Infinite Realm

As the whole world shattered into glass particles which in turn disintegrated into starlight, a young man stood in the middle of all this with a sword in hand. He didn't seem to be bothered by the change of scenery as his eyes looked glazed.

Despite the change in location, Sato didn't seem bothered as he was still stuck in his head, recalling the recent memories of what had taken place. It would be a lie to say that he didn't enjoy that experience a bit. Though it was an illusion, seeing his parents once more made him happy.

It had been long since he had seen his parents and there was never any game that made use of one's memories against them nor was there any VR application that brought one back to their memories, so Sato never expected such to happen. Luckily, that encounter had unexpectedly touchd a soft spot in his memories that forced him to wake up. Nonetheless, the damage had been dealt. A forgotten traumatic event was awakened from within him but there was nothing Sato could do about it except to keep it down. After all, he wasn't forced by the game to participate in the trials but voluntarily chose to do so.

'I'm still weak. I still haven't forgotten about them.' Sato used his free hand to wipe off the tear drops on his eyes.

"Congratulations on passing the entry trial." Saimon's voice woke Sato up from his reverie. His figure slowly came into existence around 10 feet away from Sato.

"What you had just experienced was the entry trial where you are made to relieve either an extremely traumatic experience or placed in a fake world with your dreams made a reality. You only spent less than 9 hours but were able to break through the illusion. Though your result can't be said to be amazing, it's still acceptable."

Realising that he had arrived at a new spot, Sato surveyed the area with eyes. He discovered that he didn't return to the open space where Saimon had dropped him off before but instead, arrived in what looked like the interior of a building; or more appropriately, a palace.

The room, or rather hall, that Sato stood in was very large; so much so that a football match could be held within it with space for a spectator count of 500 or so to stand comfortably apart from each other.

There were two rows of pillars, 6 on each side, that marked the boundaries of the room. The pillars towered at an impressive height of 20 metres or maybe more. On the pillars were what looked to be coiling golden dragons that clung tightly to the pillars.

The ceiling of the building was very high that Sato could barely make out it's features. There were paintings and murals of what looked like mythical creatures and gods. As for the identity of these beings, Sato was currently unaware.

In front of him was a large corridor that lead deeper into the building. Due to the somewhat poor lighting, Sato wasn't able to make discern where it lead to or what was in there.

Apart from this, there was nothing else in here. There was no door behind him not any window, making Sato wonder how he had gotten in here.

"Where is this?" Sato asked Saimon.

"Can't you recognize it? This is the trial area." Saimon replied him with his usual servile smile.

"The trial area? I thought the plains was the trial area?" Sato questioned.

"Well, the plains was but an illusionary aspect that came with the entry trial. Ever since we passed the portal, we had arrived here." Saimon smiled.

"I see..." Sato came to a realisation.

"One question."

"Go on."

"Why the trial? The entry trial I mean." Sato asked.

"Well you see, the main trials of the Caventry was developed to train the Caventry properly while at the same time, rewarding each challenger. However, there's a limited amount of rewards to give out. So, the higher ups decided that not everyone could just be allowed to participate else, we might be wasting resources on weaklings and not have enough to spare for the worthy. Apart from that, there was still the fact that some of the trials required certain resources to operate them and randomly spending those resources just because one wanted to test their meager strength was deemed wasteful. So, the idea of an entry trial was brought in. Failure to pass it would prevent one from gaining access to the main trails and save resources for us. In short, you could say that the entry trial helps weed out the weaklings from the challengers." Saimon replied calmy.

"So, why this format? Why not anything else?" Sato asked again.

If it were just to weed out the weaklings, there were other ways to do so. A simple battle-type test would be enough to achieve this and it also seemed like the best way to do so. Sato wanted to know why it was an illusionary trial like what he had just experienced.

Saimon glanced into the depths of the hall, right where the corridor was, before answering, "Originally, it used to be that simple but as the Caventry faced the issue of annihilation and extinction, they made the decision to change the format of the trials. What lies at the end of the trials is the complete inheritance of a great civilization; something that could easily change the current power scale of the continent, tilting it in anyone's favor. The difficulty of the trials therefore, has to rhyme with the reward otherwise, anyone could easily get past the entry trials and go for the main trials. A test of willpower and mentality would be much better than one of strength for something like this."

He then turned towards Sato and continued.

"Of course, the entry trials weren't made to be ridiculously difficult for just no reason. Even the composition of the trials was made with a goal in mind; and that was to test one's willpower. By making one go through their most traumatic event once more, the test aims to see whether the trial challenger could free themselves from it. While one could say this is an extremely harsh trial, it still has it use. The inheritor of the Caventry's knowledge and gifts has to be one with a strong body, spirit and mind. Weakness in any one of these points won't be tolerated hence the reason why the entrance trial and the next few trials would test you on this."

"How about Snow Bird? Is she done with hers?" Sato asked. Snow Bird was Xue Yan's IGN, made by taking part of the literal meaning of her name[1].

Saimon shook his head, a bit disappointed.

"Not yet. She seems to still be having a hard time."

Sato didn't say anything apart from releasing a sigh as he could understand her situation. If not for the small incident that had occurred back then, Sato doubted whether he would be able to free himself from the illusion in time.

'At least I know the game is capable of such. I can avoid making such a similar mistake next time.' Sato comforted himself.

Sato then glanced at the system clock and noticed that only a bit above 4 hours had gone by. He was surprised that he had actually spent that long but thinking back, he didn't find it bad. In the illusion, it felt as if one week had gone by. If the same had happened in reality, Sato would have missed a lot and wasted so much time which wouldn't be good for him. Losing 4 hours was much better than a week but if the gains weren't worth it, then it was a waste of time. However, Sato believed they were worth it.

'Even so, Saimon said my performance was just acceptable. That means that my reward would just be stuck at the basic level.' Sato sighed internally.

"What's the duration for the trial?" Sato asked Saimon. He recalled that Saimon had previously mentioned that each challenge had an attached duration. Failure to complete it within the specified time was the same as failure.

"10 hours." Saimon replied while facing him.

'No wonder I got a pass.' Sato sighed internally. 10 hours in IR translated to 5 hours in reality. Sato only escaped the illusion after a bit more than 4 hours had gone by. No matter how anyone looked at it, that was just a pass and not a result to be so proud of.

'Despite trying not to, I still underestimated the trials.'

"Would you like your rewards now or later?" Saimon interrupted Sato's thoughts.

"I thought you said I would get them later? Once the trials are completed?" Sato was a bit surprised at Saimon's question. It was as if the old man didn't even know his own rules.

"That's for the rewards of the challenges from the main trial. The entry trial is different. You can receive the rewards right now. A word of advice however, it's best to take them later on. Doing so now could affect your final evaluation and possibly increase the difficulty of the upcoming trials. Of course, for that to happen shows how good the rewards are. Without a doubt, it could also help you get through the next challenges. The decision depends on you."

Sato hesitated a bit as he went into thought, before coming to a conclusion.

"I will take them once I'm through with everything."

Saimon smiled and nodded at Sato's choice before proceeding to walk towards the corridor.

"It's time for the next trial.. Follow me."