Noah walked out of a fairly polished exit. The stone stairs looked of high quality and the door behind him was a lot more refined. The last two tests had annoyed him, in one he had to find a murderer using an orb that allowed him to read thoughts.
The worst part was realising just how vile older mens thoughts were, and how boring older womens thoughts were. The worst part was when he saw a hot girl, she looked at him and he could only read one word. "short"
And in the other, he had to flip a coin. It was simple, if he couldn't predict which side it would land on, he would fail. He was irritated at how everything returned to luck at the end, but so was life. At the top of the stairs, he was alone in the woods. In the distance he saw the same cottage he had before .
He walked towards it, there was nothing inside. The walls were poorly established, and it was completely bare empty. He walked towards the path he remembered, soon he found the dirt path and begun travelling down it.
He saw the mud tavern in the distance, all he wanted to do was somehow get revenge. He strode towards the tavern and entered. The bell run like before and everyone's eyes returned to him, this time they stayed He spotted the old man sitting in the same stool with multiple bottles emptied in front of him.
"Hey you!" Noah exclaimed.
He marched towards the man, he grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to look at him. Noah wanted to beat the living shit out of that man but flinched, the man looked at him with shocked eyes. His pupils had become smaller, and his expression stretched out.
"You survived? You were the last person I'd expect to complete the test"
"Well, hi to you too. I should kill you."
"But you can't" a comedic tone.
Noah grunted, he knew he couldn't but he wanted to tell him that either way. His soul had felt gravely mistreated. "I guess you returned for your tattoo". Noah was silent, the thought had not crossed his mind, but he uttered "yes".
"Fine". Without noticing it the entire bar had became silent, even the bartender had been listening. Soon the bartender took out a bottle and a brush which stuck out of the bottle. The bottle emanate a vibrant smell, the smell of a newborn eagle.
A simultaneous sound, the entire bar had approached him.His face pressed up against the wooden bar, he tried to struggle but found it impossible. There were three people holding him down, including the old man. The rest of the bar cheered on, the bartender had walked around, soon he felt his shirt being ripped off.
There was a silence before the pain started. It shrieked, it was the worst thing Noah had experienced. It felt as if his skin was pressed up against stones who had been in hell. He couldn't help scream, he began shaking violently. But the men held him down in his spot, he couldn't move at all.
He felt the pain lead a long circle around his back, in the middle of the circle he felt a crooked line being drawn. Then a line was drawn horizontally at the top of that line, the sign of the adventure good was his dagger inside a circle.
'The adventure god gives you his blessing'
'skill "alcohol lover" has been gained'
'The death god feels slightly irked'
'The food god disowns you'
'The ocean god disowns you'
'The carpenter god disowns you'
'The weapon god disowns you'
'The risk god feels disappointed'
'The life god feels disowns you'
'The battle god is disappointed'
...
Noah's eyes almost fell out. He had never heard of half the gods on the list, he was amazed at the amount that disowned him. On top of that, off all the skills the adventure god could of given, he gave him a useless skill. "Really nice of you" he thought.
'The adventure god laughs'
A slight distaste, the pain had disappeared and they had let go off him. They had tattoos a symbol on his back showing his faith to the adventure god. He didn't feel different at all, this whole thing had been a waste of time.
He stood up, and walked towards the door. He felt a firm hand grasp his shoulder, "Where do you think you are going?", "What, am I going to the hole again?". A hearty laugh, "No of course not, follow me".
The old man walked to the door, deja vu. Noah followed after, more vigilant this time. He found the man standing outside. He stood across from Noah facing him.
"You are one of us now, which means you aren't allowed to be weak.""
"Wha-", he was interrupted.
"I will teach you about a few techniques".
Out of thin air, a bag seemingly materialized in his hand. He threw it on the dirt floor behind him, "Thud". "Inside of that bag there is 100 gold coins, if you can strike me once you will get every single one of them"
Noah tongue felt heavy, he slowly took out his weapons whilst eyeing the man, he made no movements. Noah walked towards him, the man made no movements. He swung his dagger, the man made no movements.
He laid on the floor, in front of the man. He felt an aching pain in his head. "Try again". He stood up, distanced himself. He noticed that the man stood with his back turned against him. He slowly approached, making sure that each step was silent, and then he pounced on him.
He found his head mushed into the floor, "Try again". The man had taken out a book and begun reading it, Noah stood up and attacked him, a sidestep. He swung his daggers, the man pinched them. He went for a kick, the man kicked his kick away. He tried to grab him, but his hands seemingly always went above him.
He breathed in heavy breaths.