"Status", I whispered.
Identity: Dave Morek Anglius
Class: None
Race: Human Lvl:1
Stats:
Strength: 3.2 (+0.2) Agility: 3.2 (+0.2) Stamina: 3.2 (+0.2) Intelligence: 3.2 (+0.2)
Title (1/1): [Among the 250] Effect: (+0.2 all stats)
Skills: None
Every week, the status got more and more complete. The commentators were probably changing their game. That would also explain their pause for a month. But why? I didn't know.
As you can see I chose to try my theory. I felt confident. My stats were excellent compared to 3 weeks ago. I could probably be a super star in track at my age. Me and Jim worked more than any other human in the world I would say. The maximum permanent increase that someone got in their stats was 1.5 while we were sitting at more than 2. Our work was nothing to scoff at. Now, we needed to think about our equipment. We could bring only one low level object. That meant no swords, guns or axes. The maximum we could bring in terms of weapon was a kitchen knife. Jim and Anna both chose to bring a whole bag full of food and some water because of their stamina test while I chose a kitchen knife.
Think about it. What would be the challenge for those 4 stats in one go. The only option I could think of was a duel. The next day, everyone was tensed and went to that same plaza. After a couple of silent minutes, a figure descended from the clouds. It had white eyes and it also had a microphone. There was a whole film crew behind it with big cameras. Also, if you looked hard enough you could see them installing a huge hologram-like screen in the sky. It was completely different than last time, it was coordinated and it looked like they had a whole different budget.
I started to get scared. This could change my whole theory. I could die in that challenge. I looked tensed from the outside and Jim saw it. He thought I was scared. If he knew what I just understood he would be too. Higher budget means harder challenges.
"Don't worry Morek. Everything will be okay. When this game will be finished I'll let you be my best man.", he said.
I laughed. People started getting away from me because they thought I was crazy.
After some time, the cloudy figures managed to make the screen work and the commentator started talking.
"Welcome everyone to the first round of the Ascension Stages! The camera crew started moving their camera and moving through the crowds searching for someone. On the screen, I could see millions of different plazas that were experiencing the same thing as us. For some reason, It was like the camera crew stopped moving when they saw me. I was imagining it. Surely.
I didn't. I saw myself on the big screen. All the plaza's view were gone, it was only a big shot of my face on the screen. I will suffer more than I ever will in this round and I knew it.
"If I die, tell my family I hate them Jim", I whispered.
"We'll do", he replied still thinking of Anna as his wife for some reason.
The commentator continued, " As you know this round will be about weakness. That meant that this round will be about killing the weak by using their weakness against them. Let's start!"
The same circles and stars appeared and I braced myself ready for the teleportation. I arrived in a dark place. It looked like I was in space. I got a notification as soon as I arrived.
[All stats are the same.]
[Hidden quest starting...]
Task: First Round
1.Get to the end without dying.
Reward: F rank skill
Failure: Death penalty
A door opened and on it was a sentence, First floor entry.
I clenched my kitchen knife ready to face abominations. I entered the door and arrived in a medieval arena with thousands of humans spectators. I was chained and next to me were countless people with the same restrictions. The platform we where on was made of sand. We were thousands and the arena seemed to be as huge as a city. All the enchained people were seperated by glass walls and in front of us was a sort of parkour race that looked individual and hard. The ground was full of spikes, an error would mean death. All of us were probably all the people with equal stats in the world. Behind us were some sort of royal guards checking our every move.
A men in a throne got up and started shouting and laughing.
"Welcome saviours of our kingdom. Saviours because you will save us from our boredom…Release the hunting dogs!"
The guard behind me moved and cut my shackles. Then walked back for a while before he opened a door about 50 meters behind me where I saw an older men that looked way stronger than me. His shackles were still on and they were connected to a sort of metal ball. He wanted to kill me. I was sure of it. He lifted his metal ball up and started running at me. My reflexes made me run in the opposite direction. I had to run on a long but skinny wooden plank. I had to take my time to not fall. I was looking behind me every 5 seconds. The sound of people getting crushed was all I could hear. This was a race against time. After I finished moving throught the plank, I had to jump onto platforms. After I did the first two easy jumps, the man finished the plank. I stopped looking back and started concentrating. I finished the jumping section easily and started a section full of tree trunks and axes moving left and right. This was all about timing. I took time waiting to catch the good timing. The man was one jump away from catching up. I started moving; I dodged the tree trunks and dodged an axe.
I looked back for a second and the axe grazed my right cheek as if it waited to pounce on me with a distraction. I regained my cool and passed it. The axe would've cut my body in half if I had been a second later. The third one looked way faster. It was turning so fast that I it looked like the circle where the axe passed was full of matter. It was like a chainsaw that was waiting for me to pass.
The hunter was getting closer. He passed each tree trunk by crushing them with his metal ball. He blocked the axes with the metal ball. The ball got close to being cut in half. He was close to liberty and I was right in front of him. I felt my life flashing before my eyes. Maybe it was a deserving death for an attempted murderer. Truth was, I tried to kill my younger sister after I learned that she would be chosen instead of me. I made a whole plan using a hitman, but he reported me instead to my father and I got banished from my family instead of going to jail. Apparently, the hitman felt that he would be payed more if he reported the attempt instead accepting it. The whole thing was blown up in the media and no job would hire me. To eat everyday I had to sell everything I owned. I went to Groveland for a new start, but who would hire a 12 year old kid. I was close to death and I fainted from time to time. Until a man saved me and took care of me for years. My life was the fruit of my errors.
Back to the present:
The man rushed at me with killing intent. He didn't need the ball to kill me and simply let it go and tried to catch me with a tackle. I was using all my strength to fight back. The steel ball limited his speed. He let go and throwed a jab. I got hit by it and landed on the ground barely conscious. He turned around and took his metal ball. I was going to die a horrible death. He rushed at me with the ball holding it with two hands.
"Dumbass.", I said.
-"Huh?", he replied.
I pulled out my kitchen knife from my pocket in a flash and put in the 4 inch blade deep in his stomach. His two arms were occupied by the ball, he was doomed. He flinched backwards and fell on his back. Blood flowed from the wound and his mouth. It was me or him and it ended up being him. I used his body and the metal ball to stop the third axe and I passed it with a bit of difficulty. I was in a pretty bad state. This was probably the closest I have been to death and most importantly I killed someone. I looked at the kitchen knife tainted with blood and throwed it on the floor of the section. I was bathed in his blood, I felt horrible. I did the job that I wanted to leave to the hitman. I walked and thought about everything since the start of my life. The end could have been today. I passed a sort of finish line and ended in front of the man on the throne. He started clapping,
"Great job young man! That was one of the best ceremony I ever witnessed. The door is that way to leave and.. "
I cut him off and asked him if I was the only one alive.
"Yes.", he replied.
-"How many were we ?", I said with a furious look.
"Probably a million maybe a bit less.", he said.
I was shocked. If Jim would've tried my theory he would have died. I tried argumentating about their actions,
"Stop ruining my mood young man get out!"
I just noticed the fact that the guards around him were seconds away from killing me. He saved me in a way. I walked to the exit and just before going through the door named exit I turned around and said,
"You are monsters."
-"We don't have a choice son. We can only watch, so we had to atleast make it fun. "
"What do you mean?"
- "Get him out!"
A guard knocked me unconscious with the hold of his sword and threw me through the door.