Alistar’s Trial

In Alistar's dungeon…

[So, do you trust me now?]

Alistar watched me carefully, probably expecting me to start fawning over him or some crap. I couldn't tell, where his face should be instead was a something akin to a pitch-black void.

This was one of the side effects of being a soul remnant, your physical appearance would resemble the one you had in life but only to a certain extent. There were other side effects such as partial memory loss.

I had a 'are you serious' expression on my face.

"But your face is a pitch-black void?"

"Not only that, your appearance is the epitome of the Grim Reaper but without a scythe."

Alistar couldn't help but chuckle at my retort.

['Grim Reaper' eh, you wouldn't be wrong to say that.]

On the battlefield, Alistar was a deadly assassin that once you were his target, death was almost always guaranteed to follow. Not only was he stealthy, he was extremely fast as well, making him hard to escape from.

[Then how can I earn your trust? I can't exactly reveal my face since I'm a Soul Remant. You do know what that is, right?]

I nodded. "Mhm, more or less."

Then pointing to my right shoulder, I told him what I wanted with a serious expression on my face.

"Take care of this wound and I'll trust you."

Alistar sighed.

[Goodness, how can you say that with a straight face…]

Muttering to himself Alistar broadly waved his hand at me.

*Creak!*

Hearing the noise come from above, I looked and saw part of the ceiling above us open.

[Catch.]

Something fell from the hole.

Catching what fell from the hole, I opened my hand to reveal a bottle filled with a red liquid.

"A lesser healing potion?"

Like the name suggests, healing potions heal the user when consuming it directly or pouring the potion on the wound. There are two types of healing potions, one that heals directly and the other is boosting your body's healing ability.

The potion Alistar gave should be the former.

[Yeah, it should be enough to take care of your wound.]

"Thanks."

I breathed in and out deeply after opening the potion, preparing myself before unwrapping my wound before yanking the arrow out.

"Gah!"

A intense shot of pain ran through my shoulder briefly, but it didn't stop me from chugging the potion.

While panting, I observed the wound healing at a remarkable rate.

'I know the effects of the potion, but seeing do its work is another thing.'

Moving my shoulder around to test it, I confirmed that it healed with no problems.

Nodding to Alistar who was waiting for me to finish what I was doing, he went on with his sales pitch

He outstretched a hand towards me.

[Back to my offer, will you become my disciple under one condition?]

[I will not guarantee you becoming the best assassin or scout from my short training, but you will become stronger from learning my techniques and skills.

"What is the condition?"

After immediately saying that, it felt as if the temperature of the room dropped.

I couldn't move. I barely managed to look down at my own body shaking.

'Kuh! This pressure! What is happening?!'

'Status!'

I called out to my status to try to see what happened, but it didn't work.

-[S!?#US E#R$R]-

I couldn't call it, something was interfering. This could only happen under a few conditions.

My eyes widened at Alistar as he spoke.

[Rebel against the Heavens.]

Someone that directly went against the Heavens had ways of escaping their prying eyes, the system.

Though it was not a 24/7 surveillance system, they would know when someone rebelled against them if they had a status.

I barely managed to mutter a word out of shock.

"…what?"

The pressure on me immediately dropped back to normal, but I was covered in sweat from it still.

[Though they did bless humanity with the system, giving us a chance of fighting back, they only see us as cannon fodder to thin the demons ranks. If we were truly capable of defeating a foe that the Angels couldn't, they would exterminate us to nip the bud.]

[You probably won't be able to contend against them directly, but support the rebellion. Of course, I'm not asking you to lay down your life but do what you can.]

What Alistar said shocked me. It was not the fact of going against the Heavens, I knew of it as it was a common trope of 'Oh the good guys were actually bad too!' that I included when writing this story. It was the fact that Alistar was in on it. As far as I remember, none of the heroes were involved with this plot line. Only that they were guardians of their respective inheritance trials.

'This changes a few things, good and bad…'

This wasn't going to change what I was going to do though. From how I fought earlier, the chances of me surviving what is to come is extremely low if I do not take advantage of my knowledge to get stronger. This means that changes would happen, not going as they did in the story.

'Survival and getting stronger is my number one priority. Just by existing will things start to change, so as long as I keep things to a minimum, the future shouldn't change too much.'

'I'm not going to stay passive just because I'm afraid of change.'

Steeling myself, I acted serious this time, my nonchalant attitude from earlier gone.

I bowed to show my respect.

"I accept the condition and would be honored to have you as my teacher."

Alistar simply nodded.

[Stop that and follow me.]

Even though he said to follow, he just directly moved us to another part of the dungeon. It was a privilege he had as a dungeon master, having control of the facilities inside it.

Once my surroundings shifted, I couldn't help but stumble back against a wall.

"Where are we?"

The room we were at was around four times the size of the control room area wise, with training racks to the side and closed doors at the end of the room opposite of me.

It was most likely a training room, but I wanted to be sure.

[This is where I'll train you. This includes Sword Arts as well.]

I looked at Alistar, slightly confused.

"Sword Arts? To hide my assassin skills?"

Alistar nodded in approval.

[Yes, I'll be giving you a 2-Star speed-based Sword Art so that you won't stand out and hide your other skills. With a speed-based Sword Art, you'll have an easier time explaining why you are fast.]

(A/N: Don't think I explained how the ranking/rarity system works for stars but ★ can be considered common, ★★ is uncommon, ★★★ is rare, ★★★★ is super rare, and ★★★★★ is ultra rare by gacha standards. One to three stars are usually what you can see in public, with three star Arts being rare while four and five star Arts/skills usually being reserved for the government, big organizations, and or power individuals. As one might expect, the more stars the more power yet don't look down on lower stars as they sometimes have more utility than power.)

[But first,]

Alistar pointed at me, a stream of light escaped his finger and entered my head directly.

Curling inwards, I couldn't help but moan in pain. It felt like someone was forcibly cramming multiple things into my head, which Alistar was probably doing.

As he was watching my agony, Alistar was explaining what he did.

[I just transferred a Three-Star Dagger Art, a Three-Star Stealth Art, and a Three-Star Movement Art. They are 'Fatal Strike', 'Shadow Cloak', and 'Flash Steps'. Once you gain a sufficient understanding in all of them, will you be ready to learn 'Mirage Steps'.]

Once my giant headache was settled down, I tried to understand what was given. With how the Arts were transferred, I had more or less an idea of how to use them but it was unrefined.

With Arts and Skills, your understanding or proficiency was listed in could be at four different levels: Lesser Understanding, Novice Understanding, Intermediate Understanding, and Greater Understanding. Each level also had sub-levels, being: Low, Mid, and High. (Ex: Lesser-Low Understanding, Lesser-Mid Understanding, etc.)

Alistar clapped his hands. The door at the end of the room opened, letting more skeletons in.

A group of ten.

Alistar smiled at me that sent a slight shiver throughout my body.

'He wouldn't… no he would definitely do so.'

Shooting down that thought, I knew what was about to happen.

[You'll need to work on the basics them all, so what better way to learn than live-training? You wont be able to check your progress since your status is being interfered with, but I'll be here to watch your progress. Good luck!]

The skeletons at the other end of the room started charging at me.

Accepting my fate that I was going to suffer, I hollered at Alistar.

"Where's my weapon?"

When I was transported to the control room, it wasn't transported along with me.

[Oh yeah, here you go.]

'This guy…'

It seems like Alistar forgot that I didn't have a weapon, how else was I going to practice 'Fatal Strike'?

The training dagger I had from earlier materialized in front of me along with another identical training dagger.

Holding both of them in a reverse grip, I got ready to face the skeletons.

I couldn't help but mutter depressingly as I watched the skeletons.

"This is where the fun begins…"