Once James realized where he had been transported to, he almost jumped in joy. A God's Valley, and one of the Major Gods at that.
"Who dares disturb my rest? Which maggot has been sent by that Reficul this time?" - James almost froze to a halt. An existence in the plane of Gods only had to flick his finger once to be able to kill him ten times over.
"Indeed sire, it was sire Raficul that sent me her. My name is "Blind Dreamcatcher"."
The behemoth entity approached James and said:
" It looks like you are a promising one. You even got the previous inheritor to give you that, huh. Looks like this sack of old bones is going to have to move for once. Come over here, my time in this state is limited."´
James got closer and was finally able to look at this behemoth's description. It read:
"Tralgor the Bloodthirsty, Level ???, Minor God, Legendary"
Description: Used to be know as one of the most ferocious and battle-thirsty Gods under the God of War. Simple, rutheless yet friendly.
"Huh? Why do you look so weak? I looks like I could snap you in half if I wanted to. Nevermind, it's not up to me to decide who gets to undertake the test or not."
"Are you ready for this? Do you have any last minute requests?"
"No sire, I wouldn't dare have."
"Alright, alright. Stop being so servile, I ain't one of those stuck-ups that can't handle talking with you guys. This Trial is one of fiercest of the Saint's, but it is also one that rewards the player the most. Wouldn't want to be unfair to you. I like simple things, like battlefields, the most. You kill, and kill and kill and let the harder things like thinking up the strategies to those other guys."
"But even then, killing isn't everything there is to war, is it? Since you'll be the Saint of War and more or less represent the God of War in that plane of existence, we couldn't let a simple-minded guy like that bear the title of Saint of War."
"So, there will be 3 Trials."
"Each of them focuses on a major point of War. The first Trial revolves around Bloodthirst. I preside over it, as you can see."
"This Trial is composed of 10 levels, each consequent one harder than the next. You will pass as long as you can get through the fifth level in one piece. Each and every consequent level after that gets harder and harder, with the last one being ridiculously hard. 'Till this day, the number of Saints of War which managed to get throught that don't number over five."
So, it like this huh. James had already been ready for the consequences that failing might entail, so he just said:
"I am ready to go. Can you start the Trial?"
The behemoth looked suprised at how determined James looked. He just told James to follow him. James was taken to what looked like an ancient colosseum, and was told to get on the arena.
< System Warning > : "The first Trial, The Bloodthirst Trial is about to begin. Do you wish to start it?"
James selected the "Start" option and steeled himself to what was up next. He was surprised when he saw that the first Trial consisted of surviving the wave of monsters.
What scared him was what type of monsters were after James. One had to know that the Saint's inheritance test could be undertaken at every level, that it's difficulty would scale along the player.
So, the monsters he took on for the first wave of the Trial were Common Fallen Humans, all at level 2. To the current James, which had 4 pieces of equipment on him which slightly boosted his atributes, he was already capable of easily taking on this wave without breaking a sweat.
The wave that followed was composed of Elite Fallen Humans, all at level 2 aswell. Although they took a bit more of a pounding to kill, they still allowed James to half-ass his play. For the current stage of the game, James had really good equipment.
The excellent part about this is that James was slowly accumulating experience. By now, half an hour had passed for James, and his Experience bar was almost half-way full.
By the third wave, things started to get a bit more complicated. The monsters that came at James were still Fallen Humans, but they were already level 4 ones. Even though James had been forced to start paying attention by now, it was still a pretty easy and enjoyable grind. What James had failed to realise, was that the waves were getting bigger and bigger. By the time he finished this wave, he was already starting to feel his mind tire.
Look at it this way. You can lift your arms parallel to you easily right? But if you were repeatedly told to hold your arms out like that, you'd start getting aches on your muscles. James brain was starting to feel that aswell.
By the fourth wave, the monsters were Elite Fallen Humans at level 4. To James demise, there were even more monster to take out in this wave than the previous one combined.
Due to this, James quickly rose to level 5. He was finally able to learn Wolf-King's Pounce and to wield the Lupine Slayer.
Instantly, James power level rose to another level.His current character stats read as such:
Adventurer - "Blind Dreamcatcher" - level 5 Male Warrior
Experience: <0/8000>
Attributes:
Hp: <150/150>
Mana: <65/65>
Vitality: 2
Intelligence: 1
Dexterity: 15 (+5) (+2)
Constituiton:1
Strenght: 16 (+10) (+3)
Wisdom: 1
Reputation: 0 (free citizen)
Titles: "King Slayer" --> Grants the using player and it's allies a 10% boost to every Attribute. Effective range : 50 Meters. Currently Grants the user 2 Dexterity and 3 Strenght.
A few moments later, James saw an Elite Fallen Human Commander, level 5 approaching him. He understood that had he not leveled to his current state which let him wield Lupine Slayer, he would have probably failed his quest. As such, the rewards gotten from stealing the First Kill were finally starting to show.
Even then, James had a hard time coping with this monster. This monster's intellect wasn't like the previous ones. He would have been killed a few times already were it not for his quick reflexes. This monster knew how to fight, and dirty at that.
James was thrilled to find that after he slew he monster, he noticed a something dropping on the ground next to the corpse. Before he could move to see what it was, a sudden system message inturrupted his train of thought.
< System Warning > : "You can be considered to have a passing note and may press forward to the next trial. Do remind that this merely counts as a passing note and is in no way enough to make you special among previous Saints. If you were to die after these first five rounds there will be no punishment, merely progressing to the next one. You can always choose to leave at anytime during these next 5 rounds and will be considered to have passed the Trial of Bloodthirst. Do you wish to continue this Trial or press on?"
Seeing as there was no punishment for giving it a try, James rolled with it. He called the next wave and it was then that he finally understood why the system only required you to get to clear the first 5 waves.
One had to know that by now, James was extremely mentally fatigued by now. There had been almost no time window to rest between each wave. By now, James felt his eyes were starting to get heavy and that he was getting a headache.
So, the difficulty wasn't mostly from the increase in level as waves went on. Difficulty went up indeed, and monsters became harder to slay. But because of the mental taxation that was going on what would usually take a few minutes to down dragged itself for even longer, in a vicious cicle in which your mental condition got worse and worse by every moment that went by.
James had just finished dealing with the 9 th wave when he reached level 7. By now, Monsters were 2 levels above him and were Elite Human lead by a Few Elite Commanders. James had barely made it out alive, which truly exhausted him.
Since there was no point in giving up, James made the choice to carry on to the tenth level of the Trial. Once he understood what he was up against, he almost wailed.
"Tralgor's Chosen, Level 10, Celestial Warrior, Epic"
Although the monster was only level 10, it was equipped with Epic equipment. As such, there was almost no point in trying to fight. Or was there?
The game had never once stated that completing this mission was impossible, so James made the assumption that there had to be more than just fighting this monster. He started wracking his brains, and soon found the answer.
He remembered that the Elite Fallen Commander had dropped an item he forgot to check. Once he read the description of the item, he understood just how helpful it would be.
< God Of War Whistle > : Strikes fear into the heart of men, beast or ghost with the Bloodthirst of the God of War.
On use: Will Fear an enemy and reduce it's stats by 10% for 10 minutes. Chance of insta-killing monters. If used on a Boss instead, there's a fixed chance of instilling a Debuff called "Fear of War".
"Fear of War" will cause a Boss to take 100% more damage for the next 10 minutes.
Seeing as the enemy which had came up to him was no Boss, James didn't hesitate. He engaged "Tralgor's Chosen", Pounced behind him and immediately blew into the whistle.
It sounded like a warcry by an wounded soldier, making it's last stand. "Tralgor's Chosen", once he felt the sharp aura that was raised around James immediately cowered in fright, passing out from the sheer pressure.
< System Warning > : You have completed the First Trial of the Saint of War's inheritance. Do you wish to proceed?"
James thought for a moment and then understood. The Trial had never asked him to kill his enemy, he only had to live through each wave. Seeing as the last one standing had been him, he can be considered to have actually pass the test that supposedly many had failed.
Don't get it wrong, James was exhausted by now. If he truly had to fight "Tralgor's Chosen", he would have died many times over. But due to some slight luck and quick thinking, he was able to make it through.
James elected to rest for a few minutes, to at least catch up on his breath. As soon as he did, he selected the "Proceed" option.
"Welcome to the Second Trial of the Saint of War's Trial, The Trial Of Wisdom."