The Five Trials

"It is time for the Ability Tests to begin!"

"Or…well, not quite yet" the man said as he gave a light chuckle.

"First I have to explain to you the rules and setup of the tests."

"There will be five stages to this test. Depending on how you rank on the tests it will determine the ability you obtain. The better you do the stronger the ability, typically speaking."

"I will also mention in case you are not aware or didn't focus in class when this was taught to you, but remember once you go in there is no way for anybody to help you. Though the death rate is low there is still a level of danger involved. Since these ability towers are managed by a force of the world that we still do not fully understand there is little control we have once you go in."

"Now then, for the tests themselves I will list them off one by one."

"Some tests are individual while others will require groups. It usually ends up being 3 individual and 2 group trials, though that is not always the case."

"The trials should all be relatively equal in difficulty for the participants so you don't really need to worry about that too much."

"Cutting to the chase, the first trial is one that measures strength. While I am not sure in form that trial will present itself to you, you should keep in mind that strength is the answer."

"The second trial is one of speed. Much like the strength trial, as long as you remember to keep your focus on speed you should be able to come up with a reasonable solution."

"The third trial is one of intelligence. Use your brain to get through this trial."

"The last two are typically the team trials. Those are so random that honestly I can't tell you what you will face in those, so good luck."

Zaid listened to all of this with rapt attention. Though he knew some of the details he had never heard everything laid out this clearly before. Frankly the only test he was somewhat confident in was the intelligence trial, but he was determined to do his best on everything so that he could get the best ability possible.

Meanwhile the other students had varying degrees of attentiveness. Some continued talking with their friends while others listened closely like Zaid. In fact there was one boy at the front who though one would assume him to be a trouble maker do to his unique style, was actually one of the most attentive students there.

He was about 5 and a half feet tall with shorts and a tight pink tank top on highlighting his toned physique. That wasn't even half of it though. He also had hair that spiked up seemingly 2 whole feet and about 5 brackets and rings on each arm. He also had a tattoo of a dragon going all the way down from his forehead and seemingly snaking along his body on the right side until it made it down to his calf.

He was standing in the front of the pack closest to the speaker as he raised his hand to ask a question.

"Yes, spiky hair kid in the front?"

"I have a question"

"Obviously" the speaker mumbled with an eye roll.

The boy gave a slight chuckle obviously nonplussed with the speaker's comment.

"During the team trials, what happens if we were to kill or hurt teammates or people on the enemy teams?"

"Hmmm" the speaker paused and looked in thought with his hand on his chin. "Nothing I guess. As long as there is no proof it's not like there is anything we can do about it. It's not like there are cameras in there or anything" he shrugged.

The boy gave a thoughtful nod and went back to listening passively to the rules.

Upon hearing that question and answer though Zaid began to sweat a bit as he glanced over towards Nathan. Nathan looked back with a sneer and slowly slid his thumb across his neck to show Zaid that he was dead meat.

"Better avoid him at all costs or I might not even know how I died " Zaid thought to himself.

The man continued speaking.

"Anyway to help you guys with this test the city has provided you all with a weapon of your choice that you can grab before heading into the tower."

As he said this thousands of weapons appear in a flash of light by the entrance of the tower.

"Choose wisely because you will be allowed to keep this weapon even when you are done with the trials. Consider it a gift and a show of faith from the city for our bright stars of tomorrow."

"Anyway that is about the gist of it. You'll figure out the rest when you go inside. So if there are no other questions, you may now choose your weapons!"

At that everyone seemed to get pretty excited as they looked towards the all of the weapons lined up on racks by the entrance.

"I wonder what weapon I should choose." Zaid thought to himself as he looked towards the weapons.