"Hello, sir." I am trying hard to behave myself. He stood and looked at me. He did not say anything. I just realised this ethical dilemma. This might be a trial about interview ethics. "May I enter, sir?" He nodded.
Then, I moved forward to the chair in front of me. I tried to shake his hand and stand in front of him with a chair behind me. He looked at me, then took his hand and shook it with me. When I shook his hand, I could feel an uneasy aura from his touch. After a while, he released his hand and said to me. "Have a seat."
"Thank you, sir."
"What is your wish for coming here?" It might be a trick question. I need to answer this correctly.
"Sorry sir, before that, could I introduce myself first?"
"Ok, sure."
"My name is Hulaif. I just came into this city. My wish for coming here is to learn military skills, to improve myself and to help this country. "
"So, you are an outsider." He asked me.
"Yes, sir," I replied emphatically.
"How could I believe you if you are not a spy?"
"Sir, I want to let you know something. " I tried to explain everything to him about my life in prison. "I don't have anything here. You can look at my face. Do I look like a spy to you? "
"Quite a bit."
Okay, sir, if you said that, is there anything that I can do to make you believe me? "
"Well, if you keep insisting on entering the military, I think I will let you do my trial instead. If you succeed in it, I will believe in you and your wish will be granted. Also, I can do more for it. "
"May I know what kind of trial is it?"
"Okay, sure. But, first, you need to write this agreement letter. I don't want to be responsible for anything happening to you. " He gave me that piece of paper and a pen to write on it.
I tried to read the agreement letter first. As I read, it said three points that I highlighted. Which were;
This is for outsiders only.
1. If you fail there, there is no way back.
2. Your life depends on what you do in this trial.
3. You are free to do whatever you want as long as you finish it before the end of the day.
If you fail in this trial, your life will end there.
I guessed that I should do this with all of my efforts. I don't want to die yet. Death and failure are not in my dictionary. After reading this agreement letter, I put my signature on the form.
When I gave the letter to him, he put it in the file with the name 'outsider'. "Now, are you ready yet? Because you will be going to do your trial. There are around 3 trials. If you complete all of this, I will accept yours as a full-fledged soldier for this country. Also, my trial can make you improve your rank, as not many people can finish it. "
"Could I ask something about my rank?"
"Oh, your rank right now is as a slave. So, if you want to improve your rank, make sure to do better. "
I felt hopeless when I heard about my rank. I guessed that I should make this country know who I am.
"Okay, please choose." He asked me whether to choose something that he grabbed in the left hand or the right hand. I tried to choose the left hand. It looks like he is smiling a bit.
Did I get the wrong thing? This is a trial. I have to be confident in myself.
"Here, hold this key." He gave me a key that was in his left hand.
"What is this?"
"You will know soon. Now close your eyes. " I followed the instructions. "Can you hear me? If you can, please nod. " I nodded when he asked. "Your trial is simple. Find the door that can be unlocked with the key. You only have one attempt. So, choose wisely. There are many doors there. This key will break after one use. Only one door has an exit. As a reminder, you must finish this before the end of the day.If you choose the wrong door..." then, I can't hear him anymore.
As I opened my eyes, I happened to be in the middle of the Sahara desert. The sandstorms are quite strong here. I need to cover my eyes and my face. I wore a pair of goggles that were intact in my pocket and covered my head with my shirt. "Thank god, I should not have anything to worry about."
When I looked in front of me, I saw a huge domain or dungeon here. It was dark inside. I tried to shout, but I could hear my voice being echoed there. This is a dream world. I guess if I die here, nothing will happen to my body. "Eh, no! It is wrong. In some horror stories, it does not happen like that. I will end up with a dead body. To be safe, I need to take more care of my life while I am here.
This place looks dark. I should turn on my flashlight. As I walked into this dungeon, I could see some little animals here. Well, they might look like a bit of a monster, but I think the animal is enough.
It was too noisy here. I can clearly hear the sounds of animals and the water flowing below me. I tried to cover my ears, but it was useless. Because of the noise, I tried to take a deep breath and calm down while closing my eyes. I focused my mind and cleared my head. The noisy sound becomes quieter and I can use my ears well.
When I opened my eyes, I was quite shocked to see one species of a weird kind. It has green skin, yellow eyes, sharp teeth, two legs, and two hands. It looks like a human but is very different. I think it is a goblin. What should I do? The goblin I know is a very dangerous kind. It likes to rape a woman and take everything from humans.
This tiny goblin looked at me with a curious look. Suddenly, it took my hand and brought me deeper. I sense no danger from this kind of goblin. I should not resist it. As a precaution, I think I should follow it without doing anything.
I'm reminded of the mine in this dungeon. When I brought it in some way, I could hear the sounds of many goblins in our way. It looks like they are cheering for someone. Are they in some sort of competition? As we arrived at the location, I found that four goblins were playing a game at one table.
After that, that tiny goblin disappeared from my sight. Maybe that goblin wants to show me to them. I tried to observe the surroundings and the player on the table. It looks like these four goblins are playing a poker game. I saw that they played this game until one of them went bankrupt. Then, they stopped playing and do their own work with mining.
From what I can observe, there are three goblins cheating, or could I say, they are teaming up. It looks like they are not playing fair in this game. The loser becomes a slave for these three. Maybe he sold himself to them. What a terrible thing to have happened to it. That is why betting is illegal. Stay away from it.
When I watched their work, one of the goblins that worked came to me. It is a huge goblin. I thought he wanted to kill me, but he tried to say something. I really can't understand what he said. Suddenly, my watch vibrated. I tried to look at it.
'Use the translation mode on your smartphone.'
After that, I took the phone and looked for the mode. I found the icon for it. I taped it on. After the activation of the mode that I taped on, I understood what that goblin was trying to say. Instead, translate the word through, It translates through that goblin voice. It's like he can say my language. Then, I put the smartphone back in my pocket.
"Hey! Could you hear me? " That goblin asked me.
"Yes, I could hear you. Sorry, but could you repeat what you said from the start."
"Sure." It seems he can understand me, though. "I see you are a newbie who just came into this dimension without knowing anything. You might have been scammed by that bearded guy." I am quite shocked to learn the truth.
"Hey, answer me. What do you mean by scammed?"
"If you want to know, goblins, here was a human before. When we failed in this trial, we turned into goblins. Then, they can't return to their lives. "
"Why must it be a goblin?"
"It is because... Sorry, I can't answer that. It's too hard for me to answer."
"Wait, is not the trial to open the door only?"
"Kid, follow me." That goblin brought me somewhere. It is a dark room here. "Don't lean at the wall, I want to turn on the light."
"Ugh, sorry!" I moved away from the wall. As he turns on the light. The fire starts to flow around this room. It is moved to the top of this room, where there is no end to it.
When this room is lightened up, I can see many doors here. I felt a bit confused. It seems like the door is attached to the wall. Each door has its own characteristics. There are some doors with different colours, types of materials, and unique styles. I felt like I was at a door factory.
"As you can see here, there are too many doors here. We failed because of this. Try to find your key. " I tried to find the key that was given to me, but failed. The key was not with me.
"Hah! Where is my key? I thought it was in my pocket."
"Hahaha... you can't find the key in the raw material because it was programmed inside you in this dimension. When you choose one door to open, the key will disappear and you won't be able to open any of the doors anymore. "
"So, you want to say to me that this is a try and error."
"Hmm... Maybe, but it's pushing your luck for more specific."Right now, it is still, daylight, and I can do many things here. How about I try looking for a clue in this place first? Maybe I can learn something from this place.
"I think I don't want to open the door yet. It is unwise of me to open it without a clue. "
"Do you want to look around here?"
"Sure, if it is not causing you a problem."
"You are an outsider like us. It is nothing with this small guidance. "
"Thank you, bro. You are great. "
"Hahaha..." He just smiled. "Eh, before that! What is your name? I guess we don't know each other yet. My name is Ted. And you?"
"My name is Hulaif."
"Woah, what an awesome name! I could sense life in you. "
"Is not is is because I am still alive?"
"Hmm... I am just making up a phrase for your unique name. Ah, never mind. "
Then, he brought me around this dungeon for a moment. I moving with him. I met many people that turned into goblins here. They have quite a good community here. This community is really caring and sociable. I was able to meet and converse with members of the female society.I asked this community about their normal life here. They seem happy to share their lives here.
They said that they did not feel hungry here. What they just do is collect the soul crystal. It can extend their lives and make them more energetic. I am quite suspicious of this soul crystal thing. I have to study this crystal thing. I might know the truth about this place and a way back.
I looked at my watch. It looks like it is still daylight. After 6 hours, noon will come. I guess that there should be nothing I can do here. I need to move. On my way to that door room, someone is calling me. "Wholife!!!" The voice is slow and I can hear it a bit. It leads me to one room. As I walked into the room, I realised, the entrance is closed and I couldn't get out. "Damn, it is locked from the outside."
"Ah, it is not good! Someone trap me here. How could I not be cautious around me? I let my guard down. So, what should I do right now?"