A soft hum churned through the thick walls of a cramped containment cell. It was a rather small room consisting of a single mattress and a two-foot space where one could barely breathe.
At the entrance, a giant iron-bar door remained shut, isolating the room from the outside world yet providing space for the air to pass through.
All of a sudden, a bright flash of light appeared inside the room and illuminated the vicinity, even though only for a second.
Rays of light shot out through the gaps of the metal door, eating away at the darkness that haunted the atmosphere for god knows how long.
Soon, as the light began to subside, it converged into a single point and dispersed into tens of thousands of tiny orbs that seemed to resonate with each other.
These orbs soon once again converged with each other, but rather than creating a bigger orb of light, they seemed to be shaping themselves into a human physique.
As time passed by, the body became completely visible as the last traces of light faded away—letting the darkness take the reigns once again.
It was Kai.
He sat on the mattress with his back resting on the wall while his head hung freely in the air. It wasn't a very body-friendly posture, for his muscles were on the verge of getting strained.
With a sudden tremor in his body, he slowly opened his eyes as a short, sharp gasp escaped his lungs.
"Huh?" Kai widened his eyes as he noticed that his vision had changed completely and that, too, within a matter of seconds.
It was his second time getting teleported yet his brain couldn't bring itself to believe that something like that was truly possible.
"Where... Is this now?" He muttered softly as his eyes probed through the surroundings, while his complexion became normal.
'A small rugged mattress and a dirty room barely two feet wide...' his eyes had finished evaluating everything within a matter of seconds; Well, not like there was much to evaluate to begin with.
Just as he was pondering what exactly he was supposed to do, the system decided to finally show up in front of him.
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[The System welcomes you to the Tutorial Area.]
[The theme of your Trial is 'Survival'.]
[The Tutorial is divided into 7 different phases—Strength, Endurance, Agility, Perception, Intelligence, Willpower, and Spirit.]
[The Trial is a Potential and Point-based Tutorial, where your goal is to gain the highest amount of points.]
[Special 'Unique' Rewards will be generated for the Top Scorers.]
---
Kai slightly raised his brow, his eyes drifted away from the vision of reality as he fell into a deep state of contemplation.
The idea of a point-based system sure was clever, yet for someone like him who had little to no physical stats at all—It was the worst nightmare.
To begin with, his physical stats were barely touching the threshold of "average" attributes. His only chance of winning in these trials was the last 4 ones.
*Ding!*
A familiar-sounding notification sound softly rang inside his head, forcing him to come back to his senses.
He raised his eyes only to find out that the content of the screen had changed.
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[The first phase of the tutorial—Strength, has begun.]
[You will now be teleported to the Automatically designated area with a desired weapon of your choice.]
[State the weapon you desire.]
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'Weapons... Huh? Hmm...' His eyes drifted up toward the ceiling as he tried to calculate all the practical outcomes of his choice.
Kai, to begin with, had only gotten himself familiar with 3 types of weapons in real life—and that too, in only about 7 hours.
A Mid-to-Short ranged weapon, the longsword.
A very short-range weapon, twin daggers.
And a blunt Long-to-Mid ranged weapon, The staff.
No matter how much he'd have tried to deceive himself, his body and stats were nowhere strong enough to handle weapons like longswords and staffs.
Why?
Well, longswords are not just a tool to foolishly swing around but a weapon that needs not just strength but also dexterity. And Kai's dexterity and powers were barely competing in the realms of averages.
While staff, sure was a suitable weapon for Kai, but not for a tutorial where the main motive is to test one's strength.
Daggers, on the other hand, were not only suitable to him due to his high agility and somewhat normal strength but also made up for his lack of defense.
They were the only practical and trustworthy choice that he could've made. And Kai knew that.
"Give me a pair of sturdy daggers." He said, his voice carried a hint of confidence, as though he was getting himself ready for the upcoming havoc.
A wave of light pulsated through the center of the system window, almost as if the screen in itself was resonating with his words.
The next moment, a ray of light originated from the screen, creating a funnel-like light that extended upwards.
With a slight churning hum, a pair of daggers materialized in front of his eyes and hovered right above the screen.
It was nothing extraordinary, yet they looked as though their slightly curved edges could cut through anything.
Kai's eyes gleamed as a grin crept onto his lips. He extended his hands towards the daggers and clenched onto the handles of the daggers.
'They fit perfectly...' a thought appeared in his head as he very much liked his weapons.
Without waiting any further, Kai looked at the system screen and said, "System, Start the Tutorial."
Almost as if the system was waiting to hear such a command, it responded instantly as a slight crackling noise echoed through the vicinity.
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[The System Wishes you luck.]
---
With the text, the crackling noise only worsened, Getting louder and louder with every passing moment.
Kai was utterly confused, thinking where and why exactly such a noise had appeared.
But soon widened his eyes as he noticed a sudden change in the space before him.
A crack had appeared in the air, that seemed to be spreading and only getting worse.
Finally, with a last crackling sound, the fabric of space shattered away as a giant human-sized crack appeared.
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[You may now enter the rift to proceed with the tutorial.]
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