Kai stared at the mysterious rift; his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped.
The rift shimmered in an otherworldly glow, its edges crackling with thunderous energy—spreading across the air.
---
[You may now enter the rift to proceed with the tutorial.]
---
The content of the screen had changed, clearly telling him to enter the rift.
Kai, too, understood that and, without an ounce of hesitation, got up and took in a long breath.
'Thinking too much about the same stuff over and over will only make me start to doubt my own decisions... And that's the last thing I'd ever want.' He thought as his eyes reflected his presence of mind at the fullest—gleaming with confidence and nowhere near its past dull self.
He released all the air out of his lungs at once and stepped through the rift. And just as he had thought, the rift wasn't connecting two parts of a space together like a wormhole, but it was a portal that connected to a completely different space.
Just as he stepped through with his leg, it disappeared from his vision. But he could still feel it completely fine.
He clenched his fists, mustering his strength—he completely passed through.
***
Kai's vision changed completely.
As he stepped through the rift, he found himself in a rather peculiar place.
It was a huge colosseum; although rusted and broken with time, it still reflected the spirit of the warriors that once fought to death in such a place.
To warriors, this place was their sacred temple—something that they treasured more than their lives.
Kai stood at the center of the Colosseum, his eyes drifting in every single direction, checking for any potential dangers. But to his surprise, there was nothing.
The Colosseum was completely empty!
"Eh...?"
He was utterly confused as he had guessed that this place would be brimming with all kinds of monsters, but there were none!
And as if that wasn't enough, even the rift he had come from, had completely disappeared as if it never existed in the first place!
"What the fuck is happening!?" His voice echoed throughout the vicinity.
---
[Welcome to 'Trial of Strength'.]
[Your goal is to fight and defeat as many monsters as you can.]
[You will be considered passed for as long as you can defeat the first monster.]
[Special rewards will be given to those who surpass their peers.]
[Initiating the Tutorial in 3... 2... 1...]
---
Just as Kai had begun to think that he had been abandoned in a god-knows-what dimension, he was greeted by the late-comer system.
The countdown had reached zero and Kai immediately took his stance as soon as he got the gist of it.
He slightly bent his knees and solidified his feet to the ground, all ready to pounce at his enemy the moment it appeared.
In front of him, a light emerged out of nothingness and expanded as it hovered in the air.
In an instant, it roughly took the shape of a small body that looked nothing like a human.
It was a rather scrawny-looking body and a bulbous nose that took up most of the space on its face.
As the light began to subside, the greenish skin of the creature was revealed. Its eyes glowed yellow while he held onto a small wooden axe.
"Goblin? In a tutorial?!" Kai furrowed his brows as he recognized the creature very well.
Goblins were considered the most nasty of the monsters, a newbie could have ever fought.
They weren't powerful in terms of combat but in terms of intelligence? They were as sly as a fox.
Soon, as the light faded away, it let out a shriek that nearly deafened his ears. It was painful, but Kai didn't break his stance, for he knew that even a single mistake would cost him his life.
He clenched his daggers tightly and shifted his center of gravity forward.
'The more I give it time to think, the less likely chances to kill that little bitch.' a thought appeared in his mind as he was prepared to go all out.
Right before Kai was about to attack, he widened his eyes as he realized that the goblin had completely vanished.
Horror took over his face as his eyes darted in all directions, trying to look for any traces left behind.
As he turned around, his pupil shrank in an instant as he realized that the goblin was mid-air, trying to finish him in a single blow with his axe—merely inches away from his face.
It was a moment where even the toughest and most seasoned fighters would simply freeze in fear.
Kai had killed countless goblins with the least amount of effort, but even to him, doing the same in reality was a different thing.
No matter how much of an experienced player he was in the game, in reality, he remained an inexperienced fool who had never touched the sole of exercises.
Yet, for some reason, he remained way calmer. Even though his eyes had already lost all hopes of winning, his body for some reason, sang a completely different song.
Realizing that the axe was about to kill him, his body instinctively pushed itself backward—letting the axe only slightly graze his face.
"Kierk?"
The goblin too, seemed very surprised as his grin had disappeared. But Kai wasn't done there.
As Kai realized that he had dodged the goblin's attack, without any second thoughts, he decided to counterattack.
'Now or Never!'
With a sudden motion, he poured all of his strength into his hands and swung his daggers upward.
*Squelch!*
His blades pierced through the skin of the goblin and cut his muscles apart. His right blade stabbed through his neck while the other was dug deep inside its stomach.
Its green blood dripped through the tight wound, tracing the edges of the daggers.
The goblin's body had loosened up, for it had died the second his dagger impaled his neck.
However, Kai wasn't finished yet.
He then raised the goblins high up and, just like barbarians, decided to tear its body apart.
"LET'S FUCKING GO!" He shouted as though declaring himself as the winner; his thunderous voice reverberated throughout the Colosseum.
As he shouted, he poured all of his strength into his arms and pulled its body apart—slowly tearing his skin, muscles, tendons, and bones apart.
As its body split apart, blood splattered all around the ground and his body. His face was partially smeared in tiny droplets of blood, and his clothes became stained.
*Huff... Huff...*
His chest rose and compressed in irregular and erratic motions as he heaved for even the slightest bit of air.
"I... Fucking... Did it!" He muttered as a wide grin slithered onto his lips, his voice wavering with the lack of air in his lungs.
---
[You have Successfully passed the Trial of Strength.]
[• Would you like to go further? Or...]
[• Advance to the next Trial?]
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