Chapter 6: Trial of Earth

He reappeared in a much larger cave. It was over 7 metres high and had a diameter of 200 metres or so. His daggers appeared alongside him.

( Welcome challenger to the trial of earth. Challenge: survive 10 minutes against the cold Fang wolf and the screaming night stalker. Notice 1- challenger is allowed to quit and will be teleported out of the tower, there will be no rewards should challenger choose to quit.

Notice 2- challenger is Allowed to pick one ability from the mortal grade list. Ability will be taken back upon trial completion or failure. Good luck challenger)

A list of mortal grade abilities appeared before him alongside a timeline. He only had three minutes to choose an ability and there were thousands of them to choose from.

He had seen a few but still, it was not enough time. If he was given the option to choose an ability, it meant surviving this trial would not be easy so he was under a lot of pressure, he had to pick right.

He started going through the list, he dismissed a few like those that control elements, he doubted he would be able to master them enough to use them efficiently in such a short time.

He wanted an ability that would complement his his reaction speed, strength augmentation abilities did not seem like a good fit, durability ones might work but he believed speed would be more suitable.

Now the option was to choose between ones that increase his speed explosively in a straight line or one that will result in a more subtle increase but allow for more agility.

He chose the more agile one. He felt something flow through his body and settled at the base of his sternum, he could feel his body grow stronger in visible time.

The countdown hit zero. He breathed in heavily and brandished his daggers. He wanted to end this quickly so he'll get more time to rest.

Two creatures materialized in a shower of blue sparks. It was a silver wolf that radiated cold air and a bat similar to the last one but this one was a bit larger, had sharper claws, blood red eyes and a larger mouth.

The wolf growled while the bat watched him from the roof of the cave. They both moved at the same time, the wolf was faster, it covered the distance in a second.

He activated his ability and felt essence energy flow to his feet in an instant. The veins in his legs swelled and his leg muscles strengthened.

He ran to the side and dodged the giant wolf that jumped at him. Surprise flickered in his eyes, this was a mortal grade ability? He was atleast 3 to 4 times faster than he normally was.

If this was a mortal grade ability he couldn't imagine how powerful an earth grade ability would be or the ones even above that, no wonder some people worshipped ability holders as gods.

Mundane humans had no way to fight against these monsters. The wolf turned and ran towards him, a trail of ice following in it wake.

Fast as he was it was still faster, just as he was about to dodge it attacks his instincts screamed at him. Before he could react though a soundwave hit him.

He felt his eardrums shatter, his mind became groggy and his eyes hazy. He tried to move but lost his balance. He felt a piercing pain his left arm, that cleared his mind.

The wolf had bitten him, it sharp fangs sinking into his flesh, following it was a cold that pierced through his bones. He gritted his teeth but did not lose his cool.

He shoved his dagger into the wolfs neck,it howled in pain, it blood spilling into his body, it felt like being drenched in ice cold water. His instincts kicked in, the bat was attacking again.

Clasped by the fangs of the wolf, he could not dodge, so he grabbed it head with his arm, it was too heavy and strong for him to move so he shifted his body instead.

He used the wolf as cover and a visible soundwave hit it dead in the face. It eardrums shattered, blood spilled out of it ears.

He could see it howling or whimpering but he couldn't hear anything, his eardrums were shattered as well after all. It body swayed and it mouth loosened around his arm.

He used this as a chance to free himself and stabbed it in the eye. It whimpered once and he left it there to die. Only the bat was left now, he rolled to the side and a soundwave landed where he was and shattered the ground like a hammer.

He was shaken by this, not only was the soundwave incredibly fast but it packed a punch as well. He continued running around dodging the sound attacks.

Without his instincts he would be dead by now, he had new found administration for those who passed this trial without instincts like his.

Dodging the soundwaves was becoming harder, he had never experienced this before except when he is sleeping but his instincts were starting to react slower and he was getting a splitting headache. Is it because I've been using them too much? He didn't know, this was new to him.

He needed to survive this without relying too much on them, he continued dodging and running around while observing his opponent and what he noticed was that, there was a time lag between each of it attacks, 3 seconds to be exact. He rolled forward to dodge another attack. I need to use that.

1,2,3 then he dodged again and as he thought, a soundwave landed behind him. He stood up and ran towards the bat, it was floating metres in the air close to a hundred metres away from him.

1,2,3 then he rolled to the side and continued running. He was getting close, 1 he counted in his head, he got even closer, 2, even closer then he jumped, it opened it mouth but he reached it first.

He plunged his dagger into it chest, it screamed and a soundwave hit the wall on the other side of cave, the sending rocks and dust flying.

They fell to the ground and he plunged his dagger even further into it chest, it opened it mouth to scream again but no sound came out, it flailed but he continued pressing.

It struggle died down and eventually it breathed it last, he breathed a sigh of relief and fell limply on the side, he looked at his frozen left arm and sighed. This isn't fun, I just want to sleep all day, he said weakly before closing his eyes and drifting off.