything else.
Leo blinked and shook his head.
Okay... That was interesting...
